Salt Lake City Half Marathon

Well, I completed my second half marathon on April 17Th! I really thought I would have done it before now. My first race was the Las Vegas Half in December of 2008 which was more than a year ago. I kept training after the Vegas Half and was scheduled to race another Half last March when my knees gave out. My last long run the week before the race, I was limping through the last 5 miles. I decided there was no way I was going to race and make it worse. So I backed off on the running for a while, adding in other work outs and then started playing soccer once a week back in September. After a while I realized I was getting faster. But... I had lost my motivation to run a Half. When the Vegas race came around again, I was relieved that the price had gone up because I really wasn't feeling the running thing. Of course, that didn't last long! Once the race was here, I found myself wishing I had trained. It didn't take much of a push from my very pregnant friend Caitlin to get me to sign up for the Salt Lake Half. I mean really, how do you tell a pregnant girl that wants to run the race right after having a baby, NO?? There is no excuse.

I signed up for the race by December 31st, leaving me WAY too long to train. I tried not to start too early because I knew I would get burned out, but that is very hard to do when you are finally ready. Needless to say, I was EXTREMELY burned out by race day! I pushed as hard as I could in my training. I am not a naturally fast person but I knew I was a lot faster than my first race. When I first started training, I had set a really high goal for myself and it felt very achievable. But the pace you run at 4 miles is a lot different from 13 when your body is exhausted from months of training. Even my 4 mile pace slowed. I started feeling really discouraged that I wouldn't be able to make my goal. If you know me at all, I hate not achieving the goals I set for myself. It makes me feel like a failure. So I had to start telling myself that it was okay if I wasn't as fast as I thought I should be, I would for sure be faster than I was. And that's something!

I didn't hit the goal I had originally set for myself and I was bummed at first. I knew at about mile 9 that is was slipping away. My first goal was to finish the race in 1:58. When mile 9 hit and I realized that was no longer possible, I just thought, I will be happy if I can finish in under 2 hours. I was carrying about an 8:40 pace for the first 7 miles so there was still a chance. After that, I started dying hard. When mile 10 came and it was a struggle to keep it under a 10 minute pace, I knew I had to give it everything I had, which I did. Then...... the dreaded mile 11 came. :-( I don't know what genius thought it would be a bright idea to make mile 11 straight up hill, but someone did. And no, not a slight incline, this baby was a hill!! Lots of people around me were walking. It took everything in me to keep running. My running pace on this uphill mile... around a 13 minute pace! Yeah, in one mile, my goal was shot! At first I thought to myself, I just didn't train hard enough. But when I rounded the corner on mile 12 and was no longer on a hill, my pace returned to a sub 9. Needless to say, I did not hit my goal. I came in at 2:02. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely bummed when I finished. To non runners, a few minutes may seem like nothing. But if you are a runner, you understand just how much effort shaving off a few seconds per mile can take. Understanding this and realizing that I was able to shave 10 minutes off my first race, I can now be happy with my time and grateful for the experience. However, the Salt Lake Race is definitely not happening for this girl again!!

Official Results
Time - 2:02:32
Pace - 9:21
Age Div - 202/623
Overall - 1767/4632
Sex - 793/2886

The weekend as a whole was awesome! I drove up and roomed with two friends that were running the Full Marathon. We were able to stay at my parents place in Provo which made for a much cheaper weekend. On Friday, our day started with an oil change. Yep, good vacation fun! Then we picked up my really good friend Dawn, who was also running the Half, from her home in Lehi and headed in to Salt Lake to pick up our packets for the race.

Thankfully, they had a taping booth there so Jessi, Melissa, and I were able to be taped for the race. All of us were experiencing shin splints by this point. I was surprised at how much it helped. I really didn't have an issue with my shin at all during the race.

After the Expo we dropped Dawn off and headed to Olive Garden for our carb overload. :-) The best part of running is being able to binge on the good stuff and not feel bad. At dinner we met up with a few other racers. My friend Caitlin, who was racing after having a baby 9 weeks earlier and her 17 year old sister that would be completing her first Half. It was so great to be there with so many other friends. That was definitely the best part. I don't think I'll ever run a race by myself. The joy of seeing my friends at the start and finish, knowing they just went through the same emotions I did, is bonding.

Here are all of the friends that raced! It really was great times. After the race, they had a huge tent set up where they were giving free 10 minute massages to all the racers. There was ice cream, cookies, fruit, tacos... you name it.
After about an hour and a half all the Half-ers headed to the finish line to watch my friend Jessi complete her first Full Marathon. That was definitely a high light of the trip for me. I knew she had been wanting to run a Full for a while and to watch her come in strong and then cry tears of joy/pain was very motivating. It was a great experience.

Well, for any of you that actually took the time to read this entire post and are interested in this craziness, I think I will be running the Vegas Half this year. So, let's get a group going!

Maddox's Birthday & Easter

I thought I better spend some time posting about Maddox's birthday Easter before I get bombarded with a few other posts I know are coming. I don't know why it is so hard for me to sit down and write/read blogs these days. It use to be what I loved to do every time I got a free minute. Now, something else is taking it's place. It's probably that stupid Bejeweled Blitz game I have recently become addicted to on facebook. Such a waste of time! But oh so fun!! Anyway....

Maddox turned 6 years old on March 24Th. Usually, this is where I would say "I can't believe 6 years has gone by already!" But.... what I am really thinking is, "I can't believe this child made it to 6 years old!!" You know that commercial where the mom/dad is constantly surprised that their child has made it to a certain age? That is EXACTLY how I feel about Maddox! I feel extremely blessed with each year I get to have this little man in my life. He is just a crazy mad man! I have become incredibly good at shrugging off the shocked stares from other mothers when they see the stunts he pulls. I look and say, "eh, it's Maddox. He's fine." I won't get into details, because if you follow this blog, you already know what I'm talking about. :-)

Maddox is always really excited for his birthday and he talks about it for months. He didn't love that this year wasn't a party year but this is actually the first year that he has told me at the end of the day that he had a great birthday. Best words a mom can hear! Anyway, he got a new outfit the morning of his birthday to wear all day, which he was actually excited about. It used to be that when he opened a present with clothes in it, he would pick it up like it was puked on and toss it aside. This was also his first year being in school on his birthday so he was pretty excited to take sugar cookies to class. Our family doesn't really do the cupcake/cake thing.

When it's not a party year for my kids, I allow them to have a friend for the day and do an activity of their choosing. He really wanted to go bowling but his smart mom, that is not a huge fan of bowling, talked up miniature golf all day! Right before we left, he decided that's what he wanted to do. I was a little nervous that he might not like it but he ended up LOVING it! He has been asking to go back ever since. I was actually really surprised because he and his friend Brayden whipped through the course at super speed. After golfing, we took the boys to Krispy Kremes to pick out the doughnuts for the evening. Our kids usually choose doughnuts over cake and I most definitely agree. :-)

So, he had pizza, root beer, miniature golf, presents and doughnuts! Surprisingly, he didn't complain that he had to wait until the end of the day to open his presents. I think it helped that we let him stay up as late as he wanted on a school night. It helps that he is in afternoon kindergarten. Anyway, he was pretty happy with his lot. Ever since Claire got her flat screen for her birthday, that has been his birthday wish. Between that, grandparents, and his friend Brayden, he definitely made out!

Since General Conference was on Easter Sunday this year, we wore our Easter clothes the Sunday before. I never take the kids outside for pictures or anything but this year I thought I would. We went out front because I had a cute little sign out there. Well, I got one picture when I realized there was no way I was going to get my kids to smile when there were 3 neighbor kids standing there staring at them. (Mom is so embarrassing!) We ended up in the back yard where there was a slide, a trampoline, and a soccer ball in the back ground. Oh well! Also, has anyone ever seen that Friends episode where Chandler is trying to take engagement pictures and he can't smile natural when the camera is on him? THAT is my Maddox!! It drives me crazy! If ever there is a good picture of him, it's because we are in the back ground telling a joke or doing something dumb. The child looks like he is in pain every time!

we started painting sugar cookies as our Easter tradition two years ago for Easter because no one in my family will eat eggs. This year I decided to add the eggs back in. I figured oh well, we'll do both, eggs are cheap. We had a great time. We did them both at the same time and the kids loved it. It helped that we were home all day for General Conference. I wish General Conference was Easter weekend every year. It really makes the entire weekend a lot more memorable.

And of course, we can't forget Easter day! The Desert Chorale performs for the Palm Mortuary Morning Service every Easter morning. So I was up by 3:45 am. :-( That part isn't great but other than that, it's a great experience. Anyway, they have about an hour long service of mostly musical numbers and tons of people come. It starts the day right and I am back home by 8 am. Surprisingly, only Mason was awake waiting in his room. He knew he had to wait for me to get back before they could go out to claim their baskets. I think the kids were pretty happy with what the bunny left this year. Maddox was a little bummed that Claire got a Nerf gun and he didn't, but candy pretty much makes up for anything. We spent the rest of the day watching conference, visiting my parents, and then visiting Jess' parents. It was a wonderful Easter!

I had to throw this picture in here of my little tom boy throwing a fit that lasted about 45 minutes because I painted her toe nails. She kept trying to take a wipe to get it off because she just wanted them to look like Mason's. In my defense, she threw a pretty good fit just to get me to paint them! That's how I know she's a girl, she can't make up her mind.