Maddie, looking for her dad amongst Moab's red rocks 2009
Countdown: almost 3 weeks...19 days...456 hours...27,360 minutes...1,641,600 seconds
January 31-Feb.6: 35-40 miles with a 10 mile long run
- Monday...Pineridge Loop 6 miles...This was probably the most frustrating run I have ever had! I wasn't cursing because of the 11 degree temp. Oh No. It was maddening due to the inability of actually running for fear of falling and braking something important! It was like trying to run on a frozen lake covered in a fine layer of snow. 6 miles took me 01:30:10 with an average pace of 14:53. I had to take baby-steps the entire "run" and I still managed to spend a good portion flailing my arms wildly in hopes of regaining my balance so as not to fall on my ass. The funny thing is...I didn't fall once on the trails, but I took a big spill on top of my poor dog (sorry, Shadow) as I was walking from the street to my driveway at mile 6. At least I got out today and didn't brake, tear, sprain, or strain anything in the process. Although, there will be a lovely bruise to look forward to on my right "cheek." This ended my biggest month with 150 miles!!
Shadow's frozen whiskers after our icy 11 degree run
- Tuesday...5 mile loop around Spring Canyon Park with Alex & Shadow. The temperature stayed at 7 degrees, but fluctuated between being bitingly cold (if you were headed north, into the wind) and sweat-dripping-down-your-face-damn-I-have-too-many-layers-on warm (if your were headed south). Alex coached me through 6x75m strides as we enjoyed our rare gift of a school-wide "Cold Day." We were able to circumnavigate the snowy/icy path in about an hour with an average pace of 12:35 and a max of 4:59. There is an ever-present soreness in my legs, but they feel strong at the same time.
- Wednesday...decided to make this my rest day since I spent all day in Arvada signing contracts and picking up my uniform for Pridemark. Felt tired and lethargic as I headed out to my 6-9pm IV Therapy for EMTs class at Front Range Community College.
- Thursday...5 miles around Spring Canyon Park with Shadow. Legs felt like lead, energy level was zapped, and my mood was gloomy like the grey sky. Time--58:15; Average Pace--11:38; Max--8:44.
- Friday...went for "A" good run to the "A" Overlook with Shadow. 10 miles in 2:15, Average pace was 13:31, max was 8:13, ate one packet of Honey Stinger's Organic Energy Chews, walked the hills, overall--felt strong, bonked at mile 9, but was glad to be outside exercising for over 2 hours after spending another 2+ hours in the car driving to Denver to pick up my Pridemark uniform.
- Saturday...Much to my delight, my IV lab at PVH finished several hours early and I was able to meet up with Alex and the rest of the crazies for the Human Powered Brewery Tour at their second stop...Fort Collins Brewery. Luckily I was wearing my running shoes and my Fort Collins Trail Runners shirt...so I jumped right in and joined the HPB Tour. My first beer of the day was a taster of the Double Chocolate Stout which tasted like a thick and creamy "beershake!" YUM! Running to the next brewery (Funkwerks) with Alex and Mindy/Ladybug, was slow but exhilarating to see the costumed runners in front of me and bikers whooping and hollering as they whizzed past. I never counted, but it seemed like there were between 30-40 of us crammed inside the tiny Funkwerks tasting room and the noise level steadily increased until the cacophony became unbearable. Mary B. was worried about hearing loss and I was starting to feel trapped as my "fear of crowds" began to set in. Thankfully, we set out for our next destination...O'dells. The group was getting noticeably more raucous. We hung out at O'dells for quite awhile...thank goodness for Mary's cheese and pretzels stashed in her pockets. Our penultimate destination was Equinox Brewing located next door to Hops & Berries and across the street from Coopersmith's, which would be our final stop of the tour. I have to say that, aside from Fort Collin's Double Chocolate Stout, Equinox was my favorite Brewery of the day. My favorites from the sampler tray were the Ursa Major Honey Beer and Mr. Delicious Oatmeal Stout. The rest were rather hoppy...not my favorite, but I would like to go back and try the Quasar Grand Cru and the Midwinter Warmer. Finally, we sprinted across the street to Coopersmith's and ordered some much need food to sop up some of the beer. Around 5pm, Alex and I said our goodbyes and ran our last mile back to New Belgium where this craziness began...six hours earlier. I think I got about 4 miles of running in today. Isn't it amazing that we could run to 6 unique and delicious breweries all within a few miles of each other?! Definitely a good day to be a runner!
- Sunday...Ran the Fort Collin's Running Club Tortoise & Hare 8K with my rosy cheeked, bright eyed, sporty and competitive Maddie. We were the first to leave (the official tortoises) at a casual 14 min/mile pace. It took us about 2 miles to warm up while Maddie got her race face on and finished her breakfast...Tiger Milk Bar. We had a bit of a slow start out of bed this morning since we both had a late night...Maddie was on a date with her dad at their 5th annual Butterfly Kisses Father-Daughter Dance & Micah and I went out to see Tron in 3D (don't get me started on the 3D-hype, headache inducing plastic spectacles and $12 tickets--Arrrgh!) and then appetizers (cheese fries, fried pickles, and baby onion blossom--food of champions, I know), which would have fed 4 hungry adults, at the Texas Roadhouse Grill. Needless to say, we brought most of the edible grease home to share with the rest of the family for our super bowl party/preemptive Fat Tuesday/excuse to eat artery-clogging food. So, back to the running...it took us 1:00:50 to complete the 5 miles while I used my typical diversion tactic to help the miles go by for Maddie...tell her crazy stories about my EMT and IV classes. She loves hearing all the gory details and forgets about the distance we are running. After a few miles she gets into her zone and I know when this happens because she starts to tell animated stories to me about past runs or things that she finds funny. During our 2nd mile, we lost about 30-40 seconds while waiting for the snow sweeper to clear the tunnel. Soon after that, as we were deciding if we were going the right way, a female runner came speeding towards us. We had about a half mile to the turn around and I realized that this woman must be new because there was no way that anyone should have been passing us that soon or that quickly. I told Maddie this and she was relieved to know that she would still be able to hold onto her point lead. Newbies don't get points...since they always understate their times. Sometimes I forget how competitive my daughter can be, but was reminded of it today as we hit the turn around and started passing runners on their way out. I could feel Maddie pick up the pace as she saw runners closing the distance on us. I tried to keep the pace casual so she could make it the 2.5 miles back. I could tell that Maddie was getting energized as she passed Fort Collins Trail Runners and familiar faces from past T&H races, all of whom cheered Maddie on or encouraged her in some way! There was Celeste and her pup, Brian W., Dennis V., Alex A., Alex/Dad, Slush, Sarah Hansen. We were slowly passed by 2 other unfamiliar runners, then a bearded man, and finally a tall guy. At this point we were half a mile from the finish when the runner number 5 passed us and Maddie was going to have none of that. She really kicked it into gear so she could overtake #5. He was steadily lengthening the gap between us so I encouraged Maddie to go for it...I took her discarded sweater and gloves so she could focus on the final sprint. I honestly couldn't keep up with her at this point...she's really adept at finishing fast...kicking it hard...giving it all she's got...All heart, that girl! She made it to the finish line in 6th place and I came in 7th. There was a little confusion as the not-very-child-friendly-guy handing out race places didn't give Maddie a place...when I pointed this out he replied, "Oh, I didn't know she was running it seriously." Maddie's sentiment..."I take all my running seriously!" After shaking off the frustration of once again being overlooked as a child, Maddie was able to focus on the positives...how amazing and thoughtful Nick Clark is in regards to giving Maddie her due recognition as the youngest runner at these T&H events, always making sure to talk to her, encourage her and make her feel included & all of the runners that encourage and cheer Maddie on during every T&H run! It really is a great group of people. Another awesome morning...running with my daughter.
- Here are Maddie's impressive NEGATIVE splits!! Mile 1) 14:05; 2) 14:00; 3) 11:37; 4)11:25; 5) 9:13
Since we didn't take any photos at the T&H here is Maddie running in Pineridge
February 7-13: 30-35 miles with an 8 mile long run
February 14-20: 10-15 miles plus 20.5 mile race
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