Finish This: July

I found this over at Kyria's blog and though I was not going to post tonight, now I am.  SO blame her :)


Finish this: July



Maybe I should fold the four baskets of laundry and put it away instead of doing this.
I love life.
People would say that I’m a runner.
I don’t understand people who would rather be on welfare than get a job and have some pride.
When I wake up in the morning  it is early, usually about 4:45 and am sandwiched between two kids.
I lost my spare car key. 
Life is full of beauty.
My past is full of happiness, I have been so blessed.
I get annoyed when people talk to me during a movie or a TV show.
Parties are best when small and I can leave when I want.
I wish I had more of a green thumb.
Dogs are great running partners. 
Birds are great singers.
Tomorrow I’m taking my son school shopping for the first time. 
I have low tolerance for being tired or hungry. 
I’m totally terrified of something happening to my kids.
I wonder why I need so much sleep.
Never in my life have I been to the west coast.
High school was fun, but I was so ready to move on.
When I’m nervous I giggle, usually inappropriately! 
Take my advice: Just put on your shoes and run.
Making my bed doesn't happen very often.
I’m almost always optimistic. 
I’m addicted to running, chewy fruity candy, cake and my kids laughter.
I want someone to make me a multimillionaire.

Run, Sprint, Bike, Eat Lemon Meringue Pie

I got a pair of Lululemon shorty shorts on ebay recently for a pretty great price.  I had been really wanting a pair, but not wanting to pay full price for them.  I have to say I love them.  I think if they were a little longer I would love them even more.  Lots of great pockets and sticky elastic on the hem around the leg openings so they don't ride up. 

They are pretty much just like the shorts that are under the Lulu skirts only they have more pockets.  I love running in these.

Speaking of running I ran 5 miles this morning, 5 very hot miles.  I also did  a 100 m dash as practise for the Run with Jess Virtual Games.  I was a sprinter in high school.  I love how good it feels to just all out sprint... and then reality sets in and I realize I am getting to old for this.  Just kidding but it is hard! 

Then I finished with a 5 mile bike ride.  Biking in the heat is not as bad as running in the heat in my opinion which is not based on a lot of experience.  There was a slight breeze though that really helped. 

My foot is feeling good.  Not even a twinge today.  YAY!  I am hoping to get in a double digit run later next week if it continues to feel good. 

I have been spending so much more time cross training post marathon on both the bike and the elliptical.  It is a nice break from so much running.   PLUS I can watch Greys Anatomy reruns on the elliptical. 

I watched part of the opening ceremonies last night.  I have to face it though.  I don't like to stay up late and watching the athletes march into the stadium in alphabetical order by country is really boring. I think I made it to Denmark and called it a night. 

Now I am going to go eat some of the lemon meringue pie my grandma and her sister sent home with me from dinner last night :)

How is your Saturday shaping up?

Mizuno Wave Precisions Review

I ran exclusively in Asics Kayanos for years.  Almost a decade.  Last year I branched out and tried Brooks Trance shoes when I got into their wear test program.  I was converted.  I even branched out further and bought two pairs from their Pure Project line.

Thanks to Jen at Runner Maybe I got an invite to the Mezamashii project.  I had a hard time picking out a pair of shoes.  I have only tried one other pair of Mizuno shoes (I bought them last fall on clearance, more branching out)  and was not happy with them.   In fact I just put them on to see if I had changed my mind at all.  I didn't.  I still hate them.  They feel all wrong.

The person I talked to at the Mezamashii project was super awesome and patient about talking about the shoes I wear now, what I like about them and what Mizuno shoes are comparable.  I think I kept the poor guy on the phone about 20 minutes asking him all kinds of questions and discussing pros and cons of different shoes.

I finally settled on the Mizuno Wave Precisions. I went with the 12s because the 13s were very PINK
I am not a pink kind of person.  I can like a little pink, but those shoes were a little much.  The 12s however were all right, in fact I really like them.  Not too much pink and some awesome bright yellow/lime green on them too.

Here they are all clean and pretty right out of the box.

I felt like I couldn't make a judgement on them right away since I have been having some pain in my left foot since the Missoula Marathon on the 8th so I waited a bit to do this post.  I have run about 25 miles in them total.

PROS

• Bright and colorful.  I am tired of shoes that are boring.  I want colorful shoes to run in.
• Very comfortable.  Sometimes when I buy new shoes I feel like it takes awhile to get the lacing right and have to keep loosening and tightening the laces till I get it right.  I didn't have to do it once.  Awesome
• 8 ounces makes them lightweight and great for speedwork.  This was a major reason why I picked them. I can also use them for races, and I think I will this fall if I continue to like them.
• I feel like I am able to midfoot stike in them easily despite the 12mm heel drop.
• They feel quick to me.  I ran a 6:34 mile at the end of an 8 mile run on Wednesday in them.

Not so clean anymore :)

CONS

• Feel a little small to me.  The 8.5s are not bad, but I think I could have sized up and been even happier.   I saw this on Runningwarehouse.com

Sizing: Fits small; purchase 1/2 size larger than standard running shoe size.  (I wish the guy at Mizuno would have told me that. )

• Lots of white on them gets very dirty looking fast.  (My own fault for ordering this color)
• I wish they had less of a heel drop.  They are 12mm, which is pretty standard, but the Pure Flows I run in are 4mm and I really like that about them.

The longest run I have done in them so far is 8 miles and I would do farther.  At least up to a half marathon if not more.

I recieved these shoes free but the opinions are my own. Would a buy another pair.  Yes I think I would. 

Three Things Thursday

1.  I have to admit I have been a little jumpy since a mountain lion was spotted so close to my house, but at the same time I don't want to live my life in fear and be stuck inside.  I ran later in the morning today and carried my pepper spray.  I also ran along the wheat fields that have been combined recently so that if there was a big cat he wouldn't be able to sneak up on me.  No good hiding spots...just acres and miles of empty wheat fields the perfect color to camoflage a mountain lion....

No I didn't see any.  I also left my ipod at home and watched my dog very carefully, hoping he would be able to see one before I did. 

2. 8 miles.  That is how far I ran yesterday with no foot pain.  Longest run since the marathon earlier this month..YAY!  Felt so good.  I originally planned 6, but it felt good so I kept running.  Once I got to 8 I considered 10, but then decided the smartest thing to do would be to call it a day.  So I went home biked 2 miles and rode the elliptical for another 6.5. 

Marathons really take a lot longer to recover from than half marathons. 

3.  I recently canceled our Dish Network subscription and for the most part have not missed it. I got tired of paying 70 dollars a month for hundreds of channels I don't watch.  I miss the DVR part, but for the most part am so happy with my decision.

 I went ahead earlier this month and signed up for NetFlix.  What a great thing.  I started watching Grey's Anatomy from the beginning.  Some episodes I had never seen, or forgotten.  I am almost done with the second season already.  It is like an addiction.  I put it on the iPad while I am cooking supper, while cleaning the house and while I am cross training on the elliptical.  I can think of several other shows I want to watch once I am done with Greys. 

Cherries and fish

I got a box of Rainier cherries from Bountiful Baskets last week and spent some of yesterday canning them up.  I had a lot of bruised cherries so I was a little disappointed by that especially since my sister said hers were awesome.  I still got about 10 pints canned and a lot of them went into my belly.

Canning cherries was super easy.  I did cut all of these in half and pit them, although I remember my mom never did and we loved eating canned cherries when I was growing up, so I am thinking I will can the rest of them with the pits in and be lazy about it.

I have been eating a lot of cherries lately, but they aren't in season very long and I LOVE cherries.  That said eating a lot of cherries is not always compatible with early morning runs.  You would think I would learn.


My Aunt gave the kids both a beta fish recently and this morning much to my dismay I discovered one of the fish bowls had cracked some time ago and leaked all over the antique dresser they were sitting on.  It ruined the top of it.

I didn't notice right away because they were sitting on a dark colored placemat.  UGH.  So now I will have to figure out what I need to do to restore it.   and find another bowl for the fish.

Bummer.

Motivation Monday

 Right now what has really been dragging my butt out of bed and into my shoes is beating the heat of course, but more than that is a craving to be out in the world before the sun comes up so I can watch the sun rising while I am running or biking.

I rolled out the door this morning a full 20 minutes before sunrise.  I was sticking to a route super close to home doing quarter mile out and backs.  Boring, I know especially for 5 miles.  I did this because a mountain lion was spotted a half a mile from my house yesterday morning right after my run/bike session.  I am not impressed with the whole mountain lion in my backyard thing.

I wonder if that explains the missing kitten..

I did have another great sunrise this morning though.  Helped alleviate the out and back boredom.

Stopping to take pictures of the sky and horses every once in awhile helped too.   I threw in some strides for good measure every half mile also.

and one from Saturday

 I ran 5 miles this morning and my foot started to hurt a little at the end, but not too bad. I will rest it again for a couple days, which will be easy since I have to work tomorrow.

Not a sunrise, but a very fiery sunset.

What has been motivating you lately?

Wanting More

Yesterday was one of those mornings where I really had to pep talk myself to get out of bed and get out for my run.  I had not slept good at all the night before and was tired. Bed was feeling really good.

 I needed to get out the door before quarter to six for my planned workouts this morning.  I got up at 5:30 and briefly considered going back to bed.  I wondered if my plan of running down to my parents house 3.3 miles away and biking back was a good plan or not.  My foot hurt two miles into my run on Thursday and I really don't want to make it worse.

At 5:40 I got my butt out the door.  SO glad I did.  The sun was just about to come up.  My favorite time to be out running is before and during sunrise.  The clouds were pink in the sky and there was a rainbow of all things at 5:40 this morning.  It was really faint and hard to see in the pictures, but I took a few where it is pretty visible.

It looked like the rainbow ended on top of this hill and lit it up.  Really it was the sun coming up over the hills behind me lighting it up, but I thought it a neat photo.

I liked this picture just for the pink clouds in the sky.

3.3 miles of awesome yesterday morning.  I wanted to keep running. and running.  My legs are feeling so good, no foot pain and a beautiful morning.  I got to my parents house, Dad and I aired up the tires and I was off!  The biggest problem was that it is mostly uphill from their house to mine.  My quads were on fire!  I had to stop and walk it out a couple times.

This morning I rolled out of bed and was off on the bike again just before sunup to another breath taking sunrise. I biked 5 miles, then ran 1.2 just to see what it felt like to run after a bike ride.  Weird.  My legs felt all wonky.  Then I hopped back on the bike and did a total of  10 miles on the bike.

I felt good when I was done.  I didn't want to go to far my first longer ride on the bike.  It really isn't the same as running.  Do bikers get the same high that runners do?  I wasn't really feeling it.  I kind of wanted to go run after I got home, but I am resting my foot.  So I didn't.  Maybe tomorrow.

I did 5 to 5:30 minute miles on the bike all on gravel.  Not real sure where this is on the spectrum of things.  Sometimes I pushed hard and other times coasted along. 

I am hoping by next weekend my foot will be healed up and I can go for a nice long run.  I am kind of craving one. 

Do you crave long runs when you haven't done one for awhile?

Bike vs running.. does biking leave you wanting more?

Three Things Thursday

1.  I have decided NOT to race this weekend in the Big Sky State games.  I really really wanted to do the half marathon and if my legs weren't feeling it I was going to go for the 10k.  My legs are feeling great, but my left foot is not.  I can run about two miles and it starts to hurt, so I am giving it some rest.  I ran 4 super easy miles this morning as a test run after two days off and it was the same.  I came home and did another hour on my elliptical instead. A little frustrating since my legs feel so good and they want to run run run.  At least my foot feels fine on the elliptical and I am hoping to borrow a bike from my mom tomorrow to ride and do some cross training.  My plan is to continue running very short distances and bike a lot until my foot quits hurting.  Hopefully that will be soon.

2. I don't buy wine very often.  I do like wine though.  We are having some of my husbands out of town family over for a BBQ tomorrow and I wanted to pick up some wine for it in case some one wanted something besides beer.  I have to admit I picked both of these based on the label.  My sister in law is also a cowgirl so I think she will really appreciate the one on the right and well I am a red headed middle sister so I couldn't resist the one on the left :)

 

3. Bios are hard to write.  My Hood to Coast Team is being featured in the Western Ag Reporter.  My Aunt is the editor. That makes it a lot harder to write.  I figure she will just edit as she sees fit anyway.  What ends up in the paper may be something completely different than what I wrote.  I can't wait to find out.

Here is what I wrote:

I grew up on Indian Creek Ranch east of Billings learning to hate grasshoppers, fires and democrats and learning to love the cool early mornings of summer, the smell of rain, rain in general really, long days in the saddle and baby calves. I was blessed with being put to work driving hay trucks, swathers, and old trucks with temperamental brakes. The work ethic I learned on the ranch has carried through and when I started in the operating room at the Billings Clinic twelve and a half years ago as a registered nurse I got a lot of comments about how I must have been raised on a farm or ranch because I was such a hard worker. This can in part be attributed to something my Dad taught me and I quote "Don't just stand there with your thumb up your @$$, look around and find something to do. Always something that needs doing."

I will have been married to Rance seven years this November and we make our home north of the family ranch. I am so happy to have my parents, grandmother, many Aunts, siblings, and wonderful neighbors around, and willing to watch my two kids Cade (5) and Avery (4) while I pursue my running habit. I did my first half marathon two years ago and my first marathon on July 8th in Missoula finishing in just under four hours. I am so excited to be representing Team Beef this year at the local races I have done and Hood to Coast coming up. I do occasional blog posts on my running blog promoting beef and love educating the other runners from around the country and Canada I interact with via my blog about the health benefits of beef and the lifestyle in general.

Rance has his own fencing business and when not fencing helps with a lot of riding for my Dad and brother. I work at the Billings Clinic Outpatient Surgery Center three days a week. When not at work I can be found running the dirt roads with my 5-H stockdog Cola, taking my kids and their cousins on adventures on the ranch, or pretending to clean my house. Cola prefers to run wherever the cows are and I am just happy to be out in the wide open spaces putting one foot in front of the other.

what do you think?  I am wondering if it is a little vague.

Missoula Marathon Pictures, the good, the bad, and the funny.

I had to sort through thousands of pictures to find all of mine, but I think i finally did and here are most of them, the good, the bad, and the funny! 

. I was feeling so good in this first picture.  I think it was taken somewhere after mile 15 since that was when I put my ear buds in finally, but we weren't in town yet either so it was before mile 20. This is maybe my favorite picture out of all of them, since maybe it is the only one where I kind of look like I am loving what I am doing.

I think in this one I was feeling pretty crappy, but I don't think I had vomited yet. Something I am starting to notice about ALL my racing pictures is that I tend to run with my fingers curled and my thumb up.

It looks like I am about to give a big ol thumbs up in every picture.

This one was at the end and I felt about as good as I looked.

There were a bunch here at the end and I look like I am in pain and about to cry in all of them.  A) I was in pain, my quads were cramping up very tight.  B) I was about to cry.  I was so emotional!

and the shadows there really makes it look like I have stick legs, HA!

and DONE! WOO-HOO I did it!

Here is the funny picture.  26.2 miles, 3 hours 56 minutes and 55 seconds of racing.  I got out my phone with three miles left to give my mom a heads up since she had the kids and I get busted by the photographer. (note the thumb in the thumbs up position)

Finishers photos with the kids and my darling niece.

Have you ever been had your photo taken during a race doing something un-race like?

Three Things Thursday

1. Thanks to Jen at Runner_Maybe I got an invite to the Mezamashii Run Project. 

If you haven't heard of it yet Mezamashii is the Japanese word for eye-opening, or brilliant. The Mezamashii Run Project is Mizuno's quest to deliver a more brilliant running experience to dedicated runners everywhere.  They are giving away thousands of running shoes. 

I had a really hard time picking a pair out, but finally settled on these the Wave Precision 12's.  I could have gone with the 13s but they were very PINK and I wasn't sure I could handle really pink shoes.

 Their description from the website

Wave Precision 12 Capturing the simplistic purity and beauty of Japanese Block Printing, the ultra lightweight Wave Precision 12 offers a phenomenal running experience.
Soft yet durable blown-rubber forefoot outsole design for cushioning and flexibility. 

I think they are pretty and can't wait to try them out soon when I get back to running. They are a performance neutral shoe so I will wear them for races and speedwork.

2. My kids have been doing swim lessons and it has been so fun to see how they progress from year to year.   They have a half hour lesson four days a week for two weeks.  Then they are taking two weeks off and I signed them up for another session. 

This is supposed to be a picture of my son, but the little guy at the bottom totally photo bombed it.

 and the little miss looking pretty fierce!

3. This is going to be a very long fire season.  My heart breaks for the ranchers that have lost cows in the fires that blew up so fast over night they had no time to move the cows.  It is so dry here.  Every lightning storm has everyone staring out into the horizon for smoke.  Two fires in the last two days.  So far we have been so lucky and they have been spotted early and had a lot of help show up.  I just pray for rain.  

I am a marathon runner.

I am now three days post marathon.  My legs are still pretty sore, but I think I am over the worst of it.  I have not attempted to run yet.  I think I will wait until this weekend and try an easy run on Saturday.  I did hop on my elliptical Monday for half an hour and will probably hop on it again today for a short time.

My left foot has been pretty sore.  Not sure if it is a plantar fascia type thing, but I think I won't do any hard running until it is feeling better.  No sense in pushing hard to early.  My Mom offered me her extra bike and I think I will take her up on it and do some cross training.  I have been wanting to do better with cross training anyway. 

I love the medal from the Missoula Marathon.  I would have to say it is my most favorite medal ever. 

I love the horseshoe shape and that it is from my first marathon.   The shirt I love since it is a womens fit, but I am not really in love with the color.  The half marathon shirts were orange and the 5k shirts were yellow.  The marathon shirt was (in my opinion) a kind of ugly red, but I did earn it and I have been wearing it a lot.

I am still amazed at how emotional I felt getting across the finish line Sunday.  I remember being emotional when I finished my first half, but nothing like getting done with my first marathon.  It didn't feel like it was twice as much mental and physical toll it felt like exponentially more.  I couldn't even fathom another one after the race Sunday, but now well..totally different story.

I walked around work yesterday thinking

 "I am a marathon runner.  I don't "just" run half marathons, I have run a MARATHON.  26.2 miles.  Twenty-six point two."

Speaking of work everyone was so great and there were signs on the lounge door congratulating me on my marathon.  I love my co-workers :) even if some of them were making fun of the way I was getting out of chairs and hobbling around. 

I haven't experienced any post marathon blues, but maybe that is because I have Hood to Coast coming up in August and other races this fall to look forward to.   My son will start kindergarten in 6 weeks and I will leave for Hood to Coast the day after he starts school.  Time is flying by!

There is a half marathon here in two weeks that I would like to do and I think I have until the 19th to sign up.  I am not going to make any decisions about it until I see how my body is feeling next week.  At this point I am leaning towards not doing it since I am having a foot issue.  That half marathon is usually a warm one and only the top three in each age group get medals

Missoula Marathon Recap

My mom and I left for Missoula Friday with my kids and met up with my sister along the way and took her daughter with us also.  We had a great time in Missoula and even rode on the carasol. 

The kids had a lot of fun!

Packet pick-up was Saturday and seemed well organized.  There was a small race expo and I picked up a few gels, a running shirt that was on sale, and a new SPIbelt that is water resistant, with gel loops on it. 

I set all my marathon clothes, gear, etc out before I went to bed and set three alarms in case one of them failed. 
Marathon morning I got up around 3:30 when the first alarm went off, not that I really slept much.  I think I was awake most of the night. 

The hotel I was staying had a shuttle to the buses that were taking us out to the start of the race, so I caught the 4:30 one and enjoyed chatting with the other runners.  Most seemed to be doing the half.

I sat with another girl who was doing her first marathon also and the time to the start seemed to fly by.

We got out to Frenchtown where the race was starting just as the walkers were starting at 5.  Fireworks were set off as they left.  There were LOTS of porta potties and I used one as soon as I got there and got back in line again at 5:30 to empty the tank.  This time there were longer lines, but they seemed to move pretty fast.

I got to the start line with about ten minutes to start and stood with the 3:40 pace group.  I decided this would be a good place to start.  My biggest goal was to finish the marathon in under four hours, but I also felt like I could do a 3:40 if things were going good. The temp was a lovely 50 degrees.
  
At 6 am the gun went off!  So exciting!  I had to work really hard to keep my pace above 8 minute miles.  My legs felt really good, but I knew I had a long way to go, so I kept slowing myself down.  The 3:40 pace group was way ahead of me for the first four miles but then they slowed down, and I stayed with them for a short time, but decided to push on.

I made sure to take time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and ran with out my ear buds in for the enitre first half.  I concentrated on my form, keeping the pace manageable, hydrating at every water station and trying to stay relaxed! 

My body kept wanting to do more like a 7:50 pace, I considered letting it, but since this was my first marathon I thought it would be better to run more conservatively.  My problem is that I am a competitor and I want to do the best that I can.  I want to see how far I can push my body. 

Here are the splits from the first half.  I was feeling great and was confident going into the second half.  I had eaten a Roctane at mile 5 and a peanut butter GU at mile 10. 

Mile 14 had the only hill of any real significance and going up it was hard but it didn't take my legs long to recover and fall back into the pace I had been running.  At mile 18 I remember thinking "Wow I feel really great.  8 more miles is going to be cake"  Ahh famous last words. 

At mile 19 my guts started feeling..gurgly...My legs still felt good though, my breathing felt good.  I saw a porta potty sometime after mile 20 that was open and hopped in.  I was in for maybe a minute?  I didn't really keep track but I do know that when I got out my legs protested.  Apparently there were under the impression that the party was over.

I ate another Roctane (bad choice, I should have picked the peanut butter GU, but orange vanilla sounded better at that point) thinking maybe it would help get some zip back in to my legs.  I gagged trying to swallow it (bad sign).  Pretty soon I was dry heaving.  I stopped and walked a couple of times letting the nausea subside, but every time I started running again it just came back. I decided I better just get it over with and made myself run until I finally puked. 

There I was 22 miles in, puking my guts out.  Orange vanilla flavored puke.  I think I still had all the water in my stomach from the last 3 hours because there was a lot of it. A bystander came and asked me if I was okay once I was done and I told her I thought I was better now.

My guts did feel a lot better, but my legs felt stiff and sore.  I couldn't get them back on pace and they kept cramping up.  It was a little discouraging to have felt so great for so long and now to feel so crappy so close to the end.  Not to mention getting passed by the 3:40 and the 3:50 pace groups.

I was so determined to get in under 4 hours though so I kept moving as much as I could, although mentally I was feeling a little very discouraged.  I didn't just feel like I had hit a wall I felt like I had slammed into it repeatedly.

Finally I came around the last turn in the road to the finish line where I knew my mom and kids were.  As my watch beeped 26 miles at me, as if on cue my quads cramped up.  I was not going to walk the last .2 (really last .3) and I hobbled (I felt like a duck running) across the bridge to the finish line. I still managed to smile and wave to my mom and the kids though.

I was so happy I had made it under 4 hours.  I was so happy to be done.  My daughter ran over to me and I picked her up and just hugged her and cried.  A race official sat me down and got me some water, Powerade and some ice for my quads.

My splits from the second half.  A little disapointing at the end, but it gives me something to improve on  :)

Elevation profile from the race.

The race was very well organized and coordinated.  The volunteers and water stations were all awesome. The weather was pretty good until about the last hour when it started to get hot. I think they had a post race festival as well, but at that point all I wanted was to take a shower and start the long drive home. 

I ended up
22 out of 73 in my age group
93 out of 534 women
I can be happy with that.

I did get this photo as soon as I got back to my hotel room, which graciously allowed for late check out for the runners.

Thoughts

• People aren't kidding when they say there are the first 20 miles and then the even longer 6.2
• People aren't kidding when they saw you will go through every emotion before the end. 
• I am wondering if fueling every 5 miles was too much for my stomach.
• At least I know I was taking in enough fluids
• if you would have asked me yesterday I would have said no to another marathon
• I am sure I will post more on the marathon, like what the medal and the race shirt look like later

Three Things Thursday

1.  Hope everyone had a great Independence Day yesterday.  No fireworks for us yesterday, the whole state of Montana, as well as anywhere else, seems to be one big firework  waiting to explode.  The biggest fire in the nation right now is in Montana with over 244,000 acres, over 380 square miles, burned and only 55% contained.  

We contemplated going to a rodeo with the kids, but then my husband got busy working on his truck and the kids and I took a nap.  I got up from my nap and my husband got a fire call on a fire about 5-6 miles north of our house.  Way too close to where our cows are. 

Luckily, no one is messing around.  A helicoptor and a tanker were on the fire in short order and so were lots of local fire departments.  The fire was contained at somewhere between 60 and 80 acres. So lucky it was caught early!

This is just a screen shot so you can't play, but the pink arrow is where the biggest fire is, and the blue one is sort of where I am.

2.  I have started packing for my trip to Missoula for my first marathon.  I think maybe I am over packing, but I would rather have more than I need than not enough.  Although 8 GUs and 3 packs of Clif Bloks might be enough for two marathons!

I still don't know when we are going to leave.  My parents were planning to go up to Missoula for a skeet shoot (my Dad is a pretty kick ass skeet shooter) but given the fire season being what it is, he may not go.  My husband might not go either.

If that is the case I think my Mom and I will leave Friday with the kids and make a weekend of it. 

3. It is going to be hotter than normal in Missoula this weekend.  Normally for this marathon they have a starting temp in the low to mid fifties and in the seventies by noon.  This year..a little hotter than normal.

I think I will just have to adjust my expectations and allow for it being so hot.  I have decided to run with my hydration belt, I wasn't going to, but well it is going to be HOT!  I want to stay hydrated.  My first half marathon was a super hot one so I guess it is fitting my first full is too. It will make my next one feel easy. (HA!) Although I would take a cold front in a heart beat.

Regardless of the temps, I plan to be a marathoner at the end of the day.

How I got to be on the edge of (Glory) my first marathon.

First of all a huge thank you to everyone who left me such great, thoughtful and awesome comments on the post where I asked for first time marathon help.  I am loving it and plan to reread all of them the night before the marathon.

The journey to a marathon wasn't really one that 5 years ago I thought would embarking on..ever.  I had wrote off anything over an hour of running as too hard on my body sometime after college.  I ran for fitness.  I ran to help manage my weight and because I enjoyed it.

 I thought people who ran in road races would all be really competitive and uber fast.   I didn't think I would fit in.  I didn't think I was fast enough.  I didn't think I would enjoy it.

Sometime around 2002 maybe I ran a 5 mile womens run and was surprised at how well I did.  I think I ran it in 42 minutes or something like that.  I was too timid to enter more races though and I didn't know anyone else you did.

I kept running for fitness.  Then I got married, pregnant, quit the gym, moved out to the country, pregnant again and found that I needed an outlet.  I needed something for me.  Something to help me decompress.  With the encouragement of a friend at work I signed up for a 5 mile race.  I  surprised myself with how fast I did it, but never did anymore races that year.

The next year I did every race I could locally.  5ks, 5 miles and my first 2 half marathons. I was hooked!  It didn't matter that I wasn't the fastest, although I was faster than I would have guessed!

I considered a marathon still out of my league, maybe once both kids were in school.  Mostly I think I still just thought the distance was too crazy for me. Last year I again did every race I could enter locally and did my first 10k, and two more halfs, 

We had a very mild winter and it allowed me to build and maintain a very good base. I did long runs of 12-14 miles just for fun.  They felt good, they felt easy. I loved doing them.

I also started to listen to Marathon Training Academy.  One of their podcasts was about overcoming obstacles in training and finding the time to train.

I also have to insert here that I started my blog in April of 2011 and I have to admit reading about everyone else's marathons was INCREDIBLY inspiring.  If all these woman can do it, why not me too?

Then one day my little sister watched the kids and I went for a new PDR and ran 17 miles.  It wasn't easy, but it felt strangely..doable. 

Suddenly 26.2 wasn't so intimidating.  Maybe, just maybe I could do a marathon.  I found out my parents would be in Missoula the same weekend of the marathon.  I talked it over with my husband and then signed up.

I rearranged my long runs so they were during the week instead of on the weekends.  This was huge!  I was able to trade kids with my sister in law so that she would watch kids in the morning and I in the afternoon on a mutual day off.

Now here I am 5 days away from it!  I am ready.  I am confident about running the distance, just wondering how it will all play out!

This is obviously a very abbreviated version, but you didn't come here to read a book.

What things helped inspire you to run your first marathon?

See Ya June!

 Despite getting sick last week I still managed to eke out the most miles ever in a month during June.  Might have had something to do with marathon training.   Miles ran 184.

I only had one race in June.  I did a 10k, it was my third 10k if you don't count the 10k where I somehow missed about a mile of the race.  

I discovered running with a Camelback isn't too bad

I figured out this water bottle is a lot better once you learn how to drink out of it right.

I also joined Intagram so that I can take random pictures like these with my iPad and instantly post them to Facebook and/or Twitter.  

Someday I will hopefully have an iPhone and Instgram will be even funner.  

That was my very abbreviated version of June.

What was one new or exciting thing you did in June?