Half Marathon 2012

We did it!  And I have a shirt, medal, and sore muscles/joints to prove it.  :)  Brian and I have both decided that this one was a lot harder than the first one we ran two years ago.  Despite my New Year's Resolution to beat my time, we were slower... a lot slower...14 minutes slower to be exact.  Factors that most likely influenced our sluggish time include but are not limited to:
1.  Weight gain.  Brian and I are both significantly heavier than last time around.. Although I'm working on that, which leads to...
2.  My diet.  I started the Paleo Diet and followed it strictly for about a week and 5 days before the race.  While there are a lot of legit runners on the diet, you aren't supposed to do a lot of exercise the first two weeks so that your body can adjust to life with less carbs. You are also supposed to train on the diet (I did our 10.5 mile practice run pre-paleo) before racing on the diet.  Duh!  This is probably the biggest reason I hit such a hard wall just after mile 10.  Good News is that although I may have sacrificed my race time, I am losing weight.
3.  Not enough cross training to strengthen core muscles.  Last time around, Brian and I cross trained with P90X.  This time we only ran according to our running schedule.

Still, I'm grateful that we finished and that we at least met our goal to run it.  Brian is the best husband in the world and most supportive friend and ran with me the entire 13.1 miles.  Our finishing times were exactly the same at 2:37:34. (This was a serious sacrifice of his previous time.)  I love him.  I also I hugely grateful for Travis and Whitney who came to cheer us on near the finish line!

Our times from 2010

Our time from 2012

Here are some random pics from the race thanks to professional photographers.  I had to do some creative cropping in order to cut out the giant "proof" going across each picture. :)

Spring Break

I feel like I have been avoiding this blog.  In fact it's more than just a feeling; I know that I have been.  I just feel that my life the last little bit hasn't been all that eventful.  Nevertheless, last week was my Spring Break, and even though it was probably the least exciting Spring Break in the history of all Spring Breaks, I'm going to tell you all about it. :)

Sorry no pictures...mostly because there weren't really any picture worthy moments...

My weekend started out pretty great.  Brian and I went down to Highland so that he could work on his train (pics and videos to come in a later post,) so that we could do our long run somewhere with better weather (It had just snowed in Park City,) and so we could spend Easter Sunday with family.  The most exciting and gratifying part of the whole trip was the fact that we ran 10.5 miles without dying!  Kind of a big deal!  It was also great to go to church with the family and get to enjoy both the lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society which I usually miss because I am in Primary.  Easter Dinner was pretty delicious as well. :)

Once back in Park City, I decided to fill my days with as much productivity as possible.  I spring/deep cleaned our entire apartment, deep cleaned my car, started the Paleo diet full force, made a two week menu and went grocery shopping, scheduled swim lessons, went through my closet and got rid of about 1/3 of my wardrobe, kept up with my running schedule, and babysat one night for my favorite kiddos.  That lasted me through Wednesday, then the boredom hit.

We spent the next 3 days in Highland for a change of pace.  Brian still had to go to school everyday, but I enjoyed for the most part my R&R.  Too bad the weather took a serious turn for the worse, and I was stuck indoors without a car for the most part.  I read two good books though:  Playing for Pizza by John Grisham and One for the Money by Janet Evanovich.  Somewhere in there I got to spend some time with some of my favorite people: Jessica Porter and Renae Clarke.  They were both a definite highlight to my Spring Break. 


And that sums it up folks!  I look forward to the day when Brian will be done with finals, and I will finally get him back!  I also look forward to the day when we actually have vacation breaks at the same time. :)


P.S.  I'm running the Salt Lake Half Marathon on Saturday.  Wish me luck!

Fun Quotes from General Conference

Source: spirituallythinking.blogspot.com via Shay on Pinterest