How To Properly Prep For 20 Miles!

Do you want to know how to properly get ready for a 20 mile run???  I thought you would.  First, after your workout for the day you do the P90X Stretch DVD.  I desperately wanted to share my favorite part of this DVD but with all the laws and such I wasn't sure I could do such a thing.  If you have the P90X videos, PLEASE for everything holy, put one in and watch the little thing at the end of the workout.  There are people talking about being a BeachBody Coach and some kind of nonsense.  Watch for the buff man who says he wants to "Have the ability to move large shrubbery!" then comes the magic.  The little lady who does a HILARIOUS laugh :D  Oh, how it brings me such joy!  If you don't have access to these I am truly sorry because you are missing out.  I do the DVD just to see my favorite funny lady at the end and YES I do wait for it EVERY TIME!!

If you can you go to Holly's house to do the DVD because she mixes you up a special concoction...Nuun and Zip Fizz!  I love the benefits of Nuun but lets be honest...it's gross!  Mix it up with some Zip Fizz and it's not to shabby!

After you are done stretching and drinking you go home and take an hour long nap.  Then after being in your disgusting, sweaty, nasty running clothes for hours on end you can finally shower.  I was too tired to shower before, those stretches take a lot out of a girl.

You have to have a chocolate cake donut. this is important so don't skip it...trust me on this one!

Proper carbo-loading is a MUST!  My kids and I went to Brick Oven with a friend.  Our husbands went to Moab and left us husband-less so why not?  We had a great time and the best part was that my garlic bread was perfect!  The salad and pizza were quite delicious as well...and the cookie!

With Jake being out of town I was able to go to bed early without feeling guilty about it and I had my big ol' bed all to myself.  That paired with NyQuil equals a good sleep, almost 9 hours to be exact.  I LOVE sleeping in my compression socks, especially the night before a race or a long run.  I slathered my legs in "Magic Stuff" before bed as well, that stuff is amazing!

This was my last 20 miler before the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 14th.  I am thrilled to the gills to be doing this marathon.  Who wouldn't want a firefighter...in a tuxedo...waiting for them at the finish line with a Tiffany & Co. necklace.  Having Jake and my kids there will be pretty awesome too!  I'm sure Jake doesn't love that our second vacation of the year is for another race, but I sure do appreciate his willingness to come and cheer me on. 

My 20 mile run went pretty well considering that I have had a HORRIBLE cold for the past week.  Other than hacking up a lung every once in a while I felt pretty good. 

While I was out running all over town Papa Mike took my kidlets to breakfast, what a great grandpa!!  Then I got out of the shower to see that McKenna was going on a cleaning spree.  I LOVE when she does that!!  She vacuumed the whole upstairs, steamed the hardwood floors, dusted, wiped down the bathrooms and even cleaned the toilets!  I knew buying her a vacuum at the age of 1 would pay off eventually :)

Man, I have cute kids!  Why did I ever stop having babies?!?  She was so tiny, she only weighed 15 lbs at her 1 year old check up...same with Kobe.  That was just a little side note of nothingness but oh well!  Have a great day!!

Mt. Nebo Half Marathon 2012

To say this race was AWESOME would be an understatement!!!  Everything about it was amazing.  To start off, at the packet pick-up we were greeted by quite possibly the nicest man on the earth.  I don't know his name but I do know that if I could carry him around in my pocket all the time I would!!  He was one of those very positive-happy types.  He told me good luck and said he would see me in the morning at least 4 times...not in a creepy way and not in a way that should concern Jake :)  Just in the kind of way that says "I am the nicest man around and I love people!"  This nicest fellow held up the race shirt to show me what a small looked like because they didn't have x-small.  He said "They are small but you are...VERY small!"  I'm sure it will do just fine but I was a little taken back by said shirt.

I thought to myself how unfortunate it was that they had misprinted the shirts.  I got home and looked it over for a good 3.5 minutes trying to figure out why on earth the E was backwards.  I thought "what the heck does IEI even mean" (sorry I don't know how to type a backwards E).  FINALLY, I saw the second half of the B and I saw a 3 and then it hit me like a ton of backwards E's!!  13.1 Brilliant!  I'm a little slow but I catch on eventually!  I asked McKenna what she saw and she immediately said "Oh, 13.1!"  Are you freaking kidding me :) Whatever!

We (Holly, Jorge and I...no, I didn't have the nice man in my pocket or a mouse) got to the buses at 5 a.m. where we met up with the pacing group to get our fancy shmancy singlets and pacing sticks.  We were on the first bus and when we got to the starting line we were greeted by a WELCOME sign hanging over head.  Perhaps I am strange but that welcome sign really made me feel welcome ;)  I thought it was a great touch, sometimes it's the little things in life that bring me such joy!  There were fire pits galore and those warming station thingies.  It looked so cool with all the fires in the dark.  I LOVED that they had a zillion fires so that everyone could get warm, not just a select few.  As we were standing there I decided to sing Holly a little song "Drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot!"  And she did!  

The race started right on time!!!  I started down that mountain hoping to have a good following at my 1:45 pace.  Pretty soon I noticed a few people sticking right with me and I started chatting it up.  I think I had about 10 people that let me know that I was pacing them.  We were having a great time!  I loved pacing this race because I could really take in the beauty of my surroundings.  I have lived near this canyon for 36 years and have never seen it.  It was such a perfect morning!  The colors were changing and it was extremely peaceful.  Had I been "racing" and I use that term loosely, I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much.  I made sure to point out some especially pretty parts to my "followers" :)  I just noticed that the bib says "tranquil beauty" on it and that's exactly what it was!

The group of people I had with me were truly amazing.  They were all super nice and had some great stories to share.  I kept finding myself ahead of schedule and tried to pull back but they would look at me like what are you doing.  I finally told them that I had to pull back a bit but to keep going because they were doing awesome.  This race was EXTREMELY downhill which made it a little tricky to take slow. 

I finished around 1:44:20...I think!  I decided that I had gotten all my people there early so rather than dink around for 40 seconds I would just finish, please don't fire me "pace master!"  I crossed the finish line to see my favorite happy man who congratulated me and asked how the race was.  He was so kind to EVERYONE who crossed that finish line!  There should be more people like that in this miserable world we live in...just kidding about that last part!!

I congratulated the people that I paced and told them how amazing they all were.  One sweet little lady, Kim, found me about 10 minutes later to introduce me to her husband who had run the race as well.  She was so grateful to have pacers at the race.  Another guy got a 20 minute PR!!  He did great!  I've said it once and I'll say it again, runner's have got to be the nicest people.  I guess it's all those endorphins!

I could honestly go on and on all the live long day about how much I LOVED this race and pacing!  I think I have found my new favorite thing!  I guess it's tradition or something for the "pace master" to take our pictures after the race.  Here is our first picture from the Top of Utah Half Marathon

WOW!  What a horrible picture.  I don't know where I am looking and that guy behind Holly...I don't want to know where he was looking ;)  I mentioned how horrible this picture was and asked for a little notice or something this time around and here's what we got.

 I am a freaking model ;)  I just can't win with these blasted pictures!  I guess I will take cheesy over dur! 

I guess a 20 mile long post should just about do it.  I will end by saying that this race was one of the best races I have done.  I did the Timpanogos Half Marathon last year and loved it, it was put on by the same people.  They have got these races perfected!!

I can't wait until September 22 when I get to pace the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon!!!

Rest Day...4 Mile Hike!

This is a few days late but I have had technical difficulties!

Sunday has always been a rest day for me...wait a minute, I am totally lying right now!  When I first started running I ran 7 days a week, no matter what!  Finally a friend of mine kindly pointed out that we all need at least 1 day of rest per week.  After all, Sunday is referred to as the "day of rest" right?!?  I decided to listen to my friend just to see what would happen.  I guess I figured I would lose all strength and the gains that I had made in my running for that week...guess what?!?  I didn't, in fact I felt better than ever taking that one day off every week.  Everyone finds what works for them.  For me, I enjoy taking one day off mid week to enjoy a spin class.  I ab.so.lutely LOVE spin, it's a nice break from running and by golly it's just plain fun!  Then of course I take Sunday's off...that's a day meant for family in my book!

As much as we love running it's important to realize that doing the same activity day in and day out creates muscle imbalances.  Throw some biking in the mix or better yet some strength training.  The best way to avoid injury is to avoid muscle imbalances.  Besides muscle imbalances our bodies need time to RECOVER!  If we run every single day when are we allowing ourselves to recover???  Believe me, if you are someone who runs 7 days a week try taking one day off a week.  It's just one day, you'll live and guess what you will feel so much better!

This week was Papa Jex's b-day and for his big day he wanted to go to Norma Jean's Diner for some breakfast (don't ask me who the heck Norma Jean is cause I do not know).  We enjoyed some family time and then headed off on our own little family adventure.  Jake and the kids wanted to hike Bridal Veil Falls, okay that's easy enough!  5 minutes and your done, LET'S DO IT!!  As we started driving up the canyon Jake decided to take us to Sundance instead.  We walked around for a few minutes and decided to hike Stewart Falls.  I had never hiked Stewart Falls and decided it would be a fine family activity.  We got our little guide book from the forest ranger gal and I saw that the hike was 2 miles one way.  No big deal, I can do 4 miles in my sleep!

I can run 4 miles in my sleep but hiking straight up a mountain on tired legs is no easy feat.  We had a great time despite the HEAT, it was way hotter than I had expected it to be.  At one point, Kobe said "today sure was a good day to wear deodorant!" :D  It was dang funny!  On the 1st or 2nd day of school his teacher told them that they all needed to wear deodorant because they were super stinky...she's way funny!  By the end I was starting to feel a little funny, dizzy at times.  I think the heat was getting to me a bit and poor Kenna was about to whizzle in her short pants.  McKenna and I started to run down the mountain which was kinda scary.  I rolled my ankle a few times...trail running is NOT for me!  That along with my dizziness may not have been the best mix but I just wanted to be done. 

From the second I woke up this morning I felt tired and worn down.  All I really wanted to do was lay in my bed and do nothing all the live long day!  I'm glad I didn't, we had a fine time together as a family.  This week my kids start their new gymnastics schedule and Kenna has to go 19.5 hours a week...HOLY CRAP!!  I am never going to see the little miss.  I'm glad we were able to spend some good quality time together this weekend.

I hope you all had a great weekend!!!

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon 2012

Leading up to this race I was SUPER nervous.  The fact that I was pacing it and not just doing it for myself scared my pants right off of me!  I wanted to make sure that I did everything in my power to have a good run.  On Friday, I went to Jorge's House of Pain for a not so sensual maaasage and then Holly and I did P90X Stretch.  My legs felt all loosey and nice, I then wore my compression sleeves for the most part of the day.  Because I didn't want to be accused of wearing soccer socks at Costa Vida I left them behind.

We arrived at Granny and Papa's house (Jake's grandparents) in Logan and chatted with them for a while.  I love these people, they are a crack up!  We looked at old scrapbooks of when Jake's grandpa was a Fighter Pilot back in the olden days ;)  It was neat to see a lot of the things that he had accomplished.  We also stumbled upon a picture of me when I was prego with Kobe...heaven help me, I was HUGE!!

Before I went to bed I slathered my legs in MaxFreeze and put on my compression socks.  Jake was kind enough to drive us to the buses at 4:50 a.m.  We looked for our "pace master" for about 15 minutes and finally gave up and jumped on a bus.  Luckily, Holly brought her blanket (which I thought was a snuggie) so we were able to keep a little warm.  It was quite cold up the canyon.

Finally, about 10 minutes before the race started we (Holly and I paced this together) saw our "pace master" and  received our fancy schmancy singlet's and pace bands.  We were all set and nervous as can be!  We decided pretty quickly that I would be in charge of keeping us on pace and Holly would be in charge of the pacer sign.  Every time Holly went to look at her watch she nearly whacked me with her stick :D  That and my OCD and pacing went along quite nicely together.  The constant worrying about keeping us on pace helped the time fly by.  All of a sudden we were at mile 7...how in the world did that happen?!?  We had a few guys we were pacing and chatting with.  It was fun to hear about them and some of their past running experiences.  At about mile 11 or 12 we lost our guys, there was a hill and they fell behind.  We picked up a couple of others at this point.

We had to slow down a little there at the end, as to not finish ahead of schedule.  We had to tell a few people to go ahead and finish strong!.  We finished in 1:40:08!  I would say we did pretty dang awesome for our first pacing gig!

There we are hard at work.  Me checking the clock and Holly checking her watch! 

I absolutely LOVED pacing and I can not wait to do it again!!!  I felt awesome the whole run.  It was a comfortable pace but it was a good workout.  It wasn't so slow that I felt like I wasn't getting a workout.  YAY for pacing!!

After we finished it was off to watch a few friends finish a Half Ironman!   It was so amazing to watch these people.  We were there early and were able to see the first finishers.  I am so glad that we made it in time to see our friend transition from the bike to the run.  I WILL learn to swim...mark my words, I will learn to swim.  I want to do not only a half but a full Ironman.  Now that I've put it on the blog I have to do it, right?!?  If anyone wants to give me swimming lessons for free I will let you ;)

Pacing!

This Saturday will be my first time ever pacing a race.  Holly and I were asked to pace the 1:40 group for the Top of Utah Half Marathon.  To say that I am FREAKING out would be a bit of an understatement!  I know that I can finish in that time but for some reason knowing that other people are counting on me to get them to the finish freaks my freak!!!  I looked up the average pace for that time and it is about a 7:40 min mile!  That is very doable but what if I am having an off day?  What if I trip and fall on my face?  A pacer shouldn't do that...not that I've ever done that but with my luck holding a pacer sign might just send me over the edge. 

This was taken at the TOU Marathon last year.  If I can do the full I can do the half right?!?

The only thing getting me to the starting line is knowing that Holly will be there with me.  She is MUCH faster than I am so for her to do a 1:40 half is like me dropping and busting out 100 push-ups...not hard!  Okay, maybe it's a little hard but I can still do it on any given day.  So what happens on September 8th when I have to pace the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon all by myself?  Just typing this is sending me into a full blown panic attack!!!  Talk about pacing...I'm going to wear my shoes out pacing this kitchen floor ;)  Actually, after Saturday's race I will be pacing the 1:45 groups and that I am comfortable with!

I have been asked to pace the Big Cottonwood Canyon Half and also the Halloween Half.  The only race that I have actually done is the Halloween Half (read about it there) so that one I feel comfortable with, I know the course and let's face it it's by far the most entertaining race around!  Plus I can just wear a mask and no one has to know that it was me if we don't make it ;) 

I figure I will try this first race and if pacing isn't for me than I can easily get out of the others.  I really hope that I LOVE it!  Not only do I get to do races for FREE dollars but if I can help someone(hopefully many someoneS) attain a goal then I will be pleased as punch!  I also think it will be nice to do these races without having the stress of "racing" them.  I love doing races but hate the stress of having to PR at every race.  Sometimes it's nice to have a change of scenery and just enjoy the run, which is what I hope pacing is for me.  I hope that I can get over the stress that is put on me and just concentrate on the people that I am pacing.  Get to know them and hear their story, maybe even make a friend or two ;)  After the Utah Valley Half Marathon a cute little gal came up and thanked me for "pacing" her.  She said, "I just told myself to keep up with the tiny, little girl wearing bright pink!" :)  She made my day.  I only wish that I would have known I was pacing her so that I could have given her words of encouragement along the way!

Have you ever followed a pacer?  If so, what did they do or not do that you liked?

If you have ever paced a race do you have any words of wisdom?

First Day of School!

Let's start by getting today's workout out of the way, today was leg day and it was tough!  After an hour long leg workout I headed outside for a run. 8.25 miles, it was the perfect morning for a run!  Now on with more exciting things...The first day of school!

 

Such cute kids :)

McKenna started 7th grade today...Jr. High!  When the crap did that happen?  The thing that scares me the most is that EVERY time I drove past the Jr. High last year there were kids canoodling under trees!  Are you kidding me?  So I have told Kenna again and again that there will be NO CANOODLING under trees!  The other night Jake said, "No cadoodling!"  I told her she can cadoodle anytime she wants but no canoodling!  She asked what cadoodling was and I said, "I'm not really sure but I think it's some kind of drawing thing." 

One other funny about Kenna is that last night she saw some Wet Ones on the counter and asked if she could use one to take her make-up off.  She asked if there was anything "special" in them.  I said no.  Suddenly, she said with extreme excitement, "Vitamin E and AloEE"  Not aloe but aloEE :)  I laughed and corrected her.  Her response was, "I know!  I'm not as dumb as I look!"  Ha ha ha!

Kobe started 4th grade today!  It seems like just yesterday that I was bawling my eyes out as I dropped him off for his 1st day of Kindergarten.  He got an awesome teacher and has a ton of great friends in his class.  Oh. my funny little Koko!!  I sure love those cornies!!

Last night as we were preparing for the big day I heard some racket going on outside my house.  I looked out to see some neighbors doing our yard work!  I was a little overcome with emotion.  Of course I made the daughter pose for a picture for the blog :)

I must say that our yard has never looked so good!  Not only did they mow and edge but they bagged the clippings...Jake NEVER does that!  I am so grateful for great neighbors.

The reason for the good deed was because Jake is living it up in So. Cal...RUDE!!  He went for work but all night he felt it necessary to send me bragging texts...I'm staying at your favorite hotel...in one of your favorite places...going to BJ's for a delicious pizookie...here's a picture of the beach!!  WTHeck ;)  I told him he was making me quite angry but he just kept bragging it up.  Oh yea, well I get to stay home all day and be a SLAVE ;)  I asked Jake if he had told this particular neighbor that I REFUSE to do yardwork, he said no but I still have my suspicions.  Steph + Yardwork = Huge snakes attacking me!

I must say that as sad as I was to see the cornies go, I am sitting here in a clean house enjoying Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition in silence...it's quite lovely :)  My house has stayed clean for over 4 hours now, I can't remember the last time that happened...probably about 3 months ago!

A 20 Mile Half Marathon?

The training schedule for today called for 20 miles...that's a VERY long ways!!!  Today was also the Hobble Creek Half Marathon, what to do, what to do?  Holly and I got on one of the first buses and headed up the canyon.  We waited a few minutes for it to get light and headed UP.  We made it 3/4 mile before we decided that we no longer felt safe.  We ended up doing 5.50 miles before heading to the starting line.  We ran this race as a "training" run, we weren't racing it and thank goodness for that.  I am sad because after today's run I had to admit that "Gin n' Juice" (Energy X) does NOT work for my long runs.  I've kind of known it for a while but sports drinks upset my stomach and I like how cheap the Energy X is.  I think I need the calories in GU Brew and the taste isn't too bad either, problem solved!

We did the race and then tacked on the last 1.50 miles.  This is how I have felt ever since...

20 miler done and done :)

I'm not going to do a recap on each mile or any of that fun stuff.  I know you are disappointed and all but I have had something going on in my little pea sized brain that I want to put out there.  The other day I was on the Facebook when I stumbled upon this

I saw it, laughed my head off and moved on.  Then as I was getting all done up for the day :D that right there was funny!  By done up I mean I showered, threw on some sweats and slapped on a little make-up.  I'm not one of those high maintenance beauty queens...much to Jake's dismay I'm sure ;)  Any who back to my story.  I was getting ready when McKenna wandered into the bathroom and started admiring herself...for a good 5 minutes I might add!  I was laughing so hard and immediately showed her the above saying.  She said "MOM!!"  Then she giggled and went on admiring herself.  Later as I was telling Holly how funny it was, she pointed out how sad it is that we ever lose that confidence in ourselves.  True dat!!  I think we all have times where we lack confidence and are continually putting ourselves down.  If I could have one wish it wouldn't be world peace, it would be that we could all be comfortable in our own skin and be our own biggest cheerleader!  Not that I don't want world peace but every beauty queen out there is already wishing for that one so I think we've got it covered!!

The other day I was training someone and she kept comparing herself to another gal who was there working out.  She was putting herself down and it made me ANGRY!  I wanted to slap her (don't worry I would NEVER do such a thing:) and tell her that she was just as good as the other gal she just had to believe in herself.  I kept my mouth shut when I shouldn't have.  Then I realized that I do the exact same thing day after day...and I wanted to slap myself ;)

I honestly don't know if I ever had that confidence that McKenna has but I sure wish I could dig deep inside myself and find it!  I also hope with every ounce of my being that Kenna never loses it!!!

Let's all try to be our own biggest cheerleader, let's build ourselves up rather than tear ourselves down!  Okay?!?