A wet, stinky, cheer leading, trail running mess.... ;)

I get to wear my trail shoes on my next 26.2 ...... which happens to be next weekend. Wahoo!! So thrilled that my 10 year old made the traveling cheer leading team at her school. Life is going to get really busy.... and I think we will be playing in Dallas real soon.

After 2 weeks of non stop rain, and tornado threats.... this is what my yard looked like. It was a wet, stinky mess. We had a HUGE tree fall at the front end of the storms, and so it layed there for more then 2 weeks before we could clean it up. We were able to recruit some help from our friends from church, and My little 5 year old was quit the Diva.

Even though I have my next marathon in just a week and half... I am finding it hard to scrounge up the motivation I need to get me out on the road.... ugh. Hope it passes quickly.

Country Music Marathon Race Report

It's about time I post this race report, it's only been 6 days.

I admit I am not a writer. I'm not funny. I'm not witty. I'm not a great blog read. I don't post on this blog for anything other then having a running journal, so you all get to read some of my thoughts, even if it resembles vomit on a page. So I struggle with what to blog about. Sometimes I feel guilty for not being a daily blogger (or journal-er) But I'm pretty sure no one wants to read my daily thoughts or concerns, even if it is about running.

So when I have a marathon that I am super disappointed in and not excited to journal about, it takes some serious teeth pulling to get me to update the ole blog. So here it is... my sucky marathon #16 race report.

We (the hubby and I) made the 2 hour drive down to Nashville on Friday, and barely had time to get into the super crazy and crowded Expo before it closed. Here we are just after picking up our numbers.

As we made our way out of the Expo, I spotted this beauty. I found this to be funny. I'm kicking myself for not going inside and snapping a pic of the inside. Greg and I at the start line.

We were in Corral #6 out of 30. Greg ran the half marathon and I ran the full. We were able to run the first 11 miles together before splitting off. We went out way to fast (my fault) and with the hilly course, going out to fast, and the heat, this was a recipe for disaster. UGH.....

After Greg turned off at mile 11, I plugged into my ipod for some much needed tunes. By mile 14 I was feeling really tired. I had to stop many times to stretch my Achilles tendons. Not sure what was up with that. They were both screaming at me the entire run. At mile 17, we run past the LP field, which is where the finish line is. This totally sucked. Running past the finish line and seeing half marathoners finish, and even several full marathoners finish, messed with my head, and I still had over 9 miles to go. Oh man..... I walked for nearly 5 min at this point. Even though I never fully pulled out of my funk, by mile 19.5 I was feeling much better, and found I was running more then walking. I'm not against walking in a marathon. I walk through every water station, but to walk the amount I did was devastating and a blow to my ego. By mile 25 I was hot (temps reached 76*) and starting to feel really dizzy. I didn't want to walk during the last mile, but I was seriously worried I might pass out.

Finally the finish line.... Not happy with my time at all, but happy to have finished.

This marathon is super big. With over 30,000 runners, it could have been a lot more chaotic and frustrating, but all in all, not bad. I don't plan to run this one again anytime soon. If I do.... I will train differently and attack race morning differently, and maybe make sure I hadn't just run a marathon 2 weeks before.

As for the half marathon we were registered to run May 7th (tomorrow) It's been post-poned till June 18th. Our local area has been hit with some pretty serious flooding and the start/finish line looks to be right smack in the middle of all the chaos. We wont be able to run it on the new date. We have a church activity we are committed to. No worries... I've already registered for my next marathon (#17)... I'll post about that later.

CMM is #16

Country Music marathon in Nashville Tn, is tomorrow..... and I am running it. My hubby is running the half. Love that we will be able to run the first 11 miles together.

Kara Goucher is speaking today at the expo, but I couldn't work it out to get rid of my little ones in time, and make the 2 hour drive down by 3:00. Ugh... double ugh. I really wanted to hear her.

As for the NYC marathon..... I have been changed from "selected" to "accepted"... woot, I've never been more excited to lose $200.

Isn't this shirt super cute?

This is the shirt I get for running the Iron Mom half marathon next Saturday, in Paducah Ky. I love the slogan..... "Run like a mother" What a great way to celebrate mothers day.

Have a great weekend!!!

NYC marathon... I GOT IN!!!!

Holy Crap, I am so excited.

When I put my name in for the lottery drawing for the NYC marathon back in January, I didn't think I would get so lucky. Guess what???? I GOT IN!!!! I am going to be part of the madness, running across this bridge on Nov 6th.

"Friends" / Easter eggs/ and Tornado Warnings

A few nights ago we had a bed full..... 2 kids, 2 parents and a Beagle shaking like a leaf under the bed. Serious thunder storm + hail + wind + TORNADO warning = a scared family from Utah. This is what we found in our back yard the next morning. The tree fell into the back door neighbors yard. Yesterday I walked out of Wal-Mart and heard the sirens blaring crazy loud... apparently a tornado had touched down a few towns over... eek. When I took this picture of the sky, it was actually green. Not a good sign.... shortly after I was chased into the Chuckee Cheese (where my babies were celebrating a friends birthday) with wind and rain and thunder. Not gonna lie, I was scared... yet again. I love the rain, and I love thunder storms, but I am not use to the tornado warnings and watches. Growing up in Utah, we didn't have storms like this. You would think after living in Kentucky for 3 years, we would be use to it. Nope.

This is what I felt like and what we all looked like after a 17 day family vacation.

Happy Easter!!!!!

And this is what a lonely wife does while her husband is away for a week hunting Turkey. One question..... what doesn't "Friends" Cure??? Love this show. So happy the hubs got me the entire series for Christmas.

Salt Lake City Marathon Race Report

I was so super excited about this marathon. This was my 15th but this was my twin sisters first full. I was so excited to be able to run this with her and help motivate and inspire her to the finish line.

We drove up to the finish line, where we parked, and then caught Trax to take us the 25 min to the start area which was at The Legacy Bridge, on The University of Utah campus. We hit the porta potties right away, the lines were long (shocker). We had about 10 min till the gun went off, so we made our way to the start line madness.

Yes, my cute sisters and I wore matching outfits. I had the orange top and those two sported the pink tops. We had all kinds of lookers, some laughing (I'm sure they thought we were dorks) but most people complimented us on how cute we looked. Ha ha, that was the plan, to look cute and stand out.... not really, I just saw these cute skirts and we thought it would be fun to match. The cute headbands were made by my twinner. She is getting ready to launch her website. Her prices are much more reasonable then some of the other NON-SLIP head band company's I'm sure you have seen at expos.

The half marathon and the Full marathon start together and then we spilt off at mile 4. So we were able to run the first 4 miles with my hubby. He was battling a nasty headache, so at mile 3 I was yelling around at the runners trying to bum some Tylenol. An angel came over and offered the 2 extra pills she had and hubby was feeling much better by the 4 mile split off.

Frances didn't really have a time goal, she just knew she wanted to come in under 5 hours and maybe get to as close to 4:30 as possible. By mile 13 she hit the wall. I felt so bad for her. I knew exactly what she was going through and knew she had 13 more miles to suffer through. She was a trouper and kept moving forward. Maria, Jason (maria's husband) and I tried to talk her through the miles and remind her of body position and the length of her stride. We tried to tell jokes, sing, laugh and just be with her. I am sure she wanted to slap us in the face and tell us where to go and how to get there, but she didn't. She just kept moving onward.

At mile 24.5 we had a long up hill, headed us toward The state Capital. This was my favorite stretch. I loved running in downtown SLC and once we got to the top, we turned left which ran us right past Temple Square. Running past the Salt Lake temple was definitely a high light for me. But just before we got to the top, I started to tear up and really got emotional. I was thinking about how crappy and tired Frances was feeling, and all I wanted to do was pick her up and carry her to the finish line, but I knew that wouldn't teach her anything. She had to fight through the exhaustion and pain and get herself to her finish line. I knew she would be a different person when she crossed that finish line. After 13 miles of trying to run through the wall, how could you not learn some serious life lessons. Digging that deep into your soul, mind, body and spirit helps you see things completely different, especially the way you see yourself.

Here she is, the twinner.... we crossed the finish line in 4:31

Doesn't she look way to cute to have just run her FIRST marathon?!?! Here is the crew..... Jason felt left out... we didn't buy him a matching skirt.

And good news.... this was Greg's first road race (he ran a trail run 14.2 miler in March) and he came in right at 2 hours. Woot Woot... so proud of him. We are running a a half together on May 7th and our goal is a sub 2 hr.

Here I am after marathon #15. I had so much fun, and I am very much looking forward to running another one with my sisters.

P.S.... Frances already has marathon #2 coming up on June 11th. She is running the Utah Valley Marathon. This is in my home town and I am so super bummed I can't be there to run with her.

P.S.S..... 8 days till marathon #16 ....... Country Music Marathon in Nashville. Bring it.

Marathon #15 coming up

It's that time in my schedule when I wake up with a cold.... must mean it's marathon week. It seems I come down with some sort of physical ailment the week of a marathon. My 15th marathon is no different.

I flew to Utah on the 1st, (spring break) my kids came down with the stomach flu on the 6th and 7th, luckily I never fully came down with it. Yesterday I woke with the start of a cold. I am doing all of my tricks, along with extra rest and hydration. I am not going to let this cold get me down.

I am so excited for this marathon. Not just because it's #15, but because I am running this one with 2 of my sisters, and my handsome hubby is starting the race with us, where he will leave us at about mile 7 and finish the half. This will be my twin sisters first FULL marathon and I am so excited for her. The weather looks as though it is going to be ideal running temps... at the start 40's and by the finish... 50's... nice!!!!

I ran this (Slat Lake Marathon) 4 years ago, I don't remember much about the course or really if I liked it or not. I think my time was about 3:57 ish.... Twinners time goal is 4:20-4:30, so Maria and I are hoping to be good pacers and get her to her goal.

It's going to be a GREAT day!!!!

** What are some of your tricks to stay healthy during race week?