Run...Drive...Sleep??...Repeat

Last weekend was one of the funnest, craziest, most exhausting two days and I would do it all over again in a heart beat!  Two weeks before this was all supposed to happen, I got a excited phone call from my girlfriend telling me a spot opened up on her team.  Because I had been training for a half marathon she knew I would be ready to go.  Nick was great and agreed to let me do it, he was hesitant because it costs so much--"you're paying how much to run for 2 days and not sleep?!" Let's just say this is my birthday present this year.....
I knew Connie and I work with Lindsey, the team was mostly made up of Lindsey's ward. I told Nick I was so lucky to meet awesome people.  I really am so grateful that 1. I even had the opportunity to do this  2. I was in shape and ready to do this with last minute notice.  As much as I'm looking forward to doing it again next year, I'm hoping I won't be able too cause I'll be pregnant or have a baby.....

Picture Overload from Van #2:

 Off and running my first leg

 My first kill and it felt so good :)

 Our sweet van move over tour de France 

this was tour de Wasatch Back!

Ran through some gorgeous country in the middle 

of nowhere Utah

 This pic makes me laugh probably my favorite from the weekend

 Poor Paul took a spill running down Snow Basin

good thing we had a van of RNs!

 You don't want to know what's under the pink coban

Runner's feet are nasty! My poor toes :(

 Waiting to start leg #2 (my hardest leg)

 3.6 miles uphill

Trying to feel human the next morning

Finishing my 3rd leg

Lindsey's before pic

Lindsey tackling Ragnar Hill

(Guardsmen pass)

 Connie was a machine and ran Lindsey's last mile 

PLUS her 4 miles up Ragnar hill!!

 "Check my CK levels, I thinks I'm in Rhabdo!"

 Team Reese's Pieces

Pain You Enjoy

06/09/12

My goal this time around was to beat my first time (St George Half Marathon was 2:12:56) and I really wanted to have a strong finish.  My younger sister Amy was the only one crazy enough in my family willing to train and run it with me.  My two cousins from BYU-I were running the full marathon and their family came out from Chicago to cheer them on.

We woke up at 3:30 AM to bus up to the starting line, so this isn't the most flattering picture taken at 4:00 in the morning.

The starting line was up Provo Canyon (the full marathon started in Wallsburg above Deer Creek Reservoir). It was a beautiful morning, just a little chill but not cold. The course wasn't as downhill as I thought it would be (and there was a head wind), even though it was a drop in elevation the canyon still has quite a bit of uphill. I grew up at the mouth of Provo Canyon so I really felt like I was running in my own backyard.  Mile 8 we came out of the canyon and started down University Ave and I was still feeling good.  My parent's neighborhood was right in front of mile 9 and my whole family was outside to cheer us on.

 Amy is in the pink top black shorts

and I'm just behind her yellow top blue shorts

Nick joined me at my parents house and my girlfriend Connie joined us at Wills Pit stop, they both finished the last few miles with me.  About mile 10 I hit my wall and started to slow down, Amy had already taken off and was ahead of me.  Nick and Connie were amazing support running next to me and encouraging me the last (and hardest) few miles. I remember seeing mile marker 11 and thinking only 2 more miles, that's only 20 more minutes.  The finish line was on Center St in Provo in front of the Tabernacle and I could see it down University Ave but it felt SO FAR AWAY!  At 100 N the finish chute started and Connie and Nick left me (but still ran along the side) I remember Connie yelling above the crowd "RUN AMBER RUN! PUSH IT!!!"  I don't where or how but I just kicked it up and crossed the finish line strong. 

 TIME 2:03:05

I beat my previous time by almost 10 minutes! My average pace time was 9:23 min/mile!!

Amy did awesome and finished in 1:58:02 We waitied around for my cousins to finish the full marathon. Austin was hoping to qualify for Boston unfortunately he didn't but he still made amazing time 3:28:57

This was Ethan's first marathon and poor guy starting cramping with 12 miles left but he still finished with a time 4:21:05

Watching the full marathoners cross the finish line almost almost makes me want to run a full marathon 26.2 miles!  Who know's maybe next year? EEK!  I know I'm talking crazy talk but guess what I'm doing this weekend?

RUN, DRIVE, SLEEP (??) REPEAT

Stay tuned.......

Race For Red

Saturday May 12 was the Race for Red put on by the Cardiac service line at the hospital I work at.
I've been training for my half marathon and after running 8+ miles paying to run a 5k is kinda a waste BUT since I am a cardiac nurse I felt I should support my work.  I didn't really have a goal, I was just doing this for fun. Nick ran with my phone that has a running GPS app on it.  He was a few steps ahead of me and at mile 1 I asked if we were doing well.  The phone said we were running a 8:30 min/mile! He thought the phone wasn't working and didn't tell me our pace. I had no idea how fast we were running. The last mile I started to slow down and became really discourage (I was thinking I was running a 9:45 pace). How on earth can I run 13.1 miles in less than a month if I can't run 3.1 miles at this pace! As we were approaching the finish line I saw my manager and remember thinking: either he's running really slow or I'm going faster than I thought. Nick started yelling at me "Don't let Ian beat you!"  I pushed it (thought I was going to throw up) Ian crossed two seconds ahead of me. 

Finished 27:08 

My fastest race!