"If we don't suffer enough we won't remember it."

4 miles

12 miles with Melanie.  Avg 7:15 pace.  We ran 4 miles warm-up then Melanie did a 5k race.  I started a few minutes ahead of the race, ran a few fast miles, and ran Melanie in the last 3/4 mile of her 5k.  Then we ran 5 miles cool-down.  We tried sitting in the Jordan River by the camp ground, but need to find a better spot.  Where we sat was more like a swamp.

4 miles avg 7:00 pace

6 miles with Josse, Melody, and Emily, avg 7:20 pace.  We ran 2 miles warm-up, 2 miles marathon pace and 2 miles cool-down.  Sat in the river.

4 miles avg 7:05 pace.  I felt tired and my back is tight.  I didn't feel like I could go any faster than 7:05 pace.  This made me nervous for the Utah Valley Marathon Saturday.  I just need to stay calm, sleep well, and trust that I'll feel better a few miles into the race when I'm warmed up.  I really want to PR on Saturday.  The forecast for wind from the south isn't helping me either.

Utah Valley Marathon today.  I felt good at the starting line and was confident I would have a good race, but things just didn't turn out like I planned.  The wind really hurt my time, but everyone was running into the wind.  I could have dealt with the wind ok knowing it was blowing against us all.  It was stomach issues that ruined the race for me.  I don't usually have stomach problems. 

I felt good for about 5 miles and then my stomach started feeling off.  I was uncomfortable, but still doing ok with it until about the half.  The miles around Deer Creek and clear down until the half-way point were just hard.  The wind was blowing what felt like at least 20 mph and my left quad really hurt going up the hills.  It was ok going down, but not up, which seemed odd.  At about mile 12 I looked at my time and thought, "I really thought I would be able to run faster than this."  I crossed the half at 1:30:35 and knew there was no way I would PR.  I didn't even have hopes for a sub 3 because I didn't think I had it in me to run the second half faster than the first. 

I took my first port-o-potty stop just after the 15th mile marker.  I was so uncomfortable and it just didn't seem worth it to poop my pants for a terrible time anyway.  Might have felt differently if I was on track for an awesome PR.  Somewhere around here I also felt as though I might throw-up for about a 1/2 mile. 

A mile or so later my brother came running  up the highway and ran down about 2 miles with me.  He told me I was in 4th place.  I thought for sure I was farther back than that.  Just after he turned off to the trail my husband pulled up with the kids.  My 9 yr old son Eli asked what my pace was and I said, "7 min" with a thumbs-down sign.  He had so nicely prayed in his personal prayers the night before that I would be able to accomplish my goal and beat my time.  He knew 7 min wasn't good enough. 

Just after the 19th mile marker I took another port-o-potty stop.  At this point I just wanted to be done.  I didn't care much about the time or place.  I think someone must have passed me while I was in the port-o-potty and two people passed me along University Ave. 

I never "hit the wall" and really felt horrible, just a lot of very uncomfortable miles.  Josse ran a mile or so with me towards the end which was nice.  I finished in 3:06:38. 

My husband and kids were there cheering for me.  They knew I hadn't placed in the top 5 and didn't win anything.  A few minutes after I finished my 6 year old daughter Elsa said, "Well, it was more fun when you won."  I couldn't help but laugh at that.

Splits: 6:26, 6:33, 6:35, 6:43, 6:47, 6:51, 6:50, 7:24, 7:32, 6:44, 6:54, 7:17, 7:02, 6:59, 6:55, 8:46 (1:30 sec in port-o-potty), 7:11, 7:02, 6:43, 8:12 (1:15 sec in port-o-potty), 7:08, 7:12, 7:12, 7:31, 7:26, 6:56, last .2 6:47 pace. 

Only 4 miles because my quad hurt in the spot where it hurt during the race.

4 miles quad felt much better on the run.  I thought I was good to get back on running full swing.  Then I hurried around the house for an hour or so getting ready to go to youth conference and somewhere in the up and down and kneeling etc. I pulled my quad again.  when I got in the car to leave I realized it hurt again.  At youth conference we did a ropes course that didn't help it any either. 

10 miles with my brother at about 9:00 p.m. Avg 7:40 pace.  I haven't run in the night since I did the ragnar 2 years ago.  My quad hurt again. 

My brother, sister, my mom and I all live in the same cul-de-sac.  We came home to see everyone cleaning up a disaster in my mom's basement.  She left the sink running in her laundry room and unfortunately the plug was down.  The sink overflowed for about an hour and destroyed the ceiling below it.  Fortunately it was in the storage room.  It's a storage room the size of a large bed room and we had to rip out the ceiling, take out the carpet etc.  I wasn't as helpful as I could have been because my quad hurt. 

I decided I need to "baby" my quad for a couple of days to get it better.  I tried to not use it at all, using my arms to push myself up and to lower myself down when I sit etc.  My goal was to not cause it any pain all day, but there were a few times I slipped.  It still hurts to push on the one spot.

Nothing - Trying to get my quad better

Still nothing - quad almost better.

4 miles avg 7:07 pace.  Felt like I haven't been running much.  Not a well rested feeling, more like I'm loosing conditioning feeling.

4 miles avg 7:19 pace.

11 miles avg 7:15 pace.  More like 10 miles @ 7:05 and one slower cool down.  Ran backwards ong the American Fork 1/2 Marathon course until I met Melanie and Kim, turned around and ran the last 5 miles in with them.  Then we ran a 1 mile cool down.  I felt good.  When I got back I told my husband, "I feel like myself again."  It's been about 2 weeks since I felt good.

4 miles avg 7:07 pace.

Late leaving house.  2 miles warm-up @ 6:45 pace.  I was breathing hard when I started my 800's on the track with Melody, Rebecca and Desssire.  2:54, 2:56, 2:58, 2:58, ? (missed timing 5th one), 2:57.  We only did a 200 meter recovery which was hard.  My last two I did more like a 300 meter recovery.  Ran 4 miles cool down home.

10 miles with Melody and Rebecca avg 7:12 pace

5 miles with Melody and Emily avg 7:23 pace

Spartan Beast 12 + Miles and 30 + Obstacles!  This race was awesome!  My brother Mark talked  me into doing it.  As we stood at the starting line of the "Competitive Heat" with 300 other "Spartan's," the announcer yelling, "Who are you?" and the crowd yelling, "I AM A SPARTAN!" my heart was beating so fast and I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into.  I've never felt so unsure of myself at a starting line and realistically didn't know if I would finish.

The race was three different loops, 90% on trails, approximately 4 miles each with multiple obstacles each mile, climbing over walls, crawling under things, muddy trenches, carrying heavy things, monkey bars, jumping along a stretch full of tires, balancing walk along poles, shooting a quarter from quite a distance, and a lot of crawling in mud under barbed wire (the longest stretch probably 100 meters uphill).  If you fail and obstacle you have to do 30 burpies.

My sister Tracy (www.tracyandersonphoto.com) although wedding photography is her specialty, came to the race and took some awesome pictures:

The long muddy uphill stretch!

This part seemed to take forever and I wished I had elbow and knee pads.  I'm pretty scraped up.

Mark was faster at the obstacles, but I'm a faster runner.  We were near each other for the first two loops.  Kept seeing each other at the obstacles.

The third loop had longer stretches of more running and that's when I passed a lot of people.

Actually feeling really good here at about mile 11. At this point I had only done one set of burpies when I couldn't climb the 25 foot rope out of the water filled mud pit that went up past my knees.  My javelin throw right near the end came up short, another set of burpies, and I fell off the wall with little 2" x 4" wood hand and foot holds that we had to scale along the side off, another set of burpies.  These were ugly burpies with some stopping and standing after every 5 or 10.  I was glad I had managed to complete so many of the other difficult obstacles as I was doing those last burpies only a few hundred yards from the finish line.  Of course I then had to go through another long muddy barbed wire stretch, a few more mud pits and past the three big men with padded poles knocking people down as they ran toward the finish line. 

Here is me and my ever so supportive husband.

My brother Mark and I at the finish.  Huge sense of accomplishment.  It was so hard and I was glad to be done, but I immediately thought, "I can't wait to do this again next year."  It was the most fun I've had in a long time.  I was just going for a finish and it was awesome.  However, when I realized how close I was to being in the top three I wished I would have pushed it more.  Next year I want to win.