100 Miler--Javelina Jundred Here We Come and a little race report on St. George!

BS is tapering for his first 100 miler...another stepping stone for Western States?  He is sound, ready, had his last massage and now we must wait...

If a marathon is both science and mind...what is a 100 miler?  I can't fathom what would happen to mind after 50 miles but I will be there to witness, report, cheer, yell and possibly,  play BAD WIFE...by not letting him quit.

The Javelina Jundred 100 miler is in Arizona and is basically an ultra in the desert that is a looping course.  Every three hours I should see my BS come around and my plan is to hug and kiss, check in on the mental state, and let him decide WHEN and What to eat.  

I look forward to being TOUGH WIFE...I should have done it during the last ultra but when I looked into his eyes and held his chin between my palms,  I saw a candle that had been blown out-extinguished- and I folded.

Next Saturday,  I   WILL   NOT  FOLD.

We will light that candle again, together if necessary.

Here he is finishing ST. GEORGE with a 3:29,  a PR!

PR's For All!

St. George was definitely the best marathon I've run.  It was FUN, gorgeous scenery and we were all ready for the demanding down hills.  I would never, EVER say that because this race was down hill that it was EASY.  A few well-meaning peeps had some comments to share about it being an automatic PR race and I will admit,  that's why I chose this race.  However,  a lot of down hill training went into this race...heck,  a lot of HILL TRAINING period.  There were a couple of tough up hills in the race but when I hit the down hills,  I was mentally kissing and hugging my coach for the AWESOME training plan and for the 3 x weekly down hills we did during the last month of training.  SMACK!!

My goal was to PR at 3:19 and I was some seconds over that.  My second goal(because I'm like that)was to run my last 6 miles stronger than any other part of the race.

Science,  consistency and confidence in the hills and a beautiful course were on my side and my final miles were

7:00 min. pace or faster.

Ahhhhhhh, second goal met.

Finish strong.

Goal 3:  Take off two full weeks from running after the race.

Epic fail.

I succumb to peer pressure and OCD with running.

I returned to jogging at the track workout for 4 miles,  7 days after the race.

I know that the reason my training and racing for St. George was strong and injury-free is because I focused MORE on recovery than on the workouts.

At 48,  recovery is everything.

Guess I'm going to have to work at goal 3 a little more.

 This is the starting line at St. George.  Dark, chilly and eery!  There were about 24 of these bonfires and about 40 runners around them,  melting their shoes and snuggling in Mylar blankets.

So,  we're off to Arizona soon!  With two weeks off from school,  I plan on reflecting on my first trimester of school that just came to an end;  how to better herd my kittens who are extremely lively as well as BRIGHT.  More rainbow skeleton building may be in order!

 I also plan on playing a lot with this little guy who made his own cat and people puppets...

 As well as a ghost mask.  Lots of fun planned!  And recovery.

Happy Fall!!