Canyonlands 5-miler; feeling better

I've been feeling better since mid-February or so, which is great. I've been trying to get more sleep, but other than that I'm not sure what the difference is. It seems kind of random, as it has for the past 4 years, so I guess I'm just happy to be feeling better.

On Saturday (the 18th) I did the Canyonlands 5-miler. I was originally registered for the half marathon, but after the 2 weeks of fatigue in January I had to drop to the 5-miler. I was a bit bummed about that, but glad I could at least still do something. Calvin was slated for the 5-miler as was my friend Diane, so that worked well; plus, the weather was crazy warm on Saturday and the people doing the half really suffered at the end, so I guess it all worked out for the best.

I have actually been able to ramp up my long day just a little the past few weeks, from 8km to 10km, and so I decided to do 12km on race day. I did 2km out and back before the race started, and had the whole road to myself, which was absolutely stunning (at left). I got back just about 1min before the gun went off (perfect timing!) and then did the 8km of the race. My total time worked out to 6:36/km for the 12km, which was great considering how out of shape I am and also the hills and the warmth of the day, which I'm not used to yet.

Calvin and Diane had very good races and placed well in their age groups, I got Loren a couple beers at the finish line beer garden, and Grace enjoyed playing on the playground in the park, so we all had a great time. Plus add in some great food, swimming/hot tub at the hotel, and some amazing hikes (Saturday: Tower Arch; Sunday: Delicate Arch) and it was a great weekend. The only downer was the crazy 4WD road in Arches that totally tore up our car (eeek!); it was designed for high clearance vehicles but there was no sign advertising this and so we were in over our heads in our Rav4. Fortunately Loren was quite skillful so we didn't get stuck or roll the car (both very real possibilities on this crazy road) and the only damage was to our muffler. We got it fixed today for $182 so that could've been a lot worse.

More pics:

Delicate Arch

Pasta Jay's (Calvin's fave!)

***

Monday I did some elliptical to let my body recover.

Today I went out for a gentle 6K and my legs were still a little sore from the hiking, etc. so I wasn't surprised to be a bit slow at 6:48/km. But it felt fine and I plan on 8K on Thursday and 14K on Saturday. Fingers crossed to keep feeling good as I have a race registration for the Salt Lake Half in April and I can do it if things keep going all right.

Off to bed - I have been finding that extra sleep is very helpful with the fatigue thing.