Ft Collins racing and hiking

I am getting really good at going from clinical to the airport, changing in the airport bathroom out of my scrubs and into my "civilian" outfit. People look a little funny, but I have to maximize my time off :-)

Last week I flew to Ft Collins again. Veterans Day weekend meant lots of running events around the Ft Collins area. We decided to run the local CSU Veterans 5k and had a ton of fun. The course is flat and fast. I wanted to go out conservative but the competitive me just had to stay behind this girl who took off fast. We went through mile 1 in 5:45, mile 2 in 11:40. I tried to move ahead at mile 1.5 but she left me in the dust. With one mile to go I tried again and was successful :-) YAY. I finished in 18:30 and was super happy to take the win, but a little confused about the time. After some research we found out that the course was long...3.25 miles instead of 3.1. That made me feel much better about effort/pace/time. JR took the W as the first veteran. 

I don't know what is in the Ft Collins air, but the next day I ran 14 miles at probably my best training pace ever, with 5 miles sub 7 and an average of 7:06 - for a "going by feel" run, this was a great start to the day!!!

 In the afternoon we met up with our friends Pam and Jason. Jack was waiting for Scout and Aidra.

We hiked Arthur's Rock in Lori state park. Tons of great running and mnt biking trails around that park!!! I am so excited to explore more. The hike is around 4 miles, so it was a perfect afternoon hike. The puppies had fun and really enjoyed playing.

 Made it to the top :-) Horsetooth Lake in the background.

 The crew at the top of the rock.

One more month and I will be in Ft Collins over Christmas break, exploring the routes and racing some more. Until then it is a little more studying, some yoga and strength, a lot of running.

Phoenix 3 TV 10k and 5k - the Double Header

Last week didn't go as planned...my airplane from Denver to Flagstaff on Monday got cancelled, so JR and I spend 5 hrs driving and waiting for nothing...

Tuesday I got sick...

Wednesday I was at clinical so long that it got dark outside and I had to cut my run short...

Friday this happened: 

Some strange person decided it would be fun to smash in an innocent person's window...They left the weapon, which landed right next to my american flag, but the police said the rock was too rugged to get fingerprints off :-( 

                                 

I knew my collection of athletic tape was good for something :-)

Things don't always go the way we want, but we have to make the best out of it. My friend Stacey and I didn't let any of the above influence our plans and off we were to Phoenix for a girls weekend, including a great race (despite having a 20 page essay due...and YES, we worked on it for many hrs in our hotel).

Race morning was great, Stacey and I both woke up NOT ready to race...that essay caused us to have nightmares about the critique of a research paper ;-)

We jogged the 2 miles to the race start and sooner then I knew my 5 k came up. I had done mileage and some speed, but my body wasn't sure what racing on the road feels like anymore. I started out very conservative to safe some energy for the next race. I finished in a 18:40 which wasn't super awesome, but it was a great start to a great winter 2013/ spring 2014 season. I had a 30 min break before the 10 k, which I pretty much spent walking from finish to start. 

At the start line I had no idea what I had in me, but I knew I had to do the same again, go out conservative. I think I pretty much even split the entire race and finished in a 39:40, again, nothing super fantastic, but great for where I am in the season and training.

I won the Double Header for the females - YAY!!!

I licked the blood again and immediately got excited to race next Saturday again. 10k race in Longmont, CO. I can't wait to see how every week of training affects my performance and effort level.

I think staying positive is the key to happy running and life. Shit happens, some weeks a lot of it (see above), but things work out if you just want them too.