Ogden Marathon 2013

Considering the kind of day I had on Saturday, May 18th I really had no intentions on doing a post, obviously since it's been 2 weeks...#FAIL.  This race was nothing short of craptastic for me, the race itself was AWESOME, very well organized and everything from the packet pick up to the finish line was perfect. 

This is the only picture I have from this race!  I hope you like my HUGE muscles :)

I had done quite a few things different leading up to this race to insure a PR, too bad for me it didn't work!

Looking back on DailyMile I realized that I was a complete idiot leading up to my last 2 marathons, can't remember what I did before DailyMile but it was probably more of the same.  I came up with a fabu plan for the week that would leave me well rested and ready to run.
Monday-Shoulders and abs with a 3 mile run.
Tuesday-Chest, triceps, back and biceps with a 3 mile run.
Wednesday-Core workout with an hour long spin class. NIGHT-Jorge's House of Pain(massage)
Thursday-Slept in and rode my spin bike for about an hour.  Yoga at night.
Friday-Slept in, rode the spin bike for 40 minutes and did a 2.25 mile run. NIGHT-P90X stretch

I also watched everything I ate and had my feedings every 3 hours I'm a hungry little gal!  I can't think of anything more I could have done to set myself up for a good race.  I had a good solid 5 hours of sleep before my 2:50 a.m. wake up call.  Got all ready and Holly and Jorge picked my sorry butt up at 3:30.  We drove up to Ogden, about an hour long drive.  I felt ready to run and have a grrrreat time.

We met up with Josh, Joanna, Dr. Lloyd, Joanna's friend and Paul.  We said goodbye to Pam (who was supposed to run but is injured) and Ashley (She be prego)!

The wait at the starting line was beautiful.  It wasn't raining...yet and it wasn't very cold.  We had a great time and then it was time to line up.  We had talked to Bill about pacing us to a sub 3:30 finish and we finally found him at the starting line.  By this time it was raining and it rained for the remainder of the race, seriously?!?

For the first 7 miles we were right on track, we had banked a little time and we kept a good pace.  My heart rate was good, I felt like I could maintain the pace for the remainder of the race.  Then I started feeling weird.  My quads were frozen and I felt like I couldn't control my legs, I didn't know how I was still running.  My body didn't really feel cold but my quads did...weird.  I tried to pay attention to my form, I prayed...a lot!  I was slowing down and I knew it.  At mile 8 Holly asked how I was, I sarcastically said that I was good.  She admitted that her legs felt the same as mine and from there it was all downhill.  I don't mean that the course was downhill at this point, but our pace was!

Mile 16 was for McKenna and I'm so glad it was.  It was a beautiful mile, painful but then again Kenna has experienced a lot of physical pain this past year so I sucked it up and kept going.
I was having a VERY hard time eating or drinking much of anything.  I think I wanted my PR so bad that trying to get my fuel was taking too much energy so I just gave up on it.  At one point Holly said to refuel before our big hill near mile 13.  I got my Sport Beans out and ran holding the bag until mile 17 when I finally decided that I HAD to eat some.  By mile 16 my stomach starting getting VERY angry!!!  My stomach NEVER hurts during marathons...ever.  We had finally reached the downhill, fast part of the race and my legs wanted nothing to do with any of it.  It felt better to run uphill but unfortunately the rest of the course was pretty much straight downhill.

Around mile 17 Holly threw her pace band as a souvenir for Jorge, I wonder if he ever saw it?!?  We were hating it but kept plugging along.  I thought to myself "Wow people must be feeling really good, they must have saved themselves for the downhill."  No IDIOT, you are slowing down, waaaaay down.  Our splits are actually quite comical.

I had to take a potty break at mile 21-ish, which I shouldn't have even bothered.  Thought it might help my tummy issues but nope!  At mile 22 we saw Pam and we were a mess.  We were all bawling all over the place, we wanted to stop to give her a hug but she yelled at us to keep going.  We love Pam!!!

At mile 24 a lovely man offered us cookies, did I hear him right?!?  Yes, yes I did and grabbed one and went on my way.  I wasn't sure what it would do to my tummy but at this point I really didn't think it could get much worse so why not.

Mile 25-26.2 were for Kobe, Pam and Holly's Aunt Leslie and late Uncle Dave.  I wanted to walk soooooo bad!  We chanted Kobe, Pam, Leslie, Dave!  We kept repeating that and somehow it helped.  We saw the Ogden Temple and I told Angel Moroni to play his horn...louder I can't hear it!!!  At this point I think we were both hallucinating, here came the unicorns and Smurfs ;)

We saw Jake, Kobe, McKenna, Jenne, Kenya and Kaiya cheering for us.  They had made signs and it really meant a lot that they had all come out in the pouring rain to cheer for us.

As soon as we crossed the finish line I saw a table with water bottles and COKE!!!  I yelled, “I NEED A COKE!”  I don’t even like Coke but at that moment that was all I wanted.   We got our medals, took a couple of goofy pictures, spilled Coke on my shoes and then Jake and the rest of the fam found us.  We were freezing!  Jake, being the gentleman that he is, gave me his hoodie.  Then me, being the gentlewoman that I am, shared it with Holly…it was a big hoodie!  We got our drop bags and got outta there as fast as we could.

We ended up finishing in 3:42:17, only 12+ minutes off our goal time…POOP! 

7 Mi:	54:51 Pace: 7:51
Half:	1:45:27 Pace: 8:03
18 Mi:	2:26:47 Pace: 8:10
23.1 M	3:12:33 Pace: 8:21

Average pace was 8:29

Since it has been 2 weeks and I’ve had time to search, ponder and pray about this :) I have decided that although we didn’t reach our goal at least we didn’t quit!  We were smart enough to listen to our bodies and slow down.  I knew I had another marathon in 2 weeks that I REALLY didn’t want to miss because of a stupid injury!  I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe I’ve already had my glory day in the hot sun maybe my current PR will remain my PR forever.

With all that being said, I would HIGHLY recommend this race!  The biggest thing I noticed was that there was no weaving in and out of a huge crowd when the race started.  I have NEVER ran a race like that.  The course was beautiful and for Pete’s sake they had Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and Coke. 

I didn't get even one picture from this race, not even a pre race outfit shot, nothing….lame!

I'm a FAN!

This morning I headed out for my second 20 miler of this training cycle with Holly, Josh, Joanna, Dr. Lloyd and about 3287 other runners.  We truly missed having Pam with us, she is injured right now :*( I HATE INJURIES!!!!

I decided that after my last 20 miler, which was pretty miserable, that I would do everything possible to set myself up for a good run.  I carbo loaded like it was my job!

These little beauties do a fine job of properly loading a runner!

I ate 2 chocolate donuts cause if 1 is good then heck have 2!  I have 2 kids and that worked out good, I have 2...shoes, that's all I could think of.  I ate one for each of my running legs or something like that!

Jake took me on a hot date to Malawi's for some pizza, I think I was pretty well loaded with the carbs :)

I have decided that I am a real fan of running in my Pro Compression socks.  I have run in them here and there but this past week I wore them for 3 of my runs, I think I need a few more so I can wear them every.day!

I didn't wear just any ol' Pro Compression, no I busted out these..

Seems how I didn't do a Shamrock Shuffle ;) or the LA Marathon, I decided to wear my "lucky" socks today!  They did their job wonderfully!

Here is our attempt at getting a jumping photo...#FAIL!

Holly and I did the P90X stretch DVD and I took The Stick to myself right before bed and then slathered BioFreeze all over my legs.

The run was GREAT!!!  The first 10 miles were a challenge as we were running up Provo Canyon, although it's not as steep as Hobble Creek Canyon so that was a relief.

We saw a million runners, walkers, bikers and army guys.  Holly and I thought we were going to be flashed by 2 army dudes...FREAKS!  They were being highly suspicious so I made sure not to look at them, it was quite scary.  Holly said one of them was looking at us real creepy like, yikes!

Coming back down the canyon felt awesome!  I felt like I could have run a marathon today, it was really good.

The hardest part of today's run was the 12 minute ICE BATH that I forced myself to take.  It is so hard to get into an ice bath but I really do notice a difference when I take them.  I showered up, put on a fresh pair of Pro Compression socks and stuffed myself into my "sausage shorts" aka Aspaeris Pivot Shorts.

These shorts are AWESOME!!  Aspaeris is sponsoring Run Your Race Pacers and sent Holly and I a pair to try out.  I have run in them a few times and absolutely love them, the only down side to running in them is that then I can't recover in them.  I don't love being swassy all day, unfortunately.  I LOVE wearing them for recovery and wear them nearly every day.  Needless to say I am wearing them out right quick.  I only wash them if I sweat in them or once a week.  I figure I'm not getting them dirty so I may as well not wash them to death too quickly.

They are really tight which is how they should be but I do feel like I have sausage legs when I wear them.  NO ONE will ever see me in them alone again.  When I first got them I put them on and showed my family.  They gave me some pretty horrible looks and Kenna said "Nice butt MOM!"  They are not flattering at all but it's all good.

They are best worn under things!

Kenna and I got a little silly on my "photo shoot"...kiss it Whoville ;)

 And last but not least I try to imitate the Monican, she's hilarious!

That's Monica's running pose and without even thinking about it I did it, we should be friends :)

I'm sooo a fan of Aspaeris!  Pro Compression and Aspaeris should get together and have a baby, not sure where that one came from but let's just go with it okay?!?

If you haven't tried compression before then I feel sorry for you already, it's pretty much the bomb.diggity!

I think I will be living in my compression gear for the next 2 and a half months.  Here is a glance at some races I will be doing.

April 20th Salt Lake City Half Marathon

May 4th Dino Half Marathon

May 18th Ogden Marathon

June 2nd San Diego Rock 'N Roll Marathon

June 21st ULTRA RAGNAR Wasatch Back

That's a lot of running...I hope I survive.

Sooooo #keepittight!!  I believe you can use promo code BLG13 for 40% off and free shipping on all Pro Compression Marathon socks!

If I hear of an awesome promo code for Aspaeris I will be sure to share, cause you NEED some!

Push Hard But Not Too Hard! b

As of late I have been thinking a lot about pushing myself off a bridge in running.  I think there is a very fine line when it comes to doing all that you are capable of without getting over trained or injured.  I am currently training for the Ogden Marathon and I am bound and determined to PR!  I am trying to be smart and have a hard time knowing how hard to push myself.  Working with weights I can push myself without the fear of injuring myself but running is a whole different beast.  One wrong move and you can cause yourself all sorts of trouble.  If anyone has any words of wisdom for me please let me know.

Now onto other things.  Looky at what I did today...

I took my most favorite running shirt and turned it into a workout shirt.

Actually I did it to 2 :)  It was just so fun I couldn't stop myself!

I was browsing on the Pinterest when I stumbled across THIS and I decided to dig out my Saucony FIND YOUR STRONG shirt.  I have worn that shirt so much that it was looking a bit haggard and sad.  Now I can wear it to the gym and I am sure to find my strong.

Saucony just so happens to make my running shoe of choice, the Kinvara!  One day last summer as I was doing hill repeats I looked down at my Kinvara's and told myself to "find your strong!"  It worked, I was able to repeat that to myself over and over again until I reached the top of the blasted hill.  Thank you Saucony for making such wonderful shoes and thank you to the sales rep who gave me my beloved shirt when I worked for 26.2.

For anyone who wants to try to make one of these shirts make sure you practice on your not so favorite shirt first.  My first go at it wasn't quite so successful.  I made the front a little too revealing.  When I cut the sleeves off I got a little carried away and well let's just say that if I wore that shirt to the gym I would surely be mistaken for a floozy.  Ain't nobody got time fo' dat'!

This video brings me great joy :)

Something else that brings me great joy is pacing races!  I love it and I can't wait until race season is in full swing.  I will be pacing with the Run Your Race Pacers.  Follow the link for their blog.  I'm so excited to work with these amazing runners pacing AMAZING races.  Honestly if I could pace a race every weekend I would, I can not wait!!

Please leave any tips you may have for pushing hard without pushing too hard.  No injuries here PLEASE!!!