New Year's Eve

Mindy, Lisa, Joy, Stephanie, Scott
Isela, Lori

Today was the first time that I have ran in temperatures below 20 degrees, and guess what? I survived!

Mindy, Don, Joy, Stephanie, Scott
Isela, Lori

When I left the house it was 8 degrees. I wasn't quite sure how to dress. I did 2 layers on the bottom half, and 3 layers on the top, then my yellow jacket also. A hat, gloves, and neck gaiter. I actually was too warm! I had to keep stopping to either un-zip or peel off a layer.

I ran with my fellow NERC's. We ran down Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Wow! What a beautiful, peaceful run this morning. The sun was shining. The air was crisp and so clear. We ran 5.5 miles today.    I actually was a little nervous this morning, besides the temperature, the canyon is ALWAYS windy. But as luck would have it, we encountered ZERO wind!

We took two pictures, so we could all be in the photo.

What an amazing group of friends I have come across.  I am so blessed to have each one of them in my life.  It was exactly ONE year ago today, that I invited some of these runners to run with me on New Year's Eve.  This was the first time I met many of them, and now they are some of my dearest friends.

Happy New Year.


May 2013 be one of Joy, Happiness, Peace, Love, Good Health, Strength.......and that awe inspiring RUN!

Baker's Dozen Half Marathon

Last year, I read about an awesome race, The Hostess Half, that was held in Hurricane, UT.  It was put on by Cory, www.fastcory.com,  and my friend Mendy ran it.  (Cory is "Buddy the Elf) It looked like so much fun, that I messaged Cory and asked if he was going to do another Hostess Half, and he informed me that he would be doing a Baker's Dozen Half.  I jumped on board!  The course would be a loop course, and every time you passed the aid station, you HAD to eat a treat. The runner who ate the most would be crowned "Sugar Slayer."

Somehow I talked JoAnna and Krista into running this with me. Unfortunately, Krista was unable to come with us, and for a while, it looked as if JoAnna would not be running either.  JoAnna was injured, and had actually sold her bib to Josh, but then he got injured, and JoAnna put on her big girl panties and made the trip with me.

We drove 370 miles to run 13.1 miles in the rain and snow, then drove 370 miles again through a killer snow storm!  Crazy????  ummmm.....you can be the judge of that.

Round 1. We each ate one cookie.  I ate a Snickerdoodle.  These were the BIG cookies, that had luckily been cut into fourths. JoAnna decided to make a pit stop, so I snuck in one more cookie, a Ginger Molasses.  Hee Hee, I was thinking that I was gaining on her!

The goodies were so yummy!  Cookies, donuts, mini cupcakes, and moon pies. JoAnna thought it would be funny to capture us eating our treats.

Round two...cookies with frosting. I had a red velvet cookie with vanilla frosting. Not to be outdone, JoAnna ate 2 cookies here so we were both tied at 3.  If you notice in the background, the weather seems to be turning nasty.

Round 3.  I can't believe she ate half of a donut!  I ate a chocolate cookie that had the most yummiest orange frosting on it.

At this point, we were soaked!

My goal was to Catch the Twinkie!

Lots of people were dressed up.  There were bakers, donuts, the Sugar Ninja, a Hostess Buster, and the Twinkie!  The twinkie is one of my friends Susette, You'll Always Have My Heart,  who I met through Runner's Anonymous, and we have actually ran a couple of races together.  A big THANKS to Alex Santiago who captured all of our photos!

This race was just what I needed. No one worrying about PR's. Just a bunch of nuts out running on a rainy/snowy day, just because.  

As Buddy the Elf would say, "Running is my Favorite."

Baker's Dozen Training

Tonight I decided that I better start training for the Baker's Dozen Half Marathon that will be on December 15th in Hurricane, Utah.

This half will be very different from any other race that I have ran.  It is a loop course.  ( 3 miles) Every time you pass the aid station (every 3 miles) you are REQUIRED to EAT a TREAT! This may be a cookie, a moon pie, a donut,....anything. AND in order to earn your medal, you HAVE to eat one treat every time you pass the aid station.

I stopped at Macey's and bought a package of their snooker doodles! Tell me, who doesn't love a snooker doodle?  I wrapped it in a napkin, and smuggled it into the gym with me tonight.  I wanted one of the treadmills on the back row, but had to settle for one in the middle.  I very calmly put my cookie on the treadmill, and ran 3 miles. Then I bumped my speed down to 2 mph and ATE half of the cookie.  I did receive some very, very strange looks. Washed it down with a little powerade, and started running again.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.    Apparently eating cookies makes me look really fast!

Lets just hope that the treats are not GINORMOUS like the Macey's cookies, or I may be loosing my cookies somewhere in Hurricane!

Holiday Streak

Looks like I will be streaking from Thanksgiving to New Years Day! Roz threw out this challenge to all NERC's------ to run at least one mile every day. Not sure if I will run on Sundays. The official rules call for running one mile everyday. No cross training. No exercising. No walking. .... Running.

So my question to you is........is it legal to fartlek while you streak! Hee hee!

Hurricane Hustle 5k

On Thanksgiving, my AWESOME running group buddy, Tansy, decided that it was time that we help those people back east who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  So for the past 2 1/2 weeks, we all have pulled together to put on a Hurricane Hustle 5k to be held on Thanksgiving Morning!

We teamed up with the American Red Cross and ALL money would be donated directly to them to help those back east. We also took donations for hygiene kits as well.

I was thinking that we might have about 100 people. WOW, to our surprise, we had almost 300!  We raised around $1,600 and had quite a few complete hygiene kits also.  Many hands can ease anothers burden.

We were so successful, that we are thinking of making this an annual event. Picking a different charity each year!

I LOVE MY NERC's!

Bountiful 3, just kidding FIVE!

This morning I drove my daughter down to the Davis County Rec Center for a Thanksgiving Invitational Swimming Meet.  During her warm-up I decided to take advantage of the good weather (47 degrees at 8 AM) and go for a spin around Bountiful.

 I ran around Patty Circle.  Thought this was funny cause my sister's name is Patti!  And around Patty Circle, I ran into 2 goats!  They looked so out of place. The neighborhood was not a "farm" neighborhood, so these two little goats really did not fit in.  They rushed the fence when I slowed down to say "Hi."

 I found these stairs along my route. I also ran past a Mason Lodge. My husbands grandfather was a Mason. I wonder if they allow women in this organization?

 I also ran past this horse shoe that had been placed in the sidewalk.  I thought it was interesting. It was in front of a house. So if you were standing in the house, the luck was running out. If you were passing it on the sidewalk, the luck was with you.

I ran past this fabric store and saw this TOTALLY DARLING Dr. SUESS QUILT!  Wow.  Looked like fleece strips. What an easy thing to do, and it was sooooo cute!

Bountiful City also is ready for the Holiday Season.

It was my "lucky" day. I had planned on running 3 miles, but ran 5!  Felt good. 

Donkey or an Ass?

When I walked out of work today, I really wanted to go running. Had good intentions. Came home and got the chills for some reason, so I took a hot bath, ate chips and salsa, peanut butter out of the jar, and chocolate milk.  Kept procrastinating...... Decided I just better get out there and run, or I would regret it.

Ran 3 miles. THREE LONG MILES. And I didn't even run the entire time?  What gives?

The weather was perfect. Not too hot. Not too cold. My legs were fine. My lungs were great. The air was not too cold. I was not sweating. Not breathing hard. No side aches. No cramps. No headaches.....I just did not want to run....well, let me re-phrase that. I wanted to be running, but I also wanted to be curled up in a blanket reading a good book or watching ELF for the ga-zillionth time.

This guy (above) was on my route this afternoon. He was enjoying the warm weather and gave me a cheeseburger smile when I ran by him. Of course I had to stop and have a little chat with him and give him a nose rubbin!

12 days ago I ran my fastest half marathon. Today, I couldn't even run 3 miles.  STRANGE!

3.3

I really wanted to run today after work.  It was finally a nice sunny day, but I had a Dr. appointment.  I ended up going to the gym tonight.  I ran 3.3 on the treadmill.

Since Thanksgiving is approaching, tonights treadmill experience made me think of something that I could be thankful for.   Two things popped into my head: 

1.  That the dreadmill actually makes me run at a consistent pace for "x" amount of time.

2. That Hot Brett's girlfriend chose the treadmill AWAY from me.  When I walked past her as I was leaving, she had it set at 8.0 mph.  And she had been running that for 30 minutes, and had 30 left on her timer. Man she is speedy. She does have good form. Not bopping up and down. It's best I let her lead the pack!  hee hee

Snow Run!

It snowed here in the valley last week, so today's run would be though the snow.  I had planned on running around 5 miles today. I kept a watch on the weather.....waiting for the sun to shine through the clouds.  When I saw the sunshine, I took a chance.




I decided to run through Millville today.  The most dangerous part of this run......... crossing the HIGHWAY!!  There is NO crosswalk.







I broke out my "dirty girl gaiters" this morning.  I wore a long sleeve tech shirt and my yellow Brookes jacket.  I ended up taking off the jacket about 1 mile into my run.

Today's route I decided to mix it up a bit.  I have NEVER ran up 450 North. (Probably a reason for that.)  This is the hill that takes you up to the Millville Stake Center.  My new goal is to be able to run up this hill without walking.  I told my friend Adrian about this, and he said, "That hill will make you stronger!"  YES!!!  That's what I need!

5.5 miles, good and done!

Snow Canyon

Am I crazy to drive 5 and a half hours to run a half marathon???

Pre Race Fuel? or Road Trip Munchies?

I couldn't have picked a better day to run a half marathon! The weather in St. George was picture perfect running temperatures!

I arrived Friday night and picked up my packet at the Dixie Convention Center.  (Temperature 79 degrees)  I am always unsure on what size of shirt I should order...small or medium.... Once again, I picked the wrong one. The small was super tight, and the arms were very short. I was told that there would be a shirt exchange after the race. (Been there, done that, at the Canyonlands Half. Hopefully, there will actually be a shirt my size at the exchange.)

I was happy to see a friendly smiling face at the pick up/expo. Heather from Runner's North had a booth and she was keeping busy with sales!

After I picked up my packet and got settled in the hotel, I headed over to the High School Swim Meet. My daughters were swimming w/their swim team! Wow, what a crowd!  Luckily I found two other moms to pal around with.

My pre race dinner consisted of a  Wendy's broccoli and cheese baked potato and a chicken salad sandwich on a crescent from Kneaders and the free sample of bread.  I chose not to eat the green salad or the fresh fruit.  I'll save that for tomorrow.

Saturday morning we (Mindy, Rose, Tawnya, and Suzy) were all going to meet at the buses. (Suzy is going to be one of my running team mates for a relay event next year. This would be our first meeting!) I got there and was texting Tawnya. She was already in line for the bus, and Mindy and Rose were running late, so I stayed to wait for them. Suzy had got there early and was already on the bus.  I met up with Mindy and Rose, Mindy and I headed for the bus. Rose headed for the car. :( She had an injury that prevented her from running the half, she would be running the 5k instead.

Mindy and I were on one of the last buses!  This was a new experience for me!!!  We talked w/a guy in line who drove from L.A. the night before. He said that last year when he ran this race, the hotels had a two night minimum stay for this weekend. He was "sticking it" to the hotel industry and stayed in his car in the parking lot!  I wonder if I would ever be that determined to sleep in my car before a race?

As you can see, we literally were the last in the
porta-potty line!

We arrive at the starting area. I tried to find Tawnya, Heather, and Suzy, with no luck.  We went over to the port-a-potties, and picked The SLOWEST LINE!!  We decided to jump lines, and that went quicker. Then to my surprise, out of the port-a-potties walks Heather!!  Mindy and I finally get in and I am peeing, and I hear "On your mark, get set, GO!"  Really?  Hello!!?  I am not even at the starting line yet! I hear Mindy next to me make a "oooooohhh" sound!  I hope that was in reaction to the starting, not a GI problem!




Mindy and I seem kind of giddy and frantic at this moment. I am trying to take off my warm ups and put them in the clothing bag, only to not have them fit because I still have my Go-Go juice bottle, Gatorade bottle, and left over breakfast in the bag. Mindy is trying to figure out how to work her sister's iPod and the headphones are in a knot. She is also taking off her warm ups. We are looking for the "clothing truck." We find it, and almost get to the start. We actually stop about 5 feet from the timing mat. I am fiddling with the knot in the headphones, and not sure what Mindy is doing but somehow we make it across the mat. And guess what? It was so nice not to have to weave in between people!  We had our own space. I told Mindy that if she was going to try to make her goal, she needed to go faster, so I sent her on her way. I actually like to run races by myself.

Rose, Mindy, Lori, Suzy

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	2:12:03.5	13.18	10:01
1	9:01.3	1.00	9:01
2	9:30.5	1.00	9:30
3	9:09.5	1.00	9:09
4	8:56.1	1.00	8:56
5	8:58.2	1.00	8:58
6	9:10.2	1.00	9:10
7	9:19.7	1.00	9:20
8	11:26.5	1.00	11:27
9	10:08.7	1.00	10:09
10	10:35.3	1.00	10:35
11	11:41.6	1.00	11:42
12	11:15.4	1.00	11:15
13	11:14.1	1.00	11:14
14	1:36.5	0.18	9:01

To my surprise, my chip time was 2.11.58! This is my personal BEST!!!

After the race, I got cleaned up and headed back to the swim meet! WOW, made it there just in time to see an AWESOME FINISH!

Nothin better after a run than Hostess and Chocolate Milk!

PINK Half Marathon

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.......Well, this say's it ALL!  
PURE JOY and HAPPINESS!

I was  honored when Krista asked me to run with her.  Today I am an official pacer!  I will be pacing  Krista and Julie.  This is their very FIRST HALF MARATHON! I am SOOOOO EXCITED to run this with them.  Our plan is to run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute.

Krista and Me getting ready to get on the bus

This is part of our NERC (Northern Exposure Running Club) group.  On the back of our shirts it says, "Blisters Heal,  Muscles Recover, Friendships last a life time."

 Julie and Krista taking off at the start of the race.  The weather was kind of uncertain.

These girls and their dog were at one of the aid stations.  The girls were so cute! Cheering on all of us women.

I gave him a scratching!

                           

NERC Support Crew ROCKS!

Tori, Julie, Krista, Lori
If you look closely, you notice my feet never touch the ground. Hee Hee

Tori at the "turn around"

We are almost THERE!!!

What an incredibly emotional day.  I have never cried when I have crossed a finish line.  Today was the day that the emotions just came rolling in. Being with Krista as she accomplished her goal was an experience of a lifetime. Not quite sure I can put it into words.  Today was not my fastest race, but I consider it a Personal Best.  

Things we saw along the trail.