Timp Half Marathon

We had such a great weekend.  Usually the evening before a race we have been splitting up our kids and dropping some with Jeramie's mom and some with my parents.  It's always the same split too.  Jackson and Oliver go to Robie's. Baylee and Wyland go to my parents.  This weekend was no exception. 

After watching the Olympic's opening ceremonies we headed to bed around 11:30pm.  The alarm clock went off at a bright and early 3:30am.  To me this is still the night before, there is nothing about 3:30am that spells out "morning" to me.  Rachel wasn't racing with us this weekend because originally she was supposed to be out of town, and then she broke her foot at Ragnar.  So it turned out to be a good thing she wasn't registered.  Instead she was our trusty driver.  When they arrived at 3:41am I had been awake a whopping 11 minutes.  haha!  This has kind of been my "A" race this summer.  I trained pretty hard, adding speedwork for the first time.  Speedwork basically means that I ran a lot of runs at my "goal pace". I also ran what they call tempo runs, which is a little bit faster than goal pace.  Then some intervals which is short spurts of a pace quite a bit quicker than goal pace with recovery time in between spurts.  It also meant that most weeks I was running five days per week rather than my normal four days.  It meant getting up early every Sunday (including on camping weekends) to get my long runs in.  There was a lot I did in preparation.  Evan on the other hand, he ran 2 times between Ragnar and today.  TWO TIMES.  Jeramie ran quite a bit more than Evan so he was a bit more prepared this time than he was for Salt Lake back in April.  My friend Rebecca was also running with us and rode up with us in the morning.

Once we arrived in American Fork we quickly hopped on a bus to ride up the canyon.  On the way up I think pretty much all of us started to get a bit nauseous.  The winding road, lack of air, and dark skies were a breeding ground for nausea.  Once we reached the top I was so grateful that I had decided to utilize the gear check because it meant I could keep my sweatshirt on until about 15 minutes before we started. It was CHILLY up there.  Before we knew it we were splitting up at the line up.  Rebecca was shooting for a 2:30-ish finish.  Jeramie just wanted to run the entire thing without having to walk and hopefully beat his 2:26 from Salt Lake Half.  Evan and I were planning to run together, shooting for between 2:08 and 2:05.  It was a BEAUTIFUL course.  So pretty down that canyon.  They had some race pacers (basically people that run with signs of a predicted finish time).  Originally my goal was to try and stay with the 2:05 pacer but not fall behind the 2:10 pacer.  It took us a little bit to catch up to the 2:05 pacer and once we did we slowly pulled ahead a little bit.  At this point I figured as long as I didn't get passed by the 2:05 pacer then I would be in good shape for my "A" goal.  For the first few miles we spent a lot of time weaving around people who started far too close to the start line, that is always frustrating.  I had warned Evan that I run with my own fluids and therefore do not ever stop at water stations.  Then right as we came into mile 4 he had to stop for the bathroom.  He says to me, "Don't worry I'll catch up."  So I kept chugging along.  I didn't think he'd catch up so I just kind of settled in to my running alone zone.  Next thing I knew he was right next to me again.  Hello .. he pooped and still ran and caught up with me!  Who is capable of that??  Oh yeah, Evan is.

We cruised through the canyon at a great clip.  Once we came out the course diverted onto like a two lane joggers path that ran through a golf course and behind some homes. It was nice to not be dealing with roads but at the same time all of a sudden there were some rolling hills.  I wasn't really prepared for those.  I had beat up my legs pretty bad coming down that canyon.  My right calf that has been giving me issues on and on had basically been hurting since the beginning of the race.  Once we were done with the massive decline of the canyon the calf actually felt a little bit better. But overall my legs were DEAD tired.  But we pushed on.  Evan would pull ahead and I would just try and catch up.  Keep my pace under ten minute miles.  I was grateful for the flat at that point.  It did feel a little bit easier to deal with than the downhill had been.  When we hit mile 12 I wanted to be done.  My body was hurting and my heart-rate was maxed out.  Then I could see this little square shadow. I knew it was that darn 2:05 pacer coming up behind me.  From that point on I dug deep and pushed harder. I was NOT going to be passed by that darn pacer in the last mile.  I was so excited because I knew I was going to hit my goal.  My breathing was labored but I wasn't giving up. 

We made that final left hand turn into the finishers chute.  There was an arch with a timing mat and it crossed my mind that that was it. But I knew better than to be fooled by that.  I could see ahead another arch with more timing mats and next to it was the clock. I could read 2:02 on the clock and we pushed through those last few steps.  I knew that we'd started a bit behind so there was a good chance that I might have pulled at 2:01.  Are you kidding me?!  Evan was full of praise like he always is.  He's such a great running partner. We caught up with Rachel and moved over to wait for Jeramie to finish.  Jeramie had been planning to go out with the 2:20 pacer.  So that's about where I was thinking he would finish.  Next thing we knew he just walked up the side of us.  We completely missed him finish because he came in much quicker than the 2:20 we were thinking!  That's the second time I've done that. I missed him finish SL too!  Geez .. bad wife.

Here are the numbers:

My official time:  2:01:28  (NEW PR)

Average Pace:  9:16/M

Division Place:  92/209

Overall Gender Place:  378/927

Evan's official time:  2:01:29

Average Pace:  9:16/M

Division Place:  40/64

Overall Gender Place:  314/482

Jeramie's official time:  2:12:07

Average Pace:  10:05/M

Division Place:  79/90

Overall Gender Place:  383/482

So proud of us both!

Rachel was a GREAT spectator!

I truly love so much that we do this stuff together.

Jeramie sent me this picture this week and told me it made him think of me.

Not sure if that's a compliment or not.

Rebecca also ran a great race.  We stayed and watched until she finished.  I really love watching runners come in to the finish line. Talk about inspirational.  These are people who have often worked so hard for a goal and the accomplishment is usually written all over their faces.  We also saw some of our Ragnar buddies (one of which took 2nd place in the full marathon, where you run UP the canyon and then back down again .. CRAZY!).  Also saw my co-worker and his wife, who will be running the Las Vegas Ragnar with us in a few months.  Afterwards we headed to grab some breakfast and we desperately wanted to take a nap but we didn't.  We drove to both parents and picked up kids.  Then later that afternoon we took the kids to the pool.  The cold water felt so good on our legs.  As of Monday morning I am still not walking well.  My legs pretty much hate me right now.  I can't wait for them to start feeling a bit better.

Next up for Jeramie and I will be Hobble Creek in a few weeks.  And then we're running the Big Cottonwood Half with Evan and Rachel in September.  It's Rachel's big comeback race.  Both of these are sold out races so they should be lots of fun.

Deer Creek

Last weekend we headed out for our second camping trip of the summer.  I look forward to these weekends so much.  They were predicting some stormy weather all weekend so we were a little nervous about how much we would actually get out on the lake.  Now that we have the trailer the bad weather never actually stops us from going anywhere which is really nice.  I did in fact remember my camera this weekend, however I didn't remember to actually take it out onto the boat the first day.  After breakfast we quickly packed up the boat with people and headed out.  We wanted to make the most of as much good weather as we could.  Once we were out there we all took a spin on our wakeboards.  The water was relatively calm which I think is a first at Deer Creek for us.  The kids also actually enjoyed swimming off the boat too. Oliver was REALLY excited to get into the water, until he realized how cold it was. However, to be honest it was noticeably warmer compared to East Canyon where we were a few weeks ago.  Jackson was happy to jump off the boat with his life jacket and then he could swim himself to the ladder to do over and over again.  Wyland enjoys hanging out off the ladder (just like Jackson used to do). 

When we were done with some swimming Mike had arrived with his kids so we headed in to pick him up.  Grandma, myself, Wyland, Baylee and Oliver all came off while Mike and his crew climbed on.  Then headed back to camp to blow up and deliver the tube and just hang out for a little while.

Grandma playing animals with Wyland.

Boy does that kid need a haircut!

Beautiful view from our campsite.

I do believe that Oliver's hair is curlier than Jackson's was.

I think I need to do a comparison post soon.

I love when they play nice together.

Sunday morning Jeramie and I got up early for a 12 mile run.  Deer Creek is quite literally at the very top of Provo Canyon. So I had this brilliant idea to run down it as a training run.  Since Timpanogos (that we are running tomorrow morning) is a downhill race I thought it would be ideal to get some practice.  Thinking about it more that probably would have been a good idea a few weeks ago, maybe not so much the week before the race.  My normal Sunday morning running buddy drove to the bottom of the canyon and we drove down and picked her up.  Then the three of us set out to run down.  It was so perfect.  The temperature was just right. There was lots of shade.  Lots of downhill, just a little bit of uphill occasionally.  And it was just beautiful!  Jerm hung in there for the entire 12 miles.  He'll be fine tomorrow I'm sure.

These are a couple iPhone pictures.

That's Jerm down there.

We ran basically down the side of the highway.  It had a big shoulder though.

It really was so pretty!

Us in all our post-run sweaty glory.

After we got back to camp we chowed down on some breakfast and started cleaning up.  We almost didn't go out on the boat because it was a little cloudy and sometimes we get a bit anxious to get home and unpacked. But we decided to at least go out for a little while.  Boy were we glad we did.  The water was the smoothest water I think I have ever experienced at a local lake.  So SO good.

It's a little hard to tell in this picture but Oliver was trying to climb out of the boat.

Guess he wanted to swim.

Baylee enjoyed watching us out on wakeboards.

I hit a couple small jumps because the water was so smooth.

Dad headed out for a go.

I love Jeramie's facial expressions when he's wakeboarding.

We also had another big event this weekend.  This is actually a picture that's out of order.  But I bribed Jackson with the promise of a Skylander to go out on the wakeboard with Jeramie.  He wasn't too happy at first at all. But he did get out there and went for a couple of rides.  I'm really so proud of him.  When he came back in he said it was fun with a smile on his face. But he didn't opt to go again.  haha.

He looks so little out there!

Oliver enjoys driving the boat.

We convinced Baylee to at least sit on the edge of the boat and put her feet in.

However, someone had to be holding the back of her life jacket the entire time or she freaked out.

Loving the wind.

So far we're 2 for 2 this year.

Two really great trips to the lake.

Disheartened

So a few weeks ago Jeramie and I joined a gym.  With our membership we get to do these periodic fitness assessments.  They recommended that you go in and do one early on so that you have a starting point.  I figured that sounded like a good idea so this evening we headed in for our assessments.

I wasn't really concerned at all because I've been running 4-5 times per week pretty consistently for almost a year now.  I feel like I'm in some of the best shape of my life.  I was apparently really wrong.

Here's where my numbers fell:

My metabolic age:  53 years / 4 months  (that's 16 years older)

My body fat percentage:  35.1%  (23% is average, 5% in my age category)

VO2max:  34.3  (34.6 is average, I'm 45% to average)

Push ups:  10  (16 is average, I'm 20% to average)

Here's where Jeramie's numbers fell:

Metabolic age:  31 years / 0 months (this is wrong because they also had down he was 36 years old)

His body fat percentage: 20% (19% is average, 45% in his age category)

VO2max:  46.4  (42.6 is average, He's 70% to average)

Push ups:  21  (19 is average, I'm 60% to average)

So apparently I should really just model Jeramie.  Big Mac's for everyone!  Because clearly all this exercise and attempts at healthy eating actually do nothing for me.  It's hard not to compare myself to Jeramie since he's the only other person I eat with.  But clearly the numbers indicate that even at the lowest weight I've been in probably 10 years, I'm still fat. Whatever he's doing is working much better than what I'm doing.

Jeramie insists that I shouldn't listen.  That it's all a scam to get us to buy their supplements and protein powders. Personal Training sessions anyone? 

I just can't shake how truly disappointed I walked away feeling. Just deflated.  Asking myself what is the point of sacrificing all this time every week.  It just makes no sense to me at all.  And it makes me really sad.  It isn't easy to drag my but out the door 3 days a week in 90+ degree weather to sweat up a storm. When everyone else sits inside the air conditioned office enjoying their carb loaded lunches.

Seriously what is the point?

Today I definitely feel like I'm wasting my time and energy.  I have worked so hard the past 11 weeks especially.  All for nothing.  I don't understand it .. a t   a l l.

I'm not really sure how this fitness assessment was supposed to encourage us to maintain a membership. Frankly today, I feel like what is the point?

I can hear my dad now .. there goes Kerry on another rant.  Maybe it's a rant.  Maybe tomorrow I will feel better (probably not since the dentist will be wrecking havoc in my mouth).  But if nothing else this post will document where we both began.

So I came home and cooked up a Lean Cuisine pizza for dinner (wow .. 10 points) and since I couldn't bring myself to spend more points on salad dressing I skipped the salad and had an orange with it instead.  This feels like such bullshit.

Lavender Days

So I'm just closing in on the end of my Timpanogos Half Marathon training.  This is the first time that I've added any kind of speed work into my training plan.  Timpanogos will be half marathon number 4 for me.  The speed sessions have sometimes inspired me, making me feel strong.  Other times they have left me feeling deflated and like no matter what I do I will never be able to increase my speed.  I think what makes it harder is that I'm comparing myself to people who for the most part are much younger than I am. Not that I'm calling myself old by any means.  I'm not.  But the fact of the matter is it's probably not very realistic to compare myself to someone who is 5 or 10 years younger than me.  Not to mention people who have been running for years longer as well.  But I am in competition with myself as well.  I work hard so that I can improve on my own times.  Even if it's only by a couple minutes.

All of that is to say that this "race" wasn't meant to be a race.  But I did run the Lavender Days Half Marathon this weekend.  It was meant to be a training run.  Which means you run it slower than your normal runs.  I was scheduled for an 11 mile run this weekend and this race was really cheap so we figured why not.  It's only another two miles.  You have to excuse the quality of the pictures, these were all taken with my iPhone.

Well that was until Saturday morning at 3:55am when my alarm went off.  Then all of a sudden it actually felt like a really stupid idea.  I mean seriously, 3:55am is still the night before to me, not the morning.  The race started at 6:30am in Mona, UT.  So that was an hour drive south for us.  We arrived right when we planned to and I managed to stay awake the entire drive down there.

We rode the bus up to the starting line and it was literally still too dark at first.  When we arrive there were horses just hanging out next to the porta potties.  As it got a little more light (enough to take a picture) they had drifted away some.  As you can see we were smack in the middle of nowhere.

 We just sat back and watched people arrive on the buses and start stretching.

There is an awesome energy in the air at the beginning of a race.

  Geared up and ready to go.

In my lavender colored clothes.

Please pretend to ignore the way my hydration belt and spybelt are squeezing my belly in the middle.

I look like Santa Clause or pregnant!  One of the two.

 We weren't expecting all the dirt and gravel roads for sure. But I was okay with it.  We started out nice and easy as planned.  It didn't take long before the horn went off and all these people were literally racing up the first hill.  We were passed by so many people.  We chugged at a nice and easy pace for the first couple of miles and then found ourselves on a paved road finally.  Rebecca wasn't able to find her groove right away so we ended up drifting apart pretty early on.  After we had split up I decided that I would just run with whatever felt good.  Push myself enough to feel like I was working a little but not hard by any means.

It was at that point that I picked up the pace enough that I began passing people one after another.  Considering all the times I was passed running Ragnar it felt really nice to pass people for a change.

After the race wound around the reservoir the last 3 miles headed into the actual lavender fields.

And more dirt roads.

Rebecca did great!

 We were surprised to receive an actual medal at the end.

Then you also received a small potted lavender plant.

It smelled divine.

Race Results:

Chip Time:  2:27:46

Average Pace:  11:17/m

Age Group Place:  18 of 28

Overall Place:  161 of 215

The course was hilly and rumored to not be an easy race.  Between the hills and the dirt/gravel roads.

I was real happy with my performance.

There was a downhill right at the end and I felt like I flew down at that point.

We had to make do with a self portrait.

Both happy to be finished.

We headed home.

I went and picked up some of my kids.

Grabbed some lunch.  Which gave me a belly ache for the rest of the day.

Threw on my compression sleeves and put my feet up.

Jeramie was working, so there was no nap in the cards for me.  Bummer considering I only got at best 4 hours sleep the night before.  Then that evening I headed up to my parents with all four kids by myself while Jeramie went back to work again.  We had a post Ragnar team BBQ.  It was fun to see them all again.  They're a really nice group of people.  By the end of the BBQ I was plain loopy from the lack of sleep and physical exertion for the day. 

Oh and as a side note on my quest to lose 10 lbs.  Week 1.  FAIL.

I gained a pound.  Really?  I ran a freaking half marathon and burned a days worth of calories in 2.5 hours and I gained a pound.  It feels disheartening.

Flashback Friday

My bedroom when I was a little girl.

Some things I loved:

Duran Duran

Cabbage Patch Dolls

Books

And there was a giant K on my wall.

Pretty cool.

Happy 4th of July!

Since Jeramie had to work during the day the kids and I just spent some times at home.  Considering how truly busy we have been lately this was some really welcome downtime.  As you may have noticed from the several blog posts that finally made it up the last few days that's what I spent some of my time on Wednesday doing.  Always feels good to catch up on some of the mundane around the house kind of things. 

After Jeramie got home we gathered everyone up and headed over to meet my parents for the Sandy City Parade.  It was okay.  The kids enjoyed running out to score some candy. 

We were representing both countries today!

To no surprise Jackson was much more aggressive getting candy than Wyland was.

He's down there in the thick of all those kids.

After the parade we headed over to The Brick Oven to grab some dinner.  I really like that place. The first time we went there everyone loved it.  This time not as much, maybe we just didn't pick a good pizza. I still liked it though and the left over pizza the next day was still delicious.

After dinner we headed back over to Sandy City for the fireworks show.  I purchased the unlimited wrist bands for the kids and they went crazy on the slides.  The first couple of slides Wyland was kind of afraid of so Jackson went alone.

I love the backpack.  Oliver was a happy camper up there just hanging out.

Once we discovered this slide they never left.  The first time up I started to follow Wyland

because that's what he had wanted on the others. He turns around and says, "No, I can do it."

And so he did.  Over and over and over again.  They had so much fun.

We ended up getting great seats for the fireworks show.

Oliver watched some, and hid his face for some.

Baylee and the boys all loved them.

Wyland's favorite were the purple ones.

Despite the kid next to us that kept yelling at him that they weren't purple they were BLUE.

Jerk.

We have perfected the great escape from South Town Mall. We were home in less than 10 minutes.  It was a good and relaxing day.