The Long Run (14 Miles!!!), The Zoo, and The Ballet

I hate to admit it, but I was scared to run on the sidewalk again after last week. I'd got running 3 times since my fall, but those were all on a road, the bike path, or the track. I knew, just like with anything, I needed to face my fears, so I took the exact route I did last week. I made it, but I did slow down to walk a few careful steps at the spot I fell, but really there is no big obvious thing there that might have tripped me. I didn't see any blood on the sidwalk, but it had rained later in the day after I fell so it had long since been washed away.

I ran my usual long run route, and just missed a train on 300 North. I ran up to City Creek, taking the time to stop and get a drink every time I passed a drinking fountain which are about every 1-2 miles. I think that added up to like 7 drink stops. Most the time I also took a sip of my hammer gel which I carried in a flask in my jacket pocket. It was a nice cool morning so I was happy to be able to wear my jacket and use that to carry my stuff instead of my belt which I'm getting kind of sick of with all it's bouncing around! I had actually planned on wearing gloves to keep my hands protected as well, but ended up forgetting. Luckily it was ok. The thought had crossed my mind that I should just start wearing gloves everytime I run like "The Glove Runner" who runs by our house all the time and is always wearing gloves, no matter the temperature. I've wondered why he does that. Maybe he hurt his hands once too. Who knows.

Anyway, I had planned on running up the jeep trail I'd started last time, and just turning around at 7 miles. This plan worked out really well at first. I really enjoyed that trail and it was so pretty! It reminded me of being a kid when my dad would take us up in the mountains pretty much every weekend, and I loved that!

Unfortunatly, that jeep trail doesn't go very far, maybe a quarter mile, before it dead ends at a cute little picnic spot. I ran back down to the base of the trail and headed back up to do it one more time, then I got back on the road, continuing up until I hit my 7 mile mark which took me about 1:25.

Somewhere up there, when I got to a garbage can, I took the bandaids off my left hand and never felt the need to put new ones on. That hand is mostly healed up, wahoo!

I ran down, and tried to just enjoy it. I didn't really go easy, but I didn't push it too hard either. I stayed at the top end of heart rate zone 2. When I got back to 300 North, which is a little more than a mile from home, again there was a train! This time I didn't make it in time and had to stop. I stood there and stretched for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. There were actually 2 trains and one of them was really long and moving really slowly.

I texted Pete, "12 miles and now this!"
He answered back with, "LOL" and "Every dang time"
I say, "Don't think I'm going around..."
Then he says, "You can do it!"
I realize, he's right of course and say, "Yeah, I can. North Temple, here I come!"

I had to run back up one block, then over two blocks to get to North Temple, where I then got to run up the big bridge and over the train. On my way there, I imagined the train being gone and being mad at myself for not waiting, but when I saw the train it had stopped so I knew I'd made the right decission.

Besides, I wanted to run 14 miles, and without that little detour, it would have only been slighly over 13 so I was glad I did it!

I felt really good! Amazingly good! Sure I was tired by the end, but my legs, hips, knees, feet -everything! - felt great!

I hit 14 miles about a block from my house so I stopped my timer and walked the rest of the way. It had taken me 2:44 which was a little longer then I had planned for, but you've got to account for the train, right? It was a good thing the kids didn't have school becuase it was almost 9:00 by the time I got home.

I took a nice hot bath, rubbed my legs and put on my compression socks to hopefully help me not get sore. The only thing that really hurt were the bottoms of my feet. The skin just kind of felt raw, but putting on my recovery shoes made that feel all better!

My sister came over and we took the kids up to the zoo. It was such a perfect day to go to the zoo too - overcast and cool. We got to see two shows, one of them was the elephants which George loved!

The baby elephant, Suri, is 3 years old now, and still really cute! We watched them eat popcorn and peanutbutter by the trunkfull so that was fun.

We also rode on the carosel and George got to ride on the baby elephant. He was pretty much making the elephant sign/sound (which to him is putting his hand on the top of his head and saying, "mmmmm") the whole time we were there. It was so cute!

We had ice cream, then I was able to take a little nap when we got home, and we had a nice relaxing evening. I went on a Chipolte run after the kids went to bed too because I was so hungry! I'd even been really full after the encheladas we had for dinner! Pete and I ate our huge burritos and watched Serenity which is a great movie!

I woke up the next day feeling like that 14 mile run was just a dream. Seriously, everything from my muscles to the skin on my feet felt perfectly wonderful. It's a good thing too because Saturday was my girls' big ballet performance! I was tempted to still try to get my long ride in, but knew it would be too stressful so I just put it out of my mind.

After breakfast they took turns taking baths, then getting their hair slicked back into industrial strength buns, and getting their makeup done. Look at Mindy's dark and mysterious eyes:

We also packed lunches (and dinner for Mindy who would be there from 11am to 9pm), and I even hurried and made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so they could take some with them.

They rode over with some friends so that was really nice! I put George down for a nap so I could finally take a shower and get myself ready. I went in an hour before the show started to help usher and it was dumping rain when I left. It was crazy! It made me glad I was going to the ballet instead of going on a bike ride in that weather!

Pete had his brother and sister-in-law watch Ethan and George, then my dad joined him and they met me there. It was cool to be an usher because I got free tickets for myself and Pete which was good because they were not cheap.

Elle did a little dance with her class in the first act, then got to come sit with us for the second act which was excerpts from Le Corsaire performed by company members and students of the SLC Ballet including Mindy. She did a really good job. It was a lot of stuff to remember! Watching the company members and the other adult dancers was really cool. It is amzing what they can do! It really made me want to start taking ballet classes along with my girls!

 Here's Elle after the show with her flowers.

After the matinee, we picked up the boys and went home for a while. Then my dad stayed with the kids and Pete and I went back to see Mindy in the evening performance, after having a nice dinner together. This time she got to do a little dance with her class in Act 1 which was really cute, and then Act 2 again. She's still so small compaired to a lot of the other girls, but she does prettty well. It is getting harder for her, but I think after a nice summer break, she'll want to go back in the fall and keep working at it. I didn't get a picture of Mindy after the show, but her bun stayed in so that was a success! Most importantly she was happy and had a good time!