Snow Canyon Half pictures

As promised- here are pictures from the Snow Canyon Half Marathon. Enjoy!

all of my goods laid out the night before

Our awesome motel room.. haha

About to get on the bus to the start

Ending on the track!

I'm done!

Jon and me.
I heart him.
Hopefully he'll run w/ me someday... maybe in the next life ;-)

Snow Canyon Half

So, I realized that I hadn't posted about this yet and it has almost been a week- yikes! I don't have much time to post at the moment but wanted to say that I am alive and well. I am actually very surprised at how good I was feeling this week. I was only a little sore on Sunday (the day after) and I was only sore in my upper back. I'm counting my blessings here because I was expecting to be completely wasted after this one.

A few things:

The course was gorgeous! Red rock everywhere! We had a gravel trail we ran on for about 3 miles and there was a cactus or two. It felt really cool to be running in the "desert". My shoes are still a little red from the sand/dirt but no biggie.

The weather was amazing! The high for St. George that day was 75 degrees! I was wearing shorts and a racing tank. Talk about a complete opposite outfit from the week before! I was wearing earmuffs for goodness sake!

This was the HARDEST course I have ever run. That includes Derryfield (my high school cross country course). The last 3 miles were uphill! Whoever planned the course must have had a lot of fun because really... it was awful! I still did really well- but if it weren't for those last 3 miles- I would've finished in under 2 hours. I was on track to do it and as soon as the lady pacing with me yelled out "5k left!" and we turned the corner my heart sank. Oh well, better luck next time :-)

Pictures are coming!

What you've all been waiting for!

I posted the real post about this race on our family blog. I am working on turning that blog into a book and I really wanted that in there, so sorry. Click HERE to read it!

For now, here is a picture of my costume! There are more pictures on the other post!

Happy Hallows-eve!

Mu-ah-ah-ahhh! That was my attempt at a really spooky laugh. ;-)

Anyways, today is Friday, October 30th. Do you know what this means???? Halloween is tomorrow!!!!! What does Halloween bring (other than candy we shouldn't be eating)?? A very insanely COLD half marathon in Provo, UT. It has been so cold this week, but apparently it is supposed to warm up tomorrow. That's great and all for the actual valley floor.. but for us insane people running in costumes in the canyon along a river- it doesn't matter how much it's going to warm up. It's going to be FREEZING! There is no way around it and denial will just make you colder.

I'm not going to lie, I am really nervous for tomorrow. Not just because it's going to be cold, but because my mileage this last week has been really skimpy. My last real long run was on the 17th because I had a 5k this last Saturday. I'm just neverous that I am going to fall flat on my face and just seriously drag myself after mile 7. That's what happened last time. After mile 8- I just wanted to eat dirt and go home haha... I know that sounds weird- but I was dying! It was my own fault- I kicked up my pace WAY too early like I was running a 10k. I have been praying that I won't make the same mistake again. It'll be hard not to on this course though. The first 5 miles are down hill. This down hill isn't your run-of-the-mill down hill... it's STEEP! Steep like- make sure to waste a whole stick of 'Body Glide' on your feet to try and prevent blisters. Yeah, it's that good.

Anyways, so those are my thoughts for tomorrow. Stay tuned... I'll be posting pictures of my entire outfit later this evening! I know, you're all dying to see it ;-)

BYU Cougar 5k Run

Today was awesome! Jon and I got up and got ready and headed over to the BYU track to pick up my race bib and shirt. Then- we headed over to the ESPN College Game Day set up. That was pretty cool- other than I'm too short to see anything haha... Lots of flags and signs, cheering, booing.... everything you'd expect :-) It's homecoming week and BYU is playing TCU today.. actually they're playing now... and BYU isn't doing so hot at the moment.. anyways! After a while we headed back to the track and we caught a few of the kid races- so cute! I hope my kids will want to do stuff like that some day.

The 5k race started at 9:45am and we ran the parade route. I was a little nervous but I warmed up for about 15 minutes and was ready to go. I felt pretty confident :-) I know it's kind've boring when someone just gives a play-by-play of a race... so I'll spare you from most of it.

University Parkway went well- nice long hill. Although, I got stuck in a pack of like 10 people who kept slowing down and when I tried to pass one of them, they sped up. Sounds like driving, huh? It's just like, really??? Either run faster or just let me pass you- I just need like a few feet! Then the down hill- 900 East was great! Passed a lot of people up. Only downside of the down hill... because today was the homecoming game different places around Provo were serving a Blue Pancake Breakfast and I passed up like 2 and even though it smelled great- it's nothing something you want to smell when you're running. Gross.

Anyways, during the last mile I got a cramp in my shoulder so that slowed me down a little. When I finally entered the track to finish there was a small group of people who were running together and they were being kind've ridiculous. For example, one genius decided he was going to jump a hurdle because it just happened to be on the side of the track and he almost didn't clear it. Honestly. Just run! Maybe I'm a party pooper... but you're less than a lap away from the finish... just run!!


I finished strong and was really happy with my time. I finished in 27:07. For those of you who don't know- this is a pretty big deal for me. I haven't seen numbers like that since WAY before I had foot surgery. It's definitely not my PR of all time- but post surgery- it is a PR for me. :-) I'm really happy with this race and want to know the best part about it? Last year, I ran this race in 33:10. I shaved off SIX minutes! Wahoo! Here is another piece of fact for your enjoyment. In 2004 I ran this race in just under 25 minutes. I know I still have some work to do- but for now- I am happy :-)


One week until the Halloween Half!!

Long overdue

My husband is the sweetest. He really supports my running (even though he thinks anyone who runs for fun is crazy) and helps motivate me. I mean seriously... he goes to all of my races and waits for me to finish. If that's not love... I'm not sure what is ;-)

Anyways, before I ran my first 1/2 marathon in September- he was apparently going to every athletic store in Utah County to try and find a "13.1" car decal so he could give it to me at the end of the race as a gift. He spilled the beans the night before the race because out of all the stores he went to- no one had any in stock and he was really bummed. How sweet is he for at least trying? I had NO clue that he was driving all around the state just to find a silly decal. In the end, Runner's Corner in Orem, UT put him on their call list for when they got the decals in.

A few weeks ago, they called him and told him that the decals were in and he could come get it any time. I never even asked for the decal but I think it's so cute that he really wanted me to have one :-) Yesterday afternoon we finally put it on my window. One of my co-workers asked me about it today and was like "What's the 13.1 all about?" I had to explain it to him and he looked at me like I was crazy. Well, maybe I am :-) But, that's another topic for another day. Anyways, here it is! My decal from the hubster.


PS: 11 days until the Halloween Half Marathon and 18 days until the Snow Canyon 1/2 marathon!!!

Halloween Teaser

15 days until the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. This event is going to be so awesome! I am really looking forward to it. It's going to be uber cold because we're running in the canyon and along the Provo River! Is this giving anyone else chills??? No but really, this is going to be really fun. Jon has volunteered to hand out race packets the day before the race- so nice of him :-) Well... maybe i asked him to do it... but he totally could've said no. We do get free stuff if he does it :-) free shirt for him and running cap for me! See? It's worth it! Anyways, if you're in the area and are running the mileage to do a half- you should really do this half marathon. They're having a raffle at the race, free shirt, and finisher medals for everyone- awesome! I'd tell you what my costume is... but then i'd have to... nevermind. So, here is the teaser. I'm showing you part of my costume... a very close up picture of the costume. Enjoy!