Weekly Review - Week 1

So since I'm actively trying to lose weight using Weight Watchers and as of today I have officially begun my FULL MARATHON training, I've decided that Monday's I will hold myself accountable.  The healthy weight range for my height is 120 - 150lbs.  My goal weight is 135 lbs. 

Beginning Weight  ~  146.5 lbs
Ending Weight  ~  142.5 lbs

I lost 4 pounds this week!!
12.5 lbs to go.

Things that went well:  I was really strict this week with my eating. It was week 1 of Weight Watchers and I stuck with the things that have worked well for me in the past.  Breakfast all weekdays was a protein shake with added fruit.  Lunches were a tuna fish sandwich, and 1 cup of soup (a Light Progresso variety).  Dinners were heaving on the vegetables and then some sort of protein.  Oh .. and I'd have a giant apple for  a snack and also usually a Chobani yogurt as well.  I plan to follow much of the same plan this week as well.

Things that didn't go so well:  It was my nieces birthday yesterday and I ate a piece of ice cream cake.  It was SO good.  I figure that I made up for it a little bit with my ability to not eat my entire piece of chicken parmesan that we had for dinner. My mum makes a MEAN chicken parmesan and I really wanted to finish eating it. 

Meal Plan for this week:

Monday - Lean Cuisene and veggies
Tuesday - Lean Cuisene and salad
Wednesday - Dinner at Mum's (she's doing WW too so I'm sure it will be WW friendly)
Thursday - Veggie Tacos
Friday - Grilled Chicken breast and veggies
Saturday - Weight Watcher Meatloaf (I LOVE this recipe)
Sunday - Dinner at Mum's  (again she'll do something WW friendly)

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 Today's Workout:

Plan:  Run 3m Easy.
Actual:  3.1m  Average pace: 10:42

I really had to work for that pace today.  Look at what I was running in:

Solid snow pack the entire time today.  And it was 9 degree's outside!!  The one piece of gear that saves me the most during these super cold and snowy runs is my trail running shoes that have the waterproof upper on them.  They are AWESOME.  They feel like bricks on my feet compared to my normal shoes but they keep my feet dry and cozy so I'm not complaining.

I was bundled up good.  I think this is the shortest run I've done in months.  For my full marathon I took a Hal Higdon plan and added a couple extra weeks to it to accommodate any potential injuries I have to take time off for.  Also gives me a couple 20 milers rather than just one.

All in all I'm excited to be off to a good start.  With the weight loss as well as the start of my training plan.

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Give me your best tip or trick for a first time marathoner!!??

Still here .. still running

I'm not sure what the deal is with Blogger. I tried to blog last weekend as well only to find that I couldn't upload picture then either.  So I figured out the whole Picasa web albums in the meantime.

I haven't blogged in ages.  But I have still been running.  A lot actually.

Speaking of a lot.  It's been snowing A LOT here in Salt Lake City as well.  Last Winter I think I lucked out because it was pretty mild. I  prided myself on not missing a run because of any silly rain or snow.  So far this year I've skipped one long run completely because of a nasty snow storm.  It's ironic really because I would be more than willing to run in a few inches of fresh snow if it's only for say six miles.  But when it's for a double digit run I just can't do it.  The thought of soaking wet feet for over two hours is just too much.  It sure is beautiful though.

I did run in that above, only for six miles.  It was so peaceful.

Oh, it hasn't just been snowy .. we've also had single digits for like two weeks.  However, the temp doesn't deter me at all.

For two days straight it's been snowing again.  I planned to run 12 miles this morning.  There was no way I was going to slog through 12 miles in several inches of fresh snow. 

Off the the gym I went instead.  It wasn't a good start.  I went with my Kindle Fire in hand with the plan to watch a movie.  I figured that would consume a lot of my running time.  I don't know what the heck was going on, whether it was my Kindle or the wireless connection at the gym but I could not connect to their network to save my life.  The first 5 miles just plain sucked.  What's funny is I trained for my first 5k solely on the treadmill but since then I've really been a 100% outdoor runner with the exception of speed work.  I prefer to do intervals on the treadmill just so I know I'm hitting my paces.  Now the treadmill feels a million times harder than running outside.  This actually leads me to believe I should do this more often to help build some mental toughness.

I basically spent the first 5 miles feeling really angry and irritable because of the technical issues.  I settled into a slow (for me) 11:15 pace.  It felt hard and dreadful.  The treadmill hit the automatic cool down after 55 minutes (it had one of those 60 min max settings on it).  So I refilled my water and decided to get situated with my iPod tuned into the radio station so that I could watch their TV's.  Once I settled in and could get my Kindle to turn back on I also started reading as well.  Ha .. well you know .. not at the same time.  That helped and the next 5 miles kind of flew by.  I had to tough through the last 2 miles but I did it.

It's kind of funny when you're been running on the treadmill for that long and reading a book, once you get off it's like stepping off a cruise ship.  It feels funny to walk.  All in all I'm really happy to have had the mental toughness to run that many miles on the treadmill.  I'm very grateful that I have that option when it's this yucky outside.

Workout:  12 miles  (2:20 mins)

I'm also doing Weight Watchers right now.  I've had a really good week thus far.  When I plugged my workout into my tracker it spit out that I had earned 24 activity points!  I only get 26 points a day.  That means I basically earned a days worth of points .. I just found that funny.  I won't eat those points, I never do.  I'm really trying to find the balance with WW's and running.  I have been very low energy with my runs this week .. another post for another day.

Happy Treadmill Running Friends!!

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Have you done double digits on the "dreadmill"?  What did you do to break the monotony of it?

Several inches of fresh snow .. do you run in it anyway?

Big Cottonwood Canyon Half - Race Recap

A couple months ago my brother convinced me to sign us up for the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon. This was the first year they were doing this race. I was a little skeptical because usually inaugural races can be pretty unorganized since they're new. This was my sister in law, Rachel's come back race too. Coming back off of her broken foot from Ragnar. I'm so glad she decided to do another race this year. Especially since she swore up and down to me as I continued to beg her to sign up for other races that she hates racing and that's why she only does it once a year.

Ha! I will make a racer out of her .. she just may not know it yet.

So up we were at 4:30am on yet another Saturday morning. That's by far the worst part about running races. The early start times. When we arrived there was this huge line of cars waiting to get in and park so we headed across the street to park in a different lot. We barely met up with Evan and Rachel at the top before they started with the 5 minute warning for the start. We literally had time to drop our warm clothes at the bag drop and then we were waiting on Jeramie to pin his number and get his gear all situated. In the end I think we actually started the race about 3 minutes after the gun went off. Not something we really worry about because it's chip timed so we don't officially start until we cross the starting line. Or so I thought anyway.

As we headed out we ran the first couple miles together. The first one being quite quick. I was feeling really good. We ran on the other side of the road for quite awhile because we were just passing runners non stop. After a couple miles though Evan, Rachel and Jeramie started to slow down. I didn't realize this until they were quite a ways behind me. I really hadn't gone up there planning to run really hard at all. Just go with the flow and enjoy it. But I guess I just can't help myself. I am so competitive with myself. And truly it's just myself and my desire to beat my own times. Well and let's be honest starting at the back of the pack and picking off other runners the entire race is kind of a confidence booster. Since I was feeling good I just went with it. I figured I would give it everything and when I ran out of gas I would plant my butt on the side of the road and just wait for the rest of the group.

This right here is one of my favorite race pictures of all time.

See how both my feet are off the ground? That means no dimpling on my legs.

I really debated about what to wear to this race but I'm happy with what I chose.

I was worried the long sleeves would be too hot, but it worked out fine.

The outfit:

Top:  Lulu Run Swiftly Tech Long Sleeve

Shorts:  Lulu Run Bright at Night Short

Socks:  Saucony Compression Socks (I've had these forever, can't find a link)

Shoes:  Brooks Ravenna 2's (link to the 3's)

Hat:  Brooks Printed Mesh Cap  (this hat is my all time favorite!)

So as I continued on down the mountain one by one I passed the 2:30 pacer, then the 2:15 pacer. I kept thinking, okay the 2:00 pacer will be next. I just have to pass this pacer and stay ahead, then knowing I started a few minutes after the official start meant that I would actually pull out a sub 2 hour half marathon.  In my head the first goal of a new runner is to complete your first half marathon with no walking this is usually the next big goal. Next, to finish in under 2 hours. I'm still a very new runner. I ran my first half marathon less than a year ago. Which even to me sounds very strange considering how many I've run since then. I finished Timpanogos (which was my "A" race this year) in 2:01! I was so close. As I got closer and closer to the finish line I kept telling myself I'm actually going to do it!! There are absolutely no words to describe this feeling.

This is a seriously downhill course.  And that can be a good thing and that can be a bad thing.  By about 6 miles my quads were screaming.  But my heart rate was nice and low so I just kept going at that same pace. It's like a drug really.  Looking down and seeing myself running so fast (speed clearly being a relative thing), I just couldn't help myself.  I felt like I was flying.

 I love that my husband does this with me.

I think if he'd stuck with me in the beginning he'd have finished with me.

He however stuck with my brother and sister in law for awhile.  I'll be honest, I'm bummed I missed out on this adorable picture.  These three are so fun to run with!

And really there aren't words to describe this sport / hobby. I wish that I could. We tell my other brother Mike all the time that he needs to start running, he still maintains it will never happen. And frankly he's stubborn and so I really believe that it will never happen. But boy you guys are missing out. The sense of accomplishment. Running is such a prime example of you get out of it what you put into it. If you work your ass off then you WILL be successful. It's really just that easy. But if you don't put the work in then I feel like you will set yourself up for failure. And that's where I think it becomes harder to stay motivated and stick with it. There are plenty of lunch times at work when I think to myself I really would rather not go run. I don't want to change out of my work clothes and then ruin my hair for the rest of the day. And then I just tell myself to stop thinking like that and get to it. And I swear there are LOTS of Sunday mornings where I would rather sleep in than go for a run. But it's true what they say, you will never ever ever regret a run. You just won't. Even when it was a miserable run (and there are plenty of those) you still don't think to yourself, well I wish I hadn't gone out and done that. Another thing about runners, they are the most enthusiastic to get new runners added to the group. BEST. THING. EVER.

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

The Stats:

Official Finish Time: 1:52:25

Overall Rank: 242/646

Overall Gender Rank: 139/448

Age Group Rank: 29/86

Splits:

Mile 1: 8:37

Mile 2: 9:16

Mile 3: 8:58

Mile 4: 8:43

Mile 5: 8:46

Mile 6: 8:31

Mile 7: 8:13

Mile 8: 8:13

Mile 9: 8:22

Mile 10: 8:16

Mile 11: 8:13

Mile 12: 8:19

Mile 13: 8:43

Mile 13.1: 8:58

I could not have been happier about my performance. I didn't go out there with these expectations and I feel so lucky that I was able to accomplish what I did.

 

This is truly what mile 13 of a PR race looks like.

 

Now let's talk about the race itself.  This was an supremely organized race!  Like I mentioned, this was the inaugural race.  And from beginning to end it was organized so well.  Just to name a few reasons why I would recommend this race to anyone:

• Their Facebook presence with updates and the such was awesome. 
• The medal was one of the best ones I've gotten. 
• The course support was fantastic.  Water at all stations.
• The tech shirt is great .. I've worn it for many training runs since then.
• Timing chips attached to the bib.
• Bag pick up the night before was super fast and easy.
• Gorgeous views down one of the main canyons of the Wasatch Mountains.
• All of the food and stuff after the race was really awesome too.

 

The hubs and me.

 

The whole family.

 



If you want an awesome race to travel to Salt Lake City for this is the one.  I can't wait to run this again next year and attempt to beat my PR. 


Have you run a specific race where you just loved it from beginning to end?

Hobble Creek Half - Race Recap

A couple weekends ago my husband and I ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon.  It's famed to be one of the prettiest races in Utah.  The kind of race that sells out within hours of opening registration.  I'm not actually sure how quickly it sold out this year.  I was online and registering the morning it opened.  This was my brothers first half marathon last year, and one of the few races I've gone to the finish line to cheer on.  Since then it seems like I've just been running them all.  But watching them finish this race last year is what motivated me to step up my training and run my first half marathon.  They were such an inspiration.  Plus this would be the first race I would actually run the whole thing with my husband.  I was excited for that too.

So as it turned out we were camping this weekend up at Jordanelle Reservoir.  This meant that we would have a little bit of a longer drive in the morning.  The alarm went off bright and early at 4am and we very very carefully tried to get ready in our trailer without waking any of the kids up.  Turned out we did a pretty good job of that, my dad didn't even hear us leave.  I had mapquested directions to the starting line and it estimated a 1 hour drive time.  As we raced down Provo Canyon we were behind another car that had a Ragnar sticker on the back window.  Based on their speed I said to Jeramie, I bet they're going to the same place.  But as we got to the bottom of the canyon and headed further south they kept going so I guessed I was wrong.  Until we then made a wrong turn and saw them pass us again.  I just thought it was funny to pick out another set of runners based on running stickers on their car.

We ended up making it to the finish line with just the right amount of time.  We geared up and walked over to packet pick up to get our bibs.  Once we had them pinned on and our timing chips attached to our shoes we walked over to the buses and literally just climbed on the bus.  We sat in the very first seat and spent the ride up the canyon listening to all the nervous runners.  I always find the bus talk amusing.  I was happy that the ride up the canyon didn't make me sick like the bus ride up for Timpanogos.  Once the bus dropped you off at the top you had to walk like another half mile up the canyon.  We laughed at all the people who were in such a rush to get up there.  We took it nice and leisurely walk, fast enough to keep us warm but certainly slow enough that we weren't using any race energy.  Once we got to the top we hopped in line for the Honey Buckets.  They were some of the longest lines I've ever had to stand in.  But by the time we finished we literally walked to drop my drop bag and then made our way to the slower pace signs.  We kept walking and walking, once we got to basically the complete back of the pack we were still at the 9:30 pace (faster than we planned) but we were at the back.  This really truly is one of my biggest pet peeves.  People who stand in the much faster corals than they clearly plan to run only to slow people down behind them who were respectful enough to stand in the correct coral.  It punishes those of us that are in the right place by forcing us to spend the first couple of miles trying to navigate around people running much slower.

Here we were at the starting line.  As you can see there's nobody hardly around us.

The nice thing about starting at the back

and running a conservative pace is there was little crowd to deal with.

This is pretty much what the first 8 miles looked like.

Slight down hill along a two lane unmarked road.

Very pretty.

Since we had only run Timpanogos Half a few weeks ago and it was my "A" race this year I had no intention of racing this one too.   Our goal was to go out at between a 10:30 and 11:00 min pace.

Mile 1:  10:37
Mile 2:  10:37

At this point we picked up an older gentleman.  He said to me that I should have been a pacer because I was running 10:30 on the nose.  I was a little bit flattered.  I'm pretty sure it was a compliment.  We chatted a little bit about what other races he had run and what he had coming up.  He mentioned going out too fast at Timpanogos and gassing out.  He was happy to pace with us for a while in order to avoid having the same thing happen.  It was kind of funny for me really.  I ran between the older gentleman wearing his BYU cap and my husband wearing his "Will Run For Beer" bondi band .. haha.  Opposite ends of the spectrum I tell you. He stuck with us until around mile 7, however didn't talk much after that.

Mile 3:  10:22
Mile 4:  10:29
Mile 5:  10:22
Mile 6:  10:01
Mile 7:  10:19
Mile 8:  10:19

At this point I have to mention that I am apparently very natural at maintaining a pace.  I don't spend a ton of time watching my Garmin.  I just pretty much run by feel.  I think it was around mile 8 that we started to hit the bottom of the canyon where it diverted us off of the road and onto a paved trail similar to the trail that I run the majority of my training runs on.  There were some rolling hills in there and a lot of flat.  This course is much more flat than Timpanogos was.  Jerm and I were still running together.  Not talking too much, he was feeling pretty good and I was happy for that.  I was feeling pretty great.  Not too tired. My heart rate was in a great place.  Just felt like a speedier training run to me.

Mile 9:  10:26
Mile 10:  10:22
Mile 11:  10:07

This is where it got interesting.  I was just chugging along.  At this point we had dropped out into some neighborhoods.  I was just running along when all of a sudden I noticed that Jerm had pulled ahead some.  I didn't think too much about it. He does that occasionally when he gets impatient with another runner.  He'll leapfrog over them and then we catch back up together.  But this time he just kept going.  So I picked up the pace a little thinking, well okay we wants to go a bit faster as we come into the last couple of miles.  As I sped up he did some more.  At which point I let him go.  I was a little bugged that he didn't say hey, do you want to pick it up and finish strong?  He just took off without a word.  So I continued to chug along at a slightly quicker pace at this point.  I really didn't have a whole lot more to give without really pushing it.  This whole time I could see Jerm in front of me and I noticed that the gap between us was closing.  We were heading into mile 12 at this point and so I picked up the pace some more with the intention of finishing strong.  I caught up to him and basically said, "WTF was that??"  He looked tired.  Apparently when he hit Mile 11 his MotoActive told him he was heading into lap 12.  He thought it meant he had hit 12 miles and he was pushing to finish strong.  Only to find out that he had only finished mile 11 and rather than 1 more to go he really had 2 more.  I laughed.  Hard.

Mile 12:  9:13
Mile 13.1:  9:14

I still felt great at this point.  My legs were a bit tired but I had some gas to finish strong and so I pushed him to keep going.  He was a bit miserable at this point.  But finish strong is exactly what we did.  I enjoyed running with Jerm for the majority of the race. Once we finished we walked through and picked up our t-shirts (this race hands them out at the very end to finishers). Picked up our medals.  Grabbed some fruit and chocolate milk and went and sat to catch our breath.  I wanted to check and see what our official time was and this took FOREVER.  I guess they were too interested in posting times for us slower runners.

I got a truck load of compliments on my outfit.

Love running races with this big guy.

Official Results:

My time:  2:12:10

Average Pace:  10:05/mile

Overall Place:  732/972

Age Group Place:  116/147

Jerm's time:  2:12:10

Average Pace:  10:05/mile

Overall Place:  733/972

Age Group Place:  50/61

387 Male finishers

585 Female finishers

Jeramie missed a PR by 4 freaking seconds!  If I had known we were gonna be that close I would have pushed harder sooner.  But the good news is that we both felt great and enjoyed running the race together.  Overall the race itself was pretty good.  Although they did run out of the energy gels before we got there, that was a drag. I almost wish that they would put them in your swag bags before the race so that everyone would get one, rather than letting people who pass through first grab a fist full leaving slower runners with nothing.  I did enjoy being one of the runners that spend the whole race passing people rather than the runner that is passed.  Ragnar I got passed a lot.  I like that you have to earn your t-shirt (even if I didn't love this years design as much as last years).  I thought it was cool that they decided to hand out medals to all finishers as well.  Although the medal itself was a little plain.  Better than nothing though.  I could see doing this one again.

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What are your thoughts on the free race energy gels/chews? Have they run out at your race before?

Five Things Friday

1.  I went with my husband and running buddy on my last 12 miler of this training cycle straight down Provo Canyon last weekend.  It was unbelievably beautiful!  I could rave on and on about how perfect this run was.  The company, the temperature, good amount of shade, wasn't scary even though it was like running on a highway.  It was just so beautiful.

I mean seriously, if this picture doesn't make you a tad jealous I don't know what would.

2.  We have this fancy new gym membership and are only managing to get there 2 days per week.  We need to double that to justify keeping it.  I have been afraid to try another class because the Hot Vinyasa one that I did left me sore for almost a week afterwards.  So close to my next half marathon I didn't dare risk being that sore on race day.  But after this weekend I'm gonna give some more classes a try.

3.  I did really good with my eating habits this week .. until today.  We had a pot luck at work and I totally got weak.  I'm disappointed in myself.  But at least we only have these every couple of months now.  So I don't have to worry about a repeat performance for at least another couple of months.

4.  I finished reading Bob Harpers, The Skinny Rules.  I actually really enjoyed it and the whole time in my head the voice I heard was Bob's .. with his accent and everything.  I think that for the most part it was good stuff.  While I'm still doing Weight Watchers (you know other than my pork out today on pot luck food), I plan to try and incorporate the rules as well.  I also think there are some good recipes in there that I'd like to give a try.  I think with the two combined I could make some good life style changes.

5.  Tomorrow is race day!  After my 12 miles downhill last Sunday my right calf really started to flare up.  So I haven't run all week and I've been resting it.  Today it feels pretty good.  I did a couple days on the elliptical and some weight training this week. But no running.  I've been rolling it and icing it every night this week.  So I'm optimistic that I can still run a good race tomorrow.  I'm really hoping to finish between 2:05 and 2:10.  My fastest to date was Salt Lake Half with a 2:12.  This is the first training cycle where I introduced some speedwork.  So tomorrow will show whether it paid off or not.  Well tomorrow is also a downhill course though, rather than the hill at mile 12 on Salt Lake.  I'm excited to run it with my brother too.  He's 10 years my junior and really tall, so I know he will push me to keep up the pace.

Me and my husband, post 12 sweaty miles.

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What do you do when faced with a pot luck??  Suck it up or cave?

          --  Clearly today I caved.  Fail.

Have you read Bob Harpers new book?  Thoughts?

Deflated

Well .. I haven't blogged here on the running blog in ages.  Mainly because my last two posts generated a whopping ZERO comments.  So I guess I should quit worrying about writing for other people and just focus on the journal aspect of it.  My journey as a mother of 4 children, who works full time and still makes time for running.  I am very committed to my healthy journey.  So maybe I'll start posting more frequently again.  Who knows?

So here I am, I've been a "runner" now for about a year and a half.  My first half marathon was 7 months ago with a time of 2:45.  My second half marathon I PR'ed big time with a 2:12.  Since then I have introduced some speed work.  My next race is a week from Saturday.  I've worked really hard this training cycle as well.  My goal is to go sub 2:10.  It's a downhill course (a first for me) so secretly I'm hoping to do a bit better than even the 2:10.

Anyway, I finally talked my husband into joining a gym.  I really wanted to start incorporating some more cross training.  Things like yoga, other fitness classes, as well as the elliptical.  And also I've really been wanting to add strength training bad to my routine because I know this will make me a stronger runner.  So with our membership to the gym we are entitled to fitness assessments as frequently as we would like.  They encouraged us to do one pretty early on so that we can then do another one later to see how far we've come.  It all sounded good to me.  Since I'm in some of the best physical shape I've ever been in I was feeling relatively confident that I would score pretty well.

I'm just gonna lay it all out there.

I am 5'5 and I weigh 142 lbs. 
Based on those numbers my inHealth website at work tells me that my BMI is 23.7.

BMI Guidelines Read:

Underweight:  less than 18.5

Healthy Weight:  18.5 - 24.9

Overweight:  25.0 - 29.9

Obese:  30.0 or higher

So okay, I'm in the healthy range, it's the top of the healthy range but still healthy right?

I've been hovering between 140 lbs and 143 lbs for the past entire year.  My original Weight Watcher goal weight was to weigh 145 lbs.  I hit that and have maintained it for a year now.  So I'm feeling pretty good.

I went back to WW's last week because I really want to lose 10-15 lbs.  I've been kind of trying for the past couple of months.  But find that I always let myself slip a little with that age old excuse of, "I ran 10 miles this morning, I can have a treat."  When I did the Hot Vinyasa yoga class this past Monday it completely grossed me out to see all the the dimpling on my thighs when I was in downward facing dog.  Hello cellulite!!  Now please leave.

So I walked into the fitness assessment with high hopes.  Sure I wasn't going to be at the middle of the healthy range for things, but I wouldn't be bad either.  Needless to say I left feeling incredibly disappointed / bummed / deflated / MAD / confused.

Body Fat Percentage:  35.1  (Average is 23%, you want to be below this)

VO2 max:  34.3  (Average is 34.6, you want to be above this)

Metabolic Age:  53 years (umm .. I'm 37)

At which point he dropped these numbers on me and I think I mumbled something about being really surprised. I think my husband was even more surprised and he says, "How can this be?  She runs 4-5 days per week religiously?"  Then the guy went into recommending a full board VO2 max test with the mask and all that.  And to be honest I wouldn't object to this. I think it would be cool to find out that kind of information.  However, I would probably do it in a more clinical setting and not in the middle of the gym.

I was alarmed at the body fat percentage.  According to the Livestrong website, a woman with 30% body fat is obese.    This is where I start to really get confused.  By my body fat I am obese .. by my weight I am smack in the middle of the healthy range.  I mean really could this be any more confusing?  I was SO disappointed by this there really aren't words to do it justice.  It's not like I dispute that I had been wanting to lose some more weight and am confident that I have the weight to lose. But still .. really?  Obese? 

We went over what we eat.  Which I'm sure he thought we were full of crap.  But for the past 2 weeks we've been eating really healthy so he kind of had to take it with that in mind.  The only recommendation he had there was to do the meal replacement protein they sold in their shop rather than the plain protein we currently have in the morning.  I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on that.  One good tip that I picked up was to drink a protein shake 1 hour before bedtime.  Just the plain kind .. protein + water.  He talked about how when you sleep your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism drops down a ton.  By drinking a protein shake before bed it aids in keeping that metabolism going while you sleep.  That makes sense to me.  It also happens that during a conversation with my running buddy discussing my frustration with the lack of weight loss. She and I theorized that perhaps I should have a second protein shake during the day to assist in getting some extra good calories in for fear that I'm not eating quite enough on days I run. 

So that's where we're at.  We have an appointment with a personal trainer for our couples training session in a couple weeks.  I'm excited for that.  I will stick with the Weight Watchers for now.  I'm optimistic that I can lose another 10-15 pounds.  I think I am also going to work a little harder at trying to run some of my runs in the fat burning HR zone.  I religiously wear my HR monitor when I'm running outside.  So this I think could be another step I can take to improve my body fat composition and overall weight.  I just hope it doesn't mean that my overall running pace slows down.  That's my biggest fear.

This picture here is most unattractive.

Like the dimpling on my thigh?

Maybe that's where those 50lbs of fat are residing?

But then I have to take a step back and remember.

I've been at this running stuff for about a year now.

I love the picture below. It reminds me that running is fun and I am strong.

(HA! you can't see the dimpling through the mud!)

Please help me you more experienced runners!

Can you make sense of confusing all this is?

Have you ever had a similar fitness test done and been shocked by the results?

Recap - Salt Lake Half Marathon 2012

This recap is so much later than it should have been.  Never the less .. I'm finally writing it!  Settle in .. this could be a long post.

There was so much debate over whether or not this race was even going to happen.  Even with the debate I still went ahead and registered Jeramie and I to run.   This would be his first half marathon.  I was really excited for him too.  Not to mention I had some big goals for this race, which I talked about here.  I ran my first ever half marathon back in December with a finishing time of 2:45.  It was my first race and I went into it fully trained, but definitely with the goal of "I just want to finish and not have to walk."  I was also really leery of going out too fast and ending up having to walk towards the end.  It was a really good race experience and it taught me that I still had plenty of strength at the end and I had trained well.  All of that to basically say that even though my goal was to shave 25 minutes off of my last race time, while this sounds like a lot I thought it was very reasonable since I knew I could have given more at that race.  My secret goal was 2:15.  I knew that would be hard, but I also knew that I had trained well and if I really worked for it I thought it might be possible.

On Friday night we had a plan to ship our four kids off to my parents house for the night and stay home and kick our feet up with a bowl of Macaroni and Cheese.  This seems to have turned into my night before the race meal.  I ate it once before a long training run and had felt really strong that next morning.  This is somewhat monumental because we don't get to go out much without our kids together, so to pass up a meal out is a big deal for us.  I think it turned out to be a good decision though in the end.  We headed to bed pretty early and next thing I knew the alarm was going off at 5:45am.  As I rolled out of the bed there was Jeramie with his classic, "just five more minutes ..."  I quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to make my staple pre-run meal of Peanut Butter on toast, just once slice please.  Before we knew it we were driving up town.  The plan had been to meet my friend Rebecca at the church her husband goes to which was right next to a trax station and then we would ride the trax train to the starting line.  We arrived right on time and walked over to the station where we found a few other runners waiting as well.   The nice thing about being able to ride the light rail system is that runners could pick it up from basically wherever and so there weren't massive amounts of people all trying to do the same thing at the same time.  I liked this about the race.  My brother Evan and his wife Rachel were just going to meet up with us around the start line since her parents were going to drop them off right there. 

When we climbed off the train with all the other masses it was still dark.   However, as we were standing in line for the honey buckets it quickly lightened up.  The start line was fun.  LOT'S of people milling about.  It was still chilly and so I had opted to keep my long sleeve on at this point knowing that not soon after we actually started running I would be pulling it off and tying it around my waist. I had done that a lot during my training runs so I knew this wouldn't bother me.

 

We took a couple obligatory pre-race pictures.  I love that my husband isn't afraid to rock the headband!

 

Once we finished up at the potties we headed up to the actual start line.  Evan and Rachel had arrived and so we were hoping to catch up with them up there.  I ran into one of my Daily Mile friends, Stephanie.  It was SO nice to put a face to the name and meet her actually in person.  She was just as nice in person as she has been on Daily Mile and I'm hoping to actually hook up with her for some training in the near future.  After talking with her for a few minutes and wishing each other luck I tried to track down my family again.  Turned out as we headed up to the start line, they had headed down to the honey buckets.  Oh well, wasn't meant to be.  So we headed to find our pace groups instead.  Our goal had been for Rebecca to start out with the 2:30 pace group and Jeramie and I were going to start with the 2:20 pace group.  Well once we got up there there was only a 2:30 pace group sign. I saw at one point someone walking around with a 2:20 sign but it's almost like they were looking for someone to run with it.   Oh well, I had my Garmin .. we would be fine I told myself.  About 10 minutes before the start I sucked down a Gu and felt good to go.  Before we knew it the gun went off and we slowly started moving forward.

Mile 1:  Felt FUN!  It was a bit downhill.  Jeramie and I were running together and really I was just trying to find a groove amongst all the other runners running at such radically different paces.  Before I knew it I noticed up ahead that someone was wearing the same tank top as I was .. duh it was Evan and Rachel. I bought her the top for her birthday so we could match on race day.  I wasn't expecting to see them in front of us and I guess that's why it took a minute to register in my head that it was them.  We kicked it up a small notch just to catch up to them to say hello and wish them luck.  They had lofty goals too of a 2:10.  One thing I noticed was that there were people lined up for the porta potty in this first mile.  Seriously?!  You've got many more to go.

Mile 2:  Headed out along a road I drove daily while I was getting my undergraduate degree from the University of Utah.  It felt like a slight uphill but was probably only flat, feeling uphill because of the downhill we started with.  Jeramie was holding up strong at this point and I felt like we'd found out groove.

Miles 3 - 4:  I was still feeling really good and Jeramie appeared to as well.  We headed down into a park for a little out and back. Considering I had heard this was a relatively downhill course it kind of sucked to literally run down into the park only to have to run back out uphill.  That hill was a bummer.  The whole time though I was looking for Evan and Rachel when I went down the hill.  I never saw them but apparently they saw us right as we turned into the park and they turned out.  Then I watched the whole time going up that hill for Rebecca behind us.  Never saw her either.  Once we turned the corner of the hill we took our first shot bloks.  We were both carrying our own water and fuel so that we never needed to stop at any aid stations.

Miles 5 - 8:  Pretty uneventful.  We were running strong and at a very consistent pace.  I felt good.  The time was going by and I couldn't believe when we passed the mid-point.  I remember thinking, wow this thing is almost over already.  There were occasionally people on corners cheering but for the most part it was pretty dense.  Jeramie continued to seem like he was doing pretty well.  Although he wasn't occasionally pulling ahead like he had been doing early on.  I was pacing for a 2:10 finish which was pretty remarkable.  But I also knew of the dreaded hill right before the end.

Mile 9:  At this point I started to get a bit of a belly ache.  Nothing too drastic.  Just uncomfortable.  All I kept thinking was that I should have done all Camelback Elixer in my water bottles instead of the Nuun.  I don't know what it is about Nuun but it seems to mess with my tummy sometimes.  At this point we were running through neighborhoods and the weather was definitely warming up some.  I welcomed each spot of shade I passed through.  It was also at this point that Jeramie dropped to run right behind me.  He was on my tail for maybe a quarter mile before he started fading farther back.  We had talked about this before the race and I knew he wanted me to push on and do my best.  I was disappointed not to be running with him anymore.

Mile 10:  I think it was about here that we lapped around another park.  There were quite a few people there.  I was definitely having to dig a little deeper.  I was getting tired and I knew I still had that hill to deal with.  I was trying hard to keep my pace up so that I didn't lose time here.  I wasn't passing many people anymore.  Most people were getting tired too.

Mile 11:  This is about where we turned onto State Street.  And the beginning of a flat turning into moderately slow incline.  I knew I was still pacing for a good time but man .. I was just tired at this point.  I focused on watching to see if I could find Evan and Rachel up ahead.  I was really grateful that although I was tired my knee's were holding up great. I had no dreaded knee pain like I had had on my last training run.

Mile 12:  Here we go I thought.  This is it.  This is the mile that I have to deal with the hill.  I was trying to muster the energy for an extra kick.  But it was quickly becoming apparent that the incline was growing steeper with each step.  It was a nice wide road at this point with lots of room and that was nice.  As I headed into the steepest part of the hill I saw a guy running towards us with his finishers medal and he looked familiar.  Sure enough it was this guy I work with that runs lots of marathons and he's FAST!  I was happy to see a familiar face and put my best smile on as he saw me and stopped to take a picture.  It actually turned out to be a great picture.  I was so grateful for the encouraging words as he called out to me that I was almost to the top.

Mile 13.1:  As I turned the corner at the hill I was looking forward to picking it up on the downhill into the finishers chute at the bottom.  Oh boy did my legs have a different opinion. I was amazed at how fried they were after that hill!  They literally felt jello-like and as if I couldn't control them. I was afraid to go too fast for fear of actually face planting because I didn't have the necessary muscle control in my legs.  So I actually finished that last little down hill at a much slower pace than I expected.  As I got close to the finishers chute and began to watch for my family there they were all of a sudden!!  I very well may have teared up at this point.  I was SO happy to see them.  AND my daughter was holding a sign for me!  Best surprise EVER!  I didn't expect a sign.  I waved and put on my best smiley face.

As I approached the chute I could see the time on the clock and I knew I had run a GOOD race.  I knew I had killed my time goal and I was overwhelmingly proud of myself.  I had worked so hard.  And I was still smiling!

 Official Chip Time:

2:12:27

Overall Place:  1973 / 3496

Gender Place:  1027 / 2132

Division Place:  187 / 380

Pace:  10:06

I did it!  I beat my notsosecret goal!!

As I finished and grabbed my medal I ran into another one of my Daily Mile friends, Alison.  So excited to see her and she was REALLY nice too.  As it turned out she literally finished as the runner right in front of me.  We definitely should do some training runs together since our paces match so nicely!

After talking to Alison for a minute I excused myself so I could hurry up the road to try and catch Jeramie coming in.  As I walked I tried to watch over peoples heads to see him.  When I got to where my family was they said he had already passed by. I was disappointed to have missed him.  Apparently he didn't even see them, nor did he see the sign they'd made for him either.  So proud of him for finishing his first half marathon.

Official Time:  2:23:47

Better than my first.

Evan and Rachel snuck in their goal with a 2:10:02 and 2:10:03!

Here is our whole group.

Rebecca missed her goal but already has plans for redemption at Timpanogos in July.

Overall, I thought the race went off well.  Especially given the fast that the new race company didn't take over until this year.  I'm glad that they came in and saved the race and the medals were AWESOME and the t-shirts were good too.  All of the aid stations were stocked well as well as the finishing area.  I would recommend this race.  I think it will only get better next year as they now have an entire year to plan it.

I hope so because I registered us for next year at the discounted price this morning!  So we WILL be back.  And I WILL make that hill sorry it ever messed with me.