I wanted to at least get 8 miles. A couple weeks ago, I did had a really hard long run and ended up only doing 7 miles in 1:30. This was the day before Ethan's birthday party so I just tried not to worry too much about it, and started my recovery week early. The next week I ran 10 miles so I felt better about that!
This time I did end up making my 8 mile goal! I actually did 8.2 miles in 1:30. It was fun because Pete got a new battery for the Garmin's heart rate strap so I was able to have heart rate and speed for this run! I ran up a seriously hard hill that shot my heart rate up too high, so I ended up walking most of it. But that's ok! It was fun to have such a hard first half, then a really fun, fast second half. I actually turned around at :50 and made it home right at 1:30. I love it when my timing works out like that. It was so nice because the kids had already eaten when I got home, and Pete just took them to school on the way to work so I could get showered before dropping Elle and George off at my friend's house, and meeting Mindy at school to join her on her field trip to the Museum of Fine Art. It was a Spanish day, meaning the teacher and students were only supposed to speak Spanish (except for to me, of course). This was really only for the bus ride over, though. Once we got to the musium, it was all English since we broke up into smaller groups and the docent's took over. It was a fun little outing with Mindy and her friends.
When we got back, I picked up Elle and George (who had just slept the whole time and was so happy when I got back! Perfect!), we went home for some lunch and to finish packing for my kids to go to my dad's house. Then we picked Ethan up from school and met back up with Brittay and went to Red Butte Garden for their free day. Mindy had Girls on The Run after school so she didn't come with us. The kids had fun running around all the different paths and gardens for a couple hours.
Before we knew it, it was time to go get Mindy. Of course, when I realized it was time to go, we were all the way at the bottom of the garden! George started crying, Ethan fell and bit his toung, then Elle fell and scraped her knee. Unfortunatly, I don't think either of them will remember the fun they had there. We all servived, though, and made it back in plenty of time to pick up Mindy. Actually, she was late coming out, which made us late to meet my dad. I met him at a gas station near his work, and he got ice cream for everyone because of Ethan's sore toung. Poor kid, it looked like it hurt! Anyway, the kids were all excited to go to Grandpa's house, so it was an easy drop-off.
I went home, met Pete and we had a nice night out that included buying some nice new water bottles, dinner at a little Thai curry place, picking up our pakets for The Frontrunner Century, and some shoping at City Creek. I always just feel so unstylish there! I'm not good at shopping and didn't find anything I liked. Oh well, it was fun to look around.
Saturday morning, I woke up on my own at 6:30. How messed up is it that I can't even sleep in until 7 anymore?
I got myself ready, then woke Pete up at a little after 7. The ride started at 8:00 just a few miles from our house so we didn't need too much time to get there. It was perfect timing. We just walked over, put our shoes/helmets/gloves on, turned in our bags with our shoes in them for after the ride and took this picture, then it was time to start!
The first 20 miles were on the Jordan River/Legacy Parkway Trail which was almost exactly the same route I took for my 40 mile ride last week. It was fun doing some drafting, and passing little groups of people whenever we got the chance. We passed a lot of people and the first 20 miles went by really quickly! I was worried that it would be too cold, but I dressed warm enough that really only my toes were cold for part of the ride. It ended up being just about perfect because the sun was shining and there was no wind at all!
The first aid station was at around 20 miles. We took a few minutes there and they had a nice selection of food/drink. I had a peice of Pete's banana, a couple mini butterfingers, a blueberry Fruition bar which was really good, and a drink of poweraid.
The next 10 miles were really fun because we got with this groupb of 4 or 5 guys and tried to stick with them. When we were with them, we were able to cruise along at a nice 18-20 mph with our heart rates in zone 2 which was perfect. I fell behind a couple times, though, and I'd have to fight to get back to them. That was hard! Just before we got to one stop light, I heard a sound, looked down and my hammer gel was gone. We stopped, and I thought about going back for it, but then I didn't want to loose my group! I decided to just leave it, but I guess I debated for too long because I got behind again. Pete was able to catch up to them, but then ended up falling back to wait for me. I just couldn't catch them! Oh well, we just decided to do our own ride and keep our hear rates low, not kill ourselves to try to catch them. After that, I wished I would have gone back to grab my gel flask since we ended up loosing that group anyway!
By the time we got to the next aid station at mile 40, I was starting to feel pretty sore and ready for a little rest! Fourty was the longest ride I'd done so far this year. I used the bathroom, had some more mini butterfingers, grabbed some more candy bars for later, and got a drink. Then I was ready to go again!
We started just after these 2 guys that looked like we could keep up with so we tried to catch up to them. I think that ended up being a mistake because we were following them instead of watching for turn stickers on the road. We caught up to them, but only for a few minutes before we hit a big hill and had to slow down, and lost them again.
A little while later, we realized those guys had turned and stopped with another little group of riders. There were no turn markers, but we figured they were with us so we turned and followed them. After following them for a few mintues, we realized that no one knew where they were going. We stopped after another big intersection, and the 2 guys we'd been follwing decided to go back and turn, but the rest of the group decied to keep going so that's what we did. We went down a little hill, with me in the lead, then I realized my back tire was flat! Dang it! I pulled over, and the whole group stopped, thinking we were going to ask for directions or something, but I we told them I just had a flat tire and that we were ok to fix it, so they continued on.
I was so glad Pete was there with me to help me change my tire, get it back on my bike and fill it up. I probably could have done it myself, but I'm sure it would have taken longer than the 30 minutes it took us, and I would have been a lot more stressed out about it!
Just as we were finishing, the guy at the auto body shop we'd stopped at came out to see if we needed any help. It was nice because he let me go inside and wash my hands. They were totally black from my chain. We told him we were trying to get to the Union Pacific station, and that we thought we were off course. He told us the best way would be to go back 2 stop lights, turn left, and that that would just take us right to it. We felt bad for the group who had gone on, and hoped they found their way back because there was no way we could catch them!
We followed the nice man's instructions, and sure enough, it did take us right to the train station. A little too quickly! We finished the ride with only 55 miles instead of the 62 we were planning on. We could have rode around for 7 more miles, but it wasn't a big deal to either of us that we got 62 since we were just doing it for fun and to get a long ride in. We got back just before that group we were worried about. Turns out, they got back onto the route and finished up with 63 miles. Whew!
Here's what we did (top), compared to what we were supposed to do (bottom):
What happend was we missed a left turn after the 2nd aid station (I'm glad it was after the aid station!). I think the light must have been green and we were too excited to just get through it, and catch up to those guys, that we didn't pay attention to the other surroundings because all the other turns were really well marked and easy to spot.
Anyway, we made it and had a fun ride together, so that's what matters! It was fun to ride so far and not have to worry about riding back. We had a nice lunch, put our bikes on their truck, and got on the train to ride back to Salt Lake. Man, it is so awesome going from Ogden to Salt Lake on the train! I loved it!
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