Best. Run. Ever

Most of you might have already heard about the 20-mile run Jim and I completed this last weekend. But for those of you that haven't heard or just aren't sick of hearing it yet, please allow me to give you the details of the most physically challenging run to date and the special reward I received at the end.

We have now been training for this marathon for 4 months and we're only a few weeks from the race. In keeping with our running schedule, we had a 20-mile run planned this last Sunday.
Jim has been doing an amazing job creating routes that take us up and down just about every hill between the State Capital and Sugarhouse Park. For that reason, I love and hate him at the same time.

Our run started at 6am on Sunday. It was cold and pretty windy from the get-go. We completed our first lap around the Utah State Capital building and started heading toward Memory Grove Park through City Creek Canyon.
Remember when I told you guys that I would tell you everything about my training? Even if it wasn't pretty or very lady-like? I'm keeping my promise.
2  miles into our run....I had to pee. For a while I thought "no biggie. I can hold it." Jim reminded me that there were no spots to stop along our route unless I planned on doing a little squat-and-drop on someone's front lawn. The only other option...go in the bushes. I just want to go on record as saying that I tried to resist doing it! But alas! my tiny bladder was not having any of this running business until I take care of business.
So I squat. In the bushes. At the State Capital.
I'm not proud.

The next few miles were great! Empty bladder, sunshine peeking around the mountains and Jim by my side. Things were looking up just fine.
At least I thought they were.

I wish I could say I dominated that run at all times. But that's just a bold faced lie and no one likes a liar. Although there were some points in the run that I felt really good, I would say 75% of the time, I was pushing really hard. These routes were made to be difficult on purpose. We wanted to push ourselves harder than we thought our actual marathon course would be. Because of that, I struggled quite a bit.
One main problem I was experiencing was lower back pain. I run with a hydration pack on these distance runs and after 16 miles, my back just didn't want that pack anywhere near me anymore. I abandoned the pack in a secret hiding space and took off feeling lighter, but not much faster.

At that point we had already tackled the hills throughout the University / Avenues and the big ass hill behind the Hogle Zoo. We were on our way to the most intimidating part of our course....Virginia.
She's back. And she's not getting easier.
Instead of being a super bad ass like we were last time we ran that hill, we took it easy and slowly climbed to the top. I don't know if I've told you guys this before, but if you make the motions with your arms to give the impression that you're running, it totally counts. So that's pretty much what we did the entire way.
Which was a good idea because we still had about 2 miles left until the sweet sweet finish.

When we started heading back toward Memory Grove, I could definitely feel every mile we put behind us. My feet were killing me. My quads were tired. My head was tired.
I tried to keep focusing on the fact that were almost done. Jim was as supportive as ever and kept encouraging me to keep pushing.
We hit 19 miles as were coming down the trail into Memory Grove Park. I'm sure that most of my exhaustion at this point was mental. But it was still very real. I was fighting with every step to keep my feet in motion. We had to stop temporarily at about 19.7 miles so I could do another small hyperventilation fit. I haven't had one of those since my first half marathon!
After a few moments of walking with my arms above my head, I was ready to go again. I wanted to finish this run as strong as I could. So I pushed. And pushed. And pushed for the longest .3 miles of my life. As we passed the barriers signaling the start of the park, we hit our 20-miles and I was done.

I became completely overwhelmed. I was tired physically and mentally. But I was also so proud of what I had just accomplished. So of course, I started to cry. Not bad tears. Good tears.
The "holy-shit-look-what-I-just-did" tears mixed with a little "holy-shit-my-butt-cheeks-are-killing-me-tears". They were awesome awesome tears.

Jim took me be the arm and told me to keep walking so my legs wouldn't cramp. While were walking into the park I told him that I was a mixed ball of emotions.
For some reason Jim kept walking into the park to the left instead of straight ahead toward the car. I followed but was definitely a little confused.

There is a creek that runs through the park with a pretty bridge just right ahead of where we were standing. As Jim walked toward that bridge, my confusion was building. Until he started to kneel down.

He said to me "I know you are a mixed ball of emotions right now, but I have something I need to ask you."
He reached into the ankle pack that he ran with "to carry our IDs and cash" and pulled something out of a tiny black bag.
And then there he was, on one knee with a beautiful ring in his hand saying "will you marry me?"

My engagement ring! Cornflower blue sapphire in the middle of two diamonds in a white gold setting

It was the happiest moment in my life and I completely lost it! I couldn't keep in anymore tears and I just let them all fall out. I made the head motion that meant "hell yes!" since apparently my hysteria was rendering me temporarily unable to form words.

We cried and hugged and kissed and I completely forgot every ache and pain and grueling mile.
At that moment, I felt like I could run 20 more and not even feel it.

Our friends Ellie and Jason were running the same route and met us in the park with big congrats. I started crying again. I couldn't help it!

Jim told my brother-in-law John that he was planning on asking The Question so he and my sister came to the park and waited for a very long time until we finally made our appearance. My sister ran to me with the biggest grin on her face and I lost it again! More tears!!

Jim said afterward that he wanted to catch me off guard because he knew I was onto his original plan to pop the question at our marathon.
I'm so glad he did. I loved that I had no idea it was coming. It was the most amazing moment I've ever experienced. And even though I looked like death with my hair in complete disarray and sweat dripping down my face, he still looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
I wouldn't take back a single detail of my engagement. It was absolutely perfect.

Best. Run. Ever.

Thank you, Kathrine Switzer

If it were 40 years ago, my training and excitement for my upcoming marathon would all be a pipe dream. As recently as 1967, marathons were a boys sport. Women were considered too fragile and not physically capable of completing 26.2 miles. Because she was fantastically stubborn and ready to prove the running world wrong, Kathrine Switzer registered for the prestigious Boston Marsthon only using her initials.

Can you imagine what it was like for her at the starting line? The only woman in a sea of men? A few miles in, spectators and the race director realized there was a girl in the race. *Gasp!!* The race director ran into the race yelling for Switzer to get off the course. He took a hard hit from Switzer's boyfriend who was an All-American football player and Switzer continued on to complete the 1967 Boston Marathon with an "unofficial" time of 4:20. The marathon officials refused to acknowledge her time as she was disqualified from the race for being female. By 1972, because of women like Switzer, Title IX was passed and woman were welcome to marathons all over the country.

Her activism in the coming years paved the way for women in sports. The running community now recognizes women as power houses and no longer doubts our physical ability to kick some major ass. Thank you, Kathrine Switzer.

Click for an article with more information on her wicked awesome accomplishments for those that want more girl power in their day!


Officals attempting to remove Katherine Switzer from the 1967 Boston Marathon - Source: katherineswitzer.com

 

Shameless Horn Tooting

Don't you hate it when people just brag about how awesome they are? Especially when they show you evidence of their awesome-ness as if you really needed to see it?
Yeah, me too.

Hey, guys! Guess how awesome I am!

Last weekend Jim and I ran a Shamrock Half Marathon in Saratoga Springs. We were really excited for this race not because it was anything special or a big race. In fact, it was pretty small and in the middle of freakin' nowhere. But we haven't ran a race since December in Vegas so we were both a little anxious to get to a starting line--and even more important, a finish line.
The race started out at a steady incline and quickly transitioned into a decent climb only about 2 miles in.
It didn't stop there. If we weren't running up a significant hill on the side of a highway, we were running through rolling hills of neighborhoods and unfinished subdivisions.
The wind was pretty intense in some parts. We were lucky in the sense that we eventually got the wind behind us and I'm pretty sure that mile 11-12 was as fast as it was because we had a little assistance.
As we ran down our last hill at mile 12, I took a glance at my Garmin and started crunching some numbers. At the pace I was running, I was really really close to my time for the Provo Halloween Half Marathon-- which was almost entirely downhill! There was a guy up ahead of us that Jim and I wanted to pass and that made me kick up the pace just a little more. I can keep this pace! I can seriously keep this pace!
There's a couple up ahead of us. Maybe we can pass them. I'm not going to speed up. Maybe I will just lucky and pass them.
Yep, passed them. We picked it up in high gear the last .2 miles and as I crossed the finish line I checked my time. 2:32!! And what was my time at the Provo Halloween Half? 2:32!!
Damn straight. I just ran a mostly uphill course in the same amount of time it took me to run a downhill course last year. I felt amazing. I was on a runner's high all day.

Shamrock Half Marathon - Saratoga Springs, UT 

On a separate but equally awesome note - we finally organized our race bibs. We made racks a little while ago to hang our medals but our bibs were just kind of hanging on the end.
We found a post on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest. I'm obsessed. Don't judge. Most of you are, too) where someone displayed their bibs in a collage.
So we did it! And they turned out awesome!

The board on the far left and the medals on the white board are mine. It's a work in progress!
Jim had enough bibs to fill one and a half boards which is awesome. Looking at the blank spots on our boards made us more excited to get some races done this summer. Good thing we're coming up on racing season! Woo Hoo!

Only 6 weeks away from the marathon now. (eeeek!)
We have an 18-mile and a 20-mile run on the schedule in the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes

Or brag about it. Whatever.

Excess Amounts of Ketchup

Sorry!!! I know..It's been foooooorrreeeeevvvvv-er. We are in full-blown marathon training mode and it's time that I finally let you guys in our progress.

Because it's been so long, there's a ton of stuff that we've done that I can't remember.
In my last post I told you guys that we were getting ready to run the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in December.
Well, we did! There were pros and cons to that race which I'll tell you about but let me preface this list by saying that we will probably never run that race again. OK...

Pro 1:. I got to see Vegas for the first time. Seriously. I finally saw Sin City at 25 years old. I was excited to see all the lights and sounds that Vegas has to offer and it was everything I thought it would be.

At the starting line outside of Mandalay Bay

Pro 2: My sister and John came to Vegas to hang out / support us in the race. I was really happy that the first time I got to play in Vegas, I had my little sister and bro-in-law along with me. Plus it's convenient that John is Jim's best friend so double win for us.

Pro 3: We got a medal. And it glows in the dark.

Blue medal for the half marathon, pink for the full. Which some people complained about but we found later that we had a ton of respect for the people wearing the pink medals that weekend.

Con 1: There were WAY too many people at that race. They should have capped that race way before they actually did. When you have over 20 different corrals of people to start the race and it takes you 40 minutes just to get the start line once the race begins, that's just TOO many runners.

Con 2: It was ridiculously cold for Vegas! I know it was December but DAMN! I might have had a little bit of a skewed idea of what Vegas weather is like but even Jim said it was unusually cold. Add that to the fact that we had to stand around in a crowd for 40 minutes before we could even move and that made for a very uncomfortable start. 

Con 3: I bought new shoes and they hurt my feet. All I wanted at the end of that race was to be out of the cold and rain (oh yeah...it started raining the last mile) and off my swollen feet. And thank goodness we didn't end up trying to take the light rail back to the hotel because that would have required us to go into Mandalay Bay which apparently turned into a news-worthy nightmare. An insane amount of people rushed into the hotel to get out of the crazy cold rain and literally got stuck in the hallways. Too many people in one place at one time led to reports of runners vomiting, fainting and not receiving medical attention due to overcrowding. We avoided it but it was kind of crazy to be part of something that runners were talking about for weeks later. 

Con 4: The race was at night so we could experience the lights of Vegas but because of that we couldn't really "play" Friday night and all Saturday afternoon. Which doesn't seem so bad but in the end we decided that races done of out of town need to be planned better because waiting around to enjoy our vacation until the last day didn't really work out in the end. Now we now. 

OK....so now we are up to the point where we get into full marathon training mode. Jim made up a calendar with all the training runs he did to train for his marathons last year. We've been following a set schedule of long and short runs that vary locations which also mean a variation in elevation. 

Last week we ran 16 miles from Sugarhouse Park, through the avenues, up to the capital and back to the park. Which meant ridiculous amounts of hill climbing including..........Virginia Street. The worst uphill climb I've ever done. After that street we had only run 8 miles and I was exhausted. I told Jim I was feeling a little emotional and if I cried at the end of the run to not be surprised. By the time I got to the 13 mile mark, I took a peek at my Garmin and found that I had ran the 13 miles in the same amount of time that it took me to run my first half marathon which was completely flat. 

So basically, I was able to climb several hills and run the same distance in the same amount of time. 

I had a moment when I was actually pretty proud of myself. I've come a long way since July when I almost died in the Legacy Half Marathon. 

Now I just have to add on an additional 10 miles to the run I did last week to finally complete a full marathon. 

I'm getting more and more anxious / excited for California. We've bought our plane tickets, hotel and registration. 

No turning back now!! We're 9 weeks away from the hardest physical accomplishment I will have completed to date. 

More blog posts to come, I promise. This was way too much ketchup. 

But you guys ordered it! So eat up! :)