Moose on the loose!

What a fun morning we had! The girls both ran their first ever trail race :)

It started with gearing up with tatoos

Then getting psyched upon arrival

C's group took off first:

And then M's group about five minutes later. M decided she wanted me to run with her so no video of the start, but we did get this one of her about 3/4 of the way through.

We had a chance to get her finisher's necklace and a snack before C came in:

We were about to take off and then they started annoucing winners so we stuck around only to hear that M took 3rd place in the mini moose divison!

Super super fun morning, and we were super grateful to be at our race, and not the redbull400 happening up the hill (yes there are people running UP the ski jump).

Happy Saturday from PC!

Color Run

All the habit books I've read say that habits form and reform one step at a time, so here's a post in an effort to get back into the habit of blogging :o)

This weekend the city rec group celebrated the start of summer with a color run (aka throwing chalk at runners as the go by). And, in a brillant move, they had a one mile and 100 yard option in addition to the traditional 5K. As a result, we all had a blast.

Also the fire truck came by to rinse the kids off. May the whole summer be activies like this for these guys despite the low snow pack and dry spring.

Head up. Wings out.

Using the big event from the weekend to get back into blogging. The plan is to return to your regularly scheduled kid updates this week :o)


So it's been crazy here. As in kids starting school, Alex working like crazy on a hurricane relief task for, and me both starting a new role and pulling off the biggest education offering we've ever done simultaneously crazy. And during all this crazy, that half marathon that I've been talking about all summer, it crept up.

Now the previous race (the 15K) was awful. After a really strong first 8 miles I crashed and burned hard, and ended up walking the last mile and a half (in quite a bit of pain). Needless to say, I knew I needed a plan going into this one. Lucky, I know a runner :o) And she was kind enough to take a peek at the course map and put together a game plan...

• First two miles: this is your warm-up. Take it painfully slow. Like jog-walk slow. Ease into the run. once you get to two miles, you're at the top of your first big climb and can start picking up the pace.
• Miles 2 through 6: This is a rolling but mostly downhill portion of the course with overall elevation loss: this is your time to shine but not too brightly! Keep a nice steady pace, faster on the downhills, slower on the ups. Get to mile 6 with lots in the tank.
• Miles 6 to 10: minus a short break from 8 to 8.75, this is a mostly uphill stretch. This is where the race will make or break people, but since you ran painfully slow the first two miles, and had fun cruising the last 4, this is where you'll be made. Run slower than you did miles 2 through 6; walk the hills. Stop at every aid station. 
• Miles 10 to 12: you've basically made it, and mile 10 is all downhill. Mile 11 flattens out. Just focus on staying relaxed and walking when you need to.
• Mile 12 to finish: Think about negative splitting your last 1.5ish miles. First half mile, easy and steady, second half mile, pick up the pace, and by mile 13, with your last 1/2 mile to go, give it all you have. You can hurt, be absolutely miserable for 800 meters. Your daughters will be waiting for you at the finish. Make them proud!

..and share a mantra:

I'm not sure why "Head Up. Wings Out!" resonates so well with me (especially given my acute dislike of birds) but for some reason it was exactly what I needed. Anytime I felt myself getting sloppy on the course I used it to straighten up and run tall and light. And when I got past the last incline within sight of the finish line, I used it as a reminder to fly home.

Just before the shoot I saw Alex and the girls which put a huge smile on my face and sent me soaring even higher. Little did I know that Alex actually released C to run the shoot with me.

and she did her best to catch up, but clueless momma didn't get the memo so we had to settle for an post-finish line hug.

This was the first time the girls have been at the finish line for a race, and it really is the most amazing feeling to share that post run high.

Over all, it was a great race. Super challenging course with lots of elevation change. Snow on the ground and a bite in the air. A hot air balloon festival going on at the same time so lots of fun things to watch in the sky in addition to beautiful trails,

and the awesome feeling of knowing that I conquered all four of the the PC Trail Series races.

Thanks for the great year PC trails - can't wait to see what we do next summer :o)

PC Trail Series - 2017 Part 2

Blogging for postarity again - the other big event this past weekend was race two of the Park City Trail Series. 

10K on harder trails, including a brutal incline from about mile 3.5 to mile 5. It was officially the longest race I attempted in Utah last year - this year it felt really good, and I did much better - :o)

Two down, two to go!

PC Trail Series - 2017 Part 1

Blogging for postarity - the other big event this past weekend was race one of the Park City Trail Series. 5K on pretty easy trails. It was officially the first race I attempted in Utah. Last year I survived. This year I did much better :o)

One down, three to go!