Hobble Creek Half Marathon

Better late than never I guess!

For some strange reason I was more nervous about doing the race than any other race this year.  I am not exactly sure why but I was shaking like crazy this morning.  It may have been because my right ankle bone has been bruised and it hurts with every step I take.  I fashioned myself a little ankle pillow that worked wonders on Friday so I attempted that again.  I could feel the stupid bruise the whole morning leading up to the start of the race but it magically went away as soon as I started running...happy day!  The bro-in-law was kind enough to drive us to the buses, it was a very entertaining ride...let's just say it was 5 a.m. and he may have still been sleeping ;) plus the fact that I kept forgetting that I was directing him...oops!


Aimie, Holly, Steph (sis-in-law, yes we have the same name) and I jumped right onto the first bus and off we went.  It is amazing how far the bus ride seems for a 13.1 mile race.  Before I go on I must share a funny story about the SIL.  After we ran the Freedom Run with the Garcia's we were getting ready to walk to our parade spot but Steph had mentioned that she would really like some chips.  I told Jorge, "Steph wants some chips!  We need to get Steph some chips."  He kind of gave me a strange look and said something along the lines of "why the heck are you talking about yourself in the 3rd person."  I explained to him that her name was also Stephanie Anderson and that I did not need chips but rather my SIL needed some chips :)

So after being up at the start of the race for what seemed to be 3 days we finally started, 30 minutes late but who was counting.  I really wish this race could start on time for once, 7:15 is already really late but then add another 30 minutes and by the time you get out of the canyon it's 500 degrees. 

The first 5 miles FLEW by, I couldn't believe how fast they went by and I was feeling great.  Bobby Jo caught up to me and we tried to chat for a bit but I was having a hard time talking so that didn't last too long.  At about mile 9 I started to struggle a bit but made sure to embrace each downhill and GO!  At about mile 10 I heard my name.  I turned around to see HOLLY!!!  I couldn't believe it.  She has been injured for the past month and was lucky to be running the race.  I was worried about her the whole race, so seeing her made me feel so much better.  I was really struggling by the time she caught me and we had a horrible hill to attack.  Once I FINALLY caught my breathe we were able to chat and have a good ol' time, just like the old days :)  I am so grateful that I had her for the last 3 miles, she really made me forget about the fact that I was dead and wanted to lay down and take a nap.

We passed a few people there near the end and some tricksy gal passed us at the very end.  I could tell that Holly didn't like that too much but I was unwilling to fight for it.  We finished at 1:34!  I couldn't believe that I had beat my Timpanogos Half Marathon time.  This was definitely a harder course but then again I didn't really push myself at the Timp race, I just enjoyed it.  Holly, Aimie and I earned our Top 100 Women finisher necklace, yipee!  That was my numero uno goal and pr-ing was my other goal.

I must say that I have the best little family.  This morning Jake had made a motivational sign and put it on the door.  Kobe wrote "Go Mommy, Run Lil Mama Run!" on the back of his shirt and when I ran past him he turned around so I could see it.  And McKenna made me my favorite shake and had it for me at the finish line.  It really means a lot when you have supportive family and friends there to cheer you on :)

All in all I would have to say it was a pretty good race, I finally got that blasted necklace that I have been wanting for some time now.  I placed 11th in my age group...holy crap people are speedy! 

"That Was DELICIOUS!"

Today started out with a lovely shoulders and abs routine, followed by hills repeats on the treadmill.  It was a great workout for a total of 10 miles, 5 of which were hill repeats.  To make it through those last 3 or 4 repeats I came up with a little game.  I focused on the words LIFE FITNESS that are on the bottom front of the treadmill.  I waited to hear each letter in the song that I was listening to and would not move onto the next letter until I heard it.  I told myself that I wasn't allowed to look at the treadmill display until I heard all of the letters.  It actually helped me A LOT!!  It took my mind off of the misery that I was experiencing.  I got home and Kobe was disgusted by my sweatiness.

Honestly, I can't say I blame the kid :)

I have to share a couple of funny things that have happened in the past 24 hrs.  Last night, I walked into my bedroom to see that Kobe had dumped all of his Legos out on my floor.  Why he chose my room I will never know.  After asking him to clean them up 45,897 times I finally said that if he didn't clean them up I was going to sell them.  A few minutes later Jake came in and told him he had 1 minute to pick them up or they were gone.  Jake started counting and when he got to about 25 Kobe asked, "Why are you counting?"  He proceeded to tell him that once he hit 60 it was too late.  Kobe was frantically trying to get them all cleaned up and as he was hustling about he informed Jake that he was going to sell HIM on Ebay!  It was hilarious, the kid says the strangest things :)

I guess Jake didn't want to get sold so he decided to help the kid out!

And YES, my son loves to wear himself a wife beater :)

I wish with all of my heart and soul that I had a video of this next story.  Kobe and I went to 7 Peaks today and upon walking in the gate we were blessed to witness a 20-something year old guy trip.  This was no ordinary stumble, he tried and tried and tried to save himself.  We stood there in awe watching the dude stumble about.  After what seemed like 5 minutes of trying to save himself from certain death, he finally gave in and did a sort of dive roll onto the hard cement ground.  He rolled right out of it, hopped up and started running towards the bathroom.  He turned to Kobe and I and said "THAT WAS DELICIOUS!!"  I wanted so badly to make sure he was okay but he rushed right off.  We continued to laugh about it for about 25 minutes and we still find ourselves cracking up about it.  I want so badly to contact 7 Peaks to see if they caught this glorious stumble on video, I could watch it again and again!  Kobe said, "That just made my whole day!"  I must agree with him!

Okay, enough non-sense and rambling on and on about random nothingness.  I have an important question for you.

How do you feel about wearing a Fuelbelt during a race?

I have been very seriously considering wearing my Fuelbelt for my half marathon on Saturday, let me tell you why.  You see, on the Timpanogos Half Marathon I walked through each water station so as not to spill more water than I got into my mouth.  I am always in such a rush that I never really drink enough.  Plus, a blasted lady passed me at 2 or 3 of the water stops.  She just whizzed right by with her fancy, little, nerd belt.  I would catch and pass her, just for her to pass again at the next water station...AAARRRGGGGG!  I wanted to kick her in the shins...just kidding, well maybe not!!  So as I got to thinking about it, I decided that she may have been onto something.  With the handy little bottles you can continue to run while you drink, there is no need to stop.  But on the other hand, I have always looked forward to race day so that I could leave my nerd belt at home.  Decisions, decisions!  Tell me what you think :)

Big Mac ATTACK???

Seems how it's been a while I figured it was high time to do a post.  My workout today was an hour of core work, followed by spinning it up on the spin bike for about 30 minutes, followed by running 4 miles.  Nothing too exciting but I have an 18 miler planned for tomorrow, we shall see how that goes.  Last week I did a 20 mile run that was HORRIBLE!!  I don't know what the problem was, it may have been that I attempted it on a Friday which is usually my worst day of the week, energy wise that is.  Whatever the problem was I hope I never have to experience a run like that again.  I kept thinking that it was a good thing is wasn't race day or I would have quit the race.  It was that bad!!

I have to say that I am pretty good at training my kids.  For the past few weeks I have come home to this:

Okay, maybe she doesn't serve it to me while in a semi-lunge position but you get the picture

I guess she was sick of almost being late for gymnastics so she has taken it upon herself to make me my smoothies every morning :)  I must be good at training my friends too, because Holly showed up at my work the other day with a smoothie.  She is so nice.  She knows that I am too lazy to make myself a sandwich or pack myself a proper lunch and I guess she didn't want me to starve.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of her in a lunge serving me my smoothie.

I hope I am not the only one in blogland that has REALLY bad nutrition weeks!  I may or may not have had a BIG MAC ATTACK this week :/  I may or may not have gone to the Brick Oven and had myself some delicious pizza and garlic bread.  And I am certain that I didn't buy a Dr. Pepper to go with my Hill's Bakery chocolate cake donut.  I can't believe that I am admitting to all of this, I blame it on hormones and promise to make good choices from here on out.  Normally, I wouldn't tell people of such things but I have noticed that people are always SHOCKED to find out that I don't make the best choices all of the time.  I want people to know that just because I love to workout and eat healthy, sometimes I crave terrible food just like everybody else.  I actually really hate the way I feel when I eat like this but for some reason I just keep shoveling garbage into my cake hole.  It is what it is I guess.

Do you ever have terrible food weeks?

Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Do you like Big Mac's?

I must admit that I love them, luckily I don't partake too often :)

Life Lessons!

I started out the day with some chest, triceps, back and biceps....whew!  I was feeling pretty weaksauce on the weights but as soon as I got on the treadmill I suddenly had energy.  It may have been the fact that I was running out of gym time and I wanted to get 8 miles in and anyone who knows me knows how obsessive I can get :)  I started out the first mile between a 8 minute mile and a 7:30 minute mile.  The next 3 miles I camped out at a 7 minute mile.  I was feeling great so the next 2 miles were spent at a 6.53 minute mile.  My quad started acting up a bit so I dropped back down to the 7 minute miles for the next 1.80 miles.  The last .20 miles were spent like this .10 at 6.18 min mile and .10 at 6 minute miles.  I was a big ol' stanky, sweaty mess but it was a grrrrreat workout!  I did 8 miles in 56 minutes and it felt AWESOME!  Although I hate being on that blasted treadmill, I find that I am able to push myself a lot harder then when I run outside...what gives?

After my wonderful workout I had to drop the girl child off at the gymnasium then Kobe and I headed over to register the kids for school.  McKenna kept telling me over and over that she hoped she didn't get a particular teacher.  I asked her why and she responded that EVERYONE says she is so mean.  I told her that in life we shouldn't judge people according to what others say about them.  She just kind of rolled her eyes and insisted that she better not get that teacher.  Throughout the day I have thought a lot about what I had tried to teach her.  I know there have been times in my life that I have listened to what others have said and have avoided certain people.  I wonder how many wonderful friendships I have missed out on just because I wasn't willing to get to know the people for myself.  Sometimes people have a very skewed view of someone and they try to make others feel the same way, why, I don't know but I feel it happens A LOT!  I hope that I can help my kids understand this and decide for themselves rather someone is mean or not.

Hopefully there is something to this whole "third times the charm" business.  Over the past month or so I have been to two different doctors to get my iron levels tested.  Well, neither one of them have actually tested my iron just a whole bunch of other crap.  So today as I was sitting chatting with the physicians assistant I asked her how my iron levels where.  She then went on to tell me that they didn't test my iron.  WHAT???  She said that if my iron levels were low I would be fatigued not dizzy.  That was the whole reason I went to the freaking doctor.  So needless to say I had to get my blood drawn AGAIN!  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that they actually test my iron levels this time.

I must share a delicious little smoothie with you.  I bought this V8 Splash Smoothie juice, added some protein and lots of ice and turned it into quite the tasty snack.  Now I am sitting here FREEZING to death but it was worth it because it was fabulous!

Sorry for the randomness of this post but I am so excited about something and I just have to tell all of my best buddies about it.  Starting at the end of the month I will be doing the optional level gymnasts conditioning.  I am so excited because I have always wanted to train athletes.  These girls are so strong and I can't wait to see how far I can push them.  I really hope that I will be able to help them address their muscle imbalances and avoid injuries.  The best part of this whole thing is that I will get to kick Kenna's trash and not get in trouble for it ;)  Just kidding, I am excited that I will get to be at the gym while my kids are there but rather than sitting on my duff I will be doing something productive.  At times I really miss training and this will give me my fix.

Do you find it's easier to push yourself on the treadmill or outside?

Do you have any delicious smoothie recipes to share with the group?