Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

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

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!


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.


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!


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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Colorado Marathon Race recap

Running my first marathon with my husband was an amazing experience, it was harder than I imagined but also one of the most perfect days of my life. I spent the first two thirds of the race feeling so grateful to be running a marathon. I was supposed to run a marathon on my 30th birthday back in September but was sidelined by an injury and was devastated so just getting to the start line was a victory for me this time around. To be honest I am disappointed in my time but I am trying to look on the bright side that it is a starting point that I can try to improve on in the future.

The day before was a little frantic and left us running around like chickens with our heads cut off, lesson learned there is that we need to plan the day before big races. I did find time for some proper fueling:

Thanks Cory for taking such a flattering picture of me, maybe you shouldn’t take pictures while driving.

The race is held in Fort Collins about an hour north of Denver and since we had to pick up our race packets the day before we spent the night at my brother’s house. The expo was pretty small but I was excited to get my number and shirt.

After laying out all my gear, I went to bed early in anticipation of our 3:30 am wake up call. It was cold and dark but at least we had luxury tour buses.

Two years ago my brother ran this race and he had to ride up the canyon in a school bus. It was colder than I thought it would be but we were happy that there wouldn’t be a large temperature swing between the start and finish.

We arrived at the start when it was still dark and cold, there were plenty of bathrooms but it would have been a good idea for us to have something to sit on. It was too cold to sit on the ground so we stood around getting stiff.

Quickly we were on our way running out of the canyon following the Poudre River.

For over the first half of the run I was so happy and grateful to be running and wasn’t wishing the miles away.

About mile twenty my IT bands started to really hurt and I knew I just needed to put my head down and tough out the last six miles.

I was so happy to turn onto the road that took us into downtown and to the finish

Official time was 4:59:13, lots of room for improvement but I did it and I am so grateful that my legs took me the full distance.

I am also very grateful to Cory who was there with me every step of the way. He could have an this race much faster but stuck with me and was my personal photographer. Thanks babe!

Life got in the way……

I have been terribly absent from the blogging world. Life got crazy with work and training so something had to give. I have been training and racing I just haven’t been able to stay up on blogging. Things really haven’t calmed down BUT I have missed reading everyone’s blogs so I have started to check in quickly but still haven’t had time to comment on yours.

Also I have missed writing my own blog, the point of starting this blog was to chronicle my training and racing so I could look back later and remember all the things I felt during this time. During the time I have been silent I have raced in my first marathon and Olympic triathlon plus put in some of my biggest training sessions I have ever done. I will be back to write race repots because I want to remember the races I did in May and June as well as recap some of the training for Pacific crest that is in a week and a half (yikes!) time to make blogging a priority again!

Cory and I after finishing the Colorado Marathon

Happy swim, bike, running everyone!

Marathon Monday

I got up early this morning to put in 12 miles on the treadmill and all I could think about was Boston. It was early so I knew that no one had started running yet but I was thinking of all the people nervous and excited ready to start the race they had worked so hard for. After getting to work I stocked the pos on-line. I was really routing for Kara and Ryan Hall, and was blown away by the times set and the records broken. What an amazing day to be a runner.

Today starts my two week taper for my first marathon. I get a little taper crazy so please forgive me for the next two weeks. I really hate tapering, I have put in the hard work I want the reward of the race NOW!

Any tips on marathon tapering?

Have you ever tired 5 hour energy before running?
I have drank before riding my bike and have found that it really does give me energy but I am worried about taking it before running because it tastes SO bad.

Changing Plans

Because my gym changed it’s class schedule I had to change my training plan, it’s not perfect but I think it’s the best given the options open to me. In general my plan will be as follows, specific lengths will change based on what I am racing that month.

Monday: Rest and yoga

Tuesday: AM: swim(this will be open water swimming in the summer). PM: RMTC track practice

Wednesday:brick (spin class straight to treadmill run) PM: strength training

Thursday:AM: ride outside or on trainer PM: masters swim

Friday: 6 mile tempo run with an easy 1600 m easy swim (this can be open water in the summer)

Saturday: long ride


Sunday: long run

I am trying masters swimming for the first time, I am nervous that I will be the slowest one there and it will kill me but I am looking forward to the challenge.

The other change that I found out today is that my boss is leaving our department and I will now have a new supervisor. I like my new supervisor but it will be a big change for me day to day. Have said lately how much I love my job?
I know it’s a broken record, but there really isn’t anything better than living your dream.

What is your dream job?

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