All it takes is all you've got

Went to Church in the Boulder Ward chapel (the same ward we attended for our first 3.5 years in CO).  It felt like coming "home" after our 18-month hiatus in Westminster.  I really love the wonderful people here in Boulder.  They all gave us a very warm welcome back to the Ward.  

One of our friends, Gene Peterson told us we must have caught "the curse of Niwot."  Apparently Niwot (also the name of a town within Boulder County) was the Indian Chief who inhabited this land centuries ago.  As the story goes, Chief Niwot declared that people seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay and those who leave will always return.

Well, whether it was Chief Niwot's "curse" (blessing?) or just simply God's will for us, we are sure happy to now be living in Boulder!! 

9 miles in 7:09 pace

BUSY morning of getting Abe off to school, taking Bre to her first gymnastics class, grocery shopping, feeding kids, ect ect.  

Finally got to my run at 11:30 a.m. and enjoyed a nice sunny, crisp afternoon jaunt through Boulder!!  Mostly ran on trails or the bike path.  Felt pretty sluggish at first but finally got into a groove around 4 miles in.

Enjoyed my 4 (formerly 25) minute commute to workout at East Boulder Rec.

The group was relatively small and fast this morning.  Simon, Colleen, Steve, Katie, Pete, and Me.

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

5 minutes steady at 5:58 pace

2 min. jog 

5X3 minutes at 5:55, 5:34, 5:32, 5:34, 5:40 pace (some gradual incline/decline in there) with 90 seconds of jogging between each

5 minutes at 5:45 pace

10 minute cool down

I felt pretty good this morning.  The pace is not as fast as it was two months ago, but my lungs are gradually building back.

Funny coincidence....right after I got in my car after the workout I received a text from Renee inviting me to join her and Fiona (another pro runner) for 5 minute intervals on the exact same trail I had just finished my intervals on.  I replied to tell her that Colleen and I had just warmed up the trail for her and were now headed home.  She invited me to run with her on Thursday instead.

7 miles in 7:35 pace

A snapshot of Boulder via my 7 mile run....

Parents and children walking to school wearing the local gear; Golite jackets and Crocs. 

Professors and students biking to CU with their pinch-rolled right pant leg and heavy backpacks.

The big, iron sculpted CU Buffalo next to the "University of Colorado" entrance sign.

Beautiful old brick campus buildings with ivy climbing the exterior.

A Starbucks parking lot so jam packed that two cars were waiting for spot to open up so they could park and go in.

Ten to twelve transient looking people gathering on the Boulder Creek path for their morning pow wow.

A woman sitting on a large rock at the creek's edge meditating in perfect form.

Teenage boys smoking pot on the creek path.

Boulder High School.

A man riding his bike with a large piercing and chain connecting from his lower lip to his left ear.

Potts field (the CU track).

A college-aged serious looking runner girl decked out in Nike gear.  Maybe someone on CU's team? 

A dormitory  bike rack with over 300 bikes jammed in.

A man riding his bike with toddler in tow. 

And last, but certainly not least, The Flatirons!

Slammed with the flu.  Lots of sleep, Emergen-C, Airborne, and Zicam.  No running.

7 miles in 7:38 pace

At least my body-ache is subsiding.  The phlegm is not quite leaving me yet though.  My voice sounds Patty and Selma on the Simpsons.  Frightening. 

Today on my run I saw Scott Ensign's brother, David (although I don't think he noticed me...he must have been listening to a good song on his iPod).  I also saw two guys riding fixies, which is when this song started playing in my head. 

Met my team at Four Mile Creek trailhead in NoBo, the local slang for "North Boulder."  If I'm ever going to even hope to become a 'local' I better get the slang down, right?

The weather was humid, overcast, and 29 degrees....no snow though.  I forgot my watch this morning but it was okay because with the my flu recovery and laryngitis, I suppose it was better for me to go by feel rather than caring what my pace was.  Renee and her husband, Austin joined us for the warm-up since they were in NoBo serving at the homeless shelter all morning and finished up just as our group was meeting.  Sarah Slattery also joined in a little late.  It was nice to finally "meet" Sarah even though I had actually already met her over ten years ago during our Senior year in high school at the Great Southwest track meet at ASU.  This is back when Sarah was an Arizona high school standout and "Team Utah" went head to head with "Team Arizona" in the 4X800M relay. We beat their socks off AND set the meet record despite Sarah's effort to catch us.  Sarah went on to win the 3200 M later than day.  I on the other hand, secured a nice stress fracture in my right fibula which made a subtle popping noise during the final 200 meters of that race sending me into limp mode after the race and setting me back in my training the summer before I started at BYU...but that is a story for another day.  Sarah did say she remembered meeting me, though there is a slim chance she was just being nice.  ;) 

Anyway, back to the workout.  We did a 20 minute warm-up, stretching, and strides, as usual.

12 minutes at Half Marathon effort on the dirt trail above the park.  Don't know my pace here...probably just barely sub-6:00 pace.

3 minute jog to the grass field and where people put CC spikes on (I still don't have a pair).

4X4 minutes steady hard, 1 minute rest, 1 minute hard, 1 minute rest (with 10 push-ups during the second rest).  Without actually knowing my pace per Mr. Garmin, I'd guess my 4 minute repeats were between 5:35-5:45 pace and my 1 minute surges were closer to 5:25 pace.  The repeats were out on a nice bum-kicker loop with one decent sized hill and another long gradual incline (gotta love Cross Country!)

10 minute cool down

Fun/challenging workout with a great group of runners!  Maybe one of these weeks I'll actually get over 45 miles  now that moving and being sick are behind me.  I was talking to Renee and she said she took a down week last week.  "What is a down week for you?" I asked.  75 miles.  "Oh.....okay. So what will you do next week?"  "93ish", she says.  Haha.  In my head I'm thinking, oh good, thats over DOUBLE what I've been doing.  She also mentioned to Coach D that 5:10 pace was feeling "easy" to her yesterday.  I'm pretty sure she is going to have no problem kicking ALL our bums at CC Club Champs.  I'm just honored to be on her team.  Go Renee!   

Now I'm off to cook some Butternut Squash soup for our friends and their five kids who are coming for dinner tonight.  First dinner guests in our "new" (old) home!