Marathons and Pouring Rain Don't Mix

Sorry for the darkness, Tom was too grumpy to go over to the light.

We may look happy, but we just didn't quite understand what we were getting ourselves into. Mandi is to my right, she was my training partner throughout the whole process. Renee is to my left and she didn't train for the race but still rocked it.

Race Report
Finish Time 3:38:21

So the race begins at 6:45 am. The start is 26.2 miles from the finish (crazy huh?) so we have to ride a bus to the start line. We decided to ride the earliest buses in order to get entered into a drawing. And it paid off, Tom won 100 bucks! But what that really means is that we have to get on the bus at 4 am and sit at the starting line in the wet, wet rain for 2 hours. We get to the start and it is overcast but not rainy. It is actually pretty warm and I am very optimistic for perfect weather. So much for that optimism - it started to rain about an hour before the start and it didn't stop until well after the end of the race.

I wasn't prepared for wet or cold weather. I wore shorts and a tank. My friend gave me a long sleeve shirt to run in and I wore a garbage bag until about mile 6. My plan for the race was to stay with the 3:40 pace group for the first half and then run my own second half. The weather changed my plans. My goal changed to just staying in contact with the 3:40 pace guy.

Mandi and I ran the first 6 miles well ahead of pace and ahead of the pace guy. He caught us on the Veyo hill. Mandi and I continued to run right with the pace guy until about mile 11. We were still ahead of pace, but slowing. I picked up the pace a bit and tried to just keep the pace guy in my sights.

Hallelujah for Garmin GPS! I had an eye on my pace the entire 26.2 miles. I also printed a pace band specific to the St. George Marathon that weighted each mile based on difficulty. Find it here. Some miles are fast, some are slow but in the end it all averages out. I loved that band and monitored my progress with that.

the rain continued to fall the whole race. My muscles never warmed up. My mind told me to quit a few times. But I promptly told it to shut up and convinced myself I could make it.

The hardest sections were when the headwind picked up and I couldn't make contact with the pace group and the last 4 miles. I was hurting , I was cold and I wanted to be done. It helped to get into St. George where crowds started cheering me on. That energized me to the final stretch where my dad's cheers really carried me in.

Tom waited with open arms for me at the finish line. I burst into tears when I reached him. Running a marathon can be an emotional thing. Tom rocked the course in 3:07. Stay tuned for his full report.

Best things of the race:

• Qualifying for Boston!
• Doing it with Tom (not that we ran or trained together, but just were there for each other)
• Hearing my dad at the last quarter mile
• Knowing my in-laws cheered me on even if I didn't hear them (it's okay because Tom heard them and not my parents)
• Training with Mandi
• Hanging out at the starting line with friends like Renee
  

Worst things of the race:

• Pouring rain
• Cold muscles
• Being too cold to enjoy the post-race refreshments
• Pouring rain
• Quick pass massages (for getting the early bus) that were actually slower
• Pouring rain
• Being super sick to my stomach for 12 hours post-race, and I mean super sick, cramps worse than child birth.
• Getting up at 3:15 in the a.m.
  

But all in all a great experience. We are excited to go to Boston in April. Woohoo!! Click here for glamorous pictures of the race and I mean glamorous. Select St. George Marathon 2008. Last name: Dansie and Tom's number was 239 and mine 4536. And click here for full results.

I Need Music Advice

I have 8 downloads left on emusic and I need your help. Some may say I am not the most musical savvy person out there, but I do like music. I love folk, contemporary and old school. But I also kind of need some fun songs I could use for teaching spin.

I already downloaded tracks from:

• The Decemberists
• The Be Good Tanyas
• Lucinda Williams
• Erin Bode
• Norfolk and Western
• Vampire Weekend
• Ra Ra Riot
  

So, I give you all a job. Give me some other good ideas of music to download from emusic.

Thanks.

Pioneer Woman Did it Again!

The Pioneer Woman stole my heart, again. This time she did it with a peach crisp with maple cream sauce.

I saw this recipe last year sometime and tucked it away to use this year. I almost forgot. I wish I would have remembered earlier when I had tons of peaches. but oh well. I had a few local peaches in my fridge but I did have to supplement with store bought peaches.

Pioneer Woman's Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

1 c flour (next time I will use half oats)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
1/2 c butter

5-6 c fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (I think you could use canned as well and I used a bit more and put it in a 9 x 13)
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
2 T maple syrup (I used fake stuff, but real would be better)

Combine first 6 ingredients of topping. Cut in butter until course crumbs. Combine peaches with syrup and juice and zest. Layer in baking dish. Top with topping. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15-20 more minutes.

Sauce

1 1/2 c heavy cream
5 T maple syrup
3 T corn syrup

Cook in small saucepan over medium heat until thick and creamy, about 15 minutes. Chill and serve over crisp.

I Thought I would need more sauce because it sounded so good, so one and a halved it, but I didn't need all the extra.



I think it is the sauce that makes this so delish. The sauce could be used for many things. And I plan on using it for many things. Because to be honest, when our peaches are in peak season, it is a little hot to be eating this dessert.

So what else could this sauce be used for?

1st Birthday, 1st Steps and 1st Chocolate Cake

James turned one at the end of August. I can't believe how fast time is flying by.

He took his first steps right around 13 months. He still is crawling more than walking, but he is doing it more and more.
And to celebrate the big 1, I made the most delicious chocolate cake ever!
Not that James could tell the difference. But seriously, it was divine.

Of course the recipe came from Bon Appetit. I made a few small changes, on purpose and by accident. All I can say about this cake is "divine."

I used kosher salt instead of fleur de sel. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of bitter sweet chocolate. I omitted the coffee powder and put in some vanilla and almond extract. I forgot to salt every layer. But this cake is so good.

Here's the picture from Bon Appetit because it looks even better.

Reward if Found

REWARD!

On Monday, September 22 the above pictured bike was stolen

$15 reward, no questions asked, for its safe return.

So last week, Porter's bike got stolen from the school. Pretty sad that someone would stoop so low as to steal a kid's bike. Anyway, I was thinking of posting a sign of my cute Porter on his bike to see if we could get it back. Luckily, it was just a $3 D.I. bike, but I still need to replace it.

Olympic Distance Triathlon, Take 2

So I competed in my second olympic distance tri last week. I hadn't done much tri specific training for it since most of my energy was being focused on the marathon, but I felt prepared.

A week and half before the race, I started swimming in the lake again with friends. I didn't waste too much energy trying to improve because I couldn't get any worse, so maybe I could get a little better. I was able to borrow a friend's tri long-john wetsuit. I credit it for all of my improvement in the swim.

I wasn't too nervous for the race because I wasn't super prepared. I just wanted to have fun and maybe not be the last out of the water and maybe improve my time a bit from the last one.

All three expectations were met and actually far exceeded.

Swim - 1500 m - 40:20
There were actually 5 women behind me in the swim. I remind you, all credit goes to the wet suit. The swim course kind of sucked, though. It was two 750 m loops. And you had to get out of the water and run around a pole between loops. And there was plenty of opportunity for the sprint tri folks to swim right over you like you aren't even there. I just kept saying to myself as they swam over me, "at least I am doing the olympic distance."

I was super happy with my swim time. 12 minutes faster than the last one, but I think this course was shorter.

T1 - 0:53
I love that this transition was under 1 minute, even with the full wet suit which is harder to get off.

Bike - 25 miles - 1:18:20
I felt good on the bike and thought I did okay. I was slower than the last one, but the course was different. I wasn't as fast compared to the leaders as the last one, but I still felt good. I think this tri brought a few tougher competitors. I was less than 5 minutes slower on the bike than the girl who won the Summer Games Tri where I was 7 minutes slower than her. She is from Cedar so I get to see her at a lot of races, so I think she is a good gauge.

T2 - 0:47
Again, happy with the transition, although I would like to get this one closer to 30 seconds. I stopped for a drink, when I should have been hydrating on the bike.

Run - 6.2 miles - 52:56
They changed the run course as well and not for the better. It was way tough! It was in the desert instead of on the road. It included deep sand, steep rocky climbs, loose rocks, and two loops of it all. I was slower than Summer Games, although I was in much better running shape. But I just blame it all the course. Luckily, my training bud was right in front of me getting off the bike so she could be my rabbit on the run. I just tried to stay in close contact with her. But I will admit I walked up the steepest hill both times (but I didn't see anyone running up it) and I even walked up the less steep hill on the second loop (many ran, but not all and I was dying).

Total Time - 2:53:18
All in all, I am happy with this race. I was closer to the winner than Summer Games and it was great fun! Now I just need to get my own wet suit and next year, I may focus a little more on the tris.

click here for full results. And click here for photos of the race. I was number 452.

Reducing my Carbon Footprint, Part III

My favorite way to reduce my carbon footprint also reduces the amount of money I spend on gasoline and my waist size.

Ride Instead of Drive

All summer and even now, in the fall, we try to ride our bikes everywhere in town. Porter is old enough and a good enough biker to ride his bike the few miles it takes to get anywhere in Hurricane and I have a trailer to carry the other two.

My parent laughed at me at the beginning of the summer when I told them I planned to ride everywhere. But we did pretty well.

In the summer, we rode to the gym at 9. Some days we would hit the library for storytime on the way home or the store for some groceries. Later in the day we would ride to Snowcaps for a treat or to violin lessons for Porter. It would get pretty hot, but Snowcaps are a great cool treat and well worth the hot ride.

Now that school has started, we still ride. I take Porter and a bunch of neighborhood kids to school in the morning, then hit the gym with the two little ones. Then, we go to the library twice a week and maybe hit the store. We go out again in the afternoon to pick up Porter and the others. We ride to violin lessons. But I do have to admit, we usually end up driving to dance lessons. I ride by myself to meet a friend for runs in the mornings. We ride to pick up or drop a movie at the Red Box.

I love doing this with the kids. We have saved so much gas. Porter has become a great cyclist. James loves to ride in the trailer. I enjoy the added bonus workouts. (They are short, but the ride home is up quite a steep hill with a bunch of extra weight.) I am teaching my kids the value of riding instead of driving. And I am doing a little bit to save the environment.