Things That Make Me Happy

This guy:

Eric is the best! I'm amazed everyday with the amount of patience he has with me. Plus, he makes me laugh.. A lot. Such a babe. 

Sisters:

I'm obsessed with these girls. They completely understand me. They know all my imperfections and love me lots anyway. 

I can't forget all these ladies either. I've always been so close to my cousins. They're like sisters to me. 

Good friends:

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Eric and I have the coolest friends! I love all of them (many not pictured), they are like family and we have so much fun together!

I also love the friends I work with. They are so awesome! They were such good sports when I had them do Zumba at a team work party. I learn so much from each and every one of them. 

Good food (that somebody makes for me): 

I had these fabulous CLEAN chicken enchiladas in our new Real Foods Market in Salt Lake City and they were pretty much brilliant. I love food but I really don't like making it myself. When somebody makes me food (healthy food especially), that is guaranteed to put a smile on my face.  

Finishing a workout: 

Whether it's finishing a long run or laying down in savasana after a good yoga class. The world seems to always be a better place and I'm able to better accept myself and be happy where I am in life. 

Finishing a big race is pretty cool too! 

Oh and a kombucha of course! I drank this baby last week when I had a tummy ache and it settled it within minutes. Also, french macarons... sea salted caramel might be my favorite flavor... Yummmmy!

Have a great Wednesday! 

Happy Fitnessing!

Tell me something that makes you happy?

Have you tried a french macaron?

Have you tried kombucha? You should, or maybe we shouldn't be friends;)...

What are your weekend plans?

St. George Marathon :: The Race

I woke up at 4:40am. To my surprise I was actually feeling normal and ready. I was worried I would wake up with the cold that had been knocking on my door the past few days. Thank goodness for the immune boosters I'd been taking the day before! Oh, and I can't forget those many prayers!

It took me 25 minutes to get dressed and ready. Eric took me to catch the last bus at 5:30am. I made friends with the nice guy sitting next to me who's wife who had just had a baby a couple days before. I thought he was crazy for running the marathon still but he had ran it a few times before and I was happy he was there to give me some last minute pointers. 

I arrived at the starting line at 6:15. I immediately lined up for the bathrooms. 30 minutes later the gun fired and the race was on... Except I was still in line for the bathroom and determined to go before I ran. 

Got my garbage bag on to keep me warm. It was so cold and windy!

I finally started running at 7:01. The 7,500 runners were still making their way to the start so I wasn't really that far behind. Thank goodness for chip timing. I hate being cold so I started running with all my warm ups and gloves still on. 

Miles 1-2: I started off slow and was feeling no confidence in myself and abilities. The little blister that I could feel already forming on my left pinky toe did not help that either. Mile 2 I dropped my warm ups and gloves off at the clothing drop. -I really liked how they had these at miles 1-6.

Miles 3-6: My confidence was growing, enough even for me to make a pit stop around mile 5. So much for the long bathroom wait. 

Miles 7-8: I loved running through the small town of Veyo. It seemed like the whole town was out to celebrate and cheer us on. At mile 7 was the infamous Veyo hill...

Far off in the distance was the dreaded hill.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I was planning on walking it as I needed but in the whole mile I probably walked less than .20 of a mile, which was surprising to me since I hadn't done a ton of hill training. 

Miles 9-13: Attacking that hill gave me just the boost of confidence I needed to speed up my pace. 

Miles 14-17: continued to speed up a tad. I really started to enjoy the scenery and found some great moments of meditation. I loved Snow Canyon! 

Mile 18-19: these miles were full of rolling hills. My paced slowed a little on the uphills but I was refusing to walk. It just didn't seem right to walk when my iPod was blasting Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never." 

Miles 20-23: I loved these miles! (Compare that to my first marathon where these were some of the hardest for me). They were all downhill and at mile 23 Eric, Brooke and Marlee where waiting for me. Special bonus* my friend Nancy was also there with her husband Pete cheering on a friend and it was so fun to see them. Funny note: they all thought they were at mile 21 (where I asked them to be) but they were in fact at 23. The map they were looking at was a little misleading.

Mile 24-26: Eric started running with me at mile 23 and it was nice to have him by my side cheering me on. By mile 25 his legs were giving up from a previous leg workout and I told him I was gonna take off to the finish 'cause I was feeling great. He took a short cut to meet me at the end.

.20, The Finish: there are few feelings that can match the awesomeness of finishing a race and a marathon takes the cake for me. Running those last few strides through the finish line was wonderful for so many reasons. I really couldn't believe I had just finished the St. George Marathon, one of the top marathons in the nation and as I looked at my Garmin it looked like I had beat my first marathon time by 10 minutes!! It was confirmed to me when my friend Olivia text me and congratulated me for my 4:19 time! Wow! I had cut my time by not 10 minutes but 13 minutes! I never would have predicted that to happen. That is a 9:55 pace AND I was surprised how good I felt. I had planned to run this marathon with nothing less than a 10:30 pace. I now know I can run a marathon again and I can even run it faster!!

Stay tuned for fun after the finish line!

Happy Fitnessing!

St. George Marathon :: Pre-Race

First stop when we arrived in St. George was to pick up my packet. I usually like hanging out at the Expo for a little bit but I just was not feeling into it so we were basically in and out.

After snagging a quick picture we were on our way to my brother's house. My brother was actually up in Salt Lake for work so my Sis-in-law and niece were there to greet us. Check out these awesome signs they made! So cool! I was definitely feeling the love. 

Even their fat cat Sherami was there to show his support by lounging on my lugging and stealing sips of water from my cup.

Silly guy. 

Since I had not yet ever seen the marathon course we all piled into the car to drive it together. I got to sit by this cute thing.

I think the drive made Marlee sleepy and delusional because she pulled out her baby pony tail and started eating her shoe!

Haha I was totally distracted by her cuteness, I forgot to pay attention to the road I'd be running the next morning!

Once we got to the cold and windy start line we took a few pics. I loved all the flags! So cool! 

During the drive back Eric and Brooke were making comments like... "This is a long drive!" and "how many miles is this now?" I couldn't help but laugh and think about how crazy it was that I was really gonna run 26.2 miles the next day. 

We had all worked up an appetite during the long drive - it was time for carbs!! I ate Pizza Factory before the Utah Valley Marathon and decided that would be the appropriate choice again. I got the classic pesto angel hair pasta and a bread stick. Not my desired choice on a normal night but I try to avoid dairy and hearty whole wheat pasta the night before a long run or race. 

Eric was nice and slept on a blow up mattress that night and gave me the bed so I could sleep as best as possible.

Before heading to bed I went through my race packet. It was a pretty good assortment if goodies. Not a huge fan of the tech shirt but I liked the "Run for Boston" wristband. I just wish it was made for tiny arms like mine.

I also laid out my outfit for the race before going to bed around 10pm. 

After about a dozen prayers to help me be able to sleep well and feel better (since I felt like I was getting a cold), it took me a little bit to fall asleep but I think as long as the few days before the race you get plenty of sleep then it's fine to lose a little sleep the night before. I got a good 5 1/2 hours before waking up at 4:30am... 

Happy Fitnessing!

8 Stages of Marathon Running

I love everything about this video. It makes me laugh, especially Stage 5 and 6, "Stop passing me you jerks!!"

Thanks E for sharing this with me!

Happy Fitnessing!

Ragnar SoCal 2013 :: Picture Overload

Here I sit as my legs are too tired to move. Eric and I are currently in recovery mode from this past weekend's Ragnar in Southern California where we ran 200 miles with 10 other friends and spent most our time in a 12 passenger van. This was my 3rd Ragnar and Eric's first. I was so proud of him for training and running with me. I'm so lucky to be working for a company that supports these kinds of activities and pretty much pays for everything on these trips because I know I would not be getting the same amazing experience if we had to support ourselves.

We flew to Orange County Thursday morning, met up with the rest of our team, grabbed lunch and headed to the beach. I cannot even tell you how great the beach was that day coming from cold Utah weather. After dinner with the entire group (Redmond sponsored two full teams) we went back to the hotel and made sure to get a good nights rest in preparation for the race which would start the next morning.

The next morning we headed to Huntington beach (the same trail I ran last month) and since I was runner #1 I got to start the race for our team. My first leg was 4.9 miles. It was warm and beautiful and I was on the beach again. :) I felt great + I was getting a tan. Eric was Runner 5 and was excited that his first leg was 2.5 miles... until he realized it was completely uphill and in 80 degree temperatures. He dumped water all over himself on the go and killed that run anyway!

The Team

Van Buddies

New Friends

We grabbed subway for lunch after our first legs and took a little nap in the shade while waiting to start leg 2.

I started leg 2 around 7pm just as the sun was going down and the temperatures with it. I did 6 miles and was so proud of my time! I did an average of a 8:15/min mile. It was so oh fun! Everyone on my team was doing such a great job and killing their times. Eric did 6 miles and started at 11pm. I was happy to hear about how much he loved that run. There is something seriously awesome about running in the dark.

Exchanging with Julie 

Because we were a part of two teams we got to run with the other team for most of the race. Eric's running buddy from the other team was Nanci and she was a first time Ragnarian like Eric.

Keeping Laura warm before her night time leg

After finishing our second leg it was time to sleep. Well, try to sleep.. mostly just rest cause it's pretty impossible to sleep inside or outside a van. Especially knowing we only had about 3 hours until it was time to run again. Before we knew it 5am rolled around and it was time again for me to run. This time it would be my last leg. My last run took me to Carlsbad beach where I saw the sun rise. I was so tired and was feeling a bit stomach sick but still felt lucky to be given some of the best legs of the course. I ran in cool weather, on the beach more than anyone else and finished first. Eric finished with 4.5 miles in the mid day heat with yet another massive hill but conquered it and felt great.

Selfie of Eric as I was prepping for leg #3

  

When our van finished we had about 6 hours to wait for the rest of our team to finish the 200 miles. We ate lunch in San Diego and napped near the finish line where we would run the last few yards to end the race with them.

And a happy ending it was.

Ragnar Sisters

This silly picture pretty much sums up a Ragnar.

Celebratory Dinner

Ragnars are fun, long, hard, tiring, exciting and where you'll make some of the best running memories. You gotta try one! I dare you...

Happy Fitnessing!