Running For Relief 5K Results

Running For Relief, a small event to benefit the local Methodist church, has been a spring time tradition of mine for three years now. Troy, after taking a 15-year hiatus from the running scene, has recently rekindled his love of the sport, and decided to join me for this year's run. Let me just say how impressed I am with Troy--this was his third 5K in less than six months!

Going into the race, Troy set a simple goal: finish the 3.1 miles without taking any walking breaks. I stuck by his side, and kept him updated on our speed and time. After breezing through our first mile, Troy decided to take it up a notch. After mile two was done, we again bumped up the pace. The 5K turned out to be a progressive run with the following splits:

9:57
9:12
8:17
7:08

Our overall time was 28:21. The results haven't been published yet, but given the size of this event, I wouldn't be surprised at all if both Troy and I placed in our groups. That's one of the great things about 5Ks--it's easy to place. ;) I'll update this post as soon as I know where we stand.

Post script: Troy placed first in his age group (WOOHOO!), and I took second in mine.

Strider's Half Marathon Results

Strider's Half was my second opportunity to pace this year. I was particularly excited that this course was the first half of the Ogden Marathon, which I am running for the first time next month. I couldn't pass on the chance to familiarize myself with my pending marathon route, so I signed up to lead the 2:05 group.

The course was relatively easy, though not nearly as downhill as it appeared on the organizer's website.

My official time was 2:05:02.

Long Beach, CA

Our monthly get-out-of-town trip took us to Long Beach, California for the weekend. It was a fun three days spent on the warm beach with the hubs. Now I'm back in beautiful Park City,with a hint of a tan, ready to make the most of this month!

Foster Care: Year 4; Month 3

We're wrapping up month three this weekend! Here's the scoop:

Reba (Shepherd mix, Paws For Life)

After Charlie left, we took in Reba for Heber's Paws For Life rescue. She is a young Shepherd mix we had for about three weeks. Our local Friends Of Animals was interested in this amazing outdoors companion, and ended up taking her in to their rescue. She was adopted within 48 hours.

Boo Radley (Basset Hound, Friends Of Animals)

Boo was our short-term foster for Friends Of Animals. Again, we only have these dogs for the weekend, and some evenings during the week. Friends Of Animals, unlike Paws For Life, has a physical location where potential owners can come check out the animals during the day. Paws For Life uses foster homes, and relies on their shelter page, Petfinder, and once-a-month adoption events to find their animals a permanent home. 

Jake (English Setter, Paws For Life)

Jake came home with me this weekend as our next long-term foster. An employee arrived at the Heber County Animal Shelter to find Jake tethered to the sign. During the night, someone tied him so tightly to the sign that the poor boy couldn't even lie down. Paws For Life took him in, gave his extremely matted coat a grooming, put a few pounds on his malnourished frame, and now he's a Madsen! Paws For Life realized Jake is deaf. We've been testing out some different sounds with him (talking, whistling, clapping, etc.) and he's not responsive to any of them. We're presuming this is something he's had for awhile, maybe his whole life, as he appears to be mute as well. 

I love all the shelter animals, but special needs cases really tug at my heart--that's how I ended up adopting two deaf and mostly blind Corgis. :) Jake is an amazing boy, and just needs a family would can be understanding of his condition. 

Canyonlands Half Marathon Results

The Canyonlands Half Marathon was my first pacing experience in 2013. Though it is only March, for some reason I felt I was behind schedule this year for half marathons. I guess that's what running halfs in January the past few years will do to you. ;)

Canyonlands Pacers

I chose to lead the 2:30 group this time around. I usually will cover the 1:50-2:20, but when I'm not familiar with the course at all, I like to play it safe and keep my time super conservative. I'm also pacing my first full marathon in May (Eek!), and I thought the 2:30 spot would be great practice for my 5:00 full.

After the race, Troy commented that as each pacing group went by, the runners were continually looking more exhausted. When I saw this photo I giggled. By the time the 2:30 arrived, I was definitely the only one smiling. :)

Finish line!

I came in with 18 seconds to spare! I had a fabulous time covering this event, and an amazing weekend in Moab with the hubby. I can't wait to go back for our fall Moab race!

Run For Recess 5K Results

Well, my first "real" 5K for the year is now in the books. This year the Run For Recess 5K was held at Salt Lake Community College instead of Liberty Park like last year's inaugural event. The course consisted of two big loops around the campus.

My splits were as followed:

7:42
8:31
8:30
6:18

I finished with an overall time of 25:17. The results didn't have runners divided into age groups so I'm not sure where I stand in the 25-29 group, but I did take 8th overall female.

Foster Care: Year 4; Month 2

Charlie (Hound, Paws For Life)

It took Charlie six weeks to find his forever home. I told myself I wasn't going to get too attached to him, but of course, I was lying. :) He was the sweetest boy, but we know he went to an excellent home. 

As our first long-term foster, we were unsure how long Charlie would be staying with us. We know these long-term cases can result in the dogs staying in temporary housing for upwards of three months. We were surprised how quickly Charlie went (relatively speaking), but also that this awesome man made it a whole six weeks without someone snatching him up. We had our second foster dog from Paws For Life lined up, but, fortunately, she too was adopted the same day Charlie left.

Radcliff (Dachshund mix, Friends Of Animals)

Radcliff was our short-term foster in February. Due to the higher visibility of the Friends Of Animals dogs, they typically don't make it more than 10 days in foster care with us.

I did the math this morning, and Radcliff was the 58th dog fostered with us over these past four years. Wow! Here's hoping we can at least break 70 this year!

Striders Winter Circuit 10K Results

Running the Striders 10K was a last minute addition to my calender. With the hubby having to work, I figured I could easily sneak one more race into the mix, and there's honestly nothing I'd rather be doing early on Saturday morning than pounding out some miles. Striders hold a winter circuit series each year consisting of a 5K, 10K, 10 miler, half marathon, and 30K, but yet somehow I've never had the chance to run any of their events until today.

There were surprisingly a lot of runners out for an 18 degree race. The gun fired, and everyone bolted across the starting mats. This is nothing new in races, and I figured as everyone settled into their paces, the runners within sight would be easily catchable.

They weren't.

Over a mile into the run, no one was falling back. I could see my goal of placing top 10 easily slipping away, but I kept pushing my hardest up those hills.

My 10K splits were as followed:

8:22
7:41
8:29
8:44
10:00 (what happened?!)
9:47
6:44

I finished with an overall time of 54:40, and placed 10th out of 25 in my AG. The goal continues!

**SLC Marathon in 9 weeks!**

Hale 10K Results

I raced the Hale 10K for the first time last weekend. I was pretty excited for this run as 10K isn't a race distance you see very often. To date, I've only ran three 10Ks--two of those being the most popular 10K in Utah: Deseret News.

The Hale 10K course makes a big loop through Orem, which added a nice mix of downhill and uphill.  The route was pretty icy on race day so I ran the freshly salted roads cautiously, and heeded the race director's repeated warning to "not aim for your fastest race".

Hale 10K Elevation Chart

My splits for the race were as followed:

8:53
8:18
8:37
9:02
9:50
8:38

The course came up a bit short, but I finished in 53:20--less than a minute off my current 10K PR. I'm not sure where I stand in my age group, but I'll update this post as soon as the results appear online.

Post script: the results just appeared online, and I took 3rd in my age group.

**SLC Marathon in 10 weeks**

Moab, UT

Our first 2013 getaway is now in the books! Troy and I spent last weekend in Moab to celebrate the hubby's upcoming 38th birthday. We dedicated a full day to Arches National Park and a full day to Canyonlands before make the trip back home to Park City.

**California next month**