Winter Training Circuit 30K

The 30K race was today and I was nervous going in to it. The longest I've run is 17 miles and by the end of that run, I was done. Being pregnant and trying to run long is really hard because I get so tired. I wasn't sure how this race would go, but I just wanted to finish.

The morning of the race, I was running a little behind. I picked up my packet, pinned my number on and barely had enough time to use the bathroom before the race started. I ran into Heather Loughton in the line to the restroom and she said she just wanted to enjoy the run and go at a comfortable pace. That was perfect for me. I was planning on running 7:30 per mile, so we planned to run together.

After the first mile, I was desperate to find a bathroom. It was awful, all I could think about was urinating. The baby sitting on my bladder makes it so I can't hold off going to the bathroom at all. There was a bathroom at mile 3, so I stopped to use it. I felt bad because Heather stopped and walked through the aid station to wait for me.

This was how it was the entire race...I was searching for the next bathroom. I felt good running, I just had to urinate the whole time. I ended up stopping 5 times to go to the bathroom. One time I had to squat behind a parked truck and go. I feel like urinated consumed me the entire run.

The last 2 miles were awful! I was done and didn't want to go anymore. I wanted to walk, but Heather kept me going. I'm so glad I had her to pull me through the end of the race. I don't think I could've finished it without her. My finish was pretty pathetic, but I did it. I ended up with a time of 2:20.08, which is 7:31/mile. I took 5th place overall, but won the entire series!

At the end of the race, one of the male pacers was asking me if I'm going to run the Ogden Marathon. I told him I wasn't because I'm pregnant. He told me I have a huge advantage over other women because I have so many red blood cells and I should really think about running it. This guy has obviously never been pregnant and had to use the bathroom every other mile. I can't image running a marathon and all the bathroom stops I'd have to make. I don't think I could run that far either. I was done around mile 16 today.

I'm so happy I completed the series. It was really well run and I really enjoyed it.

Big News!

Xav Turns Two

My baby turned 2 today! He is such a fun boy with a little bit of sass and we love him to pieces!

 Xav woke up to his bedroom full of balloons. He and Will had fun running through the balloons and throwing them at each other. Then he got to open a gift that Will had picked out for him...a water gun. Of course Will had to get himself the same thing he got for Xav, but couldn't play with it until Xav could open his. To help Will with the temptation of playing with it, I had Will wrap up the two water guns together for Xav to open. 

Cuters wanted a dinosaur cake, so I bought some dinosaurs to go on top of the cake, but they kept slipping off the top...so much for the dinosaur cake. I don't think Xav really noticed there weren't any dinosaurs on his cake, he was just excited to blow out the candles. I love this picture of Xav because he was smiling at Will while Will was singing Happy Birthday to him. Xavy sure loves his big brother.

Xav got some sand toys to play with for the sand box. (Don't mind the Christmas wrapping paper.) We sure love this sweet boy and all the joy he brings to our family.

Winter Training Circuit Half Marathon

Today was the Half Marathon race of the Winter Training Circuit. We started from Eden and buses took us up the canyon to the starting line. It was the perfect day for a race and the course was downhill or flat. I started the race with Mandy Foster and told her I was just going to run the race as a training run. I feel like I'm behind with my training and didin't want to push too hard. It was so nice to run with her. We stayed together the whole run. I got a few side aches, but they went away with a few deep breaths.

My boys came to watch and when I ran by Will he yelled, "Go faster, mom, you gotta win." I was far from winning, but I was happy to hear his cute little voice cheering.

By the end of the race, I was pretty tired. I took 6th place with a time of 1:26:56.9, which came out to be 6:38 miles. This time is far from a PR for me, but I'm happy with it. I ran exactly how I wanted to run it.