flashback Friday

Today I was cleaning out my garage and I came across the 20 mile posters that Ebbi and Lexi made.  I realized we didn't get them all posted on here and they are so great..  so hopefully here are some we missed.  Flash back to  what happened on the sand dunes road.  I'm never going to go on that road without remembering all the long runs and other great things that happened on that road!! The good the bad and the ugly!  It's our road!

 

 

 

PS...  I haven't ran since the marathon.  Now I'm scared to...  I don't know why.  I'm signed up for the butch Cassidy next week, so I guess I better try sometimes soon.  =)  I really miss it. 

 

Running is a gateway to adventures...

I guess this was part of my last long run, the day before when the other girls did 8 miles, Bryant and I only did 5, we both wanted to save some energy for this race.  Actually we were both being kind of lazy and decided that between the two runs we'd be over the 8 and that seemed good!  Kanab KTX trail run is awesome!  I love it!

I love that he loves to run with me.  Well I should say I love that he has the same running addiction as me!  We start together and he waits for me at the end.  Most races he starts back through the course to find me and cheer me on.  I love that!  I am a pretty lucky gal!

It was FREEZING at the start line this year!

 Amanda ran the 10k too, but I didn't see her only at the very beginning!  

 Such a beautiful place to run!  I really like this race.  I decided that I wouldn't push myself too hard, since the marathon was next week and all.  I loved it.  I love running and just enjoying!  

 Bryant kicked butt and totally ran it in 43 minutes.  He beat the course record by 2 seconds and won it all!  Super proud of him! 

 April ran the 5k with her family.  We went back up to the park to listen to the Grand to Grand runners and met up with April.  Those Grand to Grand people are amazing!  After seeing them and listening to them I really started considering maybe wanting to do it sometime.  

Because what if I ran it and could look like this guy?  That would be awesome!

 Other then seeing Julie Jensen and getting to hug her, having this guy talk to my kids about running was probably the best part of the day.  He actually came up to Bryant and the kids and said, I want to share with you my pack and tell you what it takes to run this.  He shared what preparations he had made to make his feet strong.  He actually soaked his feet in dog pad stuff to make them tough.  He also told them that running wasn't just running it was a gateway to adventures.  He has ran the Great Wall of China, the Sahara Desert, the North Pole and many other amazing places.  My kids were enthralled!  I loved it!  He told them to keep running!  

Julie's story about having to deal with injury during her G2G experience was very motivational to me and I admire her for continuing on even when she was hurt.  She is an amazing person.  

TWENTY ...20... TWO.. ZERO!!!

Twenty miles!!!  who just runs twenty miles?  People training for marathons I guess.  Never thought it would be me. 

This week I tried to do everything perfect.  I think the realization that we just have a month left, hit me hard.  I ate good.  I foam rolled everyday. I strength trained 3 days.  The day before I did an hour long stretch, foam rolled and focused on carbo loading.  (and drove everyone else crazy telling them they needed to drink Ensure).  But do ya know what?  I think it made a big difference.  I really did feel great.  Ebbi kept asking me what I was on. 

So first off, we got out there and had a pretty good first take on our pic:

Then we took the time to do some stretching.  We don't usually do this.  It's dark and kinda creepy and we just go.  Then right as we started, we saw a falling star.  You can guess what we all wished for.  Then we are running along and Ebbi goes over to the bushes and yells "hey!".   What the heck?  Freaked us out.  She said she thought she saw something.  We kinda didn't talk about it.  not gonna lie we were freaked out.  I said, "next time you go at something like that, get my mace first."  A little farther a long we came to a sign on the side of the road.  We were so excited.  Someone had put a sign up to cheer us on.  We thought it was MaryAnn.  We were praising her up and down.  This first sign even made Candi tear up because it was her little girl.  As we continued on there were signs every mile.  They were funny and cute and we were amazing and wondered how MaryAnn pulled this off.  The signs were awesome.  If you ever have to run 20 miles, you need some amazing friends to post signs for you every mile..  makes all the difference. 

I really felt great on this run.  At 10 miles, half way, we stopped and danced and took a picture. 

This time at Moqui cave we brought a pencil and signed the Geo cach.  If you ever run or I guess even drive by there, stop  and sign it yourself. 

I had Sway tape my knee the day before.  Usually even though it's taped, it still started to hurt about now..  but today NO PAIN.  I was scared to even think about how great it felt.  When..  here's the amazing thing to me.  My other knee started hurting.  Now my other knee has hurt before, but the one hurt so bad that I don't really notice it.  I am a believer in KT Tape or strength tape or whatever you want to call it.  I am having Sway tape my other knee ASAP.  I am pumped about it.  I am going to keep rolling it every single day until the Marathon.  but really happy about no pain the the one knee! 

With about 6 miles left I went ahead on my own.  I just left like if I kept stopping I wouldn't be able to finish.  I just wanted to bust it out ya know...  so that's what I did.  I felt good.  My favorite was when Jennifer Stewart stopped and talked to me when I had one mile left.  She ran the marathon last year.  She knew what I had just done and that is kinda rare ya know.  People are driving by ya and ya just want to yell...  I  just ran 20 miles!!!  I am not just out on a little run..  20 miles!!!!!  Twenty!  So here's a picture of all the signs that I got pictures of.  I didn't go the parade route as planned so I missed some.  I'm just not a fan of running where people can see me. Oh and about the signs..  when MaryAnn denied doing the signs, we learned it was Ebbi and Lexi..  Who knew Ebbi could keep that kind of secret?!!  I mean really.  And the reason she had yelled "HEY" into the bushes is that she thought the first sign was  there.   So funny!  Her parents had put the signs up..  but I'll let her tell more about that.  But seriously.  If you ever run a marathon, you should do it with an amazing group of girls like I am, but that's not possible, they are just too awesome.  so...  Too bad. 

  Anyway! Great run. No it wasn't all easy.. Like the last 5 were really hard actually, but I felt good and if Hal Higdon is right... If we can run 20, we can run 26.. so BAM.... Marathon, Here we come!!

Labor Day Run!

I wasn't able to run the 19 miles with the rest of the girls.  Jake had an archery deer tag and we were trying to catch a deer for him.  

Bryant and I did our 19 mile run that Monday, since it was Labor Day and we both had the day off.  We were going to get up really early, but of course sleep sounded so much better then beating the heat.  We didn't start our run until 6 AM, it was so DARK.  There were also a lot of people camping/hunting out at the Sands area, so I made Bryant run with me until it got light.  I was afraid one of them would get me I guess.  The coyotes were yapping too, I hate those things!  

 There is the little crescent moon... I really needed Becka's head lamp for this run, luckily Bryant stayed back with me until it got light.  Bryant was so nice to stay back with me.  At one point I turned to him and said, "man I wish this pace felt as comfortable to me as it does to you!"  One day maybe it will, ok so probably not, but I can always hope!

 I LOVE seeing the sun rise!  So beautiful!

 After we were done running the Sands road I let Bryant take off.  It was 8 miles down and I knew that I was holding him back so I said go for it.  We decided to run the Best Friends loop with this run.  

Best Friends loop seemed like it was at least 20 miles long!  It's like 5... It lasted FOREVER!  Then I still had to run into town after that.  So I started entertaining myself, I think I even sent a few selfies to my fellow runners. 

I ran it a little slower then I wanted to, but I did it!  It was done!  Wahoo!!!

Darker than dark

I don't even know what happened.  This run was suppose to be awesome.  We were doing our favorite course.  We were ending before the scary highway part.  We went early so we could go to breakfast after.  At one point or another, it just fell apart for most of us.  Except April....  she loved it!  Go April!!

First off we get out and it is sooo dark and scary.  It's pretty dark at 5am with a sliverish moon.  I am the nerdy one that wears a head lamp.  I don't know how the other girls don't.  I want to see what's coming up.  We thought turning the other way at the end of the sands would be a great idea...  not so much.  Gradual uphill for 5 miles.  hmmm.  Ashly came with us and she got out and took off and ended up doing over a marathon because she took a wrong road.  (she still beat me back- #noshame).  I ended up doing about the last 13 by myself, which was ok as far as thinking and pondering the universe, but I missed the girls, the conversation and the party at each aide station.  =).  The last 10 my knee was killing and I'm not gonna lie, I did a lot of fast walking to let the knee rest.  But it could fast walk at about 13-14mm...  so if all else fails on the big day....  at least I have that.  (under 16mm is all that has to happen)

I drew a pic for my fellow fishies...  did y'all even notice this?  I had time to ponder my trophy too and it's going to be Awesome..  if I ever make it.  Lexie I planned ours for next week too..  be excited. 

Last mile!!

I decided I wanted to run the whole last mile .  Show myself I could do it.  Show myself  I could endure to the end...  It was the hardest mile of my life!!  Not even kidding.

PS...  It was a nineteen miler....  yes...  NINETEEN!!!  BAM.. Done.  check.  One more long one to go!  (for some it was more)

  

PPS...  some wise words from this run:

This run was a nightmare! I don't even know why. It just didn't work out as great as we all had planned. It was soooo dark and scary that morning. Darker than usual. I think the moon must have been a sliver or something. Haha. Also, we chose a route where we had a steady incline! Incline! We don't do that to ourselves very much. There were a million campers around and I was just plain scared that morning. Becka gave me her handy dandy flashlight and I used that to navigate for a second until I got scared. I would think some random person was hiding in the bushes or some sort of wildlife creature was going to eat me alive. So when I would think those thoughts I would turn around and run back to the girls! It just was not a successful start for me. I finally made it up the huge sand dunes hill to find April waiting. She was supposed to wait for the other girls but decided she would run with me for awhile. It was so nice to have some company and we ran at a great pace! I actually made April walk a few times because I had a side ache! (I never get side aches! What the heck was up with this day!) I also felt so empty that day. Like hunger! April and I chatted and chatted and after five miles she told me to go ahead. I thought she would hang and wait for the other girls but I found out later as I was waiting by the car that she was finished with her run! I went and picked her up but was a little concerned that Ashley's car was still parked behind ours! I found out later she did an entire marathon because she took the wrong road. Wowsers! Amazing! APril and I drove back to get the cars and on the way we saw Becka. She looked a little in pain so we stopped to check on her. Nevermind that I pretty much put us in danger stopping on the highway! I was just so worried about all the girls. Then we get a text that Tyler was on his way to pick up Ebbi because she was sick. I just couldn't believe it and felt so bad for everyone. We stopped to check on Candi too and she said she was okay. Just made me feel bad for everyone and a little helpless. A few funny things about this run to brighten this post up a little... I got back to Becka's car and remembered where she told me she would put the keys (I have a hard time remembering this normally) only to find that the keys were hidden but her windows were down. Haha It cracked me up. Sad that we all had crappy runs but hey I guess sometimes that  happens right!

Sands Half Marathon!

What can I say!?!!  We LOVE the sands!  At least I do!  This run was awesome!  I really love 13 miles!  I am pretty sure that mileage is my number! Except the Bryce Half Marathon this year, was not so much my favorite number.  I ran with Lexi on this run and we just took it easy and ran all but the last 2 miles together then she took off ahead of me.  The end of the race even had post race food, chocolate milk, bananas, and grapes!  

Tons of fun girls, as always!

There is Lexi picking up the pace for the last 2!

We are kinda running out of pictures that can be taken in the almost dark.  So here's our attempt at Charlies Angels.  Ha ha.  We get up early so we can get done and spend about 5 minutes on our start picture..  love it! 

The highlight of this weeks  "only 13 miles"..  was when we found a geo-cach.  Ya...  pretty cool right.  We were just hanging out at our aide station by moqui cave and saw this little tube.  It took us awhile to get it out, but sure enough.  It was a geo-cach. 

We ended at MaryAnn's and she and Lexi had time to put out this great post run spread AND go back and pick up the car..  #noshame

We spend about an hour after discussing our Marathon lodging plans and toenails and stuff.  This stuff needs to get decided.  =)

How do people even run marathons with out a whole crew of fishies?....  I have no idea. 

Thanks for capturing the last picture with my toenails. They are pretty much now gone. I will forever treasure this picture! I loved this run too! MaryAnn and I ran together again and kept a great pace! I'm addicted to the Sand Dunes. Becoming our second home I tell ya what!

More than epic eighteen

Last night when I went to the store, I was  just starting my pre-long run freak-out, which is good to not freak all day.  but check out what I came out of there with:

I came home and just went ahead and got rid of my toenail.   TMI...  ya I know, but I'll tell ya, It made me feel like a real runner.  I tried to get the doc to do it, but I'm glad I did it myself. 
Our Friday run ended up being me, Lexie and Candi.  We met at 5 in the A.M. and headed out East.  Two miles before we hit our 18 mile mark we hit dirt road.  I think the unevenness of dirt road bugs the knee, so we drove back two miles, ran to the dirt road and turned about and went back past the car.   Oh but before that, We get out to run and it is pitch black...  I'm talking super dark.  The moon is no where to be seen to give us any sort of light.  There were even some slightly eery clouds overhead and....  the wind was howling.  Lexie and Candi both voted we get back in the car until it got a little lighter, I being the older, more grouchy member of the crew said that if we wanted to wait until it got lighter we should have done it in our beds. or i said I didn't get up this early to wait in the car...  ha ha..  Ya..  that's embarrassing but it happened.  so we ran along in the dark with the wind in our faces.  We actually were glad later, but it was a pretty scary first couple miles, not gonna lie.  So maybe unless we have headlamps and mace in hand, we should not go that early.  This is probably an hour after we started:

This run was good for while, but not as good as last week. Our Cardio was good the whole time, but the aches and pains were just kicking our butt. We have decided we need to stretch better... yes, this was necessary in the middle of our run:




And do more strength training!  We are going to get all the kinks worked out and have an amazing marathon!  I decided I needed to run the whole last (18th) mile, so I got me this flower for a trophy, tucked it in my belt and I did it.

I was so happy happy Happy to see this sign though, because if you notice, our cars are just past it.  Stop ahead.  Ok, thanks, I will!  18 down...  BaBAM!! 
-Becka

  

The rest of us did our 18 down that same lonely road in Johnson Canyon, but ours was the next day.  We had 12 people with us.  Some were doing 12 others 10, some did 20 (Lexi) and then some of us did the required 18 and STOPPED!   Getting 12 people organized and making sure that the cars were dropped at the right spot and the aid stations were at the right spots was pretty hard!  I did mess up on a couple aid stations, had too many at the beginning of our run and didn't have enough for the end of the run!  Plus I had one of the cars dropped at the wrong mileage place for one of the groups of runners.  It can get complicated! I enjoyed it though.  It was a great run and I actually felt great after I had to take 3, yes 3 potty breaks during the first 12 miles of the run! 

 The start line, where we tried to get a picture, but the light just wasn't working for us!

 The flowers were beautiful and the cloud cover was perfect!

I must say I was pretty nervous for 18 miles!! Probably because I could not believe I ran 17 the week before!! The morning started off crazy because it was rather difficult trying to figure out where everyone needed to be dropped off... We had a huge group of runners... Some nice, some not so nice hahaha.. (That's another blog post of its own).... Once we got started it was great! I had Great company and she kept me pre occupied, we talked the entire time! In fact I didn't even have my music on for the first 8 miles...! April wanted to run 10 miles because she is doing the Cedar Half with the rest of this crew and she has never ran that before (i was a little worried because earlier in the year i ran 8 miles with her which should of inly been 6 and she was not happy to say the least) Well we were having such a great time she actually did 15! 

Awesome picture to document the occasion! I'm so happy I was able to do this with her!!' She had big plans of doing the entire 18 with me, but come 15 she decided to call it! So the steak dinner Lax promised her turned into a veggie omlet and pancakes! It was probably a good idea she stopped at 15 because the poor girl couldn't get off the pot the entire day hahaha... Oh the Joys of running! 

April spotted this Not so lucky coyote...poor guy! I think he underestimated the fence! 

It was such a beautiful day! We had cloud cover all the way up to 17 miles! Couldn't ask for better running weather! 

At one if our aid stations I decided to stretch a little and I let out a big groan... Well this lovely cow thought I was "Mooing" and started "mooing" back at me hahaha and I was like "oh ya! What's it to ya you Big beef!"..... Anyway loved 18 and at the time I was excited for 19..... 


MaryAnn! This run was a deal for you and I feel bad but you navigated us all so well! It's a lot of work always trying to figure out when people need to be dropped off and where aid stations need to go etc.
I don't envy you! This run was great! Amanda came and ran this run and it was so nice to have a buddy. We kept a great pace and even plugged in to go faster.  There were so many different people on this run! It's cool that so many of us enjoy this! 
After Amanda was finished I just kept plugging along. I felt really good on this run and the time flew by! I wish that all my runs felt like this one. It was the first 20 miler I had ever done and I have to say at the end I was very emotional! I wanted to just stop by the car and cry but Bryant came up right when I was almost done and I felt stupid. I sucked up my tears and acted cool. :) I just can't believe the mileage that we are up to. Something I never thought possible for myself and it's pretty cool and rewarding to accomplish things that I never thought I could do!
I also got emotional on my way back when I came upon Ebbi & April! They were doing so great! April ran 15 miles! Just like that! She is amazing. I bet her a steak dinner if she could run the entire 18 with Ebbi. Well...she ran 15 but wow!!!!  I ran my first 15 just a few weeks before and she just came and ran 15 like it was nothing. I was pretty proud of those girls.  I ended up buying April breakfast because of how awesome that was. It was a good day! Goes down as one of my favorites for sure!