Five Things Friday!

I like these quick hit bullet posts some people do on certain days of the week! So here are mine:

Poppies from this morning's Sanitas hike with Christine. No, I didn't run it again....

1. I mentioned a few posts back that I had ordered a custom training plan for the Top of Utah Marathon from McMillan Running Co., the same coaching/training group that provides the popular running calculator online.

Yesterday, it arrived! Its very presence in spreadsheet form on my computer has already rejuvenated me. Part of this are the personal touches. For example, in the lines for the weekends where I have my two upcoming races (the ZOOMA Women's Half and the TOU Marathon), he wrote, "Good luck Terzah!" This is a guy who coaches elites, wishing little average me luck. Yeah, I know, I paid for it--but still...it's just really nice to sort of have a coach...

I'm all ready to hop out of bed tomorrow at some dawn hour and do my long run.

2.Speaking of the ZOOMA Half, did you know I can get you a discount? If you use the code COLOAM11, you'll get $10 off the half-marathon and $5 off the 10K. Just click the button on the top right-hand side of this blog and sign up! It's on Sunday, July 17 in awesome Colorado Springs.

For those of you who love reality TV, I also got word that Dr. Andy Baldwin--former “Bachelor” from the ABC series and founder of ZOOMA’s official charity partner, Got Your Back Network--will be attending race weekend. He will be speaking at the start line and also congratulating runners at the finish line. I heard a rumor he's single again....Just sayin'....

3. Last Wednesday night, I had dinner with a bunch of the other ambassadors for ZOOMA. One of them is none other than Dimity McDowell Davis, co-author of Run Like a Mother and the super-popular Another Mother Runner blog (and yeah, she will be at the race on July 17, too--she wants to run a fast 10K).

Dimity told us about another calculator online that will take your race times at altitude and convert them to sea-level equivalents. I came home, Googled it and found this one by Runworks. My recent times came out like this:

Bolder Boulder 10K: actual time--52:24; sea level equivalent--50:30
Boulder Spring Half: actual time--1:57:18; sea level equivalent--1:51:47
Snowman Stampede 10-Miler: actual time--1:27:01; sea level equivalent--1:23:17

Grain of salt, I know, but interesting!

4. This is the last formal day of the 10-day Sugar-Free Challenge. Weirdly, I'm struggling more now than I did at the beginning. All day yesterday I just really wanted a cookie, or some sugary peanut butter...something! Part of the issue, I think, is that I let myself eat a few bites of an ice cream dessert when I was out with the ambassadors on Wednesday. But that's been my only transgression and hopefully I'll get past it quickly and move into the second half of my own 21-day Sugar Free Challenge. Whew! I'm right there with you folks out there who have been saying that sugar-free is HARD.

5. Any advice on how to make myself go to bed by 9 or 9:30 p.m. every night? I really think this will be key to my marathon success, but it's so hard! After my kids go to bed, I want to stay up and talk to my husband, read a book or magazine, read other people's blogs online--it's just so nice to not be Mom for a bit.

And yet I know....extra sleep feels good and boosts running....

Have a great weekend and run well!!