That's gonna leave a mark

I have added a new entry to my awesome list, and it came courtesy of an article I read in Runner's World. It talked about running with your dog, and how great it can be. I thought, what a great idea! Sarge is just old enough to be running but not too old that he'd be that tired at the end of a run. So I took him out on Thursday, and it was pretty awesome! He ran like a champ, and kept ahead of me the whole time (Tugging on his leash, he could outrun me in a heartbeat) and when we got down, he wouldn't even do the cool down walk, he just kept trying to run! And afterward, he was panting and drooling like a crazy dog. It was a little funny.
So I decided that this morning, I would take him running again. It was earlier in the day, so the weather was cooler, I thought that would be helpful. Trying to get him into the car to get to my running park was a freaking joke. I don't know if he thought I was trying to kill him, but I assumed that after our car ride on Thursday, he would understand what we were doing, but he was fighting me tooth and nail not to get in there. I shoved him in there, and then he fought me the entire way down there, totally assaulting me! The run was better this time, with it being cooler, but I feel in my shoulder now from him tugging the leash away from me. I'm just not fast enough for him! It took forever to get him back in the car to go home, I do not understand this dog! And trying to get out of the car, he was trying to get out of my car door before I got out there, and it hurts to have a dog climbing over you to get out first. They have claws!
When I finally got him in the house and everything had settled down, I was feeling some aches and pains. I checked myself out, and I found scratches all over my body from Sarge. There are scratches up my back, some on the side of my body, many on my legs, it is ridiculous! Had I known this morning that my crazy dog would have caused me bodily harm in trying to get him in the car with me, I probably wouldn't have taken him. And as much as it pains me, I'm retiring my runs with Sarge. No offense to the little guy, but it's not worth pains all over just to get him some exercise. I'll just stick with the Frisbee throwing and walks for now.

Almost as good as first!

All right, here is yet another race entry! I wish I had other things going on, but come on. At this time of year, it's racing and running, so I guess you'll have to suffer from hearing about them! We had a race up in the canyon called FunRun4Kids, and it was our first year running this one. I'd heard it was pretty good and easy-all down hill and that not many people run it. Thank goodness, I said, because I like a small race.
We got up there, and they carted us from the meeting spot further up the canyon to South Fork. We warmed up, waited for the starting pistol to go off, and when it did, I took off like a shot. For some reason, for the first half mile or so, my legs felt so heavy! It was such a weird feeling, thank goodness that didn't last for too long.
I was alone for most of the race, I think I was only passed three times, by some guys. I was going as fast as I could, and then, when there was only about a half mile left, I was passed by another girl. This made me mad, I hate being passed by girls! I don't know why, it just drives me crazy. So then when I could see the finish line, I started to sprint, but by then, I had pretty much given my all, so I couldn't go much faster than I already was! I crossed the finish line at 24:02-which is actually a PR for me, so I felt really good about myself. Right after I crossed it, I was told my a race official that I was the third female that finished! I felt pretty good about myself, but still disappointed in myself for not finishing second. I almost had it.
They had a little awards ceremony afterwards, and they handed out awards to the top 3 finishers - so I was a winner! They called my name up to the podium - which they of course pronounced wrong. I was sad. Guenevere. That's definitely not my name, come on! After they said it, PJ shouted out my real name, and he corrected himself. I went up there, got my medal, and had to stand on one of those podium things. I found out, I lost second place by 8 seconds. 8 seconds only. 8 seconds. So little time. I am mad at myself, but nothing I can do about it now. Shoot. I was like, the 10th person or so to cross the finish line, overall, so that was pretty good too.
Anyway, so there you have it. In addition to my medal, I also won some Nerf toys- a baseball game kit, a football and frisbee. That's actually pretty fun- I can't wait to play. Luckily, someone there had a camera, and sent me this picture, so now I have proof of my winnings. I'm a champ.

After a while, it's almost like your legs go numb

So, here we are again. It's been a year since my last one, so I guess it's about time that it comes around. I'm speaking, of course, of the SLC Marathon/ 1/2 marathon/5K. I am, once again, doing the half marathon. At this point, I am both excited for it, and totally dreading it at the same time. I think it'll be ok, and I know for sure that I can at least finish the race, but my goal for this year is to beat my last years time. My time last year was 2 hours even, but this year, I'm hoping to shave ten minutes off of my time. I feel like I can do it, logically, but then realistically, I'm just not sure.
The race is Saturday morning, bright and early, and thank goodness that the weather this year will be warm. It was cold last year for the start of the race, then it warmed right up about halfway through. I'm glad that I know the course of the race already, so that's a plus, but then that's bad because I feel like I already know the bad parts-so that when they come, I probably will psych myself out for it. I'm hoping that I won't, but man, does my mind play tricks with me on runs.
Anyways, wish me luck, everyone, and I'm sure, like I always do, I will post my results here as soon as I find them out.

And I did...

Ok, the results for my race on Thanksgiving day came in, and I'm...ok with the time/place. Last year I finished 43:09, 56th in my age group, 203rd overall. It's not the worst I could have done, but definitely not what I wanted. This year, I finished with a 36:13, 25th in my age group, and 102nd overall. A vast improvement! I mean, I'm sure I could have run faster, but I just ran with PJ, and we kept it pretty loose. Until about the last mile, then I sprinted my little heart out. It was a good run, and I think I felt better about eating all the food I did later. There's no better excuse for running than justification of eating more food!

The results are in...

I didn't do quite as well in the race as I'd hoped I would. I had high hopes for it, of course, but then when it came down to execution, my body had other ideas for me. It started at 8-and we were supposed to check in at about 7 or so. We got there at the crack of dawn (it seemed!) and then just had to wait around for the hour. Luckily, we could do all the waiting inside, since it was raining. Thank goodness the rain wasn't falling too hard though. We gathered at the starting line, heard the gunshot, and took off. After about a half a mile, my shoelace came untied! I couldn't believe, I had to quickly stop and tie it. Of course, wearing gloves made this a difficult task, but I got it, finally, and resumed pace.
The four miles went pretty quickly, and I did ok until about the last mile and a half, when I felt pretty sure I was going to throw up. I just had to breathe through that, and slow down a bit, hope I wouldn't get sick. PJ was a champ though-she slowed down with me and talked me through it. When we rounded the corner to the last little bit before the finish line, PJ took off, and I stayed my pace. At this point, I was just hoping to finish the race-I didn't care about placing. So PJ beat me, fair and square, and I'm just happy I ran the whole thing. Our times were pretty good-I know we can improve, though. We'll get better. And because I had ran that whole thing, I felt pretty good about eating my giant Thanksgiving dinner, complete with two pieces of pie. Hey, I earned it!