I've taken up running, but still can't keep up with life...

I suck at keeping up on my blog. Life just gets crazy and then I get lazy. Ok so really life hasn't been that crazy, I am really just lazy. So I am still running. Its tough, but I have seen some good results weight wise. I am still signed up for The Other Half half marathon in Moab in October. I am rather scared about the whole deal. The mileage is fine.... I know I can do the mileage. What scares me is the speed factor. This race has a time cut off which is going to be a little bit of a stretch for me. I am hoping I can finish before they close the course. I guess we will see how it goes.

I have been doing a lot of job hunting and interviews. Since they relocated my office to West Valley, it has turned my commute into a half hour commute which really sucks. So I need to find something close to home. Oh and it will be nice to have a job that doesn't drive me nuts, and possibly a job I may actually like.

Its getting close to the one year mark of my mothers death. I can definitely tell. Its almost like the leaves changing reminds me of losing her. So I have had her on my mind a lot lately. I'm not sure how I am going to be able to handle the 1 yr anniversary. That's going to be tough. I am also a little nervous about going to St. George this weekend for The St George Marathon. That will be the anniversary of her getting sick. Its crazy to think how she was fine one minute, and the next minute she was sick... and then gone. Sometimes I still have a hard time believing she is gone.

Anyways.... I need to be better at writing posts, but I wont guarantee that I will be. Especially since I am going thru a tough time of year. I don't know if I will feel up to it, but I will sure try!

Mesa Falls Marathon

For Mikes birthday, I decided to register him for the Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, ID. Mesa Falls in a gorgeous area and I knew it would be a really pretty race. Plus this takes care of Idaho on his goal to run a marathon in every state. Little did I know at the time I was registering him for it, that I would end up running the Half Marathon.

We headed to Ashton Thursday night and lounged around Friday. This morning (Saturday) Mike headed off to the buses a couple hours before I needed to head out. They started the full Marathon 2 hours before the Half. I was really nervous and had not done very many long runs prior to this, and had not been running as much due to health problems. I decided at the last minute, that I really did want to do this. I knew I would kick myself if I didn't. I figured I would end up coming in last, but decided I would go for it. What better place to do your first Half Marathon, than a gorgeous area like Mesa Falls... that I have loved since the first time I took the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. Plus this race did not have a time cut off. They would keep the finish line open until every person came across. So I wouldn't have to stress about not making it on time.

So I am up at the start of the Half Marathon with all the other 280 runners waiting for our race to start. We were all cheering on the full marathoners as they went past. i figured Mike had already past before I even got up to the start line so I didn't think I would see him. Suddenly he comes running past scanning the crowd. He looked at me, told the guy he was running and chatting with that he would be back, ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss before continuing on his way. The crowd LOVED it! A big cheer went up. Plus I had tons of people comment how cute it was and how amazed they were he still had that much energy half way thru a marathon. It was cute and it made me feel loved that he would stop running in the middle of a race just to give me a hug and kiss.

So finally the Half Marathon started. It veered off onto a trail for the first couple miles. Apparently, I am not a good trail runner because I tripped on a rock and scraped up my leg pretty good. See picture below...

It hurt pretty bad. I got up, took stock and decided I could still run. I was determined that I would not get a DNF (Did not finish) on my first Half Marathon. So I ran it all. It was hard... and very painful. The salt from my sweat hurt every time it would drip down my sore leg. Plus every time my foot pounded down, it sent jolts of pain up my leg. Suddenly, my goal of not coming in last changed to a goal of just finishing the race.

Mike meanwhile, did really well which surprised us both since he had just run Park City Marathon last week. two marathons a week apart is crazy! He managed to come across at 3:13 and was 5th overall... 2nd in his age group. He had a really good race. I am soo incredibly proud of him.

He finished, went back to our little cabin we stayed in and packed up and checked out (since check out was prior to when I was going to finish). He then headed back to meet up with me. He met up with me around 3 miles from the finish line. He could not have come at a better time. I was dead! There had been a horrible hill thatilled me. So I was down to walking. Part of that was because how painful my leg was. So he walked (with little spurts of running) to the finish line with me. It was so great having him there for support! That meant he did a total of 32 miles today. I was very happy to see him and he was very supportive and understanding when I was having problems running.

The finish line was finally crossed, and then I got some wipes and wiped down my leg. It hurt like heck when Mike started scrubbing the dirt out of it, but I survived. We then went and got our free Huckleberry Milk Shake and headed to West Yellowstone to finish out our vacation.

It was a hard race, and it sucked scraping my leg like I did, but I am glad that I did it. I am glad I can say I have run a Half Marathon, even with a bloody leg. I am glad its over though. I managed to do it in 3:48:18 which is a much better time than I expected. Especially since I did a lot of walking this race. That makes me feel much better about cutting my time down to 3:30 by the Half Marathon in Moab in October. I honestly think I can do it!

I don't know why I do it...

I am going thru infertility stuff again. It sucks, and its hard. I basically was having health problems like I was having last year when I got really anemic and sick. I didn't want to be like that again, but I knew I was headed that direction. So I went to the Dr to see how to fix it and I had two options.... either birth control (which is obviously not something I would even consider at this point), or to do progesterone and clomid to regulate things.. So I am back on Clomid. I told myself I would never do Clomid again after the last time. It was horrible. They had me on way too high of a dosage. Plus it is very hard to handle Clomid without my mom to vent to. I feel like when I am on Clomid, is when I need her the most. It was hard to decide to try it again, but this time the Dr is pretty well letting me take control since I figured out my body works different than most, and therefore they were testing things on the wrong days. So we will see how it goes.

So I had a couple major breakdowns. I am sure there are still more to come. Clomid honestly makes me so crazy its not even funny. I really just pity Mike since he has to put up with me. He seems to handle me pretty well though. Anyways.... its hard. I was trying not to let myself get baby hungry, but I failed. I even went so far as to watch a film on Midwifery today which essentially made me super baby hungry. So yeah.... I don't know why I watch shows like that when I know its just going to make me cry.

On a better note... Mike ran the Park City marathon on Saturday. He ran it in 3:21 something. He got a PR for that course. Its always exciting to see him come across the finish line. I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments in running.

He is running Marathon number 30 this coming Saturday. Its the Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, ID. It is such a gorgeous area, that it will be a neat marathon for him to run. I am seriously considering doing the half marathon. I am not as trained up as I once was (due to health problems), but I think I can do it. I will for sure be the last half marathoner to finish, so that's going to be hard to swallow, but I feel like I will be kicking myself if I miss it. I would love for that race to be my first half marathon. It is small, beautiful scenery, and best of all... they don't close the course until every runner has come across. So yeah.... I will probably do it.... and I am - quite frankly - scared to death. I guess it will be an adventure.