Napa Valley Ragnar Relay!

First let me start by saying this was THE BEST Ragnar yet!!

Last winter they announced this new location for Ragnar, sounded pretty nice I felt around and thought I could put a team together, got on Facebook and started hounding people. Finally got the monies and commitments in February and signed up! I was pretty excited but being in the Marathon brain I put it aside. Summer was crazy and before I knew it here we were in September and less than a month to go. We only had to replace two people after the original registration! So Van 1 ended up being Mitch and Erin Proctor, Clayton and Marcy Jones, Mike and Michelle Lamoreaux. Van 2 was Vanessa Christensen, Mary Howell, JaNae Eldredge, and my 2 sisters Anna and Wendy and of course me :)

We had some problems with our transmission and Don said he didn't think it was a good idea to take it, We got another van to take but Wednesday night as we packed we just couldn't do it. Don decided to let us take the Expedition, He did a quick oil change and transmission service on it while we packed it. Thank Heavens for such a wonderful man as my husband!!! We finally rolled out of Salt Lake around 8:30-9pm. We drove through the night. We switched drivers off and on to keep us going.

I woke up to a foggy, beautiful California! We were in the mountains it was so neat, we pulled off to take a potty break and decided to go to Denny's, since it was there. Well after breakfast we were on the rode again and drove to Oakland, across the bridge-ugh I had to drive that, sweaty palms and all!! and we finally came in to San Fransisco. We found our hotel but couldn't check in but they let us leave our luggage and we spent the rest of the day seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. It was sooo neat!
We saw dolphins in the bay and seals at the pier. We had clam chowder which was sooo good! We shopped and took tons of pictures of the bridge, Alcatraz and of various things on the pier. We were getting tired but wanted to go to Ghiradelli Square when we got there we realized we were hungry again so we went down the street and ate. Then we had to drive Lombard Street before we could go back to the hotel, it is the crookedest street in the world. I didn't even know if we would make the turns it was soo crazy!! We dropped of some of the girls at the hotel and went to the store to get some things we forgot and filled up on gas. Went back to the hotel and slept till 4am got up and headed to the start line it was sooooo cold!! Our start time was 6am. Well we checked in and went through the process (if you've done a Ragnar you know the drill :) ) We went to the start line and were hanging out. it was abotu 20 minutes to go when Van 2 came up!!! YAY!! we did pictures and sent JaNae on her way! We were completely confused by the instructions and went to the wrong place. We figured them out and got to JaNae, she had been waiting a few minutes. She said it was only about 5 but she was probably just being nice.
Well I felt great and off I went I knew I only had 2.7 mile so I wanted to do it fast but not over do it. lucky for me it was mostly downhill into Sausalito. OMG!! What a gorgeous run!! It was still a little dark when I ran but the longer I ran the lighter it got! my only disappointment was that I wasn't closer to the ocean, I could see it but wasn't very close. I ran and finished the 2.7 in 24 minutes! WOWZERS!! Handed off to my sister Anna-who has only been running a little over 2 months, this was her first event! She did soo good I am so proud of her!! Next Mary ran. She is my neighbor she is almost 19, Next was Vanessa, she has been running almost a year and did awesome the last was my other sister Wendy ran, she is going on 1 year of running and has been doing great and she did fabulous!
The exchanges were so fun! We had 4 cowbells, ribbon twirlers and bubbles! And we did tunnels as the ran in to exchange. we went on to our next exchange to wait for van 2 to do their runs we were all pretty tired since we hadn't really slept much but we were able to catch some zz's at the park.
My second run was sooo windy and there was lots of old smooshed roadkill haha!! It was almost sunset and we were on back country roads in Petaluma for this one, as I came into the exchange Anna was lit up in her night gear! this was the only run I did in shorts and a tank top. During Anna's run I am sure I put on more clothes bacause it was getting cool. I got a phone call from Kristi, Anna's daughter saying Anna thought she was lost. I called Anna back and as she was grabbing her phone she fell and scratched her knees and palms. But she kept going and she wasn't lost, some times you go so long with out seeing another runner or sign you worry you are lost. I know I felt the same way on my first run! She came in and we cleaned her up and headed on. We came to an exchange it was dark and there was a burger place -Sequoia Burger. It smelt sooo good so a couple of us got food here. At our next big exchange Anna and I slept in the expedition and everyone else slept in the school. In the morning Vanessa said her foot was really sore and was thinking maybe she would run part of her run and I told her I could finish it for her if she wanted.
I was most nervous for my next run because it was over 9 miles! I have never been to this part of California, in fact I have only been twice once when I was 12 and once when I was 14. When we came to this area the smells were fabulous! I just couldn't get enough of it! It was dark when I started this 9 mile run in Napa, but slowly it got lighter-I never saw the sun rise it was foggy and cloudy and COLD! but the day was here and I could see the vineyards. I didn't have my phone and it is a good thing or else I would have been taking pictures! It was a hard run along a highway up and down the roads. I wondered what the people driving by thought seeing the people running. We got to a point where we had to cross the road so I had to stop knowing there was just about a mile left. There was finally a break in traffic but 3 other girls had caught up to me, one I had passed :(. I couldn't keep up with her. as I was running down the road I could see the exchange and a man came out to get his newspaper. He watched a few runners go by and as I approached he said we were ambitious this morning. I said we started yesterday day in San Fransisco he was like "WOW! Congratulations!" HAHA! As I came into the exchange I thought I could hear Mary yelling me in but as I got there and looked and looked they weren't there!!! I asked if it was hard to find since I had been running for over an hour and a half! Well I asked to borrow a phone and not knowing anyone's number I called Don and he called them just as they realized they were at the wrong exchange! They finally came after about 20 minutes. We sent Anna off then Mary, We talked to Vanessa and she decided it was just too much and so Mary and I decided to split her run. I would do the first part and mary would come in and finish it. so When we got to that exchange I ran 2.6 miles around a college campus and handed off to Mary. My running in Cali was over! I was done! I ended up running over 19 miles this weekend! We went to our final exchange then to the finish line to wait. We were originally scheduled to finish around 3 but I don't think we finished till almost 5. We were one of the first to start and one of the last to finish. I don't mind, I did this to have fun and it was so much more than that!! When our other van came the anticipation was crazy!! it was so excited!! There is nothing like a finish line!! We finished!!! Finally!! but sadly our Ragnar was over. We headed to the hotel and then decided to go out to dinner at Applebees. I could barely eat. we decided to just get up when ever and go we woke up about 6:30 and headed back to Salt Lake. We had fun talking and being crazy girls on the way home. We rolled into my house about 10:30pm. Like I said at the beginning this was the funnest Ragnar I have done yet!! I can't wait to go to Vegas with a van full of MY family next month!!

One Crazy Summer!

I had decided early on in the year I wanted to do one race a month. SO January I squeezed in the New year 5k, February the Sweethearts 5k, March the St Patrick's Day 5k and Canyonlands Half Marathon, April I decided to skip because I couldn't fit anything in good with my marathon training schedule so I guess doing 2 in march counts right? :) So in May was my first marathon, About this time I found a trail runnign series I thought sounded cool so I signed up and that was one a month through the summer, June I did Wasatch Back and the Park City Mini Trail Series 5k. July, the PCMTS 10k and August gave me the 15k. Well as August slowly came around I was itching for a half I knew I had one later in the month but I just really loved the Moonlight half last year so I decided to do it again. So I did the half the night before the 15k. I also did Top Of Utah Half two weeks after the Moonlight Half-which makes me a half fanatic. :) oh but the most anticipated race of the year is now over-Napa Valley Ragnar-which I will blog about in a moment. So to finish off my year I have one more Ragnar a half and 2? 5k's. which will give me one a month (but April ) Pretty successful running year!

Wasatch Back 2011

Oh ya! My favorite race of the year!! I was on Team Legs, Breasts and Wings again! Cynthia, Debra, Laura, Lindsay, Sheri and Anne!











JaNae is still injured but she is soo awesome she came and drove so we didn't have to! plus I don't know if I could have done it with out her there!















I was runner 6 this year! During the first leg at the 1/2 to go point Cafe Rio (local restaurant) was there handing out sombrero's to all the runners. If you crossed with it on your head you got a free meal. Sadly mine would not stay on my head and after running almost 7 miles I didn't really care. The run was good and was my best out of the. 6.88 in 1:07.
second run was at about midnight and it was COLD!!! I wish I would have had my gloves! my hand kept going numb.8.23 in 1:33. pretty awful time, I was tired and it was all uphill up a mountain yes seriously up a mountain... When I got to the top and could look down onto the exchange I think the temp dropped 10 degrees-could've been the lake. I dunno!






This was right before my last leg. An easy 3.1 right no. not when your legs are soo sore you can barely walk!! I guess that's what ya get after running and then jumping in a car and not walking again for an hour or so :) 3.1 in 36 minutes. worst 5k pace ever for me!! oh well I had a blast! I love Ragnar! Can't wait till Napa Valley in September!!












this year was especially fun cause I knew Don would be out there running!! He was able to jump on a team with the runners from Wasatch running night runs! This is us at the finishing area! And now I put Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back 2011 in the books! Now I need to round up a team for next year so we can register next week!

Ogden's Spring Run Off Marathon

I have been very emotional for the last few weeks, I would tear up when I would see and read an email from them. When I thought too much about it I would tear up. It has been pretty crazy. This past week it is all I could think about. I could hardly do anything. I spent one day watching tv all day so I wouldn't think about it. But Friday came, The game plan was for me to drive pick up Wendy and head to Bridgette's. After a few days of thinking about this I thought oh my gosh what if I can't drive? I will have to take another trip up to get my car!! I talked to Wendy and Bridgette and we had a change of plans, Wendy would come down, get me then Bridgette would come to Wendy's and pick both of us up. So that is what we did.
When we got to Wendy's we headed over to the Expo at Union Station. We got our packets. there is soo much excitement at an expo! I love to see all the fun stuff too. After we were done there We were on search of a good restaurant. We didn't find one and ended up at chili's. I thought they had chicken alfredo but they didn't and I ended up getting a country fried steak-phhst big no no huh?
I was fine I only ate a little bit of it because of my nerves and the chips and salsa lol.

We got a movie and headed back to Bridgette's house got settled in, watched the movie and went to bed. I slept a little. I thought my alarm would go off at 3:10 I woke up at 2:50 so I played on my phone, when my alarm didn't go off I was worried so I checked my alarm and it was to go off at 3:40 lol so I got off my phone and laid in bed drifting, finally alarms started going off.

We got dressed and headed out to the shuttle pick up. Wendy and I were dropped off at the same spot since our pick ups were across the street from each others. We waited around and finally Angela started texting me saying she was there so we went and found her and Wendy left to go to her bus. We goofed off in our nervous selves. Greg, Angela, Charles and Charles' friend were standing waiting for Sonia who then texted saying she was there so we went and found her and her friends.

We finally got on our bus, we were lucky that we got on a shuttle bus, it had a bathroom in it and we all took turns using it. That turned out wonderfully because when we got to the start line the port-o-potties were in the mud! We didn't even have to get in it we just stayed on the road. I said I don't think I am nervous any more I am just so excited! It was soo neat to be up at the start line knowing I was about to run 26.2 miles!! 26.2!! I was soo anxious! They ended up starting about 15 minutes late. but we were finally off! There was a helicopter flying above taking pictures of 3000 crazy people starting to run 26.2 miles! I started off good and found it very difficult to stay in my targeted pace and my watch kept going off telling me to slow down. It was sooo hard to try to stay there when you are running down hill. I finally gave up and turned the alarm off and set a good pace. I ran to about the 3rd water stop and grabbed a drink and walked long enough to drink and kept on going I did this about every 2-3 water stop.

I knew my cousin was running the third leg in the relay so when I was getting close to her exchange I looked all over for her and I watched for her throughout the leg distance and even at her finish but I never saw her. I kept going kind of bummed I didn't see her. During this time we came to an incline. Almost everyone around me was walking so I started to walk and thought this is crazy I feel great so I got back to running (I only walked about 10-15 steps). I ran clear through to mile 17 when I really started to hurt (this is also where I had trouble in training). My legs started to hurt, and I tried to run but would start walking a little more and more. I got to an aid station where they actually had first aid and they had icy hot and sunblock. I got my shoulders sprayed with SB and my legs rubbed down with the icy hot. My legs felt soo much better and I was able to continue on. mile 22 I really was soo done The 5 hour pacers had caught me and I could hear the pacer saying now s the time to dig deep find someone to dedicate this mile to. JaNae had asked me to run a mile for her so I did 22 for her, thru her strength I got through it and mile 23 I dedicated to Hayley, both "my fallen running buds". during the 23 mark we came out of the canyon and onto a walking trail. There were soo many people I just couldn't walk. I don't think I walked through another water stop. I was running pretty slow though it took every ounce of energy to make it. Don had texted me at some point saying he was at 24th street I didn't know what he meant but when we finally turned onto another road I saw a stop light ahead it said 21st street. Someone shouted just 5 blocks to go!! I counted down the lights I knew the finish was on 25th street. I knew where to look for Don. slowly I ran, as I saw all the lines of people and the stop lights became less and less finally I was past 23rd street and started scanning for don and the kids. I think I saw Cora first I took my visor and sunglasses off (I hardly used them anyway since the sun was on my back the whole time) and through them at her. All of a sudden Don was at my side almost pushing me, the pacer lady had passed me but she was just in front of me and I picked up my pace a teensy and passed her right before we crossed. the clock said 5:05:.
I didn't know if I wanted to collapse or what I was in a huge daze. I didn't know where to go or what to do. I told Don to go back to the kids. so he did. I went and got an orange slice and just wanted to sit but the grass was all wet. I found a dry spot and sat for a few minutesI knew i had beaten the 5 hour mark. My watch said 4:55 so I sent a text to my friends that I finished in 4:55. Then my phone pretty much died. i got back up and walked around in soo much pain. I couldn't stand in line for a massage so I decided to leave the runners area and find my family. I wanted to go home. We went and bought my 26.2 charm and then walked to the car. Drove to Bridgette's and got my stuff and headed home.

I had to stop twice at the bathrooms. I rarely had to stop when I trained so this was discouraging to me. But they were VERY quick stops! although the second one I just wanted to sit... I forgot I had stopped my watch when I went in the bathroom but I was still confidant I made my 5 hour goal because I passed in front of the 5 hour pacer and she should have finished about 3 minutes before the 5 hour point.
Waited all day for results to be posted but they never were. I finally saw on facebook that they were posted and so I went and looked it up. My heart sank, I almost cried it said 5:00:18. How could I have missed my goal by 18 seconds! 18 SECONDS!!! I was pretty cranky the rest the night. I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to get up I got on the computer and saw a couple people talking about how their times were off. I KNEW I passed under the clock at 5:05 and I looked at my results again, they said I passed at 5:08. They are three minutes off! It made me feel so much better! My watch distance said 26.44 in 4:55:17. So really I did do my 26.2 miles in under 5 hours..

I am pretty happy about it. And even though At mile 24 I thought this was worse than natural child birth I was thinking about my next marathon two hours later. How can I NOT do that again... The only question is when? WILL I do Ogden again next year? I feel like I HAVE to beat my time!! I am going to take cross training seriously because I see how well it benefited my friend. So I know it will make me a stronger runner! And I just know I have to do this again. Next thing... Is the marathon pictures. ugh...

in the taper

So I made it the 20 miles! I felt good, legs were so tired at the end but I made it I finally am at the taper. Did the happy dance, then fell down crying... no I wasn't hurt, but my running buddy is!! I can't believe I am going to the Marathon alone!! not sharing that special moment with my cousin JaNae!! I am so heartbroken I have had a hard time getting out to even run. I hardly ran at all last week. I promised myself yesterday I wouldn't slack this week. I would get all my runs in, but here it is Monday afternoon and no run yet today! i had other obligations this morning at the school so I didn't get up early for a run and it has been raining all day so I didn't want to take Sadie out in the stroller. I just need 4 miles, just 4. I hope I can find them!
I look forward to having my marathon over with and like being in the 9th month of pregnancy I keep telling myself I won't do this to myself again but deep down I know I will and I know when I will do it too.
I have signed up for a few more summer runs and I am feeling completely guilty with the Saturdays I am taking. I am ruining our summer hogging it to myself. I have decided to take up trail running and look forward to my first trail run the week after my marathon when we go camping. I have signed up for a trail run series (3 runs) for the summer and I CAN'T WAIT!!

this month in training

week after week I have not reached my training miles. the long runs yes, but during the week it has been a struggle. I decide to not get up and to do it later in the day but it usually doesn't happen. I did 20 miles a week ago and it was so horrible. I just didn't know what to do. I felt like I had made a huge mistake, am I even mentally ready for a marathon when I can't make it through a 20 mile training run. well I swept it under the rug, put my chin up and started another week, which happened to be a rest week so I didn't have as many miles. bad news for me. I missed 2 runs but the good part was the 12 miles Saturday which flew by and I had a great pace! I felt fabulous the whole run and really felt like I could have gone further- which makes me think I will most likely stick to half marathons. it is pushing me but doesn't take soo much time like this crazy marathon. this week is my second 20 miler. the day of my 20 miler was the day of the Salt Lake Marathon. Don had decided to do the bike tour. I just love the race atmosphere! It totally pumps you up!! I will definitely do something next year in the many events of the SLM. I have been listening to podcasts while I run, which I am really enjoying! this past saturday I was listening to one and the guy said he started running to run away from himself but in the process found himself. Oh it is beautiful I love it!!
This morning I got up and it sounded like it was pouring rain. It was too dark to see but don said yes it was indeed pouring so I didn't go out. An hour later when we did get up the sky was clearing and I thought I will go out in a couple hours with Sadie in the stroller. so after dropping the kids at school we came home I pulled the stroller out and thought I will wait till 10-10:30 to let it warm up a little. well when I went to go change my clothes and head out it was huge grey clouds out!! so I hurried and put the stroller away and am very sad. I hope I can get out later. I really want to stick to my training this week!

8 miles to go!!

Today I had 18 on the calendar and I did it!! I DID IT!! I feel good about my training although I have had another week of slackership! lol! I was really scared for this run for the sole fact I had to do it alone! All my friends ran earlier in the week. I texted another friend Angela, She only had 14 to do but her and a bunch of others were meeting so I decided to join with them. Wendy also came down. She ran 8. I did run by myself but I was in a new area but it was so beautiful and different I just loved it and really enjoyed my run. I ran out and back 6 (which makes 12) When I got back everyone was done so I decided to just run home. I estimated it should be pretty close to 6. But it would be better than having to have Wendy wait for me to run another 6 miles. (she drove us there) They thought I was pretty crazy but I was determined to get my 18 in. I really felt good. I got to about 15 and when I stopped at a light I was in major pain and as soon as I started running I couldn't feel it. When I hit 18 I was just about home. I ended up doing 18.47. Feeling good. also I kept thinking I only have to run this many miles 3 more times ha!

ok here is my post for Daily mile.. I liked it better. plus I thought of something else I Wanted to mention. I decided I really do like to run by myself. I like the fact that I can go the pace I want! it makes me much more comfortable. I ran a bout 30 second faster than my original marathon pace. I think I will pace myself at 11 minutes, set my watch to chime if I got over 10:30 or under 11:30. I think this is going well and look forward to my 20 in two weeks!