Iowa business trip

Hello! Kristin's writing. Here I am in Iowa in my little hotel room. What a crazy trip so far! First of all, there were two flights on the way here. On the first, it was a plane FULL of screaming children; some screaming in glee, some in sadness. The loudest happened to be kids of my old college friends from USU. All I know is the guy next to me and I were rudely awoken every couple minutes. Maddening! I felt a little like this lady:

Next flight- I sat by another guy who just happened to be....yep you guessed it! A hardcore runner. Awesome! So of course I talked his ear off. Shane- remember, I'm expecting you to comment! :) I got some great advice from him. BTW, he's currently training for an iron man triathlon! For those who don't know, that's a race that involves a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles) run, raced in that order and without a break. I'm amazed people can even consider that! Shane and I commented to each other how inspiring it is to talk to fellow runners. It's so motivating. He told me I should use a roller to work on some of my tight muscles- he swears by that thing! And he told me about how much it helps him to hire a running coach (which Danna is doing right now!). We also talked about his love for his Garmin watch (jealous) and how he runs without gels/Gatorade/energy bars. It made me psyched to keep improving.

Then my luggage got lost. Ugh. I had to buy new stuff that night at Target, including running clothes! However I was cheered by our lovely hotel- I love hotels! It's been a blast having my own room and chillin. It is SOOOO cold here. I worked out in the hotel exercise room instead, which was great! I wish I had a gym membership. I also did cardio, some core strengthening and strength training for my deltoids and biceps. Tomorrow will be my 3rd and last workout here. Sad. Goodbye Mariott! Thanks for having a copy of the BoM since mine was lost for a bit. I didn't wanna miss my scripture study (I haven't missed in 15 years!!).
This is a shot of my room off the website. Sweet! I also got to bond with some rad co-workers of mine. We had a blast and ate some good food. We almost nearly died when my crazy boss Chris did a few wild tricks in our rental car. He's crazy!

I'm excited to get home though. I get homesick for Matt, and running-sick to run with D. :) I don't miss working or facing the difficult aspects of my new calling (but I do love the girls!). I'm excited to see the episode of my favorite show (The Bachelor! Yes, I'm a nerd.), and to stop having all-day meetings. Goodbye Iowa!

XOXO
~K

My favorite work-out videos for cross training!

Kristin here.

(My parents have informed me they never know
who's writing until they get to the end of a post.)

As you may know, I have been cross training a lot. (Cross-training for marathoners/runners is a non-running, usually low impact work out.) The purpose of X training is usually to let your body heal from the weekly runs, or an injury, or just to lay of the joints a bit, or change things up here and there.

We 3 do not much care for it. However, we have been forced to do it for our various injuries (or in Suzy's case, just to support the rest of us since her bod was made to run).

Anyway, I have become a bit of a work-out video expert over the years and I have some definite faves. Good work-out videos are hard to find. Usually they are too easy, too repetitive, and too boring OR too overly peppy. Allow me to share some major finds.

YOGA:

If you don't like yoga, this video may change your mind! I love it. And I didn't used to be a yogi. Shiva Rea is amazing! I want to be her apprentice. :) This video has a "yoga matrix" where you can choose from every one of the 30 small segments, which ones you would like to do to compile your practice for that day. The music is perfect too! I want the soundtrack. So great for morning yoga.

PILATES:

Former roommates, does this look familiar?! Ha! All my roommates over the years are well familiar with this little gem. I have tried just about every Pilates video and this is by far my favorite. I have it memorized word for word even. Jennifer Kries- can I come to your NYC studio??

Ooo! Look what I just found while searching for it on Google images! She has a new one. Mom, Dad, are you looking for a Christmas present for me??

STEP:Just found this one at the library this week! I am VERY picky with step aerobics. I like a lot of choreography. I'm a step instructor myself so I watch a lot of step videos and I really liked this one- kept my heart rate up and had fun combos.

LATIN DANCE:
Another great find at the library. This is so so fun. Do you love foxy Latin men teaching you the salsa and merengue?? Then this is the video for you! I have loved this video for years. I discovered it before it became so popular, but now it's the new things. Aerobics instructors are specializing in "Zumba." Of this video set I only like the intermediate video.

HIP HOP CLASSIC:

How many times my mom, sisters and I have grooved in the living room to this sweet old thang, I cannot tell. It will always have a special place in our heart. But seriously, I still like it and I still do it some times. Next Young Women's Activity??? Whaddyasay, girlies?

OK, readers. I wanna hear about any of your favorite videos. I am always looking for a new classic to add to my repertoire.

Stay tuned: some day I will do Cross Training Part 2.
PS: Keep in mind that if you are injured, some of these are high-impact/medium-impact. You may wanna stick with the pool, elliptical, or bike for cardio while healing. Safety before fun! That's what I always say.

Plantar Fasciitis

(This is Kristin)

Well, I have been asked a lot lately if I am running at all and if my foot is any better. I think I have plantar fasciitis.

My symptoms:

• heel pain
• tight feeling along arch
• greater pain when it's early or when I'm just standing/walking after long sitting

What has worked?

• As much as I am against this from a fashion standpoint- wearing my running shoes all day (gulp) even with my work clothes has made an amazing difference! I alternated days with my arch support (Superfeet) inserts in or out.
  

Dansko:

• Everyone swears by Dansko clogs and I have never wanted to get any (They're not my style and are pricey. If I'm payin' $100+ for shoes they better be hot!). Danna and some work buddies who have had plantar fasciitis say they were the only thing that would get rid of it. After my running shoes worked so well, I think I need to do it! Our friend sells them at a store named Chandler's. If you're interested- tell them Janene sent you and help our sistah out! They're really pretty cute and versatile (and also go well with purple cabbage as shown).
  
• Icing after work-outs! I'm a firm believer. I even sneakily ice while treating patients.
• Rest! I have cross-trained and rested a ton. (My next post on Tues. will have some fun work-out video suggestions.)
• And finally- long gentle stretches. See suggestions here.
  

Couldn't find a good picture of this next one, but it's my favorite!
So, yes, things are getting better for me and I'm running 1-2X per week right now. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts or experiences with plantar fasciitis in comments!

APX alarm protects more than just your home

So many exciting things have happened lately. Where to begin...

First, I want to tell about our run a couple of weeks ago- the biggest run yet- 16 miles!! Can you believe it? I'm amazed at myself! And the strangest thing is, it wasn't even hard- it felt good. Weird!!

The weather that morning. Rain!

Danna, Suzy, and I arrived at our new trail after much driving around in circles in the rain. We finally found the spot where we could park on the Legacy Parkway trail in Davis County- my favorite location yet! Oh yeah, it was pouring! It was pre-crack of dawn. It was freezing. Who'dve thought to check the weather in the middle of August? We've never really run in heavy rain before. If the girls had said, "Let's bag it," I was game. We wimpily sat in the car for a WHILE, reapplying bodyglide, staring at the trail, leaning on the head rests.

My hood was scant protection against the downpour. I rage against nature.

When we finally stepped out, we were immediately frozen and drenched. None of us wanted to get our only hoodies soaked and render them useless before we even started, so we took them off and huddled together under a covering.

Then I had a genius idea! Matt used to sell security systems for a company called APX and all his old work shirts were in the trunk waiting to go to the D.I. We each put on a sweet blue APX shirt (I put on 2) and it totally did the trick! It was so funny though because the shirts were so manly and big, and all matchy-matchy too! People must've thought it was our team outfit! Ha ha! Plus we ran with our arms inside the shirts for at least a couple miles. And our water belts were inside too! We probably looked like a bunch of crazies. Out in the rain, armless, lumpy, matching. Go team APX!! Well of course these shirts are now a permanent car trunk item. You just never know when they'll come in handy again! Plus they have major sentimental value now.




As we warmed up, the weather actually felt really good, and the new scenery was great, the conversation was stellar, and the run was awesome!!

Then last Saturday, Danna and I ran in SLC- from Memory Grove up City Creek Canyon to the top and back. It was our designated "hill training week." Danna knew I was dreading hill training big time and am very freaked about the elevation changes on the actual St. George Marathon course. I have been whining and scared about it for weeks. I read all the St. George forums about it too, and freak myself out even more. We ran uphill for about 7 miles- torture for me! Then down for 5-6. Danna had to pull out all the big guns for me to be able to continue. She even provided me with motivational and distracting gifts throughout so that I would make it to the top. Like Jelly Belly energy beans, mango creme savers (PS: Adam, I know the Jelly Bellys were from you. You're the best!) which are surprisingly helpful. I even brought her a gift of my own! I put my hand on my bum at one point (no idea why now that you ask) and felt something strange. I said, "There's something on my bum!!" and after a short struggle, I pulled out:
A dish scrubbie pad! Yes, it had adhered its sneaky little self to my shorts' inner lining while in the dryer. Plus I wear the little Under Armor shorts under those. Wow. If anyone on that mountain had needed a pot scrubbed, I was their girl!

Danna also found a cute little cave. I was unable to join her in spelunking as: a.) it would have required that I climbed down and up a bunch of stairs, and my legs were already uber-stiff (and it was only about mile 7) so I'm pretty sure I never would have made it back up the stairs and b.) I was charitably trying to help her learn to use the timer button on her camera. :) Danna was way too spunky during hill training. She ran down and up those stairs twice! And at the end of our torturous run, she asked if we could run up the hill to the Avenues, and then down the steps to the car again. Um, no Danna. That's enough!! I told her she was more than welcome to do so, as long as she didn't mind walking home alone.

Here we are icing and stuff:

No, but seriously, the hill training wasn't as bad as I had feared. I really think Danna picked out a sick run this time and we got to see so many cool and beautiful (and blissfully distracting) things. Like Memory Grove when it's still dark! We also saw homeless people getting up in the morning, and druggies dealing, and dogs running around, and fellow St. George Marathon-ers. We ran for several miles near these 2 other guys training for St. George, and they were so funny. Might I add that they were veteran marathoners, and we passed them!! I hope they didn't see our high fives. They told us about other marathons they'd run, including one they ran next to none other than JEFF himself!! And we (D and I) talked together about every topic under the sun- from the gospel, to the differences between men and women, to life working in the hospital, to bristle pads of all things!!

Girl's camp

A couple weeks ago I was at girls' camp which was super fun- I love all the girls so much!! They are fabulous. Here's the only shot I took. What a lame camerawoman, right? Luckily, one of the YW -Bailey- helped me out and took 16 interesting shots of her own face. I have shared some real gems below from that sample.

Last week Matt and I spent the week with my fam and a few friends in Lake Powell. I did a lot of water running as X-training. Mikelle and I even got up at 6 one morning and went running on some hiking trails. It was fun. We got to drive the wave runner up a cool swampy river, saw baby frogs, ancient pictographs, we nearly sprained our ankles, and we rocked out with out ipods!On our way to the run!

Inside the boat

My dad has been feeling worried that the world may think I only ever wear a sweaty bun in my hair, to match my sweaty outfit and make-up-less face. (My parents have always been vehemently anti-bun.) Well, just for you, Daddio, I have included a few photos below, proving that I am not just Sweaty Bun Girl. And I do have an outfit other than that dang black and white one I think we are all a little sick of seeing on the blog by now.

So lonely...

It's been a bit of a lonely week. I ran/cross-trained alone each day because Danna has been nursing an injury and under doctor's orders not to run on certain days. (And she took Suzy with her to the elliptical machine so I didn't have her either.) She went back to Dr. Toronto (Sports Medicine), who is awesome by the way. He diagnosed her with "periostisis" (a bad shin injury!) and told her she was wearing the wrong shoes. What is amazing to me is that Dr. Toronto first of all agreed to skip his lunch to see her, and even read every page of her running log word for word!!!


We made a crazy trip to Salt Lake Running Company to get her some new ones. I got a new running belt which doesn't leak! It's fabulous. The SLRC is a great place to buy shoes, fyi. They do this whole assessment on you, and also give great running advice. All the employees are pretty much famous runners (the guy that helped me plans to break the St. George Marathon record this time, and the one who helped Danna was recruited from out of state to coach the runners at Westminister!).


I went running Thursday night at about 9 pm and it was still pretty hot! I did 4 miles on the High School track. This seems to be becoming a Thursday night tradition. After our Wednesday morning runs (this week it was 7 miles! Before work!) I am wiped, and can't drag my bum out of bed the next morning. It's amazing how the little things provide a distraction on a tough run. For example:

Laps 1 & 2: The wind started blowing hard and the track sprinkler system turned on and I got a little annoyed, and became a little cold...

Laps 3 & 4: The sprinklers started feeling good!

Laps 5 & 6: The sprinklers became necessary and I missed them when I ran on the other end of the track.

Laps 7 & 8: The sprinklers turned off! Aaa! I turned up my ipod and was glad the wind was still blowing at least.

Laps 9 & 10: A new set of sprinklers were turned on, and I veered to the edge of the track on every lap to get misted. :)

Laps 11 & 12: I began counting and re-counting the laps I had done and would have to do, thinking I must have counted wrong and constantly wondering if I was really on lap 13...I wasn't.

Laps 13 & 14: I started wondering if the track wasn't really 1/2 mile in circumference, and if I had really run 8 miles. Wishful thinking. I planned all the things I was going to write in this blog entry. Yes, my faithful readers- I was thinking of you. (Actually, I think a lot about what I'll blog whenever I'm running. I have some clever/genius ideas, but then when I actually go to blog, I draw a blank!

Laps 15 & 16: I kicked the speed up a notch and knocked 2 minutes off my mile! And then I ran through the sprinklers! So refreshing. Here I am after the run:
But for me, the loneliest thing of all is always the dreaded cross training. We are supposed to do cross training once a week, for at least 45 minutes. No one knows more than Matt how much I hate it. I whine and whine and put it off. I don't have a lot of great options. We've got the LAME equipment in our condo's clubhouse. The only usable option is the stationary bike with only one (easy) setting. Note that it is VERY hot in this room with no A/C. I could go for a walk I guess, or a bike ride, but they seem too easy and I feel I am not really cross training (and my bike has problems). I don't like the pool, so that's out.

Here are some pix of me leaving for, or coming back from a cross training session:

See how unhappy I look about the whole X training thing? Even though I'm done! (But look how much skinnier my legs are getting!! Sweet!)

After this photo was taken, I wouldn't actually leave. This is when Matt pushed me out the door- for reals. I think he even locked it. I thanked him later. Much later.

I decided to do "walking" for my XT, so I walked to Danna's (not a long walk!!), and she indulged my laziness. We drank raspberry lemonade, and swung on the hammock while we talked to Adam. Then I walked home. What a workout!

And we did a lot of laughing. Here we are discussing the chihuahua that tried to bite me.

I make funny joke!

For yesterday's long/adventure run, Danna and Suzie agreed to drive up and join me in Park City. I scoped out a trail called "The Rail Trail," which was a toughie! It was a gradual downhill slope for the first 5 miles, and uphill for the last 5! I was struggling, I tell you. I was so glad to be done, and poor Suzy had to run an extra 6 miles without us, so as usual, Danna and I iced and stretched and chatted.

Friends, Danna needs your prayers. Her shin injury is really a concern and she may have to modify her training a lot to be able to run the race. Will you pray for her to heal from her injury and to be able to run without problems? (As a side note, maybe you should also pray for her not to be a reckless rebel and run too much despite the pain, and despite my yelling at her about it!)


Well, there are a few people/objects that I need to thank this week for helping me get through the training. First of all, the Backstreet Boys and their Black and Blue album. Thanks for singing me through those tough miles, Boys! Natasha Bedingfield and her inspiring songs, Jeff and Hal- my coaches, Matt, my hubs, for literally pushing me out the door or forcing me to go to bed on several occasions! Danna, for always providing a cooler full of ice, a bag of towels and wet wipes, and a darn good time (that "darn good time" part goes for Suzy too!), and my cute student for starting the first therapy session without me on Wednesday mornings, and for every person on the Parkway who says, "Go girl!" or "Have a good run," or even the traditional, "Morning!" It's really amazing how much it helps. (By the way, I realized the habit of lifting a few fingers in a wave, and saying "Morning," has become so automatic for me I can't even stop myself. While running around the track, I realized I kept doing it to the same people lap after lap. I think they felt awkward after the second time, and frankly so did I.)

More pix from the aftermath of last week's long run:

This is my Smoked Salmon Benedict. Yum!!

I'm really excited to eat it. I'm also excited to be so sweaty and salty in a public place.