Sister in Law and Half Training

What a great week!

I followed my half schedule pretty well. I only missed 2 miles on Saturday ( I ran 3 instead of 5). With company in town, eating out and sightseeing I think I did pretty well. I had a great 8 mile run on Sunday too! Is this because I started lifting legs again?? I really enjoy having company at our house too! We had a great time hanging out as a family.

Eating out...Did I finish this huge burger?

Rocky Mountain National Park

Elk at RMNP

Red Rocks

Red Rocks with Hubby and SIL.

  This week's plan:

Monday: OFF ( I actually lifted)
Tuesday: 3 X 1600 on Track
Wednesday: Lift/Yoga
Thursday: 5 tempo AM/ Lift legs PM
Friday: OFF
Sat: 6mi
Sunday 12

Total : 27 miles

7 weeks until Denver Half!

Had a great week of training. Ran everything on my schedule. I did need to re-arrange but that's what schedules are for right? To tweak them!

Tues: Track 400, 800, 1600
Wed: Lifted
Thurs: Easy 4 (in the afternoon dry heat)
Fri: OFF
Sat: Tempo 5 miles
Sun: 7
Total 19 miles

I am 7 weeks out until the Denver Half!
This week's plan:

Monday: OFF
Tues: Hill Repeats
Wed: lift
Thurs: AM Tempo/PM weights
Fri: OFF
Sat: 5
Sun: 8

We have company coming and staying with us, which I love but will need to re-arrange running a little. My run Sunday was slow since I did Saturday's faster so hopefully I can figure that out. My foot still hurts but managing the pain.

My husband saw my picture from my latest half marathon and said you look like you are running just for fun. If you want good times you need to train right including diet, running, weights etc. OR just run for fun and don't worry about your times. I thought about that and I want to train and race! So with 7 weeks left (actually 8 counting last week) I want to do this right.

Georgetown to Idaho Spring Half  8/13/11

I know I can.

Georegtown to Idaho Springs Race Report

First of all I don't know how you guys write such detailed race reports but I will try. As I was running I was thinking oh I could write about this....

Race started at 7am I had a good warm-up, did the bathroom thing, etc. The first mile was super crowded and I didn't even see the mile 1 marker no biggie because my plan was to start out slow anyway. I was running 8:36's according to my watch.

The course is hilly so it was so funny because I am a fairly good downhiller so I would pass a gang of runners and then on the uphill they would pass me again. Felling ok... 10k mark I was at 52:32 so that's 8:26 pace...then around mile 8 I was over it...It was getting HOT and the I kept having to change sides of the road so I was running on a flat surface....so that was annoying. I took water at every stop but I wasn't really sweating anymore.

Also my hips were just sore! I did get a massage on Wednesday but that should not have mattered right?? UGH I tried running weird to open them up (Like Phoebe on that one episode of FRIENDS) but that didn't work....

I forgot to bring a goo....so I was dying....so after I got done feeling sorry for myself about 1 mile I just sucked it up....I ran it in 1:51. My 2nd WORSE half marathon time EVER!!! I have run 9 and 1 trail half in my life....so I am disappointed in my time. HOWEVER I didn't really even train for this...I ran a 10 miler for my longest run, no track workouts in the month of July I just hiked a TON. Well obviously hiking muscles and running are not the same. So a 1:51 I am ok with. I have a half in Denver, which is flat -ish in 8 weeks.

My husband and I were talking and I have 2 choices just be a runner and be ok with slower times OR TRAIN. I have not lifted legs in months...I just didn't feel strong when I needed to. Although I know so many runners that don't lift...I guess I can't compare myself to others and need to realize for ME I need to train for races and can't just "wing" it and run a half and expect a good time.

If I by chance get prego then I guess I will re-evaluate this plan but I ran the Denver half in 2006 in 1:47 so I would love to get 1:45 or better. This should be doable!

Cool thing....I won a book in April from The blue eyed runner and guess who my friend got to run with for part of the race....?? MARSHALL ULRICH! He lives in Idaho Springs so ran the race. We might have him come and talk to our running club. I was so jealous...guess who lent her the book after I read it???ME!

 This course was GORGEOUS! I probably will run it again as many people did run PR's.




The Arvada Running Club in Georgetown, CO



DIY Kitchen Cabinets REVEAL.....

The Cabinets are done!! Yeah! I will say I learned a lot in this process and they turned out better then expected!

When we bought the house this is what the previous owners had...YUCK!!!!

Let's start from the beginning....

The Design

Last summer (2010) we made all of the boxes and installed those.

So we lived in this kitchen for about a year......which people thought was cool and the latest trend of no cabinet fronts....

 So we lived like this for a year...

Then it was time to make the cabinet doors and drawer fronts.

Slab of Rustic Walnut

We chose Rustic Walnut for our wood. We started this in February 2011. We planed and sanded many times as well as sprayed and filled in the knots with this black epoxy, made the trim pieces and so many other things to make these perfect.

Finally August 2011 the Install. They turned out way better than I had thought! WOW!

Love the hardware we chose.

You can see the these were 2 pieces of wood and we glued them together to make the panel.

So a great experience. We still have the toe kick around the island and the crown but other than that they are done!

New School Year and Saturday half

Yesterday was my first day back at work...school. I am a high school guidance counselor and LOVE my job!

So kids and teachers aren't here yet which is nice so I can settle in and start on all of those schedule changes :)

I like being back into a routine for sure. I have track practice tonight and it is only 3 X 800 @ HM pace. I have a half marathon Saturday. I am nervous and excited! I didn't train as much as I had wanted due to injuries and hiking 14er's but it's a downhill course overall.

The elevation at the start is 8500 feet, and gradually arrives at 7500 feet at the finish. However I ran this race in 2005 and there are hills. I ran it in 1:45 so I would like to run a 1:43 on Saturday. I sure hope I can. The plan is to start out easy and gradually get faster!!!

I had a great 9 mile run Sunday and if I feel good tonight that should give me confidence for Saturday! The hubby is coming too so that always helps!

Antiques

Growing up my mom and dad dragged my sister and I to every flea market and antique shop in the Tri-state area. That would be Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. This was not fun at all for a kid! I would try to get interested in something like jewelry but it was all old and ugly. I finally started collecting Archie Comic books but they were usually torn and smelled old and I just bought the new ones. So as we got older we were allowed to stay home (and clean the house) while they went antiquing. I loved our old Victorian home growing up but feared having friends over in case they broke something. We had antiques everywhere. Dishes furniture, mantels (even though we didn't even have a fireplace at the time) and much more.

So fast forward to my now 35 years of age and guess what????? I frickin LOVE antiques and shopping for them! WT? I am not sure when it started I have many items that my mom gave me and when we bought our house I got into decorating more. Maybe it started when David and I went to a huge antique mall nearby. It might have started when I started going to First Friday art walks. In the Denver area on the first Friday of the month different neighborhoods have these. In addition to the art galleries open many stores are open and display local art. They serve snacks and WINE and are just fun to walk around. Most usually have an antique store as well. Anyway, I really enjoy antiquing and love getting a good deal, which is so weird since I hated it growing up....guess I am turning into my mom ;)

Well one of my latest finds was for my laundry room. I found an old washer board and old soap and other like items.

Washboard was $15 and the iron was 5 bucks!! The tins were $4 each

So now I need to start collecting something else!

Wilson Peak and Mt. Sneffels

Another fun weekend which included hiking 2 14er's! Friday we drove 6 hours to Telluride. We rested up and woke up EARLY to start a 16 mile hike. Originally we were going to hike 11 miles but we found out the trailhead we wanted to use was closed since it is on private property. So we decided to do the mountain from the Navajo Lake TH. We had a 5 mile hike in to the lake and then from there get closer to the top.



Navajo Lake


I am feeling so much more comfortable with climbing class 3 mountains! I almost chickened out but David  was so patient with me and we did it!

We finally got to the car and it poured rain and hailed thanks goodness we missed it! Then we crashed and went to bed at 8:30 got up again packed up and headed to Ouray, CO and hiked Mt. Sneffels. This should have been very easy only class 1 and and some class 2 near the top. Well it was hard! We hiked up a scree field and then when we were getting close to the top there was a snow field we had to climb up. We don't have cramp-ons or ice picks so we used the force and made it up and then had to climb over this rock and scramble up to the top. Sweetness!

On the way up to Sneffles

Summit Mt. Sneffels

The crazy snow we climbed up and down.

I think we will have a few more weekends to hike but will stay closer to home. I go back to work in a week, which I am looking forward too! I mean I like have 9 weeks off but it's good for me to be back in a routine at school. More later on that...