Create.

1500 meter swim.

Sherm and Sophers had another USATF track meet today. They both did AWESOME!!! Sherm took 1st again in both the 100 and 200 meters (that is 6 straight 1st placings in a row). The big story of the day was Sophia!!! She had a personal best in the 1500 meters with a 5:56.34!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man alive is she getting FAST!!!!!!!! Keep in mind she is a tiny 11 year old! She also took 2nd in the 400 meters and 1st in the 800 meters. She fell asleep on the way home!!!! :) :) :)

Next week: Hershey's and the USATF youth State Championships. All the talent should show up so this will be very interesting to see how these two do. Livvy will also be running and is excited to do so. :)

14 miles, AP 8:36 on the JRP. First 10 with my Ry!! It was crazy hot when we ran. Low 80s.

Hope everyone is off to a great week. :)

6 miles, AP 7:57

ST: Plyo

6 miles with Ry and 1 with Sophers, AP 8:25.

Sophia wanted to run but she had just run 5+ miles the evening before. I forced her to go slower than she wanted to. :)

I hope she hasn't done too much the past few days because the kids have the Hershey's meet and the USATF State meet this week.

ST: lower body

5 miles, hill work, AP 10:21

Started at 4% incline and increased 2% every mile but took the incline to flat the last .15 miles of every mile. I know that may be weak sauce but I was sweating bullets. It was hard for me (even at that pace).

7 miles, AP 8:45, with Ry on the JRP

Burpees

9 miles, AP 7:53, on the JRP

No running for me today but an AWESOME running day!!!

It was the USATF Utah State Championship Meet at UVU. :)

Three of my kiddoes ran in this meet: Sophia, Oliver "Sherm", and Livvy. Livvy runs just for the fun of it. Sophia and Sherm like to compete, and compete they did!!! WOW!!!!! I have two STATE CHAMPS!!!

Sophia (11):

1500 meters, 6:00.36!!! THE NEW STATE CHAMP!!!!!

(I swear I saw her run in at 5:58.xx ... but the official results said otherwise.) :)

400 meters, 1:15.xx, 6th place.

800 meters, 2:56.04, 2nd place!!!!

Oliver "Sherm" (10):

100 meters, 14.16!!!!! THE NEW STATE CHAMP!!!!!

200 meters, 29.82, 2nd place!!!!! (1st place was 29.65)

These are personal bests for Sherm who used the starting blocks for the first time!!!! WOW!!!!!

Livvy also had a GREAT time. She placed in the top 10 in the 100 meters and was pretty excited about that. :)

On a side note: These three also competed in the local Hershey's meet this past Thursday. Oliver took 1st in all three of his events (100 m, 200 m, and softball throw); Sophia took 1st in her two events (800 m, 400 m ... they don't let her age compete in the mile); and we think Livvy may have taken 2nd in one of her races but haven't gotten the official results yet. So hopefully they will all be moving on to regionals. :)

6 miles with Ry on the JRP, AP 8:25

1 mile wu, 4 miles at 7:30, 1 mile cd (treadmill)

burpees

5 easy miles on the JRP with Ry and JohnnyV, high 8s.

I'm really worried about the Wahsatch Steeplechase on Saturday. It is not going to be pretty. I am definitely not in race shape. With that said: Oh well, such is life. :) :) :)

3 easy miles with Ry on the JRP :)

* LOVED * LOVED * LOVED this race!!!

On Friday I was cursing Fly for having talked me into the Steeplechase but that all changed as soon as the race began. Everything about this race was FANTASTIC (especially having Ry there)!!

I had very little sleep the night before because I was so stinkin' nervous (I got about 4 hours which was about two more hours than Ryan had - apparantely he was even more nervous than I was).

I set a handful of goals for myself:

1. Fall 3 or less times. -------------- SUCCESS, I ONLY FELL TWICE!!! TAKE THAT!!! :)

2. Face the crags without fear. -- WAS A LITTLE SCARED BUT LOVED THIS PART OF THE RACE MOSTEST OF ALL!

3. Run hard but not crazy hard. -- CHECK!

4. Enjoy myself. ---------------------- CHECK!

5. Finish. ------------------------------- CHECK!

Other than the run section of the XTERRA tri this was my first race on trail. I thought I was capable of a sub 4 and dared imagine possibly hitting my marathon time but never dreamed of a 3:15. I think not pushing crazy hard was what made this race so much fun. I felt awesome throughout the entire race. In fact, after 8.5 miles I just kept feeling stronger and stronger. The race was over before I knew it. Crazy beautiful race!!! Crazy uphills and crazy downhills. The contrast was almost unbelievable. For example, my fastest mile was a 6:56 and my slowest mile was a 24:45!! INSANE yet AWESOME!!!

As for Ry ... all I can say is, "Dang, I love that man!!" His only goal was to finish before the 6 hour time limit. He did not wear a watch and just ran what felt good at the moment. He ended up running a 3:55:xx (I don't think results have been posted so I'm making my best guess). He says he will NEVER EVER EVER run that race again but I think in a few days I may be able to change his mind. :)

A huge shout out to Fly and his hawaiian shirt!!! Thank you one million times over.

This is a must run race for any of you contemplating a trail run that will challenge you, amaze you, and leave you in awe. Those few miles right after the ascent are 100% heavenly. Running down the trail amongst all the trees is simply breathtaking and worth every ounce of anguish put in to get there.

Beyond happy with how this all panned out!!! YES!!! Beautiful day!!! :) :) :)

60 minutes Father's Day mountain bike ride in Corner Canyon with Ry. :) :) :)

LOVED every second!!! :)

All muscles are feeling good after yesterday's race. Woop woop!! :)

40 minutes elliptical.

Everything feels great but still want to take an easy two or three weeks before starting to seriously train either for SGM or XTERRA tri. I keep going back and forth on which race will be my focus. So indecisive! :)

4 fun and easy miles with Ry, AP 8:39

Happy Tuesday, All. :)

5 miles with Ry, up and around WJ Park and back. AP 8:21

4 miles, AP 7:57

Tried to sustain Sophia's 800 m pace for 800 m (that is my 11 year old). I am slightly embarrassed and kinda proud (of her) to admit that I failed. Couldn't do it. Dang she has gotten fast!!! :)

11 miles, AP 8:26 on the JRP

Asthma acting up a bit ... probably should have ran even slower than this but I was under time restraints and wanted to hit 10 miles before having Sophia join me for a nice easy last mile in prep for her big race the next day. :)

No running for me today: asthma has been bad. BUT ... an incredible day of racing for Sophia and Oliver, both of whom made it through the preliminary rounds yesterday in order to compete in the USATF Junior Olympic Regional Championship (Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana). They did AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!! We'll start with Sherm (Oliver). This was actually a HUGE learning opportunity for him. He has always placed 1st or 2nd in his races. Not today. Even though he ran great times (not his best, but still pretty dang good) he ended up placing 5th in both the 100 m and 200 m. The race was always SO SO SO close. So close that in one of the races I thought he had place 2nd, but the cameras said otherwise. Need to teach that boy to lean his head in. :) Sherm (10): 100 m: 14.16 s -- 5th place 200 m: 29.72 -- 5th place Sophia, on the other hand, was on fire!!! Placing 1st in the 1500 meters with a new PR -- she ran that race brilliantly (stuck with the lead group the first 2 laps, tucked in right behind the leader in the 3rd lap, and then with roughly 150 meters left to go took off like a bullet)!!! And then, even after pushing that hard running the 800 m race and placing third in that!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!! :) In fact, it was quite cool because later in the day Sasha approached me and asked some specific questions about Sophia (exact age/fastest 400 m/etc). Then he proceeded to tell me what her laps were on her 1500 meters and gave us some advice. Sophia was all ears when she heard him say that if she keeps this up and is consistent throughout the year that she very well could break 5 minutes one year from now!!!!! WOW!!! She is so stinkin' cute. She already talks about running for Oregon someday!!! I need to post some of her pics when I can get on my laptop. Anyway, here are her times: Sophia (11): 1500 m: 5:43.90!!!!!!!!!! New Region Champ!!!! :) :) :) She was ecstatic!!!! 800 m: 2:52:xx. 3rd place. :) It was a VERY good day!!! I am going to try and get her to start using the blog more and backdating all of her recent races. It would really be helpful for her at this point. The great thing is that this is all her!!!! If anything, I have to slow her down every now and then. :)

6 miles, AP 8:16 with Ry on the JRP :)

Asthma still bad. :(

A shout out to my Sophia and Sherm on Saturday's USATF Junior Olympic Regional Championship meet!!! A very proud mama am I!!! :)

See Saturday's post!!!! AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!! :) :) :)

6 miles on the JRP with Ry, 8:18

Still can't seem to settle my asthma down.

4 miles with Ry up 78th for a bit and back, AP 8:16

Nothing --

Thought that maybe a complete day off would settle things down in my lungs.

7 miles on the JRP with Ry, Ap 8:19

7 miles on the JRP that felt very hard even though the pace was only 8:09. I simply could not breathe. Made an appointment with my asthma doc for later that afternoon. My functional lung capacity was much better than I expected it to be so that was good, but I had a fever, high BP and infection pockets down my throat. Dang ... should have begun antibiotics a week ago.

Doc increased the dose of all my asthma meds and put be on antibiotics.

I should start feeling better now. :)

No running for me ... just letting the antibiotics do their magic. :)

Sophia and Sherm had the State Hershey's meet.. It did not go well. Both of them started feeling sick last night (thanks to me I am sure ... stink)! The meet was in Richfield and we about turned around a dozen different times but decided to give it a go anyway.

Sophia did okay running a 2:52:xx in her 800 m (the only event she was running). But dang there were some fast people there. She ended up only taking 5th place. She was just happy to have it over when it was done. She didn't even want to go get her ribbon ... just pretty much passed out under the canopy.

Sherm ... well ... let's just say that he does not do well in the heat. His body is so dense (pure muscle ... and thick). Combine that with his dark skin and he just overheats quickly. They were having technical difficulties at the meet and he end up sitting in the sun for hours waiting for all of his races. He qualified in all three of his events (100 m, 200 m and softball throw). Needless to say when he was finally at the starting line of his races he pretty much tanked it.

It was a great learning experience though. Definitely need to figure out how to help Sherm with the heat thought.

13.3 miles on the JRP with Ry, AP 8:43. It was HOT HOT HOT. We slept in and so didn't end up finishing until the temps were in the 90s. Sophia and Sherm ran the last 1.3 with us. :)

I think the antibiotics are starting to work (that and the slower pace). Can't believe tomorrow we will be in the month of July. Wow ... time just keeps flying by. I suppose it is about time to decide if I want to concentrate on XTERRA training or SGM training. I have had some sporadic thoughts about shooting for one more marathon PR before turning 40 and SGM would be the perfect place to do it. But who knows -- life is just so crazy busy right now. :)