Saturday Long Run 8 Miles

Well today was a first for me, I ran 8 miles at the Olympic Oval with my friend Cyndie. Red burn day forced us indoors, they charge $1 to use the track on red days. There were less people there today compared to last week, I think because they were having a speed skating competition so it looked like the ice was closed for the race.

Today Cyndie and I made several stops to stay hydrated and also fueled. Even with all the stopping at our "aid station" I still finished the 8.1 miles in 1:50. It was a lot better but I was still lacking some energy so I am going to need to be more careful on what "fuel" I choose to eat the day before, and well just in general. Crap in = crap out. I don't think breakfast was the problem, 2 poached eggs and wheat toast with butter. Water & water with Prolytes. Daily vitamins. Today I brought along some Clif Shot Bloks in my favorite flavor Cran-Razz and I ate those. They stick to the teeth but I've figured out how to eat them and it works for me.

First time ever in my life to run 8 miles! Another personal marathon goal met. The miles are adding up, this week was 14 miles total.

Round and Round I Go

Inversion. Such a dirty word. And that dirty word caused a red burn day in Salt Lake County and forced me to abandon my plan to run on the Porter Rockwell & Canal Trail in Draper and head for the Olympic Oval in Kearns.

I went at 8am and for the first time met up with a free running group I had joined many weeks ago from the Salt Lake Running Company. Last night in preparation for my 7 mile run I downloaded some songs and got my old ipod ready to take with me. Today was suppose to be my first time running along a trail with music.

Anyway, I got to to OO and met the other runners at 8am. They were all very friendly and I was fortunate to meet Cyndie Nell from West Jordan who was running 4 miles today and what was so cool was that she runs at my pace! Amazing. So I had someone to actually talk to for my first 16 times around the track. Since my Garmin could not get a GPS signal inside the building I used it to track my time and laps, each time around I pushed a lap button. Cyndie and I had a nice visit and she told me about the marathons she has done and how she did them by doing a run-walk method. She would have run more with me but she is on her rest week because of a 1/2 marathon in Huntington Beach next month.

When Cyndie had to go I jogged in for a drink and decided it was time to get the music going. I was trying to run and start it and couldn't get my ipod to come off the Christmas playlist onto the new running playlist I'd made. Finally after much struggling I did it. The new headphones Jan gave me worked great and for my next laps there was music in my ears.

When I had just 4 remaining laps my friend Cindi from the Desert Sharks showed up. She runs faster than I do and is an awesome Ironman finisher last year, she is such an inspiration. She finished in 14:21.48 and came in 39th out of 82 in her age group, 45-49. Cindi ran with me and my last lap.

So my stats are approximate, but the oval track is 442 meters or .27 mile around so 29 times around gives me mileage of 7.83 miles! Looks like I made my 7 mile goal for the day. Time 1 hour 50 minutes. Yes, my left leg hurts but I made it!!!!!