Summit Run and Randoms

Random - Saturday afternoon was spent at the track working on speed work.

Holy cow that was weird to type! Yes, speed drills. Why? Certainly NOT because I am concerned with speed : )   This is the first year that both girls are being tested on their mile time every other week. We have one who is consistently running a 12 minute mile (this earns an F) and one who is running a steadily declining 9 and change mile (this earns a C).  A C for a kid who earned 5 A's and one B on her first progress report is a stressful thing for her.  Wondering what the scale is? Miles in the 7's are an A, 8's are a B, 9's are a C, 10's are a D, 11's are an F....12's...not even on the scale. The whole concept of running and being able to maintain a steady pace that you can go for a few miles at being a bad thing is weird to the girls. They've been raised out on the trails, where "steady" is success.  Speed has never been a focus, or a measure of a "good" or "bad" run, or a successful run or outing.  The whole idea that they've been running the majority of their lives and its something they love...yet they are being told by a grade that they aren't good at it....well, lets just say tears have been shed.
We've let them know that we are ok with their grades, it's all about effort and we know they try their best, but if they want to improve their times, it is something we can work at on the weekends.  Both said they wanted to, and I went to work trying to figure out speed work, Yasso 800's, what is a 200/400/800?? I decided that to start off, straights/corners was easiest, that is run hard on the straights, recover on the corners. Unfortunately, there were multiple soccer games going on, so we had to work with one long straight away, which I drew a line across the half way point.  They would sprint all out to the half way, do an active recovery running easy the last half, immediately turn around and run hard back to the half, then easy the second half. They'd do it 4 times, then rest for one minute and do it again...over and over and over again.
It is now solidly established that nobody in our family enjoys speed work : )  We'll see if they ever want to do it again. If not, that's totally fine.
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Next Random-
Ultra Gam Gaiters -
Myles gaiters came!! They fit him perfectly and are so stinking cute I can't stand it.  I know I wrote previously about Teresa's customer service....it knows no end. His gaiters came wrapped like a gift with a special note for him( she knew he was getting them for Rocky Ridge this weekend).

I had got him new shoes to go with his new gaiters, they light up and will look awesome running through the single track!  Notice how the ankle openings are just the perfect fit? Not tight or too loose, she did a perfect job making these considering she had now measurements, just that he was a 7 year old boy.
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random-
Not really that random, but Emma headed up on the Mt with me yesterday evening for a run to and around the summit.  We parked at Juniper campground and did the climb to the summit, then did a loop around the top and back down. We had a blast.

 All that climbing pays off big time! Amazing views on such a clear day.

 If you look just passed the two tan hills, you see a grey cluster of buildings, and then about a block away another grey group of building. That is the kids elementary school, and middle school. We live a few blocks to the left.

 Emma at the summit.

 This is a cool shot, it's the reverse of one of the pictures in my last post from Eagle Peak.  Here, you see the tan hills of Bald Ridge, which run into the dark ridge that is Eagle Peak.  It's an awesome view of Eagle Peak and I can just picture two little tiny runners making their way across the ridge.

 Same view, just pulled back a bit. You can really see how pretty, and large of a peak Eagle Peak is.

 If you've ever wondered, this is how we let people pass on the trail when there's a ledge on the other side.

 Emma climbing Devil's Elbow.

 Saw this thing, actually a real, legit photographer was up there looking for Tarantulas and called out to us when we were at Devil's Elbow asking if we wanted to see a tarantula. Emma took off running to see it, she had not seen one yet this season.

 This is a wooden deck on the Mary Bowerman trail. If you don't now this trail, it's almost flat, and goes in a circle around the summit. Really nice for people who want to take a trail, but have limited mobility issues. It's nice and flat, and if you start on the left side, it's paved and then there's this nice deck w/some telescopes to look at stuff.

 And then we enjoyed the fun run back down to the car! I had a great time hanging out with this kid!
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Random - I really feel like I have about 5 different "personalities" when I pick up/drop off the kids. You never know who's gonna show up. Sometimes I'm dressed nice, freshly makeup'd and showered, sometimes I'm "lawn mower mom" who's gross and has been working in the yard, sometimes I'm runner mom, in workout clothes and covered in trail grit...today I was "I"m famous, dont' talk to me" mom.  I actually had spent the morning cleaning house and not doing hair/makeup and threw on a hat and glasses with my workout clothes and that was that.  I kind of like that this look puts off a "I'm not in the mood to talk to you, leave me alone" vibe.  : )  Could get put into the regular rotation of "personalities", lol.  Granted, it'll only work if there's no other Brazen runners around...if there are, then it 's an invitation to talk, cuz we are automatically family. : )

I should add that these are Sophie's glasses. My kids are way cooler than me and I regularly steel stuff out of their rooms so I can try to be cool like them.

 Last Random ----

Here's the white board from last week.  Still feeling really good and in a routine!