Magic Treadmill, make me FASTER!

Treadmill today: Warm up about 1/2 hour (Cut me some slack, I'm menstral!), intervals at 7.5 mph on 3% grade for 20 minutes, intervals 8 mph on 3% for 20 minutes. I think the intervals on the first set are only like 1 1/2 minutes long, and the intervals on the second set are about 2 or 2 1/2 minutes. By the end of that set I was totally maxed out. I'm trying to work up to doing faster intervals than what I will be running in the marathon so that when I'm running in the marathon my speed will seem slow compared to what I'm used to. I hope by the end of next week I can do these intervals at 9 mph.

P.S. I weighed myself today and even though I have dropped a pant size this past couple of months, I haven't lost ANY weight!

Hilton Treadmill, Vegas

We spent Friday and Saturday in Vegas and stayed at the Hilton. I was lucky enough to be one of the first to get to the workout room because every machine became occupied very quickly. The first treadmill I tried, I couldn't get to work so naturally jumped on the one right next to it. But that meant that every time some other poor soul came in thinking they nabbed the last treadmill, I had to tell them it was broken and not to waste the next five minutes of their lives trying to get it to turn on. I think I had to take out my head phones 20 times and tell somebody. I didn't do it once just to see if anyone else around me would take the job, but no one else seemed to think it was necessary and just let them figure it out. Lame!
If I want to finish the marathon in 3:30, I have to run an average of 7.5 MPH. I set the treadmill at that on a 3% grade. (If the treadmill is at 0% grade it's not like running on a road. It's like running on a slight downhill, right? Well, that's what the books say. Actually it varies from 1% to 3% grade being more equal to running on a road.) It was difficult, but I could do it. Just barely. I only have one month till the marathon and the books say that at this point I should be focusing on speed work instead of milage. WAAAHHH! I'm going to try and do just that. But, that means nothing to blog about. I might be quiet till the end of July. Keep your fingers crossed for a 3:30, or somewhere near that!! If I fail miserably there's always St. George in October.

First 20 miler

OK, it was really only 19.6 miles. I rounded up. Here's the checklist for a long run with Beautiful Girl. (Are all you regular readers noticing how I coordinate the song of the day with what the post might be about? There is no end to my creativity or the effort I will put into every post to ensure it's entertaining to read. Those of you that only check in once a week are missing the full effect of the right song playing with each post. I recommend a reevaluation of your blogging priorities.)


Cell phone, check. Garmin, check. Shuffle, check. GU, check. Water, check. Diaper/wipes, check. Crackers for Beautiful Girl, check. Binkie with string, check. Sunscreen, check. Camera, check check check....


...And of course, Beautiful!


I wanted to show you the cute little bunnies that are hopping all over the trail in the mornings. It makes me feel like Snow White while I'm running. Except they don't follow me or bring things I need like ribbons and hair accessories. Maybe if I were to start singing...


What do follow me though are horse flies! Maybe because I wear my hair in a pony tail? Those bites hurt so dang bad. No one else I talk to that uses this trail has a problem with horse flies. For some reason bugs like me alot. Now this is where you say, "You just have to run faster so they can't catch you." Yes, thank you.

PS, On the road home I passed a really intense looking runner and he clapped for me. I didn't feel bugged by it this time. I thought it was very sweet. (See post "7.5 miles at Rebel Stadium.")

Hills Anyone?

It was so beautiful right as the sun was coming up!

My plan was a long run starting at the church at Snow Canyon Parkway, along the jogging path on the highway to The Ledges, down Snow Canyon, and back up Snow Canyon Parkway.  I wasn't sure how long this was going to be and I declined Ron's suggestion to ask Natalie, who probably knows, because I'm too proud, because she's a better runner than me, even though it was ME that got HER into running 10 years and five kids ago.  I've got my Garmin.  It will be an adventure to just get out there and see how far it is myself.  I knew this was going to be hilly...  but OMG...
I can run up that pushing the BOB.... I can run up this pushing the BOB...  Yea, there's no way I can run up this pushing the BOB...
4.6 miles out the path turned to gravel.  I didn't want to put Sallie through the jarring bumps. (even though she's got suspention on her sweet ride, it's not pleasant to go over gravel.) So at that point I canned my original plan and turned back.

And back down the hills...
My running partner....  windblown, weatherbeaten, but happy and beautiful as ever!!

Those 9 miles of hills took me an hour and a half!  I came home and got on the treadmill for another two or three (miles, not hours) just because I am a proud masochist.  At that point, Noah smacked his head on the hearth and started gushing blood.  So glad we've got a bunch of doctors in the neighborhood.  Thanks, John.  (No stitches necessary for now, although it's still bleeding under the steri-strip.  That's what you get when you call the radiologist for help with a bleeding head.)

I hate you, Apple!!

My computer broke last Thursday for the third time. Last time I lost all my photos. This time it won't even turn on, so I'm betting I lost even more than that. I am so dependent on my gadgets now that I have a panic attack when they aren't working. My Garmin and my ipods all charge on my computer, I pay bills by my computer, of course I keep in touch with all of you through my computer. Last night before Ron handed over his laptop I said, "So now this won't work, this won't work, this won't work and so my life is pretty much over." To which he said, "Um, could we please not be so fatalistic?" Oh, ok. Proper perspective back. But I got a laptop out of it until mine is fixed.

I spent the last few days in SLC with Chi2. Did I get out and enjoy running in the green lush SLC spring? No, I rode the stationary bike one day and the treadmill the next! The bike was so hard because I haven't done anything but run since Sarah was born and we stopped the gym membership. How about "Buildings and Mountains" by Republic Tigers in honor of SLC. SLC is such a great mix of the city and nature.

Today I got started too late and it was already in the 90s when I was starting to run, so I stayed on the treadmill. It was scheduled to be a long run.  I'm just sure I went went farther that it said I did!!!

13 mile tempo

I'm not going to tell you what tempo it was.  I'm slow.  But I was going at a pace that I could stand for that distance and just barely.  I'm so proud of myself!  And hamstring was fine, didn't need GU.  I've been stretching alot when I'm just home.  I'm sure that's helping me lengthen my stride and pick up the pace.  

Something about running with Sallie Allie in front of me helps me push myself more.  It makes me feel like I'm not only doing this run for me.  She looks back at me occasionally and we have these conversations with our eyes.  I feel like she's telling me I can go faster for her.  She says that before she nods off to sleepy land.

No signs of the groper that's been reported to be hanging out on my stretch of jogging path.

(Groper)

Why do some girls have all the luck?  Maybe I intimidate him with all the crap a run with.  I've got wires and straps and beeping things all over me, along with the stroller and all the bottles and baby stuff that comes with it.  I told Ron that he has to grope me if I come home having not run into the groper.  But I get home and he's not here either!!  Ppffth!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (Groper)

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A DEPRESSING POST. DO NOT CALL 911. I'M OKAY, I PROMISE.

Saturday Funk....

I read a book Thursday night that's put me in a really dark mood.  I'm sure the author would feel bad to hear that.  I think it's meant to be more hopeful and inspiring.  It is a true story written by a man who's wife kills herself when she's 7 months pregnant with their first child.  Her parents were both mentally ill and she started to feel the symptoms of her parents' schizophrenia and/or manic depression coming on.  Her husband feels guilt that it happened because he ignored the promptings of the spirit 3 times urging him to go home.  Why is this on my "running posts only" blog?  Well, that story is mostly about his returning to dating life and falling in love again with a girl that has just won the Ogden Marathon.  (This is where my heart starts pounding and I decide to finish the dang book instead of going to bed at midnight.)  He starts running with her in the mornings while she's training for the St. George.  When they start becoming more serious about each other, she confesses to him that she struggles with depression, and the running endorphin rush helps her cope with it.  I totally understand that.  I'm not a great runner, but I do love how it makes me feel.  As I've thought more about that I realized something else.  I use it for more than just the endorphin rush now.  I use it to escape life.  I get on a run or on the treadmill and I hide.  If my kids are busy doing other things and Ron doesn't need me, I justify myself in just staying there longer than I should so that I don't have to join the world and act happy.  Running is an acceptable pass time to those around me, but it serves the same function for me as staying in bed all day.  I even get praised for my neglect of my home and family.  People say I've got great determination and I'm inspiring.   Ha Ha!  Anyway, one thing that I came away with from reading this book, is how this man (his name's Abel, about my age, remarried to the marathon girl and has three kids) was able to take what he had just gone through and say to himself, "I don't know.  I might have been able to save her but that's not what happened.  I don't know why she did it.  I don't know what the next life is going to bring exactly.  But I refuse to be miserable.  I will enjoy my life."  It baffles me that I can't do that ...and my life is perfect!  Nobody sick, perfect children, my husband loves me (I think), no hurricanes or earthquakes or war in St. George this year, my husband still has build jobs even though most people involved in real estate are losing their shirts.  I am showered with rediculously enormous blessings daily and I can't enjoy them.  Seriously, all the negative I have to think about it totally imagined.  I got on the treadmill this morning and it was one of those days where Ron is out of town, Sarah fell asleep, Noah and Joshy entertained doing something, Ryan gone.  I could just stay here for hours with my music, pretending I'm a rockstar 

(This is what I'd look like.  Oh, and I can sing and dance in these fantasies too.)

and not think about how empty and worthless I feel.  But then I thought about Abel being able (Abel being able??!!)  to really enjoy his life and just making the decision not to dwell on the negative.  When the choice came for me after an hour of running to keep going till my legs just couldn't take it anymore or one of my kids demanded it, or get off and attempt to join life,  I got off.  I'm not going to lie and say I feel happy today.  But I'm going to go through the motions until I can figure out a way to just not worry about stuff I don't understand and can't control.  Conjuring up happy Shannon will be a longer process.  And I'm not going to use running as a way to escape anymore.  Maybe.  Sometimes.  Well, today I won't.  (It's still better than that Zoloft that almost got me killed behind the wheel.)

Whew... It's a good thing this is an "invites only" blog.  Know that there are only 5 people I have invited to read my blog and I feel safe writing this here because I think you're people that won't freak out on me or share any of this with anyone.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Tomorrow's a new day, a new run.  Yeay life!