Life is a Sprint!

Seems how it has been well over a month since I did speedwork of any kind, I decided to attempt it today.  Monday is usually my sprint day but with all of the races as of late, I have skipped the sprints.  Just like skipping KYT for 3 weeks, the sprints nearly killed me.  Here is what I did, this was on a treadmill so I will be using mph:

Mile 1 Warm up .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .20 .25 6.45-9.00

Speed MPH 7.2-8.0 9.2 8.0 9.3 8.0 9.2 8.0 9.3 7.8 9.5 7.8 9.5 7.8 9.6 7.8 9.6 7.8 10.0 7.7 10.0 7.7 8.0 4.0 7.8-8.0

I did 9.20 miles and it was tough, I even did the sprints slower than normal.  After I finished my 10K in 44:36 I had to go and splash water on my face, when I got back on the treadmill to attempt running again, I got VERY chucky.  I had to walk at 4.0 mph for a few minutes to compose myself.  I felt pretty weaksauce.  I have a 10K coming up next Monday, the Freedom Run which is one of my most favoritest races of the year, and I was hoping to do really awesome.  After my workout today, however, I don't have very high hopes.  I think my focus on trying to speed up and push myself is kind of taking all of the fun out of running.  I guess I think that because I work at a running store I need to be super fast.  I have to face the facts though and know that I was not a collegiate runner, I haven't been running my whole life and I am in fact getting quite old :/  I have decided that in order to make running fun again I am not going to go balls to the walls everyday.  I think it is important to do speedwork and try to push yourself a couple of times a week but other than that running should be enjoyable.  I just need to enjoy the fact that I am healthy and capable of running.  I don't need to be a fast runner.  Okay, I am done with my ranting and raving.

On Saturday, Kobe is getting baptized and I have felt a little stressed.  It kind of snuck up on me.  I am a very high strung person and the thought of having people over for a luncheon kind of stresses me out.  I am crazy, I know.  I know that not one person who comes into my house cares if it is spotless but I get OBSESSED with it.  The entire week leading up to anyone coming to my house I get a little crazy.  I also realized yesterday that I had better get working on some kind of invitation for the big event.  I went on Sam's Club website and designed a nice little number, I had to type it up 3 times because it wouldn't save.  At around 7 p.m. I took Kobe outside in attempt to get some photos of the boy.  Here are the BEST ones:

I almost used that one!

Needless to say I gave up on doing any kind of invitation, the child is a whack-a-doo!  I blame his father for his nuttyness :)  Before I took the kids to gymnastics today I tried to convince Kobe to try again but he refused.  I guess a mass text will have to do.  I know, I have no patience but then again that is why I only have 2 kidlets.

Do you get CrAzY when you know people are coming to your house?



Absolutely!!!

Are you a patient person?

I always thought I was and then I had kids ;)

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you some awesome news!!  I got a company to agree to give away a $30 giftcard to their website in a giveaway on my blog.  I have decided to hold off until I get at least 50 followers.  So PLEASE become a follower, I know a lot more than 18 people are reading this.  I've seen reports peeps ;)  Although, I am not going to disclose the website I will show you a picture that has the product in it.  Let's see if you can guess, anyone would enjoy this special prize...not just runners!

I think I was having a very deep thought :)

 

Babies, Naps and Braces

I have been a bit of a slacker on the whole blogging thing, it sure takes a lot of time.  Here's an update on my super exciting life.  On McKenna's birthday, June 13, little baby Coen was born.  He is my new little nephew who is just as cute as can be.  He was really small like my kidlets and I had so much fun seeing and holding him...so did Kobe.



He is Jenne's, my sister in law, baby.  He weighed 6 lbs. 2 ounces. and was 19 inches long.  I just love when they are tiny.  I could stay up there and hold him all the live long day, just ask my family I am a bit of a baby hog!  Sorry, but I truly believe that I enjoy it more than anyone else ;)

Here is another pic just because he is so BLASTED cute!

Yes...he is smiling at me ;)

Ever since this whole RAGNAR thing I have been super sleepy.  It hit me hard today, I took 2 naps...that's right 2!  My morning nap was a little weird I'm not sure I ever really feel asleep even though I was EXHAUSTED.  So I went in for round 2 this afternoon.

This week my workouts have felt SUPER hard, especially KYT.  Holy moly, it was a killer!  I can't decide if it was really that much harder than the rest or maybe it's the fact that I missed 3 kyt workouts in a row.  That is never a good idea.  However, my plan worked.  I wanted to be smart with my workouts, doing a marathon and a week later a Ragnar can really do a number on you.  And seems how I injured myself after my last marathon, I decided to do things a little differently.  And I am SOOOOOO happy to say that I am injury free and haven't missed a day of running.  I have cross-trained a bit, which was a smart move, I got to be good friends with the spin bike last week.  I am running, but during all of my workouts, weights included, I have felt like weaksauce.  I guess my body is still trying to recuperate from all of the torture.  Hopefully, I will be back to normal soon.

I had to take both of my cornies to the Orthodontist today.  I was so impressed.  I took them to Warren Orthodontics and I couldn't believe how nice they were.  They sent my kids home with oodles and doodles of stuff.  They were given a bag of candy which they will no longer be able to eat with braces, a shirt and a water bottle.  Kobe has to get braces on July 5th, I can't wait for his teeth to get fixed.  Kenna isn't ready just yet but has to get 4 teeth pulled and she is scared to death.  The gal gave her a bag of goodies, a shirt and a water bottle just for being cute.

Frightening isn't it??

Sorry this was such a random, boring post but I will try to redeem myself next time.

How long after a big race does it take you to feel back to normal?

After the marathon I felt fine, I will let you know when I recover from Ragnar.  The running wasn't the hard part, I wasn't sore at all, it was the no sleep that killed me.

Are you a baby freak?

AB.SO.LUTELY!  Bring on the babies!

RAGNAR!!!

I thought I would do a little, or huge, recap of my first and possibly last RAGNAR!  Our team name was Fire in the Hole, we tried to change it to Coast Vida Running Crew but apparently it didn’t happen.  We were originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m. but a few of our teammates needed to be home earlier on Saturday so they requested an earlier start time.  We got an earlier start time alright, 5 a.m. on Friday morning.   They assign you a start time according to your average team pace, this meant that we were starting with the slowest teams.  This became a problem for us but we’ll get to that later.

We met up with our teammates, Van 1, at around 11 a.m.  Jake was our first runner and he did awesome.   He was SPEEDY!  He passed off to Steve, who later passed off to me.  My first run was an easy one.  It was 3.25 miles and flat.  It was pretty hot but I actually think that we really lucked out with the weather.  It was only around 70 degrees and for the middle of June that’s not too shabby.  I felt great after my first run.  We had a great time cheering our runners on, seeing all of the strange people with their funny team names and decorated vans.  After our 6 runners finished their first leg we headed off to a church where we laid down under some lovely trees.  We didn’t get any sleep but it was nice to get out of the van.  We chatted and laughed. 

A while later the crew from Van 1 showed up.  I guess they got in trouble for being too fast…what?  I couldn’t believe that they almost gave our team a strike for being too fast, if you get 3 strikes your team is kicked out of the race.  We got a warning to slow down.  They set the course up on a set schedule so if we went too fast we would reach the next exchange before they were ready for us.   As we were running along we realized that we were really the only ones out there.  The fast runners hadn’t caught up to us yet so we were pretty much alone.   On my first run that didn’t really bother me too much, sure it was lonely but I didn’t really care.  As I got thinking about my second run, which according to our projected times would take place at 9 p.m., I realized that I was going to be running in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, all by myself.  Holly and I decided that we would run our legs together.  Everyone thought we were crazysauce.  We knew we were crazy but to us we would rather be together for almost 18 miles than to run by ourselves in the lone dark night.

Soon after we started my leg we saw a Sherriff’s vehicle and 4 other vehicles.  As we were running along a girl asked us if we had seen the 4 animal control trucks, we kind of got nervous when she said that’s what they were.  As we passed a water station they warned us to watch out for wildlife.  WHAT???  We were really freaked out.  My run soon headed off onto a gravel trail.  It was HORRIBLE, we had to walk in spots because we were afraid of hurting ourselves.  It was rough terrain for sure.  At about mile 6 I took a Clif Shot Block, which I have had before but not a full shot of caffeine only a half shot.  Needless to say that did not agree with my stomach AT ALL.  At the end of my leg which was supposed to be 9.3 miles but ended up being 10 miles, they had to make some last minute changes apparently, we got back onto roads.  We were so excited to be off of that blasted trail.  We passed the exchange point where I passed the wrist thingy off to Holly.  We then headed to the “Honey Pots” as they became known.   After our little pit stop I thought I was fine and we headed off on Holly’s leg which was 7.6 miles.  Not 100 feet into her run we got back onto that STUPID trail.  We weren’t too pleased about that.  Soon after we started running again my stomach started hurting A LOT!!  I felt like I was going to throw up, it was not good.  I made Holly walk a few times, sorry Holly!  It wasn’t the 17.6 miles that did us in it was running on that horrible gravel.  You would step and slip a bit.  We had ever run on that kind of terrain before and I really have no desire to ever do it again.  My ankle kept rolling and by glutes and quads were burning.  At one point we ran through a tunnel that I swear was about .25 mile long, it was SUPER FREAKY.  Neither one of us could have imagined running by ourselves, it was so scary.  After our 17.6 miles it was about 11:30-ish.  We didn’t eat anything and I really don’t think my stomach would have let me.

After Jorge and Meagan finished their runs we headed to some school in Heber for a hot shower and a gymnasium to “sleep” in.  I maybe got 1 hour of sleep, it was so noisy.  When we got up to start running AGAIN, my stomach was KILLING me.  It was extremely painful, I think more painful than child birth and if you think I’m kidding…I’m NOT!  I had no desire to run my last leg.  Jake finished his run and I was so jealous, he was done and I still had my hardest run left.  I was seriously considering faking an injury, I wanted out of my last leg so bad. 

There is the elevation map for you.  See STRAIGHT up hill...BOOO!

As Steve passed the wrist thingy off to me I was just holding back the tears, but I could do it after all it was only 3.2 miles.  My goal was to run the first mile and go from there.  After .80 miles I was dying so I started to walk.  My van caught up to me and saw that I was walking, I felt like a HUGE LOSER!  I was a runner after all, not a walker.  I was beating myself up pretty bad.  I started crying and please know that this was a blasted MOUNTAIN not a “hill” like they advertise.  I caught up to my van and Jake hopped out to walk with me.  Then I really started to cry.  I told him he didn’t have to do it with me and he said “it’s no big deal, we are just walking.”  I wasn’t planning on walking the whole thing, I was hoping for a level spot or even a slight downhill.  I told him to get back in the van, so after about a mile he got back in the van.  I did a little run, walk, run, walk routine for the rest of the leg.  I was miserable and felt so stupid, I felt like I had let my team down by walking.  What kind of weaksauce walks in a running race anyways?  I passed off to Holly and got in the van and started crying again. 

Holly did awesome, she is an ANIMAL.   They call the “hill” we ran RAGNAR and near the end of her run there was a sign that read “Ragnar runners are heroes!”  That was so true, as hard as my run was Holly’s was .8 miles longer and the elevation change was greater.  I felt so sorry for her and started crying again as I hugged her when she finished.  I could feel her pain and emotionally I was a mess.  But we were DONE!!!  Hallelujah!!  After Jorge’s last run we sent Meagan off and we all climbed onto a bus to take us to the finish line.  We waited for Meagan and we all ran across the finish line together, it was awesome.  I was so glad to be done. 

We got our ginormous medals, took some pictures and finally decided to eat something.  We were starving.  Holly and I saw a Red Robin booth and decided to get us a big ol’ cheeseburger and fries.  We sucked those babies down and soon after we both felt like we were going to lose them.  Jorge said our bodies were so worn down and exhausted that we couldn’t digest them very well.  We got back on the bus to take us to our van and Holly and I both fell asleep.  We were exhausted.  As soon as I got in the van I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until we were in Lehi dropping Meagan and Steve off at their car.  I tried to stay awake but feel asleep again until we got home. 

After all is said and done I really don’t know if I care to do this again.  It was fun being with awesome friends and the running was good…at least my first run ;)  It’s funny, I had to beg Jake to do this with me and in the end he wants to do it again and I am not so sure.  One of the girls on our team said, “you can’t decide right now, it’s like having a baby…it takes a little time to forget.”  If I have to forget the misery do I really want to do it again????  Funnily enough, it is only Sunday afternoon and I am already thinking maybe it wasn’t all that bad after all.  What am I saying?  It was HORRIBLE, but was it really the race or was it my tummy issues?  I want to think it was my tummy but how do I prevent that from happening again?  I guess in time we will see if I end up doing it again.  Our team finished 192 mile run from Logan to Park City in 29 hours and 45 minutes.  It was a LOOOOONNNNNGGGG 30 hours and I am glad it’s over! 

It has been settled and we are in fact running Ragnar 2012!  It’s amazing what 30 hours will do…that’s how long after we finished that I decided to do it again J

Have you ever done a relay and if so how did you like it?

Do you have any tips on nutrition for a 30 hour event such as this?

I need all the help I can get!

GOALS

So I have been thinking A LOT about the marathon on Saturday and I have learned a few things that I would like to share.

First of all, let me start by saying that I had a goal of finishing the marathon in 3:30:00.  Did this happen?  NO!  It certainly did not.  My "official" time was 3:31:49.  Should I freak out about 1:49?  Probably not, so I won't.  I kind of messed myself up a bit on the timing.  When I made a "pit stop" at the halfway point I stopped my Garmin.  I always stop my watch on training runs so I automatically did on race day.  I guess it can be a good thing to stop your watch so that you know your true pace.  BUT when you forget that you stopped your watch and you look down and see that you should have plenty of time to run that last mile, this can cause a problem.  They switched the finish line this year from the Provo Towne Centre Mall to the Utah County Building.  I thought that was a BRILLIANT move on their part...until I was running and could see the blasted finish line from 3 miles away.  The last mile as I was running I could have sworn that the blasted finish was getting further and further away.  But I was certain that I would accomplish my goal, I knew I could get there just in time.  Then I quickly realized that I was off by a couple of minutes and it was far too late to try to make up that difference now.  Not only was I done physically but emotionally as well.  When I was FINALLY close enough to see the time, mind you I am pretty blind...shhh, I knew I had not come in under 3:30.  I wasn't planning on sprinting to the end, I just didn't think I had it in me.  But when Rachelle caught up we both sprinted to the end.  I am so glad that I did, it's better to get 3:31:49 than 3:32:00 right?

I did qualify for Boston which was my original goal but then I thought "I can do better than that."  And a 8 minute mile pace didn't seem like an extreme goal at all.  So while I didn't reach one goal, I far exceeded the other.

I also have to look at it like last year at the same race I finished in 3:51:51.  I shaved 20 minutes off of my time.  I went from placing 56th in my age group last year to 16th this year.

I will be honest, when I got home on Saturday I was kind of being hard on myself.  I had set a goal and I didn't accomplish it.  I KNEW I was more than capable of getting 3:30 and it made me so mad, I knew I had made a stupid mistake and I was beating myself up about it.

In the beginning I saw Seth from my work and I wanted so badly to be able to be with his pace group, even though I knew very well it was too fast for me.  So being the foolish gal that I am I ran somewhere around 6 miles with them.  I know better than to start a race out faster than I should.  I felt fine though, I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard.  But as I was running along I realized that there was no way I could possibly keep up that pace for 26.2 miles.  I settled  into my own groove and ran alone for the remainder of the race.  I was far enough ahead that I was surrounded by all men, I REALLY didn't want to strike up a conversation with some old man.  And by the time the women started popping up I was cramping and miserable and I didn't care to talk to anyone.  As I think back though I think it would have really helped me mentally to have had someone to talk to.

Another thing that I learned is that you never know what your body is going to give you on any given day.  I have NEVER cramped up before and wasn't expecting that.  At mile 16 or so I tried to take my last Salt Stick pill but as I was getting it out I dropped it.  I wasn't about to stop and pick it up off of the road...I probably should have though.

So what I have I learned through all of this?  Well, first of all when I do the Top of Utah Marathon I will stick with a pace group that I can actually finish with.  I read all about Rachelle's experience (runningfortrevor.blogspot.com) and I loved hearing about all of the people she ran with.  I think I would have had a much more pleasant experience had I done that.  I would have gotten the same time but it would have been much more enjoyable.  I will also have ample Salt Sticks next time.  I realized after that as I ran through most of the aid stations I just took water and not Powerade.  The gum that I was chewing was too sweet and I couldn't handle anymore sweetness.  I thought that with having the Salt pills I would be fine with just water.  Apparently I was wrong.

Sorry for the boring post, I just had to get that out :)  I keep trying to remind myself that I still did really good and I accomplished part of my goal.  I have another chance in a few months and I have learned some very valuable lessons.  I can also say that I truly gave it my all.  Last year I finished feeling great which means that I didn't push myself enough, this time I know that I did all that I could.  And I guess that's all that I can expect of myself.

When you don't accomplish a goal how do you bounce back from that?

Is anyone doing the Top of Utah with a goal of 3:30 that would like to run it with me?

5 lbs 15 oz. of Sweetness

It all started on June 12, 2000.  I had a doctors appointment the next day to see how my pregnancy was progressing, I was due on the 14th and was hoping to be induced.  I spent the whole day cleaning our little apartment and after a little nap I started vacuuming.  All of a sudden my water broke, at first I thought perhaps I had wet myself but when it kept gushing out I knew something was up.  When we arrived at the hospital they took me right back, apparently the trail I had left behind me told them that my water had in fact broke ;)  They started me on "pit" and to make a long story short 12 hours later they performed a c-section.  She was born at 5:34 a.m. and weighed 5 lbs 15 oz. and was 17.5 inches long.  She was so very tiny with big blue eyes.  That was one of the happiest days of my life.  As soon as she heard my voice she stopped crying and just laid there and stared at me.

I was so excited to have a baby of my very own.  I had ALWAYS loved babies, I was a baby-sitting fool.

She is just so BLASTED cute!  Why must they grow up so fast?  I can't believe she is 11 years old, time has gone by so fast.

She has always been a smart little gal.  When she was about 1 and a half years old she wanted to go outside but I told her it was too cold.  She wandered off and a minute later walked up to me and handed me her coat.  I guess she showed me.

After my marathon on Saturday, Kenna had gymnastics and said that she didn't want to go, she was scared.  I told her about my thoughts as I was running mile 21, check out Utah Valley Marathon, she started crying and said she would go and try her hardest.  3 hours later we went to pick her up, she came running up to me and gave me a huge hug.  She said that when she got scared she just thought of me running and that helped her to be brave.  She is such a hard little worker both at school and gymnastics.  She has been given so many talents, I truly look up to her.

McKenna has brought so much joy to my life.  I am so blessed to have 2 wonderful little kidlets and a husband that I adore.  Happy Birthday McKenna!!

Utah Valley Marathon

Today was marathon day and it was quite eventful.  First, here is a picture of a happy Steph and Holly before the fun. 

Here is a recap of todays fun.  I woke up at 2:45 A.M., CrAzY!!  Jake was very kind and woke up to drive Holly and I to the buses, Jake you are AWESOME!  We climbed into a van, not a bus, and got a little nervous when the driver asked us where we were going, that can never be a good sign.  This dude was crazysauce to say the least.  At one point I almost told him "hugs not drugs, dude."  He was a scary driver and we got lost...a few times.  It took us an hour and five minutes to drive to Wellington.  We all thought he was going to drive us to the middle of nowhere and leave us for dead.  But we finally made it and were happy to see a lot of familiar faces.  Todd, Rachelle, Ashley, Erica, Bobby Jo and a few ladies from the gym that I know but can't recall their names at the moment.

We started running with the 3:10 pace group because Seth, GM of 26.2 Running Co., was leading it.  I stuck with them until about mile 5 or 6 and then got too far behind at an aid station.  Holly stuck with them and did awesome 3:15, she amazes me!!  I chugged along at a good pace and stopped at the half way point for a quick potty break, sorry but when you drink more than a camel sometimes you just gotta go!  I was doing great until mile 15 when BOTH of my quads started cramping up, it was HORRIBLE and lasted the remainder of the race, 11.2 miles of MISERY!

At mile 17 I started my "dedication miles."  Mile 17 was for Jake because we have been together for 17 years, 13 years of marriage and 4 years of dating.  The moment I started thinking about Jake I started crying.  He is the most kind and loving person.  He is always trying to do whatever it takes to make me happy and he works so incredibly hard for our little family.  I finally acknowledged that I am a slug of a wife.  Yes, I keep a clean house and I take care of the kids, etc.  But when it comes to being a good wife I am seriously lacking.  I almost hyperventilated because I was crying so hard.  I truly love Jake to death and I have made a vow to myself that I will be a better wife and friend to him.  I am so blessed that he picked me and I think it's high time I started showing it. 

Mile 18 wasn't assigned to anyone and that was okay because I had Offspring to help me through it.  Which was good because I needed a little break from crying.

Mile 19 was a douse.  My dad died 19 years ago in a car accident so I decided to dedicate mile 19 to him.  As if I wouldn't have been emotional enough the song playing on my ipod fit my thoughts exactly and turned me into a real mess.  The song was by Avril Lavigne, it's called Wish You Were Here, I think you get it.  I am listening to it now and crying all over again.  Sheesh, I'm a huge baby!

I saw Jake, Jorge and all the kids at about mile 20.  The kids had made awesome signs and Kobe and Jake ran with me for a bit.  I REALLY wished they could finish the race with me, I was feeling super lonely and emotional and wished more than anything for someone to run the last 6 miles with me.

I was crying...again and we got some pretty horrible pictures but I will not be sharing those :)  Kobe just kept running and running, people even started cheering him on.

Mile 21 was for McKenna.  Kenna has been struggling with gymnastics lately and has been really scared.  They are working on REALLY hard tricks and she lost her back handspring on beam while we were in Florida and she has been stressed about it.  I always tell Kenna that when stuff gets hard you can't just quit, you have to work your hardest and soon you will get it.  This was very fitting for me because I was really hurting and I really wanted to quit.  I got emotional yet again but I kept running, actually at this point it was probably more of a crawl but I kept going.

Mile 22 was for my grandma Eleanor who passed away last month.  I remembered something my mom had told me.  When my grandma first started struggling she wanted so badly to get up and walk around but her little body just wouldn't let her.  My mom asked her if she wanted to go run a race and she said "YES!" So mile 22 was for grandma and it's a good thing because I really wanted to stop and walk for a minute but I couldn't let my sweet little grandma down.

Mile 23 wasn't for anyone, so I did stop and walk for a minute.

Miles 25-26.2 were for Kobe, at his request.  I just love that little guy and I had to keep going for him.  His favorite song came on my ipod too, Justin Bieber's Never Say Never.  He likes it because it says his name in it.  I embraced Justin's wise words and found that song VERY fitting as well.  I have had some strong feelings that people are trying to bring me down lately and I found it very fitting.  Not to mention "I will never say never, I will fight til forever."  This song really made me push through the pain and yes I have Bieber Fever ;)  I think I replayed that song 3 times and it really helped me.  I thought of Kenna too, who just yesterday busted out EVERY SINGLE work of that song! 

As I was approaching the finish line I was dragging and just wanted to crawl across.  Then I heard "come on girl, you are almost there."  It was Rachelle (runningfortrevor.blogspot.com).  Her blog is AMAZING and so is she.  We have done a couple of long runs together and I was SOOOOO excited to see her.  We ran across the finish line together and I made her give me a hug..sorry Rachelle, I know I was super stinky and sweaty :)  I loved having her to finish with and we both qualified for BOSTON!!!  We crossed the line at 3:31:53 according to the picture, I haven't checked my official time yet.

My Garmin read 3:28:53 with an average pace of 7.59 minute mile.  But I did have that one potty break so I guess that was the difference.  After I hugged Rachelle, I just started crying.  I was hurting BAD. See?

Big ol' baby!!  Holly took me over to find some water and Jake gave me my smoothie, they are the best.  Then Jorge was kind enough to give me a little massage to try to work out the cramps, he is a massage therapist and he is the bomb!!!  I can't express how much I appreciated him doing that knowing that I was a big, sweaty, stinky mess.  Holly walked up with our Boston Qualifier shirts and Jake made us pose, I really didn't want to. 

I am so proud of Holly for being awesomsauce.  She is super speedy! 

I couldn't wait to get home to my ice bath, it felt awesome!  And I earned myself not only a Boston Qualifier shirt but this cute necklace, it was supposed to be for my birthday but Jake decided that I had earned it...after a little convincing ;)

I am so glad it's over, so glad I am married to the best guy EVER and so glad I don't have to do it again until September 17th.  The good news is that since I qualified this time I don't have to kill myself on Top of Utah ;)

I am finally done.  Sorry for the long, emotional post.

Do you have either a Jazzy Electric Scooter or a hot tub that I can borrow?? 

I can't walk, last year that didn't set in until much later.  I hope I didn't cause any serious leg issues.

Tapering...Probably The Hardest Part Of Training

  On Monday, I had some peep in my step and ran 9 miles.  I warmed up for maybe 1 mile and then I decided to camp out at a 7:30 minute mile pace (8 mph) for the remainder of my run.  I had good energy but I was feeling a little chucky.  I had taken about a zillion vitamins and that didn't go over so well with my tummy.  I was ok, other than a couple short pauses to compose myself.  I tried bumping it up to 8.5 mph (7 minute mile) but that didn't last long, the vitamins wanted to make a come back...gross.  So I just went back down to 8 mph and I was fine.  As I thought about my run throughout the day I thought maybe I shouldn't have done that, it was after all time to taper...if I was going to listen to all of the books, websites, and other runners.

 Last year when I did the Utah Valley Marathon, I didn't really taper.  I followed Hal Higdon's training schedule for my long runs but during the week I always just did my own thing, I prefer to run a little more than what the schedule lists.  I have realized over the past week as I have been reading "Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days-And How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!"  And  through reading other awesome blogs about tapering, that perhaps I too should taper.  I was hoping that it wasn't really all that important and decided to text the all knowing Seth, GM of 26.2 Running Co.  He told me that it REALLY is important and that I needed to do it.  That was NOT the answer that I wanted to hear!  However, after talking through all my crazyness with Jake and Holly (she is crazy too) Holly and I decided that we had better listen to Mr. Smartypants ;) and taper. 

We did an awesome leg workout this morning, we figured it was far enough away from Saturday that we could do that, then we headed outside.  We WALKED for about 2 miles and then started a nice little run.  We ran 4.21 miles in 00:33:44 with an average pace of 8.01 minute mile.  It was a short run and I have been struggling with it all day, I know I am crazy so you don't have to tell me ;)

We also decided that it would best to fore go our KYT workout tomorrow.  I have only missed this workout two times in 2 and a half years.  Once because I had pneumonia and last week because I was in Florida.  It was a VERY hard decision, it better be worth it. 

Sorry to ramble on and on and on about this but I am really having a hard time with it.  I sure hope I don't forget how to push myself between now and Saturday.  I truly believe that tapering and recovering are the hardest part of doing a marathon.  Last year in addition to not tapering I also jumped right back into working out.  I went to a spin class the Monday after thinking that I would just take it easy, well I didn't.  I felt great so I went balls to the walls.  The next day I tried to run and about .50 mile into my run my knee started to hurt.  The next day I did a KYT workout and yes, I did two .25 miles sprints.  Probably not my smartest move but what can you do?  To make a long story short, I was out of running for about 4 months and it was HORRIBLE.  I am now willing to do whatever it takes to prevent getting an overuse injury again.  I am pretty sure that the damage wasn't done during the actual marathon, because I felt GREAT.  I blame myself for not taking time to heal and recovery properly.  So be prepared because I have a feeling next week is going to be just as hard on me as this week.

Enough about tapering and working out.  This morning I went to hold some sweet little twins.  I really wanted to take pictures but wasn't sure how the mommy would feel about that.  They were born at 29 weeks, I think, and are now about 4 and a half months old.  They are so tiny and cute.  I loved being able to help out for a while and I plan to go back real soon.  I am a sucker for a baby...or two.  I have so much respect for any mother of twins, it would be so hard. 

It was then off to swim lessons with the cornies (I have a tendency to call my kids the children of the corn and sometimes like to refer to them as cornies, they aren't really that evil but I like the sound of it).  So as I sat there watching Kobe's group I noticed the sweet little neighbor girl doing a new stroke.  I have named it the twirly bird, as her last name is Bird, and I think you should all try it.  As she comes up to take a breath she turns completely around, kind of a roll in the water.  And it is AWESOME!!  I wondered if that was what she was supposed to be doing but soon the teacher noticed had to laugh.  She told her she was doing awesome and I am pretty sure she will be teaching that stroke from now on.   I will be asking permission to record her and share her awesome new stroke with all of you :)

Do you have a hard time tapering?

Obviously, I do!

What do you do the week after a marathon to recover?

All I know is I won't be going balls to the walls for a while.  I am doing Ragnar the following Saturday but I am just doing it for fun so I won't be pushing myself.  I also hope to get a massage mid-week.

Finally a good run!

This is a little late but yesterday was CrAzY!!!  I FINALLY got a decent run in while down in Florida.  I decided to take SportLegs and I wore my nerdy little Fuelbelt.  I decided that carrying one tiny little bottle of water just wasn't going to cut it with the heat down there.   Jake and I started running and I must admit that I had little hope to get in a good run.  I tried to talk positively to myself and be my own little cheerleader.  I started to feel pretty good and decided that I would in fact go the 8 miles that I had wanted to do all week.  Jake stopped at the 2.50 mile mark and waited for me to run up the road a ways and back.  I picked up the pace a bit and felt great, until I almost stepped on a snake...eeeek!  It was alive and I knew I was going to have to turn around in a few minutes and run right past that same spot, I was so scared.  For those of you who don't know me very well I am TERRIFIED of snakes, I'm not exactly sure why but I am deathly afraid of them.  Once I turned around I was scanning the ground like crazy, I was going to be prepared for that little sucker.  Well, I never did see it again...thank goodness.  So I got back to Jake and we continued on back to the condo.  I could tell Jake was struggleizing so I told him to walk and I would run down the road and then come back for him.  So when all was said and done I got my 8 miles in and did it 1:02:18 with an average pace of 7:47 minute mile and a max speed of 6.10 minute mile.  I was going to do little sprints along the way, while I was by myself, but it was just too hot and I knew I would never make it 8 miles if I continued to do that.  So I only sprinted 1 time, oh well.  I was happy with my time, I just wanted to bust through that 8 minute mile pace while down there.

I am getting nervous for the Utah Valley Marathon and I'm not sure why.  I'm doing it so that I can have 2 chances to qualify for Boston, who knows if I will actually make it to Boston to run but either way I REALLY want to qualify.  I feel more than ready but with my weird lack of energy that comes and goes, who knows.  Hopefully, I will have a good running day on Saturday and kick some trash.

We had to kill some time before our flight so we headed to the City Walk at Universal Studios.  We wanted to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  It was quite expensive but it was a fun place to see.

We saw Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. I don't know about you but I thought that movie was pretty funny.  "Stupid is as stupid does" ;)

I'm not sure if any of you know this but I am a SUPER famous Nascar driver...see.

After we killed a little time we headed off to the ol' airport.  Our first flight was to Atlanta, Georgia and it was a rocky flight.  I was pretty scared I won't lie.  Luckily, Kobe slept the entire flight I gave him some Dramamine and it knocked him out.  It was only an hour flight but it was a looooong hour, we had some pretty big drops that really freaked my freak.  Then we had to switch planes.  We grabbed some food and it was onto another plane.  When my kids asked for food I thought they were nuts, it seemed to me that we had just eaten.  Then my sister pointed out that we wouldn't get home until like 12 p.m. Florida time and 10 p.m. Utah time and I decided that I had better get a little something.  So we ate "dinner" at about 3:30 our time.  Needless to say by the time we got home I was starving but decided that I would just go to bed and not worry about eating AGAIN :)

So anyways, we are home now and I am feeling a great deal of sadness :( usually by the 7 day mark I am ready to get home but it was such a relaxing trip that I never wanted it to end.  Now I have to worry about adult things again like cleaning the house, doing laundry, cooking and running the kidlets all around the town.  I am excited however to get  back to the gymnasium and hoping that I will have better runs again, now that I am away from all of that humidity.

My family has never gone on a vacation all together before and I must say I quite enjoyed it and I hope we can do it again sometime.  By "my family" I mean our little family of 4, my parents and my sister and her 3 kids.  We all got along great and had some good times.  We don't get together all that often so according to my nephew, Riun, we don't need to get together again for about a year.  I guess we hit our quota for the year ;)  I know Kobe can be a bit hyper but hopefully he didn't drive everyone too crazy.  My parents did a lot for us on this trip and we really appreciate all the effort that went into planning it.  All we had to do was show up, we didn't have to book any rooms, flights or worry about renting a car.  It was all taken care of and I know it probably caused Mama and Papa Jex a great deal of stress.  We could never thank them enough for this past week, we love you Mama and Papa Jex!!!

Another Day In Paradise

This mornings run went a little bit like this.  Run...pass some old feller walking...run...pass the same old feller walking...run...pass the same old feller walking.  It was a good time ;)  My little running buddy fizzled out at the 2.60 mile mark so I was forced to run up and down the same road, it was a long road though so it was ok.  I did 6.50 miles in 48 minutes with an average pace of 8.05 min mile.  I think I need my little tricksy running partner to push me past that blasted 8 min mile pace, for some reason I am still struggling to run with this humidity.  I thought I would be used to it by now :(  Mama and Papa Jex tell me that it is quite hard to adjust after the flight home.  That worries me a bit, I am doing the Utah Valley Marathon next Saturday and I need to be super speedy.  I guess this week will include plenty of naps and whatever else you peeps can suggest. 

Even though I have been running while on this trip I haven't done any kind of strength training (besides our little workouts at Disney World, hopefully you didn't miss that post ;) so anywho, I am feeling a bit weak and can't wait to hit the weights again.  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you something.  I got up this morning and I was SOOOO very sore.  My calves are EXTREMELY sore and the rest of my legs are pretty sore too.  That short little .85 mile barefoot run on the beach worked my little legs so good.  I guess running with the correct form uses different muscles, I should try that more often.  I am still waiting to try out my most favoritest shoes the Nike Free Run 2's on a run.  I am waiting for a shorter run day, maybe 3 or 4 miles.  I am hoping they help me use correct form and make me super sore again :)

I am so sad that this wonderous trip is coming to an end but my lil body does need a break from the sun.  This has truly been a VACATION, no worrying about time or bustling about trying to hit a different theme park everyday.  I have loved not having to worry about anything besides whether or not I remembered to spray my "crack."

So, I am getting pretty good at this whole surfing thing ;) What, you don't believe me?  Well, lets just let the pictures do the talking.

Kobe and I are so skilled we can even do it at the same time...on the same board.

With shoes on!

Just look for us on the cover of Surfing Times ;)

On our honeymoon, Jake and I were at Hermosa beach in Cali when we decided that we wanted to be beach bums and have a beach bum baby.  Although, we don't live at Hermosa beach, which was the original plan, we did end up with a beach bum baby.  It just took us 11 years to figure it out.

The child LOVES the beach and she tans beautifully ;) If that isn't a picture of a beach babe then I don't know what is.

I guess it's time to face reality and go get packed up :(  I just hope I can fit everything in our suitcases as beautifully as I did the first time.  Plus, we have picked up a few things along the way.  This could get tricky!

What advice do you have for bouncing back from jet lag?

I need all the help I can get, I think I just barely adjusted to the flight here.

What advice can you give me for preparing for my marathon?

It's not my first marathon but I am still very nervous, probably because of my lack of energy lately.  I actually went to the doc to get blood work done to see what my deal is but he couldn't find anything.  He told me to get more sleep but this week I have had almost 8 hours of sleep every night and I have still be dragging :(

A Special Day For A Special Boy

Today I learned a few lessons about running.  Let me first start by saying that Jake decided that he didn't want to run with me this morning so I slept in, BIG MISTAKE, and I went about it on my own.  I decided that it would be safer for me to just run up and down the beach, there are plenty of people around and I waited until almost 8 a.m. to go out.  Because I am a freak on a leash and I didn't want to get my nice running shoes all sandy, I decided to go barefoot.  It seemed like a brilliant idea to me.  Barefoot running is all the rage right?!?  Well, it may have it's place but for my little piggies it is not on the sandy beach.  After about 1/2 mile I could start feeling blisters trying to pop out.  So I walked, and ran a little, back to the room.  I ended up running .85 miles on the beach.  I got my shoes and socks on and headed out on the road.  I ended up going 5 miles in 40 minutes with an average pace of 8.07 minute mile.  It wasn't pretty.  It was so blasted hot that I sucked down all of my 6 ounces of water and I started getting dizzy.  I just wanted to lay down and cry, I wasn't sure how close to home I was and I didn't want to finish.  I guess that's the beauty of running without a phone, you have no choice but to finish.  I felt awful!  I made it home, just barely though.  I have learned my lesson, no running barefoot on the sand and no going out that late in the day.  Tomorrow I will be sure to wake up at 5:30 so I can get my run in before it's 5000 degrees.  I am starting to get a little nervous about my running.  I keep telling myself that it's just the hot, humid weather but what if in reality I am just weaksauce?  What if I have lost all endurance?

Today is my little Kobe's 8th birthday.  He was born on June 2, 2003 at 7:15 a.m.  It was a c-section birth with a bit of a funny story attached.  After I was done getting poked, poked some more, and scrubbed up for the operation.  I lay on my back with a sheet in front of my face, so that I couldn't see what would soon be happening to me.  I looked up and I saw my reflection in the mirrored light that hung over my head.  I was numb mind you and I couldn't feel anything.  I said to Jake, "Am I naked?"  "Yes," he said.  "WHAT!!!  Cover me up!"  All I could see when I looked in that horrible light was a big old nasty blob of fat.  My legs, and of course my belly, looked HUGE.  I was mortified, hospital staff kept walking by smiling at me.  I just thought they were really nice.  I had no idea they were seeing EVERYTHING!  I was so upset that Jake and the nurses just let me lay there exposed to the world.  I made him cover me up real quick like.  As soon as they pulled that sweet little baby out of my belly and started putting me back together, I started to feel everything.  My blasted epidural, or whatever they give you with a c-section, had worn off.  It was the most painful thing I have EVER experienced.  I asked the Dr. if it was normal for me to be feeling what was going on and she said no and just kept working away.  By the time I got to my room I was in so much pain that I could hardly breathe.  The nurse gave me a shot of morphin and all was good.

Kobe weighted 6 lbs 1 ounce and was a mere 18 inches long. He was so cute and tiny, and still is!  He was such a sweet little baby and he only wanted his mommy.  We have always shared a closeness that I think only a mom and her baby boy can share.  It is a special bond and I just love the little dude to pieces.  Here are a few pictures of him as a baby.  I wasn't quite sure how to use our scanner so I just took pictures of pictures, sorry for my lack of techiness :)

Sometimes I wonder why on earth I quit having babies, Jake and I make pretty cute babies :)

This was one of my favorite times of day...bath and bedtime!

He was lucky to have such a sweet big sister

Oh, they are just so cute.  I just want to squish their cute little faces ;)



Now he is 8 years old and just as sweet as ever.  I won't bore you with story after story about him but this one story will show you just how sweet the child is.  When I went to meet with his teacher a few months back she showed me a picture that he had drawn for her.  She said that she had come to school really tired and was quite grumpy.  She was having a horrible day and she said that Kobe could tell.  He brought her a picture he had drawn of the two of them and wrote: Mrs. Kunzler ROCKS!  on it.  She said it made her day and she even got a bit teary telling me about it.  He is always worried about other peoples feelings, if I am ever sad he does all that he can to try to cheer me up.

I can't believe he is already 8 years old, man time flys!

This picture was taken on Kobe's 1st birthday and yes we were at Disneyland!  He wasn't much bigger then when he was born ;) 

As I sit here writing this blog I realize that this morning as I was near passing out and miserable it didn't compare to the pain I had to endure this same day 8 years ago.  Only today I don't have a tiny little baby to snuggle to make me feel all better.

Now I have a sweet little 8 year old to help me feel better!

P.S. do you think my glasses could be any bigger ;)