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.

One More Chance

I'm usually not a quotes person.  But that one's pretty good.

Alright.  Pokey is in the past.  I've got one last shot this weekend for BQ 2012.  Praying that Boston doesn't fill today with the 5 minuters. 

I big puffy heart love Logan.  Best memories there, ever.  So of course, I love the Top of Utah Marathon.  It's either my third or fourth time doing this race.  I can't remember, it's a blur. ; )  But it's a great BQ'ing race.  A lot of downhill once again.  I will pull back a little this time though.  No sub 8's.  I'm going to really try to race this steady, same pace beginning to end.  I've tried starting fast and that has yet to work for me.  Fingers crossed, this strategy makes it happen.

BQ or die.  At least for 2012.

I Don't Know What To Say...Pokey Had Me In The Potato Bag

First off...  I have amazing family and friends.  Thank you all for all the super supportive, kind emails, text, and comments.  I feel so lucky to have you all rooting for me.

This is one of those posts that no one wants to write.  I'm not even sure I should be writing about it now, but blogs are about journaling so you can go back someday and remember those moments in your life, whether good or bad, and hopefully be able to learn from them.  And there was WAY more good than bad this past weekend. :)

It actually was a weekend full of awesomeness.  On Friday I picked up Emily from the airport and off we were to Pocatello.  First time to hang since last May at her 24 event.  It was almost a 3 hour car ride and I don't think we stopped talking once.  So fun.  First up... meet up for lunch!

We got to meet Supermom Erin and Cari!!  They are both darling and it was so fun to meet in person.  Cute Cari drove an hour to meet up and even came back the next day to see us at the finish line!!!  Love her. 

I get to see these two again in a couple weeks.... more on that in a second...

Don't mind me standing on my tippy toes to try to compete with those 4" heels...

Next up was Expo time.  It was kind of a small sad Expo, but don't worry we grabbed our potato bags.

Race morning.  Felt good.  Slept ok.  I kept my nerves at bay.  It turns out I didn't hydrate super well. But I felt really good at the start.  Game plan: Run mostly 8:00's through first 15 and 9:00's last 10 if need be.  Main goal: keep this lady in sight.

Yeah she rocked the arm sleeves and tatts like a pro.  We chatted the first hour a little but by mile 8 it was time for music and buckling in.

Without going into writing an epic saga on the race that wasn't....  I'll give the cliff notes version because, well just because.

Halfway point I was at 1:47.  Yeah, my fastest half ever.  Still feeling pretty strong.  By the time we hit 15 there weren't too many downhills to find and I started to slow.  By 18, I think we were around 10:00's and I knew 3:35 was out the door.  By mile 21, I was barely squeaking out 12:00's and I knew BQ was gone.  Mile 23, I knew a sub 4 was gone too.  I hate realizations during the race.  I couldn't will myself any faster. 

Emily was awesome.  Completely patient.  And bored out of her mind.  I'm not a big talker during races, as in not at all.  She knew when to check in and when to just roll with it.  I kept my emotions in check, til the end.  But I knew she felt bad.  And I thought of all the people that were pulling for me.  But it is what it is.  I tried.  I fell apart the last ten miles.  Still trying to figure out what to do different.  Probably just more fast training.

Happy faces coming into the finish line.  And look at those awesome heel strikes.  ;)  Emily's parents and sister had come to the race!  They were at the finish line!!!  And cute Cari!!  I could hear them cheering.  So nice to have hugs from family and friends at the end.

We found Erin and were so happy for her awesome BQ finish time!  3:32!  So amazing.

I tried to disappear to a corner, looked at my phone and saw all my messages and just couldn't keep my composure...

It's so disappointing.  And I know it's only a race.  But I was hoping for better from myself.  Thank goodness I had a best friend there. 

So.  Finish time for me and poor Emz: 4:06.  Actually my personal best ever.  But no BQ.  Gonna try again in two weeks at Top of Utah Marathon in Logan.  If all the early registration doesn't fill the Boston Marathon, I still might have a shot to get in if I can pull off a 3:44:59 in Logan.  And Erin and Cari will be running TOU too! 

So what did I do with my potato bag?  Since I didn't mash them in the race...  nothing like a little grease to give some comfort.

I'll get over this one.  It's all good. :)

Calm, Cool & Collected

Definitely.  Those words have definitely described me over the past few weeks.  I'm completely together.  Nothing big going on this weekend.  Just another marathon.  Another race, different location.  I've done this before.  Old hat. 

Those are the words that I keep telling myself.  But for some unknown, weird, odd reason my chest hurts.  I don't want to eat.  And the numbers 3:35, 3:31, 3:29 keep flashing through my head.  All the time.  I'm having a love/hate relationship with this race.  I can't wait for it to come and I can't wait for it to be over.

It's gonna be amazing.  No matter what I'm getting a PR.  That's for sure.  And...  I've got an ace in my back pocket.

Yep.  I'm chasin' this lady down.  She's heading straight to BQville and I'm tagging along for the ride.  Maybe afterwards we can hang a right and head over to abville so I can pick up a set of those too.  ;)

Training is done...for this go around... time to see if I did enough.  I'm feelin' like I did... 

Good luck to all the other racers this weekend!!!  I'm still out of the loop but I know I'm meeting Supermom Erin this weekend!!! Yay!  And good luck to Caroline at your Disneyland half!!  This weekend is giving off good vibes.  High fives, hugs, tears, smiles are all coming Saturday afternoon.  For sure. 

Calm, cool, collected.  Wait, I think I need to throw up...  No, false alarm.  Back to being calm, cool, collected. ;)

Visualization

Back in my glory years, the super awesome 90's, I was on my high school dance team.  We were awesome.  That might sound arrogant, but we were.  And you can insert my husband's rolling eyes right now too.  :) Anyways, we took state and nationals every year.  One of the things we did the week before every competition is we would all lay out on the floor of our dance studio, eyes closed.  Our coach would play the music to each of the routines and we were to visualize ourselves doing the routine perfectly, flawlessly.  We had done the hard work, practice and conditioning, now it was believing and seeing.

I'm still a month out from race day.  I still have two hard weeks of training and two weeks of taper.  But I'm starting to try to viualize.  I had a dream a few nights ago.  I crossed the finish line at 3:38.  Everyone was crying and hugging.  It was amazing.  It was so real that I woke up with a little tear drop.  Yeah, I want this pretty bad. 

And a little explanation I feel is in order.  I honestly have felt guilty for not being in the blog loop but I have a reason.  A selfish reason.  And I hope you understand.  It is overwelming to me to read about others awesome training, speedy split times, super fast 800's and I stress out.  I immediately compare myself, worry that I'm not doing enough and say I don't have a chance.  So I've had to make a decision to focus.  Work hard, follow my plan and run my race.  You are all amazing.  I'll keep posting here and there and think about all the hard work you're putting in too.  And come Sept 3rd....  I'll be back in full swing with my BQ in hand!!!  Hard work, positive thinking and visualization!! Aaaahhhhh!  Fall marathons, here we come!!!

Summer Round Up...so far...

It has been a crazy, busy, super fun summer.  I am definitely out of the blogger loop, but have tried to stay updated through twitter.  I'm going through the bad friend phase, as in I'm the bad friend not coming around to say hi.  I'm hoping once school is back in I'll be back on a schedule.  A girl can dream... 

It seems that every Thursday I complain about how bad my 800's went and since I tweeted all about that yesterday let's talk summer fun...

Morning runs at dawn.  Walked out my front door one morning and this was literally my view.  Gorgeous.

Last weekend was a Utah state holiday, celebrating when the pioneers settled the valley.  The town we live in puts on a crazy fireworks show right across the street.  Had a little BBQ and fireworks. 

A little family friendly competition of mini golf at dusk.

And how fun is it to dress the dog in a tankini??  Pretty dang fun. ;)

I ran a half marathon with my friend Jessica.  It was her very first half!  She did awesome!  I haven't done one for about 4 years!  19 minute PR!! Nice little gauge to see where I'm at before the big race.  Eeek.

My toddler is currently in the funnest stage.  Still naughty, but hilarious.  He's currently chillin like a villain...

And of course the night wouldn't be complete without a quick push up competition before bed.  He's still working on form. :)

And I'm not sure if you noticed yesterday but @BartYasso replied to one of my tweets... pretty cool.

Hope you're all having an amazing summer too!  Tell me your funnest summer moment so far....

Three Things Thursday - The Overwelmed Edition

1.  Track workout today.  Yasso 800's x 7.  Horrible.  Horrible.  Goal is 3:40's.  Started with 3:44, went downhill and last one was a 4:02.  I'm sick to my stomach.

2.  Qualifying marathon is in 6 weeks, 2 days.  So really I have 4 weeks of hard training left.  I'm completely unsure if this is even possible for me.  I'm not being negative.  Realistic.  Optimistic, but realistic.  Too many numbers, stats floating through my head at all times of the day.  This is not a good look for me.

3.  And because I can't be a downer on all three things...  How bout So You Think You Can Dance last night?!?!?!?  How awesome was that?  It's my summer highlight each week...for TV anyways. : )

So who's your favorite SYTYCD dancer?

Pearls of wisdom for me on how to become super fast in 4 weeks?

And am I the only one who hates the back pages of blogger?  I'm still not used to it.  Ugh.