Runner's Unite!

"If you're trying to defeat the human spirit, marathoners are the wrong group to target."Mighty Brighties

 

I want to do a post but don't really know what to say.

Yesterday I thought about my Boston experience all day. I thought about what a wonderful trip we had.

You can read my Boston post HERE!

We went to Fenway Park which was awesome!

We found the Athletes' Village the night before the race and had some fun.

I think Holly was telling me to bow to her...so I did, I'm very obedient!

Here we are after 26.2 very HOT and quite miserable miles.  I'll take it though.  It was a great experience that I will never forget.

  Yesterday I couldn't wait to get home from work to read everyone's FB updates and blog posts.  Then I got a text from Jake telling me what had happened.  The remainder of the day I got Facebook messages, text messages and phone calls from people saying how glad they were that I wasn't running it this year.  To say that I felt loved would be a bit of an understatement.  To say that I felt honored that people associate me with the Boston Marathon would be a HUGE understatement.

It's so sad that there is so much evil in the world.  As soon as I heard what happened yesterday all I could think, was why on earth would anyone want to hurt runners?  We are pretty much the jolliest, nicest people around.  In most cases, you see another runner and you either smile or say hello.  You may even try to give each other a high five, just like the dude flying down the canyon on Saturday tried to do to me.  I didn't dare give him five for fear that I would end up in the river...the dude was FLYING!  I did give him a fine smile though :)

I then realized that people kill innocent children while they are at school, innocent people sitting in a movie theater and innocent people shopping at the mall.  It's pretty sad that we really aren't safe anywhere.  I never would have even thought to be scared at a race.

Last year Jake and Jorge were standing under all of the flags which is where the first bomb went off.  As soon as I watched the video and saw where it happened I started to cry.  I can't imagine the fear that everyone felt.  To go from being over joyed to have just finished the Boston Marathon to pure terror. 

 

Who knows why on earth someone decided to target a marathon.  But if their intent was to scare people from doing races they have failed miserably.  Runner's are uniting together more than ever!

I am running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon on Saturday.  Is there a tiny bit of fear?  If I said no I would be lying, but guess what?  Life goes on, we can't live in fear and we certainly can't let some psycho win.

My prayers go out to all those affected by this horrible act of terrorism.

Koko and I wore our race shirts today!

 

2012 Recap!

Here is my recap of 2012.  Feel free click any links that excite you, heck if you have 12 days go ahead and click them all but I won't feel bad if you don't!

McKenna and I went on our first girls trip which you can read about HERE, I will warn you that it is a very loooong post but kind of entertaining.

I made a job change that seemed like a good idea but it wasn't!

Jake, Jorge, Holly and I went to New York and Boston so that Holly and I could run the Boston Marathon, that was definitely memorable.

Did the Utah Valley Half Marathon while over trained, that was really somethin'!

I ran my own version of an Ultra Ragnar at the Wasatch Back Ragnar.  I actually quite enjoyed that, crazy huh?!?  I would love to do an Ultra Ragnar again!!!

I ran the American Fork Canyon Half Marathon which I loved with all my heart, this was the only race that I actually raced.  I PR'd but didn't get the time I was hoping for...boo hoo!

 Ran the Freedom Run 10K another PR but again I was disappointed with my time.  I'm starting to see a trend, maybe I should be happy with my PR's rather than compare myself to others who are much speedier than me.  There will always be someone faster you know!

I ran a 20 Mile Half Marathon which sounds odd and it was!

I started pacing races which is my favorite.  I paced the Top of Utah Half Marathon and loved every second of it!

Paced the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon and found one of my new favorite races!  If you want to PR this is the race for you.

Another PR race would have to be the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon.  That was an amazing race.  I totally forgot to post this fancy video they sent me.  They made videos for every runner which is just awesome!  Big Cottonwood Video!  You can try the link but I don't know if it will work or not :(

I ran my most favoritest race EVER!!!  No race will ever live up to the Nike Women's Marathon!  That family trip was amazing...SO FUN!

I quit the job that I thought I wanted!  It turns out that lazy people annoy the crap out of me, wow that was blunt wasn't it?!?  I got so sick of people complaining that their heart rates were high...DUH!  That's sort of the point.  Obviously working out is hard otherwise everyone would do it and there wouldn't be a huge obesity epidemic.  I know I am strange because I actually enjoy torturing myself but seriously if you were paying $35 an hour for a trainer wouldn't you put a little effort into doing what you are being told?  I had to hold my tongue so many times when people complained about my workouts being too hard.  Seriously, if they wanted hard I would give it to them, I was actually really nice to them :)

I quit as soon as I got back from our San Francisco trip and truth be told I wasn't working enough to make it worth it anyway.  Basically since I quit I have been caring for McKenna with her migraines or either one of my kids for different illnesses.  I truly do think that everything happens for a reason and I think that I needed to be home these past 2 1/2 months.  It was hard for me to accept that training wasn't for me.  Rather it was because I wasn't a good trainer, motivator or that I just didn't fit in where I was working or maybe all of the above.  I know that I needed to be here for my kids no matter how horrible I felt about myself being a jobless twit.  Where do I go from here?  Quite frankly I don't know.  I am working on getting certified as a cycling instructor but will that really be enough?  That is a good question.  I guess I am on a quest to find what I want to be doing.  Actually, I know what I want to do.  I want to get paid to workout and blog, is that too much to ask?  Not, if you ask me :)

Paced the Halloween Half Marathon, this one was tough for me, I don't think I was quite recovered from my marathon but still managed to finish in time!  I was shocked!

The last race I did was the Thankful 13 Half Marathon.  I loved the race but it was very hard for me!  It was a great way to kick off Thanksgiving!

That is 8 half marathons, 2 full marathons, a 10K and partridge in a pear tree!  I also ran 2 5K's with Kobe which was sooooo fun!  Jake and McKenna ran them too but Kobe and I ran together.  I really wish I would have done a blog post on those races.  If Kobe could run every race with me I would be pleased as punch!  I ran a grand total of 2405.59 miles (I don't know how I ended up with such an odd number, that will drive me crazy for eternity) and here are some other interesting facts that the DailyMile told me.

2,516 Total Miles (I thought this was what I ran, I was so sad when I found out that it included my walks)

426.40 Total Time

48 Lbs Burned

329 Total Workouts

0.10 Around World

351.92 TVs Powered

132.42 Gas Saved

918.30 Donuts Burned

It looks like I can eat a few donuts if I so desire ;)

Overall I would say it was a year full of awesome races, fun trips, lots of trials and even more self doubt.  Maybe my new year's resolution should be to believe in myself a little more.

If you made it through that post you should get a medal! 

New York City Day 1!!

 I am just finding the "draft" of a post that was written in April and it is now December and of course I have forgotten all of the fun details of the rest of the trip.  Hopefully it will come back to me but for now I guess this is all you get!

This trip was one that I will NEVER forget..but just in case I do, I want to do a post about it, or 3!

Wednesday morning Holly and I woke up at 4:10 a.m. to go get our workout done before we had to get packing, cleaning and all of that fun stuff.  We dropped our kids off at Mama Jex's at about 7 p.m. so we could head up to SLC for our RED EYE flight :/  We boarded the plane at about 11:30 p.m. and arrived at JFK airport at 5:30 a.m.  Needless to say none of us got any sleep, heaven knows we tried but the weather was bad and the flight was HORRIBLE!!  I was certain that we were going to die and all I could think of was how selfish I was to leave my kids to run a marathon and that I would never see them again.  I know you think I am exaggerating but it was honestly the scariest flight I've ever been on.

We grabbed a cab and had him take us into Manhattan...where we took a bus...to a subway... to an air tram...to a shuttle and viola 3 hours later we got to our hotel :)

All I could think was what on earth have we gotten ourselves into.  We got showered up, took about a 15 minute nap and we were off!  So that's 15 minutes of sleep between Wednesday and Thursday, just for anyone keeping track.  We got to Manhattan and wandered all over the town, we probably walked somewhere between 8-15 miles.  We decided that if we took the subways we would miss too much so we walked and walked and walked and walked.  We saw Times Square, Trump Tower and lots of other stuff making our way to Central Park.  We then walked back to where we started and headed back to our hotel in Newark.

This was in Trump Tower!

Angry Bird comin' at ya!

We had some fun in FAO Schwartz

Friday morning Holly and I woke up and headed down to the hotel gym for a lovely walk on an incline and some core work.  We walked 4 miles and laughed hysterically at Ridiculousness on MTV...so FUNNY!!!!  We got ready for the day and headed out for another adventurous day in New York.  We started near Times Square again and headed towards the Statue of Liberty.  We saw lots of fancy cars, we had to take pictures for Kobe who is obsessed with cars.

Do you like my new ride?  I wish!!

From this point on I am just trying to remember what went down 8 months later so it's a little fuzzy!

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge so we could eat at Ghrimaldi's.  Ghrimaldi's was the best pizza EVER!

Holly had an adventure buying a bag from a suspicious fella' in the alley ;)

We made our way up by Central Park, we walked all the live long day.

We tracked ourselves on this fine day and we walked over 20 miles not including the treadmill fun that Holly and I had. 

The next day we rented a car and drove to Boston, why didn't anyone tell us it was so far away ;)  We went straight to the race expo and walked around for a bit.

We went to a Red Sox game which was really fun even though we didn't really have seats, we had standing room.  It was amazing to see Fenway Park!

Race day was pretty much race, walk around Boston with our good buddy Cameron and that's about all I remember!

Tuesday we walked around Boston for a little bit and then had to drive back to New York to catch our flight home.  We walked up to our gate to see Cameron sitting there along with a whole bunch of other Boston runners.  The flight home was the most miserable thing I've ever experienced.  My legs hurt soooo bad, if you've run a marathon before you can imagine the pain of sitting on a plane the day after a marathon for 6 hours.  I wanted to jump out the window, seriously!!!

This was truly a trip of a life time.  I had so much fun :)

10th Day of Christmas!

Wow, can you believe it's already the 10th day?  Hallelujah, this blogging every darn day is hard work.  I might have to retire after this 12 day adventure!  Let's get on with it shall we?

On the 10th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a necklace from Scott James Jewelry!  Actually I will be giving away 2 today so your chances just increased!  Here is the necklace you will get.

Oh, I love it!

Now instead of wearing your race medals around town you can just add charms for each race that you do.  I don't know about you but I don't like to wear my medal any longer than 3 days ;)

I absolutely LOVE my necklace.  I may not have realized just how much I loved my necklace until I thought I had lost it forever.  I will admit that since receiving my Tiffany necklace from the Nike Women's Marathon I have not worn my beloved Scott James necklace.  I had worn it everyday for well over a year so when I got a shiny new necklace I was excited.  I needed to shine up my SJ necklace so it was just easier to wear the new one.  My friends, after the day I have had I promise from this day forward to rotate the 2 necklaces equally!!!  I loved the San Francisco race so much that I really don't think any race will ever live up to it.  I didn't have the best race but having never been to San Francisco made it amazing!  I wanted to remember that race from that day forward so wearing the necklace each and every day reminded me of the race and of the wonderful family trip we were able to take.

This morning as I went to get my SJ necklace I FREAKED out to see that it wasn't in it's spot.  I was fighting the tears with every ounce of my being, okay I cried :*(  I realized that that necklace meant more to me than anything.  I have charms from different races.  Races that came with many, many memories.  With my necklace gone I felt lost and helpless.  I almost called up Scott himself seems how we are practically BFF's now ;)  I hoped that he would have mercy on my soul and tell me to keep one of the necklaces he had sent for the giveaway. 

Here is my necklace way back when I first got it.

I racked my brain trying to figure out what had happened to my beloved necklace!  I am quite OCD, on certain things, and I always put my jewelry in the same place...ALWAYS!  I thought of a place to look while driving home from Costco, just to come home and be disappointed not to find it.  I nearly cried AGAIN!  I finally decided to look in a piece of our luggage we had taken to San Fran.  I was sure I had seen it since then but figured it was worth a shot.  And lo an behold I found it!!  I was so happy that I shouted with joy and hugged my little necklace with all my might.  I shined it all up and it is beautiful again :) SEE.

Each charm has special meaning to me.  I got the chain, 26.2, run and stone at the Utah Valley Marathon Expo in 2011.  You can read all about the race HERE!

A week later I added the Ragnar symbol, race recap HERE.  I bought the charm before my first leg of Ragnar and will wear it as a badge of honor for surviving that miserable race ;)

Holly gave me the ultra charm for my birthday right after my "Ultra Ragnar" you can read about that HERE.

While at Ragnar Holly and I talked to Scott about getting a Boston charm, for THIS race!

See all the charms have precious memories attached to them, I treasure my necklace.  I also have cute little runner girl earrings that Holly gave me.  Next on my list is one of their super cute rings, check them out on their website.

So like I said I have 2 necklaces to give away, so get busy.  You know the drill right?!?

Like Scott James Jewelry on Facebook HERE!

Go to their website and tell me your very favorite thing.

Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or your blog!

Be sure to leave a comment below for each thing that you do.

Before I recap the giveaways I have a dumb Steph moment to share.  I just went to pick my kids up from gym and I walked past a fellow, he said "what's up?"  To which I said "good!"  Ha ha ha, what a dorkus! 

Don't forget there is still time to enter some of the giveaways.

On the 10th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a Scott James necklace. Ends 24th.

On the 9th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a stocking full of GU. Ends 23rd.

On the 8th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a Twete Bird headband. Ends 22nd.

On the 7th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...$20 to Yogurtland.

On the 6th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a Handful brazier.

On the 5th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...4 FREE meals to Costa Vida.

On the 4th day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a bottle of Sportlegs.

On the 3rd day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...Good2Go protein bars. 

On the 2nd day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...a pair Pro Compression. 

On the 1st day of Christmas Lil' Mama gave to me...Terra Miaaaaa.

And the winner of $20 to Yogurtland is...

Coupon PersonDecember 20, 2012 1:18 PM

Like on FB

Congrats!!  Email me (kyt1976@gmail.com) and I'll mail you your prize :)

Going Back To What I LOVE!

Seems how it has been quite some time and I have made some life changing decisions ;) I have decided that it is high time to do a blog post.  So life changing  may be a bit extreme but believe me last week as I was deciding between 2 options it seemed BIG and very overwhelming.  I have decided, after a year long hiatus, to return to personal training!  The big decision was between going out on my own and starting up my own business or going to work for Energy Explosions!  After MUCH stress, praying, fasting, listing pros and cons to both and asking EVERYONE I could get to listen to me their opinion, I have finally made a decision.  I decided to go with Energy Explosions!  Be sure to check out Zac's Blog because it is awesome!  I am so excited to get back to personal training!!

Unlike the big gym I used to work for this is a small, intimate atmosphere.  I can train small groups as well as one on one sessions, this is good because sometimes a little competition between friends is good :)  I absolutely love strength training, running, spinning and well...pretty much anything that will kick my trash.  I have really missed helping people work towards and reach their goals!  I have also REALLY missed watching people suffer ;)  This is the only kind of butt kickin' I have been doing lately.

And he is having way to much fun...that's not pain!  I'll show you PAIN ;)

So now that all of that is out of the way, I must say that I am getting a little (okay A LOT) nervous for my trip to New York and Boston.  We (me and the little mouse I carry around in my pocket aka Holly) are going to run the Boston Marathon! 

This pic was taken the morning of the Utah Valley Marathon!  I sure hope Boston goes better for me than that race!!!

We are going with our hubbies and none of us have ever been there.  I am not scared for the marathon, after all I'm not trying to break any records or anything, but I am extremely scared that we are going to get lost, or mugged, or worse ;)

I can't believe that after Saturday's 20 miler it is time to start the taper, which I used to dread I will have you know, but this time I will embrace it with open arms!!  I have been kicking my own butt with really hard workouts and runs and my body is not appreciating it very much.  I did have a not so sensual maaasage (very painful, in a good way, sports massage) last night that helped tremendously.  Today I felt awesome and if it would have been race day I'm pretty sure I would have broken a few elite hearts ;)  Ha Ha, that's the funniest darn thing I've said all day!

If any of you have any tips or things that we must do while in New York or Boston please let me know.