Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

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Archives for June 2011

June 30, 2011

Resolution six month check in

It’s back to reality (work) for me today and it was a crazy eleven hour day. I have still not worked out since my race on Saturday, I hope to get some strength training in tonight and a run in tomorrow morning before heading to a twelve hour day at work tomorrow, good thing I like my job!

I decided that since since it’s almost the end of June I should revisit the resolutions/goals I set back in January to see how I am doing and get motivated to reach all of them in the next six months.

2011 resolutions:

1. Prepare more healthy meals (Cory is our main cook, I would like to start cooking about twice a week) I consider this one done =) I have been cooking more and have learned to prepare a few healthy vegetarian dishes, win!

2. Work on my core, I know my core is weaker than it should be so I plan on doing plank every night in January and will move on from there Crap, not at all, need to get on this one, tonight!

3. I would like to PR in a 5k, 5M, 10k, half marathon and marathon. This should be easy given that last year was my first year racing and I only ran one (maybe 2) of each race and I have never ran a marathon, guaranteed PR =) PRed in the 10M, half marathon and full, I haven’t ran a 5k, 5M this year and my 10k was in an Olympic tri, no PR there.

4. Work on sticking to my training plan. I know there are times I won’t be able to stick to it because of outside influences, but when I just don’t feel like it, suck it up! So far so ok, still work to be done on this one

5. Take off a few pounds (10-15) I am not technically “over weight” but I know that being lighter will be easier on my joints. taken off about 5 so far.

6. Be better about blogging (i.e. more consistent, better pictures, etc.) lots of work to be done here

7. Run 1,000+ miles about 605 miles so far, as long as I don’t get an injury I should make it =)

Overall I am happy with my progress. The first 6 months of this year have been good and have included my first marathon and half ironman. Now my focus is shifting a bit to maintenance of the swim/bike distance, speed and ramping up my running miles for my ultra marathon in August.

How are your resolutions/goals going?

Posted by bethcurtis 1 Comment
Filed Under: goals

June 28, 2011

Pacific Crest Half Ironman Race Report

Pacific Crest was the best supported race I have ever participated in. The volunteers were great and the course was the most beautiful I have ever seen. I had the best time, I would do it again this weekend if I could. Not everything went perfect but that’s to be expected, now I can focus on getting faster.

Sunriver really welcomes Pac Crest athletes. On Friday Cory and I headed down to athletes village to pick up our race packets.

Before heading up to T1 to drop off our bikes and swim in Wickiup reservoir. The water was a bit chilly but not to cold.

This race required a lot of prep because the bike is a point to point course so there are two transition zones. Also to cut down on traffic you have to take your bike to T1 the day before.

We then headed down to T2 to claim our transition spot. We waited until Saturday morning to set up the rest of our stuff.

With all the set up done we headed back to my parents house to pack the rest of our stuff in bags and eat a delicious carb heavy dinner compliments of my mom.

Saturday morning wake up call was fairly late compared to other races but we were up at 5 am drinking coffee, eating steel cut oats and hydrating. I packed a cliff bar to eat closer to start time. I ended up not eating it and wished that I had.

Mom and dad drove us to T2 so we could set out our running shoes, race belts, etc. before jumping on a nice tour bus to head up to Wickiup. About 25 minutes into the ride another participant came to the front of the bus to let the driver know that we were going the wrong way! I am so glad someone was paying attention, we finally got the driver headed the correct direction but a 40 minute bus ride took over an hour. Thank god there was a bathroom on the bus! We got to T1 later than I would have liked but I still had plenty of time to finish setting up my bike getting my wetsuit on and going for a very short warm up swim.

My wave started 1 minute after the elite athletes. I was grouped with all men and women 30-35, I was a little intimidated to start with the men so immediately after the elite athletes started I moved to the back inside of my group. They were serious about our 9:01 start time and I barely had time to get my face wet to make sure my goggles were still sealed before the horn sounded and we were off. I made sure to start off slow and steady, I am so glad that I did because I didn’t have any breathing problems and felt great. It was a little hard to spot for the first two sections because we were looking into the sun but after the second turn it was easier. I was constantly surrounded by lots of people and it was sometimes hard to keep a smooth rhythm. I never drafted off anyone, I think that is something I want to work on. I came out of the water at 46:34, slower than I would have liked and HUNGRY, I really should have eaten again before the race started. T1 was also slow, you have to bag up all your stuff so they can transport it back to Sunriver for you and I also took the time to put sunscreen on before leaving. T1 time was 3:44.

The bike portion is very difficult but beautiful. I would like to say that I enjoyed the scenery but I was in fairly intense pain from mile 4 to mile 58. My left knee had stabbing pain in it was well as a burning sensation in my IT band. I have never had pain like that on the bike, I have no idea why it happened, I thought about quitting many times and ended riding way slower than I know I could have. We also hit a huge head wind on the last 15 miles. I could barley walk my bike into transition my knee was hurting so bad. Bike time was 4:04:46, I had almost decided that I was going to quit at T2 and just move on knowing it wasn’t my day. I racked my bike and slowly put on my running shoes and downed 4 advil. At this point I decided I would at least get to my parents who were waiting for me at about mile 2.5 of the run, otherwise I don’t know how I would have let them know to come get me. T2 was 5:27 (yikes, you can tell I wasn’t thinking abut racing at this point).

I took off on the run and it hurt and my mood was super low. But with every step I took it hurt a little less, I don’t know if it was the advil or just different motion but by mile 1 I didn’t have any more pain and was feeling great. By the time I got to my parents at mile 2.5 I was sure that I could finish. I think this half marathon was my best ever, it may be the slowest one I have ever ran but I had the best time. I walked at every aid station and took fluids but ran the rest of the way. I talked to the other competitors and thanked every volunteer, in my head I was having party and everyone was invited. Around mile 9 I started getting the chills, I definitely wasn’t cold I think my body was just having a hard time regulating it’s temperature. Run time was 2:30, yes it was slow but I am happy with that time.

We saw my parents at mile 6 and then again at mile 13. When I turned the corner to run down the finish shoot I was emotional and overcome that I was actually finishing. I was proud and happy and floating on a runners high. Over all time was 7:30:33.

Thoughts after completing my first half ironman are that I loved it and can’t wait to do it again in September. I am going to spend more time in the saddle and work on speed, my goal is to finish in less than 7 hours next time.


Posted by bethcurtis 3 Comments
Filed Under: Race report

June 26, 2011

We did it!

72.3 miles (the bike course was 58 miles long) and five years of marriage.

Full race report later now we need to eat, rest and recover =)

Posted by bethcurtis 1 Comment
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June 24, 2011

Anniversaries

I have a few anniversaries today but I will start with the most important one.

Exactly five years ago today I married my best friend, love of my life and partner in crime.




We had a beautiful day and a blessed life since June 24, 2006. I love you Cory, I can’t wait to see what the next five years bring.

Other anniversaries today have to do with my blog, it turn one year old today! I think I posted once a month or less at first but mainly I was enjoying reading other people’s blogs. Completely unintentionally this is also my 100th post, I think that it means that today will be an extra lucky day. I hope that luck spills over to tomorrow and I have some “race day Magic” as Beth would say.

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June 24, 2011

How Anal Can I Be

I am pretty anal about race prep and the fact that I have the week off before this race makes it very easy to be even more anal about it. I even planned the day before the race out hour by hour. I didn’t do this for my marathon in May and ended up very stressed and running around the night before. I don’t want to do that again!

I love to make lists and lay things out in piles. Here are my piles for race day including piles for pre race, t1, t2, special needs and post race

I also planned out and bagged my nutrition for the day.

This is what I did for most of today, planned and prepped, tomorrow is also full of pre race activities. We did sneak in a 3 mile run with my mom to preview the 5k course and a two mile walk to the store. We saw the welcome sign for athletes and had to get a picture.

But the best part of the day was buying this super cute new tumbler with the best almond iced coffee ever!

Tonight will be filled with relaxation and going over plans for Saturday

How anal are you when prepping for races?


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June 23, 2011

Bend day trippin

Yesterday was spent running some errands to Bend, walking the dogs, eating lots and relaxing. This is the best way to prep for a big race. While in Bend we stopped for lunch at McMenamins, this chain of restaurants is my favorite and I love visiting them any time I am in the north west.

We sat outside with perfect weather

I started off with the Bees Knees cocktail, it was SO good and SO strong!

Cory had a BBQ pizza and a hard cider

I had white cheddar Mac n’ cheese, the food was amazing as usual.

Other stops in Bend included a running store so mom could buy new running shoes. I had fun analyzing mom’s gait and stride and basically acting like a know-it-all. Next we headed to Trader Joes, the grocery store and a nursey. Overall it was a fun trip. Later we took all the dogs for a quick walk and saw some of the preparations for this weekends races.

Bailey checking out the chalk markings.

Our family of five by the 2 mile sign for the half ironman

We ended up walking to park where Gus showed off his tether ball skills, it was one of the cutest things I have seen.

Although Daisy thought SHE was cuter!

Pacific Crest has events start on Friday with some fun kids events. The longer distances run on Saturday with a long course tri and du, half marathon and full marathon. The full marathon is a two loop course, in my opinion that would be the worst, props to anyone who has the mental toughness to complete that. On Sunday there is an olympic tri and du, 10k and 5k races. Mom will compete in the 5k this year. I am impressed with

Posted by bethcurtis 3 Comments
Filed Under: vacation

June 22, 2011

Pacific Crest Run Course Preview

Yesterday Cory and I took off early to ride about 20 miles on our bikes. We went nice and easy with lots of stopping. Something on our must do list was a preview the run portion of pacific crest. Here I am consulting the map to make sure we are going the correct way.

The course is advertised as flat, the first half is NOT flat, the hills aren’t crazy but it’s constant rolling hills. It is one of the most beautiful courses I have ever seen.

We also headed to the sunriver mall to do some shopping, it made me ridiculously happy to see that athletes village going up.

We also took a picture where we think the finish will be just like we did in December.

Pigeon toed much???

Looks a little different now, just three more days!


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Filed Under: half ironman

June 21, 2011

Preping for Pacific Crest

For us getting ready for our first half ironman is a big deal that started with lots of planning and packing

Driving from Colorado to Oregon for 22 hours straight (bleh). And hanging out with my really awesome parents and their cute golden-doodles.

On Sunday we road fifty miles on some of the roads we will race on but didn’t make it to lake Wickiup (where the swim is held) because we didn’t want to ride on dirt roads. Today started off with a fun and easy trail run. One of my parent’s dogs Zoey joined us for the run, she is a super cute mupet dog!

Later we went to the home owners association so we could get passes to swim for free. We will put those to good use tomorrow.

Cory and I in front of the original Sunriver sign.

This afternoon we drove out to Wickiup reservoir to check out the lake, it was advertised that there would be buoys in the lake so that we could swim but there weren’t any to be seen. Our dogs had a good time swimming

We then drove back along the bike course to see what we were in for. It was very intimidating to drive the entire way, I hope I have it in me! It is an incredibly beautiful course.


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June 20, 2011

Last Long Ride beofre Pac Crest

We made it to Sunnriver Oregon Saturday evening after driving foe 22
hours straight. We visit Sunriver a lot mainly because my parents own a
home here and because it is a really beautiful/fun place to stay. We stayed here over new years and had a great time but it’s the most fun in the summer.

We are in full taper now and had our last long ride yesterday. We mapped out a route on mapmyride.com and were excited that we were going to ride up to Wickiup reservoir where the swim will be for Pacific Crest. The problem with that plan is one of the main roads we were supposed to ride was a dirt road. We continued on assuming we would just turn around after 25 miles and head back. The ride was beautiful with lots of pine trees and views of the three sisters mountains and Mt. Bachelor. When we were about to turn around we glimpsed a lake in the distance, unfortunately it wasn’t Wickiup but it was still beautiful and there were bathrooms so it was a great pit stop/turn around point.

The weather was perfect with highs in the 60s and sunny. We spent the rest of the day celebrating father’s day with my dad. Lots of food and family time, it was a perfect day!


Posted by bethcurtis 1 Comment
Filed Under: long ride, vacation

June 18, 2011

Let the journey begin

We are all packed up and ready to drive from denver to bend oregon. In less than 24 hours we will be there and starting our vacation. Catch you on the flip side!

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Posted by bethcurtis 2 Comments
Filed Under: Pac crest

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We are having so much fun learning to ski as a fam We are having so much fun learning to ski as a family! Ski traffic I could do without 🫠
✨2022✨ I can honestly say this was the best ✨2022✨ 

I can honestly say this was the best year of my life. So many adventures. I am loving the ages of these kiddos and cherish our time together. 

Very unsure if we can top this in 2023 but we are sure going to try!
We hope you had a merry little Christmas 🎄 We hope you had a merry little Christmas 🎄
Winter hiking is just so magical. Definitely not h Winter hiking is just so magical. Definitely not hating winter this year! ❄️
We kicked off the holiday season by visiting the N We kicked off the holiday season by visiting the North Pole and seeing Santa! 

The kids had so much fun and it was way cuter than I was expecting. They said it was better than Disneyland 😂 @northpolecolorado
Happy Halloween!!! Cannon really wanted to be To Happy Halloween!!! 

Cannon really wanted to be Toad from Super Mario this year so we tagged along. 

Scroll to see 2021-> 2020 -> 2019 -> 2018 -> 2017 -> 2016 🎃
We finished up our tour of France with a couple da We finished up our tour of France with a couple days in Disneyland Paris. I love Disney Parks and visiting Disneyland Paris was a dream come true. We had such an amazing time on our entire trip. 

We are trying to plan our next trip. Where is the best place you have ever been? Do you have a favorite trip? I would love to hear about it. My parents say that Ireland was their favorite so UK tops the list currently but Italy or Costa Rica are on the list too.
In our last couple of days in Paris we took a bus In our last couple of days in Paris we took a bus tour to see the major sights. Our favorites included walking the entire Champs-Élysées and climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We missed out on seeing the Catacombs because we didn’t get tickets early enough. c’est la vie, I guess we will have to go back 😉
A cousin reminded me that I never finished sharing A cousin reminded me that I never finished sharing our trip to France 🫠 better late than never! 

We spent our first day back in Paris with a trip to Versailles. We loved the gardens so much and particularly enjoyed Marie Antoinette’s little farm. The history here is incredible and the opulence overwhelming. We walked over 10 miles on our visit!
Before our long drive back to Paris we did the thr Before our long drive back to Paris we did the three castle hike in Ribeauvillé, France. We climbed up the side of a hill to three castle ruins from the 14th century. It was really fun to explore and a great way to burn some energy before a long drive.
While we were in the Alsace region of France we vi While we were in the Alsace region of France we visited the sweet little village of Riquewihr. Rumor says this was the inspiration for Belle’s village in Disney’s Beaty and the Beast. Can you see it? We could and kept singing Bonjour while walking through town.
After leaving Switzerland we made our way to Colma After leaving Switzerland we made our way to Colmar. This sweet little town in the Alsace region of France near the German border. We loved all the half timber buildings and winding streets. We had some great local food and wine. Colmar was a lovely place to get lost for an afternoon.
It was so exciting to see the Matterhorn in person It was so exciting to see the Matterhorn in person. The peak was never fully clear of clouds while we were there which was a little disappointing but it was still majestic . We took a cog train and gondola up then hiked about five miles down on the five lakes trail. It was a beautiful day and we got to enjoy lunch mid hike. We loved the little (car free) town of Zermatt. We enjoyed some fun Swiss playgrounds in town before dinner. I love Switzerland and it’s mountains!
With the last of our time in Chamonix we took a go With the last of our time in Chamonix we took a gondola and cable car up Le Brévent. We enjoyed hot chocolates and crepes at the top with views of Mont Blanc. 

Next it was time to drive on to Switzerland 🇨🇭
We took a cute cogwheel train up the valley in Cha We took a cute cogwheel train up the valley in Chamonix to Montenvers to visit the Mer de Glace  glacier. At the top you can take a gondola a little way down then MANY stairs to the glacier. It was sad to see the markers of where the glacier was in years past and how much it has shrunk. We did love exploring an ice cave that they dig out each year. We had to try twice to get into the ice caves as the first time it closed right as we arrived due to a storm. It was worth taking the train twice.
After riding to the top of Aiguille du Midi we sto After riding to the top of Aiguille du Midi we stopped half way down for a couple mile hike and a stop at a mountain hut for lunch. This might have been my favorite lunch ever. The views were amazing and the weather was nice. The mountains here are STUNNING!!! #aiguilledumidi #chamonix
We decided to spend a few day in Chamonix to explo We decided to spend a few day in Chamonix to explore the French Alps. The experience we were most excited about was taking the gondola up the 
Aiguille du Midi (highest cable car in France). You switch cable cars half way up so you can enjoy the views. The top outpost is incredible perching on top of the mountain. I’ve never seen anything like it! 

The day wasn’t completely clear but the views were still incredible. #aiguilledumidi #chamonix
After a long drive across the French countryside w After a long drive across the French countryside we landed in Annecy at the foot of the Alps. 

Annecy was such a pretty little town on the bank of a gorgeous turquoise lake.  We got to enjoy lunch at a canal side cafe, wander the streets, enjoy ice cream and playground hop our way through town. 

Very excited about our next few days in mountains of France + Switzerland.
We drove into the heart of France to visit the Go We drove into the heart of France to visit the  Gouffre de Padirac. A large cave system including an underground river. I don’t have many good pictures given the lighting and lack of patience. We loved climbing down into the cave and riding a boat along the river. Probably my favorite cave that I have visited. Kids loved all of it too and are so good about us dragging them along with us across France.
After leaving Mont Saint-Michele we drove to Loire After leaving Mont Saint-Michele we drove to Loire to visit Château de Chenonceau. It was stunning and the gardens were fun to explore. The history here is so rich!
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