Graci Tee Ball

Graci came to us a few months ago expressed desire to play tee ball. My sister Nat was going to coach, so we put her on the team. I have joked for several years that Graci was born with two left feet and a very left brain. She is probably the most creative person I have ever met, but when it comes to coordination thats a different story. If there is something to trip over or run into she seems to find it with little difficulty. I was worried that she inherited my eye sight, but when we went for the pre-kindergarten eye exam, her eyes were fine.

The last few weeks of tee ball have been a really fun experience. For the first few games, she would chase the ball after she hit it. After a few failed attempts to correct the problem, we devised a plan. I told her that the ball was a poison apple and she needed to smash and then run to first base for safety. If you explain things in princess terms she gets it. It seems to be working and she has been getting better with each game. She loves to be the second baseman so she can sit back and make patterns in the dirt. We'll just have to take it one step at a time.

Monday 5/25 Training

Planned Workout - 1 hour 30 minutes easy pace with 500 feet of elevation gain
Actual Workout - 1 hour 46 minutes 11.2 miles 600 feet elevation gain
Body - good
Mind - strong

I felt really good this morning. Originally, I wanted to go run up old snowbasin road to get ready for the Wasatch Back relay. I didn't get much sleep and didn't feel like making the trek up there. So I decided to run as far as I could up the East bench. It was great weather and I actually felt really good. I tried to push up the hills and not take a walk break till I got to the top. It had been a while since I had been up on the bench. I have some pretty good memories of delivery newspapers up there as a kid. I always remembered Karen drive because its my mom's name and I had to ditch my bike at the bottom and walk up it because it was so steep. 20 years later it still kicks my butt.

The route can be found at: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ut/ogden/645124328548998011

Saturday 5/23 Training

Planned Workout - 40 minutes easy effort
Actual Workout - 37 minutes - 4.5 miles night run
Body - fair
Mind - tired

I put on the reflector vest and head lamp and hit the road just after 9:00. I still felt a little sore, but handled it okay. I like running at night, but I do worry about being seen by cars.

Thursday training Log

Planned Workout - 35 minutes at an easy pace.
Actual Workout - 3.5 miles in 35 minutes
Body - sore
Mind - Kind of mad it is taking me this long to recover

It was nice to put my feet on the pavement. I took it nice and slow. I can't wait until I feel good enough to get after it!

Wednesday 5/20

Planned workout: 30 minute easy run
Actual workout: 10 minute run 10 minute mile pace. 20 minute walk 15 minute mile pace up 15% incline.
Mind - Strong. Eager to get training
Body - Extremely Sore

I wanted to run outside today knowing that soon it would be way too warm. I headed out the doors of the gym and my legs indicated that they were not ready yet. So I went back inside and hopped on the dreadmill. I ran very slow for ten minutes, bumped up the incline and did some fast hill walking.

Total miles: 2

Ogden 1/2 Marathon 5/16/09

It had been 15 + years since I had ran more than a mile or two. It was December 2008; I was 225 pounds and trying to get fit and healthy. I started to talk to a marathoner that attends my gym and decided to give running a go. It has been so long since I ran cross-country as a sophomore at Bonneville High School. I finished dead last in the 1993 Region 1 cross-country championships. It was a huge blow to my 15-year-old ego! I had the flu and was in no shape to be running, but the coach had me run. The moment of crossing the finish line sick, dehydrated, delirious and minutes after everyone else had haunted me away from ever running competitively again. You can’t talk to my mom about running without her bring up the story of me spending more time in the restroom than on the cross-country course. I think I heard it 3 or 4 times in the week leading up to the Ogden ½ marathon.

Saturday May 16, 2009 started a new era for competitive running and me. My very aggressive goal was to finish between 1:45 and 1:50. To hit the 1:45 mark, I would need to turn 8-minute miles. My friend Brandon and I caught one of the last buses up to Eden park. We still had about a 90 minute wait in 40ish degree weather. We lined up at the start and were off a few minutes after 7:00. One mile into the course we hit the only big hill we would see all day. We managed to take it in good stride and kept right to our pace. At mile mark 3, I saw the first port-a-jon and used it. I tried to catch back up to Brandon after but he was out too far. I felt fantastic at mile mark 5 running over pineview and was right on schedule averaging 8 minutes per mile. Once I was in the canyon, I tried to take full advantage of the downhill. With the tight canyon walls and roaring river, this part of the course may be prettiest running route around. At the mouth of the canyon, I still felt great and 10 + miles into the race was exactly averaging 8-minute miles.
Then the wheels seemed to come off the bus in the next mile. The muscles started to get tight and I could feel my pace slowing. Mile 11 came in at a 9 minutes, followed by 10 minutes at mile 12. One mile left and 11 minutes to hit the top end of my goal. Mentally I thought no problem this can be done. Physically I had to take walking breaks and I knew it was going to be a slow mile. We exited the walking path and told myself I was going to run the entire 6 blocks to the finish. By the third block in, I was taking a little walking break. I knew I would be just over my goal if I took it strong to the finish. With two blocks left I saw Glen an OPD officer who also works with me. He spurred me on and I was picking up steam. I then saw my mom and my two girls and forgot about the disappointment of not finishing under 1:50 and finished the last five strides as hard as I could. My final time was 1:50:31.

Brandon, who I had not seen since mile 3 finished with a strong 1:43:50. He was waiting just inside the finish line. His wife Shasta said I looked like I was going to vomit. I want to thank the Standard for capturing that moment so I can review it forever. Next up is the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay June 19.