Stacy's Blog

Very slow, easy run. Temp was chilly and windy but the sun felt good. I can't get over how green the grass is! Maybe after all the winter white and gray my eyes are like super sensitive to color. :)

We spent the weekend with Tara which was awesome. We bought her a new bike and helmet. She is all about saving money this summer. Her legs will be in good shape at the end of the summer. Unlike the Red River Valley, Bismarck has hills and a lot of them.

The western part of the state had a spring blizzard on Saturday so we were moving her in 50 mph winds and horizontal snow. Fun.

On the news Saturday night they had a story about a marathon in Minot. Which is only about 30 miles from Canada. Any way they show these runners out in the middle of nowhere running on this road against this horrendous wind. I can't imagine doing 26.2 in those conditions! You never know what kind of weather you are going to get when you run a marathon in the spring in ND! 

Perfect weather for a run. Tried to keep it up tempo the whole way, but I struggled. All in all I am happy with the run. I hate speed workouts. My IT is giving me some trouble. Nothing like last time when I had to quit running for a month. We'll see, I may cut back on mileage. I know I would benefit from X-training. I just prefer to run. 

Average 8:08

1@ 8:57

2@ 8:15

3@ 8:12

4@ 7:39

5@ 8:00

6@ 8:07

7@ 7:48 

Biked 9 miles on the stationary bike.

It was a hot day, but a good run.

Easy run

8:15 pace

Treadmill today. Cold and really windy. Spring has finally arrived in ND. Green grass, black dirt and blue sky. It hasn't been what I would call a warm spring, but I have been able to get out and get my gardening done. Really sore and stiff. Amazing how gardening muscles are different than running muscles. 

9 days 'til Fargo Marathon!  

I let the dogs go all 4 with me today as the temp is 45 and breezy. Not a great spring day, but hey at least it is not snowing. :) I should have known this would be a cold, windy, wet weekend. It is the Minnesota fishing opener and it is never a good weekend for the opener. I'm glad I don't like to fish. 

So this is my schedule for the next 4 Saturdays:

May 14  8 miles

May 21 Fargo Half Marathon. Hoping to PR, but not putting a lot of emphasis on that. Just going to enjoy myself and try to keep the "competition monster" at bay.  After the race I am heading to Colorado for a wonderful 2 week va-ca to visit family and friends and: 

May 29 Run the Arkansas River Bluegrass Half in Salida, CO. I am really excited but a little nervous about the altitude. I have been running at 945 ft. and this race starts at 7100 ft. I have no expectations about time, just going to have fun!

June 4 Golden Gate Dirty Thirty in Blackhawk, CO. Another altitude run. My first trail run with great scenery! That's mountain scenery! Woohoo! Oh and I am only doing the 7 miler. I'm in it for the scenery. :) Seven miles at that elevation will be challenging enough.

We waited most of the day for the drizzle to quit. Finally we just decided to run in the drizzle. Temp 47, but not much wind so it was not a bad day. The drizzle quit about 1/2 way through the run. Everything looks so pretty after a rain. Fortunately we didn't get much. The farmers are way behind and we could really use a few weeks of warm, dry days. Sheyenne River is finally dropping, so roads and driveways are starting to open up. Prayers for everyone down south battling the Mississippi.

Average pace was 8:35 and that was a struggle. Did not feel great today. Think I will spend taper week mostly resting with some low, easy mileage.  I'm still debating whether or not to wear Mr. Garmin during the race. I have never worn a watch during a race. I just kind of go on how I am feeling. So I don't know. ???

Easy run with Ron. Took the dogs out for a 11/2 mile walk as the temp hit 70 today and it was to hot for them to run. Mowed the lawn, killed weeds, planted more flowers and soaked up the sun. I LOVE SUMMER!!! 

The week before a race is my favorite time. The pressure is off, the training is done. What will be, will be. Good or bad. :) 

Great run! Great evening! The weather has been unbelievably perfect this week. I need to stay inside and get some stuff done, but I am having a hard time staying in when outside is so nice.

The river is finally back in it's banks and there are tractors and semis everywhere. And when I go into Fargo there are runners everywhere. There are like 20,000 runners and walkers signed up for all the races. 5K and kids race Friday night. 10K, Relay, Half and Full on Saturday. 

Tara comes home tomorrow. She and Megan are running the 10K in memory of Megan's mom. They have t-shirts and both are getting a little nervous. This will be Tara's first road race. Jared and Kaylie have their bikes ready to go. They are the cheerleaders. Last year they biked 20 miles and we only ran 13. Ron and I are charity runners for TAPS and we are running in memory of a brave hero who died in 2003 in Falluja on his way home for some R&R. We are very honored. Now, if the weather just holds it looks to be a good day!

Where do I start? Temp 65, windy, humidity about 75%. I would like to say it was a good day, but it wasn't. 

Tara and Megan ran at 7:00 am. They had a great race and were very excited when they were done. The Marathon started at 7:30 and the Half at 8:30. We were at the Fargodome at 6:15 am. Needless to say it was a lot of waiting around. I hate that.

We started out at the 2:10 pace, because we kept getting pushed back as more people lined up. Ron told me to just run my race and we would meet at the finish. I started off feeling pretty good. There was a lot of jockying around and passing. I do wish the walkers would move to the side. That is just one of my gripes. The road for the first 2 miles is narrow and it gets crazy. My legs were starting to tighten up at mile 3 and I was thinking that's weird. I realized about that time that it was really hot and muggy. The wind was actually a blessing. Well by mile 5 my legs were really protesting and the bumps, we call hills, were giving me trouble. Also weird. I opted not to wear my Garmin because I didn't want it chirping at me the whole way. So I had no idea what my pace was. At the 10K my time was 54:36:00. I was kind of surprised. My legs were not cooperating at all, by mile 8 I knew there would not be a PR today. The heat was really getting to me and I usually don't mind the heat. Well I started thinking about Ron at this point. He hates heat and if the temp gets much over 60 he really struggles, then throw in some humidity. I had no idea how far back he was, but I was getting kind of worried about him. At mile 9, I considered walking. Have never even entertained the thought of walking on a half. I have never felt worse during a race. So I pulled off and waited for Ron. I waited about 7 minutes and was getting worried. I called Jared and Kaylie as they were biking the course and I had just passed them. Jared said he was back quite far the last time they saw him. And he was struggling. Still no Ron. I waited a few minutes longer then started out again. I just had such a nagging feeling about him and about 2 1/2 miles before the finish I pulled off again and waited and waited. I called Jared and he rode back along the route and finally saw him. When he caught up to me he was not good. He was running like his legs were sticks and he was on auto pilot. His pace was slow and we walked some just to get him to the finish line. I knew if I kept him moving we could get in under 2:30:00. We made it and we entered the Fargodome together to screaming crowds, loud music and the finish line. Awesome! And he was quite happy with his time, all things considered. 

So it was not a great running day, but it was a great family day. Off to Colorado! Woohoo! 

Ran on the Spring Creek Trail in Fort Collins. It was a gorgeous sunny Colorado morning. My legs felt surprisingly good and my pace was 8:49. I was ok with that considering the altitude jumped about 4000 ft. Spent the rest of the day visiting family. Heading to Grand Lake tomorrow to hang with my bro. Maybe try to run up there a little bit.

So I will make this a race report when I get the info. It was a hot, windy, dry day in Salida. The course had amazing views and I had a really good run. My unofficial time is 2:05:00. Like I said I will know more when the results are posted. My mom went with me and she got really sick so I ran and then had to leave. She is feeling better, but it was a 3+ hour ride home and I did not want her to have to wait. Considering the elevation and how dry it was ( I am used to a little more humidity) I am pleased with my time. I was tired and the hills were killer, but I had a great time and felt good til the end.

I have to come down to the local library to post stuff cuz my folks do not have a computer. The library is on volunteer time so makes things interesting. :)

So after getting the official results I am thrilled with how my run went! It was a good day! :)