Leprechaun Lope

One week later...

Sorry for not posting about the race sooner, but it has been an exhausting week! Flying into Salt Lake City, coming home to work a 12 hour shift, then a camping trip has left me with very little time to recover.

I flew into Salt Lake on Friday, checked into my hotel, and set out to explore! I was pretty close to downtown and despite the snow on the mountains, it was really warm. Temple Square was my point of reference for everything while planning the trip, but I didn't expect it to be surrounded by office buildings. It looked like a castle in the middle of a city.

I'm getting this Instagram thing down.

I could see the capitol building, which served as the race start point, from there and decided to go up and look around. If anyone ever tells you that they had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to school, they probably live it Salt Lake City. At this point, I was still having my Rapunzel-esque internal struggle of whether or not this was a terrible idea. I tried to focus on how good my butt would look after hiking up to the starting line the next morning, but really I was dreading it.

Right next to Temple Square is City Creek Mall.

I spent the rest of the day (and probably too much money) there. It was glorious. This mall covers two levels on two blocks with a retractable roof, which was open that day. I started getting a little chilly after the water fountain show (which included fire because why not?) and passed out in my hotel around 9:30 pm because I'm nintey-three and a half.

BUT I did get up nice and early on race day. The temperature was in the 30s (good research there, Eryn) and I walked up that giant hill again. Packet pick-up went pretty quickly, and race coordinators said that there were about 1000 people there for the 5k and 10k. The course looped behind the capitol building, so I didn't have to run up the giant hill in front of it, thank you baby jesus.

However, this was far from being a flat course. We raced uphill for the first half before turning around and heading back down.

If you froze to death while waiting at the starting line, you could have rolled downhill to the finish.

Much easier said than done. I felt like my lungs were freezing, which in addition to my lack of training lead to a lot of walking in the first half. I ran whenever I could, and tried to push myself to run a few steps further before walking my next chunk. I kept pace with an adorable little yorkie in the final uphill push toward the water station, and I wish I had my camera because the view was amazing. You could see the dome of the capitol, down into Temple Square, and the mountains in the distance. But then it was time to head back down. I did manage to run the whole second half, but I felt like I was doing really badly. The second half of the race did have Leprechauns handing out chocolate coins to racers though, so I wasn't down on myself for long! After the race we were offered some healthy snacks and invited to join the school's St. Patrick's day parade float. I was exhausted, so I skipped the parade and headed back to my hotel, which was right on the parade route. After getting some much needed coffee, I gave my legs a rest and watched the parade.

"This is the place (for fresh roasted coffee beans)"

My race time ended up being 44 minutes. I'm a little disappointed, but I try to focus on the positive. It's better to have run slowly than not at all! Overall, this was a good experience. Since the next few months are full of graduations and weddings, I'm going to focus on training and making better time for my next race.

It's official!

It's happening. The hotel is booked, the race has been registered for and I'm going, trained or not!

I'm a little worried about my severe lack of training, but I'm almost positive that this won't kill me. Worst case scenario, I finish this thing at a brisk waddle.

My mantra, by Jake the Dog.

The important thing is to get started. If I wait until I feel 100% confident and comfortable, I'll be waiting a long time. Plus, isn't part of the adventure about leaving your comfort zone?

So for the next week, I'll train as much as I can, drink my orange juice, and think calming thoughts. I know this is a short entry, but AHHHHH IT'S HAPPENING!

Couch Potato to 5k

I've been a little sickly the last few days, so I haven't been to the gym in a while. I think I'm allergic to the cold. Im hoping to start training this week using the Couch to 5k training plan. I used this when I started training for the Tinkerbell Half, and it's honestly murder. But it does get better! It's basically three thirty minute runs a week for nine weeks where you alternate between running and walking. For each workout, you run a little longer and it gets easier. By the end, you're running for 30 minutes straight and completing a 5k!

I prefer doing the Treadmill version. I know, I know. "But you're not pulling your weight forward." "It's going to be harder when you actually have to run outside." "So that's why you're so pale." I just really prefer the treadmill. Partly because I can use the gym's wifi to watch Netflix, but mostly because it's easier to tell how fast I'm going, how far I'm going, and how much time I have until the next running or walking stage.

I'm still debating the Salt Lake City run. On the one hand, I have almost no time to train. On the other hand, whenever I start debating it, my lady of Lourde comes on.

                                  It's not blasphemy if she has the voice of an angel.

I think I'm going to take my chances for the sake of adventure. The location of this race is perfect (because The Man says I'm too young to rent a car) and the last time I visited SLC was as a tiny child. I vaguely remember almost dying of heat stroke in 190 degree heat and visiting the actual salt lake, which was covered in tiny black flies. I'm due for a do-over, basically. I hope I can get some training in soon!