Vilnius, the ONE outside run I did.

My biggest fear about running there was that I would get lost.  I was only going to be there for 5 full days so I wanted to get the most of my time there.  After our first workday we headed out at a decent time and even though it was dark there were still a LOT of people out.  I wasn't concerned at all about the people or anything like that.  Just my ability to get back to my hotel.  So I changed and off I went!

What better way to explore a new city than to run through it?

I stayed in downtown Vilnius and it was AMAZING.

     The hardest part by far was running on the cobblestone roads.  COBBLESTONE!  So cool. 

                                               That's the face of a happy runner!

Definitely goes down as one of the coolest runs I've ever done.  It's hard to find words for how cool this was.  The air was chilly but it just felt amazing.

Little did I know at the time that this would be the ONLY outside run I was ever going to be able to do.  After day one we were at the office most nights until 8pm, then followed with dinner right when we got back.  Dinner in Vilnius was a several hour even every single time...

Phoenix Marathon, Marathon Number 4

We spend much, ALL of Winter training in cold, snow and rain for a very early Spring marathon.  I entered Jeramie and myself into an online contest for a free entry.  Ironically enough it was Jeramie's whose name was pulled.  So that pretty much sealed the deal for us and we because training immediately.  It wasn't until after the first of the year that I actually got my act together to officially register us.

I trained my butt off so hard for this race.  Not a single run was missed.  And I also did a ton of strength training.  My dad hooked us up with a nice room at the Hilton and so off we went for a weekend just the two of us (and 26.2 miles).  We arrived just in time to catch a beautiful sunset in the desert.  Ran through to pick our packets up and straight to our hotel to bed we went.

     Starting line. 

Our beloved Utes were playing Arizona that weekend so I represented with my Ute red.  I won't bore you with the race details.  Needless to say it wasn't my fastest.  I battled with my hip and knee the last 6 miles of the race.  But honestly I was happy with my effort.  Even though the race wasn't my fastest, I felt strong and enjoyed the course.  There was a little bit of downhill but not a ton.  Jerm and I ran together for over half the race before we split up.

     Finish line. 

After the race we made our way back to our hotel where I ate potato chips while Jeramie slept for several hours.  After awhile, we managed to pull our sore selves together to make our way upstairs for "happy hour".  One of the perks of traveling under my dad's frequent stayer points.  You get invited upstairs for snacks and free beer.  And I'm a Howard, I do not pass up on free beer.

After that we headed for dinner at a local English pub, which didn't disappoint.  I had bangers and mash.  Then we crawled our tired butts back to our hotel and went to bed.  Not the most exciting weekend away with no kids but that's what happens when you run a marathon!  haha.

40 and Fabulous!

What better way to begin my 40th birthday than with a race on Thanksgiving morning!  We have lucked out this Winter with some pretty amazing weather.  So I was plenty warm in a skirt. Jeramie and I drove the kids up to my parents bright and early and then rushed down to the race.  We were so worried that we were going to be late.  Instead we walked up to the starting line and basically started 5 minutes later.  So the timing couldn't have been more perfect.  This was just a training run for us and so we went out to have fun.

There was a group of reserve military folks out there running which was kind of fun.  We ran with and passed them lots of times.  At first I didn't even realize what was going on.  All of a sudden it sounded like a pack of horses were coming up on our side.  Nope, just med running in BOOTS.  No thanks .. I'll stick to my running shoe's thank you very much.

        Views with the Wasatch Mountains in the background.  It was really pretty.

My dad drove down with Jackson to walk/run the 5K.  I don't think Jackson was all that excited about it at the time, however, after he did it I think he thought it was pretty cool.  My dad said that he ran the majority of the course!  So proud of him.  Must have been all that football conditioning!

                                      That's me throwing up the 4 - 0!

       LOVE these guys! 

                                       Love this picture of Jackson finishing strong!

                                       Do not love that they chopped my dad's head off!

We did a small family celebration after Thanksgiving dinner.  Turns out that was just the beginning!  On Saturday after a pretty lazy day Jeramie and I were supposed to be going out to a evening planned by him.  As we were getting closer and closer to the time I started to wonder what was up.  Turns out I walked into a surprise party at my parents house!!  And I have basically NO pictures!  I'm so grateful for all the work that went into that party.  There were lots of my friends from work and of course my whole family as well as my extended family.  It was awesome fun!  Mum had posted all kinds of pictures of me in my 40 years, some of which I hadn't seen in many years.

I truly feel so lucky that my family worked so hard to put together a surprise  party.  They got the help of one of my best friends to let people at work know about the party and several friends from work came.  I have the best family EVER!  My only regret is that I didn't get ANY pictures!  I guess I was just too busy having fun.

North Face Endurance Challenge .. and challenge it was

We didn't run very many races this year.  After my disappointing performance at Ogden I really lost my running mojo during the following summer months.  Training in the summer is always more of a challenge.  We spent so much time camping that it's hard to get those weekend long runs in.  The 90-100+ degree temperatures don't help either.  I hate summer running.  There is just no cool time to run, other than before the sun comes up and we all know this girl is NOT an early riser.  I was solid getting in my weekday runs consistently, if for no other reason than the need to make sure I kept the waistline under control.  But I rarely ran on the weekends.

When Evan and I began talking about this North Face Endurance Challenge we were contemplating dipping a toe in the world of Ultra running.  This meant a 30 mile race.  In my head I figured how much more could another 4 miles hurt once you got to the pain of mile 20.  But as the time to commit approached we decided to do the half marathon instead.  It was a wise decision.  Especially since Evan and Rachel were flying back from spending a week in Mexico the NIGHT before the race.  Nothing like running a race after gorging on bar nachos and margaritas for a week!

I have to start by saying while this is one of the hardest races I've ever ran .. it was one of the most beautiful!!

          Start and Finish Line Village.  Park City Mountain Resort. 

          Yep, we've just got to run up that mountain.  No big deal.

          Totally ugly conditions.

          I stopped multiple times to snap some pictures.  No regrets there.

                                          Me and my man.

                                         Lot's of single track trails.  Mean achy FEET the next day.

          Team Howard/Howard-Kramer/Kramer

Evan and Rachel finished ahead of us.  And we all agreed it was a great race and one we would likely repeat next year.  There are a ton of trails that we SHOULD be taking advantage of here in Utah.  I would really like to do that in the coming years.  Trail running isn't for sissies.  It was hard.  But the views were so worth the work.

Ragnar Relay .. another family tradition

Another year .. another Ragnar Relay.

We added two new people to the team this year, Evan's friend Dallin and Jeramie's friend Dave.  They were both super nice and fit in to the group well.  We started the day with a bit of overcast and rain. I was runner number one which I actually LOVED.  However, when I set out on my first leg my Garmin first wouldn't connect to satellites and then it wouldn't calculate the distance I was covering.  I wasted much of the first mile walking trying to get it straightened out.  I probably shouldn't have bothered but it was my new Garmin and I was so mad.  Eventually I went to a factory reset and in turn lost ALL of my Ogden Marathon splits.  It was a heat of the moment decision and at the time I thought well I want to forget that race happened anyway.  Looking back I regret that decision.  I could have worn Jeramie's watch and synced my splits before losing them.

Dave, Rachel, Dallin

One of the few blurry pictures of me running.

Rachel providing some great on the course support.

With the overcast day it created some of the best countryside scenery. I couldn't stop snapping pictures.

THE sheep that Rachel made friends with.

Lots of pictures of Jeramie and his boyfriend Dave.

Evan ran Avon pass.

I ran this my first year running Ragnar.

Just hanging out waiting for our runner.

We finished.  Best part about this race is hanging out with these guys for two days.

Our entire team, minus Dave who had to leave.

Rachel and I coordinated most of our outfits.  It's easy when you're both obssessed with Lulu.

Another successful year.