Here we go again~

Full 57 minute workout today of Physique 57!!  Off to a very busy day~

I had to do my long run this morning due to The Easter Bunny visiting our house on Saturday!! Me and the Heidi's ventured from our house to the Spanish Fork Airport and home!! We encountered some snow, strong winds and hills, but made it home safe and ............tired!! Great way to start a Friday morning!  

AP: 8:44 

Wish I could say that I was able to get out today but I just wasn't.  The Easter Bunny visited us early, then we had Easter Breakfast, made sugar cookies, went to 2 parties, cleaned up after one of the parties at our house, had a friend over to visit, Tyler went to the Priesthood Session, and I went to dinner with the boys and my friend.  She left at 10:00 and I was simply too tired to go down on the TM.  Does an hour of "Lets Dance" on the Wii count as exercise???

AM: I couldn't find anyone to run with me this morning and it was yucky weather so I decided to let Ty run and stayed in for a quick Physique. In all honesty, I am trying to catch up on my sleep so I slept in a bit longer and only got in the 30 minute video before having to get ready for the day.  

PM: Headed down at about 9:45 for a run on the treadmill.  It wasn't that bad tonight. I did a warm up mile at 6.9 then took it up to 7.1 for 2 miles ( I think about a 8:40pace), then up to 7.3 for a mile and ended the last mile at 8.0 (7:30 pace).  I am not going to lie, as much as I wish I could say it felt easy, it didn't.  I am losing what I had acquired in the "fast" department.  Oh well, as long as I can maintain, I guess that's what matters most :).  I do hope to speed up slightly as the training continues but am trying to be happy with myself where I am at~

It was Tyler's day to run so I slept in a bit later than normal (love Spring Break, even though I have to work all day, my mornings are a bit easier) and go up with enough time to do just the 30 minute Physique workout. I was really hoping to run later like I did last night but no such luck :(

Heidi W has been out of town so it was just Heidi C and I this morning.  We decided we wanted to do a tempo run and the schedule called for 6 miles so we decided to do "New Leaf" route.  Rather then warming up for a mile and cooling for a mile, we just decided to warm up for 2 miles, tempo for 4 miles and then walk out the rest.  We had a nice stretch also before starting which has been helping us stay healthy, well I guess I mean............injury free!!  We got our warm up in and starting picking up the pace right in time to hit the incline portion of the course (YUK!!), however...........we kept the pace pretty respectable and held strong through the rest of the course.  I was pretty proud of us :)

First actual run of the year with consistent negative splits (Yipee!!!) 8:52 (Warn up) 8:40, 8:19 (First tempo mile with hills) 7:49, 7:47, 7:36 with a .50 mile walk out, cool down!!  It was a nice morning!! Sun was FINALLY shining when we got done!!!! 

Full 57 minute Physique DVD this morning.  Killer, of course but I love it!!! 

Spring break.......................St. George................Sunny skies...............perfect temperatures.....................Good company..............PERFECT RUN!!!!!  Man, this is the life! Today Tyler and I met up with some good friends for a little run in St. George!!  We actually owe credit to this couple for getting Tyler and I into running in the first place! They are marathoners amongst trail runners, in addition to bikers, swimmers, triathlon'ers, Iron-men'ers, etc......they do it all!!  We all happened to be down here for Spring Break so we thought a morning Date/Run would be just the ticket.  I originally wanted to go a little longer knowing my Saturday run would be cut short due to the 10k we are running tomorrow, so I thought 10 miles would be good, but we ended up having so fun we tacked on 2 miles.  We drove up to Snow Canyon and parked in the little parking lot, then ran down through Snow Canyon (BEAUTIFUL) through some trails and came to a road just a mile from our house so I parted ways and headed straight home then "let" Tyler go a mile the other direction so that he could go get our car, etc.  I had to get home to relieve my gracious Mom and In-Laws who were watching our kids so that we could run.  I was greeted at the door by happy, energetic kids and home made crepes for breakfast................um yeah, I could get used to this!!! Seriously one of the funnest mornings I have had in a long time!!

AP: 7:56

Again, I love St. George and love running here.  Tyler and I picked up Dan M this morning to head out to the race.  It was perfect weather and I was excited to get my 2nd race in for the year(generally speaking).  This race also completed our requirements for the Runner's Series so we are officially IN THE MARATHON, yipeee!!!  Originally I had not anticipated a hard course but after looking at the course and talking to Tyler, was informed that it was a hard course so I instantly started to worry.  I am a whimpy runner! However, we started out, felt pretty good and I had to shift my thinking a bit: the only way running hills and running in general is going to get easier, is by running and running hills, makes sense ha!?!  It helped that Dan was along to coach me (more just someone to talk to) so it went by pretty darn fast!  It was pretty easy for the first 2 miles, then we had a gradual incline that started at 3 1/2 followed by some serious uphill and more incline all the way to mile 5 1/2, I was ready to be done but yet, kept enough in the tank so I didn't feel Horrible like I have in the past(that's nice).  We hit mile 6 and kicked it in for the end finishing at 47:26.  I had no plans for this race, just wanted to take it easy and not put too much pressure on myself.  I would have been happy with anything under 50:00 so I was happy with our time.  I was even more happy how good I felt afterward.  It was a great morning and a good race! it was also nice to see some fellow FRB'ers (Jose, JonA and his cute wife Kelly, Tom and Kim, Dustin, Wild Bull aka Bill.......such nice people).  Glad I am all done with the series and into the marathon :) 

AP: 7:42

It's my goal to run every day this week!! SO, Heidi W wasn't feeling well this morning and Heidi C had other plans for running so it was a lonely morning on the treadmill! Na, actually it was quit nice to run and watch TV for a change.  Started at 6.7 and worked up to 7.5.  Kind of a fun morning afterall :)

AM: Full 57 minute workout with Tanya this morning (Physique 57) and the Heidi's! Such a fun morning to workout and visit!! Niccccccccccccccccccccccccccccce!

PM: In attempt to fulfill my goal, I had to run on the TM, so at 10:00PM, I headed down to the basement.  I was going to run 7 miles but got a pretty intense side ache that wouldn't shake so I cut it short at 5 :(. Oh well, at least I ran :)

Ty had an early meeting so I couldn't run with the girls.  So, I got up and hopped back on the treadmill (Yes, this is a world record for me!! The treadmill and I are typically not friends and I have shared 3 consecutive days with it now, Miracles do happen).  I wanted to go 7 again this morning but my kiddos woke up and were getting inpatient wanting breakfast so I thought rather then starving my children to death, I would stop at 6 :).  It's all good~

Started at 6.7 and worked up to 7.4 (setting)

So, I was up all last night with my baby who has a double ear infection and soar throat! Worse, it's his birthday today and he spent an hour of it at the Dr. with me.  Poor little guy can't get a break lately.  Never the less, I couldn't get my keester out of bed to run this morning so after a full day, dinner out for his birthday, cleaning the house,etc (in preperation of heading out to Boston) I ended up walking downstairs to get on the treadmill at 10:30PM.  I finished at 11:30PM and was in bed by mid-night.  Not too bad :)

Ran 1st mile at 6.8, up to 6.9, 7.0, 7.2, 7.3,and ran last mile at 8.0 (7:30 pace).  I felt pretty good about it. 

6 mile run with the Heidi's this morning! It was our first official time running together this week and our last official time running together prior to me heading to Boston for the marathon!! YIKES, am I ready?? I am so darn excited to have this opportunity but admit, nervous also!! I am looking very forward to the trip though and to seeing fellow friends and bloggers out there!!!!  Wish me luck everyone, I am off to Boston!!!!

AP: 8:36

I am in BOSTON!!!! Hooray!!!

So, it's over! The Boston Marathon has come and gone and for the first time I can say, I was a part of it! Man, talk about an amazing, humbling, exciting, challenging, motivating experience!! I know it may surprise some to hear that marathons are emotional for me on so many levels. This year's marathon was emotion for the following reasons: 1. 8 years ago I could barely even run, I tried to be active and involved but running was a challenge for me, now, I just ran the Boston Marathon! 2. There is so much history that goes behind the Boston Marathon that I am honored by those that sacrificed so much to put the race together and that assisted in making the Boston Marathon the success that it is today!! 3. I was in Boston,  with my Husband running one of the most well known marathons in the world! It is so exciting to love a sport that both my husband and I appreciate.  It was special to be doing it together with him and to have him sacrifice his time to run with me.   4. There is a spirit to the city, so many people, all running for one reason or another.  Something has driven each and every person that was there to run that race and they did it!! 5. It took a lot of work, time, blood, sweat, and tears to get there and I was finally there!!! Despite the challenge that it was, it was fun and a life experience! I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

I am basically going to use this blog to not only report my actual marathon but my Trip to Boston.  Just a warning for those who choose not to read my inapt ability to talk for hours on end :) So, Sunday Tyler and I just went down to the Expo to get our bibs, etc and walk around.  We ended up having to leave the expo to run up to Marathon Sports to get the Hoddies we wanted because the Expo was all out of them (You should have seen the people, CRAZY).  So, we ended up getting lunch and then heading back to the Expo so all in all, we spent almost 5 hours down by the finish line! The people are honestly amazing and the entire experience is one that I will not be forgetting! 

Race day morning we woke up at 5:00am (3:00 Utah Time) to head to the bus.  By the time we got off of the bus, it was almost 7:00 and by mistake, we were dropped off at the Finish Line (our bus driver was following the elite runner's bus that went to the starting line. Too bad we never got to see the elites, but seeing the Police Escort was certainly entertaining).  So, we had to walk 3/4 of a mile to get to Athlete's Village where we again sat for almost 2 hours before heading to the start line.  It took us almost 10 minutes walking time to get to the start line before we took off and were running the course of the Boston Marathon!! Tyler brought his Ipod that has recording features that allowed to record the people, etc.  I had told him that I wanted to dedicate each mile to someone so he was able to record me giving my tributes up until the batteries died at mile 20 (SHOOT).  I know this was cheesy, but it really helped my mind focus on other things then just running.  It was nice to think about all of the important people in my life and the people that make me want to run and run better.  I was feeling really good and getting into my zone at about mile 6 when suddenly, I had to take a potty break.  This may not seem like a big deal but for me, it was! I have NEVER, in the history of any race I have done, had to take a potty break and now, at the Boston marathon, my body decides to take a potty break!?????? NO!!!  So, we found a porta potty at about mile 7 and make a quick stop.  OH, I forgot to mention that my shoe lace also came untied at mile 6 (another first and another sto[ :().  So, I was feeling a bit frustrated but ready to run.  I was a bit upset when my feet started hurting at mile 8.  I thought they would feel better as time went on but unfortunately they didn't.  We dropped from an 8:05 average to a 8:12 average within 2 miles and I started psyching myself out mentally (BAD BAD GIRL). All I can say is Thank goodness that I had Tyler with me, Thank goodness for the crowds and the music along the way! I was actually feeling relatively decent until about mile 17 when my feet were killing me, my back had started hurting and again, the negative mental thoughts were taking their toll.  It's hard because I was still enjoying the experience and loving the fact that I was running the Boston marathon, but my body just did not feel very good.  I wouldn't say the course was hard but different then what I have ever trained on.  Rather then extreme ups or down, the course literally rolled the entire way.  This made it hard for me because I could feel the gradual incline but never felt the ease of down hill because it too was very gradual.  All in all, I was ready to be done and I was telling myself that (again, BAD GIRL).  Tyler made it so much better but even he could tell that I was having a hard time.  I had my watch set so that only my average pace was showing and when I crossed the finish line, my watch registered a 8:18 pace overall.  However, it also registered 26.6 miles in distance so I must have been wandering all over the road.  My time resulted in 3:41:07 a mere 8 seconds short of a BQ at Boston.  This is the part that I am struggling with most because I could have easily shaved 8 seconds off but again, it's the mental part that is bothering me!!  So, with all of the nagging and complaining what did I think of the marathon?!?! I loved it! It was hard, and challenging but honestly Humbling and amazing! I am so glad that I did it! So glad that I can run, So thankful for the circumstances that allow me to run, so grateful to my husband for running and experiencing it with me and SO grateful for a fun trip to Boston!!!  It was a life experience that I will always remember and be grateful for!!!!

Later that night we met up with Scott and Kelli, Teena and Ryan, Smooth and Larry, Lark (first time meeting) and Rhett and Dune (first time meeting ) and Kathy and SHOOT, I can't remember her name, SO SORRY!,  for dinner!! It was so great to see them and do a date night in Boston!!! It was fun hearing all of the stories and enjoying their company!! Later we parted ways and Tyler and I went to get some Jelly Beans at a little store right in the Park Place mall we had eaten in.  We left the Mall and were walking down the street heading to the subway (and to the hotel) and were talking about Ryan Hall when all of a sudden 2 men walked out of a restaurant and started walking down the side walk right in front of us.  We had gotten a glimpse of the one man who we swore was RYAN HALL but we weren't certain as our luck typically is the exact opposite of that!  Tyler and I kept asking back and forth "Is that really him?" "Do you really think he would just be down here in town?", so I very quietly said "Ryan", and sure enough he turned around.  All I thought was, "What?!?! It was really Ryan Hall"??  So, I asked him "Would you mind if I got a picture of you with my husband, it would really make his day?"  He was so dang nice and willingly accepted so I snapped a pic, we made a bit of small talk and he walked off!! Wow, that was really the highlight of our trip!! We couldn't stop talking about it and it totally made Tyler's trip!! SO FUN!!!!  

That pretty much completed our marathon experience with no complaints!!!  IT was a great Patriots day/Marathon Day for us!

Thanks to Kelli, I am going to copy and paste our day this day in Boston!

 WALKED 5 or so miles, plus 294 stairs UP and then DOWN (ouch!) Had a great time completing the Freedom Trail with Walter and Misty, Smooth and Larry, Scott and Kelli and lots of other marathon strangers.  We had fun eating lunch and getting all sorts of treats along the way.  Loved the treats!!!  We started the trail at 10 and finished at 5, LONG Day (Thanks Kel)

Later that Night Tyler and I had the treat of going to Blue Man Group (which was an experience indeed) which intailed more walking to get to the theater.  After the show we walked more as we looked for and found "Cheers" (the later part of the evening of course taking part in 3 inch heels :).  I am tired but it was an awful fun day! 

Wednesday in Boston was fun again!! This day we woke up with intentions of finding the LDS temple and spending some time there.  Then, we wanted to go to the JFK Library on our way back into the city before heading out to a Red Sox game.  However, the morning took a turn of events which resulted in a 45 minute Subway ride, 45 minute wait for the bus (we took this opportunity to eat lunch of course), a small bus ride that dropped us off on the side of the highway, a long walk through neighborhoods that got us very lost and required flagging down a DHL truck for directions which then led to a RIDE in the DHL truck to the front of the temple!! ha ha!! Seriously, funny!!  All in all, it took us almost 3 hours to get to the temple so we were short on time, crammed in some work at the temple then had to catch a taxi back to the bus station to catch the Subway to get back to the Hotel to get ready for the Sox Game!! We had some time to meet up with a neighbor who happened to be in Boston on business, grabbed some Ball Park food (fun part) and watched the game!! FUN FUN GAME and FUN FUN NIGHT!!! We missed the Library but felt it was an eventful day none the less :) 

Just some slight walking this day! We rented a car and drove up to New Hampshire and Maine for some sight seeing. Holy Cow back East is BEAUTIFUL!!!!  We stopped in Newbury Port for lunch and browsing, and then headed up to Kittery Maine to walk the Massive number of Outlets stores there! I have seriously never seen so many outlet stores in my life. We went into Saucony, Under Armor and of course Crate and Barrel and called it a day of shopping.  We then headed back toward Boston and had time to spare so we pulled into Salem to see if we could spot a Witch!! It was a very very interesting town that clearly drives on the Witch Tales.  Every corner had Which/Spell Schools, Physics, Wizard shops, etc.  Very interesting. We found a poster that mentioned a Night Ghost Tour and thought "Why Not", so at 8:00PM Tyler and I met up with about 25 other tourist for a tour around Salem to learn all about the Hauntings and stories that keep the City stirring.  It was a fun day with Tyler and a fun day of seeing things I have never seen before!

When we got back to the hotel I really wanted to make an attempt at running so at 11:00 I headed down to the gym to see how I felt.  Not good! I was over dressed and the gym area was hot so I sweat like Crazy!! I also couldn't get much energy (I wonder why after an entire day of traveling, walking, etc and the fact that it was 11:00 at night) so it was hard for me.  I originally wanted to try and go 5-6 but after 4, I was tired and wanted to be done.  So, I quit~ :(

Slight walking as we bid farewell to Boston! I tried to talk Tyler into going to JFK Library again this day but he was Tour'ed, Museum'ed and Sight See'd out (how about that verbiage).  So, we settled for a movie and some relaxing before the long flight home~ 

First official Post Marathon Run.  I was supposed to meet up with the Heidi's this morning who were going 16 miles but we didn't get home until late and didn't get to bed until 1:30 so I knew 5 hours of sleep wasn't going to cut it.  I slept until 8:45 (LOVELY) and got up and dressed to run.  It was a beautiful morning and felt so good to get out and run! I am not sore at all but after about 4 miles, my legs felt tired and I could tell it was from the marathon.  I was glad I had opted for my own run (shorter miles) rather then 16 with the girls! I am ready to get running and train hard for Utah Valley in June!!  

I am very sad to say that some how, some way, I was loading my dishwasher today and totally threw my back out! It must have been the way I was standing or something but my lower back buckled and literally knocked the breath out of me and dropped me to the floor.  I have tried to work through it today but it's only getting worse.  I don't think I will be running tomorrow.  So sad! Hoping and praying for the best!!! 

Sadly......................still not walking!!!!

And still...............not walking, at least not well~

I went to the Chiropractor yesterday and am feeling much better today! He said my Disc is torn again and the inflamation is what it tearing me up (pushing on nerves, etc).  I was able to walk a measely 30 minutes on the TM today is all :(

So, today I am feeling much better and feel ready to run (against Chiropractor's orders) :) . I actually went to a Physical therapist as well today who mentioned nothing about my disc but said that I have Facet Syndrome.  I am learning a really lot about what running and babies has done to my back but it's not stopping me!

So, tonight when I got home from work, I decided to hop on the treadmill and see how I felt.  I started at a 6.9 setting and worked my way up to 7.5 for the first 4 miles, then ran the last mile at 7.6.  I feel good!! No complaints! Hoping it remains this way :)

Weather nor my husband's work schedule allowed me to run outside this morning so it was just me and the treadmill..........and Channel 2 news blaring in the background of course!!  It was a pleasant run this morning.  I started again at 6.9 but only ran up to 7.5 today! I was happy to get in 5 miles and happy my back is feeling okay today! Off to Saint George tonight to watch my brother in law compete in the first IronMan in Utah! Pretty exciting~