Multi-Sensational Martha and My Joy Filled LIfe: Every Day I'm Shufflin'......

The alarm clock went off at 6:00 AM. I had just rolled over and looked at my clock at 5:30 and thought, "Oh man! 30 more minutes. I should just get up cause falling asleep for 30 more minutes and having the alarm go off is NOT going to be fun!" But I REALLY wanted that extra 30 minutes! In that last 30 minutes, I was dreaming about dancing with Tracy at a party and a friend of mine came up and said, "Martha, I just got a vision of you and your head. What you are experiencing isn't symptoms of a concussion but a Memory Tumor." Nice thought to wake up to, eh? *laugh*

Anyway, I rolled out of bed at 6:00 AM and threw on my running clothes. I got out to the trails close to 7:00 and I started running. The breeze was gentle but it kinda made me wish I had a long sleeve shirt on. It was a bit chilly, but within my first mile, I was dripping sweat. That didn't take long! It also didn't take long to come across a gentle and humble reminder that I am not alone in these foot hills/mountains.

I can't explain it, but from the very beginning of my run, I felt really strong today. The last several runs, I have felt sluggish and couldn't figure out why I was so slow. My normal pace for this route was 15 minute miles, but it has been between 16-18 minute miles for the last several runs. I have no idea what was going on. I thought maybe it was my diet. It could be my ankle. It could be any number of things. One thing is for certain, whatever it was, it was not making me happy. But today, I felt like my old self!

At home we have been having some rather serious drama that has been bogging me down emotionally. I have NOT been wanting to get out and run. I have not really had the energy. But I know I have the ultra marathon coming up so I need to be out there running..even if they are just short distances. I had been very worried that all of this emotional stuff was going to keep me from getting through the ultra. Running endurance races is more about the emotional strength than it is your physical strength, and if I am starting on low or empty, I am just not sure how I am going to make it through the entire race. But today's run showed me differently!

I felt great! I even ran up some hills (which is against my training plans for the race). My runs down hill were very fast and felt AMAZING! At one point in time, it said my pace was a little over 9 minutes per mile. ME???? Seriously?? I saw the general pace of my running going down. It was at 15:24/mile. Then it was at 14:44/mile. And it kept going down! It got down to 14:05/mile and I thought...."What if I could get it below 14:00/mile pace??? I have NEVER done that on a trail!" (To be honest, I think the last time I did that kind of pace was on the Lake Lowell Marathon in 2011 when I set a PR for marathons. In the first part of the race, I was told I was going really fast (for me) and that they were worried I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace I had set my goal for by the end. )

Anyway, I kept running. I needed to finish 6 miles and I wanted to do it in UNDER the 14:00/mile pace! I kept my phone in my hand and watched the distance creep up and the pace/mile go down! I pushed myself hard. I didn't want it to read just 13:59; I wanted to give myself some room! I kept running! I watched it go down. Then it creeped back up cause I stopped to walk. Nope.. I wasn't going to have any of that. I started to run again! Finally, I reached my 6 mile mile with a sustained 13:42/mile pace!

Here are my splits:

1 mi