Utah Valley Half

Utah Valley Marathon was my first Marathon. I really enjoyed it and wanted to run the half this time around. My mom was going to run it with me, but had to defer it for next year because she wasn't feeling too well after the Provo City half. And then it turned out that she wouldn't have been able to make it anyways since her mother passed away a couple days before. I ran thinking of both of them the whole time. 

I got up super early and headed to catch the bus at the Provo Mall. I got on one of the first buses and was up at the start before a ton of people arrived. They had little fire pits set up for everyone. I'm so glad that I brought my giant sweater to keep warm. It's was really cool in the canyon. I met up with some running friends before the race and was planning on sticking with London, the one in the middle, who was going to be the 2.10 pacer. 

I started down the canyon with her and got about 3 miles in before I fell back. I didn't want to push too hard too soon and bonk at mile 6. I wanted so bad to PR, but I also wanted to finish and finish strong. 

I felt awesome going along and all the way til out of the canyon. I discovered that I do better when I hit an aid station and dump some of the water on my arms. It's an instant cool off and I feel like I can still push strong. 

I brought some GU chomps to take at mile 5. I really like them. They're easier to get down than just regular GU, especially in the heat. I only ate a half a pack of them the whole race. 

I finish strong in 2.16!! Amazing!! I felt great and I got a new PR!! After the race I went back home, showered, and got the kids ready for the kids 1k. 

They were so excited to run. The older 3 ran, while the younger 2 stayed with me. 

                                   

Jason ran with them while I waited at the finish line. The oldest 2 were so fast I didn't see them pass by. 

Caleb ditched Brianna. He said he wanted to go FAST! So he ran hard. I saw Jason and Annabelle finish and got a video of them. 

                                     

What a great day as a family! The kids were stoked with their medals. I'm telling ya, if you want a great race for your kids to run the Utah Valley Kids 1k is totally it! They get shirts and medals and it's FREE! 

Girls On The Run 5k

For a couple of months Brianna has been going to Girls on the Run every week. It is a great program that teaches girls to be positive, confident, and all that great stuff while training for a 5k. Brianna is great at running short distances so, this was a fun experience for her. She had a practice run before today and ran the first quarter mile before having to walk because she went out way too fast. Today was a different story. 

With Girls on the Run the girls have a running buddy and I got to be Brianna's for the 5k. 

There were a TON of people there. Brianna, Jason, Caleb, Annabelle, and I all went. It was at the Sugarhouse Park. It's a beautiful park. There was all sorts of fun things to do. Face painting, hair coloring, food, everything! Brianna had fun getting her hair colored green, pink, and purple. 

We started out and with in the first 20 feet she was complaining of her legs being super tired. "We just started!" I said. Haha! We kept going and walked at the top of the hill. We did a walk run thing for the first lap then on the second half is when she really got into it. She ran really well and stopped at the aid stations. At the last corner that took us to the finish, she booked it down the hill passing everyone! I had to sprint to keep up with her! She ran hard and finished her first "official" 5k!! She did a great job! I'm really proud of her.

Brianna showing off her FIRST medal! I think she likes it. She's been going around showing everyone what she earned. :)

Me and Brianna! Annabelle was so excited to see all the fun and she can't wait until she's old enough to do the Girls on the Run! 

Provo City Half

I got up at 3 am, got ready, and caught a ride down to Provo with my mom and dad. My mom and I were planning on running the Provo City Half. She was going to take a little longer than I was so, after standing around for 2 hours (we caught the first bus) in the cold trying to inch our way into the circle of people around the little fire pits we parted ways when they were about to start. I was planning on going with the 2.30 pacer as long as I could like I had been doing with the past races. Mom was going to start at the end of the pack and was aiming for around a 3 hr half. 

 I made a last minute decision to run with the 2.20 pacer when I saw it was my friend Susette who was pacing it and Josh was with her. I figured I could always drop back if I had to. 

Things started out great and I was really surprised at how well I was feeling considering I was struggling the weekend before at the Thanksgiving Point half with all those hills. I'm sure it really helped that there was a big downhill with running in the canyon and all. 

Around mile 2 Susette had to hand off the pacing sign to Josh and we ran together until Susette caught up a couple miles later. Talk about tough! I don't think I would have been able to do what she did. I think if I had to fall back like that I wouldn't have been able to run and catch up! Josh did an amazing job at pacing. He has an amazing story and is such a great guy. It was really nice running with him. He's so much taller than me so, it made me have to lengthen my stride and what I noticed was, it's SO MUCH EASIER! It's easier to run with a longer stride than the normal little trot I do. My legs felt good, my lungs felt good, and mentally I was totally in it. There was nothing holding me back... until mile 10ish.

Josh had to drop back around mile 9-10 and I was running along with Susette. We were on pace to be in a little before 2.20, but the mile markers were off by about .25, so we weren't 100% sure how much early we'd be in. Around mile 10 my legs kept telling me to walk. I pushed it until mile 11, where I walked through the aid station and continued running. I was warn out, but I could see the finish line and I knew I could make it under 2.30. Susette had gone ahead around mile 10 and I tried my hardest to keep her in sight. I knew I'd only be about 5 minutes behind her if I just kept moving. 

When I came up close enough to the finish line to see the clock I was shocked to see it was 2.18! I was totally going to get it under 2.20!!! I pushed it and finished in 2.20.22!

I PR'd!! I wasn't expecting to PR at all. I didn't go into this race thinking that I'd do anything other than stick with the 2.30 and hopefully the downhill would help me a little, but I wasn't expecting a PR at all!! 

It was a great race with great friends. Josh had me promise him when he dropped back that I'd PR and sure enough, I did!! 

I called my mom when I was at mile 6 and she was at 4 and feeling good. 

Somewhere around mile 9 she hit a wall and it took her forever to finish the last 4 miles. I think a lot of it had to do with the heat and her not being dressed for it. She was dressed for the cool of the canyon, but not the hot of the road when you came out of the canyon. I was there with my dad, Jason, and a couple of their missionaries waiting on her to come in.  She ended up finishing in 3.17.58. She was so tired and exhausted. She was going to run the Utah Valley Half with me, but decided to push it back to next year, which is a good idea. She'll be totally prepared by then. :) 

My next half is the Utah Valley Half. It's about the same course so, we'll see if I can PR again. I'm debating to running with the 2.10 pacer this time. We'll see what I do...

Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon

This morning I got up and headed over to Thanksgiving point to run the Thanksgiving Point Half. I wasn't really sure what to expect since I haven't run this race before. I heard that there were some hills, but I had no idea. It was pouring rain and in the 40s so I knew I needed to stay warm unlike the Saltair Half where I about died because of the cold and rain/snow. I heard from some people that wearing a black trash bag was a great idea when it was cold and rainy. I didn't have time to run to walmart for a poncho, so a trash bag would have to do.

Aren't I pretty. Hahaha!

 This was at the very start. HUGE rain clouds that poured on us the whole time. 

I figured I'd stick with the 2.30 pacer as long as I could since that is what I had been doing for the past few half marathons. I did good sticking with her until about mile 5 when the hills really kicked in. I couldn't keep up, so I went at my own pace. Hill after hill....after hill....after hill..... HOLY HILLS!! There were SO many and they weren't simple little hills. They were steep both down and up and they where TOUGH. I stuck with it, walked when I needed to, and made little goals for myself. I wanted to get to 10 miles as close to 2 hours as I could. I figured if I could do that I'd beat my last half marathon time of 2.48.30.

This was around mile 5 of the race. I thought it was really fitting considering it was POURING rain. 

I made it to 10 miles and then I could hear the finish line. I couldn't see it, but I could hear it! I kept telling myself that I have done 3 miles before, that's nothing. I can totally run the last 3 miles. As I got closer and closer I kept telling myself to just keep going. I turned the corner and could see where everyone was turning into the finish. I ripped off the trash bag and finished the last mile feeling STRONG. I felt like I had a lot of gas still in the tank. 

I finished in 2.41.00. Not bad! It was a tough course and super rainy so, I was proud of my time. 

Riverton Half Marathon

 My mom, dad, and I got up early and headed over to Riverton to run. I was running the half marathon and my mom was running the 5k. It was a really beautiful day. There was a bit of a wind and it was a little chilly, but it wasn't too bad. 

 Dad and mom at the start. My dad got that shirt when I ran my first marathon and my mom her first half. 

My mom and I before the race. It was a little chilly so I had my jacket on. 

I met up with some new running friends before the race and figured I'd run with whoever was sticking with the 2.30 pacer. I met a new friend, Catherine and stuck with her and the 2.30 pacer until about mile 5. 

 Pic from around mile 4 or 5.

The mile markers were off by about half a mile so after a while it was really getting to me mentally. It was a really tough course for me just because of the markers and because I didn't really train for it. I walked and ran off and on for the last 8 miles. My little brother, Adam called me about mile 6 not knowing that I was running a half and was surprised. 

I ended up finishing in 2.48.30. It was really challenging for me and I was glad when it was over. 

My mom got 1st place in her age group in the 5k! Haha! She got a BIG purple plastic medal. Haha! I love being able to run with my mom now that she's close by. 

Around the lake

This morning I got up and ran 4 miles around the lake with my momma. Today is weigh in day at WW and I'm hoping to lose some weight this morning, but you never know what will happen. I've worked out every day this week and I've hit over my 10, 000 steps every day for the past 9 days. You'd think it would make a difference today when I weigh in, but you never know.

The sunrise was beautiful this morning and I enjoyed the time with my mom. She's doing really well and picking up her pace. She finished with 6.3 miles today. She's such an amazing lady! I'm really proud of her. I hope that when I'm 63 I'm still out there running.

I'm getting to the point now where my body is naturally waking up around 6 every morning. I love that I'm getting to that point. It's really helpful when you know you should be out there running. If your body is naturally wake there's no way you can sleep in. My mind starts going and the angel on my shoulder always beats out the devil when I wake up naturally. On Saturday I was thinking I'd just sleep in, but the more I thought about it the more the angel on my shoulder kept saying "No! You need to get up. You NEED to get out there. You need this!" So, I got up and I went. It always feels good to get my exercise in. Plus, It's nice to get 3-4 miles in and see that you're already close to hitting your 10,000 steps for the day, so any more steps are just extra.

Even though I didn't want to...

Last night I was debating on not going out to run since I was so tired, but I kept my alarm on anyway. I went to bed early and by 5:45 this morning I woke up to a little baby boy screaming cause of a bad dream. I figured it was close enough to my alarm going off that I'd just stay up and get dressed to run. I didn't really feel like it today. I was super tired and I was having some major cramps, but I went anyway. I switched up my route a little today and caught up with my momma halfway into my run.

It turned out to be a good thing that I went anyway because my mom was thinking the same thing. She wanted to go back to bed, but saw me and decided to run rather than go back to sleep. She was able to hit a 12 something mile today! She did awesome! I ended up running 3 miles this morning. I'm glad I went out there and got it done. It's not going to make a difference in my heath and weight if I don't make it a habit and it won't become a habit unless I get out there and go even when I don't want to. If I didn't go today I would have made an excuse the next time and the next time and the time after that until I wasn't running anymore.


I came across this blog yesterday that really got me motivated. She's lost 100 lbs in a year by exercising and eating right. I was doing that back when I started in 2009 and then had 2 babies which threw me off. But, now that I'm done having babies I can FOCUS on running and getting healthy. I can lose the weight I need and be the healthy, happy Cathy I deserve to be. I've been losing the same 5lbs since before October, something's gotta change and I'm going to make that happen!

So far I've done great this week. I've gone out and exercised every day this week. I've upped my mileage by .25 each day. It's feeling good. Now, I need to throw in a little speed work here or there to help me progress. I know I can do the miles, it's a matter of making them quality miles and not just miles.