Happy Sunday!

Did my long run yesterday - 5.75 miles.  Still inching up to that 6.2!  This was my biggest week ever, with 15.42 miles.  SRD today, Run for Boston tomorrow.

Amy: Hooray on the 1:33!

Fran:  You go girl!  Congrats on your PR

Marjorie - Nice 11.2

Karen:  Nice 6.2.  And... I'm nothing if not a cheerleader

Cindy:  I'm very impressed with your pace, even with the seven seconds!

Sue:  Awesome 10K !  WTG on the AG

Camille - Nice RR .... and yipeee for FE's!!

My forsythia is JUST about to bloom.  I hope that the chill didn't nip them last night!  And, I'm counting the days until my 'maters come in the mail!  woo hoo!!!

Blessings all,

Julie this is the dress I bought. And it wasn't expensive and it came the next day and shipping was free. Plus with free returns I took the chance.

http://www.zappos.com/type-z-hali-lace-dress-blush

Checking in! No chance to post yesterday, I was on the course from 'can see' until just after 'can't see'. 12:49, I think, for 50 miles (all on pavement, BTW). Surprisingly I won the AG but that was because all three OA females were in the 40-49 age group and I was 4th in.

Slightly sunburned, a little sore, a few blisters, but not bad.

I'll let Lisa post her own, however can report that she is still walking. And her Facebook friends should get coffee and start looking at her photos!

Hi all!

Marjorie, love that dress. Very pretty.

Tessa, congrats! How did I miss that you were doing the 50 miler?!? Lisa posted last night that you were headed out for your final 7 miles and that's when I finally realized it. Huge congrats and I can't wait for the RR.

Perfect weather for my 10K today. 41 and sunny. I wore a yellow top and blue capris, along with a blue and yellow ribbon the race gave out for Boston. Finished in 43:16! That's almost a 3 minute PR. I felt great almost the whole time, had nice, even splits, it was awesome. I think I was 2nd in my age group. I tried to stay around for the awards, but it was cold once I stopped running, even once I got my jacket from bag drop. And of course, I came home and plugged that number into the McMillan calculator and determined all my other PRs are now soft. Then again, how often do you get perfect weather and a net downhill course? This one might be tough to follow. But it bodes well for the NJ marathon to get this result at week 16 of my 18 week plan.

More later, hamstrings now reminding me I need to stretch some more.

karen

22.2 miles for me.

Ginny wonder why the link doesn't work?  It works on my end.

Karen great race.

Tessa a win is a win. Take it. Yay!

Laura nice running.

Hey Amy. Glad you are feeling good after your race.

Karen...congratulations on your PR.....you are smokin' girl!!

Ginny

7 miles with the running group, which seems to be the same 4 of us each week.  It's fun though because it's my friend and her DH and me and BF (BF ran 4).  So, kinda fun to have BF with me, it's been years since we've run.  We actually met through an online fitness site and then a year into our relationship, he basically stopped running.  Hopefully, this will continue

Carol - I am laughing at your weather comment.  I told my friends that our standards are low because we think it's a beautiful day at 35 degrees.  First day in a week where it hasn't been raining, windy, snowy or cloudy (or all of those in one day) lol.  Enjoy the Boston run tomorrow!

Karen - I posted on FB, but rockin job on your race!!

Sue - wonderful 10 miles, I am really enjoying running with other people, makes the miles go by so much faster

Marjorie - amazing mileage, great job!

First sight of race location.... those mountains in the background of Vegas. Gulp.

The view on the way into the mountains. I missed taking a pic of the sign warning drivers of burros crossing the road though.

Tessa and I before the race.... my tag line was "Run in the desert?  I thought you invited me here for rum in the dessert?"

Ideal starting conditions for some of us. Chilly for others.  I wore my arm warmers which I later could use as sun protection.

We had 30 seconds of silence for Boston and the race started with marathoners crossing the timing mat (which I tripped on thank you very much-OUCH) and 50/100 milers not crossing mat. No chip timing for them apparently.  I had gotten inspired by moment and thought that I would try to jog it but the foot catching on the mat and making me have to catch myself was instant reminder of the pain in my leg.  I pulled up and told Tessa that there was no way I could run. I would see how it felt and maybe drop to the half or drop out but I had to walk. This was while still in the shadow of the start/finish chute.  Pretty darn depressing really.  I decided that I had to be there anyways, the day was gorgeous, the view was breathtaking so I would walk.  And walk I did.

They had marathon/half aid stations out in addition to the midpoint and endpoint ultra stations. First was manned, or flamingo-ed, by a dad and little kids wearing flamingo hats and tablecloth in pink. Heed and water. I carried 4 water bottles on fuelbelt and was determined to stay hydrated. Started with every 10 minutes taking a drink but upped to probably every 5-7 minutes.  I was afraid of cramping on top of the sore leg.

The course starts at 4650 and works up to about 5700 with one biggish hill part way through.  The climb was mostly gradual and I really didn't feel it other than I was breathing hard and shouldn't be since I was just walking, with a bit of a limp.

It was very pretty.  Little red flowers, creosote bushes,  juniper trees and reddish rock made me think of landscaping that people try to create. Pictures don't do justice to the view.

The road sort of winded along with steady but gradual climb. The views were sort of surreal.  The beauty was amazing.  There was no way that I was not going to see how it changed as we changed elevation. Walk on...

The biggish hill goes down into a valley then starts to rise again to the end of the course.  Down hurt.  I tried walking backwards which didn't hurt but would have if I had fallen. Duh.  You can see in the center of the picture here light tan sand and then a small black  ribbon of asphalt. That is the road turning further ahead to go into the valley where the midpoint aid station was.  The larger tan sand area was where people were shooting, at targets I presume. At the right edge of it I think the very small white dot is maybe the camper that was parked there or the tent for the aid station. Further on you can see the road leading away from aid station.  Note the tallest peak to the left has white on top of edge. That was snow.

Pretty desert sunflowers and rock formations that are further away than the appear in picture.

The further up you went the more we saw these sort of rock formations and pinion pines.  At times we even had shade on the road.

As we neared the turnaround we could see that snow top lined mountain a bit better.

This sort of gives you a sense of the gradual climb.  I'm not heading back.  We all went out about 11 and the marathoners came back 2 miles then back to end then back to finish (sort of like a paperclip).  Tessa headed out to speed up after my enforced slow warm up of 13 miles. This was likely a 50 or 100 miler already starting to come back.

This is a view of the big hill from the coming back side. I don't think that we can see the aid station down there.  Note the mountain range in the background. that is where start/finish is at.

Again, it was so pretty. I kept phone off except to take pictures since there was no service.  Mountains getting closer.

And a bit closer.

With this I couldn't help but think of my horse to the barn finishes.  Not happening here but I did think "burro to the barn."

After 8 hours and 20 minutes this was the best looking marathon finish line that I've seen.  Albeit the smallest.

My  half split was 4:22 so I guess I did go faster on second half. which makes sense since it was downhill. When the lead 50 miler (woman won overall) passed me going back I told her "good job, way to go" and she told me "keep at it... way to get it done girl".  Many of the 50 and 100 milers were supportive of me finishing.  I was wearing a Marathon Maniac hat so clearly not my first time.  A few times I told them that the focus was on "FL" not the "D" of DFL.  On the way back all of the marathon aid stations were closed so only a couple places to refill bottles. I was glad that I had all four with how slow I was going.  On the hour I would take a gel and reapply sunscreen. Not a cloud in the sky.  Many, many potty stops which meant that I was hydrating well. A couple of times I did start to feel that tickle in the calves so drank more of the lovely Heed.  Cramps never came. Since we went out / back then that little out / back, I saw the other back of packer (ha) people and told them that I was behind them, I had their back.

Waited for Tessa to come in from her 2nd loop.  Cheered her on and was embarrassed at not having moved the car closer yet so elicited woman who said she had moderate skill with a stick shift to help me. Helped with race chips, talked to other runners, crew. Found out that the woman who finished ahead of me was doing her first full and was a grandmother. I asked her if she had thought she would be last. "Yes, I was worried about that." Told her that she could go home and tell people that she was NOT last. She seemed to really like that.

As it started to get late I started to freak out about Tessa not having a flashlight or headlamp.  Rummaged car (not successfully) then started asking around. EMS said that they would lend a flashlight and the same woman who drove me before drove me out (in her truck) to hand off to Tessa. Of course by the time we were able to turn around and get back she had finished. Darn.

Back to hotel, shower and stuck in out of the vision of entrance corner booth of a Mexican restaurant.  (Tessa in her pink Uggs and sweats, me in jean capris and donut socks with sneakers)  I had a Michelada and Tessa a margarita.

Legs tight but surprisingly that right leg not much worse than the left. I do however have giant blister that covers the entire ball of left foot and second toenail is blistered completely underneath. and I do mean completely. Never saw a blister that surrounded toenail. Nice.