Family Affair

This past weekend was yet another race. This time, a 5K. My Mother-in-Law got in on the fun too! AND she even signed my oldest 2 up for the 1 mile fun run! It's pretty awesome to have this kind of thing be a family event! I LOVE sharing these experiences with loved ones!
I didn't blow any doors off but I did manage to get 2nd in my age division. I came in with a time of 23:54. I'm cool with that!After I finished we went and found Gramma and walked with her until just before the end. She did great!The two rug rats did a great job in their little race! They loved it, which is what matters most, right?! The pushed themselves and did their best! I am super proud of them!Showing off our medals!I haven't had much luck finding another fun run for these two but I hope to find them one more, maybe two!

**I am going to be hit and miss on the blog for the next few weeks. Lots of fun stuff planned, stay tuned for all the details!!

Lake Powell

We just got back from LAKE POWELL!! Right after I got home from running my marathon we finished packing the trailer and we hit the road! It took two days driving each way but we got a good 4 days of playing in between!!

I brought ALL of my running gear, I was totally excited to run there. I was planning on running about 4 miles on Tuesday and again on Thursday. It didn't work out; the place was ALL hills. I didn't think that would be much of a recovery run so I opted out. Though I still think it would have been SA-WEET!!! Next time!

We DID get in some good exercise though! We hiked to Rainbow Bridge {The largest natural bridge in the world}.I exercised my imagination by reading and reading and reading. Mr. Darcy's Diary as well as Pride & Prejudice and Zombies. It was HEAVEN!I worked my legs and arms playing behind the boat! THAT, my friends, is a workout!And I soaked up A LOT of sun and scenery! It was beautiful. It's been so long since I've been there that I nearly forgot how gorgeous it is! I am completely rejuvenated. It was such a great thing for me and my family. Where is your favorite vacation spot?

My First Marathon!

One year ago I ran my first race in my adult life. Last September/October I started mapping out all the races I wanted to do in 2010. It wasn't long before I decided to run the a full marathon! I started training for it just after Thanksgiving.

Initially I was going to run this race with my man. It was going to be a very sentimental thing for us. Unfortunately in February he was set back by an ankle injury. He opted out of the race entirely and gave his spot to his brother. And luckily I found myself with a group of friends who all decided to run it as well! We started training together and soon dubbed ourselves the "Marathon Mamas"! What an awesome experience it has been to train with these women!

Last night we all got together for dinner! Here we all are! We had a blast!Last night I slept better than I usually do before a race! For that I was very grateful!! I woke up at 4:10, just before my alarm went off! I could not have done all this training without the support and help of my little family!! Travis gets up early for those long runs and makes me oatmeal, drives me to starting points, helps me get all my gear together... he's there 100%. He's my biggest fan! We met at the bus pick-up at 5:00! Nicole wasn't there quite yet but I had Travis get a picture before he hurried back home. Don't you love our matching shirts? We decided that we look like a pack of Skittles!I felt GREAT for the first 15 miles. My knees were sore {from the get go} but not unbearable. The weather was good for running and I was sure to stay hydrated and fuel with GU. When we came in to Sugar City Annie and I stopped at an Aid Station to see where the rest of our girls were. Stopping was the worst thing I could have done, my knees were incredibly sore after that and even slowing down made running very painful.

At mile 17 or so Annie and I made friends with a fellow runner, Jentry. We ran the next couple miles together. From 17.5-21.5 is a very difficult stretch of hills; one after the other with little to no relief! We had ran that stretch 3 times in our training though and I know that it helped us physically and mentally. The last 4 miles were slow going but I felt strong, as long as I didn't slow down or stop!

Travis met Annie and I with just about a mile to go. He was encouraging and took a few photos.
And then he ran back to wait...
Annie's husband met up with us with about a half a mile left so I let them run together and headed for the finish line! Rounding that corner and seeing my cheer section was so great! I was torn between finishing the race and just running over to them and giving them all big sweaty hugs!! It's hard to run and fight tears by the way!My little girl grabbed my hand and we finished it together! What a way to finish!!
There were some issued with my time but I'm pretty sure we worked out the kinks. I came in 5th in my age division with a time of 4:48:33.3!

We all made it! Nicole placed in her age division! Tiffany surprised us with a poster that said "Running for TWO Future Marathoner INSIDE"!!! She is 10 weeks pregnant!!! YAY!!! Love you girls!!!Overall this race was pretty emotional, sentimental and fabulous! I have a bone to pick with the lack of promised HammerGel {good thing I brought my own GU}, piddly awards & raffle afterward {last year ROCKED}, a lot of timing issues... but those things aside, I had an amazing time. It was all I hoped it would be. I'm already super stoked for my next marathon in July!

Stay Tuned

I have been on a little hiatus! Just got back from one glorious week at Lake Powell!! Lots of updates to come... Marathon, Vacation and tomorrow morning I will be running a 5K with two of my kids {their first 5k}!! Until then, g-night ya'll!

Write the Future

Bring it ON!

The BUSY race season has begun!! I am oh so excited for this sumer! This is what my SATURDAYS are going to look like for the next little while:

June
12-Marathon
19-5K
26-Half

July
3 -10K
10-Family Reunion
17-Marathon
24-Family Reunion
31-Vacation

August
7-Half
14-Distance Training Run
21-Distance Training Run
28-Marathon

I am really REALLY looking forward to these races, for very different reasons. For example:

My first ever marathon is next Saturday with my girls. We have been doing all our long distance runs together and we're sticking together for this race! It is going to be an amazing feeling to cross that finish line together.

The following week is a 5K. I am running this one with a very dear friend of mine. She and I are kindred spirits and we're going to have such a good time running together! I love your guts Medusa!!

After that is my first half marathon. It is ALL about the scenery!! This race has been calling my name for such a long time and I seriously can not wait to run it. I am hoping to feel very much at peace during this run; I'm not going to push it. I'm JUST going to ENJOY the run!

Then the following Saturday {I've never ran more than two races in a row, four is definitely pushing it} is a 10K. I have high hopes for this race. I want to push myself hard and see what I'm capable of. The 10K is probably my favorite race. And I'm very much excited for this one!

I'll keep you posted; wish me luck!

Youngest Ironman

Definitely watch this one!!

Summer Family Boot Camp

My neighborhood just started this "Boot Camp" today and I HAD to share with ya'll! Cause I KNOW you're going to want to organize your own neighborhood Boot Camp after this!! It's all about keeping your kids active and healthy throughout the summer!!

We started out today with a Duathlon. It was split into 4 groups: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Adult {I'll get to distances in a minute}. Afterwards we had treats and everyone got a chart to keep track of points earned {I'll get to that in a minute too}. It was a really fun way to kick this thing off. The kids had SO much fun. And it's helping motivate us Moms too. Every couple of weeks we will get together for a game {kickball, soccer,ultimate frisbee...}. At the end of the summer we will have another Duathlon {same course}, water party and awards ceremony. Fun huh?!

Here's the skinny:

Beginners: BIKE 100m RUN 100m BIKE 100m
Intermediate: BIKE .5 mile RUN .5 mile BIKE .5mile
Advanced: BIKE 1 mile RUN .5 mile BIKE .5 mile
Adult: We haven't done ours yet, so I'm not sure on distances... maybe 1-1-1 or 2-1-1 or 2-1-2?

THEN, all summer you keep track of points earned in which ever category of your choice. One point per day, per action. They are:

Basic
~drink 4 cups of water
~1 hour of playing outside
~1 treat a day {1 SERVING size treat}
~3-5 servings of fruit and vegetables

Intermediate
~drink 6-8 cups of water
~3-5 serving of fruits and vegetables
~one treat a day
~30 minutes intense workout
~20 pushups and 25 sit-ups

Advanced
~drink 8 cups of water
~one treat a day {one allowed on one free day}
~one hour of intense workout
~25 pushups and 50 situps
~5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables

Adult Advanced
~drink 8 cups of water
~no treats {one allowed on one free day}
~one hour of intense workout
~25 pushups and 50 situps
~5 servings of fruit and vegetables
~I can't remember this 6th one {I'll come back and update it as soon as I find out}

So that's it. We got a simple graph/calendar to mark how many points we got each day. Just before school starts in the fall we'll redo the Duathlon to see our improvement, have a picnic & simple awards {parents are chipping in $3}!

I am loving this idea! What a great way to help motivate kids to be proactive about their health! This is on a small neighborhood scale {20 kids or so} so you can all easily whip this thing together! Help your family and friends get motivated to be active and healthy!! Have fun!

Cry Baby

Right off I better come clean and admit that I am only a recent lover of onions; in fact, I believe that that is the first time I have used the word LOVE and ONION simultaneously!! I love cooking with them though. I still don't like raw onions {unless they're in salsa}. At. All. BUT, I do love caramelized onions. A. Lot! So it evens out right?! Onions and garlic belong to the same family but onions only produce one bulb whereas garlic produces many small bulbs or cloves. I will try to focus on just onions but they are so similar to garlic that I may parallel them. They are both rich in powerful sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for their pungent odors and for many of their health-promoting effects. Onions are also very rich in chromium, which helps cells respond to insulin. It also is a good source of vitamin C.
Onions can reduce blood sugar! Go HERE to read up on how exactly that works.

Because of the sulfur compounds in onions, it has been shown that onions {and garlic} lower high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure! THAT is definitely a good thing!

The website linked above also said, "Onions have been singled out as one of the small number of vegetables and fruits that contributed to the significant reduction in heart disease risk seen in a meta-analysis of seven prospective studies. Of the more than 100,000 individuals who participated in these studies, those who diets most frequently included onions, tea, apples and broccoli-the richest sources of flavonoids-gained a 20% reduction in their risk of heart disease." Pretty sweet eh?!

Onions have been linked to a reduced risk in colon cancer. And that's consuming them 2 times a WEEK! It has also been linked to reducing MANY other cancers!!
I love sweet onions best. But green onions are right up there too. They are great to have on hand to fancy up an otherwise boring dinner! If only for aesthetic appeal!
My most favorite is caramelized! This is how I cook most onions when I'm cooking. I cook the dickens out of them and then add them to whatever meal I'm preparing. YUMMY!
Support our onion farmers and go buy a big bag of onions!!

Track & Field

Tonight my kids had their very first track meet! It was FREEZING cold and windy. But they were excited and happy the whole time! These kids have been begging to run a 5K with me. I thought this would be a nice little introduction into racing. They did GREAT!

We talked about which races they wanted to enter and we decided to put them each in the 200m and the 400m. They also got to choose one field event so they both picked the softball throw.

They went out on the track to get warmed up and I got pretty nervous for them. Like I said, it was COLD and WINDY!

Enter Proud Parent:

My little man threw his softball 33 ft. He ran his 200m in 53.32 {7th} and his 400m in 1:48.77 {4th}! I was so proud of this little man for running that whole 400! He didn't stop to walk and he really pushed it! He did his best and he had fun! When he crossed that finish line I could tell that he left everything he had on the table. Exactly what we asked of him.

My sweet girl did awesome! She threw her softball 36.3ft {2nd}. She ran the 400, in 1:38.12 {2nd} and the 200m in 44.8 {1st}! What amazed me about this girl was we told her how to pace herself for the 400 and when to pour it on; she did EXACTLY what we told her! She turned it up a notch at 200m and started passing people, then she kicked it into 5th gear for that last 100m! It was a really fun race to watch!! She's so little and her short little legs were just goin... it was great!

I am sure proud of these two! It was a miserable day for a race but they had smiles on their faces and they had a blast! They really want to run more races and we're considering a kids triathlon.

Today we're starting a local Boot Camp for the family. It will start with a duathlon! Throughout the summer we're going to keep track of our water intake, fruit & vegetable servings, activity etc... keeping track of the points earned! We will meet every couple weeks to play soccer, volleyball, kickball etc, and end it with a second duathlon! The kids are all very excited. We're looking forward to having a lot of fun with it!!