Slightly Freakin' Out

It is official and I'm freaking out a little. Come April 17 I will be running my first (and probably last) marathon. I started training the end of October. Yes, I know that seems like forever (you're telling me). I am not a a great runner and I haven't been running for a long time like most people who decide to undertake this crazy adventure. So I found a 25 week training plan from Salt Lake Running Co. and decided to just do it. I choose the SLC Marathon because it allowed me to train over the winter months. Summers are too busy, there are too many things I love to do, to try and take 6 months and train for a marathon. It had to be winter.

So how this all happened. Last year my friend Marne and I competed in our first triathlon. It was awesome and hard and a lot of fun. But as we got passed by 60 year old men during the race we realized we needed to step it up. We made a goal to run a marathon by the time we were 30.

Goal set, now to get the motivation to do it. A few factors contributed. First, my roommate and long time friend, Talena competed in her first marathon last year. She has been running for several years and did an amazing job. Ashley and I went up to Logan to be there on race day. Don't laugh, but I actually cried when I saw Talena come into the finish line. I was really proud of what she had accomplished. She is amazing person and a great example to me (and I'm not just talking about running). I didn't really get the marathon bug right then, but it came a few weeks later.

Last year I dated an amazing man who was great at pushing himself physically, something that I have never excelled at. I love to be adventurous and do new things, but when my body hurts I usually listen and ease up. When that relationship ended I was completely broken up about it. I thought he was the man of my dreams and I couldn't see my future without him. Only 2 months after our relationship ended I found out that he was engaged and getting married in December. This made the situation even more painful. I usually don't share this type of thing on my blog. And I actually deleted any trace of him from my blog after the break up (he was in the tri blog prior to the break up...haha not there anymore). But since he was a huge factor in my decision I decided I should share it. Anyway, as weird as it may sound the marathon training started for him. I needed something to do, I needed something to keep me moving, I needed something to keep me sane after the news of his engagement (although I may have picked the most insane thing to do). I felt like if I could do this, if I could run a marathon, he would come back. I thought that if I could run a marathon he would realize I was capable of pushing myself, that I was capable of doing hard things, and that I would be worth loving and he would come back to me.

I have only told a few people my true reasoning for racing. I don't even think I wanted to admit it at first. It seemed like such a stupid reason. And it is. He is now married and he will never know that I raced. And that is best. As I have gone through this process I have realized that I can do hard things. I can push myself. This race is no longer about Joe, it is about me. I am accomplishing a goal and I have stuck to a training plan (although never perfectly) for what is now 18 weeks (that is 4.5 months...that is a long time in Annie's world). I have run more total miles in these last 18 weeks then I have in the other 25 years of my life. I am learning a lot about my body and my character. I may have started it for Joe, but I will finish it for me.

So just 7 more weeks. I hope that my knees hold up, but mostly I just hope I finish. Wish me luck and I wouldn't mind your prayers too.

New Toy

I almost bought a mountain bike last year, but decided at the last second to wait. A few weeks ago I was telling a friend that I wanted to get a mountain bike this year and surprise he had one he was willing to sell. We made the trade yesterday and I took it out for its first ride (with a new owner) last night.
The Bike: Kona Four. 2 yrs old, full suspension cross country bike with disc brakes. I am not a bike wiz, but I think it is a good starter bike.
The First Ride: Bonneville Shoreline Trail (the section by City Creek Canyon...its close to my house). There was still some snow in spots, but mostly it was melted. The rain the day before made for a few muddy sections that caked my tires (totally awesome). The ride home was fun almost as much fun as being on the trail. Mud was flying off my tires and I was laughing so hard. I wanted to smile, but every time I started to open my mouth a chunk of mud came flying at my face. My bike looked respectfully broken in by the time I got home.
First bike ride for the year and I was surprisingly tired afterward, but I was too happy to care.

Did you say Kanab?

What better thing to do on Valentine's weekend when you don't have a man...Girl's Trip. We drove down to Kanab, UT (yes I said Kanab) to stay with Becky's parents and play down south. The girls went on a trip to Kanab last year, but I was out of town. I was super excited be part of the famous girl's trip. Oh and an added bonus, Kanab is only 80 miles from Bryce National Park which is one of the last 2 NP I need to visit to accomplish my goal.
On Saturday, in true girl's trip fashion we spent in St George shopping. We even had time to watch Valentine's Day the movie and get Spooned (Spoon Me that is).
Sunday was great. When we walked into church the entire ward was watching. Not very often that the ward sees 10 beautiful young ladies walk into their meeting. We may have doubled the ward numbers that day and there were many comments from the pulpit regarding our presence.
After church we went to Bryce to hike before sadly a few of us had to head home to work Monday. The hike was worth the long drive and short weekend. We hiked the Queen's Garden/Navajo loop. The park map said it was the best 3 mile hike in the world...and I believe it. The snow pack was slippery at times, but it was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed the great outdoors.
Just one NP to go. Hopefully Capital Reef in the next few weeks.

Look at the cute little snowshoe man
On our way to Grandmother's house
Rim Trail
Queen's Garden...
...looks like a castle fit for a Queen...
...and her little castle hikers.
It was Valentine's Day what did you expect
I heart Bryce National Park

Navajo Loop Trail
Views of Bryce and a sloth-like snowman
Ashley was putting on her moves...
...but I guess he was a little cold
Cute roommates
One last view before driving home

Rocking in the Ice

You know you are going to have a good weekend when the "camping earrings" go in. I know it sounds a little funny, but yes I have camping earrings. They are tiny hoop earrings that I usually wear when I go camping because 1) they are small and out of the way, 2) I can sleep with them in and 3) my holes grow in really quickly so I try to keep something in there.

Yes, I took a pic of my camping earrings

A few months ago I signed up to take an ice climbing class from the U of U with my friend Tyler. And last weekend was our field trip to Ouray, CO to climb. Tyler had only one goal; to be better than me. So of course this meant my only goal was to be better than him.
We loaded up my Outback Thursday afternoon with gear and headed to Colorado. The instructors told us it would be an 8 hours drive. We did it in 6 hours. So with some extra time on our hands we decided to stop in Montrose (30 minutes outside Ouray) and do some bowling.

Not a single strike, I need to work on this

We got into Ouray, did a final gear check and fitted our crampons for Fridays climbing. Bright and early the next morning (we had to be ready to go no later then 7am) we were out front snow gear on with big smiles. Ok maybe I was the only one with a smile, but really if you are going to be up you might as well make the best of it.
Because our class was so large we divided into 2 group. Our instructors were Matt, Nate, Scott and Bryan. We called ourselves "Team Awesome" or "Team Mr Happy" (depending on who you ask).
We hiked into the Ouray Ice Park. It was beautiful. Towers of ice on every wall lining the gorge. The Ouray Ice Park is where they hold the National Ice Competitions each year, seriously awesome. http://ourayicepark.com/
Once in the park, Nate taught us ice climbing techniques. One technique: "Seat like you poo. Swing like you..." (you get the idea). After some drills to practice we got to do our first climb, but there was one catch, no ice tools. Ice tools are the handy little ice axes you see in an ice climber's hands (they are very useful). Our second climb we learned to swing the ice tool and we climbed using one tool. Second ice climbing technique: Always maintain an "A" frame stance, moving one tool up at a time. Finally after climbing with no ice tools then climbing with one we got to climb with 2 tools. Surprising this seemed really difficult after not using them.
Now that we were experts (well we thought we were) we spent the rest of the day climbing. IT WAS AWESOME. If it wasn't for the fact that they turned on the sprinklers at 4pm I would have stayed longer. We cleaned up our gear, hiked out and one blue cheese bacon burger and a hot springs later we were sound asleep in our little cabin.

Bringing down the ice

I'm so serious...

...see I told you, serious

Saturday also started early, ready to climb at 7:30am. The first half of the day we climbed in the schoolroom area. The climbs there were twice as long as the day before which added a new level of difficulty...fatigue. IT WAS AWESOME.
My favorite moment of the day was climbing vertical ice. I know that sounds funny all the ice was vertical, but this particular climb was 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground. It was much more challenging then I anticipated and my arms were screaming at the end of it which of course I loved (I know I'm a little sick in the head).

Coming down...Mission accomplished

See me way up there. If it was a race, I won.

So HIGH!

Tyler was scary with those things

Tyler wasn't too bad :)

And as quickly as it had begun, it was over and we were back on the road to Salt Lake. Overall, I loved it. I may have found me a new winter sport.
Oh, and yes I was better than Tyler. :)

Chicks with Picks

All smiles