Today was my first post baby run. It was scary. I've been telling Bruce for a good two weeks now that "tomorrow I'm going to get up early to run". But every time it was tomorrow and time to go run, I would find a reason not to. I was terrified.

My journey to becoming a "runner" (and I am still hesitant to call myself that, even after completing two half marathons) was slow and painful. When I started, I could barely run for 3 minutes before I had to stop and walk to catch my breath. It took me one full month of training to be able to run a mile without stopping. It took another two months before I could run two miles. Slow and painful. But 6.5 months after I laced up my running shoes for the first time, I ran my first half marathon. It was exhilarating to cross that finish line and realize I had accomplished such a huge feat. 3 months later I ran my second half marathon and that one felt even better. I had not only learned to run, but I had learned to love running. And then I found out I was pregnant. The morning after completing my second half marathon, I saw two pink lines and while excited, I knew that morning sickness was not far behind.

I managed to go for three runs while pregnant. The first was just a few weeks into my pregnancy. I made it 6 miles and it felt great. I was hopeful that I could continue running throughout the pregnancy. Then I got really, really sick and running was no where near an option. When I started to feel better, I decided to try again. On two occasions I went out for short 1 mile runs and found them to be too difficult. By that point my belly was heavy enough that it just wasn't comfortable and I didn't enjoy it. I decided I needed to give up running until after the baby was born but I knew the consequence of this would be that I would have to start from scratch.

After putting it off for several weeks, this morning I tied up my running shoes and found the Mormon Channel app on my phone. I told myself that I only had to go 1 mile and that it was ok for me to stop and walk every few minutes to ease myself back into things. I was beyond ecstatic when not only did I run the entire mile, but I did it at an 11:30 pace, which is exactly what my pace was before getting pregnant. I couldn't go further than a mile, but the fact that I finished one mile non-stop at a good (for me!) pace was huge. I can still run. I didn't lose as much of my running ability as I thought I would. And I enjoyed it! It wasn't easy, but it was fun. I got to listen to a conference talk and push my mind and body to do something I didn't think I was capable of anymore. It felt amazing.

I know it will be quite some time before I am ready for another half marathon and that is ok. I am just so excited that I am still able to run and I look forward to many more peaceful morning runs in the months to come.

The Lake Powell Half

It didn't take me long after running the Hobbler Half up in Utah to decide I wanted to give running a half marathon another go. My first experience was a good one, but now knowing what to expect, I was ready to try again. And it just so happened that my second counselor in the Primary was itching to run one as well. We saw ads for the Lake Powell Half and started to um and ah about it. Then one day Nicole texted me to say she had signed up... she was in! I quickly followed suit and was officially in training for my second half.

Nicole's sister in law was signed up for the same race, so the three of us planned to ride up together. Then, with just a few weeks to go before the big day, Nicole and I convinced a new friend from our ward to join in the fun, so we ended up going as a group of four... my first ever girls weekend away and it was an absolute blast.

We left the valley around 10am the Friday before the race. The drive to Page was beautiful... leaves changing colour in Flagstaff, beautiful orange rock against a blue sky as we drove across the Reservation. Not to mention lots of girl talk and laughing. We arrived in Page about mid-afternoon and immediately picked up our registration packets. I was excited to see that the race shirts this time around were super cute... the Hobbler Half shirts left much to be desired! The race expo was nothing to get excited about, so we skipped out of there pretty fast and headed to our hotel.

We stayed at the Lake Powell resort. After checking in, we headed to our room and hung out talking for a bit. Eventually we decided we were ready for dinner and headed to one of the resort restaurants that was offering a special pasta meal for racers. Upon scanning the menu we all opted out of the pasta and ordered fancy meals instead. My olive oil roasted salmon with risotto style black barley, sweet pea emulsion, lemon creme fraiche and oven dried tomatoes was divine. Not the typical carb-loading, pre-race meal, but I ate lots of bread rolls to make up for that. I don't regret my choice one bit! And the view during dinner was stunning... we sat right up against the windows where we had a fantastic view of the lake as the sun set.

After dinner, we walked the grounds a bit then prepped our running gear for the next morning. We chatted some more in our room and at 9:30 decided we were ready to attempt sleep. And I do mean "attempt". My eyes were closed from 9:30 until 4 the next morning, but I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept a wink. Apparently none of us actually slept.

4am- the alarms started going off. We got up, got dressed and ate. At 4:45 we boarded the shuttle from our hotel to the starting line. We sat in the dark at the starting line for a looooong time. The music was obnoxious (at that time in the morning! Any other time, I'm sure we would have loved it), the air was very chilly and the nerves were getting to me! Eventually, 6:30 rolled around that it was race time.

Pamela (Nicole's sister in law) and Dani (our new friend from church), took off when the gun sounded. They are both faster runners than Nicole and I. Nicole and I did the first half of the race together. We were going strong until we hit the two mile trail run portion of the race. That slowed us considerably, but we survived, despite our great hatred of trail running. Ü Then we reached my nemesis... the Glen Canyon Dam bridge. I hate, hate, hate bridges and had NO idea this race included running across one. In all honesty, I would not have signed up for it had I known about the bridge in advance. It was a huge stress for me the night before the race and the first portion of the race... I was absolutely dreading it. When we got to the bridge, I had every intention of sticking with Nicole and talking our way across it. And then I overheard this 9 year old who was running the race with his mom talk about collapsing bridges. I freaked out and took off without even thinking about it. Nicole snapped a picture of me tearing across the bridge, ponytail flying. After the race, I checked my Garmin stats and found that as I crossed the bridge, I was maintaining a 6:37 mile pace. If only I could run at that for more than the length of one bridge!!

After the bridge we hit the uphill portion of the race. I knew this part would be physically difficult as I had been struggling with some Achilles pain that was definitely aggravated  by uphill running. But before I left for the race, Bruce had given me a blessing and promised me that my body would work as I did this race. And guess what! It did. I was absolutely blessed with strength far beyond my own throughout the entire race. I did hit a major mental wall around mile 8, at which point I ended up putting some distance between Nicole and I because I just mentally could not run. I walked and struggled for about half a mile but I knew I wanted to finish strong. Luckily, I happened upon the 2:30 pace runner and started chatting with her and another girl who was running with her. They were just what I needed to break through that mental block. The random conversation kept me going and before I knew it, the race was about to come to an end. As the finish line came into view, I realized that I had the chance to beat my previous half marathon time by 10 full minutes. I kicked it into high gear and ended up crossing the finish line at 2:28:10. I had cut a full 10 minutes and 45 seconds off my time from just 3 months earlier. I was ecstatic!

Everyone else had come in before me... Pamela and Dani were just after the 2 hour mark and Nicole ran in about 5 minutes ahead of me. We hung out at the finish line admiring the amazing medals we had received and guzzling chocolate milk. Then we made our way back to the hotel, but not before Nicole and I had our picture taken with "the cowbell guy". This guy stood on the sidelines cheering for the runners and ringing a cowbell at various places along the route. Every time we ran by him, I couldn't help but smile and feel motivated, so of course we needed a picture with him.

We spent a little time in the hot tub, showered, packed up our room and checked out. We grabbed burgers at the floating restaurant at the marina then headed home so Dani, Nicole and I could all make it to our ward Trunk or Treat. It was a super fast trip, but oh it was a fun one! I will absolutely be doing the Lake Powell Half (and hopefully some other Vacation Races runs) again in the future. It was a very well done race and I had so much fun running it. 

Road Trip 2014 | The Half Marathon

 
A Utah road trip was in the plans for summer of 2014 since returning home from Road Trip 2013. The wee ones and I had so much fun last year that we just had to do it again! But this year's trip was a little different than last year's... instead of staying just shy of two weeks, we were in Utah for three full weeks so that my lungs would have time to adjust and I could end our road trip by running a half marathon!

I am not a natural runner. I am not even remotely athletic. Bruce Wayne will tell you- watching me play sports is actually painful. But, I do like to exercise and be healthy, I have just always managed to do that without running Ü

At the beginning of the year Bruce decided he wanted us to run a half marathon together. He asked me what it would take for me to agree to this. I told him there was nothing he could offer me that would even begin to tempt me to run for 13.1 miles. He started to offer me all sorts of things but I declined everything. Then he mentioned diamond earrings. For practically every anniversary, birthday and holiday, when Bruce would ask me what I wanted, I would reply "diamond earrings". In nine years, those diamond earrings never materialized, but here he was, promising them to me in exchange for running a measly 13 miles? Psssh. Done!

On January 1st 2014, I strapped on my shoes and headed out the door. I ran for 3 minutes. Then walked for at least that many before running a few minutes more. It took me a good long time to run 1 mile and I was beat. Slowly but surely, I built up endurance and by April, I could make it 4 solid miles without even stopping to walk. By late April, my longest run reached 7 miles and I started searching for a half marathon to run. I knew it would have to be out of state since all races cease to exist in Arizona from about May to October. I looked in Utah and in California. I even looked up in Oregon where KJ lives. I finally settled on one in Utah that happened to fall close to our already planned road trip. Unfortunately, Bruce was not going to be able to join me for the race as it was squad change at work that weekend, but I had worked so hard to get to this point that I was determined to run something, and do it soon, before I could chicken out. So I paid the fees and started to panic.

In June I ran my first and second ever 10 miles runs and hoped that I was adequately prepared. At the end of June I arrived in Utah and began to train there, allowing my lungs to adjust to the much higher altitude. By July 12th I was as ready as I was going to be. I was also scared out of my mind. What on earth had possessed me to sign up for this!?

The morning of my race started bright and early. I think my alarm went off somewhere around 3:30 in the morning. I got up and put on my race gear. I stretched and tried to eat a little something. I then headed to Springville High School where I boarded a bus that drove me up into the canyon to the starting line.

It was super nerve wracking to be there by myself. In some ways it would have been really nice to have had a friend there with me to help calm my nerves, but then I am really glad that my first  half marathon experience was a solo one. It ended up being a super spiritual experience for me, one that I will definitely treasure in the years to come.

All during my training, I had listened to General Conference talks while running. Music just doesn't do it for me. I get so bored! But Conference talks grab my attention and help keep my mind occupied. Over the course of my training, I listened to almost all the talks that were available on The Mormon Channel app... almost 10 years worth of talks! I heard some amazing things during my training and felt the Spirit strongly on many occasions.

The day of my race, I started with the Priesthood session from the April 2014 session of Conference. It totally grabbed my attention and helped to calm me as the race started. As I ran down Spanish Fork Canyon, I couldn't help be but in awe of the beautiful world we live in. The views along my run were breath taking and I just felt so close to my Heavenly Father as I listened to His inspired words and enjoyed His beautiful artwork. I had many tender mercies throughout the race- from the friendly girl who I sat next to on the ride up the canyon, to the fact that they served purple Gatorade the entire race (the only flavour of Gatorade I can stomach!). Around mile 7, my knee started to act up really bad and for a brief moment I thought I was going to have to bow out of the race. It was extremely painful and I was scared I would do severe damage if I ran on it for another 6+ miles. I prayed and prayed hard and Heavenly Father poured out the blessings. The last half of the race was very difficult and I walked more than I wanted to, but my knee held out, I was able to finish the race, and I was given strength far beyond my own. I even managed to finish the race at a 12 minute mile pace (2 hr 38 min finish time), which is about what I had gone into the race anticipating. I still can hardly believe I managed to hit that pace while struggling with my knee. My knee could have slowed me down considerably, but really, it didn't. A 12 minute pace is exactly what I had been training at.

Coming to the finish line was such a neat experience. As I ran in, I quickly spotted my parents and children and my sweet girlies darted out, grabbed my hands and ran me across the finish line. I still get teary eyed thinking about it. I loved having them there to help me finish up what was by far one of the hardest things I have ever done.

I received my finishers medal after crossing the finish line, got a massage and enjoyed a French toast breakfast. Originally I thought the idea of finishers medals was kind of dumb. I don't subscribe to the "everyone needs a trophy" school of thought, but now the medal hangs on the wall near my desk, and I get great satisfaction out of seeing it there. I did something hard! Really, really hard! I trained for months and stretch myself more than I ever knew possible and I finished! I wasn't the fastest. Not by a long shot. But I finished, and that is definitely worth rewarding.

The next day I was incredibly sore, but it was kind of the best sore ever. Sure I cringed with every step, but it was just a reminder of what I had accomplished the day before. I swore I never needed to do another half marathon again, but by the time I arrived back home to Arizona, I was ready to sign up for another. And I did! In just a few hours I'll be getting in the car with a few friends and heading to Lake Powell to go through this madness all over again! And eventually, Bruce and I need to run one together, since that was the original plan. So it looks like, in time,  I'll have 3 half marathons under my belt. And to think, this from a girl who just 10 months ago, hated to run. Ü

Road Trip 2014 | Utah or Bust

Summer 2014 was a whirlwind. School ended on May 22nd. Bruce and I then spent the next two weeks in a state of panic as we made sure everything was in place for Trek. My parents arrived to watch our wee ones for us while we went on Trek. We got home from Trek and a week later the wee ones and I headed to Utah. We were in Utah for 3 weeks before heading home. Sunshine got strep throat which kept us pretty close to home for the last two weeks of summer, and then, summer was over.

Eventually I want to write all about Trek... it was such an awesome experience for Bruce and I. We loved almost everything about it and there is definitely much to tell, but I am struggling to get a hold of all the photos! And any post about Trek wouldn't be complete without photos. So, until I have those, I will hold off on writing that post. Which means I am skipping straight to recording the fun and excitement of Road Trip 2014.

This year's road trip began on Monday, June 23rd. The day before had been a hectic one- early morning meetings, church, the Trek fireside, me jamming the middle finger of my left hand in a major way (as in, it is still quite painful today, 2 months later). There were moments when I wasn't even sure we would make it out the door bright and early Monday morning, but we did it.

The drive north was uneventful. The wee ones played and coloured and listened to three Boxcar Children audio books. I spent 12 hours catching up with my mum. We stopped in Beaver for our traditional stretching of the legs and eating of the ice cream. Before I knew it, we were pulling in to my parents neighborhood and Road Trip 2014 was well under way.

Our first few days were low key. We sat down and made a list of things we wanted to do while in Utah, then we started to cross them off.

First, the girls were super excited to be reunited with Rocket. Rocket use to be our car, but when I got the Jolly Roger (our mini van) for my 28th birthday, Rocket found a new home with my parents. Even though we love our van, we all have a soft spot for Rocket and it was very exciting to not only see him, but to ride in him a few times as well. Once with my baby sister as the driver! When did I get so old!?!

On several occasions, we walked to the park at a school near my parent's house. I think it was the first time my wee ones have ever seen a metal slide! The had so much fun on that thing.  As you can see in the photos- Beebs was upset that they didn't make a three person train to go down the slide. That girl has some of the best facial expressions!

 We got shave ice at Hokulia. Multiple times. We also had Day's donuts on pretty much a daily basis, and we ate them on my parents back patio as often as possible. The cooler temps felt like heaven.

We made a trip to the BYU bookstore where each of the wee ones picked out a new book. Beebs chose a Berenstain Bears book, Sunshine picked a Magic Tree House chapter book which she then read out loud each time we were in the car. Man Cub got a book called Crocodaddy.

One of our summer fun list items was to go to the splash pad. My parents have a little one just a few miles from their home, so we headed there with my nephew Bodhi one afternoon. Man Cub was not a fan,  but the girls and Bodhi had a blast.

The Thursday after we arrived, my youngest sister and I took all the little ones to Salt Lake for the day. Aunt Tee works at the zoo and was able to get us in a couple different times during our stay. We loved watching the lions play soccer and seeing the zookeepers feed the rhinos and tell us lots of cool facts about them. And I always love watching my kiddos get a drink from the lion water fountain. Man Cub's favourite part of the zoo trip was playing with the water feature on our way out. He could have stayed there all day long and he got soaked as he played in it. We also got to ride the train and Aunt Tee let the children use  her camera to take pictures of one another at the different exhibits. They loved that!

  

On our way to the zoo, we stopped off at the Madsen Cargo Bike warehouse to test drive a bucket bike. The children all loved their ride in a Madsen and I would love to own one. Unfortunately, the price is a little hefty, and quite honestly, it's not ideal for where we live. But it was so fun to take it for a whirl!

Man Cub quickly made himself comfortable at Nana's house... his favourite spot to play was behind the curtains in her living room. Somehow he managed to avoid pulling the curtains to the floor. Thank. Goodness. I still don't know how- he spent many hours hiding behind them with his cars along the window sill, or playing peek a  boo and hide and seek, with that being his only hiding spot. 

Beebs is my creature of habit child and she struggled a bit with being away from home and especially away from Bruce. She and I enjoyed several different Mommy- Beebs outings, one of which resulted in a new Groovy Girl doll. She was very excited! Another outing led to the photo of Beebs in the mustache sunnies. How adorable is she?

And amongst all these activities (which took place in the first four days of our trip!), I started the last leg of my half marathon training- adjusting my lungs to Utah's altitude! I did a couple of short runs and about killed myself on the hills. Then the Saturday after we arrived in Utah, I went on my most favourite run ever- just over 8 miles during which I ran past not one, but two beautiful temples. There is no other place in the world where I could run only 8 miles and see two temples. It was a really neat experience and just an awesome run all around. I call it my run down memory lane as I ran past not only the temples, but my old middle school, the tree streets where my two best friends lived, the first house we lived in during our few years in Provo, and many other important landmarks from those precious years. Utah isn't my top pick of places to live, but the years we spent in Provo while my dad attended BYU were good years and I look back on them with many fond memories. And I ran past many of those memories in preparation for my half! And when I would return from my run each day, our very fickle family cat would come curl up on the grass with me while I cooled off. He ended up getting sick while I was there and despite our best efforts at nursing him  back to health,  he passed away a day or two after we got back to Arizona. He was a stinker, but I miss him anyway! I'm glad for the snuggles on my parents front lawn, and for the one photo I got of the two of us together.

And that about covers the first five days of being in Utah... only about 18 more days to blog about! Ü

See Claire Run

This is a boring post. I'm just telling you that right now. But I know that at some point in the future, I'm going to need to look back and remind myself of how hard this journey has been, but how incredibly empowering the results have been. Don't feel like you have to read this post. Seriously. Ü I won't be offended.

March 21st- My "Before"

One month ago, I decided to throw away all my excuses and get serious about getting in shape. I'd been trying to shed a few pounds and be more active since the beginning of the year, but I wasn't seeing the results I wanted, so I knew I had to do something different. Not to mention that Bruce and I have been asked to serve as leaders on our church's youth Pioneer Trek this summer, and I need to be in much better shape in order to meet the physical demands of this adventure.

I should back up a little further for just one moment... up until one month ago, the farthest I had run EVER was when Bruce and I did the Disneyland 5k back in September of 2011. In January Bruce decided he wanted the two of us to run a half marathon together and promised me diamond earrings when we were done, so I decided to start running. The first time I went out, I could run for 2-3 minutes, then I would have to walk for 2 minutes. I did this for one mile and it about killed me. I continued to run for no more than 4 minutes at a time and then walk to recover for a month before I was able to run an entire mile non-stop. It took me another two months to work my way up to a 2 mile non-stop run. It was a very, very slow process and I started to panic about the 4 mile Trek Fun Run that I needed to complete on April 12th in order to show that I was physically ready to go on the Trek. The 4 miles had to be completed in 1 hour...

On March 21st, I handed Bruce my phone and told him to snap a picture. I wanted something to mark this new beginning. I also started to track the calories of everything I ate using My Fitness Pal. I liked this alternative better than what I had been doing, which was avoiding sugar. I am still careful about the amount of sugar I eat, but at least with counting calories, I can have a small treat on occasion.

On March 22nd, I started a new running schedule that my best friend suggested. Basically, it involves three runs a week- two shorter runs followed by the week's long run. The total distance covered during the two short runs equal the distance covered during the long run and the idea is to up the long run by half a mile each week. I set my first long run goal at 4 miles, just so I could gauge how far I had to go in order to be ready for the Fun Run. I figured I would be lucky to make it 3 miles that first attempt at a long run, but I planned my short runs as if I were going to do a full 4.

On March 29th, I did my first official long run. My goal was 4 miles and I made it 4 full miles without stopping, in just shy of 47 minutes. I could not believe that I had just run 4 miles without stopping. I kind of felt invincible. Not really, but at least I knew I was ready for the Fun Run.

On April 5th, I ran my next long run. I decided to see if I could up my mileage by a mile each long run, instead of by just half a mile. I ran a total of 5.56 miles during the week and was (relatively) easily able to run 5 miles on April 5th in 56 minutes.

On April 12th, Bruce and I participated in the 4 Mile Fun Run for Trek. Bruce was coming straight from work and was anxious to get it over with so he could get home and go to bed. He ran the 4 miles in 34 minutes. It took me 42 minutes, but that still shaved 5 minutes off my initial 4 mile run time.

Running the Fun Run set me back slightly on my training schedule since I had basically missed my 6 mile run week. I debated between going back up to 5 for the next long run and then moving on, but I decided that I would just shoot for 6 miles. I had some really great short runs last week- 4 miles and 3 miles, plus a good brisk walk with my girls one morning. I made a 6 mile run route on my phone and set out first thing Saturday morning to make it happen. I hit the 6 mile mark and was still feeling great, but I wasn't quite home. I decided to keep going and thought to myself how great it would be to hit 6.55 miles, which would be half of my half marathon goal. I got to 6.55 and still felt great, so I kept going and before I knew it, I was home and had run 7 full miles. I was slow... just under a 12 minute mile pace but I could not believe it. 7 full miles, just under 1 month since I got serious about running.

April 19th after finishing my 7 mile run

Over the course of 1 month, I went from having only run 2 miles at a time to now running 4 miles as my "short" run, with 7 miles being my current record. I'm pushing for 8 this Saturday. I've also lost 7.8 pounds in the last month and 2 inches each around my waist and hips. I feel fantastic and have way more energy than ever before.

We still hope to have another baby in the future, which means eventually, all this hard work will be "undone" so to speak. I wanted to record just what I am capable of, so when I am starting again from scratch, I will remember exactly why it is worth it to do it all over.

I NEVER saw myself turning into a runner. I am still hesitant to use that word, but for crying out loud! I ran 7 miles on Saturday. Non-runners don't do that! I even set my alarm and get up super early to fit my runs in. I actually look forward to my runs each week as they give me some quiet, uninterrupted time to work on being a better me, spiritually, physically and mentally. What is happening to me!?! There is something totally empowering about running long (for me) distances. I can't wait to get back out there and try to run even farther. And I'm willing to run without someone chasing me. This is huge, people!

Now that one month has passed, I feel like running and eating in a normal calorie range have become habit, which means its time to add in more! This morning I sat down and set up a workout calendar that includes not only my runs, but now some strength training in hopes that I can tone myself up. This morning was arms and I'm still feeling the burn. I can't wait to see what this addition will do to helping me get in shape and be a healthier me.

Side by side... I know it's a slightly different angle, but you get the idea. My waist and hips have both shed a few inches and my face has lost some roundness. I'm loving the results I am seeing and I can't wait to see what the next month brings.