Thursday, June 27, 2013

Ragnar Recap

Season 4 of Ragnar was awesome.  I think my favorite year so far.  I love being part of the Housewives of the UC team (like us on our facebook page).  We have fun, we run hard and most of all we all get along great.  

As always the party starts the night before with van decorating.  We had lots of fancy pictures on magnets for our vans this year which made decorating and clean up faster.  I love how pro we're getting :)







Our start time was 8:45 am - so we met at 5:30 am and were on the road at 5:45.  We got there with the perfect amount of time to go through the safety briefing and relax a few minutes before the start.  Since I was runner 1 this year I got to do the starting line.  



On the ride up to Logan (about 2 hours) the girls were looking at the pace calculator sheet that I brought and were getting on my case because I changed a few of their times without asking.  You are supposed to use your 10K race pace and I know some of the girls are faster than they said.....so I took the liberty of changing it :)  

I was taking some serious heat - but luckily I can hold my own.  Ha.  Anyway I had put that my pace would be 8:00 (which I actually think I will beat next week in my 10K....so stay tuned).  My first leg was tough with some good uphill and some trail in the first few miles.  So when I finished I was sure I was way off my time.  I finished my first leg of 7.7 miles at an 8:17 pace in 1:03:37 - my estimated time was supposed to be 1:03 so I guess I was right on target. 


For our first legs I managed to go opposite of these 2 beauties.


At the first major exchange right after van 2 left someone came up to me and asked how far into the race we were when I told him we were van 1 and had just finished our first legs he asked if we wanted some water for our van.  He gave us a big old box of pop-top water bottles.  Of course I got a little silly and said "wow, you're our first sponsor" - he thought I was full-blown crazy but he still gave us the water.  We had some fun posting our "sponsor" on Instagram.


Right before my 2nd leg we had a delicious picnic lunch and rested up at Snowbasin. Could our matching pink blankets be any cuter?  I have no pictures of my 2nd leg but it was 8.2 with most of it being a very steep downhill.  I ran it at a 7:44 pace and because of traffic the van finally caught me and passed me with less than a mile to go. 



Heather made these pretty signs for us to use at the exchanges and then my brother Steve added LED lights to them for the night.  They were so awesome and made it so easy to find each other.

My last leg was a bit cold and was first thing in the morning.  But the good news is that I actually had a good solid 3 hours of sleep in the van.  Best sleep I've ever gotten at Ragnar so I felt like a new woman.  It was a flat 5 mile run and I finished it just under 40 minutes at an 8:04 pace.  


My bubble face that was on the side of the van.....and then my team threw me under the van at the end!


After our van finished we went to Kneaders for breakfast and big old diet coke.  It was heaven.  Then we changed into our finish line outfits, organized and cleaned the van and then headed over to the finish area.




Van 2 kicked serious butt and we finished in 30:51.  In women's submasters we were 5/23.  Overall women's 11/101 and overall 256/1390.  We were 2 hours faster this year than last year with almost the exact same team.  We all trained hard and raced hard and even though it's not about our time or place it feels great to do so well.


Our sweet Higgy was runner #9 and she had some seriously hard legs to run.  Her 2nd leg was over 11 miles during the middle of the night (3:00 am) and she got really sick and dehydrated.  She finished that leg and still ran her last leg which was 4.4 miles straight up the steepest mountain in the course.  She is AMAZING!!  She was so sick by the end she couldn't get out of the van to cross the finish line with us.  She is a serious rock star!

I love my team and I can't wait to see what 2014 brings!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

2013 Housewives of the UC

Ready or not here we come.

We are so ready for Ragnar this year.  I couldn't be happier about the team I run on - I love these crazy, sassy, fun, running girls.  In 2 days I will be spending a couple of days running and partying with these gals in the mountains. 

In preparation for the race I have my nails painted bright pink, pulled out my pink sparkle skirt, purchased a few new pink running items and of course run a lot of miles.  Yes we take our team very seriously - ha ha!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

My friend Kathy

I got another email from BAA about ordering pictures from the race.  Since we took lots of pictures on our own I don't really need any but when I saw the finish lines one I noticed something super awesome.  It made me smile!

 

My friend Kathy who I met around mile 9 of the race finished right behind me.  We ran by each other for about 5 miles during the race - I knew she was there because people were shouting and cheering my name.  Then I lost her....or so I thought.  I guess she was by me the whole time. 


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Utah Valley Half Marathon Race Recap

I am finally getting around to writing up my race recap from last Saturday's half marathon.  I loved the race and had a great run.  I PR'd with a time of 1:41:42 (my previous PR was 1:44 at Snow Canyon).  The temp was great.  There was no headwind this year. My body felt great. I really did love this race.  The only issue with the race was that there were no porta potties along the course.  Lots at the start and finish but none on the course.  It was a mistake by the company not the race - but still created a lot of stress and issues for runners. Luckily, it didn't affect my race at all.

 

Me, Higgy, Jill, Tracy and Laurie with our numbers at packet pickup

I woke up at 3:10 am - the worst part of races is how early you have to get up.  We all drove together to the buses.  The ride up was great we were on city buses instead of school buses so it was nice and comfy.

Heading up on the bus

I ran the entire 13.1 with Laurie right by my side.  We pushed our pace but still talked the whole time.  We both felt great.  I took a roctane at mile 8 and drank water 3 times total.  We put on our music the last 2 miles of the race just to help us push the pace.  Then when I saw our time as we crossed the finish line and knew I PR'd I was VERY happy.  I didn't wear a watch and we ran based on feel.

Ringing the PR bell at the end



After the race - love these girls!!


First race in these beauties - and every time I saw them during the run they made me smile!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Why do you run?

I decided to create my own running image for tomorrow.  I love running for so many reasons.



Yesterday was the first big day of summer break - which means kids summer activities are in full swing.  We have multiple swim teams, dance, tennis, and piano.  Needless to say, driving them all over town is cutting into my workout time.  

Yesterday I got up at 6:40 took Tayson to swim team from 7-8 and ran 5 miles outside while he swam.  Then I had to take 3 of them to swimming from 8:30-9:30 then hurry home and take Luke to hip hop from 10-11.  Then I had to take Luke to swim team from 5-6pm.  Then back to the rec center to practice swimming with Claire because she almost got cut from the team for not swimming the full 25 meters.  So of course I made her do it twice last night before she could play in the pool. I am so mean.

And then this morning I turned into the "crazy mom" and made the coach give her another chance to try and when she was swimming I walked along side the pool telling her she wasn't allowed to stop. So she is now officially on the team.  But, I think I might have pushed her too hard because she threw up right when we got home!!!  Oops.
P.S.  today I did crossfit for the first time in over a week and my shoulder felt fine.  Hooray!!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Distance Records

This week was a crazy running week and today I finished it off with an 18 mile run on our newly finished trail - the Murdock Canal Trail. It was so fun to run somewhere new with new scenery. It was a great paved trail with several water fountains and bathrooms along the way. The only stop without working water fountains was the one I took my GU at - which sucked but there was water a mile later so it worked out great. 

My previous highest months were both 175 so I went walking yesterday so I could beat it. Ha.