Day One of a new adventure

Last Friday afternoon we pulled into the little town we'll be calling 'home' this summer.  Bizarre.  

These are pictures of the scenery you're surrounded by as you drive into town.  And who cares about windmills?  Well apparently we do, because those massive, spinning, wind-powered hypnotizers are the entire reason we are living here.  Nothing more, nothing less.    Don't be fooled, I'm happy to be here.  I'm actually extremely happy and grateful to follow my husband for work.  Zuriel is doing an internship as a field engineer for the windmill project.  So far, he loves it.  Me and Tina, well we're just hangin' out, adjusting and getting to know the area.

To celebrate surviving the two days of driving, we ate sashimi, a cucumber roll, rice, and soup.  And not pictured: an additional sushi roll, ordered shortly after realizing this wasn't enough.

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Where did you go on an internship?

Ever been curious about windmills before?
  -Yeah but this is definitely the closest I've been to one, it's impossible not to stare each time I drive by..

Provo City Half-Marathon Race Recap

Let this race go down in history as our first road race together--just me and him, him and me, running and sweating side by side.  How romantic.  Let it also go down as the roughest road race in my racing history {in my rookie history of 5 races} to date.  And no, luckily I didn't get sick and throw up all over the place.  And no worries, I'm not looking for a pity party, I just want to record it all so I can remember/learn from it.

Saturday morning {May 5th} began around 4:10am with us slowly crawling out of bed.  We quickly ate and put on our running gear.  Once I was dressed, I jumped up and down while shaking my head to wake myself up and get excited to run.  Bet that's an interesting mental picture.  Z stared blankly with a "you're crazy baby" look on his face before laughing at me and mumbling about how he wishes he was still sleeping.  The race started up Provo canyon, so they had the runners take buses up to the start, with the last bus scheduled to leave at 5:30am.  Don't look so excited babe.

We got in line to wait for the buses at 5:00am.  And it was around 5:18am that I realized I forgot my garmin...too bad I can't run a race without that cursed blessed watch.  So I immediately began to panic and told Zuriel we had to go back for it.  HAD to.  He {lovingly} said "Yeah right, you go back, I'll see you at the finish line".  Ha ha...basically I would be cutting it pretty dang close if I ran back to the car, drove to my grandpa's house, grabbed my watch, drove back, and searched for parking, all in 12 minutes before the last bus was scheduled to leave for the start line.  Honestly truly, I wanted to cry.  Then I had the brilliant plan to call my sleeping brother and his 9-month pregnant wife...and then they came to my rescue.  In my defense, they were sleeping 10 feet away from my garmin, they were my best {and only} option.  I ran out to meet them before the 'road block' signs and they handed me my watch.  I owe them something real big for that.  

Once we got to the start line, the sun started coming up and I waited in line for 30 minutes to use the bathroom before the race started.  You totally wanted to know that piece of info, I just knew it.  I had exactly enough time to wait for the bathroom, check my bag into 'gear check', jog to the start line, and scream with excitement before the gun went off to start the race.  I also had enough time to snap this shot of and quickly cheer for the marathon runners starting their race, I was excited for them.  The marathon started at 7:00am with 247 runners and the half-marathon started at 7:15am with 1,103 runners.

Then we were off!  The first 9 miles were basically downhill.  Which initially sounds ideal, right?  Better than the entire race being up hill, that's for sure.  However, I was still healing from shin splints that had started the week before {side note: downhill makes the shin splints much worse}.  Zuriel on the other hand was ecstatic about the downhill because his injury he received the week before felt better on the downhill--lucky duck.  He strained his achilles during a 10-mile run the saturday before race day...  Needless to say, our 'goal time' for the race was kinda sorta thrown out the window.  {this is us super excited to start the race} 

We were both going to be happy and satisfied if we both finished the crazy race...it was a little sad, a little romantic, but mostly just sweaty and intense.  We started out feeling great, with the beginning miles passing quickly.  But, this was the roughest race for me, remember?  So mile 1 for me, felt awesome.  Naturally I'd feel awesome, it was only the first mile.  But hello mile 2 marker, thank you for suddenly making me feel miserable.  Basically Z was {unexpectedly I might add} feeling fantastic and wanting to take advantage of all the downhill action by getting in some fast miles.  I was trying, I really was, to keep up and fly down those 9 miles, but my shins just would not let me.  I was frustrated.  And we had both thought I would be the one pacing us, with Z and his gimp ankle trying to keep up.  It was the complete opposite, and I was so glad Z didn't get impatient but was instead encouraging me the whole way.  My lower legs felt like huge weights, but I ran as hard as they'd let me.  

On top of the crazy shin splints, my bowels weren't so happy.  A port-a-potty break was mandatory just after mile 8.  A mile later, I about stopped again for the bathroom.  But then something magical happened.  Once I saw mile marker 10 ahead, I caught a second wind.  All of the sudden, my shin pain literally dissolved, my bowels calmed down, and my mental strength decided to say hello again.  Almost simultaneously, Z looked over at me with this tired look and told me it was getting hard.  I smiled back and told him "Well good because I feel awesome.  Lets do this, let's finish hard".  Now it was my turn to return the favor and encourage him the final three miles.  Just before mile 12 Zuriel said he didn't think he could keep it up for the last stretch.  I told him to remember why we signed up for the race...that this was more than just a race for us {I'll write a separate post as to why}. 

We pushed ourselves the final and longest {it always seems that way} mile and TRIED to cross the finish line holding hands, but some guy kept getting in the way.  No joke, he and Z were throwing elbows the last ten feet.  We walked through the finisher's shoot, with medals placed around our necks, and grabbed some water, bananas, then got in line for the finisher's breakfast--french toast.  We didn't think our stomachs would be in the mood for french toast after a race, but turns out it was just what we needed.  It was delicious.

We waited in line for massages...and it is always worth the wait.  My calves must have been doing a lot of compensating for the tightness in my shins because they were so incredibly sore.  Thank you masseuse lady for helping me realize just how tight they were.  After the post-race fun, we met up with a couple of our friends and Zuriel's sister for breakfast {his sister and one of our friends had run the 5K and did awesome}.  I know we had just eaten some french toast maybe an hour ago, but it was time for a full breakfast.  I hadn't had Magleby's before, but they provided the french toast after the race, so we knew if we went for a full breakfast later--they wouldn't let us down.  Here's to a egg white spinach omelet, potatoes, and english muffin with good friends.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed running this race with my husband by my side the whole way.  Except for the last two seconds, crossing the finish line, when he got caught behind mr. competitive elbow thrower.  We should buy one of the finish line photos for the visual memory of it.  

After Magleby's breakfast, stretching, foam rolling, and showering, we went to lunch with my brother, his pregnant wife, and our family friend Max.  It might seem like our meals were unnecessarily close together, and that may be true.  I have no comment except that we ate when we were hungry.  We also had received coupons in our race bags for a 'buy one, get one free' deal, so we couldn't pass those up now could we.

Running, food, relaxing, food, and now time for relaxing.  We couldn't relax too long before needing to head up to Salt Lake to meet up with friends for a cinco de Mayo party--it was May 5th afterall.

Since meeting Zuriel, we have celebrated Cinco de Mayo together every year, we could probably call it a tradition now.  But being out of town for this holiday for the race, we couldn't throw our usual party of carne asada fajitas with fresh guac, pico, tortillas, rice, and tres leches.  Luckily, our good friends were throwing a party of their own and we got an invite {thanks!}.  Complete with pinata and virgin daiquiris.  

It was an enjoyable weekend of intense running, delicious food, and fun times spent with good friends. We were sad to have to go back to work Monday.  Also, I wasn't the one who's skills tore the pinata apart...us girls left that part to the boys.

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-How did you celebrate your Cinco de Mayo?  Even if you're not hispanic, when there's an excuse to celebrate with food and friends, you gotta take it.

-What was your 'bad race'/'bad run'/'bad hair day'/bad anything experience?

Lunch and dinner

These are times I look forward to because a) lunch comes at the perfect time and lunch dates are where it's at and b) dinner-time means Zuriel is home, you just can't beat that.  

This was my lunch date with Emily a few days ago.  We went to Rumbi's and it seriously satisifed a craving I didn't know I had. 

 I always love our lunch dates girlfriend

 This was dinner with Z two nights ago.  I think this was only the second time I've made chicken fingers, but after finding this recipe in my cookbook, I'll be making them again soon.

We commonly use gloves when handling raw meat in this house

 We don't buy pineapple all the time, but when we do, we get to use this guy.

Then last night we went to get sandwiches for dinner at Zuriel's fav sandwich place.  Have I told you how he could eat sandwiches for every meal and be perfectly happy?  So easy to please.  

Want to know something embarrassing?  Ok, I'll tell you.  We went to this same sandwich place two nights before this and they put cheese on my sandwich when I asked for no cheese (you order, then sit down, and they bring it to you) so Z brought my sandwich back and insisted they fix it.  So when they brought me my new sandwich they also brought out a coupon for a free sandwich as an apology.  So two nights later, we went back for our free sandwich. 

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-Which do you like better, lunch or dinner?

-Do you love sandwiches?  What's your favorite?

When we go to this particular sandwich place, I always get grilled chicken on wheat with lettuce, spinach, sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and ranch.  And sometimes onions and banana peppers.  But I'm not always in the mood for non-cooked onions.  Z got bbq chicken with everything on it.  He loves his veggies and I love his mother for it.

Two contrasting LRs

The Saturday of Easter weekend, my dad joined Z and I on our long run {LR} that morning.  Sadly, within the first 0.5 miles my dad stopped and had to catch his breath.  We quickly remembered that his body is used to running at sea level and we jumped into a moderate pace at 4,862 ft above sea level.  That'll take your breath away.  Three miles into our run, he turned back, giving him a good 6-mile run.  Z and I were scheduled for a 9-mile run, so we kept going. 

He wanted a picture in front of the Tetons...those mountains wayyy back there.

We felt awesome during this run.  No tired legs, no distracting mental battle, no intestinal or stomach issues, no dehydration, no bad weather, no fighting to keep our desired pace.  The last half of our run I decided to blast pandora on my phone.  I put it to the 'Club/Dance Radio' station and we ran home to some techno and other upbeat dance songs, ignoring the glances of people outside their homes who could also hear our blasted club/dancing music.  This was a good run.

Fast forward a week to this past Saturday when we only had to do 6 miles.  After eating Costa Vida and going shooting, we went for a run.  We drove out {imagine that} to the loop we wanted to run, starting our run at almost 3pm.  It was warm enough to wear shorts and a tank top, about 55 degrees.  Within the first mile, I knew it was going to be tough.  By the second mile {in contrast to our previous week's LR}, my legs felt kinda tired, there was definitely a distracting mental battle, I was definitely dehydrated, and I was definitely fighting to keep any pace once I realized our original 'desired' pace was out the window.  What is wrong with me.  Conveniently, Zuriel was feeling just as junky as I was. I wanted to stop, but knew I needed to keep that to myself.  Honestly, 75% of the run, I was wishing I was walking. Running isn't always sunshine and rainbows.  Especially when you really, really want to stop.  By the last couple miles, my stomach was getting just as worked up as my mental battle.

It's funny how temperamental running can be.  Although we can just have our 'bad days', more often than not, minor details of the day(s) leading up to the run affect it more than you'd expect.  As I was getting through those miles, I thought of how I hadn't had enough to water in the last 36-ish hours, I thought of how there might not have been enough down-time between my rice and bean-filled chicken salad and the time we started running.  I remembered that my body has been used to running in temperatures between 8 and 40 degrees for at least the last 6 months, so my body will be sensitive to running in almost 60 degrees.  I thought of how I had pushed myself pretty hard for two runs wednesday and thursday and couldn't get around to my run on friday.  My body probably needed a good recovery run that day before I tried pushing myself hard again on Saturday.

But what's great about the junky run I had, is that 1) I finished it despite my uncontrollable desire to stop and 2) I was reminded about what I needed to be careful about if I'm going to expect a good run, especially with warmer weather coming.  The longer I've been running, the more sensitive my body is to ev-er-y-thing.  Especially while training for a marathon.  And especially food, curse my sensitive stomach.  It's mostly a good thing.

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-Ever had a junky run and realized afterwards that you probably could have prevented it if you were a little more careful with your eating/hydration/sleeping/training?

-Ever read stories about junky runs and are glad you don't run?
Ha yeah I used to...and sometimes I still do...I'm half-joking...

The extent of my 'couponing' and our shotgun date

Coupon for 'buy one daily special, get one free' + coupon for free chips & salsa after doing phone survey = a lot of good food for just $6.35

And when I say 'shotgun date' I mean we went to the middle of nowhere to shoot Z's shotgun.   Check out that blue sky.

Handing me the gun as I start freaking out {I haven't actually shot this particular gun since he bought it about 8 months ago, so I got nervous, it's powerful}

 How cheesy am I?

Leftover shells from someone else else's shotgun date...and my shadow.

"Babe, stop taking pictures and listen to me teach you how to use this, this is important"

I loved my neon orange Idaho hunter's hat.  Seriously.

We don't own an mechanical pigeon launcher {is that what it's called?}, and sadly for Zuriel, I'm not too consistent at throwing them with our little handheld launcher. 

After getting home we went for a 6-mile run, the details of which I'll leave for tomorrow.  Now, we just got home from getting a redbox and shrimp cocktail--another documented 'non-craving' of Zuriel's...


*Disclaimer:  the only reason we brought our lil' red non-manly car off-roading to go shoot guns is because Z was having car trouble with his truck this morning...he just thought you all should know that.


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-Do you 'coupon'?  I've heard of people who do it as their part-time job.

-Do you like to go shooting?  Have you ever been?
Before Zuriel, I think I've gone shooting three times.

Wonton soup, a good run, and a rough run

Man it feels good to be running in shorts and a t-shirt again.  Soon enough it will be even warmer, making  a tank top mandatory to keep as cool as possible.  

To be honest, I actually kind of love running in the snow.  There's something about a blanket of snow covering everything in sight that makes running a little more exciting and intense.  But running with the sun beating on your shoulders, creating the best tan lines of your life, inevitably trumps the snow when considering the wind chill and potentially life-threatening ice patches.  

Our intended 7-mile run on Saturday turned into an 8-mile run and we both felt great.  Z got his runner's high as we were in the last couple miles of our run, making it all worth it.  He's getting more excited about our upcoming race, especially knowing he can whip out an 8-mile after only running a few miles earlier that week.  What a stud.  

In other random news, Z had an interesting craving Saturday night.  Wonton soup.  Wait, I thought he didn't believe in cravings?!  Yeah, me too.  He lectures me on pregnant girls and their cravings being allll in their head.  I don't plan on getting much sympathy in the food department when I'm pregnant.  Unless I keep track of all of his cravings and remind him of them when he starts to roll his eyes at my cravings.  Genius.  Oh and we did end up satisfying his wonton soup craving--after calling a couple places in town to see if they had the soup and if it was 'good'.  Of course they'll say it's good, they want our service.

Yesterday I went for a 5-mile run.  I wanted to keep a moderate-easy pace after our long run just two days before.  In the first mile or two I felt the tightness in my shins...wonderful.  I have this history of frequent shin splints, unfortunately.  In the last six or eight months I think I got them somewhat 'under control' {meaning if I feel them coming, I can do a couple stretches/massages and have it go away} and have only had a couple episodes of real shin splints that lasted for a day or two.  I especially haven't had any issue since buying my most recent running shoes.  Anyway, I felt the tightness and it wouldn't shake.  It makes my lower legs feel thick and heavy and it eventually makes it difficult/near-impossible to keep good form and a good stride.  This created passing thoughts of wishing there was a shortcut home because I wasn't having fun and I just wanted to stretch for a million hours until the tightness went away.  And then another thought would pass, reminding me I couldn't think like that.  Then another thought chimed in to tell me how lame the tightness was.  It was a constant battle.  So I did the only thing I could--I kept running.  I thought, the tightness may not go away and my form may look awkwardly stiff, but I'll get home sooner if I just buck up and get home.  So I ran faster.