What a GREAT week!

My 39^th year has finally arrived and I cannot remember having a better week of celebrations.   It started on Tuesday with coworkers bringing Hello Kitty cupcakes, cookies, flowers and students singing happy birthday to me in groups of 10+ at a time.  The comment I made to my roommate, Claire, when I got home that evening was “I genuinely feel loved, today.”  Not that I don’t feel loved or appreciated most days of the year – but it meant more (than anyone even realizes) to have received all of the well wishes, songs and goodies ALL day long.

Cupcakes, cookies, cards, flowers and an Edible Arrangement!

The birthday week ended, last night, with a celebration among many of my closest (and longest standing) friends.  Each year, Anne and I get to celebrate our birthdays together (I am the 15^th; she is the 24^th) and its become a nice tradition.  Anne and I met the summer before 9^th grade when her mom (also pictured) and dad moved to our neighborhood in Fairview Hts, Illinois.  Also at dinner last night were Amy (another high school friend who also lived in Fairview) and Marcy – who, if you jumped my backyard fence, lived a couple houses away from 5^th grade on.  If you do the math – that’s something like 28 years (Oh dear lord!). 

(L --> R: Loretta, Anne, Pat, Marcy, Mer and Amy)

But, this blog is about running – not about my birthdays…

So, I am in training for the PF Chang’s Rock n Roll Marathon on January 15^th, 2012.  I figured – what the heck, I can do another one, right?!  My friend, Kris, will be doing this one with me, as well.  I absolutely loved being with Lora, last year, as she finished her first marathon. 

Last weekend, I had a 15 mile run, which was not easy.  I think the soreness from the previous marathon and then the ½ marathon made my legs, knees and back extra sore.  I was looking forward to the short-ish 10 mile run slated for today.  It was time I finally had a shorter run.

However, yesterday was the annual Maricopa Community College’s “Maricopa Moves Mountains” hike through/around South Mountain.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have done this event for a couple of years and always enjoyed it.  It was a nice hike through intermediate level terrain.  I knew that they decided to move the event to a different location, this year – but I still encouraged my roommate to awaken early on Saturday morning to hit the mountainside with other employees in the district.  (She happens to work for KJZZ/NPR station which is part of Rio Salado CC in our district.)  My comment to Claire was “It’s really not a bad hike – we’ll be fine.”  After all, my long runs are on Sundays and there’s no way I would jeopardize a long run with a tough hike the day before.  O.O

Right – so, the first mile of the hike was nice – we bobbed and weaved and hiked.  It was not remotely difficult and was good exercise.  At the 1 mile mark there were a couple of MCCD wellness employees letting us know that this was our opportunity to bail if we didn’t want to go farther.  NO one turned around; I mean, the hike simply wasn’t tough enough to merit quitting (at this point).  That being said the next couple of miles were sheer hell.  We picked up a couple of friends, Scott (from Rio) and Amy (from Mesa) before the hike started and the 4 of us were a good team.  However, there was a point a mile further up the mountain that NO one was nice and NO one wanted to be there anymore.  In fact, the hardest part of the hike was about 1000 feet from the top.  People were bailing right and left.  Kids were falling, people were tripping, legs were giving out and people were MEAN! 

Trying to ignore the obvious sadness surrounding me, I trudged on and didn’t look back.  Poor Claire was stuck between an onslaught of dying, complaining children.  And, I carried on. 

By the time I reached the top, I could see just how far we’d come.  And there, right behind me, was Amy.  We high-ten’ed one another and smiled at the amazing Phoenix landscape beneath us.  It was SO hard!  We took a few pictures and then waited for everyone else to get to the top of the mountain.  

Amy and I finished and within minutes posed with Phx behind us!

First among our gang, was Mesa’s President and his son, Nathan.  Then, I could see Claire approaching and I was thrilled.  About 150 feet from the top, she quit and sat on a rock.  But after a couple of coaxing friends, we got her to finish the mount!  She was NOT pleased – the invitation to join the hike was definitely deceiving and she was annoyed about the difficulty level.  To be honest, we all were.  All I could think was, “how the heck am I going to survive a 10 mile run on Sunday after this?” 

Dr. Pan and his son, Nathan, at the top!

Claire (pre-nose dive) at the top - with Michael Bryant!

We made it to the bottom with a lot of trepidation – as the rocks were steep and sharp.  Poor Claire took a nose dive and landed on her face en route down, leaving her bloodied from her forehead to her knees.  And, so it ended – 2 hours to the minute after we started and 5+ miles later. 

So, you can imagine that when the alarm went off this morning – I contemplated calling the run off.  I had done 2 hours yesterday (and 5 miles on Friday and 6 miles on Thursday) – how were my knees going to make it?!  But, I always feel awful about myself when I miss a run – so I stepped cautiously out of my bed to see how my knees and legs felt.  In truth, I felt strangely fine.   

I was out the door by 6am and feeling good.  It was a gorgeous 55 degrees.  I hid my water, stuck my Gu in my back pocket and headed out.  I decided, rather last minute, to incorporate a LOT of additional hills into my run.  I figured it was only 10 miles and it was a great opportunity to do so.  I started out easy, wanting to save some energy for the miles of hills and it worked.  I literally had a blast.

I was thinking about my friend PLo’s run, this morning, and how great it feels to be able to do something you love after recovering from a minor injury.  He’s back on track and will finish a marathon one day in the coming year, I know it.

I barely needed water, but took some at the 7.5 mile mark and headed back out immediately without taking any supplements.  I simply didn’t need them at all.  Back up the hill I went for the last 2.5 miles and I pushed hard.  It felt so good to know I could do it – even after a strenuous workout the morning prior. 

1:39:06 – and proud.  Even with the hills and the climbing, I still pulled out a decent pace – a pace, I can be proud of.   Here’s hoping next Sunday’s 16 are anywhere near as successful!

I <3 my Garmin -- 9:54 pace, great elevation changes!