Star Valley Half Marathon Recap

July 13 was the last half marathon that I was able to run. Seeing that I was a slacker and did not blog about it, I am now doing a recap. The Star Valley Half Marathon was just about 4 months after having my Brookers. So training did not go as well as I wanted it to, in fact the longest run I was able to do was only 6 miles before the race. It was really hard trying to train in about 2 months. I had to wait for the doctor to give the okay to run. It also was not the best idea to go on a 3 and a 1/2 hour horse ride the day before. I am not a horse rider, it was super fun, but unfortunately I did not get the stir ups right, and the last hour I ended up walking my horse because of the pain in my right knee.  So I new that the race was not going to be the best I have ever done.

I was lucky to be able to run the race with my cute sister-in-laws. Ethan was registered to run the race, but his knee was also having problems so he did not run. He was a great cheer leader for me, along with Brooklyn.  My overall time was 2:11 minutes, which is the SLOWEST I have ever done. I was kinda disappointed at first, but then after much contemplation I remember I just had a baby 4 months ago, with only 2 months of training, and my knee was not in good shape. In fact I basically walked the last 4 miles. So to walk four miles, and to end with a little over 10 minute miles is alright with me. I have been training a lot more for my SOJO half marathon that is coming up this SATURDAY!!! I am so worried that I will not get my goal of getting it under my goal of 1:59, but all I can do is try my best. I do not know how the race will go on Saturday, but I have trained and hopefully that training is enough.  I sure do love running half marathons! It is the perfect distance! 

The runners

One of the BEST CHEERLEADERS!

SoJo Half Marathon Training

Yesterday I was able to do my last long run before my big half this next Saturday October 19. I was able to put in 10.5 miles, even though I wanted to do 12, I was happy with how the run went for the most part.  Ethan, Brooklyn, and I were down in Payson visiting the Fausetts so I really did not have to many running options. I just decided to go run, but I did not know how many HARD hills there were! My goodness, my body has NEVER been this sore. According to my Garmin I gain a total elevation of almost 850 feet in my run. I did just 9 miles out investigating Payson, then I needed to go to the bathroom so I went back to my sisters and  then finished with a 1.5 miles. My average pace was 9:06 per mile, a little slower than I wanted, but with the cold and the hills I am happy with my result. My goal for the half marathon is to get under my PR of 1:59 flat, I am hoping that I have trained enough to reach this goal. Only time will tell. I am excited to see how I can do, especially since I just started within this last month to increase my time.

Color Me Rad

As many of you know, my mom passed away on March 10, 2012. I never expected to lose someone so close to me so shortly. My mom and I ,since about middle school, had become best friends until Ethan came into the picture. She was my person. Of course she was everyone's person, but we were also very, very close.  I would talk to about dating, school, work, money, recipes, rude girls or teachers, church stuff, volleyball, basically just about everything. She was and still is my hero. It was extremely hard for me to see her suffer with the cancer that came on so sudden, and took her so quickly. Especially her last month when she was in the hospital. When I was not at work, I was down at the hospital with her painting her nails, watching girl shows, massaging her feet, eating sushi, reading all the thousands of cards she got from the community, or just talking. Man, do I miss her. In April, our family decided that we were going to do the 'Color Me Rad' in Provo. We did this race because all the earnings from the race went to scholarships at UVU. Mom played a huge role in helping thousands of seniors get scholarships for school. We called ourselves "BEARly Runners". For those of you who don't know, my dad always called my mom 'bear'. This was just a 5k, but it was fun to run together with the family for mom. It did get a little messy though with all the colorful chalk that was thrown. I know I will see my mom again, but right now it is hard for me to have her not be there when I graduate from school (something that we both have worked so hard to get), or have kids, or just to call up everyday like I use to. Not a day goes by that I do not think of her, and wish I could just give her a great big hug! This is still a very hard time for me, but I am so glad that I have an amazing husband, family, and work that helped me get through this year, and hopefully the years to come.

"Bearly Runners"

We have fun together

Running for Mom

Love him more than anything