I got up this morning at 6:45 in order to go running.  It's now 7:20, and here I sit.  Not even in my running clothes yet.  And then I read this article and I'm feeling like now I'm ready to go!  My favorite quote from the article:

Don’t be afraid of running. It does love you — even when you hate it. It loves you so much it doesn’t coddle you or lie to you. If you don’t train, you suffer. And sometimes you suffer even if you’ve done everything you can to prepare. Running will remind you of your life most days — unexpected headwinds, devastating injuries and disappointing performances.... That hill, that headwind, that unexpected detour — they’re all just opportunities to see something different in ourselves, in others and in the world around us.

Happy National Running Day! http://www.runningday.org

Pull-ups, revisited

So almost exactly 2 years ago I wrote this and this.  I kind of gave up on ever being able to do pull-ups because they were just too hard.  A couple of months ago, I ran a 5k with my sister-in-law and then went to a health fair right after we finished.  At the health fair they had people doing pull-ups for a free day pass to the local rec center.  On a white board they had written "assisted" and "unassisted" and then names underneath each with the amount of pull-ups that person could do.  I was interested to see what an "assisted" pull-up was so I hung around to watch.  I was amazed as I watched one of the staff running the booth attach an exercise band to the pull-up bar, hook one of her feet into it and then commence doing pull-ups!  It opened up a whole new world for me!  I didn't know why I hadn't thought of it!  I have a pull-up bar and I have an exercise band...  So now, it's just taken me this long to give it a try.  I started doing pull-ups today.  I can do 5 assisted pull-ups (with a little help from a chair, which is another technique I saw online).  I'm excited to watch my progress!  Hopefully soon, I can do a few unassisted pull-ups as well!

I'm not as young as I used to be...

and my body sure let's me know it sometimes!  Or I'm just really out of shape...  It's weird that workouts that I used to just bounce back from now take me days to recuperate from.  Also, sitting on the floor for anything longer than ten minutes is EXTREMELY uncomfortable these days!  I lifted weights on Monday and my legs are still REALLY sore.  It's the kind of sore where you try to sit down and it hurts so bad that you just kind of fall into your chair so you don't have to use your muscles.  We didn't even do anything too intense.  It sounds like I'm complaining and I guess I am a little bit, but when it comes down to it I'm glad that I'm sore because that means that I got a good workout!  Hopefully tomorrow they start to feel better.  :)

Maybe now...

Summer vacation is almost here.  2 more days.  I am SO ready for it!  I've been putting in 45 to 50 hour weeks since September and I am ready to have "nothing" to do.  Going into this school year, I didn't think that an added 5 to 10 hours a week was going to feel much different than my already almost 40 hours a week.  Boy, was I wrong!  I felt tired most of the time, didn't feel like I had energy to exercise, and definitely didn't want to clean my house or cook!  We've been living off of pre-made frozen food and in a filthy house for the last 7 months.  I need time to clean my house, spend time with my nieces and nephews, read books, exercise, cook, and get some projects done!  Bring it on summertime!  I'm more than ready for you!

Remember that goal?

So I set a goal back in April that I was going to run 1,040 miles in 1 year.  Well, I did the math and if I want to reach that goal I have to run a little bit over 52 miles a week and that is NOT going to happen.  So I'm readjusting my goal to a more manageable one: 300 more miles from now until April 18, 2012 for a total of 513 miles total in a year.  There's always another year to try to reach a higher goal!

2 Months Later...

So I've been married for 2 months.  I'm really liking being married.  Sometimes it hits me that I'm married and I'll turn to John and surprisedly say, "You're my husband!"  It's so fun.  Anyway, Here are some pictures from the big day.  It was such a perfect day, the weather was beautiful, everything went smoothly, and we were surrounded by people we love!

(My pictures were taken by Dawnee Godfrey.  They turned out so, so good!)

Six or seven years ago, there was this guy who was interested in my oldest sister.  During this time, I was taking a math class that I was struggling with.  As a favor, my sister asked said guy if he would tutor me in said math class.   He said he would.  The semester came and went and I thanked my tutor for all of his help and we went our separate ways.  My sister and my tutor also went their separate ways, having found that they weren't all that interested.  Well, about a year ago, my tutor found and friended my sister on Facebook which was no small feat because her Facebook name in no way, shape, or form resembles her actual or maiden name.  After some thought my sister thought she would reunite my tutor and me.  After asking both of us if we were interested in going on a date and after working out some miscommunications (where my tutor thought that I wasn't interested in going out with him), we finally got a sort-of blind date set up.  To be honest, neither one of us had very high expectations that we (as a couple) were going to have much potential.  So I think it was somewhat of a shock, at least for me, when at the close of our first date I was thinking that I really kinda liked this former math tutor of mine.  And he obviously really kinda liked me because he asked me out on a few more dates after the first.  And so here we are almost a year later!

John + Sara October 22, 2011

The News is Out...

For those of you who haven't heard, or for those of you who have been hearing rumors.... I'm engaged!  (I don't know that many people read this blog but you who do read it can pass the news along if you'd like to.)

Mountain West Burrito

There's this new little restaurant/cafe called Mountain West Burrito.  It's on the corner of State Street and 1800 N in Provo, just as you come in to Provo from Orem on the big Provo/Orem State Street hill.  It shares a building with the Minute Man gas station.  The food is really good and healthy, too!  If you need some more reviews, click HERE. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed!

GPS Stats and New beginnings

I ran AND survived the marathon!  I keep looking back at this morning and thinking, "I ran 26.2 miles.  That is CRAZY!"  The weather was so nice.  It was cloudy and cool and we started out the run feeling pretty good. I stopped feeling good at mile 16 and I was really hurting by mile 21.  For the last 4 or 5 miles Katie and I had to keep telling each other that we were just shooting for the next mile.  We could only take it a mile at a time toward the end of the marathon so that we didn't get completely overwhelmed!  At one point during the marathon, it hit me that running a marathon is completely ridiculous and I turned to Katie and said, "I'm running 26.2 miles.  What the HELL am I doing?" (Yes, the curse words were coming aplenty, especially toward the end). I'm proud of us for making up our minds and then seeing it all the way through!  Our family came to watch us cross the finish line and I love that our family supports us in some of these crazy running schemes that we (I) come up with!

Awhile ago, I decided that once I was done with the marathon, I would document my GPS stats and then reset my GPS unit and set a new goal.  So here they are.  In the almost (just 2 months shy) 3 years that I've had my GPS I have run a total of 1,313 miles with it (I've actually run a little bit more because I did some runs on the treadmill or without the GPS because it was dead or for whatever other reason). It took me 222 hours 40 minutes and 43 seconds to run stated mileage.  And it stopped counting my calories because I've burned too many but, I burn an average of about 115 calories per mile so that means I've burned about 150,995 calories total. Crazy.  So, my new goal?  I want continue to run about 20 miles per week.  So from April 18, 2011 to April 18, 2012 I want to have run at least 1,040 miles.  I Also want to pick up barefoot running so for the next couple of months I'm going to be working on transitioning into Vibram FiveFingers.  I tried it last summer but started into it way too fast and got injured.  So this time around, I'm going to build up so, so slowly.  I'm excited to see what this year's running will bring!

For the first time in about 3 1/2 months, I went on a sugar kick tonight. I think I can blame it on the 20 miler that we did yesterday. I just hope I'm not too hyped up to sleep!

Tired. So, so tired!

I'm tired. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of work. I'm tired of this cold weather. Spring break is coming up and with it, THE marathon. I'm getting a little bit nervous. What if I can't make it 26.2 miles? What sane person would even put herself through something like that? I think crossing that finish line will be so bittersweet. I will be so proud of Katie and I for finishing a marathon and I will be SO happy to be able to take a break from running. After crossing that finish line I just may sleep for 12 or 16 hours. I think I'm just THAT tired. I was thinking about it today. This week's mileage will total 49 miles. That is an INSANE amount of energy expended! Let's say that I average 10 minutes per mile. That's 490 minutes or 8 and a little bit hours of running. Or 5,032 calories burned. That's about 2 pounds of fat. JUST FROM RUNNING! That's CRAZY! It's been a great, crazy experience!

Warming up.

I'm so glad that the weather is finally starting to warm up a little! I absolutely, positively am NOT a fan of winter AT ALL! Although the weather is making me one happy camper, that's not the kind of warming up I was alluding to. The kind of warming up I am referring to is what your body does at the beginning of your workout. So, the better shape you're in, the easier it is to warm up when you're running. You get all warmed up with in the first mile or so and then you start feeling really good, right? WRONG! I've read that the better shape you're in, the LONGER it takes to warm up. It doesn't make any sense to me at all but I know that it's true because it happens to me every time I go for a run. You'd think my short run days would be the easier runs and sometimes they are. But more often than not, I get 3, 4, 5 miles into a run and I'm still thinking, "This. Is. Not. Worth it! It's so hard!" And then I hit mile 6 and start thinking that running is a piece of cake and I don't know what I was griping about before. It's the weirdest thing.

The LUV Run

I thought this might be cool to do!

Sugar free (or nearly, at least)

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to cut sugar from my diet. Sugar adds a lot of empty calories so I figured I'd try to eat more nature made sweets. Like clementines. And applesauce (with out added sugar of course). And almonds (they have just a hint of sweetness). Almonds and applesauce are actually really good together! Who'd have thought? My all time favorite so far, though, are freeze dried asian pears. They are SO good and sweet! I love non-freeze dried, fully hydrated asian pears, too. I haven't cut refined sugar completely out of my diet and I blame that on running. As crazy as this sounds, during my long runs, I eat candy at the half way point (or sooner depending on how long of a run it is) because my body can use that sugar as a quick source of fuel. I also drink chocolate milk after my runs because apparently it has been scientifically proven to be one of the best recovery drinks for women. I'm definitely not complaining about that one! :)