Sarah Borst Jarvis

**photos courtesy of Bryce Jones, Keena Schaerrer, Craig Coats, and Zazoosh** Weather : A+ I like it warm. Low 60's in the morning. High 80's on the run. Light breeze.  Perfect conditions! Scenery : A+ Red rocks, mountains, farmland.  Love it! Sand Hollow : A- Super clear, warm, calm.  It would be perfect if they didn't allow any stinky boats! Pre - race : A+ Fun, eventless drive with Karen.  A dip in the lake and a little ride.  Dinner at Cafe Rio.  Good times at the Rue Residence.  Marching to the Start Then a text from Coach M:  "I want you to have fun tomorrow!  I want to hear: I love racing !"  Really? Sweet!  During the last 2 years with HT Training,  Coach M would ask me for my goals before each race.  My answer for each and every race:  I just want to have fun !  And that's the truth!  M wasn't alway...

Guess who showed up at the track on Tuesday night?  Lots of famous super stars . As usual.  But do you recognize the guy on the right?  Yep. That is Ryan Hall !  He and his wife decided to make Flagstaff their new home!  Meaning, this is where he is going to get ready  for the Olympics this summer. Wow! They also invited us all to their Going for Gold Event  on Sunday night.  You bet we are going to be there.  Have I mentioned that I love this place?  Of course it's not perfect but I feel pretty darn lucky   to live here!  Being surrounded by so many incredible athletes is amazing! I have been struggling with my running lately,  to say the least.  But Tuesday night at the track is always a treat! And I haven't given hope that sooner or later I will feel like a decent runner again! In fact, it would be nice if my running legs showed up  this Saturday!...

I am busy reading this book: 

So far it's been a good weekend!  Flagstaff trails Friday morning I turned my fast tempo run into a nice and easy trail run !  Why?  Because my lungs and chest were burning at minimal aerobic effort, so I didn't care to know what they would feel like while I was running my guts out.  Have I mentioned that I love trail running?  I can't wait to fall out of love with road triathlon, so I can completely devote myself to the trails! But, unfortunately, I don't see it happening anytime soon... So, in the meantime, I will use beautiful  singe-track trails as therapy for my body and mind. No road run makes me feel as happy and free and whole as almost any trail run does. 10 miles might have taken an eternity on my watch but I was enjoying every minute of it!  Ryan Stevens and Paul Brinkmann running in Flag This morning's   swim certainly was nothing spectacular. At least not when it comes to my performance. Bu...

... it pours ! This saying couldn't be more true these days!  (And - no. It doesn't literally pour. It doesn't even literally rain. Ok. Today it did  literally rain. As in: water was falling from the sky. But that's not what I am talking about here. I am speaking figuratively . I may or may not be slightly annoyed by people's usage of the word literally  these days. The best one I've heard to date: 'My husband is literally working his butt off.' Really?!?) It's been quiet around here for a little while and that means that things haven't been going so well. It's not that I try to tell you only about the good and fun stuff on my blog. But I just don't feel like writing (or I get all cynical as in the paragraph above) when things aren't going my way. In that case I prefer to just go to bed, pull the cover over my head, and stop thinking.  First, it was my foot . I didn't run for a week and thought that ...

It took me a long 30 hours after finishing the race to figure out the reason why I was not my usual happy/digging-deep/loving-this-stuff self at Oceanside. Any ideas? Here are the lame excuses I came up with in the 29 hours and 59 minutes before that glorious realization: *** The weather . Clouds, fog, and rain make me depressed. And it is hard to have fun while feeling depressed. *** Gluten . I gave up gluten about 6 weeks before the race. Friday evening I bought some rice crackers at Trader Joe's that served as my after-dinner-snack. Later I looked the ingredient label which read: glutinous rice! Who knew there was such a thing? I had been so good and then I mess it all up the night before the race! *** Maybe I went out too hard on the bike. I told Coach M the night before the race: I am not going to hold back on the bike. That might have been a mistake... *** I swallowed to much salt water. The bed at the hotel was too soft. I had too much breakfast. I didn't...

I have been gluten-free for 2 months now!  Happy two-month anniversary to me!  I decided that I'd had it after a horrible run one Friday morning in February. No more gluten for this girl! I am not even sure that gluten was the issue during that run but I was tired of feeling less-than-ideal during some of my runs and if gluten was the culprit , then it needed to go. Bye bye, gluten! I was secretly hoping that I would not feel any better and could return to eating my beloved home-cooked tortillas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner within a few weeks. This was not the case. I am, indeed, feeling much better ! Now here is the thing: I have yet to determine whether I feel better because I don't consume any gluten or because I am substituting bread, crackers, tortillas, and pasta for more fruit, veggies, nuts, beans, and lean meat. Who knows... Either way I'm going to stick with this until my race in Germany, then I may have to indulge in some of the delic...