Marathon

I registered for the Ogden Marathon today. I ran the marathon last year. Hopefully this year's race will be nicer to me. I didn't do very well in 2010's race which made me not want to run another marathon.

I might do another Marathon right before or after because once trained it is easy to stay trained.

We had a great Thanksgiving with Jason's family. Jason's grandma has been diagnosed with Pre-Pancreatic cancer the week of Halloween and the tumor was removed 2 days before Thanksgiving and she didn't even have to spend a night in the hospital. The Doctor said they got all of the cancer but they have to go in and get a little bit of the tumor still. The Doctor was telling her she doesn't know how lucky she is because this cancer is never caught early.

I think the fertility drugs still aren't working. I kind of forgot to get my blood tested this month to see if it worked so I will see if the doctor increases the dosage of Clomid this month. Obviously I am not very optimistic about it working because I registered for a marathon in the spring.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween!


Jason made his mind up Friday that he would join me and ran his first Half Marathon. My sister Danielle also ran her first half marathon at that race. Jason and I got free registration for volunteering at another race but Jason doesn't like running in the cold. The race was called the Halloween Half Marathon it starts at Aspen Grove up Alpine Loop and finishes at the Provo Riverwood Shops. The race dropped 2,000 feet my legs are still hurting from the race. Jason and I dressed up for the race. I wore the same costume as last year which is my poodle skirt and cat glasses and Jason was Death.


Here are pictures from the race


Jason before the race

Me a few miles into the race.The costume contest was won by this guy his Forrest Gump outfit was awesome! He was handing out chocolates.

After the race we went to In-N-Out with my Danielle and her family and my mom. After we got showered we laid down and feel asleep for a few hours.

We missed our neighborhood trunk or treat because of the nap so we went up to my brother Chris' and went up and down his street with his family. It was pouring rain till we got back to his house. Look how cute his youngest is. They are also having another baby girl in March.

Then we went by my friend Sheena's house and saw her little girl dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story 3.

We finished the night by going to Jason mom's house and saw his nephew's and niece. His mom had Taco Soup and Rice Crispy Treats for us to chow down on. I didn't buy any candy because we missed the neighborhood trunk or treat but Jason's family sent us home with lots of candy.

Max showing off that he could put 2 suckers in his mouth.

Ugg and Ugh

I have a pair of Pink Ugg boots that I love. I got them at TJ Maxx 4 or 5 years ago for about $60 and I live in the boots from October - April. One time I was wearing them before church because I didn't want to put my shoes on yet because they were so warm. I got to church and realized I didn't change my shoes and had to go home to change. The second I get home from work if I didn't wear them to work I put them on wear them on till I go to bed. When it is really cold I look at my bed and wish I could wear my boots to bed.

When I pulled them out and wore them for the first time this fall they rubbed the back of my foot and gave me a blister. I looked in the boot and the boot is worn down to the seam and the seam rubs my foot. I have looked into buying a new pair but they are over $100 so for now I put duck tape on the spot that rubs and I will see if that works.

I had my blood tested last week the fertility drugs still aren't working my level was .5 when it needs to be around 4. My doctor is increasing the Clomid again so if I am crazy for the next month that is why. I was talking to someone about my results they said they think I will have to do IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) to get pregnant. I think the same thing but can't afford it anytime soon.

Diet Coke and Life Lately

I have to admit I have been a lover of Diet Coke for a long time. I have decided to lower how much I drink of it. An awesome fact for you Jason hasn't had soda pop in 11 years. I don't want to go to that extreme but I want to lower how much of it I do drink. My problem is my work has free soda fountains and it has been addicting. A few weeks ago I started lowering the amount to 1 a day at work then last Wednesday I have gone down to none at work. The only soda I had was 1 can at my mother-in-law's I couldn't resist the "brown and fizzy" as my friend Angie calls it.

Other things going on:

I have been slacking at running I haven't run in 2 weeks and I am supposed to run a half marathon on October 30th. I am planning on going tonight or at least go walking.


My brother's little boys had a sleep over Friday. They were such good little boys for the sleep over. I added a picture to make the post more exciting. The older little boy didn't want to wear his PJ shirt that was packed for him so he is wearing my Red Rock Relay shirt that will never fit me or Jason.
Christian told me that Jason is his best friend. He is so cute he loves his uncle Jason.
I have been crocheting this month with a friend. It has been fun to find someone that lives really close that likes to crochet. We hang out and Crochet Jason goes to their house with me and plays Halo with her husband. I have made 4 blankets the past few months and started knitting a baby hat.

The fertility drugs aren't working so far. My hormone level should be at 4 and the first month it was .5 and this month it was .6 so I am not close to the level I should be at. The Doctor has doubled the Clomid (fertility drug) this month. I have PCOS so I also am taking glucophage, a medication that makes cells more sensitive to insulin, it has been shown to make ovulation normal. I think it is crazy because glucophage is usually for diabetes.

My friend that I crochet with also has PCOS she is the one that told me I should try fertility drugs again because it worked for her when taking the glucophage with Clomid. We went to her little boy’s 2 year old party today and she is pregnant so I hope I have results like her. Fertility drugs this time hasn't been as emotional for me as last time. I think it is because I am planning on the worst (not pregnant) and hoping for the best.

Red Rock Relay

This past weekend Jason and I ran the Red Rock Relay with 3 people from our ward and 4 people I know from the running community/ran Ragnar with and 3 strangers. I ran a total of 13.5 miles and Jason ran 17 miles.





We camped the night before in Cedar City at one of the runner's home. It was a cold night outside it was around 35 degrees. the nice thing about it is we got to know all the runners from camping and driving down together. At Ragnar we didn't get to know the other van because you only see them at the exchange for 10-20 minutes.






Jason ran the relay and had only run 1 time in the past 6 weeks and it was about 5 miles. I was worried he would get hurt and I would have to run his last leg but he did great.






One of my legs was on a dirt road that was really dusty and I get a little asthma sometimes when running around smoke/dust. Jason was worried about me so he made me trade him legs. It was so nice of him I would of been coughing for a few days if I had run on the dirt road.

Here is our team at the start at Brian Head Resort

I was the first runner and I started at the top of the ski slope. The team took the ski lift up with me and while I ran down the rode down lift. This is my favorite picture from the weekend.

Tyler, Dane, Jason waiting for the relay to start
Me finishing my first leg of 3 miles with a 1,100 foot drop. I almost slipped a few times.
Waiting to start my last leg

Jason finishing up his last leg

Jason finishing his last leg and me waiting starting my last leg
Below is the finish line right outside of Zion National Park

Our team at the finish

If you want to run a relay I would recommend Ragnar over Red Rock is better organized. Also try to get in van 1 you run the legs at better time of the day.

It was a fun race and great to make friends with our team. I would have to say after running 2 relays I rather run a marathon than a relay.

Hello

Yes I am alive and the summer has been fun and busy and I am too lazy/don't have Internet at home anymore to blog. Last week we went to my grandpa's 94th birthday.

Here are some fun pictures from the party.

Grandpa surrounded by great grand kids he had 3 cakes to feed all the people


My Grandma and Grandpa with one of my cute nephews. Watch out girls this boy has hair and eyes to die for.

Jason playing crack the egg with the little kids.

If you know who Grace is you can see her in the picture smiling/looking at Jason they are each other's favorites. She asked him when she was 3 if she could marry Jason.

I don't ever talk about this on my blog only with close friends and my direct family but I started fertility drugs last month. I am hoping for the best but planning on it not working. It didn't work when I took them 4 years ago or last month but the doctor is more optimistic this time because he is having me take another medication with it to help with my fertility problem (PCOS).

I have decided I don't like training for marathon's in the summer it is to dang hot. My running has been minimal. But Jason and I are running Red Rock Relay next weekend after the last relay I ran I am surprised I committed to another one.

RAGNAR!

I had a great time at Ragnar even if I was sick. I had a little cold going into the race and felt okay before the race but by the end I was really sick.

If you don't know what Ragnar is it is 188 mile relay race where you have 12 runners in 2 vans with 6 people in each van that leap frog each other taking turns running. Each runner runs between 13 and 21 miles split up over 3 legs of running. http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ for more info.

Here are some pictures of the weekend and then my boring details of the race are below.

Me, My sister Danielle, and Ruth (from Check City they sponsored our team)
This team ran their legs in full costume.

Teresa, Me, Chris, Ruth, Angie, Danielle

Sisters

My first leg was 3.5 miles up a mountain. It was around 4 in the afternoon (it was hot) so I hiked up that mountain with a little running mixed in with the hike.

We went to a high school and laid on the grass in the shade by a river. It was still light outside so I couldn't sleep. Our van started running again around 11PM.

My 2nd leg was around 3:30AM for a little over 6 miles. It was fun running at night it was my favorite leg. It was nice and cool outside. I ran the leg at my marathon pace which I think is pretty good for no sleep and sick. I finished when the sun was coming up it was so pretty.

Our van went to another high school and you could shower and sleep but the shower's were cold and the locker rooms were nasty some people are so gross. I skipped sleeping inside it grossed me out sleeping in a high school hall and there was no way I could sleep with people walking around me. I went and laid in the 15 passenger van I didn't think I would sleep but I got about 30 minutes. My cold kicked in full gear I felt like crap.

Our last leg of running started around 10 or 11. I cant remember the exact time of any of our start times time was a blur.

When we were going over the last mountain that they call the Ragnar Legs they are the 2 hardest runs they are leg 33 &34 they gain 1400 and 1600 feet in elevation. They are going over a mountain between Heber UT and Park City UT. We were on a dirt road and I had blown my nose a million times over the past day and ended up with a bloody nose that wouldn't stop. It was bleeding for an hour. I thought for sure I wasn't going to be able to run my last leg because it wouldn't stop. I put an ice pack on it and it finally stopped. I was so worried it would start again when I was running. Imagine a bloody nose and having to go 4 miles. That would suck.

I was runner 12 so I was running (walked) leg 36 which is the last leg. My friend said she would run my last leg for me but I felt that if I didn't run my last leg I wasn't earning my medal. My friends were so sweet they said they could follow me in the van the entire time. At mile 1 I got a bottle of ice and told them to go ahead to the finish and I would be okay. I had a bandanna if the blood started again. I told my team I was walking the entire thing and that is what I did. There were a few down hills that I ran but other than that I walked it.

I felt like crap. I don't know the last time I felt that sick. When I saw I had 1 mile to go I started crying and I am not a person that cries very much. I felt like crap and wanted to be done. I was still walking but not moving very fast for the last mile. When you get to the finish they have the entire team of 12 run the last 100 yards. The other van runners found me and we started running and my van team wasn't there. We started running and I heard my friends yelling for me so we stopped and they jumped the fence and ran in with us. My friends made a good point that if someone had run the last leg the van wouldn't of made it in time to the finish with the traffic.

When I crossed I was crying because I was so sick. My throat was on fire all I wanted was more ice. My sweet friend Teresa had me sit down and she went and got me a cup of ice.

Here is a picture of our team at the finish. I don't look very happy I just wanted to shower and go to bed.

Cool Medal Hanger

I ordered this cool custom Medal hanger for my medals for Marathon's/Half Marathon's. I have it hanging in my office at work so now I have something hanging on the wall other than my cork board & White Board.



In the picture below the medal's on the left of the red line are for some of the half marathons I have run (not all half marathons give out finisher medal's). I now try to run half marathons that only give out medal's. Why run a race if you don't get bling?

The medal's on the right are for the 5 marathon's I have run. My favorite medal is Surf City Marathon. The medal is a surfboard and they do a different surfboard each year.

If you want to order your own custom or not custom here is the link http://www.alliedsteelfab.com/catalog/

I will be adding 1 more medal after this weekend. I am running Ragnar Relay. I am feeling a little sick today hopefully it will go away in time for Friday. If not I will be run sick.

Socks or No Socks?

My husband thinks it is gross that I don't always wear socks. He puts socks on the second he gets out of the shower. I think the only time he doesn't have socks on is in the shower I only wear socks if I have shoes that I think I have to wear socks with. Tonight we went for a walk and I was wearing shoes that didn't need socks and he thought I was crazy. He said it must run in the family because my brother and his kids never have shoes on. We were at a wedding and someone asked me if his son was mine I said nope it is my brother's little boy. Their response was "I should have known he doesn't have shoes on."

Am I the only one that doesn't always wear socks? I don't like socks because I got athlete foot when I was younger and I think the Doctor told me to go barefoot as much as possible to prevent it. Why get socks dirty it is just more laundry that you have to wash and fold.

While on the subject of feet. I am proud to say I have not gotten any black toenails from running. I guess wearing running shoes that are 1.5 sizes too big have paid off (size 11.5 in women).

Have a good weekend everyone. I am running up the canyon with my mom and sister in law to Bridal Vail Falls for hill training then going to a baptism of one of the kids in my class at church and a family dinner on Sunday. I like lazy weekends.

I Love Long weekend.

I love that it is a long weekend even if it is a busy one probably over booked.

Saturday

Run in the morning

volunteer at a packet pick up for a half marathon in the afternoon

5 kids sleeping over at my house tomorrow night

Sunday

take 5 kids to church with me

taking dinner to sister in law that had a baby last week

Monday

Half Marathon If my run goes okay Saturday morning. I tried to run last night but I am having pain in my right leg and left heal. I am worried so I am going to decide if I can run a half after tomorrow. If I don't run it I am going to Volunteer at the finish line because I talked my mom and friend into running it and now I am having problems. GRRR

I hope your long weekend is nice and relaxing.

I love volunteering at races. I just went to the Utah Valley Marathon Volunteer meeting and i am excited to help at the Expo/Packet pickup.

I have volunteered officially at 3 races and at 2009 Ogden Marathon I had a coke and pretzel stop at mile 22.5 for my friends. When I passed the stop at Ogden Marathon I was wishing someone was there cheering me on but my friend called me right after and it helped me finish the race.

I have found that at smaller races if you email the race director you can work the packet pickup the day before the race and they will give me free race entry. One race they said not to tell anyone that they are giving me free entry but I volunteered last year and I am volunteering this year and I get to race for free.

One race director is trying to put on 6 half marathons in Utah this year. He has finalized 3 of them and he told me I can get free entry to any of his races if I volunteer at the packet pick up or if there is a race of his I don't want to run I can volunteer race day and run another race for free. So on Memorial day I am running a half Marathon for free. The following Sunday I am running Casper Half Marathon. All my friends are running Casper full but after having a personal worst at Ogden I am not ready for a full yet. The Saturday after Casper I am running Utah Valley Half Marathon. So I am going to run 3 Half Marathons in 12 days.



P.S. If you are interested in running a half on July 3 in SLC or October 30 in Provo and want to run for free for volunteering let me know the race director said any of my friends who want to volunteer can get free entry to his races.

I love this picture

We ran a 3k to raise money for my niece's Elementary which is the Elementary that I went to in 6th grade. The below picture is my niece Grace and nephew Christian fighting over who gets to hold Jason's hand. Tiffanie already had the other hand.

Jason ended up running with Tiffanie. Grace ran with my mom. Christian ran with me we finished around 40 minutes. So fast! He ran the first few blocks and then sit down on the curb then get up and walk and sit down again. I would tell him he needed to get in the stroller if he wanted to sit. So he would get up and go a little farther. He was so cute to ""run" with. The school raised $14,000. I think it is the best fundraiser a school has done.

Christian and Grace slept over and Jason is now Christian's favorite. We went to dinner with them the week after the sleep over and Christian told him mom that he loves Jason.

They are sleeping over again this weekend. When I talked to their dad about the sleepover he said the kids will love it especially Christian. Got to love 3 year old kids.

#2436

I know this is a late blog but I made my goal of becoming a marathon maniac on April 17th. I am maniac # 2436 by running Surf City Marathon, Napa Valley Marathon, Salt Lake Marathon. It felt great to run Ogden Marathon in Maniac gear and have other Maniac’s notice me in the gear. I am going to go on a Marathon break till September when I run Pocatello in September and St. George in October.

Work has been really busy the past few months and the week of Ogden was extra busy at work and home. Then we got kicked out of our hotel that was across the street from the bus pickup and had to drive 20 minutes the morning of the race. The room below us was loud till midnight and I swear I could feel the floor shaking from them or people in the hall. So I went to bed a little after midnight and woke up at 3AM. I think that affected my Ogden marathon or that is my excuse for a personal worse race. I cried at mile 14 or 15 and wanted to be done. There was a van that drove by and asked me if I wanted a ride to the finish. There is no way I would be pick-up off a course unless I was hurt. I was in the bottom 10 runners but that is better than being picked up.

Because of running crappy at Ogden it has made me not want to run Casper Full Marathon that only has 150ish runners. I know I would be in dead last or close to it if I run the full marathon. So I am going for a new goal of running 3 half marathons in 3 weeks and run Ragnar Relay the week after the 3 half marathons.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.

My first race in my Marathon Maniac shirt as Maniac #2436

Me and my mom at mile 8ish of Ogden Marathon

My mom and I at the finish line.

she got picked up at mile 17. She was less than 400 yards from the canyon where you have to be to not be picked up off the course at 3.5 hours. They gave her a medal she ran over a half marathon so she totally deserves it.

Me and 2 other Utah Maniacs Kevin & Franz.

Franz is the most motivation runner along with my 2 friends Angie and Teresa. He waited 2 hours after he finished to cheer me at the finish line. He told me how great and wonderful I did when he was 2 hours faster.

Salt Lake Marathon.

I went out way too fast and was ahead my 15 minutes of my best time I am not sure what mile this picture was at but I think it is before I hit the wall at mile 16.5 I walked the last 10 miles. I finished 5 minutes slower than last year so not to bad.

I am almost a Marathon Maniac!

Wondering what a Marathon Maniac is? It is a group that you can become a member by running 3 marathons in 90 days. When you become maniac you get a maniac number. There is a group called Half Fanatics it is the same idea but for half marathons. I became Half Fanatic last fall my fanatic number is 189.

After running Surf City Marathon February 7 I felt great and decided to try to become a marathon maniac. I signed up and ran Napa Valley Marathon March 7th. The crazy thing is I got a personal best at both races.

I am running Salt Lake City Marathon next Saturday. The night before the races some of the Utah Marathon Maniacs are having a dinner for Marathon Maniacs running the race. They are nice enough to elt me come to the dinner before officially becoming a Marathon.
Maniac. My friend invited me to stay at her house in Salt Lake the night before with 2 other girls and then go to the race together. It is going to be a blast. The best part of Salt Lake Marathon is my work is paying my entry fee. I will run 3 marathons in 10 weeks (69 days).

There are different levels of maniac. i want to try to bet another level this year. I either have to run 1 marathon a mont hfor 6 months or run 8 marathons in 365 days. I am waiting till after Ogden Marathon to sign up for any more full marahtons.

I am aslo running Ragnar Relay this year. My brother in law's work is sponsoring a team and has had a few runners drop out. My sister, coworker/friend/marathon maniac, and I are running the relay on the team. The best part is with the company sponsoring it I don't have to pay for the race.


If you want to become a Marathon Maniac or Half Fanatic or want to run your first marathon/ half marathon let me know I love to talk to other runners.

2010 Races

I have started to add races to my 2010 Calendar I am a member of Half Fanatics I ran 2 marathons in 16 days and 3 in 90 days August - October 2009. They have different levels of Fanatics I am at the first level. My goal is to go up to the next level. My goal is to run 8 Half Marathon's in a year on top of the 2 marathon's I am registered for. Here is their website if you want to check them out www.halffanatics.com they also have a group called Marathon Maniacs for a similar group but they run marathons.

Here are the races I am registered for so far in 2010:

Surf City Marathon - 2/7/10
Riverton City Half Marathon - 3/27/10
Salt Lake City Half Marathon - 4/17/10 (1800Contacts is paying for me to run)
Ogden Marathon - 5/15/10
Utah Valley Half Marathon - 6/12/10

Here is the list of races I want to try to run but haven't registered for yet:

Deseret Morning News 10k - 7/24/10
Provo River Trail Half Marathon - 8/7/10
Hobble Creek Half Marathon - Late August
Top of Utah Half Marathon - Late August
Salt Lake Half Marathon - 9/4/10

Maybe:
Moab Other Half Marathon - 10/17/10
Provo City Half Marathon - 5/1/10
Park City Half Marathon - 8/21/10 If it isn't the same weekend as Hobble Creek


If I can get money for an airplane ticket I would love to visit my sister again and run:

American River Parkway Half Marathon 5/1/10 I registered last year but didn't run due to injury. They said I could run it for free this year but I can't afford the flight right now.

so maybe I will have money to go see her next fall and run:
Lake Natoma four Bridges Half Marathon - 10/31/10

Long story short Jason has been really sick the past year and hasn't been able to work since April.

So I thought I would donate plasma to afford registrations fees and travel for Surf City. I hate donating plasma but it is good money. If I donate 2 times in a week I get $55.

But it hurts and I almost passed out last time I donated. My blood flow was slow so they tried to see if they could get my blood flow to go faster by digging the huge needle around in my arm and it made me sick. I got light headed and really hot. It was so weird I have never felt the way before in my life. They put a ice pack on my neck, raised my feet, had me sip on water, and they returned my blood that was in the machine that was being collected to be processed. I was going to go again that week but it was the day before I ran 20 miles and I didn't feel good about donating the day before running 20 miles.

I haven't gotten the nerves to go donate again after that happening. Looks like I need to get over my fear of last time and start donating again so I can afford race registrations :)

Cooking and stuff

This week I have been a busy one with working late a few nights and Jason's brother moved in with us this week. He got laid off so we told him he could come live with us for a little bit. It is weird having another person living with us. I can't walk around the house braless anymore.

Monday I made homemade pizza again it is just so good that I had to make it. I also made bread again but it was a failure. I didn't cook it long enough this time so it is doughy in the middle.

Tuesday I made a yummy skillet for me, Jason, and Cole (Jason's brother) I used 3 or 4 left over baked potato's cut them into cubes and put them in a frying pan with butter. I cooked them for about 5 minutes then I cracked 3 eggs over them and added cheese. It was yummy and really fast.

Rest of the week I worked late and tonight we are going to Jason's grandpa's 70th birthday party.

Tomorrow I am running 20 miles it is the last really long run before Surf City Marathon February 7th. I am nervous for the race the training has gone by fast and doesn't feel like it should be only 3 weeks away.

Better go we are late for the party.

2010 Cooking

One of my goals for 2010 is to cook more at home and eat less junk food/processed food/restaurant food. So I am going to try to cook new stuff each week.

Last week I made homemade pizza. We went out to California to see my sister Michelle for my 30th birthday. She made her awesome pizza for my birthday and she coached me on how to make it when I got home (she is a good cook).

Here is a picture of the first pizza I cooked it was BBQ Chicken. I also made a pepperoni pizza. If you want the recipe let me know and can email it to you. For some reason I can't cut and copy the recipe from word to blogger tonight. I posted the recipe on facebook if you are my friend there.

My 2nd week I made bread. This is the first time I have made bread or atleast the first time by myself not just helping my mom make bread.