I did it for the sticker...

I love love love mountains - especially Utah's mountains.  When I moved back to Texas after college I ached for them.  And this last weekend I got to spend A LOT of time in them while running The Wasatch Back.  It's an 188 mile relay race that starts in Logan and ends in Park City.  We had a team of 12 runners and we each had 3 legs.  When you're not running you are acting as a support vehicle to whoever is.  It was so hard - I felt so tough - but it was SOO much fun.  I can't wait till next time!

For the race everyone comes up with a team name and then dresses up and decorates their van accordingly.  We were "Sweet Spirits" and we decided to dress up like Biker Chics.

Here's an exchange - you have a slap bracelet you pass on to one another.  It's exciting to wait for your runner to come in and to take off.

The team divides into two vans - 6 ladies in each.  Each van will do their 6 legs and then take time off while the other van does theirs - and then back to your own van.  This was our first down time on Friday evening and we really should have been sleeping but we were still all so full of adrenaline and it was so pretty.  And who can sleep at 7 in the evening anyhow?

We really did try though.  Sort of.

Our second legs started at 10:30 at night and didn't end until 4 in the morning.  We drove down to our next exchange point in Heber and got breakfast at the famous Chicks.  At least those of us who were still awake.  Some of the team stayed sleeping in the van.  The smart ones, at least.

All in all - even though I was BEYOND exhausted when I came home - it was so much fun and I really can't wait for the next one.  AND I now have a Ragnar sticker on my car.  That was really my main motivation...

Dozen.

So, we moved.  It wasn't a big move - just down the street really but it we're so glad we did.  Our new place is bigger, newer, cuter, FENCED, and right next door to one of my best friends(here's her rad cooking blog).  And this is our 12th place in ten years.  Why do we move so often?  I really don't know - there must be a part of us that likes it.  It's a chance to purge, change, grow, and start anew.   But mostly, it's just awful.  Speaking of awful...

Here is a photo from the Midway 15k I ran in with some great friends.  We left Friday night and made a girls trip out of it.  Which means I have a really nice husband who let me leave during the thick of things with this move.  The Wasatch Back is in three weeks and this race was kind of a prep for that.   (BTW - will this baby weight ever go away?  I want to enjoy my summer!)  Anyhow, with me in the pic is Callie, who I mentioned above - and Sheree - whom I love as well.  Like, seriously love.   She ran really well and while she was going she was snapping pictures with her camera.  So cute.  My BFF Marisa was there too but I don't like the way I look in the picture with her.  Isn't that terrible?

Happy June!

Dancing my way through the run...

Lately my running partner and I have had a hard time getting our schedules to match up so I've been doing a lot more of my runs solo. And once you've gotten used to chit chatting your way through a run it gets hard to go it alone.   But I've found a new strategy - dancing through my run.

I read recently on my friend Kristi's blog that itunes records the beats per minute for a lot of songs.  I guess DJ's like to know that kinda stuff...anyhow...  she mentioned that you could use that in your run if you knew your steps per minute.  So I went outside and jogged down the street counting my steps per minute.  Since not all of my songs in itunes had their BPM recorded, I downloaded a free trial of some software that would count my beats.  It was free because it only did the first half of my music library - which was kinda stinky but hey - it's free!  So, knowing that my SPM was around 160 I found music between 155 and 170 BPM and put it in order of the beats on my ipod. So I can start out slower and increase to 170 by the end of my run.

And it's been great - when I'm feeling tired or bored or when I start to panic a little I remind myself that all I have to do it start dancing.  And it works every time.  There is something so satisfying as moving your feet to music - in having my feet hit the ground on every beat.  And as long as the music is good - I get moving.  I also tend to play air drums along the way too.  It also works great for speed work because you can have a regular or slower paced song followed by a faster song - and continue alternating so you just have to follow the music.  Which is good - because I seriously need to get faster. 



And from the movie that taught me to love dancing...I totally teared up while watching this.  I'm a sentimental boob.

Pass gas, not judgment...

Well hello, folks.  So, did I tell you I got a running buddy?  Just last week I was complaining to my sister saying it was hard to find a running buddy for someone like me because they:

A) have to be pretty committed - like want to run at least a few times a week together
B) They have to be able to run at least a couple of miles, and
C) This is the real kicker - run slow.

It's easy to find someone who has A and B or A and C but hard to find all of the above...until there was Callie.  Callie is just what I needed and already I am excited to go so I can gab gab gab and have a break from normal momhood.  And gab I do.  So thanks, Callie.

Also, Ashley has got me doing all sorts of great stuff.  And it totally seems to be working.  She has me doing 8 sets of different kinds of sit-ups every day that I work out.  And she came over and taught me how to do all of these great strength workouts at home with very little equipment as I mentioned before.  So, it's great.  And I'm happy.

Also, Mike sent along this funny lists of rules for runners.  And yes, the title was one of them.  You should check it out for a laugh...

Mark Remy's Rules to Run By at Runner's World

And for some fun I thought I'd share a good dose of reality for another laugh.  These are the images I look at as I'm working out...

And here is what I look like...

Go ahead and chuckle.  Till next time...

It's a new year, folks!

Well, Happy New Year!  Last night I really didn't do much - just the normal we've got babies routine.  We let the kids stay up till ten and then we watched a movie(Julie & Julia) and ate too much food.  As for the movie - it was pretty good.  I think it would have been really good if we could have left out the part about Julie and just heard about Julia.   And speaking of eating too much food...

Today Ashely came over to go over the workout routines she had given me and to help me learn the moves and stuff.  If you didn't know it Ashley is a personal trainer and after I saw the amazing transformation of one of her clients I yearned for her services.  But it wasn't until she called about doing some pictures that I thought of trading my photography for her expertise.  It has been really good.  She really knows what she's talking about and has told me what equipment to get, how to use it, and is helping me train for my races.   In this photo you can see my slobby body as I'm doing fake jump roping.  I guess most of us don't have the ceiling space for regular ropes so she had me use one pound hand weights instead.  You can see cute little Ashley on the right.  So, that was good.  She also had me get a ball and a band and showed me how many many things you can do with those two basic tools.  It was great.  I'm excited to know all that new stuff!