Three Months Later...

Apparently, I only blog once every three months... And I always say that I'm going to be better about that. Well, this time I'm not going to make any promises. That way, I won't feel guilty later.

Things have not been going well on the training front. It's like I've lost all ability to prioritize and manage my time.

Fact.

I've been trying to live a well-rounded life, but that hasn't seemed to be working very well. I like to get involved in new projects and have new experiences, but then those things end up taking over my life. My training was impacted most recently by the legitimate theater. My husband and I wrote a play, that was then selected to be part of a festival, in which we both directed and were otherwise heavily involved in. That meant directors' meetings, auditions, rehearsals, and a solid week of going straight from work to the theater. Training did not happen much at all during this time. But as life experiences go, it was worth it.

The poster from our show.

I have four races to talk about in this round of blogging. It'll be fairly short and sweet, since they were all pretty much the same. I went in under trained, suffered through them, and barely made it across the finish line in one piece.

The Nebo half marathon is one of my favorites. Some may remember that this blog started back in 2011 as I began my training for this race as my very first half marathon. The steepness of this canyon always takes a toll on my legs. I had Scott run this one with me and we started out too fast and I knew it. But gravity was doing most of the work for us, right? No. My quads were doing the work and by mile 9 they let me know that they were toast. The last four miles were a death slog to the end. They changed the course for the last mile or so and ended at a new location, which made that last mile seem even longer. But it was a nice place to finish and the Nebo Music Festival was happening at the park where the finish was. So we were able to sit and rest afterward with free entertainment.

Obligatory swag shot.

I got exactly one week to recover from the quad thrashing of Nebo to recuperate before the Big Cottonwood half marathon. Spoiler alert: the Big Cottonwood race is another quad thrasher. There are some seriously steep canyons in Utah and we all think it's a glorious idea to run down them. I did my best to keep my speed in check and not let myself get too trashed before the end. I did better this time than I did at Nebo but I still had a hard time with stairs for a few days afterward. Scott wasn't registered for this one, but he did need to get a run in, so he started at the finish line and ran up to meet me to run with me to the finish.

*For those concerned about race banditing, Scott often runs up the course to meet me. However, he NEVER takes any aid from the aid stations and he never crosses the finish line and takes a medal for a race he didn't pay for.*

The shirts and medals for this race are always top notch.

After Big Cottonwood, I had a nice long break until the Haunted Half down Provo Canyon at the end of October. Too bad October is when things started getting nuts with the theater gig, and I decided to go on a family vacation down to Moab (where I did actually manage to get two training runs in AND a bit of hiking, thank you very much).

The Haunted Half course isn't as brutal with the steepness, but the downhill certainly helped our legs along for the first few miles. As soon as we ran out of downhill though, it wasn't so good. Scott and I were both in costume, he was Dapper Dude and I was Spock. Don't bother trying to figure out how those two things go together, it wasn't a cutesy couple's costume thing.

Run long and prosper. 

We squeaked in under the course time limit by about 8 minutes for this one. I was just happy to be done. We were able to collect our trilogy medals for finishing three Runtastic events in one year, so that made the pain in my feet nearly worth it.

I like big bling and I cannot lie. 

The last race to report on was the Thankful 13, half marathon number 99 in my quest to 100. I was not prepared for this race in the slightest. All of last week was devoted to the play festival. Scott and I were so run down from the festival that when it was over and time to train, we were hardly able to. We did go for a two and a half hour walk last Sunday to at least get some time on our feet. Although, he was only doing the 5K option at the race, so he didn't need that long walk but he's likes to be companionate.

On the Thankful 13 course.

They changed the course this year, as well as the start and finish line. I didn't realize that until we got to where we thought it was, and it wasn't. Thank goodness it was just down the street from where it used to be. I didn't think to check that detail because for the past five years, it's had the same start and finish. Lesson learned.

I was nervous from the start of this race, knowing that the course limit might not be long enough for what I can make my legs do these days. Somehow, I managed to keep my pace just under what it needed to be to finish on time. I was keeping it pretty consistent until mile 9, then there was the all too familiar slow down that's become my signature lately. With Scott off doing his 5K thing, I didn't have him to distract me from the blister rising up on my right foot and the fact that I still had about an hour left to go.

He took fifth place in his age group for the 5K and I made it to the finish line with 11 minutes to spare. So I guess we'll call it a successful day all around.

Thankful swag. (Number 99!)

I have a couple of weeks to try and get my crap together before the Baker's Dozen. Thank heavens it isn't a timed race. It's going to be celebration of eating and running and getting giant medals. What more could you ask for? I just need to get some training in before then so I can actually enjoy it.

And if anyone is worried that I'll stop running after I hit my 100th half marathon, don't fret. I'm already signed up for things in 2018 that I keep telling myself I'll be ready for but probably won't be. So stay tuned for that. I'm basically a living, breathing cautionary tale. Grab some popcorn and stay for the show.

Until next time, happy running!