I'm still a runner!

Today I ran! Okay so it was more like a walk/jog/run, but I did it. All 3 miles of it. We got a treadmill from Kathy last weekend, so now I can get back to running without the fear of being seen by the general public. It felt great. I am ready to start setting new goals. I'm excited to run some of the races that I have done in the past, only faster! I'm grateful for a strong healthy body that is capable of running, even if currently it is slow and can't go very far.

I'm still a runner

I know you were all wondering. To be honest I was wondering too. I hurt my foot somehow during the Tri-for-the-Cure. I didn't realize I hurt it, I just know that the evening after the race, it hurt, like a lot. The pain is in the center of the ball of my foot. I did some research online to see what it could be and how to treat it and decided to just stay off of it for a while and see what happens. It would start to feel better, then...not, and then at Lake Powell I stepped on it wrong and really hurt it, so I thought about going to the doctor, but then I didn't. The point of this story is I've gotten really behind on my running goal, but if you'll take a look at the little ticker up above I'm just about to break the 300 mile mark and I'm excited about that. Actually I'm kind of bummed because if I had remembered that I was that close I would have gone another half of a mile today. Oh well. So I made a goal at the beginning of the year to run 10 miles a week or 520 miles this year (the distance from Denver to Salt Lake City). If you do the math with the number of weeks left in the year (12) and the number of miles I have left to run (220) that comes to 18.33 miles per week. Pretty impossible for me. Or is it? In the last 3 days I have clocked... wait for it... wait for it...16 freakin' miles! BOO YA! That's 3 on Friday, 10 on Saturday and 3 today. My foot was bothering me today and I think it was because I was out on concrete and the last two days I have been on the treadmill. I'm also icing it after each run and hoping that will help. So for now I'm not ready to give up on my goal, I'm just taking it one day at a time and trying to remember that I can do hard things!

Peace Out Yo! and a triathlon.

Apparently not all triathlons are completely evil. It was just that one that was evil. Tri-for-the-cure was much nicer. The swim was 50% longer than my first tri but it really didn't seem that much longer and the bike was about 4 1/2 miles shorter, with no hills that I had to walk up, thank you very much. The run was also a good course, uphill at first then pretty flat then downhill at the end. Our transition times were horrible because it's such a huge race and our transition area was way at the end, far from all the start and finish lines but over all everything took about as long as we thought it would.
Heather's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and her and her husband were there at the finish line which made the event extra special. It was a great moment.
So here are the official stats. I swear one of these days we ought to train for these races. We would be awesome! But for now we'll just be happy with finishing.
Clock Time 02:30:14
Overall Place 2283 / 2411
Division Place 330 / 386
Swim (750 m) 00:28:57
Swimrank 2206
Trans1 00:08:56
Bike (11.4 miles) 01:02:45
Bikerank 2325
Mph 10.8
Trans2 00:07:54
Runrank 1912
Run (3.1 miles)00:41:41
Pace 00:13:26

“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

- John Bingham

I felt so good during this race! Maybe the best I've ever felt running, which is surprising considering the lack of training that took place. The last couple of miles my legs felt like jell-o, but I didn't have any major cramps or pain other than the pain in my toes. The tip of my second toe on both feet is purple and still numb almost 12 hours later. Our average pace was about 12 min 40 sec, but I know we killed the first 3 miles. After that we got into a good steady pace until about mile 10 when Heather's feet started cramping and stopped her in her tracks a few time. We took it a little easier after that. She was in a lot of pain. We finished with a time of 2 hours 48 minutes. I'm so happy about that. I didn't have any idea what to expect but I was really hoping for under 3 hours and we totally did that. I enjoyed this race so much more than the triathlon, where I felt like I was going to die. But after the tri I wasn't sore at all and after the half I'm sooo very sore. I'll be surprised if I can walk tomorrow. It's weird. Anyway, here's a little bit about the race-

SLACKER HALF MARATHON
The highest DOWNHILL half marathon in the country.
beginning at 10,630 feet and traveling over a rolling hill descent to 8400 feet! The half marathon begins at Loveland Ski Area and travels the first five miles through a Forest Service area of wetlands and natural waterfalls on a non-motorized paved bike path built to sustain the weight of an ambulance! The second 4.4 miles travel from Bakerville to Silver Plume along a paved frontage road with amazing views of the Continental Divide and mining remnants. The last portion of the trail & the 4-Mile race travels from Silver Plume to Georgetown on a paved bike trail (and paved road) with scenic views of the Georgetown Loop Railroad and the largest Bighorn Sheep herd in the State! The race ends in downtown Georgetown where there are more freebies than you know what to do with!

info taken from http://www.slackerhalfmarathon.com/

The whole race route was beautiful, especially the first 5 miles. I would totally do this race again, however, it did not give me any desire to do a full marathon at this time. :)

Warning: This post may contain whining and complaining.

Phrases like "I hate you!" and "This is the worst day of my life!!" were being thrown around during the race. Now that I have 36 hours between myself and the tri I can say I'm glad I did it, but at the time I would have been glad to fall over dead to get out of having to finish it. It sucked people! Let me break it down.

The swim was hard. I knew it would be since I had only trained twice for it, in a pool, never in open water. But honestly it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being- I could do that in my sleep, and 10 being- I'd rather shoot myself in the head than ever do that again, I would give the swim a 7.

The bike. I also knew it would be difficult. In fact, it was the part I was most concerned about. To train I took a total of 3 spin classes and they in no way prepared me for the conditions of this race. The bike portion was 16 miles, (just as a side note, the next person who says "It's only 16 miles", "That's a short ride", "16 miles, that's easy", or any other version of that comment, I swear I'm going to slap their grandma. You've been warned!) 16 miles of monster hills, hills of which I mostly walked up... in cycling shoes. If you're not familiar with cycling shoes, they have a metal clip on the bottom of them that clips into the petal of the bike. They are made for cycling. They are not for walking. As I approached a hill I tried to build up as much speed as possible to carry me up the hill, but no amount of pedaling was enough. At some point on the hill, usually pretty early on, the bike would slow and then just stop, at which time I had no choice but to get off and walk up the hill. So on that same scale of 1 to 10 I would have to give the bike a big, fat, bloody 10! I should mention that it had nothing to do with the bike I used either. The bike was awesome! Thanks Shay! It was just me that was not so awesome.

Any who, then came the run. It's worth mentioning that when I got back from the bike ride 95% of the participants were already done with the run and either loading up to go home or sitting around enjoying their post race sandwiches. And I was about 95% sure I was going to skip the run, until I saw my cheering section. My parents were there and my brother Trent and his wife and kids, but the ones that got me were my boys. They were standing by the fence at the transition area cheering "Good job mom! You can do it mom!" and little McKay saying "You're da best mom evor!" So of course I had to finish. It was hot by then, and it was a pretty rugged trail run but I walked a lot of it and over all I would give it a 5.5.

I finished of the race by having an emotional break down. Tears of pain? Tears of joy that it was over? Tears of embarrassment that I was almost the last person across the finish line? All of it!

I figure that if you average the rankings from each event, taking into consideration that the bike portion took twice as long as the other two so I counted it double, the total experience would receive a 10.83! For reals ya'll, it sucked!

In the end it was a great bonding experience with my brother, Carson, who made me do it and whom I have since forgiven. It's one more thing I can check of my list. And regardless of my super embarrassing time, which I am not going to share, I am proud of myself for finishing it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to post my official stats, so here they are:

bib number: 217
overall place: 200 out of 202
division place: 29 out of 29
gender place: 103 out of 105
time: 2:38:40
swim (500 m): 19:39
t1: 3:51
bike (16 miles): 1:29:00
t2: 2:56
run (3 miles): 43:14

Bolder Boulder 2011

On Memorial Day we got up bright and early and headed to the bus which was headed to Boulder. Crazy place Boulder is and the Bolder Boulder is a crazy race. No one was handing out bacon this year but along the race route there were people handing out beer and cupcakes and organic Doritos, cotton candy, marshmallows and free hugs! Not that I could have eaten any of the good food without puking but it's fun just to see all of the people having fun with the race. Next year I think I plan to walk it at a leisurely pace and partake of all of the goodness the event has to offer, okay not the beer but for sure the cotton candy and hopefully there will be bacon. I also plan to do the slip and slide and get a free hug from everyone who is offering one. Any way, our official times were:

Bryce-59:03

Natalie-1:25:03 (that included a 4 minute bathroom break)

I looked at all of the results by age today and it turns out that I got my trash kicked by a whole bunch of people as young as 6 years old all the way up to 84 years old. How ever, there were two 85 year old people and I beat them both, so BOO YEAH!!

They list the top 30 men and top 30 women in each age group and Bryce was less than 1 minute behind the #30 boy in his age group which I think is great. There are some dang fast kids out there though, the #1 10 year old boy finished in just under 34 minutes. That's about how fast I can fun a 5K and the Bolder Boulder is 10K. I don't know how they do it. Pretty Amazing!

Highline Canal 5K 2011

in May of 2010 we ran this race for the first time and finished it in 41min 38 sec. We just ran it again today in 33 min and 41 sec.!!! That's almost an 8 minute improvement!!This year our friend Krisi joined us and also set her personal best time.

Way to go Krisi!!!

So I had this moment while running along the canal where I saw a shadow of my previous self running in that same spot just one year ago, nearly in tears because it hurt so bad. Complaining every step of the way and wanting so badly to quit. Luckily I have a great running buddy who hooked her arm through mine in those moments and pulled me along never letting me give up. We have come really far in the past year and I am sooooo proud of us.

Love you Heather!!

Who's ran 100.7 miles this year? It's totally me!! Who deserves a trip to Copper Falls Spa for a massage and pedi? Also, totally me!
I missed my first race of the year, the St. Patty's Day 5K. I know, sad :(. This race is the first race Heather and I did last year. The first race of my "I'm a runner" era, so I was really looking forward to running it again and seeing how much I've improved. Plus today was sunny and like 60 degrees compared to last year's race which was snowing and 17 degrees! It was a great day for a race. But I missed it for a good cause. Nate was testing for his yellow belt in Taekwando. Which he rocked by the way! I'm so proud of him!! And even though I missed my race I got to go run Mitchell Creek Canyon with Bryce. It's a difficult 7 mile round trip trail, lots of ups and downs and jumping across rocks and the wind doesn't help, but it goes by much faster than the boring old treadmill.
So, my awesome run plus taking a nap the last two days plus going out with Heather tonight plus already deciding that we are skipping church tomorrow have all helped me to survive Sam's absents the last 4 days. He has been in Vegas watching the college b-ball tournaments, and I have been here losing my mind! I adore my kids, and was really looking forward to them have a three day school week last week so we could do some fun things together, and we have, yesterday we climbed the rock and the weather has been so nice we've spent a lot of time playing out side. But over all they have been out of their minds, crazy. Oy and the fighting and the arguing. Seriously if I have to hear this conversation one more time someone is not going to live through it.
"yes you did"
"no I didn't"
"yes you did"
"no I didn't"
"yes you did"
"no I didn't"
"yes you did"
"no I didn't"
"yes you did"
"no I didn't"
Or any other variation of it. "yes he is", "no he isn't" or "yes they are", "no they aren't". Oh my gosh. I tell ya, It's killin me. Any way, this started out as a positive post about my 100 miles and I'm not sure how it turned in to a rant about my crazies. The point is, I'm so verry, verry glad that my dear, wonderful, awesome, husband is coming home tonight and so glad that we are sleeping in tomorrow, which by the way is Abby's 9th birthday! So, that's all I've got for now cuz I'm going to dinner and a movie with Heather, yay us!!

Update

So it turns out I have not yet lost my awesome. I just needed a small rant. After my last post I told the hot wings and the snow to shut it and I went to the gym. Yap, that's how good I am. In all reality though once at the gym I was ready to be done with the treadmill at mile one, but luckily I brought Heather along and she made me do 3, then we went to "Subway, eat fresh" and had a mostly nutritious lunch. I did add some vanilla creamer to my diet Coke, but I think I earned it. So with towel in hand (you remember, the one I was about to throw in just a couple of hours ago) I would like to say thank you to Heather and also to Meg (sorry her blog is private, cuz for real you're missin out) and Mamarazzi for their lovely bloggie comments. I'm for reals so lucky to have such an amazing support system.

Seriously, don't you just love seeing the little running ticker moving across the top of my blog. Okay, I understand if you aren't as excited about it as I am, but come on, it's kinda cool. I've been trying not to brag about what an awesome runner I am, (mostly cuz I'm really not) but I have to say today I rocked it. It was one of those crazy weeks, Sam was out of town most of the week and the kids had a thousand and one different activities so I didn't think that I was going to reach my running goal for the week. Then today the sun was shining and it was a beautiful 60 degree January day and I decided I could go get in my last four miles running out side. Of course I can always count on Bryce to be a willing running partner, so we headed out towards Mitchell Creek Canyon. It was a super fun run (yes, i said super fun) so we decided what the heck, let's make it 7 miles, so we did.
A nice break from my treadmill boredom is just what I needed.
In other news, Bryce won his Pinewood Derby! Pictures and maybe video to come.

520

This year I'm going to run from Denver to Salt Lake City. Okay, not really, but my goal is to run at least 10 miles a week which by the end of the year will equal 520 miles, roughly the distance from Denver to Salt Lake City. I have 7 races in mind, including a lot of the same ones I did last year + a half marathon and a sprint triathlon. You can follow my progress on the ticker at the top of this here blog. All I have to say is BRING IT!

I'm a runner

pictures from all but one of the races I've finished this year

I was just looking back through all of my "I'm a runner" posts. If you're interested you can read them HERE. Wow. I've come a long way. I didn't get here as fast as I had planned and I'm still not really a real runner, like really, really not really a real runner, but I have met almost every goal I set for myself this year.

Finish my first 5K in 45 min. Check

Finish the Bolder Boulder in an hour and a half. Check

Run a whole mile. Check

Run a mile in under 10 min. Check

Run a whole 5K- no walking. Totally Check

This last goal was originally meant to be completed in an actual race and after the Castle Rock Stake 5K I almost gave up on the goal all together. It had been a while since I had done any sort of running, but last week I decided I should give it a try and see how it went. I was thinking that if it went okay I might register for the Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving Day 5K. I went out side and started running. I made it around the block and decide that was enough. My lungs were hurting from the cold air. Then last Tuesday I went to the rec. center and started running, and it felt easy so I just kept running and I totally ran a whole 5k-no walking. It was a pretty slow 5k, about 42 min, but I did it. Then tonight I went to the rec. center and I did it again in 39 minutes. So I have yet to run a whole 5k-no walking, in a race, but I'm counting it. Plus, I just registered Bryce and myself for the Turkey Trot, so I have one more chance this year to do it in a race. We'll see what happens.

I totally couldn't have done it without the most awesome running buddy in the world, who practically dragged me through more than one of the races.

Thanks Heather

And thanks to Bryce who has done 3 of the 5 races with me and totally kicks my butt every time which motivates me to do better.

And thanks to all of the others who have encouraged me though out this year, and ran with me.

I have a rockin support system.

This is now sounding like a really long acceptance speech and I haven't even won an award.

So really I'm done.

*cue music*

first family 5k

I finally got the whole family to run a 5k with me. Don't they look thrilled. We had to get up at 6:00 this morning. Way too early for a Saturday. Bryce is my running buddy and was up ready to go by 5:45. We had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way to get an air pump for the stroller, then we were ready to roll. It was perfect overcast weather for running. Sam pushed the stroller almost the whole time because he rocks. Bryce took off from the start and finished in 26 min. 22 sec.!!! He's amazing! The rest of us finished in around 45 minutes. There was also a group of ladies from aerobics there. It was fun to be there with lots of friends and of course my amazing family!

9 minutes, 59 seconds!

Up til now I've been doing the "I'm a runner" thing pretty half way.

I didn't finish the 8 week walk/run program and even though I've finished two 5Ks and a 10K, and made my time goal on all of them, I still haven't ran a whole 5K straight.

The most I've ran without a walking break is just over 1 mile,

but I'm still celebrating the small victories.

Like last night I ran a mile in under 10 minutes for the first time ever.

I brought a stop watch,

when I passed the mile mark I hit the stop button

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I open my eyes and looked.

9 minutes and 59 seconds

Victory!!!

Soooo, I'm recommitting.

My goal for the next 5K is to run the whole thing and

to get the whole family involved.

Abby and Gracie both ran with me this week.

Bryce has been running with me for a while.

So now I just need to work on Sam and Nate.

My next race is the Manassa Pioneer Days 5K

on the 24th of July.

Who else will run it with me?

Bolder Boulder 2010K

30 minutes before the race.

We had so much fun running (jogging/walking) the Bolder Boulder 10 K.
It's the 2nd largest race in the country, with around 60,000 participants.
Their were people racing in
chicken suits,
and gorilla suits,
and wedding dresses,
and tutus,
and super man underoos.
The streets were lined with
bands,
and belly dancers
and cheerleaders,
and those lovely people with hoses and sprinklers to cool off the racers.
It's a very entertaining race.

Today every inch of my body hurts but it was worth it.

I ran with my friend Heather and Bryce ran with her son Anthony.

My official time was
1:29:13.24

Bryce's official time was
1:21:39.01

Bolder Boulder 2011
Here We Come!
Who's with me?

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day Weekend was completely lovely. It started Saturday morning with the High Line Canal 5 K. Which I finished in 41 min. and 38 sec. If you're keeping track that is almost 4 minutes faster than the last one. But the best part of was the end, and not just because it was the end but also because I got the amazing surprise of seeing my family waiting for me at the finish line. It meant sooo much to me that they were there. After I crossed the line I cried like a little baby. It was so great. They brought me flowers and my amazing Mother's Day gift. My new flip video camera. Which they used to take this little clip.

I seriously have the best family. Ever.

Then Heather and I were off to get pedicures.

Then I came home to a clean house! Including my bed being made by Bryce. He left a note saying, I love you mom. From Bryce with a $5 bill on it. How cute is that.

Last night Sam took Heather (Her husband is working in AZ, and couldn't be here) and me to Monument, to eat dinner a Texas Roadhouse where we stuffed ourselves silly. Then we went to Iron Man 2. It was a fun movie.

This morning the goodness continued with staying in bed till 11:30ish and getting a yummy breakfast in bed. Which included orange sweet rolls.

Church was great. Erryn Walker talked on Emma Smith and Motherhood. It was touching. RS was great. Olivia Brower sang two musical numbers and it was really wonderful. We got chocolate and Gracie made me a special mirror.

I just went to water my little garden and Mother Nature has also given me a nice little gift. I have baby lettuce and spinach peeking through the dirt. I'm so exited!

And the roast Sam made for dinner is done!

It has been a wonderful weekend. Thanks to my amazing kids and unbelievable husband!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the fabulous Mothers I know.

I'm a runner- update

Yesterday was pretty much sucktastic!

Then it got better.

Then it got worse.

Then I went shopping,

which was good.

But I spent way too much money,

which was bad.

Then I went for a run.

Which was GREAT!

My plan was to go one mile.

Running the whole way,

Cuz I still haven't done that out side.

But then I did it!

I did it in

11 Minutes!!!

I'm doing the High Line Canal 5K on Saturday.

pictures to come!

I'm a runner! Highlands Ranch St Patrick's Day 5K

After all of my recruiting efforts, Heather is the only person I got to run with me. Thanks Heather, You're the Best!

We found out early in the week that a big storm was blowing in on Friday. Apparently the luck of the Irish was not with us. Friday we got 5 to 8 inches of snow. We decided that we would get up Saturday morning and drive to Highlands Ranch (about 20 minutes away), we would at least pick up our t-shirts and decide from there if we would run or not. It was about 17 degrees and super icy and slushy. It was not looking good, but we figured we would give it a shot anyway. We got our shirts, and then it happened. The sun came out!

The only positive thing I have to say about the race is that I finished it and almost in the time that I had set as my goal. My goal was 45 minutes, and my time was 45 minutes 27 seconds. Other than that the experience pretty much sucked. The coarse was slick, my legs cramped, I had a hard time breathing and Heather had to drag me part of the way. The only thing that made it worth it, besides the since of accomplishment, was the pedicures afterwards.

Will I do it again?

Probably, cuz I'm crazy like that.

I'm a runner. 16 days to go.

Today I set a new personal record

13 minutes,

that is strait running, at 5 miles/hr.

Only weeks ago

I was struggling to go 1 whole min.

without stopping and walking.

I have been a little wishy washy

about running the St. Patrick's Day 5K

on march 20th.

But tonight I went for it.

I registered for the race.

Who's going to j0in me?

Today- I'm a runner

I haven't ran in at least 2 weeks,

and when I did run,

well,

it wasn't going so great,

but today

I

rocked

it.

Remember, it's all relative,

and for me every tiny success in this arena

is a

very big deal.

I did a 5K in

42 minutes,

of those 42 minutes I ran,

really ran,

24 minutes.

My longest consecutive run was

9.5 minutes.

A record for me.

I was even kind of enjoying it.

I didn't even have muscle cramps.

It was hard.

I was really pushing myself.

And at one point all I could do was picture myself on the floor

passed out

behind my treadmill.

But still

I kind of enjoyed it.

The weather is supposed to be nice the rest of the week,

so maybe I'll try running outside again.

wish me luck

I still need it.

Lots of it.