Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Name that movie.

We have a winner for my Scott James Jewelry giveaway!!!  The winner is....

Jen@Mom's Gotta Run!

Congratulations!  E-mail me on my contact form on the blog with your address and I'll get your charm to you ASAP.

While the rest of you are at it, go check her out.  She's a mother of 2 (like me!!) and manages house hold, full time work, and marathon training- and she has yet to go insane!  Kudos to her.  Plus, she lives in my most favorite place in the world- NEW YORK CITY.

In New York- concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

Happy Friday everyone!

I suppose I'll run a Ragnar.

****Last day to enter my GIVEAWAY for Scott James Jewelry! I'll announce the winner tomorrow morning.
 
NOTHING gets me excited like seeing this:

I could jump up and down screaming right now if it weren't for the fact that my baby is asleep and I prefer her to stay that way for awhile.

I think my excitement stems from the fact that running the Wasatch Back in 2010 was my very first race EVER.  The runner's high caught hold of me big time, and I've been addicted to it ever since.  I feel like Ragnar's bring out the best part of running- you work past extremes in fatigue, distance, temperature, running times, crazy hills, soreness, and best of all, you get to do it as a team. 

Next Thursday I get to meet my Vegas Ragnar team for the first time- 7 Studs and their Showgirls. I know Julia and Rachelle as blogging buddies, but I've never laid eyes on the rest of them. Dallas (my husband) calls my blog friends my "Invisible Friends" (credit for the title going to Mindy's husband Derek) and I'm stoked to turn them into real friends.  

This Ragnar feels so odd to me.  All 3 of my previous Ragnar's I trained for like crazy- never missing two and three a day runs, and running at all times of the day and such.  And the hills, the HILLS!  I ran so many hills.  Running this race has been almost an afterthought.  I can't believe I can just say, "Sure, I can run a Ragnar."  They are tough business and I'm happy to be able to run one at the drop of a hat!  It helps that I'm not running the Ragnar Leg or anything.

So as a team of 12 we will be conquering this:

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas course map.

I'm runner #11 and will be completing 3 separate legs as follows:

Leg #1- 3.7 miles and 574 foot elevation gain.  This is my toughest of the race, but as my first leg- still feeling fresh- it doesn't freak me out.

Leg #2- 3.9 miles pretty much FLAT!  Sweet!  I don't think I ever run a flat course unless I'm on a track.

Leg #3- Then I get to finish off with this beauty- 4.2 miles with nearly 470 foot loss.  Seriously folks.  This is what I'm talking about!  PR TIME!  I'm hoping to break my 5K PR time on this leg.

I'm so so so excited for this race!  Meet new friends, hang out in Vegas with some family, run a good race.

I've come a long way since I first started running in January 2010, and I'm pretty stoked to reward myself with a cool trip.  Where would I be without my invisible friends?!  Thanks you so much for inviting me, Rachelle!

If you haven't run an overnight relay- it is a MUST do!!!  There are legs for all difficulties- from the new runner to the veteran- you pick your poison.  Do one, and you'll be addicted.  Promise!

Have you ever run a relay?  If so, what is your favorite?

I've run Ragnar Wasatch Back (Utah) twice, and Del Sol (Arizona) once.  I loved both for different reasons, but Wasatch Back is by far my favorite race I've ever run.  It's so freaking hard that you can't help but feel pride in accomplishment.  I feel as proud that I ran up the Ragnar leg as I do about running a Boston Qualifying Marathon.

We fail?

If you haven't already, go and enter my giveaway for Scott James Jewelry!

I know I've been MIA lately.  I didn't think it would be possible, but I think I've actually run out of things to say!  So, alas, the blog has remained empty.

This last weekend I went to Cedar City to the High School Shakespeare Competition.  I workshop kids for Shakespeare with Davis High School, and I love every second of it.  This year there was a lot of playing, a few tears, more laughs than I can count, and many a sleepless night.

I also ended up with strep throat which means that I skipped out on my long run...  I'm still trying not to beat myself up about it.

Back to Shakespeare....  His words are universal.  The reason the Bard has been so popular is because of the timelessness and utter relatability of his characters and the situations they are in.

So maybe we don't murder our enemies sons and bake them into pies like in Titus Andronicus.

And maybe we don't sell our souls to the Devil in order to obtain a higher position like MacBeth.

However, we can apply the lines to our lives with ease.  Example?

MacBeth, Act I Scene VII:

Macb.        If we should fail?
Lady M.        We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail.

Whether you have a bad workout, a bad race,or you are getting ready to run your first race or your 100th- remember COURAGE. 

...and maybe remember not to dabble in devil worshiping.  It just leads to death.  Trust me.

GIVEAWAY! Scott James Jewelry

I have five loves in my life: The Lord, my family, theater, running, and jewelry.  It's true!  You will hardly ever see me without earrings, a ring, and a necklace.  My taste is pretty simple- nearly everything I wear is silver.  That is why I love, love, love Scott James Jewelry.

I feel I should tell you that I am not paid, or given anything by Scott (in fact, he doesn't even know I have a blog at all!).  He is a family friend, but most of all, I just really love his jewelry.  If you have run races in Utah, there's a good chance you've seen him.  He's at the start and finish line of every Ragnar Relay, many of the marathons, and even some half marathons.

On his website you can see that he custom creates jewelry.  He has a whole section for running jewelry because, you guessed it, he's a runner himself!  (Although I'm sure he doesn't wear the necklaces :)).  He has a section for running, Ragnar Relay, triathlon, Sand Hollow, St. George, Ogden, Rock N' Roll, and Utah Valley.

Anywho- I'm writing all of this because I want to show you my necklace!  My dearest friend Mindy gave me a 26.2 charm the other day.  I was so stoked!  She's so thoughtful and I feel so blessed to have her as a friend.  Here is my necklace (if you see me, I'm pretty much always wearing it):

MY CHARMS:  26.2, Del Sol (Ragnar Relay), and the Ragnar Relay symbol (which I may or may not pretend is a gold medal for running up Guardsman, aka the "Ragnar" leg, in the Wasatch Back this year).

What I'm so excited about is that I'm going to spread the love!!!!  I'm having my very first giveaway!  (I know, my jaw is dropped, too!)  You can enter to win this simple and sweet "run" charm for your very own.

To enter the giveaway you must follow the blog and enter a comment below.  Please only one comment per person.  Contest ends in one week- Thursday, October 13th at 11:59 PM.  (Do I even need to be that serious?  I mean, come on, there's only like 10 of you that really read this.)  I will only ship to the good ol' US of A (and that's because I'm CHEAP).

Feel free to check out Scotty's jewelry too!  (Although, that's not required.  He has some cool stuff and Christmas is all but knocking on our door).

Good luck! :)

All by myself

Family blog update!  {The Finer Things Club} and {Mi Mama}

Race Shirts:  Don't hate, appreciate.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work as hard." -Tim Tebow

Although I can say that I do have a slight gift for running, I can also tell you that any "success" that I've had has come from a whole lot of hard work.  I heard this quote today from my friend Kristin and I had to share.  Work hard out there!

Moving on...  I have been absolutely terrified that I was going to be all screwed up after the marathon.  I'm so so grateful that I'm not!  I took a week off and rested, and then got back into the groove of things last week.  My workouts have been stellar so far.

Saturday, 9/24:  6 miles, recovery, 8:51 pace

Monday, 9/26: 3.5 miles, 7:25 pace

Tuesday, 9/27: 4 miles, hills with 350 ft. gain in 1.5 miles, 7:41 pace

Friday, 9/30:  3.25 miles, treadmill, alternating between 7 and 8 mph

Saturday, 10/1: 10 miles, 8:17 pace

Monday, 10/3: 5.5 miles, 3.1 tempo at 5K pace (7:10) , 7:42 average pace


Know what is missing?  My running buddies!  Both Darcy and Mindy were left injured from running the Top of Utah Marathon.  They have a severely bruised foot (possible stress fracture) and tendinitis respectively.  I miss running with them so much, but at the same time it has been nice to go it alone.  I've forgotten how much faster I run by myself (which isn't always a good thing- sometimes it's important to slow things down), and it's forcing me to be accountable for my workouts all on my own.  I'm notorious for talking myself out of running when I don't have someone that's going to meet me out on the street- I've been proud of myself that I haven't missed a single one!  Go me.


In other news, I'm preparing to run Vegas Ragnar and my legs, for once, are E.A.S.Y.  Totaling about 12 miles, and only one with any real elevation gain, I'm planning on setting a new 5K PR and doing my best to keep up with my super speedy team.  It's going to be a huge difference running on a team that is projected to complete the race in roughly 26 hours.  My previous teams run for fun, and we finish somewhere closer to 33 hours!  Should be fun times.  I just have to hope they don't kick me off for being slow ;).


With a Ragnar in the very near future, I'm in need of some new tunes for my playlist.  

What's your current fave workout song?

Right now I'm loving She Got the Honey and Hey Mama by Mat Kearney (these were repeated many many times during the marathon).