Recap of 2012!!

       Wow-I am a blog failure!  Time flew and before I knew it, the New Year had come and gone!  Happy 2013!  I am excited for this upcoming year and for getting back into my running schedule since I totally slacked off during the holidays!  I definitely need to sign up for a race so that I have a goal in mind.  This post will serve was a recap of the races I did in the latter half of the year.  I am only 2 racing miles away from my goal for the year!!  Let me catch you up!

July: 

       I was a Westward Ho and ran a total of 22 racing miles in the Headwaters Relay Race.  It was a three day relay race across the dusty backroads of Montana and it was a blast!  I could not have asked for better teammates!  There was a total of 10 women on the team-and we came in first as the All Women's International Team ;-)!!

Happy after running a leg!

        The course was amazing and the weather was great--really the perfect temperature for running all three days.  It was a casual relay race, with cars following their runners throughout the course, providing cheers and support. 

Dirt road race course!  Gorgeous!

        We stopped for the nights in small Montana towns and enjoyed time together as a team before setting off again early the next morning.  We saw both sunrises and sunsets all three of the days we were out on the course and I hope I have the chance to be on this team again!

Beautiful sunrise to run toward!

Total July Miles: 22

August:

        I did the 5k Color Run in Brooklyn with two great friends from college.  We had a wonderful time and the run was super casual and really fun!  There was no time to it and it was a 'get out there and go your own pace' kind of thing.  There were people of every ages and racing abilities and I think the Color Run is a great way to encourage people to get involved in a racing event. 

All Clean!

         All of the color is dyed cornstarch and they squirt you with a different color after every kilometer.  Then, at the end you throw bags of color on your friends and every 15 minutes they hand out more baggies of color and everyone goes crazy.  It was the most fun I had ever had in a race!

All Colored!!

 Total August Miles: 3.1

September and October, I took it easy and just hung out and ran when I could.  No races, though.

November:

        My boyfriend and I did a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in Oklahoma City.  We were together for the holiday and thought it would be nice to do a race the morning before we went out and ate wayyyyy too much! 

Stretching before the race.  So serious!

        The Turkey Trot benefited the Toys for Tots and there was a great turnout for the race.  It started downtown Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Memorial which was a beautiful site. 

OKC Memorial

 There was a 1 mile Children's Race that we watched before ours began.  We had fun with the run and he stayed with me even though he is definitely faster.  We sprinted at the finish and almost ended up tripping each other at the finish line.  Good thing we avoided that embarrassment.  It was a chilly but mostly flat 5k and I was glad my race fee went towards a good cause.

We Won!!  (jkjk)

Total November Miles: 3.1

I did not do any races in December as the weather was too cold and I was traveling for the holidays.

As of right now, I am hoping to do another half marathon in New York City in April, if everything comes together and works out according to what I have planned.  My first year of logging miles will end on my birthday in June, so I still have a few months to get up to 43 miles!  It has been fun and I am looking forward to some great opportunities this summer as well

In non racing news, I got engaged over the Christmas holiday and am very excited about planning a wedding and a future with one of my favorite racing buddies.  I better keep running so that I can go to lots of cake and catering tastings!!

A Very Happy Holiday Season!

Thanks for all your support and I hope to see you out on the trails soon!!

Happy Running in 2013!!  


My total 2012 mile count is at: 41.3 miles!

I AM OFFICIALLY A HO!!!

A Westward Ho, that is!  More on that in a second...

Whew-sorry for the lack of posts.  This summer has been super busy and I haven't raced since the half marathon that I did for my first post.  So there really wasn't a lot to blog about.  I did get some backpacking squeezed into a few weekends, though, and last weekend there was a bridal shower for my good friend in Bozeman.  I have been on some epic hikes and have included some pictures of my adventures below.

Summitted Electric, but was too scared of falling to move once I got up there!

 

Backpacking in the Beartooths

My pack is way cooler...but S has a badass stick...

 

Needless to say, I have wanted to blog, but since this is a blog primarily about my running adventures, I didn't want to bore all of you with my day to day. 

Thus, back to the fact that I am now a Ho.  I have been invited to run a race this weekend and am just now posting about it because it is pretty last minute and things have come together quickly.  Here is the deal-the race is a 3-day, 232 mile intense course through Southwestern Montana.  It starts at the Headwaters of the Missouri River and runs over the Tobacco Root Mountains and the Ruby Range, finishing at Beaverhead Rock, semi close to the Montana/Idaho/Wyoming border.  I am a part of a team of 10 women.  We are known as the Westward Ho's. Individually we run one or two relay legs a day, averaging about 7 miles a day with quite the elevation gain.  The starting gun goes off this Friday and will cross the finish line on Sunday night.  We only run during the day, and I have been told it is the only race that will have both rattlesnake and grizzly bear warnings along the way.   You can read more about the inspiration for the race here. 

The 3-day course map

What does this mean for me? On day one, I run the second leg of the day-6.2 miles.  That is all the first day.  The second day I have a 5.3 mile leg and a 3.4 mile leg for a total of 8.7 miles that day.  On the final day I will run a 3.7 mile leg (ranked 9/9 for most difficult due to rolling hills) and finish with a 3.4 miler for a total of 7.1 miles that day. 

All in all, I will total 22 racing miles this week.  Added with my 13.1 from last month, that brings this year's total to 35.1 miles.  Only 8 more miles to go before I reach this year's goal.  This is a great opportunity for me to run a variety of different courses-most of the running is on trails or gravel road, and to try a relay race.  I only know one of the other women so it will also be neat to meet some new runners and share these 22 miles with them.

Some information about the race-there are only 20 teams participating.  I was informed that last year, the Westward Ho's placed first in the Women's only division.....but was the last place team.  So that took off some of the pressure.  That, and the race isn't super structured so if someone gets tired, we just call for a substitute at that time.  The course isn't well marked so there are points where I might find myself all alone in a field, wondering if I should go right or left, and so I have been advised to print off my legs and carry them with me.  I did that this morning and I am ready to go.

I meet up with the team on Thursday night!!  I will write about the race next week.  Thanks for tuning in.  I just hope this doesn't happen again....

I tossed those running shoes!!

Hope I can see some of you out there soon.  Am heading to New York soon-let's do something in the fall, shall we?!?

Happy Running!!

Join Me in 30(0) by 30!!

        I never thought that I would be a blogger type.  I like to say that I lost the technology gene when I graduated from high school and it seems now that the only thing I can do on a computer is write a Word document and send an e-mail.  Anything beyond that is daunting.  The start of starting a blog came to me when I was running the other day and needed my thoughts to distract me from the miles I still had remaining.  It was not a good running day and so I started doing a few calculations in my mind. 
        I wanted to start a blog about running.  I am by no means a fitness expert and I am a very slow runner at that.   There are people out there who have accomplished amazing fitness feats in their lives, and I am not one of them.  Maybe someday, but as of right now, I am a recreational exerciser. I enjoy running sometimes and other times I dread putting on my shoes.  But I have come to realize that I need to exercise, mostly because I really like food and I get crabby if I don't. 
        I started running in January-it wasn't a New Years resolution, mostly just good timing.  Fortunately we had a mild winter and I could run outside without worrying about the snow or ice.  I have realized I hate the treadmill and so running outside is really the only way I will force myself to go on most days.   In March, 2.5 months after I began running, I ran a 10k in 57 minutes.  I then ran a half marathon in April in Salt Lake City.  In May, I ran a 5 mile leg of a triathlon and about died (remember, some days are better than others).  And yesterday, I ran another half-marathon, my second since I started running six months ago.  It was a brutal course with lots of uphills and for some reason, not a lot of downhills.  However, I viewed this as the inaugural race to my plan.

        About two weeks ago I was running and calculating and came up with a plan for my running.  My friend Jess has a fabulous blog about life, fashion, travel, food and all that really fun stuff.  In her blog she has a 30 before 30 list.  I like the idea of lists and crossing things off as you accomplish them.  So therefore, I started thinking about m own 30 before 30 list.  And I came up with the 30(0) by 30. My list is going to consist of miles.  300 miles, in fact-over the next seven years.  I want to race 300 miles by the time I turn 30 and I started yesterday, on my 23rd birthday, with a half-marathon.  13.1 miles down, 286.9 left to go.

On mile 12.5 of the Lewis and Clark Half-Marathon in Bozeman, MT

        So here it goes.  Two weeks ago when I came up with the idea for this blog, I was out on a 5 mile run.  I had not signed up for this specific half marathon yet but was thinking I wanted to do it as a birthday present to myself.  The gift of wellness, duh!  And I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my running and if I wanted to accomplish anything.  This is what I came up with:
First I debated miles vs. kilometers.  Would I want to race 300 miles or 300 km in 7 years?  I told a friend about this blog and she said, "We are in America, we use miles.  You are gonna do 300 miles."  And so that settled that.
I will have to race an average of 42.8571429 miles a year, or about 43 miles. 
This can be accomplished with one marathon, one half marathon, one 5k and one mile-fun run.
Or-3 half marathons, one 5k and one mile-fun run.
Or- 2 half marathons and 3 10ks
Or- 7 10ks
Or- 14 5ks
Or any sort of combination that will put me close to my goal.  Because I started on my 23rd birthday, I will end on my 30th birthday.  I like round numbers like that. 

        So, that is my plan.  I figure it will keep me constantly training and exercising.  Join me in my journey, for a race, or for a few.  I have 300 miles to tick off and I would love some company.  I am slow and complain sometimes, but company always makes it better.  I am excited to share my adventure with you and I hope you will come along for the run of a lifetime.

The best part is that after the run, you can have as much birthday cake as you want!