What runners do on a long weekend

Memorial Day weekend has proved to be a busy running weekend for me. And you know me, this is just the type of busy that I like to be.

I started the weekend with a 10 miler on Friday night, my last double digit run before Utah Valley Marathon.  Let me just say- it did not start out well.  Right before I headed out, I realized my Garmin was dead, so I stuck it on the charger and jumped on the treadmill while it charged.  Every few minutes my boys would walk in the room and need something.  I ended up doing 3.5 on the treadmill, with multiple interruptions from my boys, before I hopped off, strapped on the Garmin and headed out to finish up.  Once outside, it ended up being a pretty good run. Nice. And. Quiet. With no kids asking me to fix the Wii remote. Or get them a drink. Or telling on their brother for saying butt. Apparently, even with Dad right downstairs, they'd rather talk to a breathless Mom. Go figure. I did another 6.5, out and back, before I felt sane enough to come back to the craziness at home. There's something symbolic about running away from it all and turning around to run home. ;)

Lehi 13th 5k
That run behind me, I set my sights on the neighborhood 5k the next morning. I was determined to have the boys run it so that we could do it as a family. Firstborn and Little Red weren't really all that excited when I woke them up early the next morning. I was trying my best to pump them up on the way to the park. "You guys are going to run a race with Mommy!" "You are awesome runners!"  "I'm so excited for you!" "Are you excited?!" "Get excited!"  Um, yeah, not really that excited, Mom. Oh well. I tried.

What I learned about how to race from my 9 yr old:

1. Start so fast that not even elite runners could possibly keep up.  
2. 100 yards later- walk, try to not throw up and complain about your knees and back hurting.
3. Repeat for another 3.05 miles.

I have NEVER seen so much wasted energy in a 5k. Holy Toledo! I was trying to teach him about pacing but he just told me that I wasn't letting him run. Then, every time we ran he would shake his head from side to side. (What are you doing, child?) I tried it, too, but it made me dizzy. And you can forget about running in a straight line! He was all over the place. Haha. Gonna have to work on that focus.  After 3.1 miles of race ADD, we finished in 51:50.  He was really proud of himself and got lots of high-fives at the finish line. I really hope he'll want to do another one.  As a mommy runner, that was so fun for me!  And I'm already having dreams of us finishing a marathon together someday. Well, without all the crazy head shaking.

Run for Remembrance 10k
This morning, I ran my 3rd 10k. Yep, I've run more races than you could shake a stick at, but only my 3rd 10k.  Not sure why, but 10ks just aren't my favorite.  (Anyone else?)  Anyway, I got a facebook invite to a free 10k on Memorial Day so I thought "Why not? I've got a tempo run to do that day so might as well."  Also, you can't beat a free race!  It was super cold (in the 30s) and rainy when I arrived at the start line.  I nearly turned right around and went home.  I ran into a few friends, though, and soon the rain was letting up.   My last-minute goal for this last-minute race was to run at an 8:30 pace.  After 2 uphill miles, I thought that maybe that was a bit aggressive of a goal but we evened out and the rest of the race was flat or downhill besides one big hill through the cemetery at about mile 5.  I finished in 51:34 on a slightly short course and averaged a pace of exactly 8:30! Nice!

At the start. See the umbrellas and cold weather wear. Icky weather!  By the way, total fail on taking pics this weekend. Geesh! What kind of blogger am I?

Love that I PRed but do you want to know why I'm most excited about today's run? I HIT 100 MILES IN A MONTH FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!  I've officially run 103.7 miles in the month of May! Holla'!

What did you do this weekend??