EVERYONE HAS A STORY

I've mentioned a few times that I've been blessed with some pretty amazing experiences. Last year before heading out to support RunEmz's 24 hour treadmill run in San Francisco, I had a cute lady from LA come to my lash salon here in Utah. It seemed pretty random at the time. She was in town visiting a friend for a girls weekend and wanted some pretty lashes for their festivities they had planned. While doing her lashes, we chatted thru the entire appointment and clicked right away. I told her about the event we were getting ready to go, my husband's clothing line, Ikuna  and how I came to know Emz. This client's name, whose name is also Emily, shared what she does, different careers she's had and towards the end of the appointment mentioned she was a publisher, wrote a book, and helped others to do the same. Wow.  I immediately thought of my husband who had always wanted to write a book about his dad. I told her about him and she loved the idea! Before she left she said she'd look at his website and my blog. And I was pretty sure I'd never hear from her again.

She emailed the next day and said let's meet for lunch before I go back to LA. A little bit shocked I answered, 'Of course!'  and we met up within a few days. Over lunch she said 'you need to write a book first. It's already ready.' I'm sure my eyes popped out of my face. And I had a thousand reasons why I shouldn't.  I had no intention of writing a book! During that lunch though Emily talked me thru the process and made me feel like it was completely doable. Her, not being a runner, seemed to be caught up in my story of running a marathon a month for a year. It had been 2 years since I finished that crazy year and I had kinda forgotten about the responses I would get from people when I told them what I had accomplished. And of course it's always fun to talk running. :) That was is in September.

It's now January and the book is done! I've kept it under wraps mostly because I just didn't know how long it would take, but it's actually finished!

The book is about my year of 12 marathons in 12 months. It was such an amazing time in mine and my family's life that it seemed fun to share in book form. And I love that it's now in a complete edition to just have.

Some may remember that year with me and some have no idea that I did that... I hope that if anyone reads it they will see the love of running, the love of doing something bigger than what they thought may be possible and how doing something outside of the box can bring new experiences and people into their lives!

So I'll be sharing a lot about the book over the next few weeks!

And some other events that we have planned that will be coming up too!

The book is 'live' on  Amazon in the Kindle store HERE!

If you don't have a Kindle there are still ways to purchase and read!  Keep in mind that you don’t need a Kindle device to purchase and read Kindle books. Amazon offers FREE Kindle reading apps for your computer, smart phones, and tablets. Just click on the link below and get it today! It is super quick and simple. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

I hope you enjoy my story!  It's like putting my baby out there! I'd love to hear what you think!  You can even leave a review on Amazon if you like!

Thank you to all that supported me through my year of races and through this new journey now!!!

I'm so grateful and still pinching myself!

Putting It Out There and Moving On!

Well it's been a minute...  I'm a little surprised my password still worked to open my blog!  It's been an interesting two years, to say the least.  Luckily I've been able to keep up with a lot of running friends and make new some ones through Instagram but the ol' blog is where it all started, right?

I'm still working on my so-called New Years resolutions and deciding what I want this year to become for me but these last couple of years have taught me that even with the best of intentions and a most determined will, sometimes you don't have as much control over whats going to happen as you'd like.

And ok, I will stop being vague now. ;) Where have I been?  Since my last marathon, IMS Arizona in January 2012, I have been battling injury and health issues almost non-stop.  It has been a really hard road, and not just in the lack of running department.  As you can imagine and may know, physically being down affects all aspects of life.  Prior to that last marathon I threw my lower back out, SI joint, during a cross fit workout.  Dang kettle bell swings.  I did a little PT and felt like I could still run the marathon.  Somewhere in the teen miles of IMS my back gave, and just aggravated the injury.  I finished the race, probably shouldn't have, and I haven't been the same since.

While trying to recover from the back injury my health got worse.  I came down with mono.  After a couple months of that and some more testing I found that I had a super fun auto immune disease, Schleroderma.  Luckily it was in the early stages and hadn't affected any of my major organs and I  could learn to be just fine with it, so they said.  Just going thru the diagnosis process and what that meant and how to handle took about 6 draining months.  Lots of different opinions from different doctors, different meds to try and different therapies.  It was and still is pretty overwhelming to know what is the right thing to do and who to believe.  Through it all I've tried to follow my gut.  Sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't.

Probably one of the hardest parts is that whenever I'd start to feel well, in my mind that meant it was time to start running, working out.  I should've kept track of how many times I tried but it's just human nature that when you get your strength back you want to go back out and do what you did before.  I'd find a marathon.  I'd start to make a training schedule.  Get really excited.... and usually in the less than two weeks of running I was either sick or had reinjured my back again.

Then last year I started having horrible side pains that would lay me out for a couple days.  I attributed it to my crappy digestion.  After almost of year of dealing with it I went and had a different round of tests and found that my gallbladder was non-functioning and that it needed to come out.  What the?   It's been almost 3 months since that surgery and there's still some more things that aren't quite working right but we'll save those tests for another day.  I need a break from doctors at the moment.

Even two years later I obviously don't have it all figured out.  My best hypothesis is that I haven't learned what I'm supposed to learn yet.  I'm being knocked down for a reason.  It's physically painful.  And emotionally and mentally tough too.  But I'm incredibly hopeful.  And I KNOW that I'll figure it out eventually.  And I've found some pretty great silver linings...

The last two years I've had some amazing opportunities to support other people.  I've been able to help my husband start a business that has been his dream for at least ten years!  And we've seen it evolve and grow in just a year.  My kids are busier than ever and as they get older I'm seeing how fast this time really does fly by.  They're learning and progressing and turning into actual people! :)  I've learned to appreciate all the little things more and not get so upset over things that just don't matter.  My salon business has grown like crazy and I've been able to have my sister be a part of it over the last year and a half and help her grow her business too.  And even tho I haven't been able to run like I have in the past, I've still been surrounded by amazing runners and been able to support them and even help with some pretty amazing events.

So with some outwardly physical trials, I've had so many more amazing blessings align and come into my life.  It's only January and we have so many things to look forward to this year that are already scheduled!  While none of it is running for me, and I still have health issues to work out, I am optimistic that they will do just that, work out.

I'm gonna ease back into blogging again, sharing what big things we have coming up and maybe some health things I'm trying here and there.  And of course catching up with what I may have missed with all of you... :)  2014 IS GONNA BE AWESOME.  That I know.

Happy Birthday RD! (you've been hacked :)

I am hacking RDs blog today...hope you are all well.

I know it's been a while since she has posted anything here but we talk about it often. It's been almost 2 years since she started her journey of 12 marathons in 12 months. I have to say that I was quite skeptical when she first approached me with the idea. She had run many marathons before this 'silly' idea came about and I thought that it might just be a phase. As you know, I was wrong. That journey took her to 12 different locations (actually more if you count the races in between and after) and she met many good people. Many of those people have become great friends. Your comments and feedback played a great role in her ability to do what she did. Amazing how much of a difference a tight knit supportive community can make. It made all the difference. For that I say thank you! She couldn't have done it without you.  

So, back to the reason why I'm hacking today....it's her BIRTHDAY! She is gonna kill me but I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from you. I know she misses the interaction with this community. Between our children duties, household duties, AND running her small business duties (I forgot nagging husband), she is our SUPERWOMAN and we are proud of her. Despite the recent tragic events in Boston, she still has her sights set on it. One day she will make it there, I know it. I am sure she has other things up her sleeve too that can spring to action at anytime. Whatever that adventure is, we look forward to it.  

Many many thank yous, 

RDs husband :) 

  

Time Warp - Part II

It feels a bit silly to be doing a recap of the past year when, for the most part, I can flip through all my past posts.  Which really is what a blog is for.  But for my own sake, it's been fun to look through the pictures and remember all the feelings, the ups and downs and to see how much my family has grown and changed.  It's only been a year or so and my oldest boys look like men compared to when I started blogging.  My girls look so grown up, and well my little guy, he's still a turkey. ;)

So on I go...  Oct. '10 Napa Valley Trail Marathon, Napa, Ca.  My first traveling race of the 12.  I was so excited for this one.  My in-laws are in the Bay Area, so this race was a family trip.  We love Cali.  They have a race there every weekend.  This race was also over Halloween weekend, so I got my race out of the way and then it was all about parties and trick-or-treating for the kids.  Super fun.

This race was crazy hard, but so gorgeous.  Lots of hoping over streams, logs, sliding down slick rock.  It had just a little bit of everything.  What I didn't love so much...the race is a loop that you do twice.  So knowing how tough the first half was you come back through the start line and have to do it all again.  Not that I'd quit a race, but I thought about it for a few seconds. ;)

Because of all the uphill and then the downhill that you really couldn't fly down and jumping over stuff, I was a bit slower than usual.  But I felt great.  Eeery tidbit - this was race #5, my finish time was 5:05:05.  On my garmin and on official finish time!!  This was the smallest race I'd ever done too.  I want to say 50ish marathoners, only 8 women finishers I think.  I'd have to go back and check, but that's about right!

November '10 - San Antonio Rock n Roll.  I'm not exactly sure why I picked Texas.  I wanted to go outside of the west coast, RNR's looked like fun and I have a super cute cousin that lives there that was going to run her first half marathon!  This was the first time I had a 'blogger meet-up'.  It was actually fun!  And everyone turned out completely normal!! ;)  That's always a fear, right?  We had so much fun that the restraurant manager actually had to ask us to leave because we'd been there long enough.

I'm sure you recognize a few faces in there. :)

RNR's have turned out to be not my favorite races.  Running with 30,000+  is not all it's cracked up to be.  Also this was the race where a train came in the first mile, we stopped for about 3 minutes for it to pass and the corral start was all for nothing.  I'd lift my arm to check my watch and end up elbowing someone in the gut.  We were packed in pretty tight.  4:47 finish.  Ugly race.  Sorry San Antonio, you didn't put on a good show.  Next time I go to Texas I'll go to Austin. 

Back in Utah it was snowing in December.  Tried snowshoeing for the first time.  I was trying to decide if I should do a snowshoe marathon for January's race.  Even though Julie and I had a blast...  No thanks to snowshoes for 26 miles.

Fresh moose prints.  Same canyon where we saw cougar prints just a month earlier.

December '10 - Holualoa Marathon, Tuscon, AZ.  Of course I had to pick somewhere resorty and warm for December.  Tuscon was the best choice ever... for a couple of reasons.  First we stayed here:  

Gorgeous resort, and we had perfect weather the whole weekend.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt, in December!

Another blogger meet-up.  I was fairly new to Emz's blog.  But decided to meet her at the Expo.  I remember Miss Zippy saying you should run AZ and meet Emz, you'll love her.  Kinda funny.

After meeting her and her cute fam, they invited us to dinner with her parents.  It was all over after that.  I'll save all the gushing for when I get to May.

Biggest surprise...  Em and her entire family waiting for me to come across the finish, over an hour of waiting.  I'd met these people all of one day ago and they waited and cheered me on at the finish.  So aweseome.

January '11 - RNR Pheonix, AZ.  I know.  I just said how I'm not a fan of RNR's.  But it was Arizona, much better than a snowshoeing marathon for sure.  And I got to hang out with Emz again.  Not a hard choice.

Of course blogger meet-up... Lauren, Em, and Derek.  We laughed all night.  Derek probably thought we were some pretty silly blondes.

Found our girl at the Expo.  RNR Expos are kinda like Costco.  You can walk around and get a full meal of samples to fill you up.

Thanks to Pita, I got footage of me chicking Superman behind me.  Thanks to Jamoosh for putting me in the know about all things chickage.  Sorry hommie in the Superman tank.

I wasn't going to do any link-ups to past posts....but this is one of my favorites if I'm gonna toot my own horn.  If you have an extra five check it out.  And please view it knowing that it is laced with extremely heavy sarcasm. :)

February '11 - Surf City Marathon, Huntington Beach, CA.  One of my favorite races.  One I would go back and do again and again.  Who doesn't love the coast?

Another blog meet-up...  Patrick and Chris.  Seriously two of the nicest people ever.  Chris, if I'm back on the blog roll you should be too.  C'mon.

Surf City was amazing.  Running along the coast for most of the race.  Overcast that day, perfect weather.  I think I finished around 4:35ish.  Gotta go down there again and meet Caroline next time! 

One of the best part of these races is that I got to travel and have a weekend getaway with my husband.  And with 5 kids heaven knows we need it.  Having something to look forward to each month was awesome.    Couldn't have done this without his support.

 March '11 - Mountain Marathon, Washington.  This race weekend ended up being a girls weekend.  A couple of friends traveled with me to Oregon to visit our friend Lindsay.  I knew this race would be another tough trail course but what I didn't plan on was the cold front that came through with 3 feet of snow.

Beautiful country.  Ran my first race in Yaktraks.  Toughest thing I've ever done.  Inclines were beyond intense,  it was freezing, and lots of slushy snow puddles to run through.  It would have been crazy hard without the snow!

Out on those mountains for 6 and a half hours!!!  Yeah, not much running going on.  More hiking, and trying not to fall in snow puddles.

Being with friends made up for it though.  

These two chickas are my bf's from college.  I think that was our first girl's trip since living together in college!  Long overdue.

And I had to put an 'RD' up on the famous gum wall.  I know.  Gross.

April '11 - Skyline to Sea Marathon, Santa Cruz, CA.  Another trail race.  I love them so much not only for the scenery but the pressure it takes off from feeling like I have to get a PR. :)  We started up at the top of the mountain and finished close to the beach.  Another one I would love to do again.  

Finished around 5 hours.  Could've done better but had some stomach issues that day.  I still had an awesome weekend.  My sister came with me for this race and we had a blast playing in Santa Cruz.  And we did not take one picture together.  Ridiculous.

And you know what else is ridiculous?  How long this post is.  Sorry.  Still a couple more parts to the saga. 

Time Warp - Part I

Wait.  What??  December?  I'm now officially one of those people.  You know the ones.  Those people that always said 'There just aren't enough hours in the day.' 'Where did the time go?'  And when I used to hear them say that I'd roll my eyes and think, 'Whatever.'  But I'm there.  I can't believe it's the end of the year.  I can't believe I fell of the grid for three months.

I've had this little voice in the back of my head telling me that I should recap my year.  That little voice is actually from a certain someone that keeps texting me to blog.  So I'm trying to find my blogging fire again.

It seems that many of us have had an amazing year.  I feel particularly blessed in all that I was able to experience not just in 2011 but starting back in the summer of 2010.

So for my own documentation...geneology...historical records, my recap will cover the past 18 months, rather than 12.  It is a chunk of my life that I know I'll never be able to duplicate even if I tried.  One of the most incredible years ever.  And I still look back on it and shake my head.  So bare with me through this stroll down memory lane.

I went into the twelve not really having complete confidence that I could do it.  I told my husband let me get a couple under my belt and then I'll decide for sure.  So I started with Utah Valley Marathon in Provo, June 2010.

It rained.  I wore a garbage bag the whole race.  I bled through my shoe.  Finished about 4:30ish.  I felt good.  I knew I'd be fine for the next month.

July '10.  Deseret News Marathon, SLC.  This is the race where things changed a bit.  Where suddenly the 12 in 12 was actually began.  A friend told me I should blog.  Blog?  Huh?  What?  No thanks.  I can't even keep a scrapbook for my kids.  My husband talked to a writer for a local newspaper and told her what I was doing.  She said blog about this!  She wrote an article about me the week before the race and it was solidified.  No turning back from the 12 now.  I started blogging.  Racingdawn was born.  I know.  I need a bucket too.  Gag.  ;)

Me and my cute friend Lindsay that made me blog.  She ran her first 10K that race!  Oh yeah.  And #2 turned out pretty good.  It was a PR, 4:21 I think.

Lindsay and I also did Hurt in the Dirt that month.  A bike/run relay.  She biked and I ran.  

I drink my protein shake out of this glass every day.  No lie.

August '10.  Park City Marathon, Park City.  This race sucked.  Rocks.  Elevation killed me.  Hills killed me.  Miles 15 - 23  gave me a lot of time to contemplate, 'What the crap am I doing?'

Finish line photo says it all.  First time I heard a lot of cursing from others coming across the finish.  I might have shed a tear or two over this one but my fam was there.  Had to suck it up. 5:15ish finsih.  Uggg.

Can't be too mad when you have cute little ones that think you won cause you got a medal.  :)

September was a big racing month.  One of the funnest months ever!!!  First up:  Red Rock Relay.  If you haven't done relay with a group of 12 crazy ladies, I highly recommend it.

Roughly 200 miles over 30 hours in gorgeous country.  I loved it.  Wore me right out.

The next weekend I ran Top of Utah.  Loved it.  Love Logan.  New PR.  4:14!!!  Unbelievable!

Ran second half of race with a new friend named Melissa, from Colorado.  She kept me going til the end!

I was in the Logan paper post-race.  I can't even read it because every time they quoted me I said 'like' about fifty times in a sentence.  Yes I talk like I'm fifteen.

TOU is a beautiful race.  If you're running 50 states, do either this one or Ogden!!!

The next weekend was the Dirty Dash.  Only a 10K but I believe it took us somewhere around 2 hours to finish.  Total blast.

Seriously.  Crazy fun.

I'm already worn out.  This blogging is almost as tiring as marathons.  ;)  Part II I'll wrap up the races.  It makes me want to do it all over again right now.  Running is like nothing else.  So great.  

Part II teaser...

My sister turns my hair red.

:-)

This Is The Goal...

I hope this is me warming up/stretching before a race in 40 years.  But maybe with some better running shoes.

What's A Girl To Do...

So it didn't happen.  No Boston 2012.  Yep.  I'm a little disappointed.  But it's all good.  I did everything right for race day.  Seriously, everything.  Ate right.  Hydrated well.  Fueled right through entire race.  No stomach troubles.  I just was slow from the beginning.  In the first 6 miles keeping pace was supposed to feel easy and it felt pushed.  And if it felt pushed/strained from beginning I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain for another 20 miles.  So I made a decision.  I was going to just enjoy Top of Utah Marathon.  I really love this race. 

It is a beautiful race course.  And on this day, the skies were filled with heavy dark clouds that somehow made the canyon even more spectacular.  We did get poured on, several times, during the race.  Especially during mile 10-14, where the rain came down in sheets with some hail sprinkled in.  I never did dry out from then on.  It was a little chilly.  But what it did to my hair...

That's not the wind blowing my hair.  That was it's post-pony tail position.  Getting a brush through that was not easy.

So another marathon in the books. I finished in 4:27.  Still love TOU, even though I was not even close to my goal.  But people are right.  My body is tired.  I need some good recovery time.  14 mary's in 16 months has taken its toll it would appear.  I think I need some time to heal up all my little injuries.  And some time to rebuild some base mileage with speed.  I'm not giving up.  Boston isn't going anywhere.  And you know there's already a plan for next year. :)

And...my dad even came to my race!! He hasn't been to one of races for a few years.  Love that he was able to come.  And yeah, how did I not get any of that 6'5" height.  Dang.  I could have used some longer legs... ;)

Thanks you for all the comments, thoughts and emails once again.  It's so nice to have such amazing support!  And congrats to Erin for rocking another PR and Cari for running her first marathon!  So proud of you girls!!!

So what's next?  I've got a few things in mind, but for this month...

It's all about potty-training Spiderman.  They should give medals and tech shirts for that.