Sunday, November 27, 2011

Whew!

One week after my marathon premier, I ran the first annual Turkey Trot 5k in downtown Farmington.  Most of my marathon soreness was gone (thanks to a hefty massage from my MT) so I decided to see how fast I could go for a 5k.  I had no idea how fast to start or how hard to push.  I managed 3rd place overall for females finishing in 21:38...a new best time.

This past week was Thanksgiving and my brothers were in town.  My little brother brought his girlfriend along who is also starting her running life.  I managed to put in 25 miles this week between running with my dog and with my husband, my brother and his girlfriend. I don't really feel like I ran this week because it was so relaxed and fun and I wasn't following a training plan.  It was nice to put some miles in so I could enjoy lots of potatoes and stuffing!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Rimrock Marathon

Yesterday was the day. November 12.  I ran 26.2 miles through Colorado National Monument.  The race was in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The first 4.5 miles of climb was serious switchbacks and very difficult, but the scenery was amazing.  My favorite moments of the race: 
1. Running through the giant tunnels cut out of rock....almost completely dark and silent except for the sound of hard breathing from the 5 or 6 runners inside and the sounds of pitter-pattering feet.  Loved watching the reflectors bounce up and down on the jackets and shoes too. 
2. Reaching the halfway mark at 13.1 miles and realizing that I felt pretty good and was going to be under the 4 hour mark if I could just hold myself together and stay within 20 seconds of my pace each mile (and the rest of the race was going to be downhill so unless disaster happened I was going to make it). 
3.  Reaching the finish line to be the 3rd girl to cross it and scoring a 3:40 on my first marathon....much faster than I imagined I'd be even in a few years from now. 

The race was a little cold. I wore gloves the entire time but I didn't sweat much so I never felt dehydrated.  I can't imagine any marathon with better scenery....truly magnificent place...I'd never been there before so I was captivated.  No rain. No snow and not much wind so I can't complain.  It was high 30s or low 40s the entire race....perfect running weather really.

Here are my splits:
Split
Time
Distance
Avg Pace
Summary3:39:27.625.748:31.5
19:00.21.009:00.4
29:23.61.009:23.6
39:58.11.009:58.2
411:13.41.0011:13.6
59:11.61.009:11.7
68:19.51.008:19.6
78:23.41.008:23.5
88:48.61.008:48.6
98:35.11.008:35.3
108:03.11.008:03.2
118:06.61.008:06.7
128:39.01.008:39.1
139:13.01.009:13.2
148:00.91.008:00.9
157:47.41.007:47.5
167:47.41.007:47.4
177:59.51.007:59.6
188:03.01.008:03.1
198:23.11.008:23.2
208:21.71.008:21.8
217:42.81.007:42.8
228:03.91.008:04.0
237:59.11.007:59.2
248:10.71.008:10.8
257:58.81.007:58.9
266:12.80.748:23.3

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The leaves have fallen and my puppy knows winter is coming (he hates the cold). I did 11 miles this morning so he got to play at the park.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

This is Sentry...my puppy....he is coming up on being 1 year and 4 months old.  Still definitely a puppy at heart.  He runs with me sometimes.  His mileage record is 7.2.  As it gets cooler and he gets older, I think he will go further.  This guy is seriously the best lookin' dog in the world.