I ran with an Olympic Hopeful today!

Since today was a recovery day, I decided to try something new. The only thing on the plan was Masters (swim) in the morning. Days like that make me nervous. It means that by 4 pm I am grumpy and feel fat. It did not help that today was beautiful. Sunny and in the 60s.

YMCA to the rescue. Max is definitely used to it by now. Noah strongly dislikes it but I've decided to drag him there once a week anyway. This month the weekly schedule has a new group workout: Running Club. Thursdays. 4 pm. Perfect! I had asked about it before but still was not sure what it was going to be like. All I knew was that you can drop your kids off and then go run outside with other people. Bingo! Just what I needed today. I am definitely growing a little tired of doing 99% of the training by myself.

Once there I found out that a runner from Team McMillan Elite is going to lead the workout. Now that is pretty exciting! When do you get to work out with a professional runner that will slow down for you? Sign me up! However, by 4:05 no one had shown up. I was worried about being in the wrong place and frustrated about having my time wasted. (I know. 5 minutes is not much but I have no patience.) Turns out I was in the wrong place. It also turns out that I was the only runner that showed up. Lucky me!

Team McMillan Elite - Nick Arciniaga

Coach of the day was Nick Arciniaga and I had the privilege of running with him. I felt a little bad about wasting his time but I was not about to go inside and run on the treadmill - again. He asked how long I wanted to run and I replied: "45 minutes." Just in case. And because it was a recovery day after all. So off we went. Nick was super nice and did not seem to mind me picking his brain about the life of a professional runner.

It was very interesting and I was not about to stop asking questions but I was having a somewhat hard time talking and running at the same time. I am not sure if that was because I have not had anyone to talk to during training for a while or because we were going a decent pace. It definitely was not slow. For me. It must have been painfully slow for Nick. That guy has run a marathon in 2:11:47. That is a 5:02 pace. Let's let that sink in for a second... Is that absolutely mind boggling or what? I am indeed very lucky to have him slow down for me and chat for a while.

Thank you for the motivating and inspiring run, Nick!

PS: If you live in Flagstaff and have a Y membership, you should most definitely come and join the running club Mondays and Thursdays at 4pm.

PPS: I am considering letting Karl run with them on Mondays. He is, after all, the real runner in this family.

Comments

New PR at a High Cost

St. George Halfmarathon Report I have a feeling that this is going to be long . Even though I am going to tell you about the rest of the weekend in my next post. So. Sit back and enjoy, if you are interested. A few days before the race, I told Karl that I have two options : 1. Run the way I usually race. Conservative . Start out at a decent pace, log negative splits, finish feeling strong and in control. 2. Start out faster than usual, hang onto that pace for as long as possible, die a slow and painful death. Karl just laughed . He knew how unlikely it was that I would choose the second option. But, to be honest, the idea kinda grew on me. It was a running event, after all. No pressure. Simply a way of testing where my fitness is at. On my way to St. George, I called Coach M . She told me I was going to choose the second option. Oh, how I love to have coaches! No need to try to figure things out in my own little head. I just ask and do as I am told. There was ju...

I am so lucky

I feel the need to write. My thoughts are all jumbled. Can I make sense of them on paper? Writin g gives me perspective and makes it easier to let go. Last weekend I was very frustrated, mad, self-centered, unhappy , wallowing in self-pity. This weekend I was more balanced, a little more patient, trying to be less selfish, happy . How did it happen? I have had to deal with myself for almost 30 years now and, luckily, have figured out a few things on the way. Like how to feel at peace with myself , my family , my life . It shouldn't be complicated to be happy in my circumstances. I realize that. But sometimes it still is. Sometimes being a mom and wife doesn't come easy to me. Sometimes I think everyone would be better off if I wasn't a mom and wife. Sometimes I wish it was easier to just take off and do nothing but swimbikeruneatsleep for a week or two. It's not helping that my German teammates are doing just that. Right now. On a beautiful island. In the warm...

RAGE Race Report

Alright . Here it is. First triathlon race report of the season. Wow. Did you know that I love racing triathlons? Truth is: I used to not like it very much. Now I do! Racing breaks up the monotony of training and I am enjoying tapering and recovering more these days. I must be getting old... I was still not feeling well on Friday but (like I said in the last post) I was really looking forward to getting away for 24 hours - racing or no racing. The 3.5 hour drive went by super quick thanks to my friend Karen who happens to be awesome. We had lots to chat about and I got a much-needed dose of adult conversation. Packet pick-up was rather uneventful . Except for a big 31 on my left calf. I am getting old... No long-lost friends to catch up with and not many Utah peeps. Instead, I found plenty of questions to ask the race director and visited the PowerTri booth. Coach and I talked about switching to the Olympic distance race but I decided no to. It is pretty crazy what a big drop in ...

Sarah Borst Jarvis

Search This Blog