I love....

My Nike+

I'm pretty much obsessed. It shows me how far I've run, how many calories I've burned, the pace I did it all in... and plus it plays my favorite songs.

Kudos to my cute hubby for getting it for me.

The only time I DON'T like my Nike+ is for runs like today... when Amanda and I were finished with our run and it said "you have completed 3.2 miles."

Ahhh...the joys of a long run....

So since you already got the nitty gritties of the run from Lor, I'll make this short and sweet. Saturday's long run was LONG. Longer than aniticipated apparently. But really I felt pretty good, which made me feel bad because Lor was struggling. It's funny how that works out sometimes. At least we both weren't bad, because it was REALLY cold up at Red Rock Outfitters where we started and it almost did us in there. If we both would have been unmotivated we might have just driven home to bed where it was WARM...ahhhh...but we got out and started. It was a little more chilly than we had anticipated and I seriously felt like my butt was just going to fall off it was sooo numb. Tee hee. Probably a little TMI, but it's true. Really I felt pretty good the entire run, which is weird for me. It usually takes me 4 or 5 miles to get feeling really good. But I really did feel pretty good from the start. I had forgotten how long 18 miles is though. It's a LONG time. It's been a while since we've run that course and I had forgotten how long some of those roads were. I'd think, "Ok, just around that corner...ok, the next corner....or the next?" I'll tell you what though. That hill about 14 miles in is NOTHING compared to the hills we ran in the 10 miler. I was tired at the top, but not exhausted. And I could run the whole thing! By about mile 15 my feet were getting really sore, and I had to really push myself to keep running. I would try to run to the beat of the song that was playing. That sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, but about mile 16ish (I'm guessing) a Green Day song came on and I was able to increase my pace to match the tempo for the song, and I was proud of myself for pulling that out that far into the run. I was super impressed with us for getting that much milage in and have been surprised at how little soreness I've had. Don't get me wrong. I'm sore, but no where near as sore as I was the 2 years ago when we ran this distance for the first time! So all in all I'd say that I found this run to be motivating. We did it. We did it in decent time. And we still have a month and a half of training in front of us. We are going to rock this marathon!!!!

Saturday's 15 miler

It went great was the best run ever! I started out with this idea to take a pic of the GPS at the beginning and then at the end to prove I ran the full 15 miles- well I only have one picture to show you... its the one at the beginning with no millage on it! Thats right I set out with all the good intent in the world and then at 2 miles realized I was bored and running alone was no fun- so I turned around and went home and studied for my test.... I am happy to report I am stoked for this test I have never prepared better!


Next week I am coming up to run the 17 apparently I don't have the self discipline for these long runs on my own.... don't worry Lori I am still training better for this marathon then I did for the last :)

Oh P.S my cell phone drowned, I guess I forgot to teach it to swim- I am sad to report it never pulled through- Will you girls email me your phone numbers (I won't pretend to have them memorized).

Saturday's 15 miler...16 miler...18 miler!!????

The run was interesting for me. I was soooo unmotivated. I was really nervous about running 16 miles too...and I was pretty voice-y about the fact that I was A) unmotivated B) unexcited and C) totally ready to drive back and go to sleep and D) my bowels were having some serious issues. I wasn't excited about running 16 miles with my butt cheeks pressed together. :) But, good on Amanda, she made me push through...and we ran. Flashforward to about a mile in when I remembered that I forgot my car keys..tee hee... we had to run BACK to our car, a mile away, to get the keys. (good thing I remembered because, ps, we were running 16 MILES... who knows what we would've done if we'd finished and I didn't have the keys to drive my car back..hmmmmmm)

Anyway, I had a really really hard time getting into this run. I WAS totally diggin' my nike plus (we ALL need to get them ALLLLL of us). Amanda was in a much better mood and in a much better place physically so she was totally kickin' my butt. She was super sweet, though, and she would run or walk back to where I was (sometimes like 1/4 mile back) to make sure I was doing okay.

It was a discouraging run for me until about (theoretically) mile 13-14ish. I hit a wall around there, around the Pineview Marina. I seriously could barely put one foot in front of another. And, then, I talked myself into running "just one more song" which was 'Ashes' by Embrace. It seemed to rejuvenate me a little... and then the next song was "Half Way there" and ummm... suddenly something switched in my brain and I got a second wind. I was running around the dam dancing on the side of the road and singing out loud. Yes, yes, Amanda has ruined me. :) I'm sure I was quite entertaining to the peeps driving up the road (ooh..manda, in your post you need to talk about all the horses, snowmobiles and trucks...yes yes you do). Then it was like every single song after that made my heart happy and I ran faster. By the time I ran across the dam I was so happy I could have kept running for 4 or 5 more miles, seriously. What in the world was that? A 13 mile warm up? I'm so weird sometimes....

Well, after the run was finished (Manda finished 6 minutes before me, ps, way to go chicka!!) Amanda & I were chatting about how much longer this run took than we thought (3 ish hours?) and could there....would there... maybe... be a chance that it was longer than 16 miles? We both thought it felt longer, but hmmm...maybe... So, we jumped in the car and drove back up. Suddenly... 15 miles.... 16 miles....17 miles.... 18 miles? Wow. Holy cow. We RAN 18 MILES. No WONDER we're tired, sore and it took us FOREVER. We were so excited these were taken:

Ooooh, air freshener in the way.... take it again....Perfect. (we're cool, we know)

My own thoughts about the run? My lungs were okay, it was my legs that were struggling. I think we needed to stretch more, or maybe stop after a 1/2 mile and stretch. My calves were struggling. Post-run I was able to eat a Fiber One Bar, a banana and some milk without puking, that's good.

YAY FOR US!!!!!

Flashback Friday

Yes, yes I decided to include my Flashback Friday's here.... now I can't guarantee that I will post it each Friday but I thought it would be fun to randomly talk about our past running life. So... for this post I will skip to the year 2003. (i would talk about my high school track days but really they are just embarrassing [what was i thinking running hurdles? i'm the most vertically challenged peeps ever! ... i couldn't even run a mile under 9 miles... my asthma attack during a track meet comp.... the fact that they tried to get me to sprint the 400.. ME.SPRINT.THE.400...no wonder track only lasted my junior year...tee hee]) (i think that's the longest paragraph side note I've ever written...)

So... 2003....

Jaylee was about 6 months old and I was about 40 lbs overweight (deja vu anyone?). The major difference was the fact that I was completely INACTIVE. The last time I had exercised was maybe a year and a half earlier when I was running with my Dad (I will talk about that eventually when I can great through THAT post in one piece). Yup. I was at my friend Tiffany's house and we both were talking about how we wanted to get back into running. And (shockingly) I suggested we go running in the morning. She told me she had a hard time waking up in the morning (what IS it with picking running partners that hate morningtime?) so I'd have to wake her up. :) I took that as a challenge and from that moment on Tiff and I were running partners. I would drive from Harrisville to Riverdale every morning at 5 o'clock to wake her up at 5:20 so we could be running by 5:30 (does ANY of this sound familiar?). We made a goal of running the Ogden Marathon. But, first, we wanted to run a half marathon. So... we looked and decided that we could be ready for a half marathon by November. The only half we could find was in Boise, called the Zeitgeist Half Marathon. I will spare you the details of our training (cause I'm pretty sure we've chatted about this on long runs...) but least to say we didn't "stay together" on the half.

Ladies, this half was INSANE! I.N.S.A.N.E. 6 of the 13 miles were straight UP HILL!! Now, I'm sure if I went back and ran it it wouldn't seem so impossible. But, at the time I was still overweight (although I had lost 25 lbs in 3 months.... yay for hyperactive thyroid! ... i miss that... sniff sniff) and I had been running for a total of 11-12 weeks...that's it. From couch potato to half marathoner. It was a KILLER. My asthma was dying, my legs were dying and when mile 10 came around and (finalllllly) we were able to run down hill I was so tired I walked. (this was before my stellar downhill training with Miss Manda) My first half marathon time? Get ready.... it's really slow..... get excited.....

2 hours 43 minutes

Yup. That means my miles were about 12:40.... AWESOME. :) Every time I get discouraged with my time (like after the first Ogden Marathon) I take a second and think about how bad and slow I used to be. Tee hee hee. And Tiff's time? It was 2 hours 13 minutes... so my whole goal last year was to beat that time... at the TOU Half when I came in at 2 hours 8 minutes? THAT's why I was soooooooo excited!!!!!!!!! Tee hee

So, this is what I propose ladies. I think we should take a weekend and go to the Zeitgeist Half Marathon. It's usually in November, up in Boise. Erin P.'s family lives there and I'm almost positive they'd let us crash on their couches. Just a thought... after all this hellish WRC crap we've been doing Zeitgeist can't be THAT bad!

Tee hee hee

16

An Uphill Battle

Well Lori... I won't be running the Winter Training 10 miler again for you anytime soon! But thanks! Considering all truth I needed it- so far 10 miles is as far as I have gone this training :) I quite enjoyed myself for three reasons (1)It was a crisp morning for a run- minus the roads were extremely slick (2) I was entertained by the other runs- you can ask Amanda I enjoyed making fun of running styles for awhile (3)I WAS ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH AMANDA UNTIL MILE 8 1/2 then her tubo legs kicked into gear and I said "peace sista" but by that point in time I had made good friends with a old man and we kicked it together at a 9 minute pace. To be perfectly honest I didn't mind even coming in 3 minutes over! My legs were dying but I am just excited to be training again... I rather enjoy my love hate relationship with this sport, and overall my minute to minute time is improving so I can't complain.

P.S WHY in the 'LL are we running 2x20 milers...no one told me this! I want to speak with the management!

Training Plan

Hey E!

So, I figured since you asked...ummm, over two weeks ago... to post our training plan, I'd actually get around to it.


Monday's: Cross Train (we usually do cardio and weight training)
Tuesday's: Speed Training or Hills
Wednesday's: OFF
Thursday's: Tempo Run
Friday's: Cross Train
Saturday's: Long Run


Speed Training: (you know the drill on these)
intervals (400, 800) and fartlicks...
Hills:
Amanda has a great hill program. Start with a mile warm-up. Then sprint up the hill, walk down, do this 4 times. THEN (and this is when you start to cry) your first set begins. It looks like this:

• sprint up the hill facing forward, walk down (4 times)
• sprint up the hill facing backwards, walk down (4 times)
• sprint up the hill on your left side (grapevine) (4 times)
• spring up the hill on your right side (grapevine) (4 times)

lather, rinse, repeat (i think the max we've done was 3 times) and then technically you're supposed to do a mile cool down... also depends on your time.

Tempo Run:
Amanda and I still struggle with doing tempo runs outside because we're still learning to listen to our bodies where pace is concerned. But, since you have your uber-awesome GPS watch you might be able to take this workout outside. However, this is how we do it. (or how it SHOULD be done... we've been sick so I don't think we've actually done a complete tempo run workout yet) We do this on a treadmill, so we know the exact pace we're going and it pushes us to continue....

Mile 1- warm up at a 9 min/mile or 10 min/mile pace
Mile 2 - run a mile at 8 min/mile pace
Mile 3 - run a mile (or usually 4 minutes...haha...) at 7:30 min/mile
Mile 4 - run a 9 min mile
Cool down

Long Runs:

This is the schedule of long runs until the Ogden Marathon.

• March 22 - 15 miles (ogden)
• March 29 - 17 miles (valley)
• April 5 - WRC Half Marathon
• April 12 - 20 miles (ogden?)
• April 19 - 16 miles (valley)
• April 26 - 20 miles (your house? provo?)
• May 3 - 16 miles (valley)
• May 10 - 10 miles (ogden)
• May 17 - Marathon

Hope that helps, friend!

WRC 10 Miles from HELL

Really. Not kidding. Sometimes I wonder if they realize that the majority of the marathon is DOWNHILL. I mean really. Is there any reason to make us run uphill for 3/4 of the race? I'm up for a hill or two every now and again, but when it's hill after hill after hill, by legs eventually decide they are done no matter what my mind thinks! The morning was a really pretty morning for a run though. It was chilly, and it had snowed over night, but the sun was poking its head over the mountains and it was beautiful. I forgot my gloves (curses!) so I ran with my hands in my sleeves most of the way. Erin and I made a goal to be finished in 1:40 so off we went. The first few miles went well and we were on pace until we hit the never ending stream of hills. My legs were SCREAMING. All I have to say is that all of this hill training had better help with the end outcome! Once we hit Shadow Valley and started going down hill more I began to get my second wind. Then once I hit the 8 mile mark I was feeling good and motivated to finish so off I went. It still amazes me that once I get to the end of a race I get all anxious and have a need push it to the end. Its like my legs know that the faster I get to the end, the faster they can stop. ;) So I pushed it hard (well until the next hill) and finished at 1:40:03. So I was at least glad that I'd finished in my goal time. It was fun to run with Erin in a race again! It's been too long! I'm excited to be done running all these uphill races though! My new shoes did help out immensely. Something about having cushioning.... :D

Portland: Through my BB eyes and my Brooks feet

Well, thanks to your encouragement and Van's long talk with the front desk manager (no joke) I was sufficiently convinced that I wasn't going to be murdered, raped, kidnapped, mugged, slashed, molested or shot while running in downtown Portland at 7am (but, word to the wise, don't go running solo in north east portland on the OTHER side of the Willamette.... the above mentioned just might happen.... hello West Valley! ;) So....this might be a lengthy post, just tuck yourself into your comfy work chair (yes, amanda, you're at work...."working") and the classroom chair (umm...pretty sure you're supposed to be paying attention to the professor right now Erin....) and get ready for my super duper uber awesome running adventure.

I rolled out of bed (finally) at 6:45am. I had been awake since 6:10 but the bed was so comfy and puffy that it took all I had to convince myself that I really needed to get a long run in. So, I finally got down and outside about 7:20. I was GORGEOUS. I ran downtown for about a mile and a half until the parkway. It was a pretty downtown run. Most of their streets are awesome like this and have bricks... cool eh? I was just running along checking things out when I spotted THIS:

and made a mental note: TELL VAN. Which I did, but unfortunately we never made it back. Drat! And now I'm back home so there is no longer the "i'm on vacation" excuse for having such DEEEVINE ice cream. Sad.....

The run continued until I got to the Parkway. It runs right along the Willamette River. What a pretty place. And ps? the elevation change from Utah? HOLY FREAKING COW....sign me up! My lungs were totally diggin' the extra O2. I say we sign up for a marathon at sea level. We'd kick some serious butt. :) Here's the parkway...... I was immediately put at ease by the massive amount of runners/walkers/bikers/dog-walkers there were along the path. I knew that I would be safe for the next 2-4 miles. Whew. What was really cool was there was a "blind team in training" running along the pathway. I've never had the opportunity to see how that works. They run with one runner who can see and they direct them with their steps and voice. It was pretty cool to watch.

The walkway was GORGEOUS. I'm sure these miles took forever because I kept stopping to take pictures. There are 5 or 6 major bridges that go over the Willamette river. I've always been a fan, but man it was sooooo pretty being able to see them all just intertwined, almost artistic. Sigh. (I was cursing and kicking myself for not bringing my ACTUAL camera... silly Lori)

So, then came the funny/scary part of my run. I thought I had been pretty good about not freaking out. I had run the entire south end of the parkway and turned around and gone northbound. Well, the farther north you got the shadier the parkway became. I just noticed little things like...under each underpass there were peeps dealing drugs or just in the general not looking like a crowd I'd stop and ask directions for. It heightened when I ran under the next bridge. Apparently, this was the make shift apartment complex for all of Portland's homeless. Yaaaaah. I kinda tripped out in my mind. I was running in nice clothes and had my little ipod on.... and at this point the runners had sifted down to a runner every 1/4 of a mile or so... so I wasn't surrounded by numbers. I ran through there acting like I totally wasn't affected (hahahaha...yah, right) and kept running. Well, as I was running I kept thinking "I have to run back under that bridge to get back... what do I do?" and I looked around and realized that I was in "Chinatown" yaaah...smoooooth Lori. So, I kept jogging and kinda slowed down and waited for more runners to just pop out of the woodworks. Strength in numbers, right? Well... I had started running again and a man-runner ran past me, so I did a nice little u-turn and followed him. Apparently, I had on my "scary Lori" face that day....or the guy was gay and afraid of me...who knows.... he looked back at me when I started to follow him like I was a serial killer. He started SPRINTING! All I wanted was someone to run under that bridge with! So, I sprinted after him. Tee hee.... ohhhh.... poor guy. Yup, we made it under the bridge together and about 1 minute after we cleared the bridge I had to stop cause I was laughing so hard. Little did he know that I was the most non-scary-runner ever to run that parkway. Ooooh... fun fun. (that's the best pic i could get of him cause we were SPRINTING... see the bridge underpass coming up? That's it!)

It was about this point that I got REALLY HOT! (whether it was the 3 minute sprint or the amazing Oregon weather....) I stripped down to my cute new Nike tank. ;) Peeps were looking at me like I was nuts. They had hoodies, gloves, jackets, etc.... umm... obviously they never trained in sub-zero weather. It felt AWESOME. After the parkway, I ran back up through downtown to get back to my hotel. I'll spare you the details, but I got a little lost. It started with "ooooh I should get a picture of ______ for Amanda" so I tried to find it and uhhhh.... then my adventure started. :) Nonetheless, I knew what street my hotel was on, so even though I went 6 blocks too far south and 3 blocks too far east I eventually found it. Here are some highlights from the rest of the run.....

Niketown and a really cool park.... can't remember the name....

Their "world trade center" in Portland. The main financial hub of downtown. It's a gorgeous building!!

Me in Pioneer Courthouse Plaza really excited... cause I recognized it! It meant I wasn't totally lost anymore!! Wahoo!!!

YAY! The hotel!! I had to run up 5 blocks of uphill to get there and you know what? I didn't even feel bad. Seriously, sign me up for some bottled Portland Potion..... I LOVE IT HERE!

I was so energized by that awesome run that I didn't even care that I still had to run 2 miles in the sweatroom. (and yes, you can see by my lovely forehead that it is--in fact--and appropriately so-- the sweat room)

It was an awesome 8 miles. I would run it again in a heart beat. It made me all excited about the day that Van and I live in Oregon. My lungs with LOVE it here. The only thing that would have made this run any better was if I could have run it with you two..... allll together now....

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

how was the 10 miler?

sound bite

on my portland run. it was awesome! i will have those pictures and stories to accompany on monday morning (when i have access to my computer again)

tempo run on vacay

Holy mother of all that is insane.... Tempo runs at a hotel fitness center? SUCKS!!!! I had to BB Amanda to keep my motivation level up. Let me paint you a picture.... Rolling out of my comfy fluffy hotel bed at 8am... Dragging myself down the hallway to the fitness area. NO fan, NO open windows and NO one else in there (something about performing for strangers would've most likely made me all sorts of motivated)..... First 9 minute mile, down. Check. I'm sweating enough for 7 males in a hot sauna... Mile 2, holy heck, my legs are gonna fall off. I chose to do an 8 min mile... Why?? WHY?? Mile 3 (that lasted 3 minutes...) was run at 7 min mile.... I think the most appropriate word to describe? DEATH.

I am now looking like I just stepped out of the shower and smell like I rolled around in cow dung. Yes, I. WAS. HOT.

I think this workout totally justifies me eating the entire bag of mini eggs that are sitting on our hotel table, yes yes I do. Now, for the hard part... Running 8 miles BY MYSELF in the sweat room on Saturday morning. KILL. ME. NOW. Van thinks I should usatf it and run around portland.They have a gorgeous parkway path that runs along the Willammette, van took me there last night. There were runners everywhere. My inner freak out chick just keeps thinking about the worst case scenario. What do you think? Should I run around town and just pray a) I don't get lost b) don't get killed and c) don't go into every open house available :)

And, yes, i'm blogging from my phone. Yes, I realize I'm addicted. Sue me. ;)

New Shoes

That's what I'm going to blame it on. ;) Yup, I need new shoes. I haven't bought a new pair in a year now and I think it's time. That run killed me and that made me really frustrated. From the moment we started running my legs hurt with every step. The entire run my legs hurt. I never really got into a rythm. That was probably the most frustrating thing of all. Usually by about mile 3 or so I get into a bit of a rythm and am able to just stay there. Not so on Saturday. It may have had something to do with my bladder needing to explode at about that time, I'm not sure.
The weather was beautiful for a run. Although I was sweating like a pig. That is something that has definitely not happened in a while. I am totally all about Lori's reasons that it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I was already tire by the time we got to running. I'm not used to running after already having a full day. I think that did impact my running. I am excited that we have more time to do better! Yeah! And Erin I don't know what you're saying about the 10 miler. With the way you were running last week you will kick my butt! I guess we shall see on Saturday!
To sum it up, the 8 mile 14 miler sucked.

YEAH 8 Miles Further than I have been

So Lori this picture is for you babe-I hate when you feel like this inside and out!And it sounds like you did!

I think my experience was so different because I was totally fueled by you two... being away sucks! Running alone sucks! So I totally think having you guys there,and being home was enough fuel for me to ran a full marathon:) END OF STORY!!!

I loved that run and was sad I was out of time- the air was perfect-I loved the breeze I truly love that Glassman neighbor thats the neighbor Tyson grew up in and I have so many fun memories of dating and hanging out at people's houses all along there. The view on skyline was gorgeous and how can you not love your first run in a new pair of shoes!

The thing I love about long runs is the ground your able to cover. It's kind of silly but once I have ran on a road there is apart of me the totally feels like I owen it. Just think you can never drive up or down Glassman with out saying "Ya I have ran up the uphill side and down the downhill side"

At the risk of sounding too "POSITIVE" I probably should be done! One last quick thing (Sorry Amanda)

BUT HELL YA we are training for a marathon!

I really like the new game plan of the 9 to 1 and am excited to get there. I think mentally the walk run thing works with me! This week I am really going to work hard I am nervous for the 10 miler on Saturday :)I just hope I can run if we only did 8 on Saturday I am in trouble I haven't gone ten miles since last years 1/2 (Amanda don't worry I won't even set the goal of keeping up with you- I have learned my lesson there) but I also am super excited- thanks LORI!

Well Ladies I have to get back to writing a paper about therapy models... such a good time at 2 o'clock in the morning :) Have a great workout in 3 hours I will be thinking of you and wishing I could be there.

Today's 14 miler... errrrr.... 8 miler

Yes, ladies, I usatf'd it and it only came up as 8 miles. We were pansies and were a full 6 miles short... an entire HOUR short. Yikes. But, to be truthful I don't think I could've done another mile, let alone another 6! And, no Erin, Amanda and I didn't keep running. I talked her into going through an open house. Tee hee. Sigh. Curse us and our affinity for cute houses!!!! So... since I'm the first to post, I'll just break it down in my own perspective.



The beginning of the run was a struggle for me. I was SOOOO hot. I haven't been hot whilst running in ages, so the dripping sweat took a minute to get used to. My legs were like lead. It wasn't until we hit the downhill part of Glassman that I thought "oh, okay, here are my running legs..." then we hit the UPHILL part of Glassman and my legs left me again. The only times that I felt "decent" on the run were when we were running 89 to Old Post, on Old Post and on Skyline. (I'm sure it also had to do with the incline...or lack thereof) I was in love with the weather change on 89. By the time we got to Polk I finally felt decent, albeit nauseous, but if we hadn't have stopped I'm sure I could've kept going. Overall the run was just physically and mentally tolling. Here is my rationale as to why.....

• Usually running is one of the first things I do in the morning. I'm not used to having a busy day and then running at 2pm, let alone running 14 (uhhhh... 8). I wonder if my body was just to spent already.

• Psychologically it was different for me. It wasn't dark, there were a TON of people, cars, movement. I'm used to a pretty relaxed run with not a lot of bustling. Hmmmm.

• I had had a bussssy day up to that point. I was already tired.

• Eating pizza the night before and then having cheesecake right before the run MIGHT not have been my best choices for "fuel".... just a thought.

The only thing that isn't making me completely frustrated with this run today is that we still have 10 weeks before the marathon. Which means we still have 8 LONG runs left....plenty of time to make up for the sorry excuse for a long run today. Yes, yes. How about you guys? Erin--you did AWESOME. Amanda and I were amazed at how much you pulled out. Especially since you haven't been training like crazy. Seriously, way to go. No matter what I do, I swear I will always be slower than you two... GRRRRRR. :)

Onward and upward ladies, 10 miles next week!!

All I have to say....

tomorrow morning: TEMPO. RUN.

goodbye quads

goodbye butt cheeks

goodbye feeling in my left shin

goodbye lungs

hello pain

hello shortness of breath

hello silent cursing in my head

hello 9am nap....

Reflection on Marathons

SO I realize it is 4:45 in the morning and I have been up all night working so my brain is in fact only half working. But I have finished my journal and have been reflecting back. I started it the day I took my endowments out and it covers everything from my wedding tell now... I just read the part about finishing the top of Utah marathon and I wanted to post what I wrote- I am really struggling actually running right now- my excuses seems so good to myself when no one is there to push me so hopefully this will help.

Here is what I wrote....
I am a marathon runner! You heard me I am a marathon runner! All the training has been put into action- Surprisingly it all went very well. Here is what I learned from it. YOU TRAIN TO BE WHAT YOU ARE. While I was training I was OK with 5 miles instead of 7 or to run 14 and walking two for a "cool down" and so thats how I ran my marathon. However I wouldn't trade the experience for the world I am so grateful for a healthy body- which I have come to love as it is and I want to take care of it.
For my next marathon I want to set the goal not to walk a single step in the actually marathon and training... this means I will need to complete the trainings as well and push myself pass that wall- In fact for this next marathon I am not even going to refer to it as a wall.. but a gate! A gate that opens for me to finish the way I want to! Since I have started running with Lori and Amanda I know I will be able to do it- they are great runners I am lucky they let me run with them.
At the very end of the marathon there was a man yelling, "You have put your bodies through lots of suffering- don't stop now! Finish Strong!I will train strong so I can finish strong this next time! Life couldn't be better
9/28/06

What a slap in the face I have totally been a slacker but that changes tomorrow (today)! What were your guys feelings after the Ogden Marathon in 05? What are your goals for this race?

WRC 10k

So it's like 11 pm so this is going to be short and sweet and not HALF as cute, wity, or creative as Lor's. The 10K was ok for me. A) I felt fine and have been healthy all week. B) After 12 last week, it felt like hardly anything. C)Lor's sister talked almost the WHOLE time non-stop and is a highly entertaining 16 year old and made me giggle most of the way. There were definitely a few times along the way that I felt like dying and going back to bed, but for the most part it was ok. My goal was to finish in under 1:00 and I finished in 57:something, so I was pleased with that, although we started out at like an 8:30 pace and I was really hoping to finish a little sooner. Those blasted hills just kill my motivation all the time. So it was a just fine race for me. Not great, but not too shabby. There you have it. I agree with Dr. Erin (obviously) Lor. You did awesome today ESPECIALLY all things considered! Tally ho girls! 14 next weekend!!!! `:o\

WRC 10k

Okay.... the 10k today? S.U.C.K.E.D. It's the worst 10k time I've ever had (1:08). Why you ask? Well other than a relatively hellish hill (yes, 36th street and Skyline is ONE continuous hill... like 1.5 miles of a hill....) the course wasn't too bad. However,

I have been sick alll week.

Manda tried to talk me out of running it today because I was so sick. But, being the stubborn runner I am (and the fact that I shelled out some serious $$$ for the WRC series) I decided to run it.


The first mile was decent...uphill, but decent. I had to stop at mile 1 and fix my shin splint tape. I guess that's a good sign, meaning my shin splints are getting a little bit better. I was able to run the entire mile 1-mile 2. The hill up Polk caused me to walk for about 4 minutes. Yikes?! There was a lady with blonde hair that I was determined to beat...and about this point she made some serious strides ahead of me. From the top of Polk to the mile 3 mark was a breeze (i freakin' LOVE downhill) the next mile was a lot of walk/run/walk/run. I kept toggling that blonde chick and it was driving me nuts. However, once we hit Tyler I decided to push it for as long as my body would ---before I started to heave--- and I PASSED the blonde haired chick! (and she never caught back up....Wahoo!!) About 4 minutes later I started walking because I felt that nice little acidic throw up in the back of my throat. The run up 36th street and skyline basically handed my butt to me on a silver platter... when I passed my house I had some serious thoughts about just quitting and sitting on my couch. :) But, I decided I was this far I could keep going. I don't even want to know how long that last mile took. I barely had enough energy to run. I decided once Skyline curved downhill that I just had to run... I couldn't be that pansie that walked across the finish line. So, I tried my hardest to push it. Amanda was waiting at the Dee Events Center and asked me how I was as I turned in... I didn't even have enough energy to talk to her. I think I gave her some sort of a wave that meant "I feel like crap, but I'm running.. can't...talk... right... now...." I had to turn on OkGo's song to get through that last stretch. I was D.Y.I.N.G. I was soooo disappointed when I crossed the finish and the time was 1:08. Manda and my sister were trying to convince me that it was a decent time, but it was still frustrating. So, there you go, that's my vent for the 10k. I came home and after some food with Manda and a slight venting session with Van Jay, I curled up on my couch and took a 2 hour nap. I'm hoping this stupid sickness will pass or our 14 miler is going to be B.R.U.T.A.L.

How were your Saturday runs?