Small Loop, Big Fun!

Well I am back in the game, I no longer have strep so that means that I can run a bit now and it was a good weekend for that. Running always makes like a lot better, or at least for me. Somethings have been happening especially with the Salt Lake Marathon and as of right now, we are have no idea if it is going to happen. So Dev and I have done a bit of research to see some other marathons that same weekend and as much I would love to run the Gunnison Marathon, I would prefer the Salt Lake. We have already paid so I do not know what they are going to do if they cancel it. I also signed up for "The Tough Mudder" this past week thanks to Billy and Brance Brown. It was my Valentine's present to myself, but I really am excited to put a bit of spice in my running in October.

My first run back from strep was alright, just a nice little 3 mile run that felt pretty good but I was kind of unsure how far I would be able to go on Saturday. Dev was fighting bit of a cold so we decided to do the small Morgan loop and do 9 miles, 2 shorter than we did two weeks ago. It was a beautiful not so cold morning, 22 degrees, and we started off. A nice surprise was that there was a lot of people out and running. Some of them knew me which was kind of weird but I think alot of people know that I am a runner and usually roam the streets. I wonder if anyone ever missed me while I was on my mission? Or just wondered where the goofy tall kid was? It is really good to be back and the run started off great, we decided to do the hills first so that was kind of nice to get out of the way. I think one thing that I have learned to love is just the conversations that you can have when you run. You can really talk about anything, we chatted about our goals of running the Boston and other crazy exotic marathons. I hope that those goals can be fulfilled when I get older. One of the best moments of the run was when we passed this guy who was outside of his house and the only words that he said were "You guys are crazy" and then Dev turned to me with a smile on his face. He loves when people say that and later on the road he told me that is one of the many reasons why he runs, because people think we are crazy. Running in Morgan is beautiful, it is so open and the mountains are just great to look at as you run. This run hurt a bit more than the 11 miler that we had. I really had to go to the bathroom but I just held it until we got back to my house. As I run and start to hurt, I love to think about the marathon and about those last few miles that may bring me a lot of pain. I need to prepare myself for those moments, and I just love the feeling that I get after a nice long run.Of course we continued with the tradition of eggs and Tiger Woods golf after the run. Dev is 2-0, I wish I could putt better but hey I feel that I am on my way to run a good marathon.

The 1st Long run

That title has nothing to do with the Super Bowl that was just played but I was a little upset that the Patriots did not pull it out in the end. I love Tom Brady and just the way that he conducts business on the field but hey you got to give the G-Men some credit, they did what they needed to do for a second time to shut the Patriots down just enough. This blog is not about the NFL, this blog is suppose to track my life and especially my training for the Salt Lake Marathon that will go down in April. Every time I go on a run, I am thinking about that race and how I need to prep myself for those last few miles. I have never ever ran that far but I am so ready for the challenge that it is going to be. 
The funny thing is that I decided that I wanted to run this marathon on my mission, what was I thinking? Those were the words that kept going through my mind as I got back and started to running in the altitude, it was pretty bad. I had biked and ran a bit my last few months in the mission so I knew that I was in better shape than the runs were telling me but I would get done and just want to die, just lie on the floor and die. But this past week something happened to me, I think I actually fell in love with running and it all started with me not wearing a watch. I think when I run, I put to much emphasis on how fast I am going and all that stuff. I decided to leave the watch home and I was so much more relaxed, and running did not feel so painful anymore. I was just running because I wanted to and it was actually a lot easier, it felt so much better. But my friend, who I am running the marathon with wanted me to run a 12 miler with him on Saturday. I thought about that all week, because even though my runs were good they were not anything that showed that I could hold my own on a long run.  He slept over at my house on Friday and we stayed up and just talked it, it had been along time since we had just talked about the good old days.
Waking up the morning was not that hard but I had a feeling that it was going to be pretty cold but his Iphone told us that it was 25 degrees so we both had hope that it would warm up. We did not factor in the wind but it was alot colder than it said it was but I was excited to get my run on.  I started off a bit and turned to Dev and asked him at what pace we were running, he told me that it was about 7:17. I was super shocked, it was way to easy for that pace but I decided to slow down because I would rather slow down then crash at the end. But it was still a steady pace, the farther we got on the run, the better I felt. I realized something, that running was not as hard anymore because of all the stuff that happened to me on my mission. Even though I felt some pain in those last few miles, it was nothing compared to the doors that I had slammed in my face, rude jokes, people lying, and all that good stuff that happened on my mission. My mission helped me with my running and we had one last little hit to tackle before we were done and I just hit it pretty hard, I wanted to see what I had left and it felt pretty good. I don't think it was that fast but it was a great time and a huge confidence builder for me, I am in better shape than I thought. But I still have a long ways to go so that we can have a good marathon. Life is getting better, and running is my new love!!!