alfniner - wow, you had every possible distraction during that race and you still finished strong.  thanks for the band aid reminder.  i need to put some in my car for next weekend before i forget.

oldcoyote - how are the trails in waterton?  i thought that area was closed, but maybe just to car traffic?  i think i need to hit up a run over there sometime soon.  i'm going to see if those trails are available on mapmyrun.

i ran 5 this morning and it was a pretty good run.  i had to run ASAP after waking up b/c my husband needed to be somewhere (and i needed him to watch the kids while i ran), so honestly, it was like i didn't let my body wake up enough before i started.  the first 2 miles i felt SO stiff.  blech.  i hate that.  anyway, i did 5 hilly miles in 50:46.

i have a 10 miler next sunday so just light runs this week.  the race starts at 7am and is about an hour away from me.  ack.  i'll be up early that day and getting some food and coffee in me during the drive.

for any other new runners out there, i installed runners ally's pace calculator app on my ipad.  i love that it tells me projected times for race distances (based on previous times) and also suggested training times for different types of training.  it helps me figure out what my pace should be on my training runs which really helps this noobie.

az1414 - Great job! 58 minutes is not easy in a trail 10.

aleucker - Waterton opened a few weeks ago. It's a dirt access road for Denver Water so it's closed to all other traffic. They've added vault toilets and picnic tables, but carry your own water. Go figure. It's just over 5k to the Marston diversion dam; and 6.6 miles all the way, so you have a convenient 10k or half. Uphill out; downhill back. The trails in the canyon tend to turn into sheep trails, and they can climb places I can't

After trying on a dozen pair of shoes and researching a dozen more over the last month, I bought a pair of New Balance Minimus MR20 road shoes this weekend. I tried them out this morning, and love them. They're a 4mm drop shoe, with some cushioning. I can feel the difference in my lower legs after a 3.7 mile test run this morning. I really like these shoes. They encourage a midfoot strike without overly punishing the occasional heel. They're discontinued, and I got the last pair in my size, half off - $50.00. Then a 15% running club discount, and I have a new pair of tires for $42.50! Who cares about the color.

My wife bought a pair of Altra Intuitions (the men's is called Instinct). She wore those for a 6 miler Saturday and never wanted to take them off. They're a zero drop with good cushioning, very soft and comfortable. Unfortunately, they just don't fit my foot shape. On our Waterton run Saturday, we saw the guy that sold her those shoes coming down, and he recognized us and his eyes dropped to her shoes. The running community is a small world...

In the words of Dale Evans, Happy trails to you!

igotwings & ozzimo: Thank you! Nice to meet you both

My last run was my half and it was AWESOME!! I think I trained much much better - couldn't help but train better since I race almost every month I am not allowed to slack off lol. Anyway, I posted to the girls in my running group that I really think what worked for me this year aside from very consistent training is that I took two days off running, I didn't run Thurs or Fri. My close friends know how hard it is for me to NOT run, the only times I don't run is if I'm sore for a few days after a race or I'm really sick, so not running when I was antsy before the race and felt GREAT was really really hard. Most training plans suggest that you either run really really slow and easy for 1-2 miles two days before and then don't run at all the day before. I also carb loaded a bit most of the week in addition to a big dinner with all the girls the night before - and I had a game plan for fueling during the half. Last year I didn't have a fuel belt, carry water, or carry blocks and I probably only grabbed water at 3 water stations the whole run. This time I wore my fuel belt, had 2 packages of blocks, and ate 2 before the race, one at mile 4, one at mile 7, and one at mile 9. I never felt bad - after not running for two days I was just so happy to be running, and with the downhill course and cool temps at the start, I couldn't have asked for a better place to do it! My sportband was behind in mileage the whole way so my next question to experts is going to be a suggestion for a good gps watch that isn't huge (garmin?) or freakishly expensive. I finished in a 1:37.52 and seriously thought the clock was busted when I saw it. Best weekend ever! I am stoked for my marathon in Oct because compared to last year, this year was a breeze. Marathon pace won't be anywhere near this, I think I'm going to run with a pace group so hopefully it will be easy to run consistently.

Old Coyote: I have NB too - I met a guy who works at the outlet down the hill at a race a few months ago and now I see him regularly at races around town. We chat occasionally on facebook and he always asks me how I'm liking my shoes. I was a Nike-only runner for years but I think NB has more room in the toebox and I wore them at my last race. I wish shoes didn't wear out so quickly, it takes less than a month to put 100 miles on them and four months comes up quickly when you're not paying attention. I started running trails too so I think my shoes will only get more thrashed as time goes on.

ALatteCrazy:  INCREDIBLE finish times!!  CONGRATS on your PR, that is AWESOME!!  Your marathon should be a 'breeze' !!!

Where do you live?  I see you have races coming up which are in UT; been wanting to run (no pun intended, haha!) next door (UT/NV) for some races but schedule conflicts ........

I just hope to have a 1:50 at some point for a HM finish which at 52, I would be ecstatic about!!  LOL!! 

Had a 1:42 as my PR from a few years ago but my best time since then has been 1:52, both were HM TRAIL races which I prefer. 

YOU ARE DOING AMAZING!!

GOOD LUCK!!

Alfniner - Another shout-out for a dogged race.

Hit the trail at 5 this morning, up South Table Mountain. I started my run as the full moon dominated the western sky. Sunrise at 5:30, with tangerine colored cirrus clouds exploding with the dawn. This old coyote didn't see his namesake this morning, or any mountain lions (or tigers or bears - OH MY!), but I did have to share the trail with 3 mule deer and a baby rabbit.

Oh, yeah, the run: 5 miles, more or less, 48 minutes. I ran the entire uphill portion, 13:00.

You know, I feel so good that I've decided to enter a fall marathon. This will be my first. I have about 20 weeks to prepare. My goal is not to just "finish", but to finish well. That means increasing my mileage, first off. I should be at 40/week by the end of July, with long runs at 17-18 miles. Plenty of time for an October full.

Happy trails to you!

I've been living vicariously through y'all for the past two weeks. It always seems that just as I start getting into a grove things come up. First it was a big project at work (which has now been scraped since our manager got back from vaca.) second it was chest pain from some inflammation in/around my lungs. Got out early yesterday morning and did a three mile walk. I'm a little more than 14 weeks out from my first half. I have a tendency to burn out real quick with my training and work schedule, but with my lung issue I'm giving myself permission to walk this week and next. Hopefully I can keep up this early morning routine it's actually kind of nice not to roll out of bed and head straight to work. Unfortunately I can only walk outside that early two days a week or three if you count Saturday. So tomorrows walk will be on the treadmill. Blech!

Love reading everyone's posts!

Keep pushin'!