May Race - Ogden Half Marathon

Over the last couple of months I've been running with Tacey (Emma's sister-in-law). She and her mother-in-law, Patty, have been training for the Ogden Half Marathon. This was their first half marathon and prepared so well for it! Since I am the girl that waits until the last minute to sign up for races, I didn't have a spot for this race (it sold out in 5 days!!). Well, lucky for me, Tacey and Patty were supposed to run with Millysa, but she was sick and not able to do it. So, my name was Millysa for the day and I got to run :)

I wore my Running Army shirt again for this race and was floored by the outpouring of support from other runners. Before I started the race, I had someone thank me for my sacrifice and Mr. Army's service. About mile 8, a lady tapped me on my shoulder and proceeded to tell me that her husband had just returned from Afghanistan the night before, and was waiting for her at the finish line. I was so excited for her, and a little sad for myself. About that same time, I had a few other ladies come up to me and tell me that they loved the shirt and were so grateful for my soldier's willingness to serve. By that point, I was so overwhelmed with emotion, I thought I was going to start bawling right there. Of course, the volunteers at the mile 9 water table were National Guard/Army Reservists. I stopped for water and every soldier I passed thanked me, and I had to laugh because I'm just the one home and I should be thanking them (and I did :).

As I rounded the corner onto Grant Ave. (mile 12), I was ready to be done. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Then, this man and his wife came up next to me, and asked where my soldier was serving. I answered and the man continued to say that I was keeping an amazing pace and my soldier would be so proud of my accomplishments while he is away. And to tell Mr. Army that this couple was so appreciative of our sacrifice. That was enough to get me through the last mile. I didn't meet my goal of under 1:50, but I still have a few races to beat that time!

Date: May 21, 2011
Race Time: 1:54:50 (This is tentative, the race results online are incorrect)
Age Rank: 22 out of 180

 Getting to the finish!

The booty may look big, but the calves look muscular :)

That would be me, in the front, with my arms raised because I'm so thankful to be finished!

Tacey with A&T. She did amazing!

I LOVE this picture. C was so excited to run through the finish line with Grandma Patty. Patty was rockstar, and finished strong!

We survived!

I don't know why we posed like this, but I like it :)

April Race (#2) - Salt Lake Half Marathon

The Salt Lake Half Marathon has become a tradition. Four years ago, I ran my first half marathon, and it just so happened to be the Salt Lake Half. This race is soo expensive and unorganized, but I keep doing it year after year. So Reb and I paid a small fortune and set out for SL Half Marathon #4!

Date: April 17, 2011
Race Time: 1:55:33
Age Rank: 60 out of 345

Pre-race in my new shirt.

I made this shirt for the race. I kind of love it.

Sissy sportin' her new outfit

 Finished! JW is obviously ready to go home.

April Race (#1) - Salt Lake 10 Miler

Rebekah has done the Salt Lake 10 Miler for the last few years, and I usually miss the opportunity to do it with her. This year, I finally joined on the bandwagon and signed up. Lisa tagged along as well :)

This race starts at East Canyon and goes two miles UP Little Dell and then 8 miles down Emigration Canyon to This Is The Place state park. I LOVE this race. I will definitely be doing it again!
Course Map

Date: April 2, 2011
Race Time: 1:23:28
Age Rank: 2 out of 18

 I love me some Dubster. Though he doesn't look too thrilled to be with me.

The finishers - Lisa, me, Rebekah

I just wanted to show you how big my booty is :)

I got a medal!!

2nd in my age division!

Want more? Check here

March Race: Canyonlands Half Marathon

On March 19th, Lisa and I took a short jaunt down to Moab to run the Canyonlands Half Marathon. This Half is so popular that it has become a lottery. So, Lisa begged me to enter the lottery in December so we could run it together.

Well, it just so happens that I got into the race, and Lisa didn't...fail. In February or so, Lisa was able to buy a spot through a charity and we still were able to run it together!

We were both really excited to run this course. We heard it was gorgeous and such a fun race. I think I can speak for both Lisa and myself when I say, this was not my favorite race. We had 25mph headwinds, which caused sand/dust to go everywhere, it was so cold in the beginning (waiting two hours up the canyon for the race to start), and then I got the worst half marathon time I've had. I was kind of upset. However, it gave me a starting point for the year, and so I can only go up from here!

Time: 1:57:27
Age Rank: 28 out of 167 

This is Travis. She works with Lisa and was pretty much the only reason I made it through this race alive :)

Travis, Me, Lisa - Salty and Finished!

The whole gang

Pretty awesome view.

Waiting for the race to start. Chilly!!

More info and pictures about this race...go here

Running Challenge

While Mr. Army is deployed, I've made goals for myself to keep from dwelling on deployment, and to remain active.

Therefore, I decided in February that I would run a race every month from March to the end of deployment. I thought I ran quite a few races, per year, before, but already, I've found that doing one every month is more challenging than I anticipated. I love it! It keeps me going and I get medals. Who doesn't love that?! :)

I have a *tentative* schedule for races, and I hope that I can fit all of them in!

March: Canyonlands Half Marathon
April: Salt Lake 10 Miler and Salt Lake Half Marathon
May: Ogden Half Marathon
June: Ragnar - Wasatch Back
July: Deseret News 10K
August: Top of Utah Half Marathon
September: Top of Utah Marathon (I pray I don't chicken out :)
October: Halloween Half Marathon

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions...

And we all know that I'm full of good intentions. I planned on writing about the exciting things I was going to do for 400 days, and now I'm 7 months into deployment and have totally fallen off the blog wagon.

Well, I have a few things I've been working on and want to blog about my progress. Between the house, running and cooking, I think I can start to write blogs that exclude Mr. Army (which, was the reason I stopped blogging in the first place).

I promise I will be blogging this week. A few posts I have in the works:

• Running Goal (One race per month until the end of deployment)
• My Favorite Recipes
• De-texturizing the bathroom walls
• First Pole Dancing class (strictly for workout purposes only!)

More to come...