I'm a Runner

That's right.  I've finally accepted the title.  I feel like I can finally call myself a runner, not because of the number of races I've done or the distances I've gone, but because I love running.  I'll never quit.  My mom asked me after my last race if I'm ever out there saying to myself, "Why did I sign up to do this??  What am I doing?" but I told her I actually feel the exact opposite.  I think to myself whilst I'm running my races, "This is why I do this!"  When I compete in races I'm competing against myself and trying to be better than the last time.  I may not like the training sometimes, and I may not always want to go out on every run, BUT I quickly change my mind once I'm out there.  I love how I feel while I'm running and that everything goes away.  I love how I feel after I run...that I've pushed my body and I get stronger every time.  I only do races that benefit a cause and I love being there with all those people who are running for the same thing, for a million different reasons.

The Start Line

This last Half that I did in Arizona was for breast cancer and I actually haven't done one of those yet.  It was absolutely AMAZING how many people were there and it was so inspiring seeing all of the t-shirts for their loved ones, those who have fought, those who have survived, and those who haven't.  While I was running I was thinking of everyone I know who has been affected by cancer in general, and especially those who have been affected by breast cancer.  Anyway...it was an incredible run!

I was supposed to run it with a few friends, but circumstances didn't permit everyone to run, so my parents decided to drive out with me.  My dad hasn't seen me run one of these yet, and my mom loves watching and hasn't ever been to Arizona.  SO...they booked a hotel, we got up early Saturday morning, and drove down.  We checked in at the Expo and got all of my goodies and tags and what not, and then attempted to drive the course.  It goes from Scottsdale to Tempe, and it looked like a pretty fun course.  When we got to the park at the finish line, near ASU, we realized that our hotel was 3 blocks from the finish line.  Coincidental perfection!  We carbed up, got some recovery treats, and headed to bed early.  We were tired from getting up early to drive anyway, and we ended up getting a good 8 hrs of sleep.  Lovely!

 Passing the Finish Line at mile 8

Turning on the juice at the Finish line.  Wow...I'm a sexy runner, aren't I??  Love those fuel belts and how they ride up and take your shirt with it.

The morning of the race we got up at 5:00am, got all ready, and headed to Scottsdale.  It was chilly to say the least, but actually kind of perfect to run in...not so much to stand in at the Start line though!  At mile 6 there was a little boy holding a sign that said "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever" and it stuck with me the rest of the race, bc I've been having upper thigh/butt cheek tightness on the left side once I hit about 9 or 10 miles lately.  Anyway, between miles 7 & 8 the course actually passes the finish line, does a 5 mile loop, and comes back.  So...I passed my parents there and shed my long sleeved shirt.  At mile 11, I realized that I had forgotten to take my IBuprofen before the race...too late now!  Regardless, I kept pushing myself, especially when I saw the clock at the 12 mile marker.  I really wanted to beat my last time of 2:30, and got that adrenaline rush on that last mile to make sure I did so.  I ended up with a 2:26:07, which was 4 mins faster than my last Half, and 19 mins faster than my first Half, which I ran almost exactly one year ago.  I'm really happy with my time improvements, and know that if I would have trained a little harder I could have made it a bit faster, but I'm soooo happy with it!  And I have to say that I have the greatest parents for supporting me and making the trip when they didn't have to.  It was really nice having fans at the Finish line!  Anyway, so it was a fantastic run, and though I may be sitting out on races for a minute, I will never stop running!

 In case you can't tell...the middle of the medal actually comes out and you can put it on a necklace.

A Whole Lotta

I had started a random list of 10 things...but perhaps instead I'll do a little list of the actual haps in my life lately too...

- I finally finished my second full quilt (baby quilt) for my friend Becky and her little meatball, Julia.  I actually started it the same weekend that I started Robyn's and wanted to have them both done at the same time...but they both had their babies a little early and I just couldn't keep up!  And let's be honest, my mom sewed the top of this quilt.  Let's not talk about how old the babies were when we actually finished the quilts...they're finished!

- My friend, Janeen, was here for Halloween weekend and we had a blast!  I was house-sitting for the week,  so we had the whole house to ourselves, had fantastic seats to PBR, ate a bunch of great stuff, laughed, hung out with friends, and went to a little Halloween shindig.  It was sooo fun!

- Halloween night I had some really cute trick or treaters come over before I went out and headed to a couple of casual little parties.

 A World War II couple, a doggie, a vampire, and a little crow

I'm a cat.  I know...super creative

Revisit from Michaelangelo, a black cat, and none other than Dolly Parton.  

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Dolly with Kenny Rodgers!

- Somehow every time I house-sit...I end up coming home at the end of the week with all this

- I ran my last Half marathon of the year today...but I'll dedicate a full post to that one later.  It was the Women's Half Marathon for Susan G. Komen that goes from Scottsdale to Tempe and it was great!  I beat my last time and in the last year, from Nov 13th - Nov 6th, I've managed to pack in 3 Halfs, and 3 relays.

Welp...here's for the random thoughts I started posting earlier...

- I am a chapstick junkie.  I have it in my nightstand, by my sewing machine, in my car, in my purse, in my drawer at work...

- Sometimes I feel like break ups are dumb because you're "not allowed" to still be friends with the person and their families.  Just because you stop dating, doesn't mean you stop caring, does it?

- I gave in and spoiled myself a couple weeks ago and bought the beautiful, plum colored wool coat I've had my eye on.  Sooo pretty!

- I almost laughed the other day listening to someone talk about the law of chastity...trust me...not an issue for me right now!  haha!

- I've been going through rants of cleaning out my closet lately and I'm down to 45 pairs of shoes now...I'm pretty sure I need to pay a little visit to DSW and Endless :)

- I seriously hate Bruno Mars, and somehow his songs are so damn catchy that if I don't think about it, I find myself singing along.  Curse him!

- I got yet another contact lost in my eye today.  This is the third time this has happened!  They usually end up tearing and coming out in a piece or 2 the next morning.  Does this happen to anyone else, or am I just a freak?

Speaking of Food...

Yes I DID go to the Grilled Cheese Grill in Portland and it was amazing!  I swear you could eat somewhere new and cool for every meal in Portland and never run out of new places.  They have the best food there (next to New York, of course).  I realized I haven't posted pictures for a min, so here are some pics of the latest in my life...

 Schweddy Balls in my mouth

 The magic that is the Grilled Cheese Grill

 Seriously so good!

 The bottom level of the Grilled Cheese Grill

 We went to the second location, which is the beloved Double Decker Bus

 The creepiest "stache" we've gotten from the Beaver vending machines yet!  It matched perfectly!

The temple the other night, when the grounds were more peaceful than the Celestial Room.

 This is old...but what's sweeter than a sleeping bebes?

 Gibson in Police Training.  That's his cool face.

Gibson's latest obsession is this helmet and he never takes it off.

 This is how we do Canadian Thanksgiving now...a Bobbie from Capriotti's

Oh Yes it's Friday Night!

It's not Tuesday...sorry.  You get what you get.

1.  I love food.  It makes me sooooo happy!  I'm one of those people who makes yummy noises and does little chair dances when I eat something really tasty.  I can't help myself!

2.  My next Half is in 3 weeks and I started to panic this week.  I was sick last weekend and nailed to my couch, so again I missed my long run.  Boo.  So, I ran 10 miles Tuesday night and listened to a session of Conference while I ran.  It was absolutely perfect.  I had a nice rhythm and was nice and relaxed.  The only thing is that I don't think I was fully recovered, nutrition-wise, so by the time I finished my little body was not happy.  I was exhausted!  And dehydrated...but the run was good and faster than I had anticipated after not running for a week and being sick all weekend.  Clearly I was fine the next day and felt like I hadn't run at all, but I haven't run 10 miles in a minute!

3.  Jonas had his first Primary Program on Sunday and it was so cute!  Matt and Renee learned a few things after this first one...like don't give him stickers the morning of (they ended up all over the railing), tell him not to pick his nose, and send him to the bathroom before.

4.  And since we're talking about church...what is up with family wards??  I went to a family ward and the singles ward when I was in Portland and then we stayed for the whole thing at Matt and Renee's ward this past weekend and I cannot get over the comments that were made in both Relief Societies!  I mean, I would start by saying that they didn't pertain to me...but they didn't even pertain to the lesson!  It was...interesting.  I'll just stop complaining about my singles ward and treasure the last year and a half I have there before they boot me off to old lady weird comments land!

5.  I haven't been doing personal stuff at work for the past couple of weeks and it's starting to get to me!  I haven't been g-chatting and have NO idea what's going on in my friend's lives.  Do I even have friends anymore?!  I have to check my email/facebook late at night before I go to bed and then once I get through my routine, it's after midnight and then I'm a tired guy in the mornings.  It's terrible.  Well...I mean, I've gotten caught up at work, but that's because I've worked through my lunches for the past 2 weeks too.  Let's not get crazy and say it's just because I haven't been doing personal things.

6.  I've been trying to go back to the temple weekly again, because I started to slack a while ago and dropped back to like bi-weekly or something.  I was so frustrated the other night though, and I was trying not to be.  I was in a session where 2 guys were going through for the first time (probs for their missions), so it looked like the whole ward was there (which is great!).  And I get that it's an exciting time, but shouldn't it still be quiet in the Celestial room??  I was so bugged.  That's supposed to be a peaceful place of refuge and I had to plug my ears while I was praying so I could focus on what I was praying about!  Frustrating.  I ended up walking around the grounds outside for a bit because it was way quieter out there.

7.  I discovered the other day that by the end of the year, after doing 3 Half Marathons and 3 relay races, with all of the running I've done in those plus the training...I will have run between 650-700 miles in one year.  Isn't that bananas??  I didn't even think I'd gone 300 miles on my shoes yet, so I wasn't sure I needed new ones, but I for sure realize now that it's time...it's past time.

8.  I'm trying to justify ordering a really beautiful plum colored wool coat for winter...but it's still 90 freaking degrees here!  Please please please let it get cold this winter so I can order this coat!  It's really an investment, right?  A good coat?  And if/when I go to NYC it'll be totally necesssary, right?

9.  I work with the rudest woman in America.  She is so unprofessional and I just can't take it!  She's super bossy, never asks people to do anything but just tells them to, she never says please, she brings her mom in and just hangs out all day, she'll be on the phone with someone and another phone will ring, so she'll put the first person down and answer the second call and then chat away whilst the other person is sitting on hold listening to her entire conversation.  And she'll do it with like 3 different lines!  I either refer to her as a bull dozer or the tazmanian devil bc she is like unto both.  She doesn't even think she's rude though.  That's what kills me!  She legit thinks she's a nice person.  I've been trying so hard to get over this and to be nice to her but it is really hard!  I even had a bit of an epiphane during Conference, but this is definitely a major trial for me.  I have a really hard time with people who treat others like that.  I know I'm not perfect, but come on...

10.  Have you guys ever seen that little girl on MAD TV who is totally hyper and has adhd or something like that?  I forget her name...  Anyway, sometimes I think I'm her.  I am one of those people who wants to try everything and be instantly good at it.  I try for a bit and then move on to the next thing.  In my mind though, I'm really good at a lot of things!  I know there are more of you out there.  I have lists of things I want to try and do and lists of things I need to finish, because I started and then got distracted by the next sparkly thing.  Do you think this carries on into my dating life??  I just thought about that...

Tuesday Inquiries

1.  I want to shop.  Badly.

2.  I can't stop thinking about the "3 B's" at the Waffle Window in Portland - Brie, Bacon, and Basil on a delicious waffle with fresh peach jam on the side.  Mmmm....

3.  Why do people feel the need to spread their life all over facebook?  Is it a cry for attention, or do they really think everyone wants to know every detail about them?  This is why I don't understand Twitter either.  Why on earth would I have a twitter account?  I'm not a celebrity and I'm pretty sure nobody cares where I am at 2:48 in the afternoon.

4.  Why is it that you always end up working with at least one person who thinks they work harder than anyone else and is just dying for someone to compete with about it?

5.  I'm starting to see the light at the end of my tunnel.  Just a few more months and I think I'll have life all figured out!

6.  Isn't the whole purpose of a book club to have differing opinions and to try new genres you wouldn't normally read?  That's why they're held with a variety of people, right?

7.  I was humbled last week by a very genuine and loving person.  I needed it.

8.  Why are most people so leery about blind dates?  I think they're fun!  Yes, dating can be exhausting at times, but it can also be kind of adventurous.  Dating is just a simple way of getting to know someone better.  I feel that your friends/family have your best interest at heart and wouldn't set you up with a dud, so why not?  I had 2 blind dates last week set up by 2 good friends, and had a great time on both!

9.  I started going to Institute a couple of weeks ago, and I'm really enjoying it.  I really haven't gone since I graduated from college a few (seven)  years ago, but it's been a really nice little boost.  I don't really know anyone there...just a few people...but I really don't care.  Funny how that happens as you get older...you go for the learning and not necessarily the social aspect.  Our teacher is phenomenal too!

10.  At what point do you start thinking about starting a career as a single lady?  I mean...is it too late to think about going back to school?  And if I were to go back to school, would I have to choose between Interior Design and being a Child Life Specialist?  Is it really time that I be making these decisions?  Or should I have already made these at this point in my life?  I promise I don't want to be viewed as a "secretary" for the rest of my life...even though I'm NOT and have a college degree and actually do the accounts receivables but have to sit at the front desk bc we're too cheap to hire a receptionist.

and ps...I did splurge and bought myself a $5 really deep purple nail polish from Sephora the other day that I can't wait to try on!

pps...I'm really sad to admit this, but I think this whole lack of excessive sugar thing has actually made me start to dislike baked/sugary/candy goods.  Wha?!  True.  I had 2 slivered samples of delicious pie tonight at book club and wanted to vomit instantly and am now suffering from a sugar headache.  Blech!  I also only ate 1/3 of a Heath bar last week before I was sugared out!  Lame!  Apparently I can still muscle down chocolate covered cinnamon bears like nobody's business, but luckily those are a Utah specialty item. (We went up to Conference this weekend and got some for the road)

I need a break from my travels for a minute.  I was literally gone every weekend in September.  Duck Creek on the long weekend, Red Rock Relay the second weekend, Ragnar Napa Valley the third, Portland the fourth, and then Provo/SLC which was technically the end of Sept/beginning of October.  Can you believe we're already in October??  Sheesh!  Where has the year gone?!

I think I watch too much Project Runway.  I sit at my desk at work and think about dresses and tops I want to make and how I don't want to make them with patterns.  I just want to be able to whip up what's in my head on a whim and a body form.  What?  Why do you think that's so unreasonable with my limited sewing experience?  Anya has only been sewing for 4 months and I got my first sewing machine when I was 8!  Now...I just need a body form...

If/when I move to New York, I'll definitely have to keep running and possibly start actually working out because I.Love.Food. and there are a million kazillion things there I need to eat.

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??