Nam Nam Nam

Our friend, Joshua, is famous for his rice krispy treats (RK's).  And because he's awesome, he usually sets a few extras aside for my little family.  We're lucky.  The other day, we scored some brownie/cookie dough RK's.  Needless to say, Bear approved:

Ogden 26.2: Week FIFTEEN (Strider's Ogden 30K)

On Monday, the Salt Lake Running Company held a free Boston Memorial 5K.  I wanted to get some extra mileage in, so Joshua and I decided to run TO the race from my complex.  We're hardcore.  Joshua was wearing an awesome shirt he made last year with a quote by sweet 8 yr old Martin, who was killed at the Boston bombing.  "No more hurting people.  Peace."  The names of the other 3 victims killed were on the back.  The Boston bombing was such a horrible act.  I just read Jeff Bauman's memoir, one of the men who lost both of his legs.  It has been amazing to watch the running community and Boston come together and refuse to be weakened.  Boston STRONG!

It was a nice, easy downhill run.  We made it to the starting line with about 2 minutes to spare, though!  Close!  We met up with a nice-sized group of RA peeps.  I barely had time to choke down a Gu before I had to start running again!  I ran most of the 5K with Meridith.  It was just a straight out and back course, nothing too exciting, but we had good conversation, so that was fun.  Since we are a family, we all rallied together and cheered everyone is as they came across.  No RunAway left behind!!

On Wednesday, I did intervals at the Church parking lot.  Those are never fun, but the benefits are so worth it.  My friend, Jarom, and I joke that pushing yourself to the speed where you feel like you're going to puke is the key to getting faster.

So yesterday was the Strider's 30K in Ogden.  30K is 18.6 miles.  I had a 20-miler on the schedule for this day, so it worked out.  My sweet friend, Sonja, has an injured ankle and was unable to run it, so she kindly gave me her spot.  AND she offered to let me stay with her the night before, since she lives in Ogden.  The race was kind of a crazy experience, but first of all, I need to go off for a moment about how much I LOVED her house!  Cutest, coziest bungalow ever.  I know we shouldn't covet, but....I am a little bit obsessed.

Anyway, Sonja made the most AMAZING homemade pizza for us for dinner.  We chatted nonstop for a few hours, and then hit the sack.

We woke up at 6 the next morning (MUCH better than how early I would have had to wake up if I'd been at home!).  We drove up Ogden canyon to the start.  It was drizzling rain, and showed NO sign of letting up.  Joshua was running it with me, and we had decided to get some garbage bags to wear.  Sounds and looks super ghetto, BUT it really helps keep your core much warmer.  Our clothing still got wet, but we didn't lose our body heat nearly as much as we would have.  We pinned our numbers on, visited the Honey Buckets, and then put our bags on.  Josh emerging from his bag was pretty hilarious!

Little funny story:  So Joshua and I first met and became friends last October when Nate ran the Haunted Half.  So we joke that April 26 is our 6-month "Runniversary".  I was signing the waiver when I picked up my bib and chip, and when I dated it 4/26, I showed Joshua, and he goes, "Oh, that's right, it's our 6-month anniversary!"  The girl at the table immediately looked over and said, "Congratulations!!"  We laughed and corrected her, but it was really funny.  I love friendiversaries.  Ermie and I celebrate ours each year....coming up on 15 years!!  I love my friends!!

We look so happy and innocent here....we had NO idea what we were in for.  Well, I mean, we knew we were in for 18.6 miles of rain, but I dunno.  This run just ended up being SO DIFFICULT.

We were one of the last few people to start.  We trudged along the first few miles.  We met a few other runners, took some pictures, visited.  It was slow going, though.  The course was pretty flat, with just some very gradual hills that you don't really notice until you realize you've slowed down.  I actually think those types of hills are worse than the obvious hills that you can see and tackle.  Our miles were pretty slow.  I'm not quite sure why, but they just dragged on and on.  We tried to stay positive and visit, but for whatever reason, we just both were starting to deteriorate pretty early on.  Like by Mile 6, I just wanted to sit down and never run again.  NOT a good sign when you're only 1/3 through a run!

Sonja was working at the Mile 9 Aid Station.  It really helped seeing her at the halfway point.  She loaded us up with chocolate Gu and offered to take Joshua's backpack from him.  We all thought it would be a good thing for him to be carrying less, but it turned out to be a mistake because later on, he was REALLY needing calories, and he didn't have anything with him!  More on that in a sec.

After we left Sonja (which was SO tough to do....her nice, warm car was parked right there!), we sludged along.  We kept having to walk and were honestly just miserable.  We tried so hard to not get discouraged, but we just did NOT want to run.

About a mile later, I think my chocolate Gu kicked in, and I felt okay for a little bit.  I told Joshua I was going to keep running.  I thought I'd run a little ahead, but I surprised myself by not needing to walk for a little bit, so I just sort of zoned out and kept going.  I TOTALLY ditched him!  I felt bad, but when I got to the Mile 12 Aid Station, I looked back and couldn't even see him, so I decided to just keep going.  I'm a horrible friend!!

So I ran the next 5 miles alone.  I passed several people, which made me feel hardcore, but overall, I was just miserable.  I texted Nate at Mile 13 and told him I hate this run!  I ate a Cliff Bar, and that helped.  I prayed and asked God to strengthen me and get me through this.  Sonja drove past me at about Mile 15 and gave me some encouragement.  That helped a ton!  Sonja was such a saint for this run!

Finally at Mile 17, I caught up with a girl name Chris, who we had met back in the early miles.  We ran the last mile together, and that was really nice.  She is running the Ogden marathon, too.  I love meeting new running friends.  I love how easily we click with each other because we are all accomplishing and working towards the same goals.  It's amazing.

I finally crossed the finish line with Chris.  I was supposed to go tack on an extra 1.5 miles to get to 20, but it just wasn't happening.  I don't think the extra mile would have benefited me at that point anyway.  I had been running for almost 4 hours!

Sonja and I sat in her car, I changed my shirt, warmed up, and we waited for Joshua.  We waited...and waited....we decided to drive down the course and check on him.  He was in last place, so we were worried.  We found him about half a mile away, hunched over.  He said he'd just thrown up and was about to pass out.  We got him into Sonja's car to warm up.  He was shaking.  I felt SOOOO bad for him.  After a few minutes, he got out and tried to walk the rest of the course, but just couldn't.  We drove him to the finish line, and he walked across the finish line and got his medal.  He earned that medal.  I was so proud of my dear friend!

Sonja bought us some hot chocolate (which I accidentally left on her counter, grrrrr) and we went back to her place to change.  Then we stopped by the running store to snag our free water bottle (Camelback!  Score) and then had lunch at Kneaders.  Sonja is such a blast to hang out with.  She was our big sister for the day, and I think this day would have been even worse without her!

I still feel guilty about leaving Joshua behind.  He keeps telling me not to worry about it, but I feel like the worst friend ever.  I need to bake a triple batch of pretzel bites to make it up to him.

TOUGH course.  This profile makes it look obviously hilly, but all of these climbs were gradual, so they just wore on us mile after mile.  I'm so glad that's over!  Although, I guess if I look on the bright side, I set a 30K PR!  It was nice to see/drive some of the marathon course.  Plus, as Sonja pointed out, this was an "honest" training run.  No advantages.  Sheer hard work.  I feel very ready to tackle my marathon in 3 weeks!!

Last night, I drove out to West Jordan and had a girlie movie night with a bunch of my running girls.  There was so much yummy food, hilarious conversation and the movie, Austenland, was SO funny and cute.  I think most of us are running the Provo Half next weekend.  Finally some DOWNHILL!  Can't wait!

Top:  Sonja, Camille, me.
Bottom:  Jerri, Elvia, Meridith, Terri

Ogden 26.2: Week NINE

My marathon training is officially HALF OVER.  I can't believe it.

I was reading a post I wrote back at the beginning of January about how scared I was to begin training.  Now, 9 weeks later, I am feeling awesome and full of confidence that this marathon IS going to happen.  Last week's 15 miler was really tough.  I was hurting pretty badly by the end, and that scared me a lot.  I'll go into more detail about it later in this post, but today's 17-miler was AMAZING.  I am so excited.

On Tuesday, Ashley and I did some speed work around the Village.  Nothing fancy, just tried to keep our pace up.

On Wednesday, I did a 9-mile trail run with Meridith and London.  This was my first time running with Meridith, and it was so fun!  I loved getting to know her better.  And London is always a blast!  We started at the zoo trailhead, ran all the way over to the top of Dry Creek Canyon, and then ran back.  Wow, it was SO much more difficult than I thought it would be.  But we DID IT.  The hills were INSANE.  I've done each section a few times, but I've never put all three together.  And back!  When we got to the top of Dry Creek, the views were amazing.  The trail kept going off to the north and disappeared around a bend, so we decided to tack on an extra half mile and see what was over there.  Rounding that bend nearly took my breath away (that sounds so dramatic, but it's TRUE!).  It was GORGEOUS.  The three of us all stopped and were just in awe.  It was a very, VERY cool moment that I will always remember.  This photo does not do it justice.

Me, London, Meridith

This run completely killed my legs.  I could barely move the rest of the day!  Probably not the best idea to do this tough of a trail run in between two long runs, but I just cannot resist these trails!

I took Thursday and Friday off to rest up for today.

SEVENTEEN MILES!!  I was nervous, but mostly excited.  This is the route that we planned out:

It's hard to tell on this map, but that pretty much runs along about half of the entire Salt Lake valley.  I was intimidated, but also determined and ready to kill it.

This morning, I met Cindy and Joshua at the 3900 S parking lot (Mile 17).  They piled in my van, and we drove up.  We met the rest of the gang.  Once we started getting further into the canyon, we started getting into snow.  And wind.  The roads ended up being pretty bad, so we turned back and started at Mile 3.  It was a wise decision.  We still had to run the first several miles in snow and wind and COLD.  But we are awesome and didn't let it stop us.  We just knew we'd have to make up the mileage at the end.

I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!  When I signed up for the marathon, I had NO idea my Saturday long runs would end up like this.  Absolutely amazing.

(In case you're wondering, YES my calves were FREEZING and bright red.  Luckily it warmed up after a few miles of getting lower in elevation, and I ended up being glad I was dressed how I was.)

So Vince, Jonathan, Shelley and Meridith are speedy, so they immediately took off.  I actually didn't see them again.  The rest of us stuck together.  Terri (the cute, short lady in white) was a few minutes slower than our pace, but Christy and I didn't want to ditch her, so we stayed with her.  It was slower than I wanted to run, BUT looking back, I think it was actually very wise for me to save my energy, so now I'm grateful.  Plus, I got to visit with her and learn more about her conversion to the Church not long ago.  She is an amazing woman.

It was fun to chat with Christy, too.  I LOVE that girlie.  We always have fun together!

Gorgeous views.  Once again, hard to capture in a photo.

Katheryn and me.  We're going to run that marathon together.

Christy and I around Mile 10-ish, I think?

Our view along Wasatch, heading north.  This was such a great course.  I'd love to do it again!

 Once we got to the park & ride at the bottom, Terri, Meridith and Shelley left.  The rest of us trudged along Wasatch.  This is where I had to mentally start to dig in a bit.  I spent the rest of the run mostly chatting with Cindy.  She taught me some great techniques for running up hills, and I was able to tackle all of the nasty hills along the last few miles, which I was planning on having to walk.  I'm so grateful for her!  We talked a lot about running and RA and what those mean to us.  Talking with her brought on a lot of this clarity I'm feeling, and I know that her being there was not random, either.

I love Robert Merriman.  I say that all the time, but I really do!  He makes me feel safe.  He's so kind and comforting and encouraging.  And so so hilarious.  I loved running with him today, as always!  And he brought me Welsh cakes.

I felt really good for the entire run.  I tried to stay really fueled and hydrated and not wait until I was hungry or thirsty or feeling sluggish.  This is good!  I'm learning what works for me, and that boosts my marathon confidence as well.

When we got back to the parking lot, I was only at about 14 miles, so Katheryn and I turned around and ran back up Wasatch for another mile.  She is running Ogden with me, so we took our minds off of our tired legs by talking about logistics and how we want to approach the big day.  I was tired, but overall still felt pretty good when I finished 17 miles.  This run was such a confidence booster!  I still have 9 more weeks of training, and I can already run 17 miles (albeit slowly).

I DID IT!  I am so happy with how this week went.  This coming week is a step-back week, so that will be good to rest a little before I take on 18 miles.

P.S. Today I hit 1004 total miles of running since I started exactly two years ago (March 16, 2012 was my first run.  Two miles, and I had to take walking breaks).  Not a big number compared to many runners I know, BUT as a busy mom of 3 young kids with a husband in grad school, I'm very proud of that number!

P.S.S.  After the run, Joshua and I decided to fulfill a dream of ours we've had for nearly 6 months now and go get tacos at the Sears taco stand downtown.  Don't ask.  Just know that it was a life-changing experience.  And very, VERY delicious.  And hilarious.  And the essence of our friendship.

And...I look awesome after running for over 3 hours...

I was SO hungry, that I couldn't even wait to get home to start chowing down.  Yum.

Spirit of the Marathon

Several weeks ago, I decided to get a movie called "The Spirit of the Marathon" at my library.  I hadn't seen it before, and I knew it would pump me up and motivate me.  I threw a post on RA jokingly that said, "Who wants to come over for a movie night?"  Well, my little inquiry turned into a big dinner party at Robert Merriman's house over the weekend.  It was a complete blast!

We had Indian food and salads and desserts.  Chicken curry, saag paneer and naan.  I could not stop eating!  It was so fun to see and visit with everyone.  Susette had some games for us to play, and they were HILARIOUS.  This group is so great.  The Merriman's house was gorgeous.  It was sweet of them to host our crazy bunch!

The movie was awesome.  It follows six people along their journey to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon.  I had to hold back tears when I watched them each cross that finish line.  That moment of crossing that finish line is what I think about every single day right now.  It's going to be incredible.

Waffle Mania

Nate and I had a waffle maker when we were first married, but it was horrible.  The waffles stuck to the iron no matter what I did.  We hated dealing with it, so we never made waffles and eventually got rid of it.

Last week, Nate's grandparents gave us a Belgian waffler maker for Christmas.  I found an easy, quick recipe online and away I went.  They turned out SO yummy.  I literally cannot stop making them!  I have eaten them for breakfast, lunch or dinner EVERY single day since!  The joke is that I need an intervention.  But come on, what's wrong with lovin' waffles?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2rkKXL2gk

Yesterday we invited our friends, Josh and Heidi over for a double date of pizza and games.  It was so much fun!  We played Apples to Apples, attempted Pit (needed more people), Mad Gab, and UNO Flash.  By the end of the evening, we were laughing SO hard.

So back to the waffle mania that suddenly is my life, I decided to attempt Brownie Waffles for dessert.  They turned out delicious, but were a bit of a hassle to make.  It took a few tries to get it right, and I have to thank Joshua for surgically removing the waffles from the grooves for me!

In other non-waffle news, Clarence went to time-out for the first time.  She's starting 2014 off with a bang!

No, seriously the kids are having a fun break.  I taught Cam how to play Uno and Sequence.  Claire loves the Topple Tree game and puzzles, and Allie and I have been playing "tennis" (it's really baseball).  The girl has quite an arm!

Like I said before, I didn't really set official New Years resolutions.  But yesterday, I did decide to try a different approach to improving on some things.  Reward charts!  I know, that sounds like I'm about 5, but I'm a visual person!  So for the month of January, I made a chart for all of the things I want to do/not do, and each day, I'll check it off.  At the end of January, if I was successful, I'll treat myself to something.  I also made a chart for our family scripture study and prayers.  The kids get to take turns putting the stickers on, and each month we get to treat ourselves to ice cream as a family.  I think it will be fun!

Earning our Thanksgiving Dinner

Today was a first for me.  Running a race on Thanksgiving morning!  EARNING that turkey feast!

Nate, Missy, Ashley, Hilary, Ryan, Joshua and I ran the Thankful 13 Half Marathon.  We all signed up for it back in September.  Susette Fisher, Monte Riding and Robert Merriman also ran.  Always fun to see them!

This was Josh's 50th half marathon!  Holy smokes!  Unfortunately, MY bib was #50, and his was #52.  We really wanted to trade!  I was excited to run a race with him.  He has quickly become one of my very best friends.

So we all met up, used the Honey Buckets as needed, and stuffed ourselves into our van to keep warm.  It was kind of hilarious seeing Ashley and Robert try to sit in the girls' carseats.  Sorry, guys!  We pinned our bibs on, chatted/laughed for a few (Josh!  Are you looking at me?! and Oh my gosh, we MATCH!!), and then after my van gave birth to Josh, we headed over to the starting line.

Ashley and I had matching headbands on purpose.  We had an extra special reason on the side to be running this race.  Love you, Ashley and Robert!

Josh and I went to the back of the pack.  I knew this would be a slow run for me.  The hip is doing better, but not 100% yet.  I have also had a cough for the past few days, and I haven't run in 3 weeks.  Not the best way to head into a half marathon!  But what could I do?  Luckily awesome Susette was pacing the 2:40 group, so that was going to just be fun.

The race started, and right when we got to the starting mats (not sure what they're called?), Josh realized he hadn't started his watch, so we left him there.  I felt bad, but I knew he could catch up.  He said he was pretty panicked while waiting for the satellite.  Luckily it wasn't a big deal.  Nate had our Garmin, so I hadn't even thought about it.

Susette, Josh and I stayed together for the first 4 miles or so.  We chatted about Biggest Loser and running and how Susette thinks Nate looks like John Mayer (huh...yeah I can kind of see it!!).  The course weaved along Jordan parkway and some farmland.  We passed a few white donkeys, and Josh yelled "asses!!" really loud.  I'm pretty sure I lost more calories laughing than I did running.  Along the course, there were signs of different things runners were grateful for that they had submitted.  Joshua's made the cut, bad grammar and all!

Somewhere around Mile 4, I ended up going ahead of Susette and Josh, just a little.  I don't know why I did that.  So I was alone for the next 7-8 miles.  Kind of lame.  Oh well.  Around Mile 8, I started to lose steam.  My biggest regret of this run was that Nate had taken our amphipod belt for his stuff, so I didn't have any chews or gels with me.  BAD idea.  I drank some Powerade at the aid stations and tried to choke down a NASTY orange-flavored Gu from an aid station, but I just needed my usual chews.

My hip was holding out okay, but I was just exhausted and slow.  I was hungry and had no energy.  I started taking short walking breaks around Mile 9.  BLAH.  It was not fun.  Right around Mile 11 (I think....it was a blur by then), I heard Josh start yelling in a distressed voice, "Becky!  Becky!"  He knows I hate being called that name!  It was hilarious!  He and Susette caught up to me, which was awesome AND lame.  I was SO glad to see them....but that also meant I had slowed WAY down and was threatening to finish in the 2:40's....NO!!!

I tried SO hard to start running with them, but I could barely move forward.  Then, angel Susette gave me an extra chocolate-flavored Gu she had.  It was JUST what I needed!  And it tasted like heaven.  Josh and Susette ended up being a little ahead of me the rest of the way.  I tried so hard to catch up, but there were some nasty hills that did me in.

Finally that blessed 12-mile Marker appeared, and I knew I had ONE mile left.  I upped my pace a tad and tried to run my best for the last mile.  Nate and Missy were cheering for me at the finish line.  I saw Josh finish, and I caught up with Susette JUST in time and finished with in 2:39:23.  NOT great.  BUT...given the circumstances, I was also happy to atleast finish and do better than I had at the Salt Lake Half back in April. I know that every race can't be my best time, but I truly gave my best effort.  I need to heal and then work on getting stronger.

Josh finished a little ahead of me, got his medal and turned around and started yelling "BECKY!!" again.  Grrrr.  JUST for this, I have started calling him my Bestie....which he IS, but he hates that word.  So there.

I found Nate and headed directly for the PIE.  I was STARVING.  They had pie and rolls and BUNDT cake (NOT butt cake...the announcer kept talking about butt cake, which was hilarious!).  We sat down on the grass and ate and ATE.  I could NOT stop eating.  Josh went and got hot chocolate, and I don't even know why, but he came back to the group and said, "I suck at life."  Cracked us all up.  Ahhh, I love the post-race food and visiting.  It makes all of the pain and misery worth it!  When can I do it AGAIN???

So Nate rocked it with a 2:13, and Missy rocked her first half with a 2:30.  Hilary and Ryan are awesome and both ran it under 2:00.  I think Ashley did, too (I didn't see her after).  Sigh...someday I'll be fast-er-ish.

We also got to visit with Robert Merriman for a few.  He is one of the most genuine, kind people I've ever met.  Josh and I are in awe of him a little bit.

We finally decided it was time to go, so we headed back to the parking lot.  If you've read previous blog posts, you know that Josh owed me some rice krispy treats.  Well, he definitely delivered!  They turned out to be the absolute most amazing things in the world. This is the description of them in his own words:

It's double-layered.  The bottom has pretzels and Reese's pb and then a layer of salted caramel.  And then the top layer is the Rice Krispies with Snickers.  There's also a little caramel and cake batter in the marshmallow mixture of the RK.

I mean, COME ON.  I had actually been thinking about them for the entire race (torture), and I knew they'd be good, but holy Hannah Montana, they were AMAZING.  I don't even know what words to use to describe them.  The salty pretzel and the caramel and chocolate, it was just perfection.  I stuffed my face with them all the way back to Nate's parents house.

Credit goes to Joshua for the artsy Instagram photo.

We drove back to West Jordan.  Robyn had taken our kids to a Mile Fun Run.  Cute!  We had an absolutely perfect Thanksgiving feast.  Robyn is amazing.  The yams.  The stuffing.  It was all perfect.  Going for a long run is the perfect way to build up a good appetite!  New tradition for SURE!  We spent the rest of the day just relaxing.  Visiting.  Dozing off.  Letting Claire climb all over me.  The kids had fun with their cousins, as always.

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  We all have SO MUCH to be grateful for.  It's easy to forget how blessed we are when things aren't going perfectly or when we look at how our world seems to be crumbling around us.  My absolute FAVORITE quote from President Thomas S. Monson is from this past Relief Society meeting.

Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.