So many things!

There are so many things that go through my mind when I run. And I always wish I could remember them and use them later. I am so eloquent when there's no way to record my thoughts. I will try to pull out some of the deeper, more profound things from my grey matter and put them in this blog, you know, for posterity.

If I ever have a posterity, it will look something like this. (Yes, I know "have a posterity" isn't the correct way to put it, but this is my blog and I do what I want.) 

It looks like I need to pick up where I left off and talk about two races in this here bloggy blog. We'll go in chronological order, since it suits me. I do enjoy continuity and flow. I'm sure you've all picked up on that by now, what with my incredibly organized blogging.

At the beginning of the lovely month that is May, I ran my 41st half marathon, and favorite half marathon, the Dino Half. It was a perfect spring time day in Eastern Utah. The conditions were ideal. The canyon was in fine form. The bus that took us to the start had to stop at one point to let a small herd of deer cross the road.

This was my third time running this race. My younger brother was also running this one with me, as his third half marathon. He wasn't trained for this one as well as he would have liked to be, but he still did well.  I was similarly hoping to do well, and well I did! (For me, anyway.) I had stuck with the 2:30 pace group for the first 3 miles, but I knew that their pace was going to wipe me out and I had more to do that day than just the race. So I said my goodbyes and dropped behind. Even dropping off from the pace group, I was able to sail down the canyon on what felt like winged (I hope y'all are reading that in your heads as wing-ED. Because that sounds fancier.) feet and finish with a new best time for that course. Sure, that best time only applied to me and not the guy who won it by crossing the line an hour before me, but that was his race. I was running my own.

Mr. Mittens is the unofficial mascot of this race. He's testing the medal's tastiness. It tastes like victory.

This race has the BEST medals. BEST MEDALS. BEST. B.E.S.T. Bessssssssst. Now that word sounds weird, huh. You're welcome.

I felt fresh and happy, which is always an accomplishment after 13.1 miles. And it was fortuitous that I felt so fine, since I actually had to run 9 more miles afterwards at the hotel. When the schedule says 22 miles, you run 22 miles. So, being the obedient, non-resistant gal I can be every now and again, I hopped on the hotel treadmill and did 5 of the remaining 9 miles. I had to take a break to make the most out of my time in Vernal. You guys, there are dinosaur bones aplenty there. And I needed to spend some quality time with them. Also, I really needed to eat something, as I almost passed out in the shower...

Mr. Mittens was also quite thirsty after his busy morning at the race.

I'm wearing a dinosaur tee-shirt, a dinosaur medal, while holding a plush representation of a dinosaur, in front of a giant wall of dinosaur bones. That is why I have the look in my eye of someone completely deranged. I get that look when I'm overly excited.  We all have our things, no judging. 

Also, maybe I look a little crazy, because I still had to run another 4 miles after my dinosaur adventuring. It took nearly everything I had to lace back up and head to the hotel gym for 4 more miles. But I did it. I actually did it. I forced my lazy, tired body back down there and I got it done. I am still amazed at the fact that it happened. I think I have reached a new level of awareness. The level that knows that if I skimp on my training now, in the last month before my ultra, I will DIE. The race that should be my focus race, what I've spent the last 4 months working toward, would end in a horrific, running career ending, utter disaster of a failure. I believe this is what they call "foresight". Something I rarely have, just so you know.

This is what happens when you skimp on your training. DON'T SKIMP.

So now that I was able to get that 22 miler in, I was feeling pretty good about the Ogden Marathon. Until the week of the marathon. Then the panic and the general freaking out ensued. It doesn't matter how well my training is going, the marathon distance always causes emotional distress. I figure that will go away someday, when the marathon distance becomes "only" 26.2 miles. After I conquer this 33 miler coming up, I believe some of that anxiety will dissipate.

I finally got myself calmed down and actually looking forward to the marathon. Except for one thing. It was going to be HOT that day. The weather forecast was not looking good. And those weather people were right on the money. It was hot. Crazy stupid hot to be running that far as slowly as I run. It didn't help that the race start time was at 7:15 a.m. when it should have been at least an hour earlier. I have heard this is a deviation from what they have done in the past. Let's hope that they choose to go back to an earlier start next year...

The race went well for me overall, despite the heat. I decided to stick with the 5:30 pace group, since that was the last pace group there was. (If anyone from the Ogden Marathon organization is reading this, please consider adding in a 5:45 and 6:00 pacer. It would really help out the back of the packers, many of whom are running their first marathons.) The pacer was really great. She kept my mind off of the heat, the distance, and all the other negative stuff that can come up in a race. That is, until mile 10 when my favorite running tights came apart at the thigh seam and the worst chafing of my life began to take place.

Here's a picture of an adorable puppy, because a picture of my chafed thighs is way too gross for me to put up. I would lose all my friends. It's really not a pleasant sight. But this puppy, now that's pleasant. 

I had already figured that a 5:30 finish was way out of my reach, that would have been a PR by 23 minutes and I just wasn't trained for that. And when my pants went, I knew it would be a struggle to to hit the goal that had been bouncing around in my head of a new PR, even if it was just by a minute or two. Between trying to rig my pants in various ways to keep the chafing down, to slathering copious amounts of Vaseline on my legs at EVERY aid station, and at one point having a tiny bit of a melt down in a port-a-potty, I lost about 10 minutes.

Even with the 10 minute time loss to deal with my wardrobe malfunction, I finished with my second best finish time! I was pretty happy with that, almost as happy as I was to stop running and let my thighs begin to recover from the 16 miles of damage that had been done. I'll tell you, the post race shower was a new level of pain. I believe it would be an effective method of torture. Just make people run in the heat till they're all good and raw, then stick 'em in a shower. They'll tell you everything you want to know. And more.

I'm not only grimacing due to the chafing, my calf also decided to cramp and seize as I fought my way to the finish. At one point, I thought I was going to just fall down. But I made it!

The medal is huge. Which is important. Medals matter. 

I am sore today from this race, but not as sore as I've been after other marathons. This is a good sign that I'm not going to end up dying on my ultra adventure. I was able to complete my hour and a half run today, getting that much needed back-to-back-long-runs/time-on-my-feet thing that appears to be key to living through these longer distances. I will say, I'm quite looking forward to my rest day tomorrow. Also, I will most likely be eating everything in sight as my body realizes just what has been done to it over the last two days. Runger takes a couple of days to catch up to me, but when it does, look out.

So all in all, things are going well. Let's hope I can keep this streak going and finish out this season healthy and happy. I was going to write down all that stuff that my brain comes up with, all that deep emotional, zen like stuff. But all I can think about right now is how much I'd really like a burrito... Oh well, maybe next time.

Until then, happy running!

Another timely blog?! I'm winning at life.

It's almost like this blogging thing has become a priority! I have two weekends of racing to talk about instead of 5 or 6. Hopefully that means I will be able to put in more detail and my special random ramblings that I'm sure you're all so fond of.

Last weekend, I ran my 39th half marathon, the Wonder Woman Half out in Saratoga Springs. I got quite lost trying to find the tiny park that would serve as the start and finish because the map that they had of how to get there didn't show the newer Pioneer Crossing road, which caused me to think I was in the wrong area completely. Then I remembered that I own a phone that is considered "smart", so I made the magic of the interwebs and Google maps guide me to my destination.

I finally arrived at the park and even though it was about 20 minutes to start time, there were surprisingly few people there. When I went to the pavilion to pick up my race packet, the lady checked my name off of the list. The list that only had about twenty runners on it. Eep. Twenty runners?! In a race that size, I am bound to be the slowest. My strength is in numbers, not in speed.

Mmmm. Peanut butter.

Before the race started, the race director gave us the rundown on the course. It was a simple out and back, so I wasn't sure why we needed to be reminded of where it went. It was on the Jordan River Parkway Trail, I didn't really think that it required all that much explanation. Turns out, people are very talented when it comes to screwing up simple things. I followed her instructions, I stayed to the left, I stayed on the trail. I knew I was on course because my Garmin mileage kept matching with the mile markers on the course. Basically everyone else didn't listen, didn't stay to the left, and they didn't stay on the course.

I watched the pack peel away from me within the first mile. I started getting a little upset, because it's frustrating to be the slowest. But then I reminded myself that this was only a training run and it didn't matter when I finished, just that I finished. Besides, I had to come home and run more miles after to get my total for the day. Anywho, back to group stupidity. It turns out that being at the back helped me not get swept up into the mob mentality of following the leader when the leader is wrong. The people in the front of the race decided that they were going to take a loop of the trail that went off course for about a mile. This loop was on the right. STAY TO THE LEFT, PEOPLE!

I'm sure that many of the people who followed those in the lead started to question if that was the right thing to do, but they didn't want to appear silly by arguing about it, so they just kept going the wrong way. I didn't see them take the loop, but I saw them coming out of it. These people had all passed me in the beginning, and then they got to pass me again. Much to their dismay, I might add. It seemed that once they saw me, it dawned on them that something was wrong. I know that one or two probably thought I was the one that took a wrong turn, but their watches confirmed the truth.

The only thing that really irked me about them getting lost, is that even though they all ran an extra mile, they all still beat me. Well, I wasn't last... I was second to last. When I came through the finish, I made a point of telling them that there was one more lady out on the course. I didn't want them to shut it down and leave her without a medal. Because that would be awful. That's not something I would wish on anyone, being the medal fiend that I am. I did see my friend Greg out on the course, getting some training in for his marathon. That was a nice bonus. The more I run, the more people I know who run. (Imagine that!)

Half #39, in the bag.

My 40th half marathon was yesterday, the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. I stayed up at my friend Krista's house, since she lives pretty close to the starting line. I was a little concerned about the quality of sleep I would get on the couch, but it was just fine. She even put mints on my pillow, making everything that much more special.

It was a beautiful day for a race. I didn't even bother to take my jacket with me to the start. The temperature stayed pleasant throughout the race. These perfect conditions won't last long, as the desert summer creeps in, so I made an effort to really enjoy being out there. This race was much larger than my last one, 6500 in total between the half and full marathons. The marathoners stayed with us until they split off at mile 9 and rejoined us around their mile 24. 

The course was just challenging enough, there weren't insane amounts of hills, but the hills that were there were steep beasts. There was some very nice downhill, not enough to beat your quads to death, but enough to speed me along at a sub 10 min/mile. I lost five minutes waiting for a porta-potty around mile 8, but I'm still happy with my finish time. It was right in the window that I was planning on, leaving myself some energy for the nearly 7 more miles I had to run afterwards to get my 20 for the day.  At the finish line, Krista was there with a sign, cheering me on. 

Will run for cookies.

It's always nice to have a familiar face at the end of a race. And cookies are just the cherry on top. I survived my hour long drive home without my legs stiffening up much. Hooray! So it wasn't too bad to coax myself on to the treadmill to log the remaining 6.67 miles needed for my long run weekend. I made sure to just take it easy, since the miles mattered more than the time. I completed my 20 in a total of 4:18:07, which is actually the fastest that I have ever run that distance. And I even felt pretty good afterwards! I went out on a date that evening and was able to walk around all night, tackling flights of stairs and everything. The legs are a little sore today, but not as much as I had been anticipating. I must be making progress! 

Half #40! Over the hill!

I just have to knock out some recovery miles today and another decent week of training is over. Some weeks leave me feeling quite optimistic about my 50K. Other weeks leave me feeling terrified. But I guess that's just how life goes. I was in a bit of a funk a few weeks back, but a few good runs brought me out of it. June 21 is going to be here before I know it. Right now, I'm just trying to focus on getting through the Ogden Marathon here in a few weeks. Once I get that out of the way, I should feel confident enough to survive the 33 miles in June.

Eeeeeeee!

Until next time, happy running!

A race and then some.

Check this out!  A timely blogging! Don't get used to it though, I'm sure it's just a fluke.

So a few weeks ago, I conquered half marathon #38, the Riverton Half. It was so great this year! From start to finish, it was a wonderful experience. The race day packet pick-up saved me hours of drive time and was quick and easy. The race started on time and the new course was a huge improvement from what it was in 2012 when I last ran this race. I love getting to run on the Jordan River Parkway Trail, and they kept the majority of the race on it this time. The weather couldn't have been better either. The conditions made for a really strong race for me. I finished with a time I haven't seen since last summer. And I was able to come home and run one more mile, since I had 14 on the schedule for that day.

Bling! 

So after I had this really great race, I then proceeded to spend the next full week, and part of the week following, being incredibly sick. Some foul bug had been making the rounds in my house and it finally caught up to me. It ruined two weeks of training and left me feeling completely wrecked. I thought I would be back to 100% in time for my pacing duties at the Umstead 100 this weekend. Turns out I was very wrong about that.

It was the perfect storm of lack of proper sleep, dehydration, being on my feet too long that morning, and not really running for the two weeks prior that brought me down on my pacing lap. I ended up having to have Rachel leave me behind because I couldn't keep up with the pace she needed to maintain. It's a good thing we had doubled up on pacing duty so Amy could stay with her and finish out that lap.

But let's not dwell on the few hours of failure that I had during this weekend. Let's focus on all the good stuff that went on instead!

100 miles?! All at once?!

I got into Raleigh early enough to help Rachel finish up her pre-race preparations, getting all the gear together, organizing the crash cart, getting detailed instructions on how to charge the Garmin while running, what nutrition we should force on her when she didn't feel like eating, getting the drop bag ready, and finding somewhere to put the cases of Nutter Butter's she had bought for the event.

I've never seen so many Nutter Butter's in one person's possession before...

We had shirts that said "Rachel's Crew" on the front and within a few hours of hanging around the race course the night before, Rachel was a celebrity of sorts. People would spy our red shirts and hoot and holler for us and for her. Apparently, a crew of the size she had assembled is rarely seen.

Only about half of us are in this picture.

We had plenty of time to get our aid station set up and all ready for the long days ahead. People mocked her for staking out her place on the course Thursday night, but by the time they'd done a few loops on Saturday, they realized the brilliance of that strategic placement. We were very close to the turn around point, which meant that Rachel got to pass us twice in a short period of time. She could pass by, tell us what she needed, and we'd have it ready to go by the time she got back around to us. The system worked beautifully. We also made sure to have someone meet her about a half mile from the station to find out vital things like did she pee? What did she eat? How much did she drink? What does she need? These questions are basic, but extremely important to ask. We had to know how much she had taken in, how much was coming out, and also keeping an eye on her electrolyte intake. These things are what will make or break you in an ultra.

And they made her. She was smart. She stuck to her plan. She didn't get caught up in the excitement of the first few loops and go out too fast. She nailed her paces, kept her heart rate in check, and smiled her face off for basically the entire 100 miles. I've never seen anything like it.

100 miles? Sure, that's easy!

It was such a great experience to be a part of something like this. It was a weekend that I'll never forget . I loved the chance to get to help out all of the runners by being on kitchen duty in the morning, then manning our aid station, helping out not just our runner, but anyone in need. And to be able to be out there on a loop with Rachel, seeing how strong she was even after logging over 50 miles, it was truly inspiring. There were so many amazing people there, giving every thing they had to keep going. I get all goose pimply thinking about what was accomplished out there in the woods of North Carolina. An epic number of people came out to help Rachel obtain her goal, and I made many new friends because of it.

This isn't even her whole crew! She had supporters from all over the U.S. that came to help.

I could go on and on about how much it meant to me to be a part of this huge event, but I won't babble anymore than I already have. If you really want to know what it's like, go hang out and volunteer for an event and experience it first hand. You won't be sorry. And until then, happy running!

I do stuff, I just forget to tell y'all about it...

So I've been doing quite a bit these days... Not that blogging has been one of those things. But here I go, changing all that, for the time being at least.

Me, blogging.

I had my first race volunteer experience in February. I went down to Moab to help with the Red Hot Ultra, a 33K/55K race through the red rocks. I spent part of an evening and most of the next day wholly involved in parking logistics. It sounds incredibly glamorous, I know. At first, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to be out on the course, helping the runners. But the runners needed their cars parked or they couldn't even get to the start of the race. Besides, helping with parking meant I got to wave neon orange flags around and how could I feel bad about that? I made it as fun as possible, coming up with different dances to do with the flags whilst guiding cars to their proper parking spots. One woman even took a video of me dancing. I was THAT good, you guys.

After the morning parking, we had to head to the finish line parking so that the spectators could get all set to go see their runners finish. That's where I spent the bulk of race day. But the location for the parking was the Goldbar Campground, right on the river. It's a gorgeous spot in a red rock canyon with the lazy river winding its way through, and you can see a couple arches right from there. At this point, I was spending most of the time teaching another volunteer's daughter how to dance with the flags. Seven year olds happen to think that I'm the coolest, just so you know. She was super disappointed when I got relieved to go grab some lunch up at the finish line. When I came back, she made sure to make the guy who covered for me give the flags back so we could resume our car parking dance party. It was a really long day, but the time flew by. And I got a lot of smiles and waves from the runners and spectators for my epic dancing skillz.

My dancing weapon of choice.

It was fun to see a different side of the race scene. I ran into the race director last weekend when I went down to run the Canyonlands Half and he said he'd love to have me back. I may just go ahead and make this a yearly tradition, since I'm too much of a baby to run the thing...

That was a really great segue into talking about the last half I ran. Man, I am getting good at this blogging thing. Anyway, the Canyonlands Half Marathon was last Saturday, it was my third time running it, and the 37th half of my career. I met up again with my yearly Moab friends. We only really see each other for this race and no other time but it doesn't matter because we are bonded by the love of running (or something like that).

For the love of bling! 

The morning of the race started off a little chilly, but not too bad. I knew I would warm right up as soon as I started running. I was feeling good and ready to run. I had taken my running time on the Thursday before and spent it getting a massage instead, time well spent, if I do say so. Feeling fresh and springy, I quite enjoyed the first five miles of the race. I was on pace to smash last year's time by quite a bit. However, Mother Nature and my body had other plans for me. Around the five mile mark, a wicked headwind kicked up. It nearly pushed me over more than once. Not only was it a strong wind, it was bitter cold too. And it did not let up. As I was battling the wind, my body decided that it wanted to feel real sick. Because running against a beastly wind is more fun if you're trying not to throw up while you do it. It got to the point where I basically had to walk the last five miles of the race, just to not end up puking in the bushes. Every time that I tried to run, I would make it about 30 seconds before my stomach started doing backflips. It was a long five miles to the end. At least when we got to mile eleven, the wind was sort of at our backs and almost seemed to be helping at times, except for the massive amounts of dirt it kept depositing in our eyes and mouths.

A runner's home away from  home.

 I ended up with my slowest finish time for this race (not my slowest overall by a long shot though). I was just happy to have finished it at all without tossing my cookies all over the road. I have my own code, if I ever throw up from running, I will NEVER do it again. As much as I love running (I do love it, right? Right?!) I hate throwing up that much more.

Just say no to puking. 

I know in my last blog post, I was all excited about the metabolism diet that I was trying. Well, I lost a few pounds, but I also started to feel really awful. I was dizzy all the time, my head hurt, and I was very sluggish. I know my trainer thinks that he knows what's best, but he's not a distance runner and it seems that my needs are different that this diet could provide for. The lack of grains is a problem. Since I've added them back in, I feel much better. It's been a frustrating journey with the trainer. I weighed about 15 pounds less when I started with the trainer. I thought it would be the key that would get me slimmed down just a bit so I could run a little faster. I'm mostly just tired and cranky though. The three trainer sessions per week mixed with 5 days of running are proving to be too much for me, especially since I also work full time. There's just not enough recovery time built in. I hope I can still finish my 50K in June without dying. The problem is that I have a contract that doesn't run out for a few more months and I'm not really a fan of just throwing money away, so I'll ride it out until the end.

I've got a slew of races coming up and I'll do my best to keep y'all posted. Until then, happy running!

New year, new races.

The 2014 race season has arrived. A scant 5 weeks after my 2013 season ended... I'm not much for down time. You don't get medals for down time.

You do get medals for running around in circles at the Olympic Oval, however. So that's how I chose to start my 2014 season. The race wasn't the most exciting I've ever been to, but there were some familiar faces there to keep me company. Well, to keep passing me every couple of laps or so anyway. It was nice to have an aid station available on every lap and it was stocked with Swedish Fish, a welcome treat at any race.

Mmm. Swedish.

The best part was being able to watch the speed skaters whooshing around on the ice track just inside the running track. They made it look so effortless, and it was a nice distraction from running in circles. Another nice distraction was the people who were spinning on the bikes for the whole time. They had it worse off than we did.

Aside from the obvious boredom of track running for hours, there was the issue of lap counting. They had sensors out that were supposedly tracking how many times one went around. You could hear a faint beep as you passed over, letting you know it registered. But there were times when too many people went across at once and it didn't seem to be able to get everyone. In the end, it said I had registered 48 laps, enough to be a half marathon. But those 48 laps took me 3:20:23, which is close to my worst finish time ever, the finish time where I walked most of the time due to IT band issues. I am consoling myself with the fact that there were issues with the lap counts, as well as the fact that I was running in the outside lanes of the track, thus logging more actual mileage. It was a well put together race aside from the lap counts though. The very friendly volunteers and a cool venue made it a nice way to start the year.

Half marathon #36 in the books.

I decided that just one race in January wasn't good enough, so the next weekend, I opted for the Frigid 5K with optional polar plunge. Since I'm now in training for the Ogden Marathon and the Trail Rail Run 50K, I had to wake up early before the race and get some extra mileage in before the 5K. I was worried that it would impact my finish time at the race but I actually ran pretty well and got a my standard 5K time. A couple of friends even joined me for this race. It was nice of them to brave the 19 degree temps to come out and run. And another friend joined in to be the camera man and take pictures.

It's not THAT cold. (Yeah, right.)

Success! 

I did indeed freeze my buns off.

And since it wasn't enough to just freeze my buns off by running in the wintertime, I had opted in to the polar plunge as well. I watched with trepidation as they took a chainsaw to the icy surface of Utah Lake and cut a hole for us to jump in. They made it as safe as possible by lowering a cage into the hole so that no one would sink too far or float under the ice. I appreciated that safety precaution very much, since dying in a frozen lake isn't my idea of a good time.

Really regretting my life choices right now.

The group of crazies that I had joined was a fairly rowdy bunch. It took the edge off to be in a fun group before possibly jumping to my doom. The shirtless man behind on the right offered to push me in if I couldn't make myself jump. He was a little too eager, but it's good to know that people have your back. He told me after that he was very proud of me since he didn't have to push me in after all.

Despite the look on my face, it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be.

The look of relief is priceless. 

The worst picture of me in the history of the world. But also, a picture of victory. And a really great, green towel.

So there's 2014 so far. It's going to keep on bringing new challenges and adventures. My training has been really solid so far and I've found a massage therapist that is very close to where I live. I've decided that if I'm going to put my body through everything that I have planned, I had better take real good care of it. I'm on a new metabolism diet to help get my weight down, getting a sports massage every three weeks, continuing with my cross training at the gym, and doing heart rate training to get my heart rate down. Hopefully, all this combined will give me a very successful racing season.

I'm also going to be more involved in the volunteer side of races this year. Next month, I'm heading down to Moab to help out with the Red Hot Ultra and in April, I'm flying out to North Carolina to volunteer at the Umstead 100, as well as pace a friend through a portion of her first 100 mile effort. I think this is going to be my most fun year yet!

Happy running :)

5 Race Recap?!

I was pretty sure I had blogged more recently than I actually had... Turns out I have 5 races to report on. I don't think I have ever let this many races go by without a post. Oops. I won't even ask for forgiveness. I don't deserve it.

Let's cast our minds back to mid October. The weather was fine in Moab, as usual. The Other Half was waiting for me in all its hilly glory. The Other Half is one of my favorite races, although the course is also one of the tougher ones. A lazy girl like me should hate this race and its relentless hills, but I really enjoy this one. I think it has to do with the scenery, the race swag, and of course, the chance to go to Moab. This race is really well organized and the fire pits at the start are heavenly. Everyone huddles around to stay warm and it's a good time to get to meet new people. I met a very nice man named Kirt, who has been at many of the same races that I have. Hopefully, we'll keep running into each other. Meeting new running friends is always exciting. I was able to beat last year's time on this course by about 14 minutes. That felt great, since I had been sick for the 4-5 days before the race. I didn't really do any running that week because of the cold I had. I guess the rest paid off!

Gorgeous scenery!

A strong finish!

A perfect day.

Gotta love the pint glass.

Just 6 days later, I was on a bus, being shuttled up Provo Canyon to run the Halloween Half Marathon. Now I know I had said that I would never run this one again. And I wasn't going to. Then I learned that they had changed the course, the busing, and the start. This was intriguing to me, so I gave it another shot. This year was a much better experience all the way around. We didn't have to get on a bus at 4 a.m. for a race that started at 9 a.m. This was a huge improvement. The course didn't have the steep, awful switchbacks this time. Instead, it ran along part of the Utah Valley Marathon course. The packet pickup was also much improved from last time and I got a shirt that actually fits. It was a bit of a rough race for me, I was feeling tired and fatigued, but I got it done. And I managed a sub 3 hour finish, which surprised me, since I certainly felt like I was going much slower.

The closest to skin and bones I'll ever be.

It's a pretty sweet shirt.

I then had a whole week where I didn't have to run a race at all. It was strange, but nice. After my tiny break, it was time to pack up and drive to Las Vegas for the Ragnar! I was pretty excited about this one, even though I really wasn't sure how I was going to do. My total mileage was relatively low, 12.4 miles roughly. At first I was disappointed by the lower mileage, but then I knew it would be good for my body to take it easy this time. Last year in Vegas, I ran over 21 miles in the two days. I didn't have to prove anything this time around. 

Basil got decked out for his trip to Vegas.

I survived the solo 6 hour drive down to Sin City and met up with my team. It was good to see them all again, plus a few new faces. The team that I ran Wasatch Back with had invited me along for the Vegas adventure and I readily accepted. I wanted that Saints and Sinners medal real bad. We had an overall good time, no drama to contend with (at least in my van). I heard rumblings of some trouble in the other van, but our Ultra team and Van 1 were doing great. Van 1 rules! Woooo! Okay, now that I got that out of the way... Everyone nailed their legs, the sleep deprived shenanigans were many and varied. A rubber chicken cheered people on. It was a magical adventure through and through.

A beautiful finish line.

Love the double medals!

Van 1 rules! Yeah! Wooo! 

Sweet, sweet bling.

After I recovered from the riotous Las Vegas Ragnar, it was time to run the Mustache Dache. This race is a 5K with proceeds going to men's cancer research in conjunction with Movember. I had talked a few friends into running it with me but due to some unforeseen circumstances, only Jesse and I were able to run it. It was a cold, snowy day. But it was a short race, so it wasn't so bad. My face did try to freeze clean off, thanks to my lack of facial hair. Jesse was perfectly comfortable in his beard. We made sure to get a warm breakfast following the race. I finished in a fairly decent time, for me at least. I have been struggling with some serious calf cramping issues and was pleased with how I was able to do. 

A medal for a 5K? Don't mind if I do!

And finally, my last race of the year was on Thanksgiving day. I was originally supposed to be running the Seattle Marathon (actually, I would be running it as I type this, if things would have worked out) but life got in the way, not enough leave from work, not having the training to meet their strict 6 hour cutoff, money constraints, etc. But I didn't want to end the year with a 5K, so I decided to run the Thankful 13 again this year. I really enjoyed it last year, and this year my little brother would be joining me! It was his second half and he really had a good time with this one. The course was different than last year, but it was still quite nice. The finish line was a fun, party atmosphere with lots of families and kids having a great time. It was a perfect way to earn our turkey. I did have more of the calf cramping problem throughout the race, so I was happy to finish at three hours. It was slower than last year, but a finish is all that matters. 

Whoosh! 

Feeling much better this time around.

Bones go with Thanksgiving, right? Right?

Oh noooooo!

Such a fun race :)

Comfy shirt, and the medal has a turkey joke on the back!

So there you go. Lots of pictures and not a lot of explanation. What can I say? I'm a lazy blogger as well as a lazy athlete. I'm going to enjoy this bit of time off. I can't stop running completely though. I have a half marathon the second week in January... And then the training for the Ogden Marathon starts, as well as my 50K training. If I could just make myself go get a good sports massage, I think that would help with the leg fatigue and cramping that's been happening. I should probably make massages and foam rolling more of a priority if I think I going to keep this up. But like I said, I'm a lazy athlete! I've been doing this long enough that I think my next year's training will be a little different. I'll do my best to keep y'all posted!

Enjoy the holidays, and keep on running happy!