Tender Tuesday

Man, that's actually a little fitting lately!  I feel like such a sissy mary fairy today.  Either I'm rediscovering my compassion for mankind, or I keep getting things in my eyes.  Anyway...instead of boring you with my adventures in running again this weekend (Ragnar Napa Vally, which was amazing and gorgeous), I'll throw in some regular people stuff too.  Oh, but first I have to give a shout out to the van from Red Rock Relay because with all the phantom locking and unlocking, the special door, the huge rack, immense bumper stickers, and everything else that went with it...I failed to mention the true character of the van and how much it contributed to our experience at Red Rock Relay.  Ok, done.

At Sea World with the fam this summer

1.  I have bum envy.  If I were a dude, I would definitely be a butt guy.  I check girls' bums out all the time and I'm seriously obsessed with how cute and perky and bubble-like some of them are.  I want that!  It's not in a creepy way, but more of a research thing.  Don't worry - I check out guys' bums all the time too and have to stop myself from cupping some of them.

2.  I love this song by Sara Haze right now.  Great lyrics.

3.  I'm so bored with my look in general right now and am ready for a revamp.  I have to admit that I'm a little bit afraid if/when I move to NYC that I'll become fashion obsessed again and it's taken me a while to get it under control as it is!

Strawberry Point with Megan and Truman on Labor Day weekend

4.  How is it that I start going to bed at 9:30/10:00, but never actually finish until after midnight.  What am I doing all that time??

5.  I sometimes feel like my life is getting ahead of me and I need to slow down and weed out, but then I also sometimes feel like I don't really have much going on.  Is this one of those cyclical things?

Second leg of RRR

6.  I realized during my run last night that sweets/sugar really does have an affect on my running.  Boo.  I guess it's back to being selective and eating less again.  I started eating sweets again after my RRR weekend and I really fell off the wagon.  I need to buy my dad a new tub of chocolate covered cinnamon bears!

After we finished the race and earned our stripes at RRR

7.  I hate to say it, but I could probably take a page out of the Kardashian book.  In general they seem to forgive easily and are always willing to make changes.  Kind of a humility thing I guess.  I've recently realized that I'm a little prideful and stubborn, I really am a bit like my mother and like to control certain things, and sometimes I'm not always the most open to change.  Pretty sure I need to work on that!

8.  I realized not too long ago that it's been 9 months since I kissed anyone.  Maybe a little too much information, but how does a girl not notice that??

Our van for Ragnar Napa Valley crossing the bridge before our legs started

9.  Speaking of Ragnar Napa Valley...can I move there?  Northern California is beautiful and we had an absolute blast!  I rocked my first 2 legs...my last one we're not going to talk about.  First one was through a beautiful tree covered road through the mountains, with little farms and vineyards along the way.  Gorgeous!  The second leg was at 2:00 in the morning through Santa Rosa (which I later found out is where my mom was baptized).  I couldn't see a lot, but I could see little farms and vineyards there too and the town looked really cute.  My third leg...8 miles in the hot sun/humidity (but right through Napa Valley) and I wasn't prepared for that.  Let's just say there was a lot of old man shuffling and walking in the rare and slightly tree shaded areas of the highway.  I have to say that the one thing that made me smile on that leg though was the Shelby Cobra, driven by a middle-aged couple through the vineyards, and the woman was wearing a silk scarf over her hair.  It was magical and picturesque.  And yes...I kept wondering if I would run past Ben's vineyard from the Bachelorette.  Let's pretend I did.

Beginning of my last leg at Napa Valley...thinking I'm ready to take on those last 8 miles.  You don't want to see me after this!

10.  We had a super fun team for Napa, got some wicked cool medals for doing both races in California, had adventures with homeless men in train stations and confusing public transportation, experienced sore muscles and compression socks, showers in the sink at Subway, interesting hotel rooms with old school bottle openers mounted in the bathrooms, and of course the usual lack of sleep and pure delirium that comes with it all.  I think I'm going to hang my hat on the relay front for a bit though and focus on my last Half for this year.  It's in Arizona in November and benefits breast cancer, so I'm really excited to run it!  Starting to get shin splints though (wah wah), so it may be time for new shoes.  Kind of sad because you build a relationship with your shoes.

ps...Let me just acknowledge that I know I've been blessed to be able to do some pretty cool things in my life.  I'm kind of a lucky gal!

10 on Tuesday - Red Rock Relay Edition

We did the Red Rock Relay this past weekend that goes from Brianhead to Zion in 2 days.  Let me just say...it is a tough relay!  So, instead of blogging every last detail in journal-like fashion and boring you all to tears, I'm going to cheat and do it in my top 10.

1.  I forgot my shoes.  Who does that?  Who does that on a RACE weekend?!  Thankfully Joni is a great friend with the same size feet as me and she let me run in hers.  That's right.  I ran 10 miles in Joni's shoes and it was awesome.

2.  When did I get so old that I can't hold my pee any more?  Let's blame it on the fact that I drank way more than I normally do...ok?  OK?!

3.  Speaking of peeing in the woods - Nicole, Joni, and I became professionals at this...and bonded at the same time.  Nothing like a friendly group pee in the fresh mountain air...and then stumbling over dinosaur bones on the way back to the van.

4.  Our team of 10 - yes, 2 people dropped out at the last minute - conquered 187 miles in 30 hours.  Van 2 were animals and covered all of the extra mileage (minus one leg).  They were exhausted, but still faster than me.  haha!  We had some amazing runners on our team!

5.  Joni was a champ and ran into Duck Creek through rain, hail, thunder, lightning, and a cold wind.  She deserves a gold medal!  It was beautiful and sunny for all of our first legs.  She was the last one in our van to run, and her leg started out beautiful and sunny too...though it did not end that way.  This meant that Van 2 had to run in the cold rain and thunderstorms, and also...snow.  Yes, there was snow on the way down from Duck Creek.  Poor Van 2.  They just couldn't win!

6.  My first leg was at the top of Giant Steps in Brianhead (11,000ft) and I ran 2.95 miles down a hiking trail to the bottom of the mountain.  Tons of fun...but had to stop .23 miles in, hike up a bit, and pee...then I stumbled only a few times and rolled my ankles each only a little on the rest of the way down.  My second leg went from SUU in Cedar about 4.84 miles away to Enterprise and had a slight incline.  Much better than my first leg bc the elevation was down to like 6,000ft, but I was still sucking wind a bit!  I think I still made a 10:30 pace on that one, despite the elevation.

7.  There was a bit of confusion for my 3rd leg.  We thought we were covering the last leg for Van 2, but they blew through it.  So once again, I was rushed to get ready and head out on a morning run after about 2 hours of sleep.  I threw 2 gummies in my mouth and headed out at 5:00ish in the dark, without my garmin or ipod.  it was really great though.  I got into the rhythm of my body and the finish line came up way quicker than I expected.  It was only about 3 miles, but it was all uphill this time!  It was on the same course out of Veyo that the St George Marathon and Iron Man uses.  My quads appreciated the break from going downhill, actually, and I finished really strong!  It felt great!

8.  Chocolate milk is the best recovery drink.  Ever.  Also...don't ever forget to roll your muscles/stretch after your 3rd leg.  You will cramp up and get tight, and possibly not be able to lower yourself down on a toilet for a couple days.

9.  We had the big 15 passenger van, so we built a bed in the very back that was uber comfortable!  Travis spent about 6 hrs in it, and I took over for a couple hours when he was done.  Poor Scott slept on the giant roof rack, which he said was surprisingly comfortable, but had a rude awakening when we moved the van with him still up there.  Sorry!

10.  Nicole and I earned $10 gift cards to the store at the finish line for some fancy dance moves we were demonstrating after leg 2, so I definitely invested mine in a huge comfy sweatshirt.  I <3 it, but I wish I would have gotten a size smaller.  It didn't shrink enough, so it's a little large.  Oh well!

Soo...pretty much Red Rock was an amazingly fun experience and there were lots of good times.  I'm soooo glad I did it, and I can't wait for Ragnar Napa Valley next weekend...except for the 8 mile leg in there that I forgot about and didn't really train for.  Shhhh!  We'll only be at like 200ft, so I should be fine, right?  Right??

The Quilt!

I know this is lame, but I got the pics tonight and I know a few of you have been dying to see my first finished quilt from beginning to end!  (Ok, that's a total exaggeration, but a few of you have mentioned it in passing.)

I made this for my best friend, Robyn's sweet baby girl, London.  It's a little huge for now, but she'll be able to use it for a while.  Thanks for taking the pics, Robyn, since I'm a basket case and forgot to!

10 Again

I swear we were just doing this.  That's what I get for cheating and doing the last one on a Thursday

1.  I went to Duck Creek last weekend with Megan and Truman and stayed at his family's cabin.  It was a blast! We went fishing and did a little hiking.  I got some amazing pictures (which I will some day post), and skipped doing a run because I knew we'd be hiking.

2.  I'm going to die this weekend at Red Rock Relay.  We start at 11,000 ft at Brian Head and end at Zion.  I could feel the difference in the air at 9,000 ft during our little hikes, so I know I'm in trouble.  If anyone would like to meet me at the bottom of my first leg (THE first leg...top of Giant Steps), with an oxygen tank you are welcome to do so!

3.  I'm very glad that the weekend after Red Rock, I will be running at a comfortable sea level in Napa Valley with my Ragnar team.  Yes, I'm crazy for doing back to back runs.

4.  Joni is crazier than I am.  She just finished her first half marathon (woot!!) and is also running in Red Rock with us.  We've made a pact not to sign up for any more runs for a minute.

5.  I bought my first anti-wrinkle night cream today and it smells amazing.  I noticed my laugh lines the other day - no crows feet or forehead wrinkles - and yes I realize the laugh lines make me look like I had a long happy life...but let's wait until I'm at least 30 to start thinking that!  And I know you'll all think I'm ridiculous for buying it bc the lines are so minuscule, but I don't care.  Might as well start now!

6.  I worked so long today that I decided to stay up super late (until now) catching up on my garbage tv.  I know I'll regret it in the morning.

7.  I joined a new book club today with my Relief Society (no I have not bailed on you, Hot Tub Book Club, but we need to reconvene!).  There are a lot of fun girls in it and I'm kind of excited about it!  We've already planned the next 2 books.  Yippee!

8.  Matt, Renee, and the nephews spent the night on Sunday so we could stay up late playing games and then have fun on Monday, since it was a long weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  We played banana grams forever, and then were a teensy bit lazy the next day.  I love my nephews.  I laugh when they fight and think everything they do is cute.  Don't tell Gibson, but he has me wrapped around his finger.

9.  I bought tickets to go see the Civil Wars in LA in November and I'm soooooo excited!!  I seriously can't wait.  I'm not a huge concert goer, but I couldn't pass this one up.  I'm obsessed.

10.  I've mentioned before that I eat Greek yogurt for breakfast every day...I feel like it gives me that weird breath after I eat it, though.  I wish I could explain it...it's like a weird dairy/medicine-y smell.  I'm a huge oral hygiene person, so it totally wigs me out.  Is it true that if you lick your wrist, that's what your breath smells like?

*forget what the date/time says.  I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still Tuesday!

Tendon Tuesday

Ok, it's really Thursday.  Get off me!

1.  I had the.greatest.run this morning!  I really haven't been running as much the past couple of weeks because it's been so ridiculously hot, but it was a lovely 82* this morning, so I strapped on the slightly blood stained shoes and headed out on a short, 3 mile tempo run.  It felt amazing!  My pace was probably the best I've ever done and I loved every second of it...even though I was pushing myself and it was a little hard at times.  It's runs like these that remind you why you love it.  (not the ones of sheer misery in the heat, like I had on Saturday)

2.  I'm not going to lie...and I may have mentioned this already...but I'm participating in a Bridal Expo thing in October and I'm terrified of getting involved in something like this, but I'm also excited.  I have a lot of work to do, and a few dollar bills to spend to get everything ready for it, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it.  I'd really hate to pass up an opportunity like this and regret it later.  And like Joni said, "you can spend as much or as little time doing it as you want.  That's the beauty of owning your own business."

3.  I've realized I can be intolerable sometimes.  Too opinionated.  Too spoiled.  Too headstrong.  I need to learn when to keep my mouth closed.  Is there an app for that?

4.  Either I'm getting old, or...I'm getting old, but going "clubbing" doesn't seem like much fun to me any more...not that I ever really went, but humor me.  I loooooove to dance and I used to love going dancing at all the free/cheapo places with my friends.  But now it's kind of lost it's luster.  I mean, for one, I'd be going alone which just isn't as much fun, and two...I always feel like Kate on Baby Mama where she comes out in her floral top and ginger body splash, puts her hand on her hip, and says "Well, it is a night club!"  I just never feel sexy/hot/cute/whatevs and it's kind of a buzz kill.  Hey fellas!  I'm showing a little ankle!  Ow!!

5.  I keep acquiring lists and ideas of new places and little trips I want to go on and I'm wondering when I married the rich older man who is paying for all of it?  I don't remember...

6.  I had a legit nightmare the other night.  I can't even tell you the last time that happened.  Woke up in a sweat, turned the light on, read, listened to hymns on my ipod until I fell asleep and could be sure I wouldn't fall back into the same dream.  Yeah.  That scary.  I was up for a good 30 mins at some unforeseen hour.

7.  In congruence with the 3 races I have coming up in the next couple of months, I'm reminding everyone now to please restrain me from signing up for any more races whilst still in a euphoric state from the previous race.  It is imperative that you use whatever force necessary.

8.  Missy Elliott Pandora may possibly be my new favorite station.

9.  My friend/wing man, Janeen, moved on Wednesday and it makes me sad.  I get so attached to my friends and then they move on with their lives.  It's so selfish!  Why don't they just want to stay and hang out with me?!

10.  I say "how are ya?!" on the phone sometimes.  I'm a hypocrite.

**Shout out to my biggest fan - Megan K!  This one's for you! ;) **