Running

A little history....The summer before I started college, during senior grad night, my friend Mindy Johnson asked me if I wanted to run with her that summer. I really was worried because she was a good runner. Everyone knew she was a fast cross country and track runner, and I was sure there was no way I could keep up. She assured me because of an injury she was getting back into running so we would be good partners. Well I am sure glad I said yes! That summer we started off with pretty short distances and worked our way up to running six miles. It was so fun to run and talk with her in the evenings, and she introduced me to a lot of great running places near my home in Washington. As any runner knows, you develop a special bond with your running buddy. For the next few years when we would both come home from college in the summer we would run together.

When I came to BYU, I still wasn't much of a runner, but I ran to stay in shape. I really thought if I just ran 3-4 miles a day I would be in such great shape, so that's about all I did. Then my friend Stacey started talking about half marathons! I thought running 13 miles seemed like an awesome accomplishment, but that it wasn't for me. Well, eventually she convinced me and I ended up training three times for a half marathon before I actually ran one.  The first half marathon I ran was the

1. Anacortes Art Dash Half Marathon, July of 2008

Little story: at the start of the race I realized I hadn't yet turned on my iPod. As I was looking down at it to turn on the music, I failed to notice the uneven sidewalk (at least two inches) and I tripped and fell! This kind man was right behind me and helped me up. I looked down at my knee to brush off the dirt and found it covered in blood! I kept running, and found a bathroom up ahead. So I ran in there, tried to wash it quickly and wipe off the blood with a paper towel, but it was useless. I had scraped a lot of skin off my knee cap. So...I just kept running. At the first mile there was an aid station where I was able to get some bandaids, but they didn't stick so I ended up running with a bloody leg! I think I finished in 1:52 or 1:54.

After that I had the running bug. I continued training for a marathon. When I was doing my last long run (22 miles) I noticed I was running about the same pace as another girl. We both stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom and so we started talking. It turned out we were training for the same marathon, we were both attending BYU to become health teachers,  and were going to be in the same class. Crazy! Our friendship was meant to be! Since then McKenzie and I have run hundreds of miles together and have run 4 marathons together!

2. Top of Utah Marathon, September 2008
 I really enjoyed running the Top of Utah. My goal was just to finish but I actually got my 2nd fastest time, 4:13 (723rd place). Dennis, my mom, and Grandma Hart were all there the cheer me on!
 

   McKenzie and her parents, Lynette and Cory Borup

3. Famous Idaho Potato Marathon in Boise, ID, May 2010

I didn't run another race until McKenzie convinced me to run this one. The run started off well, we were on pace for a good time, but at mile 20 my IT band started bothering me. McKenzie kept going and finished pretty well, but I ended up walking a good share of those last six miles. And this was not a fun marathon. There was hardly any support for the last 13 miles...and I just kept wondering when I would ever see an aid station - I was really thirsty. I finally finished in 4:28.

Once my IT band felt alright I kept training and again ran my favorite marathon that fall.

4. Top of Utah Marathon, September 2010

I was disappointed that I finished slower than my first time though...I just am not a fast runner. My time was 4:14 (868th place). Determined to break 4 hours I signed up for another marathon.

5. Ogden Marathon, May, 2011

   

Well, McKenzie met her goal she finished in 3:55! I fell short of mine. I still got a PR though, finishing in 4:05. I just wasn't feeling it, and there was a half marathon. All I could think when I got the the half marathon start was - I could be finished now! Why didn't I just run the half?! 

 6. St. George Marathon, October 2011

So my mom, a blogging guru, already blogged all about this race here so I am just stealing some pictures from her blog. There were a few awesome things about this race. 1. I was sure I was going to beat four hours. 2. Dennis was going to run it! 3. McKenzie and her parents were doing it, and they had a house in St. George they very kindly let us stay in, and 4. My parents were coming! They came all the way down to watch us run and then Dennis and I were going to spend a few days in Vegas with them! Talk about awesome parents! So that is why there are so many pictures. 

The awesome signs my parents made!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately this is the result of the race, me in a wheel chair, and tired exhausted Dennis having to push me around Las Vegas. I was making great time for the first 16 miles, I was totally on track to beat four hours. But just after that my achilles started feeling really tight. So bad that I had to walk. And I walked almost all of the last ten miles so my time was 5:30. Not my best. That night we drove to Vegas, and the next day I could put weight on my foot, but I couldn't push off it to walk. Well, since walking is somewhat an essential activity in Vegas, I had to get a wheel chair. Not the nice little break I planned on!

7. Timpanogos Half Marathon, July 2012
Brittney and I both signed up for this race and I loved it! A half marathon is a great distance to run, I
think that's the distance I am going to stick to for now on (especially when it's downhill!). Brittney did awesome for her first half, she finished in 2:01 - awesome for her first! I really wanted to beat 1:45 on this race, and I did a pretty good job of keeping up with that pace. But of course at mile 9 I had to use the bathroom. And then at mile 10.5 I needed to again, only I had to walk .7 miles to the next porta-potty, and then wait for the person in there to finish! So my chip time was 1:49, but if you don't count the stops I got 1:45, and if I didn't have to walk to the bathroom I would have been faster than that! So if anyone reads this and has advice on how to keep from getting runners trots, I would love to hear!

Thank you Dennis for coming to so many of these supporting me!

 

8. Haloween Half Marathon, October 2012

For a few years now I have wanted to run this race, and I finally did! Brittney and McKenzie and her family ran it too! It started at Sundance and finished near the Riverwoods, most of it was downhill. (Except for that lovely one mile uphill part they added in when they changed the course.) Here we are at the start.

 

I ended up finishing the race with a time of 1:45. McKenzie won the Athena division with a time of 1:41 and I got second! Yay for being over 145 pounds!

 

9. Snow Canyon Half Marathon, November 2012

The very next weekend McKenzie, her sister and her mom all headed down to St. George and ran another half marathon. This one really had a lot of downhill, some of it was pretty steep, so I feel a little like I'm cheating posting this time since I'm really not that fast of a runner. But I finished in 1:42 - a new PR, and that is with a bathroom stop! I really could have finished in 1:40, so now the goal is to get into the 1:30s. It was a fun race and I would totally do it again! Plus its nice to get away and have some warmer weather! Here is what Snow Canyon looks like...pretty cool!



Third Anniversary!

On the date of our anniversary Dennis was taking finals - I think he had two or three that day! So we really didn't do much celebrating. But, the week after we had a little celebration. This past year I was one of three very lucky teachers who got to be part of CITES Associates. Basically its a partnership between Provo School District and BYU, and 5 times a year we go on retreats. We read books and discuss them, and talk a lot about school stuff. The meetings are really great and I come away so excited about being a teacher - they are very inspiring! But, the best part is we get to eat for free and stay in nice hotels! The last of the meetings was in Park City in May. Dennis gets to come with me so we decided to go up a night early. Wednesday afternoon we drove up and checked into our room at the Westgate Resort at the Canyons Ski Resort.

The school district makes the reservations, and I have had two different types of rooms when have stayed here, but we totally lucked out and got the one bedroom luxury villa! We could have lived there! It was the same size as our last apartment. Here are some pictures :)

After we checked in we went to Main Street to get some dinner. But since May is between ski season and summer, not much was open. In fact, we only saw two or three restaurants that were open. So we played it safe and went to one that we have gone to before and loved.

We got the BBQ chicken pizzza - so good. And the leftovers stored nicely in our fridge. That night we had our choice of three pools to swim in at our hotel, so we chose the closest one. It was indoor, but had lawn chairs set up and the ceiling was painted like the sky so you almost felt like you were outside. There was nice music playing and two saunas and a hot tub. It was nice!

The next two days I had meetings from 8-3, but Thursday we went to a really nice dinner with everyone from my meetings. It may have been the best steak I have ever eaten! Its pricey here, but I highly recommend this restaurant:

It was so good! The resort had tennis courts and a basketball court, as well as a lot of other things to do, but unfortunately we didn't have time to do those things. Friday when my meetings were over we loaded up the car and headed down to St. Goerge. My good friend McKenzie and her parents were doing the St. George Ironman on Saturday, so we went down to cheer for them. It was really awesome to watch, although I don't think I could ever do something that challenging. McKenzie and her parents are incredible though, and all of them finished probably the most difficult race in Ironman history! Here are a couple of pictures.

This is right before the 2.4 mile swim. Girls have pink swim caps and guys have green.

 Right after the race started, a huge windstorm came. Dennis and I went for a little jog and soon realized they were swimming in five foot swells, and rescue boats were going around like crazy taking people out of the water. We were really worried about McKenzie because she had previously injured her shoulder and was already worried about the swim. I can't remember how many people got pulled from the swim - I want to say 300 -  but Dennis and I started wondering how many people were even going to make it. But McKenzie and her parents all made it before the cut off time! The 112 mile bike was next, we just caught the tail end of that, and it's way to hard to take a picture when they're riding that fast. Everyone was saying the 20 mile an hour winds and 40 mile an hour gusts made it a very difficult ride, probably the hardest part of this ironman. Then finally was the 26.2 mile run.

Or walk :) McKenzie is in the yellow. I would have hated running in this course because you have to do it three times, and its just up and down streets next to eachother in a neighborhood. And when I say up and down I mean you run down the hill, then turn around and run right back up it, then cross over to the next street and do it again. BUT - we got to see the runners a lot!

It is pretty incredible to watch an Ironman. It is probably the most grueling physically challenging event people compete in, and this one was the hardest of all. Even the pros were about 30 minutes slower than normal. But wow, when each person crosses the finish line, it is an incredible feeling of accompishment. Good job Lynette, Cory, and McKenzie!

The Big Catch Up

So there are a lot of other things we have done, and like to do ... but I am not going to blog about each event separately. So here is a quick...ok maybe not so quick, rundown in no particular order:

1. Visit from Lani! Memorial weekend 2011 my best friend from high school came to visit! I really miss her so much and it was so good to spend time with her! I wish we lived by each other, but I am so glad for the chances we have to get together. When we both turn 30 we are going skydiving. She's that kind of an awesome friend!

2. Hiking! One thing I love to do in the summer is hike. I really love trees and water, so if I am hiking around both I am happy! Luckily I have Brittney or Dennis to come with me. These pictures are all hiking around Mt. Timpanogos.

Brittney and I have done this hike quite a few times, it is really pretty (for Utah). We have gotten lost, injured, laughed at, and had all kinds of adventures on the trail to the summit. 

I finally talked Dennis into doing this hike. Since the summit he had avoided doing this particular hike again, but I think he liked it!

Hiking to Stewart Falls right before Devin's mission

A nice day in April, but still not spring in the mountains. Stewart Falls trail.

3. Alpine Loop. Last fall Dennis and I took a drive through the Alpine Loop to enjoy the fall colors. Its so close, and since I love trees, its nice to take a drive and see so many!

4. Valentine's Day. I am not a very sentimental person and have never made a very big deal out of Valentine's day. This year I got a bit more creative by using an idea similar to this. It turned out pretty well. I told Dennis all I wanted was my car washed and a spot buffered out of it. Well, he totally surprised me by getting my car while I was at school and washing it and buffering out that spot! (well part of it). But the best surprise was yet to come. He made me the best bouquet ever! And yes, he actually made it! He spent hours working on it, and yes, he dipped the strawberries himself! I could not believe it - he is so talented!

5. Visit from Grandma Kostell. In November 2011 Dennis's Grandma came to Utah to spend a few days with her grandchildren here. It was fun. We walked all around Temple Square and took a really loooooong tour of the Conference Center. She is a tough lady! My feet were tired and I was tired of walking around, but she was still going strong! I really hope to be as tough as she is someday! We got to see Dennis's cousin Valerie and her husband Scott. It was a fun weekend! Here are some pictures of the whole gang.

6. Skiing! I love skiing! And luckily now Dennis does too! This past winter the snow was really terrible in Utah, so we only skiied at Mt. Baker, but the winter before we had some awesome powder days at Sundance - and Dennis can ski black diamonds now!

The boys jumping at Mt. Baker

 Bishops Bowl - awesome powder day!

Brittney, Dennis and I skiing at sunny Sundance