Half Marathon+5K+5K=A LOT!

The training schedule called for a half marathon yesterday, which would have been awesome, but instead I ran a whole heckuva lot of miles.  Because of kids gymnastics meets I had to switch this weeks 13.1 miles for next Saturday's 19 miles.  I could be crazy but maybe, just maybe, Hal Higdon was onto something when he scheduled week 9 as a cut back week.  You mean he didn't just pick some random number and say to run it?!?  Weird ;)

My last 2 long runs have been awesome, I felt great!  Today was not like that, nope not at all.

Holly and I met up with Pam, Josh and Joanna at 6:00 a.m. for the half marathon portion of our run.  It took me about a mile or so to warm up and then I felt great.  We were running in the dark for quite some time and I liked it.  It made the time fly by because I didn't really know where I was.  At about mile 10 I started to struggle a little.  Mile 11 Holly and I took our 2nd dose of Sportlegs and popped some Mike and Ike's, she also flipped me off but that's a story for another time ;)

We managed to finish the first 13.  Did I mention that Josh pushed a 3 year old in a stroller for those 13 miles...awesome!!  What was even more awesome was that the little girl didn't make a peep the whole run, she just sat back and enjoyed the run.  Holly and I drove up to a park in Mapleton where we started our virtual 5K Buddy Up Against Bullying.  I think stopping for a bit may not have been the best idea.  I had time to think about how tired I was and how far I still had to go.

We struggled through our "bully run" and got to the park just in time to start our 2nd 5K which was a remembrance run for Holly's uncle Dave.  I must say that I felt pretty stupid running a 5K with a Fuelbelt :D  There were camera men everywhere and I think a news team was doing a story on the run/walk.  I sure as heck hope we don't make the 10 o'clock news wearing our fancy little Fuelbelt's for a 5K. 

(So I typed this post last night but didn't publish it, this was just added)  News flash, I just noticed that I did in fact make the freaking 10:00 news wearing my nerd belt, heaven help me!!  I also realized that I run like a doofus old woman!  I always hoped that my television debut would be on a Bob Harper video or something, not slogging along wearing my Fuelbelt...in a 5K!  I will attempt to link the video, the story is amazing and worth watching...just ignore the idiot who is wearing a Fuelbelt for a 3.1 mile run!  VIDEO

 

I loved looking ahead of me and seeing a sea of white hats.  Dave always ran in a white hat so everyone was encouraged to wear one.  I got a little emotional at one point so I can only imagine what the people who actually knew him were feeling.

I needed something to get my mind off of the fact that I couldn't feel my legs, they were super jello-y and yes that is indeed a word!  I found Fun. on my iPod and listened to a couple of their songs.  Seems how I had finally stopped yakking Holly had time to think about why we were running that last 5K and she got quite emotional.  Crying and running just isn't a good mix.  We finished the race and looked down to see that we were at 19.38...who stops at 19.38?  I'll tell you who doesn't stop and that's me and Holly!  We HAD to even it out to 19.50 just for our own sanity, no we aren't OCD!

I'm glad this is a far away shot cause I seriously looked like DEATH!

I LOVE that they had a remembrance run for Dave.  Holly and I made a deal that if one of us dies an untimely death that the other will arrange a run in her honor.  We decided that we would have both a 5K and a half marathon distance.

Did I happen to mention that today was BEAUTIFUL!  Yep, perfect running weather for sure!

This run was definitely not an easy one but it was an awesome one.  I am so glad that we timed it just right so that we could finish it at the remembrance run.  Having all of the other runners really helped us finish off our run.  We were able to see Holly's amazing family, I don't know if you are aware of this but I am Holly's sista' from another mista'...and misses ;)  I love her family, they are all so kind and welcoming!

They gave out these "Made Better By Dave Henson" bracelets.  I didn't know Dave but just having the opportunity to attend his viewing and seeing the love his family had for him along with knowing that he died trying to save the one he loved, I truly do feel that I am "made better" now! 

I got home just in time to take a super fast shower and then it was off to Kobe's state gymnastics meet.  AirTime took state which was just awesome, GO AIRTIME!  They had an amazing season.  It wasn't Kobe's best meet but he somehow managed to get into the regionals meet which will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 3 weeks.

I picked this picture to show you Kobe's awesome little muscles!  I know the pic is taking up half my blog but I think it's worth it :)

What in the hey howdy hey is there to do in Albuquerque anyways?  I've never been there so if you know of anything wonderful to do there please let me know :)

Carry On!

Today’s run deserves a post, it was awesome!  Last night Holly said that we should do this run for her Aunt Leslee and Uncle Dave who were hit by a car Monday when they were walking in St. George.  You can read about the accident HERE.  Her uncle didn’t survive and her aunt got really beat up and is still in the hospital.   So it was decided, we would dedicate these 17 miles to them.

We woke up to a rain/snow mix along with wind.  We met and went back and forth as to whether we should head to the nice warm gym or buck it up and go.  I will be honest and say that I wanted to go to the gym and I could tell that Holly wanted to too.  Jorge said “Let’s just go!”  So we did!

It was me, Holly, Jorge and Rachelle.  I am so glad that we sucked it up and went outside.  I have wanted to do a nice snow run all winter but it just hasn’t panned out.  Plus if I can be Frank for a minute, you can be Shirley, I am a wimp and HATE to be cold.  Anywho, we headed up Hobble Creek but there was too much “dam” snow.  Soon after we passed the dam there was too much slushy snow so we decided to turn around and head into Mapleton.  As we started running down the canyon I felt awesome, I felt pretty bad A running around in such weather.  There is something about running outside that makes me feel powerful and strong, even if I am struggling or slogging!  I thought of this…

  

At this point we were being pelted in the face by snow, it was windy and my feet were soaked and guess what??  I LOVED it!  It reminded me of Top of Utah 2011. It was so nice to be outside enjoying our beautiful surroundings.

I kept thinking of “Uncle Dave” (yes, I refer to him as uncle because that’s how I roll) I was friends with his daughter in Elementary school and saw him after the Freedom Run one year but that’s about it.  Holly mentioned that they are going to have a remembrance run/walk next Saturday and that they want everyone to wear white hats because that’s what Uncle Dave always wore.  As we were running I saw a couple of people wearing white hats and I immediately thought of him looking down on us.

We ran (no pun intended) into Holly’s dentist, Dr. Jones, and ran with him and his friend Shauna for a bit.  Then we stopped at his house for a potty break, thank you Dr. Jones J

The weather calmed down and it was perfect!!!  I’m so grateful that Jorge pushed us out of our comfort zone and that we went outside.  Even though we had to run up “butthole hill” ;)  I was running out of time so we had to take the BIG hill home.  We were about ¾ of the way up the stupid hill and I was done.  I wanted to walk sooooo bad!  I said to myself “Uncle Dave I know I didn’t know you but will you please give me your strength and help me up this hill?”  He definitely helped me J

Sometimes it’s nice to run for someone other than yourself!  I pray that Holly’s Aunt Leslee will have a quick recovery and I pray for their whole family as they mourn the loss of Dave.  It’s amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye.  This week I have listened to the Fun song “Carry On” over and over again.  I have thought of Leslee and Dave.  “If you’re lost and alone or you’re sinking like a stone, carry oooooon!  May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground carry ooooon!”   Leslee and Dave ran together and he lost his life as they walked together, so I really like the feet upon the ground part!  Dave saved Leslee’s life as he pushed her out of the way when he saw the car coming towards them, he is a hero!

One more line from that song that I love is “my head is on fire but my legs are fine, after all they are mine!”  I think that may just be the best marathon song ever!

I am so full of emotion that I think I could go on all the live long day but for your sake I will end now!

Here is a picture of our raw beauty after 17 miles ;)  Don't be too jealous!

Be safe!!

BIG giveaway!!

Okay so I'm not the one actually giving the goods away but you must enter to win, it will be fabulous!!  By now you all know that I am a little obsessed wth Pro Compression.  Well, they emailed me and they are hosting a grand giveaway!

Prizes include an iPAD MINI (1 winner), an iPOD NANO (1 winner), PRO Compression Marathon Socks (2 Winners) and Marathon Calf Sleeves  (2 Winners)!

There are TWO easy ways you can enter for a chance to win:

1. Use promo code MARCH (40% off and FREE shipping) to purchase any Marathon Socks or Calf Sleeves HERE.  If for some crazy reason you don't want compression socks or sleeves I will let you buy them for me so that you can have an extra entry ;)  You're welcome!  But seriously, I can't imagine why any person on this fine earth that we live on wouldn't want a pair.  They aren't just for runners ya' know!

2.  Sign up for Pro Compression's monthly email list here: HERE!

 

Place an order using coupon code MARCH and sign up for our email list and get two entries. A total of 6 winners will be chosen at random.

The Official Rules for this wonderful giveaway can be found HERE!

That's it! Hurry, the promotion starts today, March 4, and ends March 20, 2013.

 

Pro Compression Giveaway!

As most of you already know I am part of a new pacing team known as the Run Your Race Pacers.  We have started a blog, www.ryrpacing.blogspot.com and will be doing giveaways quite often.  As a matter of fact we are doing a Pro Compression giveaway RIGHT NOW!  It ends tomorrow so get on it peeps ;)
I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was when Holly walked these down to my house the other day.

I LOVE the back of the shirt so you get a picture of that too.

Since Pro Compression has come on board as sponsors they sent us some goods to keep us in tip top shape for pacing.  Proper recovery is key and these stockings are sure to help your muscles get the blood flow that they require to rebuild themselves.  I did a product review of Pro Compression back in November that you can read HERE.

And for those of you not interested in my non-sense mile long post, I will do a quick recap as to why I am in love with these socks.

First of all, they are really, really, ridiculously good looking. 

They also feel AMAZING!  I love the fact that they fit perfectly.  They are super tight in the leg which is how they should be, but I don't feel like my little toesies are squished together like in other brands.  Nothing feels better after a really hard run/workout than slipping on Pro Compression socks.  They feel like a little hug for your tired legs.

I have also found that I love to run in them.  With other brands I never wear them to the gym because they just aren't very attractive.  I not only wear these to the gym but I get compliments every single time, like I said they are ridiculously good looking.

I love to sleep in them as well.  The night before a long run I always slather my legs in BioFreeze and sleep with my Pro Compression socks on.  In the morning I feel refreshed and ready to go.

Be sure to enter the giveaway asap.  Not only do you get a pair of socks but you get to pick them out and believe me they have some really great socks to choose from.

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!!!

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 :)