Phx Marathon Race Recap!!

This weekend was SO. MUCH. FUN! I never wanted it to end!

It started with the packet pick up expo on Friday for the Phoenix Marathon- which turned into total chaos. We had originally signed up for the full marathon- but decided to drop to the half- partially because we hadn't really been training for a full (my longest run was 18 miles) and partially because there just wasn't any reason for us to do a full marathon this early in the season, when we have so many races coming up this year. 

I've dropped from the full marathon to the half marathon before, and it's never been a big deal- they just tell you to line up with the half instead of the full. Well, we asked at packet pick-up if we just run the half and they said we couldn't it was sold out. We went over to the "HELP!" booth, and explained to them what we were trying to do and they again, told us the half was sold out. 

I think at think point, we both started freaking out a little bit. So we left there, and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' wrote an email to the race director on the way home. (Keep in mind, this is Friday at 6PM, the day before the race- we really weren't expecting much at this point....)

Super-ridiculously-long story, even shorter-- they said there was nothing they could do. 

We woke up the next morning at 4AM and started getting ready. At one point, we looked at each other and I asked if we were going to get serious and go for it (head down there and try to beg/plead our way in) or go back to bed- at 4AM in the morning-- I was OK with either option! ;)

We decided to go for it and headed down there. It was supposed to rain Saturday, and when we left you could definitely feel the storm coming. I was hoping it would hold off until after the race, but knew we probably wouldn't get that lucky. 

We got to the buses and there was NO ONE! It was like a ghost town- I thought we were in the wrong spot- maybe at the buses for the 10K that had a later start?? But I think the volunteers saw us looking confused and shouted into the megaphone "HALF MARATHON BUSES RIGHT HERE! IF YOUR DOING THE HALF YOU'RE IN THE RIGHT SPOT!" So we tried to get on 1 of the 10 buses they had, and the driver told us they were still trying to fill up the first bus. We walked up to the first bus (I was holding my breath, hoping they weren't going to check out bib numbers) and he wished us both good luck and pointed us onto the bus. 

So much relief! After completely stressing out for the past 12 hours we were finally on the bus headed to the start line. All I wanted to do was run. Not long after we got on the bus, we took off and headed for the start line....the 2 of us and 4 other people. Yup, there were 6 people on our regular, full-sized school bus! It was great though, we each had our own seats and could lay down. 

Once we got to the start and got off the bus, we got in one of the ridiculously long lines for the porta-potties. At this point it was cold and pretty windy. at 6:15am, they played the National Athem and I-kid-you-not, had a 4th of July fireworks display at the end! No joke! It wasn't like 1 or 2 cute little fireworks- it was several of the big, loud, bright fireworks!!

They went on for so long, I had time to take my phone out and get a picture!

After we used the port-a-potties, we tried to huddle around one of the heat lamps they had- which was SO nice- but didn't help much with the cold rain and wind. After a couple minutes we had to pull ourselves away and head towards the start line.

SO happy to be able to run!! :)

Everyone was huddled together and freezing in the dark- not the best looking scene. To my fellow runners.... you know how you sometimes will bring a sweater/sweat pants/whatever and where them to the start line, then take them off and throw them? And they all get donated to a local charity or homeless shelter? (I usually do this too.) Today, I was that charity!! I was so cold and wet in my tank top and arm warmers that I grabbed a jacket laying on the ground and wore it for the first 4 miles! It was amazing! Thank you to whoever brought the thick grey jacket with green stripes!! :)

I took off WAY too fast and ran the first 2 miles in about 18 minutes. When I realized I was going too fast, I think I slowed down too much and my pace became 10:30ish. Once I realized I was going to slow, I tried to steadily pick up the pace, but I just ran out of time/miles to make it up.

When I finally hit the last mile I gave it everything I had. I was sprinting towards that finish line hoping to finish under 2:10. I took out my headphones so I could hear the music and the crowd- it was great! I looked down at my watch and I was at a 6:45 pace- I was flying! I brushed some guys arm (seriously, barely grazed it) so I turned and politely waved and said "sorry!" and kept going. Getting closer to the finish line, pushing through, leaving nothing in the tank, almost there--- them BOOM! The guy I brushed by came barreling at me and totally body chucked me. Causing me to trip over my own feet and almost fall over!! I don't know what startled me more- almost falling or the fact that someone actually just hit me.

I turned about and shouted "what the heck?!?!" and he just looked and me (like "what??") and acted like he had no clue what he just did. Then he shouted "I'm going to kick your a$$!" and started sprinting-- so I did the only logically thing I could think of and took off sprinting too. I was quite a ways a head of him and turned around and looked at him like where you at?! and kept going towards the finish.

Cold, wet, and tired.

I finished in 2:09- not great, but I'll take it. I found 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and he got a free turkey hot dog- he said it was really good too! haha! We also recycled our timing chips on the back of our bibs- I've never done thing before, but it was pretty cool.

After the race we hung out and then FINALLY celebrated Valentine's Day with a dinner date! That's coming up next... :)

Did anyone else race this weekend??

Do you like running in rain? I've never raced in the rain, so it was a fun experience. But it did feel like every rain drop was headed straight into my eyes and it was too dark to wear my sunglasses. LOL!

It's been awhile...

It happened. It FINALLY happened.

I swam yesterday. It was my first swim since Ironman Arizona. I didn't really go into it with any plan, not knowing how I'd do after over 3 months off. I told myself I had to swim at least 20 laps (1,000 meters) and was pleasantly surprised when I was able to swim 32 laps (a mile) without stopping. It felt GREAT! I don't think I've ever had a swim feel as good as this one.

I'm not sure what changed, but I felt so different swimming. I felt like my form was WAY better and I felt like I was going a lot faster than I normally do. (I didn't bring my watch, because I was going into it with no plan.) I'll bring a watch to my next one and see if I really am faster, or if I just forgot after 3+ months off. ;)

Our friend Jon's birthday was a couple weeks ago and we finally planned to all go out and celebrate tonight. Every year for the past 6 years, we've celebrated his birthday by going to Texas Roadhouse and he gets a steak the size (in ounces) of his age (so when he was 28 he did 28 ounces). I think we've hit the point where he just orders a steak now, no extra ounces. ;)

6 years celebrating

For the past few years, I've taken a picture of us there and held up the number of years- everyone laughed about it then, but this year everyone knew when we started because I always hold up the number of years. (Moral of the story: take a lot of pictures- no matter who laughs! ;))

Last year, celebrating 5 years

After dinner we went back to Jon and Sheri's house and hung out way too late. It was one of those nights were everyone just had a good time and my abs and cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. We ended the night with a 4 person selfie:

There are less than 15 weeks until Boise 70.3- anyone else doing this race? 

We are going to NYC in less than a month! Does anyone have any recommendations or tips? 

Love Day!!

So this year we both stuck with tradition and worked Valentine's Day at the restaurant we met at, Marcello's Pasta Grill. (Last year, I worked alone.) It was such a looong day- I worked 10 hours at my regular job and then worked 5:30-10:30 at the restaurant. I'm not sure how I used to do this 3 nights a week- on top of college- I'm definitely getting older.

It's been a long time since I wore this work shirt- I honestly think the last time I wore it was last Valentine's Day.

I walked in and we were already slammed, it was crazy busy ALL. NIGHT. LONG! We were on a wait until well past 9:00pm! It was never-ending-non-stop-working.

We finally left around 10:30 and headed home. At this point, we were both exhausted and starving but didn't have a ton of options for food. So- we ordered pizza at 11:30 for delivery! Best decision! It was SO good!


Do we look tired?!

I think we watched a movie? I can't remember, but we finally went to bed around 1:30-2:00 in the morning.

We woke up Saturday and had 'The Skirt Chaser' run at 2:00. So we decided to go to breakfast (Is it still considered breakfast if it's 11:30am/noon??) to our favorite place, Biscuits. This place is serious SO good you can't stop- which usually isn't a problem, but when you have a race later that day- not the best. We learned this the hard way.

We somehow managed to make our way down to the race- in the ridiculously hot weather too. We were cutting it kind of close and still had to register, so we jogged from the car to the registration tent. (This is where it really sunk in that a big breakfast may not have been the best idea.)


I thought this shirt was fitting- "I love my boyfriend!"

We got registered and found some friends to hang out with before the start. This is one of those races where the ladies start first and then the guys start 3 minutes later...'chasing the skirts'.... get it?! ;) I was sweating before we even started, it was SO hot!
Last year, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' caught me right around the half way point and then ran the rest of the race with me, which was great, he pushed me so hard I ended up PR'ing there. I told him all I wanted this year for Vanetine's Day was a new PR- no pressure right? Haha!


The girls took off and when we got about 10 steps into the race my watch beeped that the memory was full- awesome! I didn't really have the coordination/time to delete other workouts so I figured I would just wing it until 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' caught me. I still could see my pace, so I had that to work with.

I always forget that there are SO-many-dang-hills in this race! My archenemy, Curry Hill was involved- we had to run up it, then back down it to the turn around point. Then we had the pleasure of turning around and right right back up it! I could tell everyone really loved this part- especially with the heat! ;)

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' didn't catch me until we hit the 2 mile marker and we were both not feeling so great from our breakfast. But we started climbing the next hill and he asked me if I was ready to "start pushing it"- I already felt like I was sprinting- but I told him yeah, and we picked up the pace a little bit.

This MUST have been before we were 'pushing it'. (And they only pictured 2/3's of 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter'- rude!;))

I kept asking how much further we had and what time it was- I was out of my comfort zone and wanted it to be over. He kept telling me to pick it up and push it- and I didn't have enough energy or air to respond with anything other than "OK"- so that's what we did.

When we were turning the final corner off of the Mill Bridge, I asked how much further we had and he said "the finish is right there!" and to go hard. I gave every last bit of energy I had to that final stretch and sprinted as fast as I could to the finish line.

I finished in the exact same time (to the second!) that I did last year: 27:13. I definitely felt like I was working harder this year- maybe I was just in better shape last year? It was still a super fun race!

Like always, we will probably go out and celebrate Valentine's Day in a couple weeks, but I did make 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' a card and paint my nails with SUPER cute nail polish I found on the clearance rack at Ulta- major score!! OH and my bonus-mom sent us the BEST cookies I've ever tasted- seriously they were amazing!

You can't really tell in the picture- but the nail polish had white, pink, and red glitter in it. SO perfect!!

 Did you run in any Valentine's Day races?

What did you do for Valentine's Day? Did anyone get engaged?!

The time I celebrated National Fro Yo Day TWICE!!

HAPPY NATIONAL FRO YO DAY!! (For reals this time too! ;))

So, let's back up to Tuesday.... I was reading some of the other blogs I follow- and they had posted that they celebrated Monday night! I freaked out and totally thought I for sure missed one of my favorite holidays.

I texted 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and told him I forgot and said we were going to be celebrating a day late. :(

So, that night, I did my first track workout (there will be more on this later) and after dinner we went to get Fro Yo. When we walked in, I asked the guy working there if they did anything special yesterday. He looked at me like I was crazy and told him it was National Fro Yo Day and he said no, he didn't even know there was such a thing. I told him that they didn't do anything last year either!

Mine's the one with all the sprinkles! ;)

So we got our fro yo, and when we got up there to pay- I put all three cups on the scale and he told me to take one off. So I did, and he said he "Happy National Fro Yo Day, that one's free!" Best surprise ever!! I thanked him and told him this was the first time I've ever got free stuff 'celebrated' one of my favorite holidays!

This was right after my track workout- which is why I look so great! haha!

It was a day late- but great! Or so I thought....
So, Wednesday, I was working on my blog post about it and was Google-ing National Fro Yo day for an image, and everything kept saying February 6th! Which is also what I had on my calendar! So I didn't miss it!! Woohoo!!

I texted 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' again and told him we didn't miss it and it was the 6th- at this point, I think he thought I was just trying to get more Fro Yo. ;)

So tonight, we went back to our fro yo place and got more fro yo- nothing special happened this time either. But the fro yo was amazing as always!

Again, my good looks are from another track workout! ;)

So I technically celebrated twice- but I'm not complaining about it! ;) Moral of the story is: when in doubt- just get more fro yo!! ;)

Did you celebrate National Fro Yo Day?? 

Birthday Bash!

My sister always tells me I only blog about racing and tells me to blog about other stuff. (Apparently, not everyone is 100% into running and racing... who-woulda-thought?!) SOO- I'm going blog about something completely unrelated and blog about her BIRTHDAY!!

Photobombed by our own mother! haha!

Today was her birthday and she turned 27! (Fun Fact: her and my step-brother are only 16 days apart. He turned 27 on January 7th. Crazy!)

Since my sisters husband was out of town working for the week, we decided to just do a small family dinner tonight. We went to Kona Grill at the mall. (Another Fun Fact: Kona Grill was were 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I went for our first date!)

Dinners with these people are extremely entertaining! Everyone got chopsticks and we tried to teach the kids (and my sister!) how to use them for the first time.

I swear I'm going to start bring my camera with me so I don't always have these amazing blurry phones pics.

My niece loved them so much she even ate her chicken strips and macaroni with them! ;)

Meanwhile, boys will be boys and tried to see who could eat the most wasabi.... I don't think there was a winner.... ;)

I got my sister my favorite (also her favorite) cupcake and the cutest card with confetti and glitter in in!!

Since I was actually wearing something other than running clothes and took about 5 minutes to put on some make-up I needed to document it and tried to get a picture with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter'.... this is how taking pictures with him always is!!

From my Instagram: TeamSprinklesAndGlitter

My niece, Taytum was extremely unimpressed with his funny faces... haha! She kills me with her facial expressions sometimes.

After dinner we walked around the mall and all took turns carrying my niece and my nephew. Carsen must of been feeling left out because 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' ended up giving him a piggy back ride to the car.

Happy Birthday Nik, (her name is Nikole but I've never called her that). You are by far the best sister anyone could ever have and I am truly grateful for our relationship- I really don't think there is anything else that compares to it. (Last Fun Fact: we shared a twin bed (with 2 dogs) until my senior year of high school. We both had our our rooms- with our own beds, but we turned one of the rooms into our personal closet and used the bed to layout our outfits.)

Do you have any siblings? How many? I have 2- 1(step) brother and 1 sister.

Are you the youngest or oldest? I'm the youngest. 

1/2 of a Marathon Race Recap!!

So... both me and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' were signed up to run the full marathon at the P.F. Chang's marathon this weekend, but we both ended up only doing the half marathon. We didn't realize we were also signed up for the Phoenix Marathon which is only 6 weeks away. So we figured we run the half this weekend and then run the full at the Phoenix Marathon- instead of trying to kill ourselves doing both. It ended up being an amazing weekend ending with 2 new PR's.

We went to the expo my mom and had so much fun like last year. My mom and I got our 'passports' from the Brook's RUN HAPPY section and scored these awesome visors.

We were admiring our new visors, waiting in like to ride the Buckin' Shoe, when I got a call from 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' saying that Jackson Carter from The Biggest Loser was at a booth in the expo!! We quickly left the sneaker line and headed over to meet him.

Once we got over there, I was shocked that there wasn't a long line, there was only 1 person ahead of us. SO cool to meet him and he wished me good luck on the run.

We left the expo and headed home to relax for the rest of the day. We made our usual pre-race meals (steak and sweet potatoes for him, pasta with chicken and broccoli for me) and watched Monsters University. SUCH a cute movie!

We woke up pretty early on race day and got ready. My mom picked us up and drove us down to the start line- BEST mom ever! We got there right before it started so 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' left to get in an early corral and I waited for a port-a-potty. Surprising, the lines were not long at all and then I headed to get into a corral.

I there were 22 corrals? SO many runners!!! I loved it!!

I ended up jumping into corral 5. (Since we were signed up for the full marathon, we didn't have corral numbers for the half). It worked out great since a majority of the people in the corral were runners!

It felt like right when I jumped in the coral it was time to go and I took off tried to find enough room to run. While trying to weave in-and-out of everyone I found the 2 hour pace time! I was really, really hoping to break 2 hours so I figured I would stay with them and then (hopefully) take off towards the end to finish a little before 2 hours.

Our 2 hour pace group was FLYING! And I'm totally not just saying that either- someone else in the group looked down at their watch a couple miles in and said we were going so fast we would be walking the last mile to finish at 2 hours! Every time I looked down at my watch our pace was under 9 minute miles. I felt fine but was worried I wouldn't be able to hold that fast of a pace for the whole race.

I stayed with them until about mile 8 and then lost them at 1 of the aid stations and when I finally saw them again they were about 100 yard in front of me. I tried to catch up but never did. I think they changed the course this year (I haven't run the half marathon in 2 years so maybe not?) but the hills were brutal!

It was nice before the biggest hill there was a really cool drum group playing that definitely pumped you up and got you ready to go into battle climb the hill. Then we turned around just on the other side of the hill (ya we got to run up some of it again!) we got to hear the drums on the way back down.

I tried to push myself towards the end- especially when I realized that I hit mile 10 and had 26 minutes to hit my goal. I knew it would be hard but I wanted to try. (One of my New Year Resolutions is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and get outside of my comfort zone.)

I reached the 2 hour mark and was only at 12.67 miles. I was pretty bummed but finished in 2:03:21. So a new PR for me by a measly 35 seconds- but a new PR nonetheless. I am SO determined to push myself out of my comfort zone and break 2 hours this year!! It will happen!!

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' is amazeballs and PR'd by 5 minutes with a time of 1:43!! He hasn't even been running that much and was able to do that! Crazy!

From Instagram: TEAMSPRINKLESANDGLITTER

Once I finished, I found 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and then we met up with my mom for a ride home. Everything was really well organized and we got in and out fairly quick (had a little traffic in the morning, but nothing more than what you would normally expect).

We had lunch and watch football and kept with the tradition of getting froyo! So good- it has definitely been WAYYY too long.

Did anyone else race this weekend? 

Do you have to work for Martin Luther King day?
This is the first year I've ever got it off! Woohoo!

2013 By the Numbers

I still cannot believe 2013 is over! This year literally went by SO fast! It was such an amazing/crazy/fun/fulfilling year for me. I accomplished things I never thought I could and had a ton of fun along the way! Here's a quick recap of this years numbers...

*21 races- the biggest one being my FIRST Ironman 140.6!!

*8 year anniversary with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter'. Love him more than ever!

*196,000 meters swam- a lot of which were swimming back and fourth (back and fourth) in the pool. I can see the black line at the bottom of the pool just thinking about this.

*3,267.01 miles biked- yes we are counting that .01. ;)

*777.14 miles ran. Lucky 777, right? I did not plan this either. (My goal for 2014 is to hit at least 1,000 miles.)

Some of the miles were done on the new addition to our family- our tredmil!!

*4 hours spent waiting in line to meet Grumpy Cat!!

*Had a birthday and turned 25. Celebrated in Show Low and raced my first half Ironman the next day at Dueces Wild.

*'100 free kisses' punch card for Valentine's day! Best gift ever!!

*21 Obstacles we completed during Tough Mudder.

*72 hours spent in Colorado visiting family when my brother got engaged!

*0 Tattoos or piercing this year. This is by no fault of my own- when I tried to go get a piercing (behind my ear) and was sitting in the chair ready to go, and the guy said he couldn't do it because my skin wasn't loose enough? Weird right? (I'm also really surprised by the no tattoos- I thought I would for sure get an Ironman tattoo right after Ironman, but I still haven't gotten one.)

*1 brand new computer that 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' surprised me with. For no reason! He really is the best.

I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be an even better year with amazing things to come! 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I are going to New York City in March for 11 days to visit his sister- I am BE-YOND excited for this! I've never been to NYC, so I'm glad we will have his sister as a personal tour guide while we are there. ;) Plus, we are both doing Ironman Arizona again. We've both done an Ironman before but never together, so the training together should be pretty interesting.

Happy New Year's Everyone!! 

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions?
I have a few but 2 of the big ones are to set monthly obtainable goals every month and to blog more!! :)