The Third Amiga Has Returned

Just to prove Lori wrong I am posting tonight. Yes, yes I am. ;) (Muah! Love you Lor!) Since Lor already posted all about our workout today, I just a few things to add.

1) I am SOOOOO glad to be home. I won't complain about not working out for a while after the marathon, but I felt so left out while I was gone. I kept getting the comments from the blog sent to my BB, but for some reason blogger hated my BB and didn't want to let me view or post anything on blogger. Saaaad. I cried myself to sleep every night. :`(

2) Erin, I totally feel the toe pain. Here is proof that running is not good for your feet eh?

It at least has stopped hurting, but I think it's going to take a bit to fall off.

3) Your body can indeed forget how to work out in just 2 weeks even after completing a marathon. My body is still wondering what I think I'm trying to do. ;) And lastly,

4) I MISSED YOU GUYS!!!! I'm so happy to be back!

Back In the Saddle Again....

Yes... me and running... we're friends again. We're atleast cordial. Amanda and I went for a 5 miler-ish this morning and let. me. tell. you. what.

We had forgotten---but quickly reminded--of the power that is the trail. No matter how in shape you are that dang trail kicks. your. butt. GRRRR. So, we snaked the trail, ran down 29th looped through our favorite streets (sad... that cute house on Marilyn was sold....not that we could've afforded it anyway...), I was introduced to Amanda's dream house on Jefferson (Erin, you'll die when you see it) and then ended up at Golds Gym. YES.

pause

pause

let it sink in....

Not ONLY did we go for a 5 miler, we LIFTED weights directly AFTER the 5 miler. We. Are. Rockstars. Both of us felt like crap by the end, Amanda was ready to puke and we both went home and crashed. Something about not working out that hard in ....uhhhh.... two weeks? I took a 40 minute nap and Amanda glued herself to the couch reading "The Host." That, my friends, is what you call instant gratification. Too bad ALL workouts can't end with a nap.

It was good to get out and really run again. The Wasatch Back is in 3 weeks, eeeep! I will end up running a total of 13.3 miles in 20 hours (they are talking about switching me to Leg 1 to run 19 miles since I just finished the marathon...hmmm...that'd be fun). Fun. For. Me. Did I tell you which leg I was doing? I'm "runner 9" Holy cow. Check it out here. Look at my final run, yaaah, it's only 3 miles...but look at the elevation change... can we say STEEEEEP!!!!! Anyway... good times. good times. I'm blogging this for both Amanda and I cause she's too busy to ever post on Tres Amigas anymore....something about being "on vacation" and then "needing to work" and now getting ready to "maximize" something or another... I really don't know, they all seem like LAME excuses to me. ;) :) (Muah Manda)

How was your Saturday run, Erin?

IT IS TRUE I HAVE LOST A TOE NAIL!!

Tonight I decided to clean my toes up a bit, you know... get ready to begin running on saturday- and my entire toe nail just came right off! I always thought this process would hurt, but it didn't not in the least bit :)

Your Attention Pah-lease

An old ward-friend of mine has decided to join the ranks of the insane and take on a half marathon. She isn't a runner (none of us are when we start out, eh?) and has made the goal of completing a half marathon. Carrie started a blog entirely devoted to her quest and training towards the O-Town Half (or sooner...depending on how well her training goes this summer)

Check it out. Give her some love and encouragement. Remember what it was like training for YOUR first half? And she's doing it solo!!

Carrie's Winged Feet

We are SO doing this.....

Plan on it for Spring of 2010.

Disneyland Princess Half Marathon

Doesn't that sound like soooo much fun? Or am I totally clouded by Jaylee freaking out at the computer with me? Plus, I feel like it's awesome to come together as women and celebrate our strength and courage. (and it will give us an excellent reason to a) see each other again and b) play at Disneyland) Rock on!!!

Heidi's Contribution

So, pretty much Heidi (Tres Amiga's #1 fan) came across the coolest workout ever...especially for vacations... (Manda, you listening?? )

Check it out here.

I expect a blog from each one of us regarding this workout.... yes yes I do. And... I think we should be devious and make our hubby's do the workout too..... wuahahahahaha.

Revised Race Schedule and accompanying pre-training schedule (wow, that's a long post title)

June
20-21st Wasatch Back Relay
July
12th - The Davy Foundation 5k (WSU, Ogden)
24th - Deseret News 10k (SLC)
August
9th - Provo River Half Marathon
23rd- PARK CITY MARATHON (or half, but I'm doing the marathon) (this was the Hobblecreek Half)
September
8th- Huntsville Half Marathon
13th- Ogden Valley Triathlon Relay
20th - TOU Marathon
October
Nufkin
November
3rd Zietgiest Half Marathon (wuahahahahahahaha)
20th Turkey Day ORMC 5 miler

This is the basic structure for the summer, what do you ladies think?

M-strength training (upper body)/ 20-30 minute bike

T- swimming

W- off/ XT

TH - 4 miler/tempo run/speed training

F- strength training (full-body)

S- alternative between long run/biking/swimming

Of course it'll change up the 2-3 weeks before each half marathon, the Saturday's will be focused on running ...cause...yaaah, you know. ;) I know you two probably won't want to do the Park City Marathon or TOU Marathon with me, so my training will change up as I get close to those.

If we're cool with the races I know some of them are filling up fast, so we might want to get registered.... Thoughts?

Close, but no cigar...

Now come on people. You can't have thought that I was going to be good and actually blog about the marathon within 24 hours of it happening. It would be totally uncharacteristic and then someone would have had a heart attack and died with surprise, and I just can't have that on my conscience. ;) But I will waste no more time. Drum roll please for my retelling of the marathon....

About a week ago Jared asked me what my goal for finishing was. I told him that I thought that I could finish in 4:15, but that I wanted him to be there at the 4 hour mark just in case I had a really good day and I finished faster. Because this is the last marathon I plan on running, Jared decided to try to motivate me to do my VERY best. So he told me that if I could finish in under 4 hours that he would treat me to a shopping trip. Ooooh shopping. Jared always knows how to get me. But 4 hours?! I didn't know....But Erin and Lori gave me a pep talk and I decided I was going to try.

The race started and things were going good. I felt good and my mile times were great. The canyon was beautiful and I was lovin' the run. After Erin and I split at about mile 5 I found a woman that was keeping just the right pace. I followed her for about 2 miles when she turned her head and I realized that it was A MAN with a beard down to his chest! Ummmm......yaaaaah.....As I got to the half point I was feeling good, it was starting to get hot, but I still felt good....until I hit the hill at mile 14. It just about killed me. I just kept thinking, "After all of the blasted hills we've run, it's killing me now?! For. The. Love." Thankfully at the top of the hill they had wet sponges, which was like manna from heaven for my roasting body. It felt DIVINE. I was feeling tired, but the cool water helped reenergize me. But the sun kept beating down. I kept thinking that if I could just get into the canyon I would find shade and find some extra energy. Unfortunately that was not to be. The canyon was beautful and SUNNY. The heat was starting to sap the energy with every step. By mile 20 my face was tingling and I could feel my pace slowing. I was having to take longer walk breaks. Grrrrrr....grrrrrrr....I want to make my goal!!! By about mile 22 I was starting to really struggle. Suddenly out of nowhere I had a new friend. A girl came up from behind me and said that she liked my pace and asked if she could run with me. Ummmm yaaaah! I'm dying here! We got to the mouth of the canyon and Jared was there! I was so thrilled. It gave me the extra push to keep moving. You'll notice that here I'm still smiling.

By mile 24 I just could barely move. Jackie (my new running friend) kept me going. She helped me push through the wall I was hitting hard. At mile 25 I could run no more, just in time to see Jared again. All I could say to him was that I wasn't going to make it. We got Grant and I knew I had to run the rest of the way since people were watching. 5 blocks have never seemed so long in my life.

As I got to 24th street I looked up and saw the clock. I expected to see 4:25 on the clock and so I was shocked when I saw 4:05. 4:05?! Move Amanda! Move! I was thrilled. It may not have been under 4:00, but it was so much closer than I thought I was going to be. The best part was having my family at the finish line cheering me on.

All in all I was very pleased with the race. I felt really good about my time and I realized how wonderful the running community is. Where else do you find a sport where everyone along the way is so supportive and encouraging? It just adds to my list of reasons why I heart running.

Now THAT's progress

I was able to walk up the stairs two minutes ago... one at time with ONE foot on each stair...rather than having to use BOTH feet on EACH stair.... yes yes... I believe that's called QUAD. PROGRESS.

AND

I was able to stand up from the squishy couch today all on my own! I didn't even have to support myself on the couch cushion, ottoman or beg Van to prop my back.... that's also referred to as QUAD. PROGRESS.

AND

I was able to eat today. It didn't come back up. Amazing. That's called?

P.R.O.G.R.E.S.S.

You ladies seeing any progress??

ps. those wondering... Amanda is planning on blogging, she was swept away on a conference for work...but she WILL blog.... procrastinator. ;)

This TOE

I wanted to share a picture of my toe...since we are close like that!

Everyone's path meets different feet

I have never been high before but pretty sure I was experiencing something to that effect by the end of the race- my body isn't use to pills of any kind and at mile 16 I was in so much pain I took that second Iburprofen, and then by mile 18 mountains began bouncing and my head was swirling. Somehow I was able to push through tell mile 24 with a time of 4:08...and then the last two miles took 49 minutes. It came clear to me, too much medicine, too much heat and not enough high mileage during training, caught up to me quickly. I find it amazing all 2,000 of us began running with different goals, and for different reasons. We each trained differently and met different challenges during our training. Everyone's feet hit the pavement in slightly different rhythms but we all fought the same course- and we all pulled through one way or another. The phrase, "Run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” Has literal added meaning to me, and is counsel I will be focusing on following better. And feel for each of use that is at a different point. The Ogden marathon covers such a beautiful landscape, I was glad to be apart of it for those exciting 26.2 miles. I was impressed as always by the people that stand along the sidelines to cheer us on. I hope that guy at the beginning who need headphone, found some. I enjoyed the friends I met along the way. Especially the girl I ran mile 5-11 with, before either one of us realized we had told our whole life stories to. I was however kind of bugged when the man passed me with a shirt that said, "If your reading this then I am not the last one." I was sure to bet him by the end! But most of all I enjoyed the two of you and your company, not only for the few short miles at the beginning but for all the runs, training or maintaining. I look up to each of you so much; you both are wonderful examples to me in so many ways. When I began running with you guys, I was just beginning the marriage thing- what examples you are of what a wife should be. You have listened to my problems, tolerated my weakness, and have assisted and helped me be a better person- thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be apart of your friendship. I don't think I have ever seen two girls be as close of friends as you two are, and am grateful for the portion each of you give me in that friendship. I am so happy and proud of both of you!

It only took 40,371 steps …

.....for me to find my happy place. I used to believe I was a competitive person. I am slowly learning that I am competitive in areas of my life that I have been overtly blessed in. Growing up I was fiercely competitive with my music, and I still have that little voice in the back of my head when I hear a pianist perform that says “you could totally do that better…” I continue to work hard at it and see results. (I won’t even begin to go into my violin lessons… grrrrr) Many other areas I have that same little silly voice pitting me against others. Oddly, running is the one thing my in life that I am not the least bit competitive. It’s a strange sensation, but one, especially during this marathon training that I’ve come to embrace and love. I run for the pure love of running, because it makes me happy, makes me feel good, lands me the best friends in the world, and makes me constantly think of my Dad.

That is what made my marathon on Saturday one of the very best experiences of my life. I talked more about the spiritual side of it in my random thoughts on my family blog. As you ladies know I went out with the mantra “Enjoy. Float.” I truly embraced the “enjoy” part of the mantra. After saying goodbye to you at 1.5 miles I just ran the way my body wanted to run. Fast or slow, I just listened and enjoyed the natural rhythm of my body. From miles 2-6 I ran with an old friend from growing up, from miles 9-11 I ran with a good guy friend from high school. By the half marathon mark I was feeling great. I PR’d at 2:08. GREAT. I stopped to stretch and put on the Icy Hot, grabbed an orange and was on my way. While I was struggling up mile 14, I had the thought “hey, I might actually get this done in 4:30.” LOL. By mile 16 Jeff Galloway’s 4:30 pace team passed me and my 4:30 time was ancient history. Hee hee. From that time on, I flipped my watch over to time of day rather than the timer. I made the mental shift (again….) that I was here to enjoy the marathon not kill myself to hit a goal. I took a big gulp of air and continued on. I cannot TELL you how much I loved coming around the dam and running to The Oaks where they had The. Best. Station. Ever. Looooooved it. Least to say the rest of the marathon went slowly but surely… and happily. I stopped to help out a fellow runner, and I chatted with random peeps, gave the crowd high fives, giggled at miles 20, 22 and 24 (cause I kept thinking “I just ran 20… I just ran 22…. I. am. Crazy. Hee hee) made people shout and cheer my name at mile 25 whilst pumping my arms, and made a new friend on Grant on the way to the finish line. One of the best parts of the run was grabbing my cute kidlets at the end and running to the finish line with them. I loved it. It made everything so worth it.

I had two goals going into yesterday and I feel like I achieved them.
-Enjoy the run. Be happy.
-Don’t walk longer than 60 seconds at a time (oookay… on mile 24-25 I would walk about 90 seconds…so kinda achieved that goal)

I was so happy at the end, I didn’t even care my time was 20 minutes slower than my last marathon. I was so much happier and had enjoyed the marathon exponentially more than I did last time. Yes, I was (am) sore. Yes, it hurt…bad. Yes, I wanted to quit at mile 24. BUT I laughed and smiled my way through an unforgettable 26 miles. Thank you ladies for making this possible, totally 100% honored and ecstatic to have completed this with you! I am SO proud of both of you. SO Proud!! The only negative to Saturday was that I couldn't be at the finish line to cheer YOU on. Love you girls, yes yes I do.

and yes... i couldn't resist posting this picture.....

(pretty sure that's what our faces looked like this morning after rolling out of bed....)

... so our long run tomorrow- Ty and I will be coming up! You ladies think it might be fun to go for a long run! Now that spring/summer is here I bet the Ogden Marathon course might be beautiful... Should we go hit it? OH WAIT IT IS THE MARATHON! Thats what we have be training for... how could I forget!

One more quote!

"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." -Rob de Castella

Holy moly girls!!!!! It's here!!!!! Taly ho, here we go! Anybody else sore just thinking about it? ;)

Does It Freak Anyone Else Out...

....that the countdown no longer has days on it? It's down to HOURS? Aaaaaahhhh!!!!

Marathon Day Tips

I found these articles. Peruse at your pleasure.... can you believe it's here already?
HOLY. COW.

click me!

no,

click me!

no,

click me!

(this one is long, but has a lot of good info... including why we should alllll take caffeine pills on saturday. :)

We're doin' it friends!!

Quote of the Day Countdown to the Marathon 4

"Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run." -Jumbo Elliott

Tee hee hee. I couldn't resist....

I have never been so grateful...

to have my period start ever before in my life! What I mean to say is that I am so grateful because I was really worried it was going to start on Friday or Saturday, and I just couldn't figure out how I was going to carry enough feminine hygeine product with me to make that work. So hopefully with it starting today I will be through the heavy painful part by the time we run. Whew. And yes, I'm sure you all wanted to know that. :)

Quote of the Day Countdown to the Marathon 3

"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." -Steve Prefontaine

Quote of the Day Countdown to the Marathon 2

"Nothing's better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you." -Aaron Douglas Trimble

Thanks for training with me friends! I couldn't have done it without you!

Quote of the Day Countdown to the Marathon

Alright ladies! In honor of marathon week, I will be posting a new inspiration or funny quote about running every day this week. Get excited. I'm gonna pump you up! ;) So here is today's.

"The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat. " -Bill Squires

Let's go get 'em tigers!

just runnin'

The last training run of anything is always a bitter sweet experience- yesterday was no different. I chose to leave my IPOD at home, so that I could run with a clear mind. Everything made me so excited for summer, sprinklers, being light outside, warm... you know the list. I realized at mile 8 that I AM A RUNNER! I realized I am stuck one way or another there are many more miles left to cover on these wheels! I am excited for saturday and I am sure by wednesday the nervousness will set it- but either way I can't wait!

Yes, I realize it was only a 10 miler.....

I figured it STILL warranted a blog entry. :) I loved our run on Saturday. Amanda pretty much made a course that was based on two things 1) pretty houses 2) the last 4 miles of the marathon. We snaked our way up through Ogden salivating on Marilyn, (oooh Erin CUTE house for sale, btw) and ran through an area I hadn't been before above 22nd-20th. Then we attacked the last part of the marathon. It was a really good mental prep for next Saturday. Both of us kinda went silent when we hit Grant Ave and focused on picking up our pace. We both had different mantras as we were running, I'll let Amanda tell you hers...mine was "enjoy. float." I said it each time my foot landed. Enjoy. Float. Trying to mentally trick my mind that on Saturday when I'm at 25.8 miles and hit Grant that I'm going to ENJOY it and my body will FLOAT to the finish line. ;) I thought it worked out okay. We ended our run going up through the historic district and checking out all the pppppuuuurdy houses up there...once again salivating and pining for homes we cannot possibly afford. We found one that was 6,000 square feet had 11 rooms. Holy Moly.

It was an awesome run, great weather and good company. I can't lie and say that only going 10 miles didn't feel DIVINE. But, I know I can do it on Saturday. I'm totally ready for this marathon ladies. It's going to be relaxing and fun... yes yes it will.

We DID IT!!!

I'm quitting work!

Tee hee. No, this post didn't exist. It exists for the sole purpose of YOU having something to DO today while we sit around and wait for Max. (do you like that I say "we"... yaaah... me too). So... this is your mission, should you choose to accept it.

Stand up and in your office do 15 jumping jacks. RIGHT. NOW. Yup. Even if someone walks pass your office while doing it. Come on.

I. Dare. You.

Send Lori a BB pic with proof.

Hee hee hee.

Do you realize....

we're down to

SINGLE DIGITS?

just wondering if anyone else noticed.

holy. freaking. cow.

Adventures Make the Heart Grow Fonder

Tee hee hee. Giggling is all I can really do when I think about Saturday's long run. After the AAA/unibomber/super-grocery-bathroom saga we finally got started about 8:20. Almost 2 1/2 hours after we'd planned on being out on the roads. Blast. The late start changed just a few things. First, we had to run less milage, because as Lori mentioned we had less time with Erin's and my crazy Saturday schedule. Secondly, we were much more awake and quite hilarious because of that. And thirdly, there were OTHER people awake too. When we run at the butt crack of dawn we usually don't see many people so the fact that we look like train wrecks and have tendency's to do rather funny things (such as dance, skip, sing, etc.) on our long runs are saved for just us. However, at 8, normal people are awake and getting their days started. This however provided much entertainment for us. Instead of running 16 miles like we had planned, we really only got 12.5 in (I checked on usatf.com). The run itself was nice. We kept mentioning how sad we were that it wasn't the day of the real marathon because the weather was PERFECT. A lot of other people thought so too, because there were lots of people out and about in their yards. Our favorite by far was the man practicing his karate moves with a stick out in his driveway. We figured he probably had hit one of his children with the stick while practicing inside and was therefore banished to the driveway for his further practicing needs. As they day had already lent to adventures, Lori and I after dropping Erin off along the course at her grandma's, decided to wander a bit through a neighborhood we hadn't been in in quite a while. The neighborhood was fun and we were having a great time enjoying the sun and chatting when we suddenly realized that we had come to a dead end. Did we turn around? No! Instead we decided to jump a fence (luckily a low one since I am fence jumping impared) and continued on. We finally wound our way out of the neighborhood and out onto 12th street to head up to the parkway. We LOVE the parkway. Yes, yes we do. Apparently so does the man that was living in his truck down by the river. I'm not even kidding. Seriously there was a man living in his old beat up Chevy with a camper top on top of the bed, parked right by the river. Hopefully he's aware that it's not good to use rivers as your bathroom facilities.....As we ran back up to my house, we came across 2 little girls (about 8 years old) in flip-flops, who decided they needed to race us. Sad thing was by mile 12, I didn't even care. I must say though that I was quite impressed that they could run as fast as they did in those shoes. ;) Overall, it was adventure after adventure, but it kept us entertained, and made for a great run. Thanks for such a good time ladies!
The only downer was that I was more sore after a rather relaxed 12 miler than I was after the 18 miler last week. Go figure.

What do AAA, a drunk man, and a running car have in common?

Oh, that's right, they all have to do with our PRE-LONG RUN experience this weekend. Oh, faithful blogstalkers...let me tell you the story.

We've decided to set out water and gatorade the night before instead of having to wear our water belts. It's just a little bit easier (unless the garabage peeps steal our water.... that's been fun) Well, I had procrastinated and slept in so I was hurrying around our 16 miler dropping gatorade and water. Our Camry's door handle has been having issues so we have to open it from the passenger side, btw. I got to our 3rd water stop (and luckily was chatting with Amanda on the BB) and ran out of the car to drop the water. It all happened in slow motion. I saw the door closing, I ran to grab the door, the door closed, I got to the door. And....the rest of the doors were locked. Yes, I was locked out of my car and it was still running! The best part? I was in the heart of Ron Claire. Yup, right across from the Super Grocery. Totally a safe neighborhood to be standing outside as a woman at 5:42am. YIKES!!!! I'm so grateful I had my cell phone. Erin graciously came and let me hop in her car while we waited for AAA to come and unlock my car for me.

After waiting 43 minutes for a company that was supposed to be there in 30 minutes we called AAA again. Only to find out that the locksmith company NEVER WOKE UP to the call. Oye oye. So, they called again and jostled the guy awake and promised us service within 30 minutes. Now it's 7 o'clock.... we were supposed to be an hour into our long run at this point. We called Amanda and had a hilarious discussion while we waited (she didn't dig the idea of going to Holes and bringing us doughnuts instead of running 16 miles...). Of course this happened on the ONE Saturday that both Erin and Amanda had PACKED Saturdays and both had to be home by a certain time. GEEEEEZ. So... when the dude finally showed up this is what Erin and I got to see...

this is the unmarked Van he showed up in, totally professional.

This is him breaking into my car in his unabomber outfit, reeking of alcohol with his hoodie and sunglasses.

this is me signing the papers and erin taking the pic incognito to send to Amanda as proof that the Drunk (and pissed off-that-we-woke-him-up) Unabomber was the one who "saved" us from the dilema.

Oh what a funny morning. So, by the time we got to Amanda's it was about 8 o'clock. Yup. We were supposed to be about 12 miles into our run by then. Sigh. AND we didn't have water or gatorade laid out so we STILL had to take our running belts. The best laid plans, blast!!!!

It was a hilarious and annoying beginning to our morning. Erin, I had such a blast with you kicking away for two hours in your Malibu. I will never look at the Grocery Store the same way. (nor will I go potty there....) I quite enjoyed our reasoning as to why this unfortunate crisis occured (as sacreligious as they were....) and although I won't share them with the masses (I can see the pitch forks and holy water now) I DO want you to send me a note from hell. It will make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Or maybe just warm... or really really hot. ;) (------> that's me really excited that I'm back in my car)

I'll leave it to Amanda to actually blog about our RUN. hahaha. All I have to say about it is the most RANDOM things occured on this run. But, I loved it. It's the first long run in months that I haven't been discouraged. I loved running the parkway, it got me completely psyched for the marathon. I'm just going to enjoy myself and have a good time. Thanks ladies for making this far! It's been a long journey but one that I will never forget!!!!

CLOSING TIME..TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP

... name that tune- its one of my favorites, and a good title to sum up the ending of this training. I must admit I love LONG RUNS and all the adventures that come with them. I must say yesterday was by far one of the most ADVENTUROUS...I will let Lori's picture commentate. AND while I am being so honest- I am nervous about this race, why you ask, I am not sure I guess just plain self-doubt. THANKS girls for making me do it all of it and thanks for pounding out the long runs with me.