Another half & St George info!

Sorry I have not blogged in a while! I usually take time on the weekends to reflect on the weeks' training and such, but we were out of town last weekend for the 6 Tunnels to Hoover Dam Half Marathon and a little birthday celebrating in VEGAS! So I have a few things to update on:

1. The Race
2. Vegas
3. St. George Accomodations for my "Entourage" ;)

6 Tunnels

We ran the Run for Ryan House Half the weekend before purely as a training run (Heart rate Z1 - Z2 only) with decent hills I still ran a solid 2:08. I felt good about that and thought that maybe I could go for a PR at another race the next weekend (sub 2 hours). We like running races as part of our training because it motivates me to get up and get stuff done. When every weekend consists of a 2 hour plus run, a 3000 meter plus swim and 5 hour plus ride its nice to have one of those be a race or something different.

So we left work on Friday at about noon and grabbed the dogs, bikes, running gear and one nice outfit for heading into Vegas. We got there about 6PM (5.5 hour drive). We stayed in a house in Henderson so we could have a yard and leave the dogs while we were out and about. Again, VRBO rocks! We had our usual pre-race meal of cheese pizza that night and stayed in. ;)

Early Saturday morning we made our way towards the Hoover Dam. We had to park about a mile from the race site and literally HIKE to the start. We like this though as we have learned the importance of a GOOD warm up. We got there, got our numbers and schwag and went for a 2 mile warmup run. The wind was HOWLING. If you know me, I HATE wind. I think my ears stick out funny or something because I CANNOT hear when the wind is blowing. Josh was nice enough to say he would pace me to my sub 2 hours, and in that 2 miles I told him it was just not happening that day, not in that wind. I felt I was running uphill on flats. I think it was 25-35 mph winds that day. But he told me we would see how the first half went and reassess at 6.5 miles.

The race started on a bike path, pure chaos, people walking, dodging with no where to go. GRR. And then a GOOD uphill. The course ended up climbing 600 feet. I need a flat race one of these days. 600 isn't a whole lot but enough when going for a PR.

It was also an out and back, so you ended up going against the stream at one point. OK? Anyway, it was tough on me mentally. But I have to say Josh paced PERFECTLY. We hot the halfway point at 59:00. So if I could hold my pace I would make my sub 2:00. BARELY. This last hour would be tough. At this point it changed from the bike path to the railroad path of dirt and gravel. I am slower on trails but the amount of people and narrow path was no longer an issue. Once again this part was an out and back that climbed gradually for 3 miles. I knew the last 3 miles I would have to BOOK it downhill. I didn't even see the Hoover Dam because I was so focused on making this goal.

I followed Josh's heels the ENTIRE race, I knew running sub 2 is easy for him so if I could stay with him I should be okay.

When we finally hit the turnaround and downhill it was absolutely brutal, all of the training of the last few weeks hit me and I felt like I weighed a ton. My legs didn't want to move but I was so close, only 3 miles, and I had worked so hard I couldn't just let it go. So we MOVED. In the last mile we knew we had a little bit of a cushion and we actually ran next to eachother and chatted a bit, I was able to look around and realize it was a pretty cool course, next to Lake Mead, out to Hoover Dam, on an old railroad bed. Up until that point I pretty much hated it! :p

We crossed the finish at 1:57:42. Wow. I was shocked. I was so thankful for Josh's help, without him I would have thrown that PR goal out the window. I immediately started wondering how well I could run on a flat course, all road. ;) Always a new goal! :) Always moving forward.

Vegas

That night Josh took me to see Phantom of the Opera for my birthday!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to see that. It was AMAZING, even better than I imagined. The Venetian has a theater built especially for it, a 5 million dollar chandelier for the show and despite how picky I was going to be about the acting/ singing (how many times had I listened to that CD with Kent on the way to the beach?) They were AMAZING! Even Josh was super impressed. The special effects were amazing! *Sigh* I loved it.

We then ate at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, and stayed out late (for us!)

Ironman St. George Info

Alright, ROCKSTAR ENTOURAGE here is the info. Since this race is in (OMG) 6 weeks (BREATHE) I wanted to have this here so you know the plan:

House:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p142360?cid=E_OWNERINQUIRY_DB_O_20100131_thumbnail_image_LPROP

Dates:

April 25-May 2

Come when you can!

Race:

The race is May 1, and yes, it is ALL DAMN DAY! 7AM to 12AM although I will be done by about 4:30 PM (I kid I kid). I do not expect you to sit out there all day, but just the fact that you will be there at all means the WORLD to me!

Other activities:

If you come out early I hope to do Zion, and ANY other cool stuff. Think there will be snow? ;) I do not plan on sitting around - let's check the place out. OH and of course - Dinosaur/ Robot/ Barbie BIRTHDAY!