Running safety tips

Ahhh, running felt good again today!  I actually had a great run just as it should be, dang it.


There have been a couple attacks on the trail where we run lately- in broad daylight no less!  That's why we run together and carry pepper spray.  You can get it at the running store, but all the local ones are sold out since the attack last week.  We run with a carrying strap around our hand, and our finger is on the trigger while we run.

Danna and I have actually made very detailed plans in case anyone actually attacks it.  We even have secret code words.  I can't share them on this blog, because, what if the perpetrator reads them and knows when we're spraying the pepper spray, etc.?  When you have 10+ miles to run, you have time for careful attention to detail, you know.  We actually HOPE some pervert tries to attack us.  He'll be soooo sorry.  And he won't be getting away either.  Or ever...(*ahem)...having any future...relationships.

We have also discussed other techniques, such as making eye contact and looking back over our shoulder at people who pass us, and studying what they're wearing.  We've practiced knowing how to describe our exact location to cops.  We run with a cell phone.  Today Danna even taught me bathroom safety tips (a co-worker was once attacked in the bathroom).  They include checking around the corner of the bathroom for lurkers, and then pushing the stall completely open and checking again for a person.  And locking yourself in their if possible. 

Our other safety issues are dogs.  Sheesh people, leash your dogs please!!  And PS: don't let our dog over into the on-coming lane where runners are approaching.  You surely think we are hoping to get sniffed, and hoping for a chance to pet your cute dog and compliment you.  Shockingly, we are hoping to run and avoid getting tripped, bitten, or slimed.  Or step in poo for that matter. 

Okay, runners.  Especially you ladies.  Be safe out there!  And if someone looks suspicious, I like to have Murray Dispatch in my phone list: 840-4000.  :)

XOXO
~K

The results...and some announcements

Ok, so on my last post I put all the pix of things I have used for my PF, right? Well, it really is getting better. I DID rest it for MONTHS. Just ask Danna, she's my witness ("No, sorry, I still can't run. The foot, you know...") Resting it seemed to get rid of it, and I rested a lot longer than the symptoms lasted jsut to be sure. But now I have to be very careful. I'm afraid it may flare up during this marathon training, but we'll see.

A couple things I didn't include in the "arsenal:"

This is physical therapy at the U...

As for the announcements:

This is a little delayed, but D and I have officially started marathon training again. See us on Saturday mornings huffing it out! You can also catch us on weekdays- whining a bit lately as we get ramped up.

I hope she won't mind my announcing this, but did you know- Suzy had her baby a while back! A cuuute baby boy! Just wanted to share. Congrats to Suz and Rick! Can't wait to have her out on the trail again too.

Lastly, Matt took me on a surprise trip for my 30th this week. DISNEYLAND!!!! It was awesome!!!

XOXO
~K

My arsenal

It's Kristin. Can you tell what each of these are? They are part of my anti PF war.

I hate you PF.

XOXO
~K

The Pocatello Idaho Half Marathon

It's Kristin.

This weekend I ran the Poki half with my sis, Karin.  It was our first race together (well, we did a family 5K once, but didn't run side-by-side). 

This race has some great swag- you actually get a bag of Idaho potatoes- how hillarious is that?  They even threw in 2 cartons of dehydrated hashbrowns.  We got nice black backpacks as our drop bags instead of the usual disposable plastic.  We also got a technical t-shirt (women's fit!) and a tube of rub-on sunscreen in addition to the usual race-related coupons and sample packets of stuff.  Oh! And the aide stations were sometimes run by local businesses, so like the Ogden half, they had lots of good stuff, like candy, multiple gels for each person (at each aid station! We totally stocked up.), etc.  It was, unfortunately, a brand I don't like.  Too potent-tasting.  Kar and I gagged 'em down.  At the end of the race they served stuffed baked potatoes (ha ha again!) which totally hit the spot.  Let's face it- all food seems to hit the spot after a race. 

The race weather was perfect!  A nice little breeze.  Another lovely aspect of the race is that it started at 8am.  You who read my blog know how I loathe race mornings usually, but this wasn't bad at all!  Kar and I decided to get all gussied up- wearing big dangly earings (very light-weight and didn't bother us at all) and flowers, colorful headbands, and braids.  We were hot.  Most people cheering cheered for the flower girls, or the dairy girls (braids?) or the earring ladies.  We started off pretty wild and crazy- shouting lot's of "Woo!"s and "Yeah!"s.  Karin thought it would be fun to run all serpentine for a bit.  I wonder if that would make it a full marathon?

Here are some of the things from the race that stick out in my mind. 

• The hills!  It was hilly.  Waaa.
• My cute nephew at the end so excited to see us and reaching out for me.  Love him!  We took him to the "bounce house" they had at the finish line adn he went nuts.
• I thought racing with braids in your hair would wap against you but they didn't
• A few of Karin's friends from church were biking and spotted us.  They rode with and encouraged and chatted with us providing excellent entertainment and distractions.
• I never donned my sunglasses since the sun was always behind us- lovely!
• We witnessed a car accident!  One of the high school teens running the aid station pulled out and was cheering for a runner as he was slammed into by on-coming traffic.  Whoops!!  We think everyone was okay, but of course it scared the crap out of us (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!! ....BOOM!).  We didn't know what to do.  do we run back?  Let the others just help?  Keep going?
• We picked up 3 gels off the ground.  Unopened and good as new, thank you! :)
• We whinnied at horses and did that blowy cheek thing they do, and they talked back to us.  They seemed very excited about the race (seriously- they were dancing and prancing and watching everyone).
• We held hands over the finish line- sweeeet.

Thanks for reading!
Happy running!
XOXO
~K

Random catch-up

It's Kristin again.

First of all, if you're thinking of getting the Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack, don't.  Before I saw the movie, I saw the soundtrack at Nordstrom and from the list of songs on the back (this samba, that tango, this Italian number, a Pearl Jam hit) it looked awesome.  It was boring and not good.

This has been a crazy couple of weeks.  We went to Lake Powell as a family, and my sister in law Dori stayed with us for a couple weeks.  It was so fun.  Here are a couple of my favorite shots:  

We did early morning P90X yoga atop the boat. Check out Matt's amazing crow pose in the next shot!

My brother, Danny.   And the sun creeping in in the next shot.

This was our work-out rock.  We used it to climb, swim around, and jump off of.

Our boat, as viewed from the top of Workout Rock.  And a few of us swimming below.

You may recognize these moves from the following youtube video:  (click here)

Oh and my brother got home from his mission!  Here we are at the airport!

Lastly, if you are an SLP, check out my new blog (HERE). It may be a little boring if you're not.

I'll be posting about the Pocatello half soon!

XOXO
~K

What Would I do Without Girlfriends??

Kristin here.

(Question: Does anyone else have the annoying problem of pressing "enter" and having Blogger's cursor go to the beginning of the line instead?  What the??  And can any of you expert bloggers help me figure out which photo of mine is causing the Photobucket icon to stay floating on the blog??)

So I want to tell you of a GREAT race in Utah.  The Young Living Lavender 5K.  What a fun day with the girlfriends!  Amber, Danna, Hayley and I went together.  We had such a blast!  The 5K wound through these lovely, and fragrant fields of lavendar.  It was a really fun group too.  And then there was a lavender store where we bought lovely things like lavender oil, chapstick, and even lavender cookbooks!  Come join us for lavender hot chocolate some time!  We also picked lavender and made wreaths and little bundle/bouquet thingies.  They were awesome and fun to make.  Definitely doing this race next year.

Last weekend I went to Vegas with Krissy and Cathy and we worked at the DefCon convention selling t-shirts (or alternating the babysitting duties.)  We often stayed up waaaay late talking and I loved it!  It was so good to get to spend time with Krissy!  Including getting to know her kid and hear all about her pregnancy.  PS:  Look at the crazy amazing pools at Ceasar's Palace!

 (Mohawks were very popular here.  This guy got in the Guinness Book of World Records)

Also my friend Ceri is in town from England.  She, Denise and I got together for a little sleepover (and later a reunion with all our fabulous nanny friends (we used to be nannies in NY and CT.  I miss it!!)  We did some major catching up and I loved every second of it. It included such events as a trip to the urgent care clinic, neon orange "syrup," and the traditional arm tickle train.

Last night my old college buddies Sarah and Sarah :) and their husbands came over and we had a blast catching up and talking for hours.  We talked mostly about mommyhood, which is a topic I am ALWAYS fascinated by.  I'm so glad we finally got together.  YAY!  (I didn't take a picture guys!  Send me one?)

...So I'm having some major nostalgia.  It's amazing how much my girlfriends have come to mean more to me the older I get.  They make me a better person and they inspire me and make me laugh.  Matt is lucky I have them because they definitely make me a better wife too.

Anyway, I'm avoiding the topic of running right now because I have nothing nice to say.  I had a crappy run this morning and my foot issues....  Ugh.  I won't go into detail right now, but it's sooo frustrating to have rested and cross-trained for SO long and still have these issues.  WHY?

Well, more details and stuff when I have the strength to talk about it without tears.   :P

XOXO
~K

Because I believe...

...that every long run deserves a blog entry.

(This is Kristin by the way.)

I am way behind in my blogging here.  Yay for the new Blogger changes- especially the return of spell check!  Woot.  If I have not visited your blog lately, I am catching up on that too.  Don't worry, I have not abandoned you, by bloggy friends. 

Let me start catch up with my most recent long run.  I 15-miler with Danna.  I only made it through like 14.  Rough at the end- I even got light headed.

Danna and I have been a little lazy with our running lately- especially at Girls' Camp.  I was especially out of shape and gaining some nice new fat deposits is seems.  Well, this 15 miler started around 6 and was hot and muggy!!  We went through a ton of water and Gatorade (both for drinking, and pouring on ourselves.  I even accidentally poured Gatorade all over myself at the very end). 

We ran into Larry Payne around mile 9 and he joined us for the final few miles.  At first I refused him.  "No way Larry- I'm pooped.  I can not run at your pace today."  Well, he insisted and went at our pace, and was great entertainment, and a helpful distraction for the rest of the run!  He even did the final mile+ with Danna when I got light headed and stopped. 

After the run, I iced at my house in the way I always do.  Sticking my feet right on the ice packs.  I know they always say not to do this, but have you ever put a towel (even a paper one) on your ice and still had the cold get through adequately?  I have never had a problem just icing directly.  Until now.

So, I'm embarrassed to say- I got a cold injury.  Does it classify as frost bite?  Not sure, but I got it bilaterally on my heels and a couple toes.  It was totally scary and freaked me out.  Then it got super painful- just like a bur, and I couldn't walk on it for a few days.  Who else does this happen to?  No one!  I have never heard of a cold injury among my real life acquaintances, friends, or family.  Unless it was a legitimate winter-time thing.

I made D come over and assess my injury (she's a nurse) and it had a freaky discoloration and blisterage.  After a few days the crazy pain quit- thank heavens!!!  And now I am walking normal again. 

Oh dear.  Please be careful icers.  I have learned that chemical cold packs get colder than regular ice, and if you insist on direct contact, just use ice in a Ziploc.  This advice came from the guys at the wound clinic.  Also, a foot in a bucket of ice water is perfect! 

I still believe in icing.  It makes a big difference. But I also believe in non-amputation.

Love, K
XOXO

Water Running and Elliptical Cross Training

Hey! It is Suzy. I've been out of the running loop since the awesome Ogden Half-Marathon (anyone for the Ogden full next year?). I was disappointed that once I pinned my number on my pregnant belly, it was difficult to tell I was pregnant from the front. I was sure to mention it as we passed people. As well as yell it out at the end so people would cheer for me and I wouldn't stop and walk.
I went on a 4 mile run the Tuesday after and my legs felt like jelly. I tried to jog about a week later and found that my belly had increased exponentially in size during that week off. Too much pull on the muscles to run comfortably any more. So where does that leave me? No more runs with Danna and Kristin. :( Just a lot of water running and elliptical cross training.
Why those two activities? Danna and Kristin once told me that those two exercises are equivalent to running. For elliptical work, mileage is a one to one ratio. For water running, time is a one to one ratio. I don't know if that is really true but it makes me feel good about my exercise as I wait for my little one to arrive.
When I water run, I use the same water belt that many use for water aerobics. I have a hard time telling how hard I am "running" because I don't sweat. It also takes me a minute or two to try to get the right running motion down instead of a swimming kick. One day I "ran" next to another lady in the pool. She was pretty fast. I asked her what her secret was and she told me she was "riding a bike." No wonder she was so much faster than me!
I can only manage about an hour long water run. (I think I once did an hour and a half) I just don't have a waterproof ipod to listen to and no friends to talk to. Boohoo for me. I do like the weightless feeling and the time to relax my pregnancy muscles. Yeah for me.
Danna and Kristin, of course, miss me terribly. They ran Ragnar with my husband just because they miss me so much. (It was a good choice. He runs much faster than me and isn't even close to being as emotional as I am at this point.)
I am curious to see how labor will go and my recovery will be after consistently exercising. And maybe 16 years from now, we will have a cross country star in our family.

Ok all, get a move on

Hey all- the lavender run is now only about 10 days away! This will be a fun race, come and run it with us! It's less than 20 bucks too! Be sure to sign up with our team name- she runs like a girl. Leave a comment and let us know you are registered! Happy running! Love Danna

https://www.aiyevents.com/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=15

Kristin's Ragnar Race Report!!

Yes, I did the CRAZY Ragnar Relay Race with Danna and a team of 10 other people this last weekend!

For those who don't know anything about this race, here's a quick summary:

• We run 190 miles (Logan to Park City) through lovely canyons and over mountains and everything!
• You run in a team of 12 (2 vanloads of 6 people) and each runner runs 3 legs of the race.  Each leg is about 3-9 miles and they all vary in difficulty.
• There is a baton, which is actually a slap bracelet, and there is always some member of your team running- even in the middle of the night!  The race takes 2 days!
• Each team is responsible for supporting their own runners with drinks, supplies, etc.  You basically drive up to the runner and ask what they need several times throughout their run.  You run water, Gatorade, GU (in my case- always chapstick and a kleenex much to my team's amusement) across the street to them- which all the other vans are doing.  It makes for some seriously crazy street situations as you can imagine.

Well, all I can say is...I don't know what to say.  In the words of Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  :)  I mean, it was a totally unforgettalbe adventure, and I'm glad I did it!  It was completely unique from any other racing or running experience.  But it was HARD, a lot of work, sleepless, hot at times.

Here are a few interesting things from my experience:

• There were vans, buses, and Suburbans EVERYWHERE- all decorated according to their team name and theme.  And people went all out!  One truck was converted into a huge mammoth- humongous tusks and all.  Many were completely covered in paint, or tape, or posters, or vinyl letters and pictures.  It was amazing.  Every clever thing you could ever think of that has to do with running was on some van or another!
•  For those of you who have been asking- no there was never any stinkiness or B.O. smell!  When I got home, Matt said I only smelled like sunscreen.  Amazing, huh?
• Our van got a break for 5 hours.  We set up camp in a church parking lot and tried to catch some Z's.  None of us actually slept except for Tom, who was then rudely awoken by the sprinkler system.
• I had great team members.  Or van consisted of Ben, Tom, Rick, Emily, Danna and me.  Aka: (respectively) our fearless leader, a most delightful and pleasant person, easy-going nice guy who runs super fast, lovely girl who was tough as nails, and BFF.
• The PTA in one town had commandeered the high school and were selling tickets to sleep in the school, use the shower, eat, and go to the flushing restrooms.  Heartless and genius at the same time.  I bought a bathroom and shower ticket. That locker room was a mad house,  A flesh pot, if you will.  A soap and water mess full of desperate women with their toothbrushes and shower tickets.
• Some teams came in full costume.  We saw leather-clad gladiator women, running in boots and fishnets, men dressed as female nurses with polyester dresses and big blond wigs, and couples dressed in wedding attire!  The women ran with veils, the men with bowties and cummerbunds. 

Our team name was "La Muerte Fea" (Ugly Death).  I was runner #7.  I was the first in our van to run.  My first leg was at like 3 pm in the killer heat!  Seriously- hottest run of my life!  Dump water on me!!  It was 4 miles.  I learned that most Ragnar runners are not chatty, don't run in a clump, try to pass you if possible, wear ipods, and have vans who follow and leap frog them closely.  I learned how to stretch on the run.  The van doesn't rest when you finish.  Cool down is sitting in the front seat fanning yourself. 

My second run was the night run.  About 4 miles again.  And hilly!  Y'all know I don't do well with hills, right?  I was STRUGGLING on some of those miles and so were the runners near me.  I passed most of them.  I secretly wanted my van to go away so I could walk or crawl.  I wore the required reflective vest, "butt lights," and our team's LED flashers.  I felt like a small Christmas tree.  I whined to Ben and he would hear none of it.  I realized later that my run was only a "moderately difficult run."  Most team members had "hard" and "very hard" runs.  I'm a weeny, but...hey.  I learned this run that your van can get backed up in traffic and make you miss your pass off by a lot.  Sorry van # 1!  That I need to have my outfits, ice, and meal in one easy to grab sip-lock for when I finish a run, and not have to dig through the trunk over and over at every quick support stop for the next runner.  I learned that out-houses are not sanitary at night when all runners are sleep deprived and stumbling in the dark. 

My final run was again in the heat at like 11 am.  Hot again.  Body tired.  No got sleep.  Need sprinkler.  Need cheer for me.  Maybe chafed?  Knees stiff.  Feel energized that it's my final leg.  A few other vans spray me with mist, and cheer for me.  One particular van of girls drives next to me and chants, "And I! WOULD! WALK! 5! HUN! DRED! MILES! AND! I! WOULD! WALK! 500! MORE! just to BE! THE! WOman! WHO! WALKED! A! THOU! SAND! MILES! TO! FALL! DOWN! AT! YOUR! DOOR!"    I finish and feel great!  I get hyper and slap happy and silly and sing to my team mates and hang out the window a lot.  I watch them all run killer final legs and I am in awe of them.

So, what do you think?  Would you ever run the Wasatch Back?  It's wild!  Would I do it again?  Ummm, ask me in a few weeks.  It's like I just went through labor and you're asking if I want more babies!

XOXO

~K