bird hunting and my gift

I got up early and cranked out 5 miles of intervals.

note to self: push harder!

after a quick shower and putting on more clothes we loaded up and headed out for some bird hunting.

safety first!

no success….unless you count all that walking!

when we got home there was a package on the porch. I wasn’t expecting anything.

look at all the goodies I got!?

I recently participated in a blog exchange through Run With Jill.

my bloggy exchange secret santa was Bobbie @ Journey in Running.

I might have just slightly gotten spoiled!

thank you lady….and NOW I have your mailing address and I’ll get your gift card out tomorrow!

gameday and the winner.

let’s go bowling!

university of wyoming football team kicks off the bowl season.

game just started.

jaggar bean is fully ready for the game.

I don’t even know why I bother giving away stuff…

it never works.

since the only person (who isn’t in my family, sorry sister….maybe you’re getting one for christmas. ) was ms. bobbie…she wins by default!

congrats girl. e-mail me your address at ashley dot huttonpowell at g mail dot com.

have a good weekend!

let’s try this again!

greetings.

weather around wyoming has slowly become more winter like.

doesn’t bother me. not one bit.

last night…right before I tried to fall asleep I read run.around.aroo’s post on spring marathons. this quickly got my hyped about actually signing up for a full.

I mean I will be fully into a half marathon training come march….

I’ll be in moab completely the canyonlands half marathon on st. paddy’s day!

and so what’s another couple months of training (in the spring) and completing my first marathon?!

registration begins january 1st.

I’m seriously thinking about it. it would be a lot of fun. close to home.

now…on to the fun stuff.

in just 3 short days…i will have my 1 year anniversary for my silly little blog.

since the giveaway didn’t go so well the last time….remember the whole “guess the weight of my little boy?”

yeah….well…I still have that starbucks gift card just begging to be given away.

sooooooo…..

to enter:
be a follower and leave a comment telling me you are.
blog, facebook, tweet (follow me @ashehutton) and leave a comment for what you did.
and for extra credit (and another entry) tell me  something the made this last year spectacular for you.

ready. set. go.

oh gawd….I hope this goes better than last time.

entries will be taken up until friday night! I’ll announce the winner saturday morning!

my first race medal

I received this little gem in the mail today.

thanks to this…

somehow I finished 3rd in my age class!

surprise to me…and I didn’t know this until AFTER we were halfway home. sad. I missed the awards ceremony.

thankfully the nice people that organized the race sent me my medal.

if we want to get technical…the first overall female was also in our age class….so TECHNICALLY I got 4th, but they take out the top male and female since they already get an overall award.

time for some sweet race photos.

this was at mile 1. super focused. good work. I didn’t even see the guy….but some one else did.

he’s so cute. so is my little blonde.

I did see this guy. I was happy at the finish!

ok…so maybe I wasn’t THAT happy.

and again…I DIDN’T see this guy. damn.

and just because I can’t resist!

aren’t they cute?

yay for the moab winter sun 10k!

off to bake cookies.

tree is decorated and stockings are hung

its taken a few days weeks, but christmas season has finally arrived at our house.

we brought the tree home from hunting.

and that’s where it laid for a little while. we managed to bring in the box full of decorations.

Hubby was going one way, I was going the other. our schedules were just not working out.

finally we were able to at least put it up right and add lights.

there were little issues…..

but nothing we couldn’t fix.

do you see the nice little curve in the tree trunk? now imagine it doing that the whole way up and trying to get it straight.

I hold the tree while Hubby tightens the bottom.

the semi-finished product.

finally we took some time to add ornaments!

we’re thrilled. really. can’t you tell?

Huby’s “peek patrol” ornament. its motion activated too. its currently in the off position…not because I would try to sneak a peek or anything.

and what’s adventuresome wyomingite without the pups? they didn’t really know what was going on but knew if they didn’t want to get beat yelled at they would stay away!

my tree is not complete without my fishing ornament. maybe I need a deer killing ornament now?

I promise the lights are turned on and plugged in. I just have a sucky camera.

stockings are hung. poor remi roo doesn’t have a stocking.

no tree is complete without presents under it.

thankfully we made it home today. not without some closed roads (that were open before we had to decide what to do). I hate unpacking as much as I hate packing!

we’re all snuggled in. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow….maybe….Hubby has to be somewhere at 0800….so I may just get up and hit the gym.

winter sun 10k

thankfully last night we safely made it to moab, ut.

again the dogs were good for a few laughs….or maybe it was just more funny because we had been stuck in the car for so long.

apparently sister was okay with laying on brother….and brother was okay with this.

we got to the “expo.” it was so quiet. not a normal race thing. seems to be more of a locals race.

but we picked up our race swag and headed off to dinner to carb up. I had been snaking the whole car ride….so somehow didn’t eat much dinner.

back at the hotel I made sure to have all my gear lined out and ready to go before the next morning.

I managed to remember everything important…I think that whole gym bag idea really helped.

“stick” you are suppose to be my friend. stupid IT band.

we all crashed. no alarms were set. no one really had a plan for the AM. but knowing my parents I knew they would be up before the sun.

Hubby rolled over and told me it was 0630. I laid there for another 30 minutes then crawled out of bed and slowing got ready.

Hubby didn’t want to wear his socks…he thought he’d look like a fool.

yes, you look like a fool…but you won’t be the only one.

we didn’t really have to be anywhere until 0830.

Hubby was running with twogees and so dad and him drove our car to the start. mom and I jumped in the transportation vans.

once at the start we stood by the fire pits for a little while.

Hubby and his race partner.

weather this morning was 32*. a little breeze, but over all…amazing running weather. I was dressed pretty perfectly.

this course is most definitely a fast course with it being mostly downhill and only 1 serious hill climb.

I lined up with 8:00/mile pace. I knew what I needed to run to get that new PR.

mile 1 was crowded….like always, but not too crowded.

mile 1: 7:49

mile 2 the crowd thinned out…and then my stupid shoe came untied. they never have come untied. you have got to be kidding!? I quickly tied it and let people pass (which pissed me off). once tied I took off and re-passed all the people that just passed me.

this is where the hill climb was. I knew I didn’t want to walk. just push through the hill. a lot of people walked up this. once I reached the top my thighs were on fire, but I knew the rest was downhill and once I flattened out they would recover. and they did.

mile 2: 7:35

mile 3…water station. I think more water went up my nose than down my throat. but I kept cruising. I felt really strong. I was enjoying my race. there was a small headwind but nothing too drastic…and it was enough to keep ya cooled off.

mile 3: 7:50

mile 4…was a big downhill push. its so hard to hold back on the downhills. at one point I looked at my pace. 06:51/mile…woah. where did that come from?

mile 4: 7:17

mile 5 was mostly flat on a heavily used highway. again the headwind. but no bother.

mile 5: 7:23

since about mile 4 I had been passing this girl and she would pass me back then I would pass her. after we hit the mile 5 sign she passed me again.  then she slowed up on the flat and I passed her….never saw her again.

mile 6 was through a residential area and on a park pathway. in the park there were some little kids cheering the runners on and banging on drums. that’s what I needed at that point. I caught a second wind and pushed through.

mile 6: 7:17

0.20…was a lap around the high school track. I looked at the finish clock at I entered the track….45 and some change. I’m thinking…”holy shit! I’m going to finish this thing with a sub 8 average!”

mile 0.20: 1:26…7:11 pace

my garmin time? 46:39 overall average of 7:32/mile. chock that one up to the big downhill course. I don’t know that I will ever beat that time. but I’m extremely happy.

Hubby, Dad and Mom all finished within their goal times. Dad was just mad that he didn’t do better.

we quickly climbed in the cars and headed on the road. again…more goofy puppy pictures.

“paybacks suck sister!” just wait until he’s full grown.

just watching the road.

sleepy twogwotee after 6 miles.

Currently staying the night in the old stomping grounds of craig, co (I graduated high school here.)

we have to make it home tomorrow…Hubby has some important stuff happening bright and early monday morning.