Good morning, now panic!

That's how I felt this morning. My head popped off the pillow, and when I looked at the clock, it read 7:12 a.m. I had a half marathon at 7:50. Needless to say I jumped out of bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, grabbed all my race essentials, and ran out that door in five minutes. Then, after felony speeds of over 60 mph on surface streets (don't judge) I made it to the starting line with two minutes to spare. However, I realized as I was putting on my race number that I was definitely not in the right mindset to run 13.1 miles. Remember, running is 10% physical and 90% mental. I was stressed out and already winded from sprinting from the parking lot across the street. So, as the half marathon started, I changed my race to the 10K. There was no way I was running that half!! Ha ha! Luckily, the 10K didn't start for another 20 minutes, which was the perfect amount of time to collect myself, calm down a bit, and stretch nice and deep. It felt great, since my legs were still sore from my Wednesday workout. 

This race turned out to be one of the best I've ever done! Which made me super happy :) The course was pretty difficult, the first three miles are all uphill, but surprisingly enough I was able to keep a really good pace the entire way up. Then I really let loose coming back downhill, which I regretted later because there were some surprise hills near the end that I wasn't prepared for. But I kept up pace, and crossed the finish line in about 1:02 (I don't know my official results yet). I was exhausted! Hills really take it out of you! But, the whole point of doing this race was to train for the Ragnar relay coming up in two weeks, where I know I will run into the occasional hill. It was great practice! Also, be prepared for a long post after that race, it's a 24 hour, 200 mile relay :) should be a blast!! 

Recently, a friend and I have tried to cut extra and unneeded sugar out of our diets, like candy, cookies, brownies, cake, ect. The first day was so hard! But after that it got pretty easy, I wasn't tempted that much. It's been three weeks and I have eaten hardly any sugar or sweets. It's legit! Now our goal these next couple weeks is a contest to see who can lose five pounds the fastest. I think I can win! Haha...maybe. It's gonna be fun! 

Anyway, these next couple weeks might be stressful, given that I am planning the Ragnar for our team, so I have to make sure 11 other people are taken care of and ready to go! This has been almost three months in the making, so I am so stoked!! Wish us luck!  

London's Run~~2011

So, I ran my first half marathon yesterday...and it was awesome!! Even though I had already ran a full, that was a year and a half ago so this still felt like a big challenge. When I got there it was freeezing cold (high 30's) and I was in short sleeves and running capris. So, I stayed in my car until about 20 minutes before the start and blasted some tunes and the heater :) by the time I got out of the car the sun came up and it was warming up! I was so pumped for this race, I had my plan all figured out. I wanted to run a 2:20 time, which was reasonable, and to do that I would have to keep a 10:40 pace. I would also need to eat a gel every four miles...so I used my sports bra as a pocket to put two gels in :) hehe. Nobody could tell! So anyway, the race itself was super fun, I kept a glorious pace throughout and ended up running a 2:18! Haha, two whole minutes faster than planned! Kind of a big deal!! Anyway, I felt so good afterwards, I can't wait to run another one in two weeks!! Haha....it never stops :) Then the Ragnar is in four weeks, I'm so excited! We finally have our entire team so I can sleep easy at night. Anyway, I think I will make London's Run a tradition for the rest of my life, I love it!!

10 Miler...I'm ready!

Well on Saturday I did my first double digit run in like 7 months, a big fat 10 miler that actually felt really great! I kept up pace the entire time and I feel like I can push it a little faster come this Saturday at my very first Half Marathon! I've done London's Run the past two years, but only the 10K, so this year I decided to go all out and do the Half. I'm very excited because I think I will be able to actually make a time goal! My goal is 2:20, and I will be happy with a 2:25. Then- and this is really stretching myself- I'm going to do ANOTHER Half Marathon two weeks after. It's called Ethan's Run (named after a sweet little boy who passed away from heart defects) and it is run through the hilly locale of Las Sendas in North Mesa. I did this one last year (10K again) and I can honestly say it is the most challenging one I've done. I'm mostly treating this as a training run for the Ragnar Relay in 5 weeks, so I'm keeping away from the time goal and just focusing on running the hills strong and just finishing. I think it will be fun, I'm trying to get the entire team to do the 10K because it will be way good for us all to practice some hills in race mode. So yeah, that's the nest couple weeks running-wise.

Normal life-wise? Work, school, and playing. I would say my life is pretty easy, eh? Have a good week!

Life is about to get a lil crazy!

So, this is my schedule for this semester, if I move to full-time work (and I think I will!) It's gonna be wonderful...I think.

Monday- work, from 7 til 6. Come home, eat, run, do some homework, shower, bed.
Tuesday- work, 7 til 1. School from 1:30 til 4:15. Go home, internet class, relax or gym.
Wednesday- same as Monday
Thursday- Same as Tuesday, but with choir practice from 7pm til 10 (!)
Friday- work from 7 til 6. Go home and party!
Saturday- get up early and run anywhere from 6 to 20 miles (depends on where I am in marathon training!) then nap time, chores, errands, and party!
Sunday- Sleep in, church, relax, dinner, family time, bed before 11 (hopefully!)

I knew that this semester would be crazy, but not until now, after writing it down, did I really realize how much I have taken on. But honestly, there are people who have much more on their plates than I do! I am fully confident that I can do all of this, plus other things that need to be fit in such as scripture study, ward activities, races, small road trips, service, ect...you get my point. Routines are good...until I get sick of it. Which according to my calculations will be sometime around March...haha. Wish me luck!

On a different note, I am so incredibly lucky/happy/excited/scared out of my mind to be able to announce that I got into the East Valley Mormon Choir! For those that don't know....that's like the MoTab of Arizona. No joke. Our director takes nothing less than perfection (or as close as we can get in this earthly life) and the result of that is a sound which I have never heard or been a part of in my entire life. We are working on an oratorio that our director's brother composed. It's called Messiah in America, and the most wonderful part of it is that every single word is taken from 3 Nephi. The power of this music overwhelms me at every rehearsal, and I am so SO SO happy to be a part of it! Our performances are in March, everyone will have to come check it out!

Running updates--
London's Run 1/2 Marathon- 2 weeks.
Ragnar Relay- 6 weeks.
Pat's Run- sometime in April
Utah Valley marathon- less than 6 months.

I love running, and I love doing races and events like this even more! The Ragnar will surely be a fun time, basically it is 12 person teams doing a 200 mile relay over the deserts of Arizona. Needless to say, I am excited!!

Well this has been long and mostly rambling pointlessness, but who cares! I do what I want!

Christmas shoes! (but not the cheesy song)

So my boss is awesome and bought me some new birthday shoes. I chose some new Nike running shoes, and since they came in the mail TODAY they will be my Christmas/birthday shoes. To celebrate, I think I'll go run 7 miles.

HOLLA!

Is it really Christmas? Really??

Running events coming up:
London's Run Half Marathon, January 29th-- come join me!
Ragnar Del Sol Relay-- February 25th-26th, 200ish mile relay of awesomeness!! I'm so excited, more details to come! It's kind of a big deal!
Pat's Run- sometime in April
Warrior Dash- late April, should be a fun one! It's a 3.4 mile run/obstacle course
Utah Valley Marathon-- Provo, June 11th. If my training goes good this year, I should be able to nail it!


I was going to do the turkey trot, but got really sick the week before so it was a no go! So bummed :( And, I've been sick ever since! Going on five weeks now, it's really awesome.....not. I haven't been able to train for the half like I would want to, but I'm doing it anyway! Weirdly enough, the same thing happened to me last year. I got sick during the Christmas season so I couldn't train for the half in January. Oh well, this time I'm training through the sickness! 


The last month has gone by way too fast! Some highlights:
~I auditioned (and made it!!!) into the East Valley Mormon Choir, which is kind of a big deal and something I am way excited about! Rehearsals start in January :)
~My deer hunt the week before and weekend of Thanksgiving. Hunted really hard for six days in zero degree weather and snow before finally bagging my deer on the last day! He's a beauty, even if my dad wanted me to get a bigger one, haha. I'm happy with him!
~This weather SUCKS. Isn't Christmas supposed to be cold and snowing up north and stuff? Last week its been 80 degrees every day. In the middle of December. Yuck. Luckily today it rained finally and cooled down a bit but I don't think it'll last. Bummer! It really takes away from the feeling of Christmas :(
~ Performing with the Gilbert Stake/St Anne's Catholic church combined choir. I got to sing and play my violin (lots of running back and forth). We performed at both St Anne's church (which has great acoustics!) and the Temple, which I LOVE doing! Good thing it wasn't too cold at the Temple! 


Last week at church, in my singles ward, we had a two hour (I repeat, 2 HOUR) discussion on dating instead of Sunday School and Relief Society. Not gonna lie, it was great to be able to discuss this topic with the entire ward and learn about what is going through guys' minds! We talked about way too many things to even write down, but I will definitely remember everything that was said for future reference. It was definitely helpful! Although sometimes I feel like those kind of things turn into "guy-bashing" sessions, like the girls all gang up on the guys and tell them what losers they are for never asking us out. Haha! It did kind of get on the verge of that, but Bishop Tinker was always steering the discussion in the right direction. And he ended us on a spiritual note, which I was super thankful for.


Anyway, this just turned into a journal....haha. I guess I'll just keep writing randomness on here from now on! 


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I gave in...

So this morning, it was pretty chilly when I got in my car.

So, I felt in the Christmas mood.

Somehow the Christmas music magically came on my ipod on the way to work. Not sure how it happened..........hehe.

Is November 1st too early to be listening to Christmas music??

I don't think so!

Also I can't believe it's November already!! Where the fetch did the time go!?