Some of my Favorite Running Partners

Two of my favorite running partners have not yet been recognized in this blog. We hit the road together, usually twice a week. They seem to enjoy the run as much as I do, but their job is a little different than mine. They have 3 jobs, actually. 1. Tell me to go faster. 2. Spot doggies in the trail ahead. 3. Pass back and forth a few carefully selected treasures that will likely be missing by the time we arrive home.

Purchasing a double running stroller was one of the best things Ive ever invested money in. Just a few years ago it allowed Megan and Hannah to be my running partners. Then it was Hannah and Kelly. And now Kelly and Melissa.

Of course it is a very seasonal event. Every fall I dust off the stroller and pump up the tires and then the let the new season begin. I love that theyve trained with me for most of my races.

Will these friends still be running partners in 10-15 years from now? I really hope so. Some of my best runs are with those girls just right in front of me. Close enough for me to hear their conversation. I hope that's how it will be the rest of our lives.

My New Running Partner

After dinner on Thursday Lyndsee (6) wanted to go for a run. I've been saying no to her a lot lately about a lot of different things, so even though it was bound to be a busy night with homework and finishing valentines I said yes this time. I laced up our shoes and she made sure I had my Garmin because she wanted to see how fast she could be and off we went. I have to admit I was expecting a bit of a slow jog - maybe even a walk, but off she went. I was sweating within minutes and she made it a whole half mile before she took a walk break and that only lasted to cross the street. It was so fun. She chit chatted about lots of things, including telling me what a cool mom I was for taking her on a run after dark. As it got darker she even got to make a wish on the first star she saw. We had one more walk break and then after about a mile we made a sprint for home. She beat me in the race for the door and I was only holding back a little. I never was a runner when my kids were little enough to come along with me in the stroller, so I'm hoping that at least one of them will want to run with me, at least occassionally. I really enjoyed trotting along with her and can't wait to do it again soon.

Saturday Morning 6am

I cant really think of anything clever or interesting to say about this morning's run, except that I loved it. I feel it was a run worth talking about. I love getting up on a Saturday before most people are awake. I love heading out into the dark. I love the solitary peace outside. I love seeing my friends running towards me at the pre-designated meeting spot. This morning it was Cynthia.

This morning was one of those mornings where everything was kind of fuzzy. A little bit of fog? I love it. It gives the morning a dream-like quality. I love being out there in the dark, while everything is still sleepy, and then still being out there when the sun starts to rise. This morning we even saw a shooting star! What a great morning.

I had a good 8+ mile run this morning. Cynthia went on to get 10 miles. It was a good morning!

St. George Marathon Lottery

Here is what it says under group registration for the St. George marathon:

Group Registration - Runners can register as a group of up to 5 runners. Each member of the group should fill out their own individual registration application. On the second page of the application there is a field for "Group Email". Each member of your group should enter the exact SAME email address in the "Group Email" field. The group will be entered in the lottery as ONE. If the group is selected, the entire group will be in the race. If the group is not selected, none of the runners are in the race.

Registration opens April 1st. Run is October 3rd.

Do we have at least 5 who want to register and should we register as a group or go individual? I say we go for broke and register as a group - if we have at least 5 who want to run it. I'm in and I can see if some of my runner friends/family want to do it. Lind, it sounds like you're in, too. Anyone else up for 26.2?

Garmin Geek

I love my Garmin. It totally motivates me to run and especially to run faster than last time. Lisa has to tell me to quit looking at it when we run. I like to have my stats laid out there before me, like Lindy, I almost always have a goal, and it shows me exactly where I'm at on the path to that goal, whether the goal is time, distance or speed. I also like coming home and looking over the info, comparing it to last week or even last years info.

So, I've had my Garmin for just over a year now and the only thing I've been disappointed in is that it doesn't show me my average pace on one of the main screens. Until yesterday! I was trying to set it up to do my interval run for this morning and happened on a setting where I was able to add average pace to one of my main screens. I cannot believe how excited I am about this! It has been a frustration (especially since I knew Lindy's Garmin had it so I was sure mine could do it) and I've tried to figure it out several times. In fact, I'm not sure I could figure out how to do it again. So on my run this morning it was all about average pace (which happened to be 10 minute miles today.) I love it!

get ready, get set, go!

I've been contemplating and analyzing which races to enter this year. This is what I've come up with so far: April 18th SLC Half Marathon, May 25th local city Memorial Day Half Marathon, and then I'm trying to decide between the July 24th Deseret News (not sure if they're still having this one, haven't updated their website) or Aug 22nd Park City Marathon. AND I'm contemplating entering the lottery for the St. George Marathon. The lottery opens April 1st and the race is Oct. 3rd. What do you think? Two marathons in a year, too ambitious? Probably. Much easier to list them out on paper than actually run them :) Barring injury, pregnancy (definitely NOT planning a pregnancy - I have a six month old!), life, etc. this is my tentative race schedule. Anyone want to join me for 26.2 in July/Aug or October?

Running geek married to technical geek

Noah wants to know where you got the cool running girl picture. He has tried to build me different running tools- and looked for good pictures to go along with. He says he can never find anything good...

And speaking of his tools- he was working on building us a tool where we could list our races, or even his tool would find our races on its own- and there could be a link to this tool right from the blog.

But then he found out that Runnersworld already has a similar tool. But the Runnersworld training log doesnt find our races on its own- we have to enter them in. Anyhow, Noah would be happy to still build us something- that does whatever we want it to do.

So be thinking about what we would like for logging races in. Ideas?