Springtime

I can't say enough how much I LOVE weekends! Friday, Thomas had to work late so I took my time at school preparing for the coming week and getting report cards done.  I got home around 6pm and took my time relaxing before I went on a 6 mile run.  The taper now begins till the half marathon next weekend.  I can't wait! This weekend there was a half Ironman here in Boise and it was all everybody talked about. Thomas and I ran 6 miles Saturday morning and we could see some of the transition areas and mile markers.  Also Friday night I put on some relaxing music from Pandora and spent a couple hours cleaning the apartment.  I love having a clean apartment.
Before going on a run Saturday, Tess and I went to another yoga in the park class.  Even though it means waking up a little earlier than I normally would on Saturdays, I am actually excited to go to yoga Saturday mornings.
The rest of Saturday was spent running around going grocery shopping and other errands.  I finally got a new cell phone, in fact my old one was so old said he thinks it was the first slider phone they came out with.  While going grocery shopping Thomas and I saw the ingredients for smore's and decided to get some.  We got chocolate flavored marshmallows. 

I wouldn't recommend them cause they leave a weird aftertaste but Thomas just thought the tasted normal.  Thomas fired up the grill and we roasted them outside on our porch.

 After church today we relaxed at the apartment for a bit and then headed out to Ann Morrison Park for some frisbee golf. 

We bought another driver this weekend so we both would had one.  Thomas calls frisbee golf "poor man's golf".  Haha there have been a ton of people out every time we have gone. The course is about 20 holes and last week we started about halfway through.  Today we started from the beginning and played till about hole 10.  Then we went for a little stroll along the greenbelt that goes along the Boise river.  Such a beautiful spring evening.

Park Central

I had a 12 miler this weekend and it was beautiful.  I ran along the greenbelt, which I have done before, but started at the downtown Julia Davis Park.  It was so green and cool running next to the river and there were tons of runners, walkers, and bikers out.

This training time I've been running faster training runs then I have previously and it makes me excited for maybe a new half marathon in a couple weeks at the See Jane Run 1/2.  My goal is to average 8:45 miles.
Here are the stats from this weekend's run:

This Sunday, rather than sit around and watch t.v., after church we headed to another downtown park and played frisbee golf. 

They had a huge frisbee golf course that was super fun.  It was pretty intense too because there is a little stream that sometimes you have to throw the frisbee over and if it doesn't make it you have to go in and get it.  This only happened once to us and Thomas went in for it.  We saw one guy take his pants off and go in to the stream in his chonies. There are some really hardcore frisbee golfers around here.  They carry around little bags that contain frisbee putters and drivers and whatever other type of frisbee you might need. On the way back to our car we saw some guys playing volleyball so we stopped and watched for a bit and soaked up the sunshine.  It is 83 degrees today and feels so great. We also saw some bocci ball courts and it looks really fun.  We are thinking for our next anniversary we need to get some outdoor play toy sets like horseshoes, bocci balls, and a frisbee golf set.  Our frisbee was an actualy frisbee golf one.  One day after walking me to school Thomas found it in the park on his way home :) Welcome summer!

Perfect Saturday

Such a great Saturday.  This morning Tess and I went to yoga in the park.  Each week the local Lululemon store has a local yoga teacher teach a one hour class at the park in front of the Boise Capitol Building.

On the way over to the park I was telling Tess how I was doing a video from Yogadownload.com and it started with a bunch of "Om's" and chanting and I couldn't help but laugh.  I was also telling her about an article I read about doing yoga when you are pregnant.  We got to the park and our instructor was pregnant :) And we started off with some "Om's".  We both had to try not to laugh.  I forgot what type of yoga it was but it focuses on community so some of the moves like the toe loft you are in a line and your partner holds your leg up for you.

It was actually really cool and I loved feeling the sun on my face as I "practiced".  (That's a yoga term they use) When we first go to the park the instructors husband was chatting with us and asked us how long we had been practicing for and where we practice at.  I'm always embarrassed to say that I started off doing Bob and Jillian yoga videos cause these people are hardcore.  But I love the earthy, granola-ness of the yoga community and how excepting they are.  The other weekend Thomas and I went to a bike store and the guy there wasn't very helpful or nice I think because he knew we weren't hardcore.  Yogi's on the other hand are very excepting and welcoming.  This guy was telling us that they aren't finding out the sex of their baby til it's born and they are having a home birth.  Love it.
After yoga Thomas met me at the park and we went to the downtown farmer's market.  I was on the hunt for goat cheese since we had tried some last weekend at my sister's.  We found some and had it and crackers for lunch today.
There was a one mile run going on downtown for kids and we decided to stick around the finisher's chute and watch the kids finish.  As soon as these little girls started finishing I just bawled my eyes out! It was so unexpected. But it really touched me that all these little girls were running there little hearts out and they had the biggest smiles on their faces as their families and complete strangers cheered for them.  Then towards the end there were a bunch of little kids with disabilities and the waterworks started again.  There was one little girl who had a big limp and was walking but when everyone started cheering her on she put on this HUGE smiled and ran her little heart.  Those little girls were running for the purest reasons: for fun and enjoyment and to make themselves and their families proud.  So adorable.  Thomas hugged me and kind of chuckled and said "Babe we don't even have a kid running this race and you're crying!"  Haha it seems I'm going to be really embarrassing some day at my kids sporting events.
Thomas and I are now off to lay by the pool and catch some rays :)

Student Teaching Week #6

I love weekends.  Friday night Thomas picked me up from school and we headed to the foothills for a 5 mile run.  It sucked! First of all because it's all up hill and dirt but we both just felt so tired.  I was ticked at those darn hills! We made it through though and headed over to USwirl frozen yogurt, our new favorite frozen yogurt shop.  I found my favorite combo: coconut and mango peach swirl with cherries and mini gummy bears.  Delish!
Saturday I went with Tess to hot yoga.  Yoga is now an important part of my weekly workouts.  I try to do one workout video during the week and then go to a class on the weekend.  I honestly feel like it has improved my running and it really helps with soreness and tight muscles from stress.  Once I got home from yoga Thomas and I went around our neighborhood because the HOA organized a neighborhood garage sale.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day out and we had fun walking around checking out what people had.  The neighborhoods here are huge and they all have names.  So people will commonly say "I live in Hobble Creek neighborhood".  We ended up getting a pretty much brand new snowboarding jacket for Thomas for $20. 
I have been really wanting to get a bike that I can use for duathalons or sprint triathalons and some people we ran in to at a garage sale suggested a bike shop here close by.  We stopped by and chatted a bit but it wasn't too much help.  It's kind of scary getting in to a new sport you know nothing about.  I hardly know anything about bikes but am starting to get an idea of what I want.  I want to be able to use it on dirt trails but also on the road so I'm thinking about a hybrid bike like these:

I had an 11-miler this weekend and was on my own.  I did a big no-no and didn't eat before running so about 25 minutes into the run I was starving! I had brought along some sharkies but wasn't planning on eating them til 6 miles in but I dug in at mile 2.5.  I was planning on taking the greenbelt the whole way but after three miles it was closed because the river is too high.  So I took one of the main roads pretty much right into downtown Boise.  Mentally it was a tough run but I maintained about a 9 minute mile the whole way.  My goal for this next half marathon is to maintain an 8:45 pace the whole way. 
Our pool opens this next Friday but Thomas and I went out this evening and layed out for about an hour.  The weather is just perfect and I ended up dozing off outside laying on my towel. 
Wonderful weekend! This week should be exciting, we have our third grade program and so Monday and Tuesday we will be practicing the last half of the day and Wednesday all day and then the program is Wednesday night.  Since it is a performing arts school the program is a huge deal. We have somebody record it and sell BluRay DVD's of the performance and the props are big, detailed, and very creative. 
The school district's levy did not pass so it doesn't look like they will be hiring at my school.  I'm bummed about it cause I love my school so much but I've started applying to other teaching jobs around the area.  Crazy!!!

Week #4 Student Teaching

Four weeks in a row of a great student teaching experience.  This week I had asked my principal to observe one of my lessons.  He observed me teaching math on Friday mid-morning.  Of course I felt hyper sensitive to everything going on during the lessons. I'm pretty sure about five kids needed to go to the bathroom.  And I had handed out some paper Hershey's bars in ziploc bags to use while we were learning about fractions.  Apparently one of the kids in the back was blowing his up and about to pop it when my cooperating teacher gave him a look. Haha when the principal mentioned it in my post observation we both just laughed.  I would have been so embarrassed if that bag would have popped.  In the post observation he was very complimentary and gave me some great suggestions as well.  He is an awesome principal with some great leadership skills.  I mentioned how much I have enjoyed being a part of the school and would love to become a part of the staff for next year.  He told me that there will be a couple openings next year, one in first grade because the teacher is retiring, and one in third grade because my cooperating teacher and the teacher next door will be team teaching since they are both having babies.  There is a levy that needs to be passed this month.  If the levy doesn't pass there will be a lot less chance that those positions will be open because teachers from other schools might get cut and they get first priority on the open positions in the district.  The positions should be open in mid June.  Which seems to be cutting it close since school starts like the second week of August.  But my principal says he will keep me posted on the positions and will be writing me a letter of recommendation.  I feel like this would be such a perfect position for me.  I love the school, love the team of teachers I work with, and love the students and parents.  So we'll see where things go :)
Thomas found a job this week working at the big hospital in downtown Boise, St. Lukes, as an x-ray tech.  He will start his orientation this Wednesday. 
We had a fun weekend, which started off volunteering at my school's book night.  I need to take pictures of the school's hallways.  They are just amazing, filled with student artwork.  Our third grade hallways was decorated as a barn, as all the third graders had read Charlotte's Web.  One of our students' dads is a performer and he had a puppet show going on during read night the incorporated all of the stories the different grade levels had read.  Students had been bringing in used books for the last couple weeks and at Read Night they had rooms set up and families could buy books for 50 cents each.  My cooperating teacher told me to get whatever books I wanted for my future classroom and say it was for her class so that I got them all for free :) So I got a big bag of books (hopefully I'll be teaching third grade).  Thomas and I helped at the book toss. 
Saturday morning our friends Tess and Ryan picked us up and we drove downtown for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. 

Thomas and I were debating whether to walk or run but ultimately decided to run because it was on my training plan to run a 5K this weekend.  Starting out it was really hard to get moving because there were so many people and tons of walkers. We weaved a lot and then got in a pretty good rythem.  I wanted to keep about a 7:50 pace and was pretty much able to maintain that.  The race wasn't chip timed so my final time was just based on my Garmin. We loved seeing the different shirts with funny references to boobs. 
"Freshly Squeezed Lemons"
"The War on The Rack"
"Walkers for Knockers"
"Save Second Base"
"Jogging for Jugs"

There were these ladies in tutus and riding motorcycles as we ran.  Loved it.
As soon as we got home I started this weeks lesson plans.  Around 4:30pm my university supervisor called me and asked if we wanted some tickets to see "The Secret Garden" at the Nampa Civic Community Center.  How nice is that?  "The Secret Garden" is one of my favorite books so we were totally up for it.  The play started out kind of rough with some bad accents and high notes that weren't quite right but it got better as it moved along.  Mary the main little girl did an AMAZING job.  It was a fun cheap date night.  We especially liked the commentary of the guy behind us, trying to explain the story to his six year old at intermission.  "The book is much much better.  There wasn't all this singing so it wasn't so confusing."  The play is definetly different because all the people who have already died will sometimes pop up wearing red hankerchief and that means they are memories so I could see how it would be confusing to kids.  Also, at the beginning of the play the director came out to make all these announcements and one of the main actresses and they were totally making shout outs to random community members in the audience.  The main actress was said to her daughter "Hi Bella! Be good. Okay?" Um... that's when you know it's a small town. 
Also, in unrelated news... On Friday night Thomas had made dinner and brought it to the living room to eat hot out of the oven.  All of the sudden I hear a crack and look over and see this:

His plate had completely cracked, I'm guessing from the heat and spilled all over the couch.  I'm glad it didn't burn his private area :) We had a good laugh at that.

Student Teaching Week #3

Another great week at Pioneer Elementary.  Our principal does the daily announcements over the intercom every morning and he always ends it with "learn something new out there pumas!" It makes me laugh every time.  He has the best announcers voice.
One experience this weekend that kind of broke my heart was that one of the girls in my class told me two days in a row that her snack had been stolen.  Everyday the kids get about 5 minutes to pull out a snack around 10:30am.  Some other student said she saw one of the boys eating the peanut butter crackers that the little girl was missing.  I looked in his desk at recess and saw the wrapper of the crackers.  So my cooperating teacher talked to him and let him know that some snacks had been taken and if it was him it needed to stop.  She let me know that his mom doesn't send him with a snack ever.  I guess he get's his breakfast and lunch at school and then the school even sends him food home over the weekend.  It broke my heart the next day seeing him watch while all of the other students ate their snacks.  I was teaching a math lesson about fractions that involved cutting apples and so I made sure to have him help and then let him have half the apple along with another boy who had forgotten his snack.  Then on Friday when he got his food for the weekend put in his backpack, during snack he ate a ton of it! He pulled out a fruit roll up, a little single serving box of frosted flakes, and a poptart.  It made me so sad to think that he might be so hungry.  I know that the other students don't realize that he doesn't bring a snack but it must seem like they do to him and I can just imagine how that makes him feel :( 
This next week I will be pretty much full time teaching.  Most of my Saturday's are spent lesson planning with a little fun filled in there.
This Saturday I went to another hot yoga class with Tess.  This time the teacher she normally goes to was there and it was Bikram yoga which I hadn't done before.  I really liked it and am excited to make it a part of my regular weekly workouts.  This coming Saturday Thomas and I and Tess and Ryan will be participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K so we won't be able to go to Jaime's class.  But Tess and I will be going to the 6am Friday class with Don, our instructor from last week.

After yoga Tess and I both ran home to shower and get ready and then her, Ryan, and little Graham picked Thomas and I up and we went to the downtown Boise's farmer's market.  I was surpised at the number of samples of food.  There was meat, salsas, bread, cheese, and lots more.  I bought a bag of vanilla bath salts as a treat for myself for after my long runs.

Which speaking of long runs... I finished my second one of this training cycle this weekend.  It was another 8-miler and this time a little more flat since we ran on the greenbelt.  Thomas ran 5.5 of it with me.  He ran the first three and then started walking back while I ran one more and then met up with him with about 2.5 left.  The greenbelt is just a couple miles down the street from our apartment and is so pretty it runs along the river and has tons of parks that you run past and tons of walkers and joggers.

Long Friday run

Today was my first long run of this training cycle (8 miles).  I really haven't run more than 5 miles since probably August.
Thomas picked me up from work at 4:30 and we headed right over to some trails a couple miles from our apartment.  Right away in the first mile we were thinking "uh-oh!".  The switchbacks and hills were killer.  Luckily to every uphill there is a downhill.  It was great running on dirt and giving our knees and feet a little softer surface.  After about a mile and a half I was really starting to feel loose and the pace seemed to pick up.  The weather was a perfect 55 degrees with just a slight breeze.  I'm convinced 55 degrees is the absolute perfect running weather.  I was expecting to run about a minute slower than race pace (8:50) so about a 9:50 pace, especially with the hills.  We ended up running an average 9:26 pace. 

As soon as we got home we jumped in the hot tub and relaxed a bit. We are loving having a big hot tub to use whenever we please.
I was really impressed with Thomas putting in that long of a distance.  I think the time I took off from running really helped mentally and physically.  The Bob and Jillian workout videos have gotten me used to dealing with "the burn" and working through it.  Also, I think the different workouts have helped somehow.  This training cycle I am incorporating yoga into my off days and I think that will really help with soreness and hip problems which have been a pain to me previously.
Tomorrow I am going to my first hot yoga workout with my friend Tess! I'm so excited (hoping I don't pass out so hydrating a lot today). I love living in a bigger city and having all of these different workout options.

Camelback Park Hike

Friday night we got to spend with our friends Tess and Ryan Smith and had our first BBQ of the year.  We had a great time chatting, eating, and playing one of our favorite games called Mexican Train.  
This Saturday was an ideal one for Thomas and I.  We slept in till about 9am and around 10am were out the door.  First we stopped by a local elementary school for a teacher's retirement supply giveaway.  The teacher had all of there stuff from years and years of teaching out on the lawn and you were able to pick through it and take whatever you wanted.  We got there about 10:15am and pretty much everything good had been taken.  The stuff that was left over looked like it was form the 70's :) I did get some old tapes that I could record over for when I am teaching fluency and have the kids read passages and record themselves to then listen to. 
We then headed to Camelback park which is right out of town. 

There are miles and miles of trails for hiking and biking.  It was a perfect 60 degrees out, just perfect for a hike.  We hiked about 6 miles.  There were tons of runners and bikers out and all of them were so friendly.  We feel lucky to live so close to a suburban area, the city, and to have nature so close as well.  I will definitely be doing some long runs on those trails in the near future. 
Today was my first week of half marathon training.  Thomas will be doing the first few weeks with me and we are signed up for the Susan G. Komen 5K at the beginning of May.

New Running Mantra

I totally have a new running mantra.  I was reading the free kindle edition of the book "Run Like a Mother"  and one of the authors talks about how when she was training for marathons afterwards she would always be kind of dissappointed because she felt like she had a little bit left in her tank.  Finally she ran a race where she left everything out on the course and her tank was on empty by the end.  What helped he to give it her all was by telling herself to "go towards the light"  the light being the pain.  Or in other words she was telling herself to not be afraid of the pain but to embrace it.  I know a lot of times when I am running hard I allow myself to slow down because I am afraid of the pain.  While running the New Years Eve 5K we had about 400 meters left and Thomas started to pick the pace up a bit.  He told me to pick it up too but I told him to go ahead.  Then I realized that I did not want to finish this race alone and I reminded myself to "go towards the light" so I embraced the pain, picked the pace up, and we finished together. 


This is totally posed.  We took this picture after we had finished. It was so cold that when we finished the fans to keep the finish line sign up had frozen so it had fallen.

 Last night we had a fun game night with our friends Karlee and Will. We have been really lucky to find good couple friends who we share similar interests with since we have been married.  We played Settlers of Catan, Monopoly Deal (card game), and Yahtzee (card game version). I love card games because they are quick and usually don't require too much thinking and strategy.  We are super excited for Karlee and Will because they are expecting their first baby in July :)  Karlee just finished her student teaching this past semester and graduated.  She is an inspiration to me.  A super cute, fun, smart, athletic girl.  We trained for the Mesa Falls Half Marathon together and she is speedy.  She has continued to workout through her first trimester and I hope to follow her healthy example when I'm pregnant (someday).

New Years Eve

Thomas and I had a wonderful, memorable New Years Eve.  He worked in Idaho Falls until 7pm so I drove the 35 minutes there around 6pm and picked up movie tickets and ordered us some dinner at Cafe Rio and he met me at the restaurant.  I have been trying to eat more veggies these last couple weeks but let me tell you it is tearing up my insides! My stomach/intestines are just not used to that amount.  So instead of splitting a salad with Thomas I went for a burrito. 
The movie theater is right across the parking lot from Cafe Rio so we headed right over after eating.  Thomas had gotten some free movie tickets for his work Christmas gift so we used those.  I can't believe how expensive movies are! $10 a pop that's $20 for two of us, with that we could just buy a movie! We saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie and we both really liked it.  I was nervous that I wouldn't know what was going on because I don't really remember the first two movies but you really don't even have to see the first two. I loved the messages that movie presents.  My favorite part is when the little girl Lucy uses a magic spell to make her self be more beautiful like her older sister.  Aslan (who represents Christ) comes to her and talks to her about understanding her value and her worth in this life.  He tells her that she doesn't understand her value.  This struck me, I think most of us don't understand our true value and it's only through Christ who know perfectly our potential and value that we can come to understand what our worth is in this life. I really loved this movie and it kind of made me want to read the books.
After the movie we went and changed in a restaurant bathroom to prepare for our 5K.  We were layered up because it was a frigid 4 degrees outside! I was wearing to my knees snowboarding socks, under armor pants, long johns, and yoga pants on bottom.  On top I had under armor, a long sleeved shirt, a running jacket, and a sweatshirt.  I also had on an ear headband warmer, a beanie, and a mouth/nose cover.  The mouth/nose cover saved me! While we were snowboarding on Thursday we realized we needed some so I got one for each of us at Big 5. 

It was a unique race that was pretty small (about 30 people ran it). They gave everybody glowsticks to wear while running.  You started the race between 11pm and 12am so that you could finish about midnight.  It was a little strange just starting whenever you wanted.  You just told the race director when you were starting and he wrote down your starting time and then when you finished they wrote down your finish time.  No official time.  We started around 11:21 and finished at 11:45. 

 I was surprised at our finish time considering neither of us have really trained and it was freezing and late.  I was really happy with how we did.  We had a really fun time running together and it made for a memorable and healthy New Years Eve. At midnight we blew our little horns and popped our poppers and of course had a New Years kiss :)

They had hot cocoa and hot cider at the finish line.  I was really just craving water but Thomas had a cup of each to warm up.

The goody bag included a long sleeve shirt, hand warmers (which we saved for when we go snowboarding), a free loaf of bread from Great Harvest (YUM!), a great job sticker, a box of rasins, some shave lotion, and chapstick.   

Looking back on 2010

Here is a little summary of events we remember from 2010:
Thomas graduated as an x-ray tech.
We moved from Washington to Idaho.
Bought our first non-piece of crap car.
I ran three half marathons, one four mile race, one 6K, one 10K, and two 5K's. Thomas ran one four mile race, one 6K, and two 5K's and was there cheering me on and taking pictures at all the other races.
Had fun vacations in California, Oregon, and Yellowstone.
Celebrated our one year anniversary.
After being away from college for three years I earned all A's in my classes fall semester.

It's good to look back and see what we have accomplished this year.  It has been a really fun year with lots of changes and traveling.  I look back on 2010 and don't have any regrets.

Looking ahead, 2011 promises to be another year of changes as I finish up school and student teach in Boise this spring and Thomas gears up to attend Boise State in the fall.  I will continue to keep running. I have signed up for a half marathon in June and we'll see what other races come my way. 

Post #100

My first blog post was November 1, 2009 and today is my 100th post! Today has been a most excellent Saturday, doing some of my favorite things.
#1 went running.  Last night Karlee texted me to tell me she was scheduled for a 10 miler and wanted to know if I wanted to join her.  I told her I'd meet her for 5 miles.  We met at her house (she only lives about a half mile away) at 8am.  Karlee had already ran 4 miles.  It was cold out this morning! I wore long sleeves the whole time and was wishing I had gloves for the first mile or so.  We ran to the nature park which has a paved path.  I had ran here before but I wasn't aware of a little dirt bike trail that you can take that leads you through some wooded/camping areas.  Nice! I love new running routes.  We then ran up the mile long hill that leads up to the temple and looped back home.  I ended up running six and felt fantastic.  I felt a runners high that last mile and it felt wonderful! It's been good to have a break to be able to recognize how great running makes me feel.  I'm so glad I have a friend to run with! Hopefully this next week classes will start at the gym so I can start going to those too, while Thomas can lift weights (or join me in the classes).
#2 Thomas and I went for a bike ride.  I just absolutely love going on bike rides.  By the time we went it was perfect weather.  We first stopped at a local bike shop to have them look at my breaks.  They are super squeaky and the back break seems to slide and doesn't fully stop me.  It's kind of embarrasing going downhill through campus and squeaking all the way down.  We thought I should get new break wires but the guy at the shop said he thought it was the break pads.  He put some new ones on the back tire and sent us on our way. That wasn't the problem, still can't stop.  Waste of ten dollars.  Instead of going back to try another solution we decided to see if I could just use my brother in law Ivan's bike for the next little while.  Also, my bike is like a 12 year old Wal-mart bike so going uphill (and my classes are all at the top of a hill) is VERY difficult.  Even just going on a flat path I have to be in second gear.  Ivan's bike should work better.  I really want to get a nice bike someday.  I think I want a hybrid bike so that I can use it in tri's but also take it out on trails.  I'll have to find somebody who is not a sales person to explain to me about good bikes cause I have learned you can't trust that somebody who works in a bike shop knows there stuff. 
Running and biking, I just love those two things.

Three Things Thursday

1.  I love pillow talk.  Last night Thomas just let me go on and on about experiences I had while in Ecuador.  I love that he is really interested in listening. 

2. This week I've decided to do whatever workouts I feel like and wait to start training for the 5K.  Monday I did Jillian's No More Trouble Zones.  I was sooooooo sore the next day.  Not a good idea to do one of her workouts only a day after running a half marathon.  My butt was the sorest part so I had Thomas use his elbows to give me a really deep butt massage.  The next day I did a 3 mile power walk with my heart rate monitor.  I always thought that walking just was not beneficial at all but it still got my heart rate up into the 130's going uphill.  Jillian's Yoga Meltdown felt absolutely wonderful yesterday and really helped take away the soreness.  Today was a bike around town and do errands day for excercise.

3. I finally subscribed to Runner's World magazine and got my first issue today! Love it.  It really motivates me to train hard. It has an article about Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe, two marathoners, and even now as they are pregnant they run twice a day and can do like 7 minute miles! That's insane.  I honestly don't know if I could do one seven minute mile.  But for them that is slowing it down big time, because there usual times are 5:30 miles for a whole 26.2!

St. Luke's Womens Fitness Celebration

I am now training for a 5K.  I printed off Hal Higdon's 5-K Training: Advanced and will start tomorrow.  I'm excited about this plan because it is meant to help you attain "maximum performance".  Plus I still am keeping up my mileage and long runs so I don't feel like I'm losing my endurance. 

My good friend/old college roommate Tess had told me about this run awhile ago when we were about to move to Idaho.  Her and her hubby live in Boise where the race is held.  On their website it says they are one of the biggest women's run/walks in the USA!

I am excited to have another goal to work towards and can't wait to see Tess and her family!

One week till race day!

Yay! I'm in taper mode.  Always the week with the most mileage during training I tell Thomas "this is my last half marathon for awhile, I need a break."  And of course a day or so after the half marathon I sign up for another one.  It's addicting.  But after this half I really am looking forward to switching it up for awhile and doing different classes at the gym and do some Jillian. 
This weeks training included:
Monday: 2x1200 CI (600), 4x400 SI (200), 4x200 SI (100)
Total= 4.5 miles
Tuesday: Jillian Yoga Meltdown
Wednesday: 4 miles PI (800), 1x800 CI (400), 2 miles PI
Total= 7.25 miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 6 miles easy
Saturday: 6 miles race pace
Weekly Mileage: 23.75

Friday's run felt so slow and difficult.  So today's run I thought maybe I'd just do four miles because it was an early morning and I thought I'd be super tired.  But to my surprise I got on the treadmill and my legs felt great.  So I started at about an 9:40 pace and every mile kicked it up a notch.  By the end I was going at a 6:30 pace for a half mile.  I had Thomas get on the treadmill next to me and run with me for the last mile.  Love that guy. 
The reason it was such an early morning was because we volunteered for a local triathalon.  I actually volunteered and signed my mom and Thomas up too. We were cheerleaders and traffic control.  We got some bright orange cotton t-shirts that say nothing on the front and say "Event Volunteer" on the back.  Pretty hideous.  I loved the spot where I was on the course cause it was part way up a killer hill.  I know how much I hate hills so I tried to be super encouraging.  I loved the athletes comments as they'd go up the hill "I hate this hill!"  "Can I trade you spots"  "Can you give me a push".  Some of my encouragement included "looking strong"  "just keep your legs moving"  "it's a beast, but get er' done"  "smile at the top"  (there was a photographer at the top of the hill).  I can't believe some of the young kids doing the race.  I was at the bike portion of the race and some of these kids had these pro looking biking suits on.  The most tender moment for me was seeing a Dad and his little girl riding together.  She was probably ten years old.  Up the hill the dad was telling her how great she was doing.  When she got to my point at about half way up she stopped and had to re-adjust her feet on the pedals.  Her Dad looked at me and said "isn't she doing great?!" Every single adult that I saw stop on the hill had to walk their bike the rest of the way up cause they had lost their momentum.  But the dad just kept telling her "come on! You can do it!"  and he just circled around with his bike, while she tried to get started.  The little girl said "I know Dad.  I can do it."  And she got her feet back in the pedals and made it to the top of the hill! I was totally amazed.  It was seriously one of the most inspiring motivating things I've seen.  That is something that the little girl is going to remember for her whole life.  First, of all she accomplished an amazing thing at such a young age.  I still have yet to do a sprint triathalon.  Second, she's always going to remember her dad encouraging her. I really want running to be a family thing for us.  And hopefully someday, triathalons.  Thomas said he'd rather do a triathalon than a half marathon. 

Me, Thomas, and my Momma in our bright orange volunteer shirts.

New Running Buddy!

My speed this week has been pretty much non-existant.  Actually my track workout this week went really well and I hit all of my times.  But my longer mid-week runs have just been inconsistant and I've had to take walk breaks.  I don't know if it's a mental thing or a physical thing or both.  I think a lot of it is mental.  I'm just getting bored of running by myself the same routes.  And this training period I'm not going for a PR or anything, just doing it to stay in shape and to keep me occupied until school starts. 
Monday: 2x1200 @ 8:15/mile with 600 jogging rest in between reps
               4x400 @ 8:00/mile with 200 jogging rest in between reps
               4x200 @ 7:45/mile with 100 walking rest in between reps
Total= 4.5 miles
Tuesday: Jillian Michaels Yoga Video
                 30 minute bike ride
Wednesday: 4 miles @ 9:10 ( I was going for race pace which is 8:53, but it wasn't happening.)
                      .5 mile rest
                     .5 mile @ 8:05 ( I was going for 10K pace which is about 8:15/mile)
                      .25 rest
                     2 miles @ 10:27 (Again this was supposed to be race pace! YIKES!)
Total- 7.25 miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 6 miles @ 10:38
There was no goal time for this but I wanted to keep it under 10:00/miles. Didn't quite make it. To challenge myself instead of walking up the hills and running the flats I switched it up and ran the hills, walked the flats the last 2.5 miles or so.  There were a lot of hills.
Saturday: 12 miles @ 10:00
Ran a hilly route with a new running buddy Karlee!!! It was so great running with somebody again.  No ipod just good conversation.  The first six miles were kind of rough but I knew I didn't want to stop and make Karlee stop.  The last six miles flew by! It was awesome.  I'm so excited.  Karlee is running the Mesa Falls Half Marathon too.  I really wanted somebody to run the race with and now I do.  So happy.

3 weeks till half marathon #5

Monday: Treadmill 2x [800 SI(400), 400SI (200), 200SI (200), 1200 PI]
Numbers in parentheses is the length of recovery jog.  SI is a speed interval or 5k pace.  My first set was at 8:00/mile, second set I pushed it to a 7:40 pace.  PI is pace interval or half marathon pace, I ran this at 8:47/mile.  First set I had the treadmill at a .5 incline and the second set at a 1.0 incline. 
10 minutes pilates for flexibility
8 minutes Jillian Arms and Core
Tuesday: 30 minutes of kickboarding
Wednesday: 4 miles with 6x1:00 speed intervals.  This one was hard! Legs felt slow, it was hot, had to walk a bit.
Mile 1- 8:22
Mile 2- 9:37
Mile 3- 10:55
Mile 4- 10:58
YIKES! But I got er' done.
Thursday:  3 mile bike ride, 10 minutes swimming
Friday: 10K ( I couldn't find one to run on a Friday so I decided to do a new route.  I felt like crap! My neck and shoulders and abs were all really tight and I felt short of breath and like my legs were really heavy the whole time.  So at about mile 2.7 I started to walk one minute and then jog a minute.  I couldn't even keep 10K pace for one minute!) Like I said on Wednesday though, I get er' done. 
Saturday: 8 mile run on treadmilll in 1:15:28 that's a 9:26 pace.  Faster than Friday's 10K.  I was nervous to do this run becuase of Saturday's results but my body felt really good.  I had an incline of 1.0 the first 4 miles with 1 minute intervals of inclines up to 5.0.  Then the last 4 miles I increased the incline by .5 each mile till I ended with an incline of 3.0. 
Coming up this next week is my longest training run of this training cycle, a twelve miler!

Workin It!

This past week I got in all my workouts plus two swimming workouts! I love having off days be swimming days.  I think it's helping my running too, keeping the legs fresh.
Last weeks runs:
Monday: 2x1mile @ 8:15/mile (800jog), 6x200@ 8:00/mile (200 jog) = 4.5 miles
Tuesday: 30 minutes of kickboarding, 10 minutes of swimming, 5 minutes of treading water
Wednesday: 4 miles@ 9:05/mile, 1/2 mile rest, 1 mile@ 8:20/mile = 5.5 miles (Slower than last week)
Thursday: 40 minutes of kickboarding, 10 minutes of swimming, 5 minutes of treading water
Friday: 11 miles@ 9:32/mile
Saturday: 5 miles @9:32/mile plus Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones chest and abs
Total Miles= 26
4 more weeks till the Mesa Falls Half Marathon!

Weekend with the fam

As I mentioned before, my parents were in town this weekend.  Saturday morning was a 5 miler.  I felt slow cause I had run 11 miles the day before.  Usually I do my long runs on Saturday but decided to get it done early so I could enjoy more free time on Saturday.  I'm wondering if the training plans has me do five miles the day before to get me a little sore so I'm used to running through soreness.  Which I think is a good idea cause then when it is race day and I have had a low mileage week my legs feel uncharacteristically fresh. 
Saturday we spent the afternoon at the park with my parents, Bea, Ivan, and Alex.  Then we did some running around.  Girls went to Walmart and boys went to the gun stores. We rented a Redbox, The Blind Side, this is the second time I had seen it and loved it just as much as the first time.  For dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse.  I love that place! They give you fresh rolls and cinnamon butter while you are waiting for your food and peanuts that you crack open and then throw the shells on the floor. I got baby back ribs and steak fries.  YUM!
Today my parents came to church with us and afterwards we met up with Bea and Ivan and our friends Rachel and Rob for a hot dog roast at Beaver Dick park.  It was a perfect evening and we had a great time chatting and eating.  I love summer and the fresh fruit you can get.  We have eaten a lot of watermelon lately and it's so ripe and juicy. 

11-miler

Today's run was 11 miles, usually I do my long runs on Saturday but I decided to switch it up since my parents are in town this weekend.  The alarm went off at 8am and as usual I almost turned it off and rolled back over and fell asleep.  But then I remembered the heat and got my booty out of bed. Thomas drove me 11 miles away and dropped me off surrounded by potato fields.
The first mile was on a dirt road.  This big truck hauling potatoes zoomed past me flinging a big ol rock at me and hitting me on the arm.  Okay Mr. Truck Drive! Do you not understand that when you drive past someone on a dirt road going 60mph that dirt and rocks are going to fly everywhere?  Maybe we need to sign him up for some basic science class. Rude! I just think it's common sense when you go past a runner you slow down a bit.  Other than that little incident it was a great run. 
We had dropped off a water bottle at mile 5.5 for me to pick up and I had water and Clif Shot Bloks at 6.1 miles.  The first 6 miles felt great, last 5 felt okay.  Perfect temperature, although at the end of the run I was soaked.  I found out a stunk pretty bad cause as I'm stretching in the living room Thomas comes in to say hi and then pretty much goes into the other room right away and asked me to spray some air freshener.  Haha. 
Here were my stats:
11 miles/ 1:44:58/9:32 avg pace