Leg Maps are Posted

Leg maps for the course are now posted.
Go HERE

Ragnar Legs are Posted

They finally posted the legs for So Cal. Everyone head on over and check them out!
Ragnar So Cal

Turkey Day 5k

The Melver's put on one amazing race! Here are some of the beautiful women who braved the cold to run the Turkey Day 5k.

And here are the two cutest runners in the Bumpkin Pumpkin Dash.

RUNNING GROUPON

Hi Ladies,

I ran across the best Groupon today--$25 for $50 worth of stuff from Runner's Roost!! How amazing is that? Go get one and then go get some fun gear or new shoes. It doesn't expire until June 2011 so even if you can't use it right now, buy it, and I know you'll be able to use it by then.

Happy shopping!

Tara

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu5227756

Just for Grins

I wouldn't say I was bored, or that I really had the time to do this today... but let's just say that I got inspiredside-tracked while actually trying to accomplish something online today... and well, here's the product of my inspirationside-tracked-ness.  I may, or may not, have swiped these images from a certain website.  And I may, or may not, have edited the captions.  Just a little.  Enjoy!

We just might have to put one of these on a t-shirt.

We can do hard things

So I was standing in line to get my race packet for my Thanksgiving 5K yesterday morning when I started reading the shirt of the guy next to me. It was some ragnar team, but the sleeve is what really caught my eye...
"We can do hard things"
I almost said something to him about how their van was the beginning of many perverse jokes by our team, but I decided against it (I wanted to avoid an awkward 20 min... maybe he didn't think it was funny).

I Booked

DEN-LAX Thursday, April 14th 1:30pm
SAN-DEN Sunday, April 17th, 7:30pm
-Jamie

SOUTHWEST SALE

Southwest is having a sale and Nikki just got her ticket to LA for $69--all taxes included. Carrie just called and said the 7:30pm (ish) flight out of San Diego on Sunday night is also on sale for $59--which ends up being the same $69 with all taxes and fees. So...if you want to book one leg or the other....GO FOR IT!

Pain in the BUTT

I started running 12 years ago after my second son was born.  I had gained 50 lbs, he was colicky and had postpardom depression that required 6 months of therapy.  Running became an outlet for me when I couldn't seem to find it anywhere else.  Granted I was very slow, it gave me lots of time to think.

Now that I have been running for so long, I knd of depend on the reward and all the happy hormones it seems to send into my body.  So what do you do when you get injured...

Over the years I have had several injuries, plantar fasciitis, it band issues, and shin splints.  Injuries are to be expected and now I find my elf with a pain from the middle of my butt all the way down into my knee and then radiates down to my shin.s Obviously it is causing me not to run, but also having I am having a hard time walking and sitting.  What do I do now?

I WAS training for speed and was hoping to do a fast 5k for the Turkey Day 5 k.  Not to mention Ragnar in the Spring and The half Ironman in the Summer.  I worry that I will just continue to get hurt.

ANyway-can you tell I am frustrated and hate that I am not in control of my body.  Lots of cross training for me and I am going to see a physical therapist...YUCK!

Pain: It Reminds Me I'm Alive.

My typical weekly workout routine is to run 3 days a week (2 interval days on a treadmill at the gym and 1 long run outside), and 2 strength training group fitness classes (because I despise lifting weights on my own).  Mostly it's the strength training that makes me sore; but sometimes, randomly, it's the running.  Nevertheless, I'm used to being sore somewhere on my body.  All the time.  And I kind of like it.

Anyway, a few days ago I did a strength class that I haven't done in eons and it made me sore - per usual at first.  But then... HOLY MOLY... it made me sore in a place where I haven't been sore in a LONG TIME.  And I don't like it! 

It's my calves!  Of all the muscle groups, I dislike being sore in my calves the most.  Wearing 5" heels to church today didn't help.

Where do you dislike being sore the most?

save 15% on a southwest flight

I got this email from World Market today. If you spend $20, you can get 15% off a southwest flight. Worth looking into if you need something from World Market!

http://www.cpwmswa.com/

Also, if you open a Southwest credit card, you earn a free flight when you make your first purchase. Just throwing out options here....

Hi All

Just wanted to pop in an say HI and introduce myself. I am Jen Crook from Utah. I am friends with Amy Brasier and used to live in Longmont a million years ago.

I am a total beginner runner and can't even share my times or distance yet because I am seriously embarrassed. On the up side, I am training 3-4 times a week and have improved a lot since I began 7 weeks ago.

I am going to hold off buying a plane ticket and just watch prices for a while. I will keep track of everyone's arrival times and departure times so I can show up around the same time. I am just needing departure clarification...Sunday night or morning?

Anyone else from Utah? Can't wait to meet you all!

Earlier Flight

Would everyone be ok arriving in LA before 5? Susan makes a great point about getting the van, driving to Huntington, eating, etc....it would be LATE before we were all settled in. Not to mention we need to decorate the vans!

I looked at flights again and we can arrive at 11:30, 1:30, 3, or 4:20. So, should we say between 1 and 4 OR, since we are going to have to get a babysitter or our hubby take the day off anyway, should we leave Early and get in around 10 or 11? We've got 4 vans, so we have wiggle room for everyone to do what is best for them.

Everyone will be in charge of booking their own flight, but it would be fun to fly together as much as we can. So, I'm going to look into a little sidebar thing where you can tell us what airline and what time you are going to fly. So, when you get ready to book a ticket, add it to the sidebar, and then others can do the same!

FLIGHTS TO LAX

Post Edit: In the hour it took me to research flights and write this post, flight prices had already changed. So....if you want to get this deal, JUMP ON IT FAST. Having said that, I'm pretty confident there will be another sale before April.

Hi All!

Kimberlie and Jamie have told me that Southwest is having a sale right now where flights to LAX (one way) are $67, and home from San Diego $103. (To and From Denver. SLC flights are pretty high right now--I'd imagine you will find cheaper) These are a pretty good deal from Denver, so I thought that we'd hash out some flight arrangements, and if you want to purchase your tickets now, you can go right a head and do it. Obviously, you don't have to get your ticket now, but it's something to think about.

For those of you who were unable to attend the meeting a few weeks ago (probably due to living out of state) we collectively decided that we would fly TO LAX, and HOME from San Diego. This way we get the max time on the beach, and don't have to sit in traffic for 5 hours trying to get back to LA on Sunday. If you would like to fly in AND out of LAX, that is just fine, but you will need to provide your own transportation back to LA.

We are going to have a "flight window" so if you have frequent flyer miles, or can find a better fare on a different airline, you don't need to fly southwest, but you do need to arrive within the "flight window" so that we don't have to make a million trips to the airport, or so someone isn't stuck sitting at the airport for hours.

So, after looking at flight options, I propose that we ARRIVE at LAX sometime between 5 and 8pm. This way we can send a couple of vans with people who arrive earlier, and a couple of vans with people arriving a little later. (The 3:45-5:15 is looking GREAT to me)

And again, after looking at flight options, let's leave San Diego around 7:30. There are flights going both to SLC and to Denver right around that time.

PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment below so I know you got this info. And if you have any concerns or suggestions--please let me know. WHEW....it's a big undertaking to get 24 people in the same place at the same time!

Next priority....VANS. I'd like to get vans booked and paid for by mid Nov. Anyone know how to score a deal on rentals???

OMG (osher's)

To all my Wasatch Back ladies.  Especially Susan and Van 1 people.  Seriously just got this update from one of the running blogs I follow....LMBO.  Check out the Title.  Brings back fond memories.

Funny yet Wrong!

Love you guys,
Happy Running
Adrienne

trail running?

Anyone up for meeting early Saturday am at Coal Creek Trail head in Lafayette for about an 8 mile run? I think running on the trail might be easier on the knees and shins for everyone.

Erin

Increasing speed with proper form

So my friend emailed this video to me, and it's super interesting. Just some things to think about and improve on for all of us whether we've run a lot in the past, or we're just starting out. Also good for those looking to improve their speed. Also, there is a small section in the video that talks about "toe lifting" when running. I thought of this video in response to the last post. Around minute 6 in the video it talks about how a "toe lift" in running is the main cause of shin splints in runners. The video is about 12 minutes, but I really thought it was well worth the time to watch it and learn a little about the importance of proper form while running.

A little more on shin splints. There are also stretches that you can do before and after your run to prevent shin splints. I used to get super bad shin splits, but I started doing a stretch that has prevented shin splints altogether. I do it faithfully before and after each run, and when I forget to do it I generally get shin splints real quick. Here is a link from runners world which explains the stretch.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-286-289-12604-0,00.html?cm_mmc=training-_-2009_11_10-_-training-_-INJURY%20PREVENTION:%20Shin%20Pain%20

Hope this helps!

Just Call Me Stubs

Alright girls, I am about ready to cut off my legs from the knee down and go by the name of stubs.  My shins a freakin killing me.  Any advice???  I have been running way too long to have this issue still.  Yep I got new shoes, haven't increased my miles drastically, using foam roller, what else???

10 k pace

Was everyone able to successfully post their 10 k pace on The ragnar site? It does not give me the correct options when I try to post mine. I Have tried on different days even. let me know. Thanks.

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It's Official: I'm a Runner.

I have been trying to run for about 3 years now, and making a more earnest effort this past year. I have certainly accomplished some milestones – running distances I never thought I could, even in my wildest dreams – but I have had a hard time considering myself a real runner. When people would ask me “are you a runner?” I would always say, “kind of” or “I’m trying” or something passive like that.

The past couple of months I have been trying to decide what I would need to accomplish to make me feel like a real runner (whatever that means – and obviously it means different things to different people – I was just trying to figure out what it means to me).

So I decided that there was something I wanted to accomplish in order to make me feel like a real runner. I set a goal, made a plan (courtesy of Skip), snapped my fingers, blinked my eyes, wished upon a star, and… well, I guess I have to call myself a real runner now! And that’s not just because I got to run with reigning Olympic GOLD medalist Constantina Dita this morning.

This is Constantina at the finish, not me... someday, with lots more miles under my feet and some plastic surgery, maybe.  But probably not.

Since the race today was just 1 mile from my house, I had some cheerleaders who showed up at the finished line (somewhat unexpectedly – my husband sent me on an errand last night and I guess that’s when he had the kids make their signs).  There was nothing better than sprinting toward the finish and hearing your kids yelling, “GO MOM!”

In the few short minutes I got to talk with Constantina, I asked her if she was going to run in the 2012 Olympics. She’s said, “I’m trying… but it’s hard!” Then we just laughed (me more than her) – of course it’s hard!  Hey Constantina: I do hard things too!  (You Wasatch Back Ragnar ladies know what I’m talkin' ‘bout! :)


So, my point in writing this post is this:

1. If you are new to our team or new to running: YOU CAN DO IT. Seriously, if you knew where I started and how far I’ve come (with more to go) – you would really understand that you CAN do it.   And all of us are cheering you on - that's the beauty of a team, and friends!  Just make a plan and stick to it. Don’t be an excuse-maker. If you want to do it – then do it.

2. Those of you who consider yourselves runners I want to know: at what point did you feel like you were a real runner?  (Again, whatever that means to you.)

Barefoot Running

Everyone was talking about the new trend of running barefoot at our Ragnar meeting. I came across this article and thought I would pass it along.

4 new rules to run smart

Mileage

I emailed the So Cal race director to see when individual leg mileage would be posted. He said not until sometime in January. But, he did say that he was trying to keep each leg as close to 5 miles as possible. Interesting.....

So, for now, I'd start planning on running about 15 miles total, and then we'll work out the other stuff in Jan.

Red Rock Relay

I am on my way home from the red rock relay in southern Utah. It was just like a ragnar, 186 mile, 12 person relay. The race was awesome! We were van number 2 and had all couples. We started our legs at 4 pm on Friday. Van 1 started at Brian head and ran to the canyon. We ran up one side of the canyon and down the other to SUU. We got there around 9 pm and ate dinner while our other car started to run.

Our second set of legs started at 1 am. We ran from newcastle to Veyo, and finished around 6 am. It was pretty cold on our legs so far. the first set was 55 degrees, and my second leg was 43 degrees. I was worried about running in the night, but I did great. I ran an 8'14" mile up a canyon, entirely uphill, starting at 3:30 am, so I felt good about it.

Our last set of legs started at 9:45 am. I got about an hour of sleep between the second and third set of legs, and woke up with a horrible stomach ache. I was the second runner. When I started my leg, it was 70 degrees, and by 2 miles in, it was 95. It was a 6.5 mile leg. My first 2 miles were downhill, last 4.5 uphill. I ran a total of 15.5 miles, 13.5 which were all uphill. I had all hard rated legs. I hit a wall 4 miles in to my last leg, and it was so hard to finish. I had run between a 7 and 8 minute mile up to mile four, then I crashed. I finished though. I had numb hands and lips, going in to heat exhaustion but I finished!

Overall I loved it. Incredible experience. Lessons learned:

1) distribute legs more evenly. I had all hard legs, as did another runner on our team. 2 runners had all medium, one runner had all easy, and two runners had a mix. I was happy to take two hard, but with three hard I crashed with two miles left.
2) Prepare for all weather conditions. We ended up at Wal-Mart twice because we just figured southern Utah meant warm. we had a temperature change of over 50 degrees over the course.
3) Doing it with a spouse was awesome. Huge bonding experience. I have two kids, 5 and 1, that I have never left home before. My husband has never been a runner or done a race. He did awesome and it was a great bonding experience. Plus, when you are packed in a car its nice to have someone to snuggle up to.
4) Try a race with family. We were all related in some way in our car. Half our runners were not runners before this race. We still completed it in 30 hours, which was great, and our car averaged under nine minute miles most of the time.
5) Be prepared to learn a lot about your teams poop!

If anyone else has done a relay, I would love feedback on what you learned.

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Utah Marahton Relay

This morning, me and 4 of my friends ran a marathon between us. We each ran 5.24 miles to complete a marathon. We had a great time, and I ran my fastest race pace ever (woo-hoo and thank you 5 hour energy)! This was a great way to end my racing season for the year and I'm now looking forward to a couple months of cross and strength training. Here's a picture of my team.

Fall Racing

Hi Ladies -- old and new!

My fall plan is to back-off distance a little and work (half-heartedly) on speed.  On that note, I'm eyeing several 5k's before the end of the year (when I will start distance again).  I definitely perform better on race day which is why I'm doing these.  I LOVE to see familiar faces in the pack (even if I am the caboose), so if you're interested - please join me!

These two I am doing for sure (and they're run by our awesome teammate Kristin - BONUS!):

• September 25 - Dome Dash 5k - Erie
• November 25 - Turkey Day 5k - Anthem

And I'm on the fence about these two:

• October 30 - Eerie Erie 5k or 10k - Erie (I was kind of unimpressed with this one last year... but it would fit nicely right in between the above two... so I'm still thinking about it.)
• December 4 - Colder Boulder - Boulder (this was super fun last year, but it's only 1 week after the Thanksgiving day one, so maybe not).

Interested?

Heart Rate Training....continued

I took in SO much information during the 4 days that I was at running camp I was afraid that I might be "misquoting" or taking information out of context or not explaining things that I learned correctly so I thought I would just ask Coach Dean Hebert for clarification on the Heart Rate topic and he was kind enough to reply to the previous post.  I thought I would just post it as a new post rather than just a comment.  This is what he said:


"Adrienne asked me to drop in and comment on the HR discussion. So, here goes, I’ll try to keep it to the Reader’s Digest version.

Of course all comments have to be taken in context. The concept of base miles is out of date. Now, that does not mean you don’t need to get miles in and build them up to get in shape! Quite the contrary. The concept of just doing EASY miles as your base is what is flawed and now counter to current research. From day one intensity rules – as long as it is appropriate for the person (i.e. I wouldn’t have a novice runner out doing 16x400 repeats with a 1:00 rest). So, interspersing faster and slower days is what enhances conditioning and expedites the conditioning process.

Most of the details are in an article I wrote on the topic: http://coachdeanhebert.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/pace-or-pulse-the-great-debate/

Max HR as detailed in the article is highly variable depending on the formula used. I have also found through other readings that even getting tested for max HR is not fool proof. It in fact can vary by the tester (their own proficiency) as well as how you feel that day. If you are under the influence of any of the variables listed in the article that effect HR then your max HR test is flawed and then again… so will all the HR ranges you calculate.

Save your money and do a 1 mile all out time trial. From that number simple math can determine the optimal paces you should do your quality runs in. Add in some goal paced miles (the actual pace you want to run in your goal race) and you already have a good basic program that far outshines any HR program.

And before anyone claims that I think HR is completely useless, that is not true. For a novice runner it can be viable biofeedback on effort. It allows someone new to working out to learn about his or her body and how easy, moderate or hard efforts feel. This is good. It becomes a learning tool. Naturally, over time it becomes less valuable for all the reasons stated.

Also, resting HR is an indicator of conditioning but it has been shown to be most indicative of recovery status. If your morning resting HR is more than a few beats higher than the day before then you will want to consider a recovery day. But, even this is used with other criteria (aches, energy level, mental readiness) and not alone.

Anaerobic Threshold (carbon dioxide and ventilation) is often used synonymously with Lactate Threshold (the point at which lactate builds up in the blood stream) but technically is different. Also AT is a poor predictor of performance whereas LT is a very strong predictor of performance and therefore training your LT is critical.

Even for those interested in “fitness” rather than “racing” or getting faster it is far more efficient AND effective to avoid HR training. By it’s own nature limits progress (see
article – HR Drift and HR lag). More miles create far more injuries than increasing the pace of select workouts. Increasing pace decreases time spent training with far better conditioning yield therefore is a better investment of time. Oh BTW, higher intensities have also been shown to burn fat better than those highly touted “fat burning zones”. You can be FITTER on LESS training and decrease odds of injuries if it is done right.

So, get out and run and do not let HR deter you. An elevated HR MAY indicate that you are working hard but that doesn’t mean and should not be construed as TOO hard. If you are always holding back you will not progress (especially if it is something so unreliable as HR). The key as you learn about your body and how it reacts to workouts is more complex. I would have a number of questions to ask to determine if you effort is appropriate… HR is not one of them."

Heart Rates

K, so I've decided I need to clean the slate and see if I can get my HR lower when I run, so I'm trying a 13 week walk-run program. So even though it feels easy--feels like I am forcing myself to walk rather than run--my HR remains 85% - 95% when I run. Is this too high? My RHR is 60 and the max I've ever gotten my HR is 197 (I know that this is way higher than the method of 220-age, but I've worn a HR monitor for years and I'm certain it's this high). According to things I've read, I should be working out at lower HR. So what do I do-stop running? Should I ignore the whole heart rate thing? I feel like my HR is what is holding me back, my muscles and all feel fine. But I do feel like I'm dying every time I run which is perfectly normal for me :)

Just curious if you all monitor your heart rates, just judge your fatigue by how you feel, or what? Any tips?

Georgetown to Idaho Springs 2010 - We Rocked it!!!

Here are some pictures from our totally awesome race yesterday!!! Most of us set personal records for a 1/2 marathon - and one of our "honorary M.O.M.'s" -Josh- got 3rd place in his division - he even got a trophy:) Tara had the fastest time of all of us - under 1:50!!!- with Natalie and Amber close behind. This was Susan's first half - she was a SUPERSTAR!!! The weather was PERFECT, the scenery was beautiful, and it was so great to run with such inspirational ladies! I swear I ran faster knowing you all were somewhere close by. Thanks for a great day - and for those M.O.M.'s who couldn't make it this year - we missed you!!! Here we are waiting in line before the race --10 honey pots + 3500 runners = many runners still in line when the race starts!

Josh with his medal - way to go! It's hard to see but the trophy is a gold-digging pan with a nugget of fools gold hot glued into it with a little mountain goat hot glued on top.
After the race

All of us M.O.M.s (plus 2 honorary M.O.M.s) after an awesome race !!!

Anthem Tri!!!

Tara and Jarrie did an awesome job today at the Anthem Tri! They seriously kicked butt! It was so fun to watch them and so inspiring to see how much they were pushing beyond their comfort zone. SO FUN!!!

Video!

Registration for California opens Aug 15th! More info to follow....

You can download this video to your computer from Vimeo. If anyone has any problems, let me know.

Thanks Amy for hosting last night! It was a blast.

Georgetown Nightmare

Okay...so we're 2.5 weeks away and I haven't run for about the same amount of time...between getting wisdom teeth out..and then getting dry socket in 2 of them and then going to Mexico, I'm in deep trouble. So my plan is to get 3 good long runs in before then and a few short ones and hope for the best...

Any advice? This is my first 1/2 and my longest run ever is around 7.5 or so. I was hoping for a finish of under 2.5 hours...we'll see.

Any plans for carpooling to the race? I'll drive if anyone wants to come with me.

I will cheer you all on at the race from way behind you...you girls are going to do awesome!!

Palo Alto Online : Palo Altan Keith Bechtol runs first marathon, breaks SF record

Cool story! He is not new to running but it was his first marathon and he wins! Woot woot.

Palo Alto Online : Palo Altan Keith Bechtol runs first marathon, breaks SF record

Wasatch Back Ragnar 2011

Just got an email with this info:

Also, many of you requested that we cap this race this year and not add more teams. Our plan for 2011 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back is to do just that. We will be capping the race at 1050 teams.

With a little over 200 spots left and Early Registration ending on July 31st, we expect to sell out in the next few weeks.

I guess we should decide for sure if we are doing UT or CA sooner than I thought we needed to..I guess that is good because once we are signed up, we're locked in...no quitters! Or maybe we'll do both? Hmmm...let's talk about that tomorrow! Maybe CA is just the girls and UT could be with spouses (so child care would be a bit easier for most in UT). Just an idea!

A Day in the life of.......: Elevation Running Camp-Flagstaff Arizona

A Day in the life of.......: Elevation Running Camp-Flagstaff Arizona: "My running camp experienceI follow a few running blogs and a few weeks ago as I was reading Lazy Bones Running there was a post about 'Mean ..."

A Day in the life of.......: On the Rag-Wasatch Back style!

A Day in the life of.......: On the Rag-Wasatch Back style!: "It all started out one sunny Thursday afternoon in Midway Utah. Twelve members of the M.O.M (Mind over Mileage) running team gathered to ..."

So. Cal Dates

So, I saw on the Ragnar website that they finally have the 2011 dates of So Cal figured out. It's April 15th-16th. Registration should be available "soon".

What are you training for?

Hey fellow runners,

I know some of you are currently training for the Georgetown 1/2 marathon coming up here in a few weeks but what else is everyone training for? I personally haven't run much since Wasatch Back due to sickness and living on the surface of the sun (Phoenix) but am starting to get curious about what to do next. Anyone doing anything fun or have any suggestions? BTW how is the training for Georgetown going? I haven't heard much.

Peace Out and Happy Running,

Adrienne

Georgetown

Okay...so I'm going to run the Georgetown Half...we'll hopefully run it all at least. In preparation...I'm planning a 8 mile run tomorrow (Saturday). Leaving my house...running up Vista Parkway, cutting over to Mountainview and all the way home. It's almost exactly 8 miles. Anyone want to join me...otherwise there's a high probability I'll talk myself into something shorter.

I'd like to get going by 5am and home before 7am is the goal...that way it won't be hot and won't take a chunk of my day.

Let me know, we can meet at my house at 5am.

-Stephanie

GOOD TO KNOW!!!

I was just reading in my latest Runners World magazine and it says this....

As far as running in the heat.... every 5 degrees warmer after 60 degrees fahrenheit can slow your normal pace 20 to 30 seconds! So if you are feeling sluggish in the heat, it is normal.

Happy Running =)

Shake It Up!

Hello awesome ladies!  Several have asked me about my recovery shake I make almost every day (at home after my workout), so here it is:

8 oz - Low Calorie Orange Juice (if you're not counting cal's then go for the real stuff)

1 - Scoop Gold Standard Whey (protein powder), Vanilla Ice Cream flavor is my fav.

1 - heaping teaspoon of L-Glutamine Powder (I only add this on strength training days)

Ice

Blend & Serve

When prepared exactly as above, it's 170 calories, 25g protein and 16g carbs.

That's it!  I get my protein powder at GNC (not that it matters) and the L-Glutamine, too (although I actually think that the one they sell at Lifetime is cheaper, really).  I hate shakes that are milk-based, so that's why I use orange juice as my base, and the low-calorie one at that, because I don't use this as a meal-replacement -- just a good after workout recovery drink, so I want to keep the calories low.  Lately though, I've been adding a handful of frozen berries too - YUMMY! 

The L-Glutamine powder helps quicken the muscle rebuild/healing process (i.e. shortens your sore-time), so I usually just add this on my strength training days.  It does add a little bit of grit to the shake, but I can still chug it down.

Happy Recovering!

P.S. I just found this little nugget on my camera - the tornado that Jarrie, Carrie and I saw while driving through Wyoming on the way to Ragnar... just outside of Rawlins.  By the time we could fish out a camera, it was already starting to dissipate, but trust me - it started out wider, darker and definitely more scary.  Had me a little freak-out! :)

Ragnar Blog

Have you seen this Blog? This gal is going to run all the Ragnar's this year. Kinda cool...

Things we want to remember

I thought it would be good to put in writing the things we learned from this race, so it can help us when we run in California next year. So, please comment and give our future selves some advice about the race. Here's mine:
Bring REAL food. Pack actual meals b/c it's too hard and time consuming to try and find places to stop and eat along the route.

What's your advice?

Free Team Picture from Flo-foto

Make sure you download your free team pic from Flo-photo if you like. You can order individual as well. I think everyone looks hot and sexy. Great job ladies! http://www.flo-foto.com/

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat

We did it! And we did it well!

O Captain! Our Captain!

O Captain! Our Captain! our fearful race is here
Our feet have weather'd every rack, the prize we seek is near.
The start is close, the bells I hear, the runners all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady heal, the course long and daring;
But o heart! heart! heart!
O the blood shot eyes of red,
Where on the road my Captain lies,
In desp'rate need of a bed.

O Captain! Our Captain! rise us and hear the yells;
Rise up -for you the headlamps are on - for you the iPod trills;
For you a massage and body glow - for you Susan's dad's a-grillin'
For you we call, this Ragnar team, our eager legs are runnin'
Here Captain! Dear Captain
Soon you'll see your bed;
It is some dream that on this race
So wonderfully we've been led.

(In honor of our wonderful Captain Adrienne and her cronies Tara and Amber. We love you guys! Thanks for a fabulously planned race.)

Glow in the Dark

Here are some pics from our night run a few weeks ago. We ran 5 miles at 10pm decked out in all our gear--headlamps, vests, tail lights. It was awesome. We ran past a pack of teenage boys who I'm sure thought we were totally crazy. Just in case you can't tell who's in the pic it's Me, Susan, Carrie, Jarrie, and Jen.


Yes--that's 14 MPH! We were smokin'! (Ok--maybe we were sprinting just to get a good pic, but still...)

Training on Vaycay

So when Adrienne invited me to participate on this Ragnar team nearly 9 months ago I first thought "wow, you guys must be desperate for team members!" Seriously. Then I was like, "the most I'd ever run is 10k, this is nuts, there's no way!" That turned in to, "well, this would be a really great way to get back in shape (Meghan was 4 months old at the time and is 14 months now), and it sounds like a fun girls weekend away... and maybe I could do it..." It took several days of me teetering before I decided "what the heck, I'll do it!"

AND THEN, I realized that 2 of the 3 weeks leading up the race were an already scheduled vacation. How the heck am I gonna continue to train on vacation? It's not like I was going somewhere exotic, it was just a big good ol' American road trip--and I could run anywhere, right? Kind of. My plan was just to work hard before our trip, stick to the training plan as best I could (which I did) and then run as much as possible on vacation but knowing it wouldn't quite be what I would have done at home.

The first week of our vacation was spent in Kentucky. This was my first run on vacation... our lame hotel in Hopkinsville had no fitness room (shameful!), so I had to run outside. The thing about Hop-town is that there are no shoulders or sidewalks on their roads (and I was genuinely scared of the drivers, everyone drove like they were drunk, seriously). So for safety's sake, I ran at the Christian County Schools Stadium. To say it was hot would be a massive understatement... at 9am it was 90 degrees and 90% humidity (no joke! I looked it up on weather.com on Fred's Blackberry afterwards). Ugh. After about the 5th trip around the track I was bored to tears so then I ran up-and-down the stadium 5-6 times, then a few more laps on the track, then the stadium... etc.. etc.. Fred and the kids did it with me.

One day we went to Mammoth Caves - I will count that as a cross-training day - and conquered the 531 stairs in and out of there with 25 lbs. of baby strapped to my belly (they don't allow backpack carriers). Most of the stairs went down, so don't give me too much credit! It was nice and cool down there...aaahhhhh!

Here's a better pic of some stairs...

We spent several days in the Louisville area and I ran with the horses at Churchill Downs. I may not be a prize winning thoroughbred, but I am a ten-cow wife!

Our hotel in Louisville had a fitness room (or closet really). Hooray! I won't complain because it was air conditioned!

After spending a week in Kentucky, we moved on to my sister's house in Ohio. Here I am heading down her driveway taking off for a run. Her neighborhood was so nice to run in because the landscaping was mature with big trees lining the streets-- and that my friends means shade!

This was a little hill near my sisters house that I would run. It was only maybe a quarter mile total (at the top of this picture it veered right again for a bit) but it's the best hill I could find in her neighborhood so I would run up and down it a bunch of times, then go run the rest of the neighborhood and come back and do more trips up an down this hill. Kind of boring, but it got the job done. At the bottom of this hill was a cul-de-sac with two homes, and if they were watching, they probably thought I was nuts!

I dragged my sister with me for a run through a different neighborhood that had this little pond. This pond was actually quite large and isn't all in the picture. From the time it took me to run around it, I would guess it was just shy of a mile. So I ran it 5 times while she walked.

Finally, about 13 days into our 17 day vacation, I felt awful. Even though I had kept up running pretty much every-other-day, I hadn't done any weights or strength training and was really feeling it (plus I was eating like a pig). So I dragged my sister with me to her local rec center and we did a class. It was nothing like Lifetime (AT. ALL.), but it felt good to squat, lunge and pick up some weights (I seriously scare myself sometimes when I say stuff like that--who am I? :).

Anyway. Then we were on to Nauvoo where I got one more vacation run under my belt. It was dang hot again. DANG hot. But I survived and made a little video for you. After watching it myself, I have to warn you that I had been in the car for nearly 9 hours that day (drove from Dayton, Ohio to Carthage, IL then to Nauvoo), it was hot and I was tired... very tired. So, forgive me for acting stupid and my inability to steady the camera! And also ignore the gum-chewing. It sounds awful I know, but actually helped my mouth stay moist and I didn't feel so parched... I will remember that come race day.

I have to give big shout-out to my husband Fred! He at least pretended to be supportive as he took all 4 kids to the hotel pools during most of my runs. He was a good sport!

I'm going to do one more long run tomorrow (by long run, I mean 8 miles), and then take it easy the rest of the week (and by take it easy I mean a strength class on Tuesday and a nice long walk on Wednesday). YAY! I'm ready.

Who's Getting Pumped?

I'm getting really excited for our race! I was wondering if you all were too? What are you most looking forward to? At this time next week we will all be in sweaty vans running our hearts out- what can be better than that?

Dinner Reservations

I just made dinner reservations at the Olive Garden for Thurs night at 6:00pm. They were already pretty full, and 6 was the most reasonable time they had left. What does everyone think? Will this work? We'll have to be speedy grocery shoppers....

We could always try somewhere else if it will work better.

Oh the places you go!!

I took photos today with my husband Scott on his motorcycle. I have been meaning to do this ever since we started to take photos of where we live. I finally did it! I hope you like them. Granted I run all over the city but today I just took pictures of the places I run the most. Lets see where do I begin. Oh yes my apt. That's me! I live on the top floor in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Really the best places to run are usually in the city, so how do I get there?? Yep, a bridge. The Williamsburg bridge to be exact. I would say the bridge is a little over 1 mile long. And I get SO SICK of running over it but I have no I choice. I could take the train but I would rather not. So anyways I start here. . .




I go out and take a left on Kent. Do you see the bridge in the distance?



Here is is again. I didn't get a picture of the whole thing, I was not in a spot that I could get it.


This is the part I don't like about it. Running up the hill. It doesn't look that steep, especially for you Mt. women out there. But I do get sick of it. I usually run on the north side but right now they are working on it so all of us must stick to the south side. And when I say all of us, I mean runners, walkers, rollerbladers and bikers!! It gets crowded. In fact the reason for the redoing of the walk ways is to make it a more controlled area because there are so many accidents between the walkers and bikers!! Right after I took this picture the girl riding down collided with another biker that was headed up! She got completely knocked over!! I felt way bad for her, it looked painful.'

Ahhh but once you are up there the view is pretty sweet!!


This little path you see below in the Eastside River Park, I really love running this on my long runs headed up to Central Park.

Now coming down the bridge I take a quick right onto Clinton street where I go past the famous Clinton Street Baking company! There is always a line and the biscuits and pancakes are definitely worth the wait.



I think this building is park of NYU but its pretty cool I think.



Webster Hall is always having live music. I have been to a couple of shows there.


As I pass from the East Village to the West Village the town homes get really great! Man oh man if only I had 7+ million I would buy one of these :)




Now this is the new Standard Hotel that everyone loves in the meat packing district. If you look to the left of the picture you will see the Highline which is a park that just opened last summer. There was an old train rail in the sky there and the city turned it into a park in the sky. It is pretty cool.

Van Leewen Ice Cream is out of this world! I love the nutella chocolate!!


Then I make it all the way over to the westside highway and to the right of it is this park/running/biking trail! This is another favorite spot. I can take this from down at the tip of Manhattan all the way up to 114th St. Even further if I wanted!!



I like to run in Chinatown a lot. Something about it makes my run more exciting. I am an early morning runner and I like going there because the Chinese are always up and loading up the fish/food docks. Ok yes it does smell, sometimes really really bad but I get through it. . .



Then last but not least I will either head back in the same direction that I came or head over the Brooklyn Bridge. This bridge gets a little too crowded for comfort sometimes but the exhilaration of it all is priceless. This bridge is beautiful!!


Well that's it!! I hope you guys liked it!! Looking forward to meeting you all in. . . what is it? 11 days?!?!?! Wholy Moly!! Can't wait!!

PS, sorry for any typos! I didn't go back to check :)