j-lyn's corner

Went out for 10 miles at Liberty Park in the dark. The goal was to work on control my emotions and speed, and do a hard mile then a recovery mile (some may call this speed work, but that makes me gag). But, alas, there was terrible weather tragedy- 18 degrees and raining. Really. That's ALMOST as bad as -20F and 25mph wind. How can it be that cold and raining, not snowing? It was terrible. I was a human popsicle by mile 4, and decided that I would discontinue the speed efforts and instead just force my popsicle body to finish the run. I did.

 So, New Years. It was a good day. Took the boys (+1 nephew) to the Ogden hot springs and soaked for a couple of hours. Loaded my ipod with new music with my husband in the morning, and ate a yummy dinner at my sister "Pretty Kimmy's" house. Oh, and I also got to raid her D.I. pile, which has now replenished my wardrobe. Although I need to sew some of the clothes to fit a bit smaller. 

For New Years Eve we went to the Hogle Zoo lights & party (which had a 9pm countdown for the kids). Then we put the boys to bed, snuggled and watched TV. We're new kids in town, and we're really popular, if you didn't notice.

As for goals? 2012 My goal was to be the year of no excuses. That went pretty well.

2013... So many options. There's all the obvious ones, don't injure myself, continue to raise my beautiful and well-behaved children (who are miraculously doing so well), nurture my marriage, excel at my job, train harder.... blah, blah, blah (good things.)

 A friend posted on facebook the question asking why we run- health reasons, social reasons, or for the love of the sport. I joked asking where the "self-abuse" option was. He was probing to see if the group would still run without a fitness benefit. I began to probe myself more. If I had nothing to prove, if I was satisfied with myself, if I had no emotions and craziness to purge, if I really loved my life and myself, would I still run?

2013. Goals are still simple. It will be the year of discovery. I've been a religion fence-sitter for long enough. I've been unsure on how hard I can push myself near my injury line. Add in there the buying of a house in a few weeks, running my first 100, and my pathetic attempts to be less awkward in social situations and we can call this my resolutions.

Ran with the SLC track club. We did a 5 mile loop. I tried to get the road runners to run a few more with me, but no success. So I sat around and waited for the trail runners to finish the loop... and what a surprise, I was able to convince one of them to keep running. :) Company is nice.

I think today counts as fast miles, even though it wasn't necessarily so. It just FELT fast since I was focusing 90% of my efforts on not vomiting.

After being up with the flu last night (flu+insomnia=no sleep) I did the smart thing when my 4am alarm went off. I took some pepto bismo, forced down some ginger cookies, and went for a run.

I took more pepto every 30 min, totalling about 5 tabs. I think they formed a rock which has yet to dissolve in my stomach.

On the upside, I got to meet new people. It was fun to run with people faster than me. I felt bad for being slow and quiet, but at least I didn't throw up!

Nice morning. Now, as soon as stomach settles again, I will make the drive to Logan... 

Went out with the crew at 5am at the equestrian center in Draper. Went up corner canyon and did the "long loop" (whatever that means.)

JK was whining about coming, but ended up showing up. N came too, and so did JM. JM and I had a harder day, something about recovering from being sick slows you down I guess.

Wish I would've taken a picture of N's impressive ice beard. It even had snot icicles hanging from it. The view of Lone Peak and the valley was nice too, but my hands were too cold to think about doing anything extra. The handwarmers were amazing though, first time I've retained dexterity in my fingers on a run in a while. 

I had to be showered, clean, and dressed and at a hotel for a conference at 9:20am. I was hoping to get there by 9am to have time to shower.

About 5 miles in to the run, and we're moving slower than usual... I ask, hey, how long is this loop anyways? 13 miles was the answer. Oh, crap. Can we pick up the pace? Sure, apparently all you have to do is ask JK personal questions and he starts doing mile repeats. lol. Ended up being 14 miles, and I got to the hotel at 9:10 and snuck in a shower and was only a couple of minutes late.

Fun run with great company. We all aired a little dirty laundry. (Ok, N didn't. Somehow he got out of it...) As they say, there's no secrets on the trail. Oh, and what's said on the trail, stays there. Whew.

 Next week: I fly to Vegas early Friday morning. So I want to get 40 miles in before then. 10 a day? 

"...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world" 

Sometimes, everything clicks. And it's FUN. If you run for fun, ultrarunning isn't your sport. Unless you're willing to suffer for the times it is more than fun.

After a few runs of pre/post flu misery, I felt excellent today. I had the freeing feeling of being released after being trapped. I was actually able to, almost, keep up with the boys today. Ran with jun, Scott, and Matt. I'll either die trying to keep up with them or get a whole stronger. Probably both.

Ran the Avenues Twin Peaks this morning. Got to sleep in til 5am. I feel pathetic that I was excited to "sleep in."

We rose above the inversion level, and it was warm and beauitful. Elk were spotted and coyotes were calling. I was warm, did I mention that? What a novel thing, to be warm in on a dark winter morning.

I must say, when we summitted the first peak, and quickly came do to run up the second, I questioned why I was doing this but after summitting the second one, I remembered.

What a positively wonderful way to start my day. So much that, who knows, I might just head back there tomorrow. (I do have 45 miles to get in before my flight leaves Thursday morning). 

Check out the sunrise, over the mountain tops encompassing the big city. I really did try to dislike Utah.

45 min of chest, shoulders, and core. bleh.

Ran the twin aves twice. Had a blast, saw entrails, gave myself a migraine running in red air, and met up with a few friends. Feeling to lazy to write about it here. Full report on the new, unfinished blog: http://jennilyneaton.blogspot.com/

I don't know what's worse, the fact that the exercise room in a giant hotel is smaller than a Starbucks, or that out of thousands of people staying at the hotel, only a handful of them are exercising. Suffered through dripping sweat for 12 miles on the dreadmill. It took 10 miles before my brain shut off. Reasonable or not, I paid my $20 allowance of snack money to run on that treadmill (stupid resort fees). The first 10 miles I lied to myself to pretend I was trail running. I did irregular footfalls, steep hills, and imagery. There's a trail I would run from our home when we lived in glenwood springs. It took 3 miles to get to the good stuff- soft high altitude dirt, sun peeking through thick trees, and the rare overlooks on the steep mountainside. This is my favorite memory to harness. Now I vary that memory with friends from the valley and the trails I've run with them. I used to feel guilty that when I am under discomfort or pain, like when I had my wisdom teeth removed while awake (no laughing gas) that my go to calming memory doesn't involve family or kids. Just trails. I'm over feeling guilty. It's an integrate part of me, a part that regardless of my circumstances, can't be taken away. I love my kids and family. But the trail therapy takes all my crazy away and gives me me. I would expect no less if it is, and has been, such an important an time consuming part of my life. Ok, I'm at work a a conference in vegas. Time to get back to it.

Somehow conned JM to run with me in the bitter cold. Such a strange run, started with warm beautiful sunshine. Lots of laughter, race planning, and the usual trail tales. Ended with running miles through a cold, shaded canyon.

The hardest part of the run was opening and starting the car. I had no dexterity in my fingers. After getting the car started I sucked on my fingers until I could at least wiggle them before driving home.

Out by my house (by the SLC airport) it's supposed to be the coldest it's been in 20 years. Fantastic.

Gets me all excited for my token early/late runs this week. 

 I'm going to need a few more packages of hand warmers.

This morning (aka the great whining session).... Hmm. The stats:

10.6 miles on post-holes of despair whining, crying, and trash-talking. Somehow managed to summit the twins and get back down, although I almost succeeded in getting jun lost. Since that took the bulk of my morning (almost 3 hours) and I was running out of time before preschool was over, I went home, laced on my road shoes, and ran on a running path that had the perfect 1-3 inches of snow on it.

I can't say it sucked. I can't say it was good either. It was fun to trash talk and laugh with jun. The run portion was entirely awful. (not sure how much running was done, there must be a better name for "suffering movement in snow") The last 9 I went slower dreaming of water, bacon, and showers.

 Jun did a more in-depth blog entry here: http://jun.fastrunningblog.com/.

I blame him entirely. He also suggested that I would die of dehydration on the side of a trail with vultures pecking my eyes out. This would be after goading him into doing something stupid.

How flattering.

Recovery run with the track club and a few extra for good measure.

I am so used to bathroom trail etiquette. Good thing the extra miles were at a park. (Albeit a park with lots of sledders...)

Song of the day: Out to Get You, James 

Ran in Logan. Cold Logan. I was tempted to run at 4am with fellow crazies, but I had this brilliant idea of actually sleeping in til 8am.

Then my kids and husband got up 5am (and if you know me and my sleep disabalities, that means I'm up too.) I should've woken up an hour and a half earlier....

I think I'm fighting a cold. Or I'm sick. Or it's the inversion. Or I'm allergic to dairy and I'm eating too much of it anyway. Who knows?

4 miles and some lame WOD while my laundry was going at my parents. I need a longer run and tomorrow is my mandatory rest day.

I was reading this training blog, and the writer suggests that every run have a purpose (i.e. tempo run, speedwork, recovery run, fartlek, etc).

Ok dude. Tuesday my run was to enhance my suffering capabilities and see how slow I can move. Today the purpose was to forget gloves and lose complete feeling in my hands and see how long it takes to regain feeling so I can drive home from Logan. See, my runs have a purpose.

PS: New blog post: http://jennilyneaton.blogspot.com/2013/01/running-lies-exposed.html 

Song of the day: Everyone thinks I'm a liar/ No one knows the truth/ If it was a bigger fire/ I would be on the roof: Submarines by The Lumineers

Ran at 4am with JK. JM was sick, bummer. I even brought coconut-oatmeal sugar cookies. I discovered they taste fantastic frozen.

Lil Fish was up puking all night. He was so tired, I would have to hold him up otherwise he'd lay his head in the throw-up bowl while still puking.

I could've snuck in another 3-4 miles, but I was eager to get home and take care of my little guy.

I think we summited Mount Wire. Or Mount Aire. Vancott? haha. Something like that.

I'll make myself do some core and strength tonight, probably about 45min.

Today: Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead  It's been a while since I watched that vid. The lead singer looks exactly like the guy I dated when I was 14 who introduced me to this song...

 It's official: I should be the next pin-up girl. With 27 layers and pepper spray.

Nothing like running a lot of 0.8 mile loops around your trailer park wearing a painter's mask to make you feel like a winner in life. It was dark, cold, and smoggy.

The trailer park's night security guard (in the little go-cart) chased me down. I kept running, and it took them about 0.4 miles to catch up as I wove through the tiny streets (entertainment). "Do you live here?" "What are you doing?" "Are you sure you're just exercising?" "Why are your wearing a mask?" Once we all figured out I wasn't going to sneak in through someone's doggie door and steal their cookies, we went our separate ways.

There were 3 cops surrounding a trailer. That was exciting. It also interrupted my loop. A man carrying a pipe stopped me, asking if I had seen his little dog. I said no and kept running. I tried to ignore him the subsequent times he tried to stop me (he creeped me out) and once I saw him driving in his car circling his trailer, I cut that area out of my loop.

Oh, and at the 9 mile mark the "crazy-old-hoarding-man" died and was being removed from his trailer. Even though his trailer was filled with piles of garbage and he'd sneer and me and my kids whenever we went passed, I am sensitive to death and it put a damper on my mood, and I ended up slowing down a bit the last few miles.

I also removed my mask after 8 miles, it became restrictive once it was filled with frozen condensation.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the progression of two Florida girls (who I presume came for OR) shovel snow from their grass, sent up some weird tarp tent from the trees, and alternate moving the car around to shine the lights in different areas (they didn't have headlamps), and sit in it to thaw (their winter clothing was cuter than warm).

Who knew so much goes on at 10pm in a trailer park? Fortunately the trailer park is "safer" than my surrounding areas (I've had scary experiences in daylight there...Like the big black guy who cut me off in his car and hopped out yelling at the top of his lungs to come to his car so he could spray me with his body spray. Also memorable is the hispanic man who followed me with a baseball bat and the strange skinny white guy who wanted me to look at the chihuahua in his pocket).

I much prefer the trails. At least this all took only 1:42. Felt like I was going faster, probably because I was on mixed ice and snow.

Went for a hike with the boys in Millcreek. Hiked around a mile, then played McDonalds, ate ice cream, and watched movies. Oh, I also managed to do an hour of core/lunges.

sick day :/

6 miles round trip to the summit of something next to Mt Wire. Maybe it wasn't a summit. I wanted 10 flat miles on the BST and somehow ended up on the never-eding climb of doom. At least it was warm above the inversion.

Then I pushed the kids in the double jogger to OR and home again. I was supposed to "pick up" Ben from work. Instead he got to speedwalk/jog home with me and the jogger. Such a wonderful wife I am. 

Ran on deer fence trail in Logan. Stupid freezing rain... turned around after 2 miles. The rain had turned to hail, I was soaked, miserable, and tired of slipping on ice-crusted packed/uneven snow. I also was still feeling a little wishy/washy from the flu.

Got out at 4am this morning in Millcreek. I actually got to the parking lot at quarter to four, and while there were quite a few cars in the lot, they were all dark and unoccupied. No worries, I brought the complete works of Flannery O'Connor. I'd been wanting to re-read one of her classics, "A Good Man is Hard to Find." 

So from 3:45-4:15am I sat reading about an escaped murderer who kills a young family with their grandmother on an abandoned dirt road. 

The truck behind me occasionally had glimpses of light. I figured I was just over-excited with my reading and that it would be best to ignore it.

That is, until 4:15 when JK and LH pull in.... and that truck turns on and drives down the road! So someone was there the whole time! I'm sure it was someone who lives in their truck just looking for a quiet place to sleep, but it was still a little unnerving.

Kind of like the time I made the excellent decision to listen to "Lovely Bones" while running on the trails in Logan Canyon at midnight by myself. If you ever want to be spooked, listen to a murder on your ipod while running on the trails by yourself. It'll make you stronger... or more resilient at the next haunted house.

Apparently GPA is not a true indicator of intelligence.

It was a brilliantly fun run. Good convo, good pace, and good snacks (thank you homemeade Larabar). It was warm and crisp and clear. I even enjoyed the "rough" single-track.... it's like running down something technical, while not running downhill.

All was going well, til I got food poisioning today. Thankfully after 4 hours of misery, it's starting to clear out. Glad I didn't eat all that much today.

I swear I've thrown up more this winter than any other (excluding pregnancies). On the flip side, I've never come this far through winter without getting a bad cold or sinus infection. 

And simply because life is incomplete without imagery and music:

  That's a cool hunk of snow that looked like a rose.

Song of the day, Last Kiss cover by Pearl Jam 

UltraRunning (Coaching Endurance) Video.

 I love to run in dumping snow. Instead I am trying to be smart. With the amount of fluids lost yesterday, I should not be outside running. Or so I am reciting to myself. I'm not very convincing.

So instead I'm inside, updating my blog and watching running videos. 

Maybe I'll do some core work in a bit. 

In my defense, they felt fast. No fair that running thru shin to knee deep snow takes forever. I wanted to run a quick 9 (tempo run). I got 6. Not sure if it counts for tempo, but I worked hard...

Summitted the Twins with snow blowing and trucking through Sunday's snowfall.  It took 2:35 round trip... 45min longer than usual.

We all look pretty uncomfortable in this picture. Pretty sure it's an accurate capture of how we felt. Thankfully jun loaned me handwarmers after this, my hands got cold at the summit!

In other news, I am addicted to the A3 peanut butter & jelly bars. SO good. 

almost forgot the song of the day, an oldie but a goodie: King of Pain, The Police