Patience; the new endurance sport.

Well I never.... I'm telling you what, I am sore.  I mean sore, sore.  I totally underestimated the amount of work I did on Saturday, and by Sunday I was a goner.  Even more so on Monday.  This pain does not account for a 9:40 pace--but I think although we stopped alot, Rachel had us clipping right along (7:40-8:30's) in between the millions of photo ops (the Zazoosh pictures are HILARIOUS by the way, check them out);  So many great costumes! Such great fun!  Anyway, I am more sore than post SGM!  Of course I had a 2 hour massage the night of SGM, so that helped.  But I still hurt!  This morning I decided to put an end to my misery and just run to shake it out, even if I dragged my feet every step.  I'm so glad I did.  I feel so much better.  First of all daylight savings makes it so we have at least half the run in some early morning dawn, and secondly the full moon!  The moon was setting, heavy and shining against the violet blue western horizon.  It was so bright and large above the fields and the Oquirrah Mountains, it was awe inspring.  No headlamp necessary, even at the beginning of the run.   The moon shone so brightly the fields glowed.  The fog rising off the marsh, the cattle and horses were all clearly visible in the moon light.  Mornings like this fill my heart with gratitude for being able to get outside and celebrate being alive as I witness the earth silently, diligently, laboring from night to day, from Autumn to Winter. 

I love not having to use the headlamp.  The moon is still so bright we could see the road, even under the shadowy trees.  I'm finally getting used to the cold, and am enjoying seeing the mountains toward the end of the run.  The sun lights up the sky to a lavender glow, outlining the mountaintops in yellow.  I love these clear, bleak November days.  November is the best. Only the totally awesome people are born this time of year.   (Happy birthday Catherine!! ).  Can't wait till soup's on.  Two more days!!

Yesterday I read a really great post/essay on the message board that Sasha wrote during the summer about the mental aspects of training. If you have not read it yet, you should.  It's a great article.

Today's run featured a very signficant conversation with Marsha as we ran along in the moonlight and early dawn.  I pushed and devil's advocated her into a conversation regarding faith & religon from whence wisdom flowed from her as if she was in a theological debate. It was one of the most authentic and passionate discussions I've had in a long time.  It was nourishing and refreshing. But many things feel significant to me this time of year (when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang--Sonnet 73, my favorite).  My birthday was my father's birthday, a fact I can never overlook.  I have to live with both the amazing blessings and ill fate of being his daughter.  Even though he has been gone nearly 4 years, I am just beginning to make some sense his life and death, and the impact of both upon me.  So getting closer to my birthday, and the quiet dying of the world in November, I am filled with reflection and reminders of his place and presence in my life.  His dying left an open road from where his life ended and mine began.  Didn't I say I'd start quoting Shakspeare any day now?  Don't worry, this only lasts about a week.

This day was a gift.  I didn't mean to take the day off, but it was hard to fit in the picking up of the sister from the airport and the making of soup, and the parent-teacher-conference.  So I ran in broad daylight (the audacity!) and enjoyed the beautiful blue sky and bright yellow leaves.  The whole run, and the day off, felt like a real gift.

I was tempted to take the whole week off.  But I'm headed to Austin this week and promised my old pal that I'd run around his lake.  So I can't give up this week before I do that.  I am looking forward to running in a new place and seeing new things. But overall, I do feel I need to cross train more on the bike and run less right now.  The cold is wrecking my hips again.  So next week I'll do more excersize, just less running. 

So today was my first day on the bike.  I did an hour, but couldn't stand it for any longer (it hurts my butt when I'm not used to it!).  So I ran on the treadmill.  P.S. I haven't watched a movie in so long, the bike/treadmill combo was actually fun! I've made arrangements with Marsha to do a MWF, instead of MTWTHF thing.  That way I can get cross training in there and save some pounding for January.  I need a break, I've been really really busy since August and haven't had a chance to gather my energy back, sharpen the saw, etc.

Man!  Today was so hot outside (ok, balmy, windy, warm) I had to take off my long sleeve t-shirt and run with just my vest on. I looked like Rambo with my earmuff and vest (why is it the only day you have to strip or wear otherwise strange ensembles the whole neighboorhood is out by 6:00 a.m.?). I had such a great day yesterday. I finally felt on top of my energy level and this morning I woke up at 5:00 absolutely ready to take it on.  I'm finally feeling more rested and recovered.  I'd guess it was because I didn't run S,S,M and then I biked on W.  I think the days off have helped me get the exhaustion under control.  I don't know how people go race to race so soon--I wish I could--It's the funnest part of running.  But I can't hack it (or I can't as long as I have other things to do that matter, like fix meals, work, boss my kids around, soccer/homework/school play/piano). I only have so much energy now-a-days.  However, were I to redo this whole last month, I would have been on my bike M,W,F for 2-3 weeks post marathon.  I think my recovery would have gone better, and my fitness level would not have diminished to such a degree.  Because now I've got my energy level under control, I am totally out of shape and weight a million pounds. (Note to self about next post-race recovery period).   Heading out now to run around the lake in Austin and paddleboard on the Colorado River.  I hope it stays in the 80's there. 

I had a very early flight, so I had to trail run with the headlamp.  It was two miles less than I desired, but it's what I could reasonably fit in.  It was a gorgeous, wet rainy morning, I've missed running alongside the river on these dark mornings (we've been on the road instead).  I wanted more time, but had to get going to catch my plane.  I think I startled Sasha and Jeff as I rounded a dark corner with my enetorage of dogs and the headlamp in their faces at 6:15.

I ran the dirt trail around LadyBird lake in Austin.  I have a really good friend I grew up with who is kind of like the little brother I never had.  He called me about a month ago to announce he'd lost 30 pounds since his daugther was born, and has been running since he moved to Austin.  He wanted me to come run around his trail because he knew I'd just love it (and Austin).  That is one busy trail, in 6 miles we passed like 2 different organized 5K's and a triatholon.  It's a gorgeous place for it, almost in the downtown.   It was fun to add one more running trail to my list of super-fun places to run.  The trail was awesome and I wanted to go forever because it was dirt.  But that's when I learned that what my friend and I call 'running' isn't quite the same thing.  I figured that since he's really tall we'd keep a good clip but what he's been doing is running 12 m/m , walking a bit, and then "sprinting/striding" every so often.  Wow, that was new.  So we compromsied by trying to maintain an 11:00 mile and then sprinting every few hundred meters.  We followed the run by paddleboarding.  The amount of water and greenery, artsy decor, live music, and kitschy restaurants was a great surprize to me.  Not like the rest of Texas at all.  And the weather was spectacular. I was wearing shorts when I called home to find that my kids were sitting in front of the fireplace watching the snowfall outside the window.  I had a fun trip.  But it's good to be back.  I love my own river too.

Totally un-inspired treadmill running.  It feels great however that it leaves my legs and lower back feeling fresh after the run.  I also biked half hour.  So it was all indoor sweaty machine exercising.  Someone shoot me.  However, I did watch half an hour of The Proposal, did I already say "please shoot me?"  I think I'm getting too old for Romantic Comedies.  Have I really become so jaded? So un-romantic?  I'm not sure, but that movie is actually so boring and contrived I don't think I can finish it.  On the bright side, my daughter got the part she wanted in the school play -- "Annie".  Which is so weird, they are doing Annie when I was in the 8th grade.  I played the lead (my one moment of musical glory). Anyway, she tried out for the part of Pepper.  When I asked her why she wanted to play Pepper she said it was because the first line was "Hey pal, you're lookin' to get a black eye".  Moments like this make my heart swell with pride.  Break a leg sweetie pie.

So last night Marsha texts me "how cold is too cold to run?".  Oh Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!  Still such a light weight.  But that's ok, she will learn the ways of the winter running.  She can hack it.  So I texted back "Why U skerd?"  So she goes "Oh a challenge huh?  OK bring it".  That-a-girl!  It's hardly even below freezing yet and we have miles to go before we sleep. It was so worth it this morning.  The night sky was filled with meteors.  It was really something to run through the dark fields surrounded by shooting stars.  Nature feels like a secret that early in the morning.  After we were done Marsha said "Aren't you glad I made you come?"  I'm so glad she's game for all this pre-dawn, below freezing nonsense.  Because I 'm going to do it with or without her.  It's just nice to have company. 

Oh the exhilaration of running in the actual daylight.  I have really missed being able to see the river, trail, leaves, fields, etc.  It was utter desolation today.  That's the way I prefer the trail; just me and the occasional crack dealer or vagrant.   Truly, I prefer them to cranky, entitled, retirees.  It was a bleak, beautiful November day.  When I got back I got an email showing the finished production for this commercial I shot with my son a while ago (I sometimes get voice over and corny tv/internet gigs--Don't laugh, it pays for lego sets and trips to Austin).  Anyway, my son has been taunting me ever since with a line from the filiming (it shows kids jumping on a trampoline in back while I say "I'm a Mom who wants everything for my kids....blah, blah, blah").  So on certain ocassions, he'll say "So, are you a Mom who wants everything for her kids or not?".  It's become a private joke.  Here's the great news.  Now I have a copy of the produced spot-- so next time he pulls that line on me or threatens to write a "Mommy Dearest Memoir" I can offer to show the commercial to all his girlfriends for the next 20 years. I'll point out he's the one in the background with floppy surfer hair doing a flip on the trampoline. 

Saw another falling star in the sky this morning.  I know of the yearly meteor shower the second week of August, but I didn't know about this one we're having.  I didn't see the meteor on Tuesday at midnight that lit up the sky and was on the news, but I did see a few on Wednesday morning, and one more today.  I absolutely hate running in the dark.  I know I like running outside and I thought just being outside was enough. It is not, I want to SEE things.  Yesterday's run in the early morning sun felt decadent.  I can't wait for tomorrow.  I'm going to take a leisurely jaunt down the jetty and take as long as I want.  I have been staving off the onset of between marathon boredom/depression however.  We had a great birthday party, my sister came, I went to Austin, I'm hosting another friend's birthday tonight, then Thanksgiving-- my favorite holiday ever, then Christmas.  I can't start getting all funky until at least Jan. 2.  I have to hold it off until then.  Then, I will start training in earnest for Boston.  I can make it....I can do it.  It's not even the end of November.

Spent 2 hours at choir practice.  I have missed a lot of practices this year so I was glad it was extra long this session. The director is so engaged in the music and it's perfection that it completely focuses my energy. I've been a scattered recently and have missed that certain kind of nourishment that can only come being fully engaged in art or music.   I love to sing, even though I feel like I'm screetching and warbeling my way up to some of those high F's & G's.  When I was done, I sleepily laid down in front of the fireplace with my kids and drank hot milk. This made going outside into the bleak November cold less attractive.  Nonetheless by 10:00 I took the dogs out, who were so overjoyed they wouldn't stop barking and running ahead for about 1/4 mile.  Down the trail I bumped into Mike Strauss, smiling and running with the perpetual spring in his step. He always makes running look like the funnest, easiest thing to do in the world. He'd cut his hair since the last time I saw him.  Catherine will be very interested in this new development -- as will be all the women within a 10 mile radius.  (We all call him  Zeus and/or Sampson behind his back).  His hair has been long for the 7-8 years I've known him.  It must be exciting to make that kind of dramatic change.  I guess I did the same thing when I went from blond to brunette recently.  What's it with the middle aged hair crises? Our personal relationship to hair (how it looks, how long it is, what color it is) is kind of weird when you think about it.  It's always a declaration of some sort when we change it.  I guess once you get to the middle of your life, it's one of the few things you can actually change (new perspective and a fresh start) without major reprecussions or consequences.

I'm wearing my Garmin again today.  I gave myself more than a month off from thinking about pace -- I really shouldn't put it on at all until next January and just try to run how I feel, but I'm afraid that could be 14 m/m's as I dredge my way through winter. The first time I turned my Garmin back on (last Saturday while I was in Austin), it showed my SGM readings.  I am in such a different place with the running only a month and a half later, that seeing my time and the miles was a shocker.  How did I do that?  Anyway, I still am taking it easy, but want to know how easy-- apparently 9:30's.  I never stop though, it's too cold to stop -- so at least it's continued mileage.  This morning I almost stepped on a dead skunk in the middle of the road.  It was all guts and fur. I can't see anything until it is right in the light of the headlamp I had to leap over the top of it because I wasn't paying any attention until it was almost under my feet.  We had been talking about cupcakes and I guess I was a little too engrossed in the idea of a tall mountain of frosting to watch where I was going.  It is strange about the cupcake revolution and all the specialtiy shops nowdays.  In Austin there was a cupcake shop that sold them through the window of an air-stream trailer.  The line was about 50 people long. They're pretty, but  I have to admit it's only the frosting that tempts me (because who can resist eating pure butter?).  See? I almost stepped on a dead skunk and I'm still not paying attention.

I had the best treadmill run today.  I should count 3.5 of these as fast miles since they were under 9's.  I just felt great on the treadmill and I sheepishly admit to watching the rest of The Proposal.  I felt really bad about saying how much I thought it sucked last week, and after asking a few others who said they liked it, decided to finish it. The second half was better than the first (once I got past all the cheesy character development).  In the end, it was a little better than I originally opined.  Also, with all this frenzy recently about New Moon (sorry girls, I wish I could get into it, but just can't--I read the book and hated it) it made me feel a little guilty I was having trouble finishing a regular romantic comedy. I need to work a little on my sustained disbelief-which could actually make me a nicer person to be around.

I never drink diet soda and I have had 2 in the past week.    When I feel like being evil, I turn to soda--don't ask me why. I don't know if I tried to run extra hard, or if I was just oxygen depleted from all the CO2 ingestion. But even though I got to run in the daylight, it was hard work.  There is no way I can run 10-13 tommorrow.  I can barely hold myself together at 5. 

I did the Turkey Trot a few years ago, and aside from the prizes, I hated it.  I'd run it again only if they improved the course.  I did'nt like running on city streets around the Orem Rec Center.  I was gong to run this morning with Marion, Michelle, MacKenzie & Co, but they were running 10, I only wanted to do 8, and planned on running it significantly slower--which meant that I would have been running alone, in the dark, in Payson (without really knowing the area).  Sad to have missed the pie fest--should I have ever found my way back to where we started..... What I did do, was get up, and run 8 miles in the beautiful Utah Valley blue skied daylight.  Me and the dogs ran down the trail and had a joyous, wonderful, gratitude filled moment watching the fog lift from the surface of the lake and taking in the view of Mt. Timpanogos during a silent and pristine sunrise. I am grateful for my trail, my trees, my river, my lake, my dogs, my running friends, my strong legs, and the secret strength that comes from enjoying simple things. I'm grateful for health, family, children, my Aunt. I'm grateful for yams,cranberries, and gravy.  I am thankful to be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!

5 lbs of butter and a turkey later......I got up to run with Marsha.  She had to get out early so she could get to the sales. We diverge in many opinions, but none so vehemently as this morning.  I never understood shopping stampede style the day after thanksgiving (or waiting 2 days in line for anything).  I hate shopping as it is, much less surrounded by germ ridden mouth breathers who come out of the woodwork for a sale.  Sorry,  I will go without having more crap, before being touched, much less trampled, in a Walmart. I realize this is unpatriotic. Anyway, I came home from the run chilled to the bone and so without showering threw off my sweaty clothes and got back into bed.  I drifted to sleep and woke up at 4:00 in the afternoon.  Yes, that was an 8 hour nap in case you are counting. How on earth did I get tired enough to take an 8 hour without noticing?  I blame the DTE (delayed tryptofan effect).

I ran with Cath this morning. You'll all be relieved to know that we reformed healthcare. Also, we wrote lymircs and haikus about our recently fallen toenails. In my estimation, a very productive run.

Back to outerdarkenss.  Man, I got spoiled running last week in the broad DAYLIGHT.  Sheesh.  Even with the very pristine, clear sky and sparkeling stars, it's just not the same.  I'm am more certain than ever that sunlight is nourishing and necessary to mental as well as physical winter survival-- vitamin D and all that.  It is just not the same to run before the light of dawn.  I am becoming however, the envy of the 6:00 a.m. crowd with my fancy headlamp.  Today, the lady I've always seen for the past 10 years (and who never talks to me other than a hand gesture during the summer) asked me where I got my light.  It is nice to have the right equipment for the job.  She totally needs one.  Back to real life today.  I had a great weekend.  Also-- I saw The Blind Side on Saturday (while you all were at the game) and I highly recommend it.