Running Goals 3

Okay! I managed a 5k (+?) in just over 25 minutes. I think 25.03 or so. It was hard estimating the exact amount on my treadmill because I walked a half lap first, and I'm not exactly sure of the exact the mile point I started running at. (Ha ha~ like that sentence?) Felt good though. I kept increasing my speed little by little until I was near-sprinting that last lap. I feel ready for tomorrow's race, the Spark-A-Delic 5K.

As I was running, I noticed a tiny spider on a very long thread swaying back and forth in the cross breeze flowing from the open garage door through the back door. I found myself mesmerized by it as it seemed to slowly inch its way towards me. I don't know how that was possible since the spider silk was attached to the garage door railing above me, and he was at the end of it. As I watched it, I could no longer feel the ache in my left arch, or even how fast I was going. Then suddenly, at around mile two, he disappeared! Must have been a big gust. I love little life distractions like that- I think we all need them every now and then to remind us of the world outside our daily schedules, outside of our heads and minds. Watching that spider made my run go by very quickly indeed. Although if he had gotten ANY closer, I would have chucked my hand towel at that little sucker before my well-being could have been compromised.

Race Goals 2

I set a running time goal for myself for the first time ever. I wanted to run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in sub-25 minutes (well, I posted between 25 and 27 minutes on that blog, and I did accomplish that at least!). It was a CROWDED affair, and the walking at the beginning and the hill up Virginia St. prevented that.

This coming Saturday is the Spark-A-Delic 5K. I think I'd like to reinstate that goal for this race. The sub-25 minute one, that is. My best 3 mile treadmill time is just under 25 minutes, so I'm going to try to take off an additional 45 or so seconds to fit in the extra .2 miles. It's a pretty flat course I hear, but I don't know how many people will be there clogging up the start line. I will be relying heavily on adrenaline to help me accomplish this.

Oh, and I have a pre-Halloween dress-up shot for you. Yesterday the boys and I went to the Sommerset "Touch a Truck Fall Harvest Festival" with our friends Nathan and Gabe and got all gussied up for the event. Then we went to the Ferrari Pumpkin Patch on Mill Street. I forgot my camera, but we did take this picture when we got home later (although I don't know what's up with it being all huge here-I can't seem to fix it). Ashton is Optimus Prime, and Sean is Leonardo (the cut-off one). I'm the Indian Princess in the middle. :) This is only part one of the Halloween pictures, 'cause there will be all new fan-tabulous costumes for the actual Day... (Oh, and I got a trim and some color, but you can't really tell from the photo. Maybe better in person?)

Fall Colors Trail Half Marathon

I didn't get to do the Lake Tahoe Half Marathon this year, so instead I ditched the Meridian Gold Run for Education (it was only a 10K, and the boys didn't want to run a half mile with me anyway) in favor of a brand spankin' new course, the Fall Colors Trail Half Marathon put on by Reno's running club, the Silver State Striders. But the best part? I had company! Even though I'm sure he could have cut off an hour or so of our final time, Turi decided to stick with little 'ole me and make a nice hike out of the morning. We got a very early start- the race was supposed to kick off at 7:00 a.m., but we ended up starting 5 minutes late because there were a bunch of cars that drove up at 6:59, and when there are only about 55 people entered in the race, waiting for the few stragglers that probably took a wrong turn somewhere trying to find the start wasn't unreasonable. Here's the first picture of the day- Here's Turi in the dark. You can see the countdown behind him (13:47)- it did lighten up in the next 15 minutes so we were able to see the trail enough so we wouldn't trip and mess up our ankles within the first mile of the start line.

Check out the map and course profile. Looking at the elevation, it looks very intimidating- and it is! 1500 foot climb in the first 3.8 miles. We did a lot of walking at the beginning- pretty much treated this as a glorified hike. The serious runners just plowed right up the mountainside, but there were some other walkers too. One of them even offered to take our picture a couple miles in.

Here is part of the "runnable" track- you can see someone just in the distance-

This next one is on the switchbacks of the Dry Pond Trail, about 7 miles in. This was NOT one of the runnable parts.

There was an open meadow that I wasn't expecting, called Dry Pond Meadow. It was really pretty, with trees in fall bloom surrounding it, and the trail just on the inside of said trees. Wish I had taken a photo there. There were some beautiful greens and yellows. Turi, with his eagle eyes, spotted a hawk (falcon?) sitting at the top of a tree (my eyes were down watching the trail- "Careful girl! Pick up your feet!" gripping my elbow attached to my bum shoulder to my side.). I know it is a little hard to tell what it is with this fuzzy close up (that was closest I could get). Mom, do you know what kind of bird it is?

Couple more shots of the Sierra Nevadas in all their glory:

And the dusty track my knees prefer over pounding pavement:

Turi prefers to follow, so I did most of the leading on the single track, but I did get this shot of him after we started on our way from the picture pause from the above 2 pictures:

There were some beautiful downhill sections that I was able to just "let go" on and let gravity help me down the path. These were my favorite sections of the trail; here is a picture of the fall foliage, which I stole from Turi's camera because we were going to fast to pull my camera out. I think I was yelling for him to take a picture of this section, with the greens and yellows overhead...

There were trees growing over the trail completely enclosing it, and the path was springy and loamy, with lots of those pine needles I'm so fond of running on. Turi got some pictures and some running videos that you can watch. The temperature was perfect, in the 60's I'd say, and it was overcast up until the last mile, so I was comfortable with a light sweatshirt over my running shirt. That last mile, however, was one last little hill up Timberline Drive, and paved. The sun decided to fully make it's appearance, and the combination of heat and hill zapped the last of my energy. I did have to call it and walk for a minute before jogging to the finish at the top of the hill. Not my normal fast, almost-sprint to the finish. But the cool part about that was it gave the announcer at the finish chute time to look up our bib numbers and announce our names over the loud speaker! He even pronounced my last name right! They tore off the bottom of my bib and put a medal around my neck and directed us over to the chili, hot and waiting for us. 3 hours 4 minutes and somethin' seconds. Turi got a special plaque for finishing 2nd in his age group! And the finishing picture:

Thanks so much Turi for running and walking and chatting and hiking with me! It made for a fun morning, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I would have on my own- especially the arriving in full dark part. And finally, some of those fall colors that I talked about above that the race is named for (and Turi reaching for his camera too)...

Remote-Control Race Cars!

The boys begged and begged me to open up another one of their birthday presents, so we all four sat down as a family and built two race cars: Sean's was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car (green) and Ashe's was a Kasey Kahne (red). Here is half of Team Ashton, posing with the parts:

Here are the parts:

I think I did a pretty good job following the directions (too little and complicated for the boys to put together on their own). But here they are threading on the plastic parts for the antennae:


And an up close shot of Ashton with the finished product, including all of the teeny tiny (headache-inducing) decals. Man, those eyes! He kills me with those- I'm gonna have to watch that one with the girls in a few years. Oh wait. I already have to do that.

Then comes fun part! By the time Ashton and I made it outside, Sean had already figured out how make the car go mostly where he wanted it to go.

And Ashton getting the tutorial:

They were so cute playing with these cars all afternoon~ when I peeked out the window an hour later, I caught them laying on their bellies, feet up in the air, on the edge of the basketball court having races.

SCOT-TAY!

Yeah! My little (big, or taller, and much at that) brother was in town this weekend with Sara so they could go to her grandmother's birthday party. We went to BJ's Brewery for lunch on Sunday and got to hang out afterward. Just thought I'd share a couple pictures- here's one of the non-Jesus Scott and Sara and Kev:

I swear I can never get that boy to look at the camera! (Oh, yes, I said boy. 'Cause that makes me young too!) And me with my Ashton: