St George Marathon Oct.1 2011

My Favorite Marathon!! St George marathon holds a special place in my heart. I will always try to race this one! This was at least number 9 for St George so I thought it is about time i shoot for a sub 3! That is holding a 6:52 minute mile to achieve that goal.
With alot of speed work training and getting all my miles in i feel ready to rock this race. injury free before a marathon race for the first time! wow! I made it!! almost... 2 weeks before I dropped a drawer on my foot! a freakin DRAWER! No worries just swollen and sore...
RACE DAY...  woke up to my phone ringing with my ride out side. AHH!! Had my alarm set for PM not AM. AHH!! bad start.
Arrive at the start line at 615 am. 30 minutes til the gun shot. Perfect weather as we waited for the start. didn't need to be by the fires which was good cuz i had to be in the line for the port-a-potty.  Due to the late wake up I hadnt even peeped at this point (T.M.I. I know..) and if your a running, You know how important that morning bathroom time is.... enough said :)
got outta the potty 6:43 run to the elite starting corral... gunshot! It's on!!
Felt amazing. My friend kept telling me to slow down. "no need for a 6:20-30 mile right now" he kept saying. but i felt SO good!! but he knows more about this stuff so i listened... 
mile 13. time 1:29.. Potty- shoot. got out at 1:31 still right on my time cuz in St George you should always negative split or you did something wrong! so I've got this right? hmm...
Crushed the next 7 miles averaged 6:33. Mile 20- potty yup agian.... 23 potty...seriously? seriously!  I knew i couldnt hit my goal...Crossed the finish line at 3:04 . Although it wasnt my goal. I still P.R.'d! i flet so good after the race!

Couldnt believe I the way my body recovered. typically the day after walking fast HURTS but I do it just to losen up. i started my walk and felt amazing..so I broke the rules and jogged  at a easy 10 minute mile for 5 miles. I've never been able to do that the day after. I didnt get my sub 3.. but my bady is so ready for it ! Cant wait for my next chance!

Utah half Ironman August 2011

Flat, fast and LOCAL race! Perfect to shoot for my sub 5 half ironman. had been doing crossfit for about 7 weeks prior to this race. I've Heard reat things about how it can really cut training time down so didn't do near as much "training" that I would typically do for a Half Iron... Had to see how it would work for race day...
the swim i felt AMAZING!! and i'm not much of a swimmer! got outta the water at 33 minutes. (for me, is GOOD!!)

Slapped on my gear in T1.   ready for a ride full of sunshine! Laughing and getting to know those racers around me. i had a Blast! Not pushing speed too much holding about 21 miles per hour. Finished the bike at exactly 2:30! Stocked! . Time to RUN!!!!

My goal was a 1:45 half marathon.. Had a bunch of my friends out cheering my on. Thats always motivating to tr to look like your not struggling :)
kept my slow steady pace pretty good. I finished at 4 hours and 57 minutes. I got it! my sub 5!!

1st in my age and 9th overall. Super happy with that!!

Matties First half Marathon! Oh yeah!

Moonlight half marathon! Oh and you guessed it, the day of, Im talking to Matt about how fun it would be. Half joking say, "we should do it together!" yeah, like our sweet Friday "date night". Took him a second but HE SAID YES!!! What? My hubby? He HATES running!! 13.1 miles in the moonlight down hobble creek canyon. Matt of course did amazing and finished feeling like the champ that he is!!

Utah Valley Marathon June 2011

Beautiful race! Gradual downhill through Provo canyon! My favorite place! My goal was 115. I hadn't done much "training" for a fast marathon so thought I'd see how i could hold a 7:20 pace. a little disappointed when i crossed at 3:17. My nutrition was defiantly off! 4 potty break...yea 4!! ahh!!  Im learning though....thats what matters :)

Timp Trail Marathon

So 2 weeks after Ironman St George I hear about  a trail marathon..ooo exciting! So I decide to go out and give it a shot... Just planning on a nice easy long run.   Wore my Skins thermals. LOVE them!! My hydration belt and salt sticks and im ready to go!! Started pretty chilly but knew that would change. Climbing the first few hills were intense...yes climbing NOT running :)
Got up to some beautiful waterfalls and jumping over (or into) freezing rivers, sliding through icy mud....SO FUN!
At the summit was snow. Trying to follow those that were ahead of my I found myself tripping and just all over the place.  So, i decided to make my own footprints...MUCH easier in that crunchy snow.
The descent was fun and messy. Ineeded to strip my top thermal off. Oh the glorious sun was out!. Found myself in first place overall the women. I was actually kinda surprised but hey I'll take a first place :)
Final time 5 hours and  minutes.

St George Ironman 2011

Its been awhile! Too long! Its time to start buckling up and getting serious! Next year is going to be MY YEAR! I can feel it! ...or I can HOPE it, right? :)
Quick summer re-cap...
St George Ironman! Talk about HOT!! wow! 95 degrees by the time I started my run! Holy hannah! I didnt get my goal of low 12 hour race but that's ok I learned! and learned ALOT! 2010 was super cold and 2011 was super hot...next years BOUND to be perfect!

Swim was GREAT!! well, felt great! finished in 1 hour and 20 min. GOAL 1 :15 :(

 The bike felt amazing! The heat starting to kick in. So many great athlete suffered with heat exhaustion. When i got off my bike Matt was there to greet me with a big hug and great words of encouragement! All I needed was a sub 4 hour marathon to get my goal of sub 12! Easy right? ...ummm, no!!
The RUN! or should i say....WALK ? Im not sure what happend. I got out of t-2 feeling AMAZING! I didnt feel like I had just finished 112 mile on the bike. I flelt like a million bucks! I'm not sure if it was the heat or my emotions or what...but I couldnt breath! I guess breathing is important or something :) I walked most of the way ....BUMMER!

My sweet family was there at the finish line to cheer a struggling athlete on! the emotions where nuts!