What a Week! And It's Only Wednesday...

Me and my Valentine

This is turning out to be an interesting week!  Sunday was our typical up early so Les could prepare a Sunday school lesson while I went for an easy spin.

Monday morning we hopped on the mountain bikes and hit the trail.  My legs were like lead and I couldn't seem to get warmed up.  Once we got to the trail I told Les to go for it and I'd meet him at the turn around.  After about a mile on the trail my legs finally loosened up.  Then it was pedal to the medal and I got my 3rd best time, only 8 seconds slower than my PR!

We bombed our way back down but because of the rain there is a barrier that we can't ride over. We had to get off the bikes for a few steps.  When we got back on the street it's downhill for about a mile with a stop sign about a third of the way down.  We were just rolling from the stop sign when Les realized he was in the wrong gear and almost came to a complete stop.  I didn't realize until it was too late and my front tire clipped his back tire.  I was on the ground before I had a chance to process what was happening.  My right knee is bruised and slightly scraped but no major damage thanks to good tights and full finger gloves.

We were up a little after 4:00 yesterday morning for our 7:45 flight to Honolulu.  After picking up our car at Les' office, we headed to the Ilikai where we'll be staying this time.  I opened my emails and saw this:

A free entry to the Utah Valley Marathon!  I may have shrieked a little in the car!!  I never win anything.  I am so excited to have a won!  The Utah Valley Marathon claims "its gentle downhill course not only enhances your speed but won’t beat up your legs."  The course elevation looks like this:

And before you think I'm crazy for running downhill, let me remind you of my most recent marathon, the Revel Canyon City Marathon:

It looks like the Utah Valley Marathon is going to be much more gentle!

So what happens now?  I pulled up TrainingPeaks to reapply my marathon training plan and guess when my 16 week training starts?  Next week!  The timing couldn't be better. Thank you, Wendy, for hosting this giveaway!!  I am so excited to have this race on my calendar.  Once again I'll be posting my training schedule each week followed by a weekly recap.

When is your next race?  Downhill running - yay or nay?
Anyone running the Utah Valley Marathon?  Have you run it in the past?  Any advice?