Hostess 100

A runner friend of mine, Cory AKA Fast Cory recently decided to make his 10th 100 mile run a solo venture from Salt Lake City to Provo and back.  He named it the Hostess 100.  Little did he know that so many of us would want in on some of the fun.  A couple girlfriends and I headed out to meet up with Cory on my birthday, so it was doubly fun!  The Hostess Birthday party run!

Well, of course, I made myself cupcakes for my birthday and brought some to share!  Cherri, Cory and Jennilyn cruising up State Street.







What birthday run is complete without a Slurpee?





Maureen stopped to cheer Cory on!

Whaaaaaat's uuuuup!?




 

Best impromptu birthday gift ever!  Jennilyn found this discarded, deflated balloon tangled in some flowers on the side of the road.  She didn't actually mean to pull up the flowers, but hey... Bonus!  Thanks Jennilyn!

Then in the wee hours of the morning Cherri and I headed back out for round two.  Who doesn't love running in the middle of the night with friends!?













Day 1 7.12 miles 1:39 Day 2 9-9.5ish milesIt's pretty awesome to have so many fun running friends to help a girl celebrate her birthday (again)!  Cory finished that 10th 100 miles (CONGRATULATIONS CORY!) and you can read about it here.

Nighttime Fun!

There is something very wonderful about running at night.  It's a little bit scary.  It's it a little more difficult.  And it's a lot of fun!  I got a fun group of runners to join me in Corner Canyon on Friday night for a fun jaunt in the woods!

Annnnd, now you can't see!

A line of headlamps in the dark.

Can you see us?  Maybe just our teeth?  

Night time runners!

Thanks for coming out everyone!  It was FUN!

7.97 miles

1:37

12:17 average pace

Zippity Do Dah

It is a wonderful day indeed!  I ran, and it felt great! My only complaint:  it's damn cold outside!  I'm just not ready for 39º! Brrr  Thanks to my running buddy, Meghan for meeting me at 5:30am this morning and getting in the miles with our pups.  It's always great to chat with friends, but even better getting back out there and feeling good!

4.02 miles
48:54

12:09 pace

PR's and Shooting Stars

Yesterday was kick ass.  Katherine and I hit up the gym in the morning.  We did our whole body routine, but instead of the last bit of focus on arms, we did legs.  I am thrilled to say that I added more weight to my bench press!  I added five more pounds, making it a 65 pound bar and a PR!  While at the gym we had the brilliant idea to go take a night time trail run and try to go see the meteor showers.  

After getting our respective children tucked into bed I picked Katherine up and we headed to Corner Canyon.  It was 10:00 o'clock when we headed out on the trail and the crickets were singing to us.  It was dark, but we saw several other people out trying to catch a glimpse of the stars as well.  The run was really fun.  It's slow going in the dark, but super fun.  We ran up Clark's and down Ghost Falls to Coyote Hollow.  For some reason the darkness of night didn't seem as spooky as the darkness of early morning.  Maybe because our ears weren't as sensitive to every sound?  Maybe because we were on a mission?  Whatever the reason, it was great fun and despite the clouds, we still saw two shooting stars!

My favorite?  As we were on our way down there was a large group of young people hiking around hollering to us and when we came into sight and they saw that we were running, one kid said, "Hey!  Look at you guys!"  sounding quite shocked that we were running.  

Always a classic.

The moon was watching over us.



Katherine and I had seven lights between us, and it was a good thing!

Done!

5 miles

1:17

15:24 pace

Toads, Tarantulas and Owls

Today was one of those, "are you out of your mind" moments I have occasionally.  It started when I had planned a 7-10am trail run with Katherine, but forgot that Jeff and Kurtis were leaving town for the day at around 7:30am.  So, Katherine, being as sound of mind about running as I am agreed to go from 4-7am instead.  I picked her up at 3:45am and we headed to Corner Canyon.  

It was sprinkling when we arrived, but just the rain didn't hang around.  Before I go any further, let me remind you that Katherine and I played Miss Olympia together on Wednesday and were both still sore.  We were slow.  Very slow.  The darkness didn't help.  I've run before sunset loads of times, but this was two solid hours in the pitch black of early morning.  I can only imagine how night time could take a toll on the runner who had already been on her feet all day.

Along our slow trudge uphill in the dark we spotted a toad, two tarantulas and the same baby owl, three times.  The owl kept landing on the trail ahead of us and then flying away as we approached.  SO cool! 

Plus, we found  an awesome shed deer antler, that I put in my pack to bring to my lovely runner friend, Lindsay.  

Despite the excitement of darkness and wild life, we kept dwelling on our horrific pace until finally we arrived at the top of Maple Hollow trail in a neighborhood!  We were shocked that we had made it to the top of the mountain and we didn't even know it!  We had climbed over 1,000' in about four miles.  In the dark.  With sore legs.  No wonder we were slow!

The run got better from there, but we were still both dragging the whole way.  We didn't make it quite 12 miles, but were happy with the distance we covered.  And as always, despite being sore and tired we had a little fun.

Heading to Katherine's at an hour that used to be bed time...

Toad in the road.

Tarantula #1.  He is in the dead center of the photo, just out of the circle of light.  This fella was kind enough to scurry out of the path for us.  Tarantula #2 just sat there in the middle of the trail, daring us to go past him.  There was a bit of squealing involved when we passed both of them.

Have fun.  Always.

  Giant bear sculpture at the top the Maple Hollow trail.

 And a parking lot!  There is a trailhead on the top of this mountain, along with some very large houses.

 Ahhh!  Finally!  Sunlight!

 The sunrise was spectacular.

 The deer antler.

11.3 miles
2:55
15:29 average pace