vacation!

last night sheridan, wyo experienced its first thunderstorm of the year! yippee!
it was a very crazy storm. hail. rain. thunder. lightening. wind.

it hailed so much it looked like it had snowed. but then it rained so hard that it melted all the hail. there were some big puddles in the gutters in town.

today has been another lazy day. I still haven’t ran. although I mentally want to, I’m still a little sore.

tomorrow Hubby and I leave for denver.
wednesday we fly out to the B.A.H.A.M.A.S!

our good friend is native to them and he lives in Freeport.
we met him in casper trashper and lost contact when he moved back to the islands.
when we got back into contact with him we decided to visit!
I saved and saved money up this past summer in hopes of going to see him. or tax return really helped make that happen. we had tossed around dates. my rents take a vacation to mexico in march/april. so I had thought we’ll go when you guys get back (I needed a pet sitter). Hubby quickly decided that we should go for our wedding anniversary. so that was easy.
may 16th will be 2 years!

we’ll be in the bahamas for 10 days.
I feel slightly under packed.

our carry-ons.
the black one is mine and is stuffed! I managed to fit all my shorts/skirts, shirts, and swimsuits for the whole trip in it.
Hubby’s carry-on (the blue one) is about half full.
and the backpack is for our entertainment and must haves (i.e. passports, plane tickets).

this is our “checked” bag.
since they start charging for the first bag we try to only have to take 1 bag between the two of us. what can I say we’re cheap! plus in all honesty…I don’t know that I could take that many clothes for 10 days. actually I probably could, but I’ve been to Hawaii for a couple trips and never wear anything but a bikini most of the time. so I told myself…I wasn’t over-packing for this trip! there is definitely plenty of room for any treasures our little hearts desire to bring home! most of this bag is Hubby’s too. and the only reason they are in here instead of his carry-on is so we were bringing an empty bag. at least we don’t have to worry about it going over the weight limit!

lists and more lists.

its kind of short, but really..its tropical and surrounded by the ocean. let’s be realistic here people! I plan on being in a bikini the entire time!
when we get back we are spending a few days in denver with my dad and catching some baseball games, so that obviously requires different attire (but he has a washer and dryer so I plan on doing a little laundry), can’t forget the Tulo jersey!
and before we go on vacation I have a dress fitting in trashper on our way through town. can’t forget the dress or the bra there!

most importantly!

passports and plane reservations!

I’m not that popular so I don’t have guest posts. sorry Mom, I can give you a list of blogs to visit to keep you entertained while I’m away! could you visit Jess @ Blonde Ponytail and wish her the best of luck on the 13th for her marathon on the 14th! you’ll love her. she’s going to rock her marathon! p.s. she has a goldie too.

I’ll have plenty to say when I get back though so be ready for picture and story over load! see ya’ll in about 2.5 weeks!

let me just share.

incorporate hill intervals!

this is why!

this is the elevation that my garmin gave me from the beaver creek slide 1/2 marathon I completed on saturday.

miles 4.5 to 8 are a B*TCH!
just saying.

my first 1/2

but most definitely not my last!

I had “fun.”

the weather was P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

I even managed to get sunburned.

the race started promptly at 0900 this morning.

for the first 4 miles it was mostly flat and downhill. I was averaging 8:00 min/mile. I felt great. legs felt awesome. I was doing great at keeping pace.

I turned the corner and saw this….

(pictures of race course were taken post race…I really wasn’t out there all alone!)

the picture doesn’t exactly do it justice, but you can see the top of this hill and yes…we went clear to the top.

I ran up maybe half, and then had to walk. Run…then walk…then run…then walk.

once I topped the hill it turned onto an old two track. from what I’m told this is where the race gets its name. these are probably the longest 3 miles of my life! luckily this year the course was dry. most years its muddy and you’re sliding all over the place.

the course went up and little, then flat, then down a little. and repeated a few times until we came to this.

down a big hill and then up! see the giant hill in the distance. I wanted to cry right then and there!

let the climbing begin. everyone struggle on this one. even when you thought you were to the top….

you turned the corner and had farther to go. I didn’t even bother to see the distance (from bottom to top) of this hill. it was long and steep. that’s all I know!

there were some great views of the wonderful Bighorn Mountains though.

once that hill was topped that was it for the BIG hills. then we started heading downhill.

I got a nice little side stitch coming down this which again forced me to walk. grrr….

the rest of the course was mostly flat or downhill which allowed me to make up some time.

when I hit about mile 11 my calves just didn’t want to go any faster uphills. they were done! (note to self: I think I will try RUNNING with compression socks the next BIG race to see if that helps with calf muscle fatigue.) but I pushed through the pain and tried to finish as strong as my little legs would go.

that’s my “dude! there’s the finish line!" pose.

garmin registered 13.32 miles in 1:57:03
goal accomplished. finish in under 2 hours.
I wish I would have done more hill training. and I think I know right where I am going to start as soon as I get back from my vacation!

remember my whole “I’ve ran 10 miles, what’s 3 more?” mentality? yeah…when there are GIANT hills involved 3.1 is A LOT more!

I was the 5th female to finish. if they broke it down into age groups…I’m think I would have been the 3rd. most of these racers use this as a training run for the 50 miler and 100 miler that goes OVER the Bighorns coming next month. 2 of the top 3 finishers were 40+ years of age and one of them had completed an Ironman. the first female finished in 1:47-ish. so to me…10 minutes behind the leading female is not bad. (the first male 1:36 ish) and a sub 2:00 for my first 1/2 marathon is pretty great. I was talking to a guy after that said his wife has been chasing a sub 2:00 1/2 marathon for a couple years. I’ve only been running for maybe 5 months and I’m happy with my sub 2:00.

Mom and Hubby ran the 3.5 miler. Hubby finished first! they had some issues with the timing chips with him…so we don’t really know what his time was. he timed himself at 31:00, but the timers said 34:00. who knows.

I’d like to say that I will do this 1/2 again, just to see how well I do with these kind of hills again.

now that the 1/2 is out of the way and training for anything can take a back seat because Hubby and I are headed to the Bahamas in 3 days!

it all boils down to this.

doesn’t it always though?

after weeks and weeks of training and spending my days running my little butt off, I’m less than 48 hours away from my first 1/2 marathon.

every step I take after 10 miles will be a PDR (personal distance record) for me.
exciting yes!
it also makes me nervous.

I remember how I felt at mile 10.
I remember how dead my legs were coming up that hill for the last mile.
I remember how whipped I was when I made it back home.
I remember how much I hated that head wind on my final 5 miles.
I remember taking a nice long nap that same afternoon.

that’s why I’m nervous.

when I was doing my 10 miles I thought “I could do 3 more miles. hell, its only 3.1…I’ve already done 10.”
I still feel that way to a point.

I find myself thinking about it or talking about it gives me giant nerves.
I wouldn’t say I lose sleep, but if I start thinking about the different elements and what I would do IF its doing this or IF its doing that I find myself anxious.
so I just don’t think about it.

I’m sure its very normal to get anxious.
I always did before a volleyball or soccer game in high school. same with ski races when I was littler.
its normal. it’s a-ok.

I know as soon as I hit that 0.01 mile marker I’ll be fine.
I hope I won’t be thinking about the other 13.09 miles I have left to go.
I’ll be focusing on my breathing, my stride, my aches and pains (just to make sure nothing is new and I’m doing what I can to make sure I’m not making them worse), my music.

I don’t know what I’m looking more forward to. starting the race or finishing the race.
to feel those emotions? to finish a 1/2 marathon? incredible.

I finished my last running day yesterday. 2 easy miles. I can’t believe I can say this, but my 2 easy miles were actually at a 9:00 minute/mile pace.
I remember when I first started my running journey. I could barely keep pace at 9:00. I’ve made some giant leaps forward.

these next two days (today and tomorrow) are rest days. I’ll stretch and foam roll tomorrow to avoid any lazy muscles.
I’ll carb load tomorrow.
I’ll hydrate tomorrow.
I have MOST of my gear rounded up and ready, but will double check tomorrow night.

I’m planning on getting some good rest tonight, and hope I can get a decent amount of hours in tomorrow night too.

to say the least right now, I’m excited, anxious, nervous!

weekend recap

sorry for the absence

this past weekend I was in Casper, Wyo for a family member’s wedding.

we had a grand old time.

let’s recap.

we left on friday morning. remember how I moved my last long run to thursday?
this is why.

snow. cold. wind. no fun.

“really Ma? snow? maybe if I close my eyes real tight it’ll disappear!”

we got on the road, and it was snowing the whole 2 hour drive.

Twogs didn’t seem to mind the cooler air.

we got to town and ran various errands in town. I went to the mall with my sister to get a shirt for the wedding and killed time while Hubby did his own thing.

once Hubby was done doing manly things we went and bought Twogs some booties to use during winter months and hunting seasons (keep the cactus out of her paws).

“I think this qualifies for animal abuse!”

she had a slight adjustment to them, but once she was out running in them she didn’t even notice these booties on all 4 feet. we took her to a park to do a trial run because we’ve had issues with them coming off on past dogs and losing them somewhere in the mountains.

they worked!

we then went to our friends’ house where we were staying for the weekend. they have 2 dogs. one of those dogs is just a month older than Twogs, so they play A LOT!

don’t worry no giraffes were harmed!

we had a night out at dinner and then bed time.
I had planned on going to the gym the morning before the wedding, but it just didn’t happen. oh well I think I made up for it in dancing at the wedding.

it was a quick ceremony! we ate. we drank. we danced!

Hubby and I. Sister and her date.

we had a grand time!
Hubby and I went out for a few drinks with our friends after the wedding and then hit the hay. I was beat!

We got up early, had breakfast with some more good friends and headed home. I think Twogs was beat too. she played all weekend!

I slept in this morning and have lounged all day long!
I did go for a little 4 mile run.
3 miles to do tomorrow. 2 miles to do on wednesday.
then 2 rest days.
then my FIRST 1/2 marathon on saturday.

oh did I mention we are going to the bahamas next week too?
woah…I can actually say next week!
I have to gather everything up for that too!