I'm lovin' it!

I ran 13.2 miles this morning with Darcy during a break in the thunder storms this morning. It was so peaceful and cool- the perfect summer run. I'm starting to really love these long runs. The pace is slower and it's easier to soak in the beauty of the area rather than concentrating on the pain or trying to keep up the pace. We completed the 13.2 with an 8:58/mile pace- not bad for a course with 685 feet of elevation gain in the middle!

It was also great to have a nice run after the painful run I had yesterday. It was painful mentally more than anything. It was my first tempo run and I tried to keep my pace steady for the whole 7 miles- I was able to do it at a 7:43/mile, but it was K.I.L.L.E.R. I kept making up excuses in my brain for why it was so hard- 'It's so hot',or 'I didn't sleep well last night', or 'I'm just so thirsty.' Do you find yourself making up excuses sometimes? I'm hoping the tempo run won't kick my butt like this every week- I felt like I was racing, only this time I didn't win anything or walk away with a new T-shirt.

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June was a good month for me. After struggling through May, it was nice to have a month where I felt so good and could really enjoy myself out there on the road. The stats are as follows:

Count:	17 Activities
Distance:	113.10 mi
Time:	16:17:13 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	6,739 ft
Avg Speed:	6.9 mph
Avg HR:	179 bpm
Calories:	10,291 C
Max Distance:	14.06 mi
Avg Distance:	6.65 mi

I'm excited to see where the next month will take me! I'm hoping to bump up my average speed to 7.0 mph :)

14- Booya!

Got myself out of bed at 5:10 AM and ran THE BEST 14.06 MILES OF MY LIFE!! It seriously rocked my socks. I felt good throughout, finished with negative splits, and was so so so happy with my 8:49/mile training pace.


...thoughts of Boston keep creeping into my mind...

I refueled with Shot Blocks- which I liked. They didn't hurt my stomach at all and they were significantly more palatable than GU. I also brought water and drank that without any stomach issues or bladder issues. Hurrah! I would say this run was a SUCCESS. I felt so good, and I just know it must have been because I refueled as I ran. I can't wait to see how I feel next week on my 15 miler.

Freak Flag Fact- Since most of you don't know me, and haven't seen me in real life, I figured it was time to introduce you to my thumbs. A little frightening? Yes. Kind of so weird looking that they are cute? I like to think so! Do you have an endearing feature?

After my run I went to my friend's house where we were having a combined yard sale. I sold a bunch of "crap" and came home with $136! So happy. I used some of said yard sale money to buy myself a Wendy's Bistro Chicken Sandwich- large sized, of course (hey, I burned 1350 calories this morning!)- and a Frosty.


Love replacing those calories!

Also, have you seen the McMillan Running Calculator? You can plug in a current race time and it will figure out what a probable goal time is for you on races of different distances (ranging from 100 meters to the Marathon), and it will also spit out what paces you should be doing your track work at, etc. I'm stoked! No more guesswork needed. Go check it out. It's incredible!

Intervals!

The Top of Utah Marathon is less than 3 months away. I'm trying not to pee my pants about that over here.

I took the beginning of the week off to rest from the race last weekend, and I started running again on Wednesday. I ran a 4 mile recovery run at an 8:29/mile pace, and then last night- on the hottest day of the year so far- I did my first interval workout.

IT. KICKED. MY. BUTT.

I can only blame myself because:

1. I chose a route that had a huge hill in it at the beginning.
2. I decided to sleep in which means I ended up running in the evening in temperatures that I am not used to AT ALL yet.

I've learned my lesson!

It's obvious to see where the big hill is when you look at my intervals- 7:46, 8:52, 7:26, 6:46, 6:59, 6:56. The first 2.5 miles are up hill (with the biggest hill in mile 2, and the last 4.5 miles home are a gradual down hill). I did a half mile cool down at an 8:30. To be honest, I had no idea I was going to be able to run ANY intervals at under a 7:00/mile pace. My goal was to keep them under 8:00, so I am very very happy with what I was able to do.

Running these intervals makes me so curious as to what I will be able to do a marathon in. I keep thinking that I want to just take it easy and get some experience first, but I feel like if I just push myself a tiny little bit, that I will be able to walk away with a Boston Qualifying time...

What should I do? Take it easy? Go for it? What would you do? I'm searching for any advice here from someone that has run a marathon!

On Saturday I am scheduled to run 14 miles- this will be the furthest I have ever run. I'm both anxious and excited. Aaahhh! Let the marathon training begin!!!

They called me "Ragnar Girl."

"The way I see it- and race veterans will back me up on this- races encapsulate the best aspects of our sport, which can make races incredibly moving experiences. The camaraderie. The emotion. The wonderful variety of body shapes and sizes. The challenge of something pure. The simplicity of the task. The inclusiveness you feel among participants. The respect shown for speedsters and slow pokes alike. For the price you pay to enter a road race, you really get a lot out of it!
Of course, racing also involves anxiety. Doubt. Even Fear. But that's all part of the attraction. Meaningful ventures always come with these feelings. I'll be the first to tell you that I've been a basket case before some of my races- so much so that I could hardly talk. But this just makes it even sweeter when you meet the challenge once that starting gun goes off, and conquer it. There are few better things in this world than the feeling you get after a race well run- whether that means winning it or finishing it."
-Kara Goucher

I have a hard time forming my feelings into words and putting them out there for everyone to see. It seems that when I experience something big that my words always fall short of what it actually felt like to have that experience.

Just getting my body working so that I could run this race was an experience on its own. I was prayed and shocked (literally) into a healthy state so that I could run up a mountain this last weekend. It worked!

This race was my most fulfilling Ragnar Relay to date. Our team, "Desperate For A Party", was full of inspiring and encouraging women that pushed me forward when I may have felt like I was sliding backward. We laughed, we cried, and we ran 192 miles together. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Van 2 ladies: Mindy Kohler, Katie Cummings, Lindsey Harvey, Darcy Haas, Me, and Kalie Chamberlain

Sometimes it's fun, or funny, to see people that you ran with in other races. To read more about "Compression Socks", click [HERE].

Lindsey started us off well, so she earned herself a cookie!

My heart rate was 133 BPM BEFORE I started my first leg! Excited much? I ran the 3.9 with a 7:22/mile average, beating my previous 5K PR time. (The first 3.1 I ran at a 7:19/mile pace).

Kalie had the first of our tough legs in Van 2- running 3 miles up Trapper's Loop. She ran so fast she beat the van to the exchange by 5 minutes!

Only Darcy would run a killer uphill leg with a smile like this.

This one's for YOU, Fast Cory!

If you don't think you can do a Ragnar, then you should talk to this lady:

When you are in a car for 32 hours and 21 minutes, your true colors are bound to come out.

Still smilin' after our first legs, waiting our second at East Canyon. Temperatures dropped fast! It got to 38 degrees at night and we were grateful for the hot cocoa!

Van 1 finishers! Mandy Bonner, Lori Halls, Melanie Means, Kristen Pitts, Marissa Hermanson, Laura Means

Katie and Darcy are still pumped!

The BYU Track Team, who won the race outright in 18 hours 38 minutes, could have learned a lesson from Lindsey and Katie's smooth exchange here. The BYU team tripped over the cones as they went through. Tisk tisk. I'm sure it cost them valuable seconds on their time.

Mindy and I- Ragnar runners! Mindy started Guardsman and I finished it.

Gotta hug my girl! Have I mentioned that there's nearly a 1 foot difference in height between the two of us?

See this guy in the green? He's the only runner I saw on the course that I couldn't catch. I wasn't passed by a single runner, and I passed 19 people up Guardsman. People were cheering me on from lots of other teams. The camaraderie up this leg was like human propellant- how could I slow down when someone yells, "You go, Ragnar Girl!"

"They don't call it Ragnar for nothin'." -Darcy Haas

Cried my way to the exchange with Darcy running by my side. I ran the Ragnar hill in 48 minutes and 16 seconds, placing 13th out of all the women teams that ran the Wasatch Back.

Kalie and I- she's still my friend after allowing me to sucker her in to run this race.

Um, they might be faking it at this point. Waiting at the finish line for Darcy to bring us home.

Secret to finishing a relay race strong? Always put your strongest runner in the last position!

Team Desperate For A Party: Back- Marissa Hermanson, Kalie Chamberlain, Lindsey Harvey, Mandy Bonner, Kristen Pitts, Melanie Means, Katie Cummings, Lori Halls. Front: Me, Mindy Kohler, Darcy Haas, Laura Means
I didn't exactly accomplish the goals I set for myself this race, but it didn't matter. I ran faster at some parts, I slowed down at others, and I took the time to savor the journey- and that is what matters.

They called me "Ragnar Girl."

"The way I see it- and race veterans will back me up on this- races encapsulate the best aspects of our sport, which can make races incredibly moving experiences. The camaraderie. The emotion. The wonderful variety of body shapes and sizes. The challenge of something pure. The simplicity of the task. The inclusiveness you feel among participants. The respect shown for speedsters and slow pokes alike. For the price you pay to enter a road race, you really get a lot out of it!
Of course, racing also involves anxiety. Doubt. Even Fear. But that's all part of the attraction. Meaningful ventures always come with these feelings. I'll be the first to tell you that I've been a basket case before some of my races- so much so that I could hardly talk. But this just makes it even sweeter when you meet the challenge once that starting gun goes off, and conquer it. There are few better things in this world than the feeling you get after a race well run- whether that means winning it or finishing it."
-Kara Goucher

I have a hard time forming my feelings into words and putting them out there for everyone to see. It seems that when I experience something big that my words always fall short of what it actually felt like to have that experience.

Just getting my body working so that I could run this race was an experience on its own. I was prayed and shocked (literally) into a healthy state so that I could run up a mountain this last weekend. It worked!

This race was my most fulfilling Ragnar Relay to date. Our team, "Desperate For A Party", was full of inspiring and encouraging women that pushed me forward when I may have felt like I was sliding backward. We laughed, we cried, and we ran 192 miles together. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Van 2 ladies: Mindy Kohler, Katie Cummings, Lindsey Harvey, Darcy Haas, Me, and Kalie Chamberlain

Sometimes it's fun, or funny, to see people that you ran with in other races. To read more about "Compression Socks", click [HERE].

Lindsey started us off well, so she earned herself a cookie!

My heart rate was 133 BPM BEFORE I started my first leg! Excited much? I ran the 3.9 with a 7:22/mile average, beating my previous 5K PR time. (The first 3.1 I ran at a 7:19/mile pace).

Kalie had the first of our tough legs in Van 2- running 3 miles up Trapper's Loop. She ran so fast she beat the van to the exchange by 5 minutes!

Only Darcy would run a killer uphill leg with a smile like this.

This one's for YOU, Fast Cory!

If you don't think you can do a Ragnar, then you should talk to this lady:

When you are in a car for 32 hours and 21 minutes, your true colors are bound to come out.

Still smilin' after our first legs, waiting our second at East Canyon. Temperatures dropped fast! It got to 38 degrees at night and we were grateful for the hot cocoa!

Van 1 finishers! Mandy Bonner, Lori Halls, Melanie Means, Kristen Pitts, Marissa Hermanson, Laura Means

Katie and Darcy are still pumped!

The BYU Track Team, who won the race outright in 18 hours 38 minutes, could have learned a lesson from Lindsey and Katie's smooth exchange here. The BYU team tripped over the cones as they went through. Tisk tisk. I'm sure it cost them valuable seconds on their time.

Mindy and I- Ragnar runners! Mindy started Guardsman and I finished it.

Gotta hug my girl! Have I mentioned that there's nearly a 1 foot difference in height between the two of us?

See this guy in the green? He's the only runner I saw on the course that I couldn't catch. I wasn't passed by a single runner, and I passed 19 people up Guardsman. People were cheering me on from lots of other teams. The camaraderie up this leg was like human propellant- how could I slow down when someone yells, "You go, Ragnar Girl!"

"They don't call it Ragnar for nothin'." -Darcy Haas

Cried my way to the exchange with Darcy running by my side. I ran the Ragnar hill in 48 minutes and 16 seconds, placing 13th out of all the women teams that ran the Wasatch Back.

Kalie and I- she's still my friend after allowing me to sucker her in to run this race.

Um, they might be faking it at this point. Waiting at the finish line for Darcy to bring us home.

Secret to finishing a relay race strong? Always put your strongest runner in the last position!

Team Desperate For A Party: Back- Marissa Hermanson, Kalie Chamberlain, Lindsey Harvey, Mandy Bonner, Kristen Pitts, Melanie Means, Katie Cummings, Lori Halls. Front: Me, Mindy Kohler, Darcy Haas, Laura Means
I didn't exactly accomplish the goals I set for myself this race, but it didn't matter. I ran faster at some parts, I slowed down at others, and I took the time to savor the journey- and that is what matters.