I love volunteering at races. I just went to the Utah Valley Marathon Volunteer meeting and i am excited to help at the Expo/Packet pickup.

I have volunteered officially at 3 races and at 2009 Ogden Marathon I had a coke and pretzel stop at mile 22.5 for my friends. When I passed the stop at Ogden Marathon I was wishing someone was there cheering me on but my friend called me right after and it helped me finish the race.

I have found that at smaller races if you email the race director you can work the packet pickup the day before the race and they will give me free race entry. One race they said not to tell anyone that they are giving me free entry but I volunteered last year and I am volunteering this year and I get to race for free.

One race director is trying to put on 6 half marathons in Utah this year. He has finalized 3 of them and he told me I can get free entry to any of his races if I volunteer at the packet pick up or if there is a race of his I don't want to run I can volunteer race day and run another race for free. So on Memorial day I am running a half Marathon for free. The following Sunday I am running Casper Half Marathon. All my friends are running Casper full but after having a personal worst at Ogden I am not ready for a full yet. The Saturday after Casper I am running Utah Valley Half Marathon. So I am going to run 3 Half Marathons in 12 days.



P.S. If you are interested in running a half on July 3 in SLC or October 30 in Provo and want to run for free for volunteering let me know the race director said any of my friends who want to volunteer can get free entry to his races.

I love this picture

We ran a 3k to raise money for my niece's Elementary which is the Elementary that I went to in 6th grade. The below picture is my niece Grace and nephew Christian fighting over who gets to hold Jason's hand. Tiffanie already had the other hand.

Jason ended up running with Tiffanie. Grace ran with my mom. Christian ran with me we finished around 40 minutes. So fast! He ran the first few blocks and then sit down on the curb then get up and walk and sit down again. I would tell him he needed to get in the stroller if he wanted to sit. So he would get up and go a little farther. He was so cute to ""run" with. The school raised $14,000. I think it is the best fundraiser a school has done.

Christian and Grace slept over and Jason is now Christian's favorite. We went to dinner with them the week after the sleep over and Christian told him mom that he loves Jason.

They are sleeping over again this weekend. When I talked to their dad about the sleepover he said the kids will love it especially Christian. Got to love 3 year old kids.

#2436

I know this is a late blog but I made my goal of becoming a marathon maniac on April 17th. I am maniac # 2436 by running Surf City Marathon, Napa Valley Marathon, Salt Lake Marathon. It felt great to run Ogden Marathon in Maniac gear and have other Maniac’s notice me in the gear. I am going to go on a Marathon break till September when I run Pocatello in September and St. George in October.

Work has been really busy the past few months and the week of Ogden was extra busy at work and home. Then we got kicked out of our hotel that was across the street from the bus pickup and had to drive 20 minutes the morning of the race. The room below us was loud till midnight and I swear I could feel the floor shaking from them or people in the hall. So I went to bed a little after midnight and woke up at 3AM. I think that affected my Ogden marathon or that is my excuse for a personal worse race. I cried at mile 14 or 15 and wanted to be done. There was a van that drove by and asked me if I wanted a ride to the finish. There is no way I would be pick-up off a course unless I was hurt. I was in the bottom 10 runners but that is better than being picked up.

Because of running crappy at Ogden it has made me not want to run Casper Full Marathon that only has 150ish runners. I know I would be in dead last or close to it if I run the full marathon. So I am going for a new goal of running 3 half marathons in 3 weeks and run Ragnar Relay the week after the 3 half marathons.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.

My first race in my Marathon Maniac shirt as Maniac #2436

Me and my mom at mile 8ish of Ogden Marathon

My mom and I at the finish line.

she got picked up at mile 17. She was less than 400 yards from the canyon where you have to be to not be picked up off the course at 3.5 hours. They gave her a medal she ran over a half marathon so she totally deserves it.

Me and 2 other Utah Maniacs Kevin & Franz.

Franz is the most motivation runner along with my 2 friends Angie and Teresa. He waited 2 hours after he finished to cheer me at the finish line. He told me how great and wonderful I did when he was 2 hours faster.

Salt Lake Marathon.

I went out way too fast and was ahead my 15 minutes of my best time I am not sure what mile this picture was at but I think it is before I hit the wall at mile 16.5 I walked the last 10 miles. I finished 5 minutes slower than last year so not to bad.

I am almost a Marathon Maniac!

Wondering what a Marathon Maniac is? It is a group that you can become a member by running 3 marathons in 90 days. When you become maniac you get a maniac number. There is a group called Half Fanatics it is the same idea but for half marathons. I became Half Fanatic last fall my fanatic number is 189.

After running Surf City Marathon February 7 I felt great and decided to try to become a marathon maniac. I signed up and ran Napa Valley Marathon March 7th. The crazy thing is I got a personal best at both races.

I am running Salt Lake City Marathon next Saturday. The night before the races some of the Utah Marathon Maniacs are having a dinner for Marathon Maniacs running the race. They are nice enough to elt me come to the dinner before officially becoming a Marathon.
Maniac. My friend invited me to stay at her house in Salt Lake the night before with 2 other girls and then go to the race together. It is going to be a blast. The best part of Salt Lake Marathon is my work is paying my entry fee. I will run 3 marathons in 10 weeks (69 days).

There are different levels of maniac. i want to try to bet another level this year. I either have to run 1 marathon a mont hfor 6 months or run 8 marathons in 365 days. I am waiting till after Ogden Marathon to sign up for any more full marahtons.

I am aslo running Ragnar Relay this year. My brother in law's work is sponsoring a team and has had a few runners drop out. My sister, coworker/friend/marathon maniac, and I are running the relay on the team. The best part is with the company sponsoring it I don't have to pay for the race.


If you want to become a Marathon Maniac or Half Fanatic or want to run your first marathon/ half marathon let me know I love to talk to other runners.

2010 Races

I have started to add races to my 2010 Calendar I am a member of Half Fanatics I ran 2 marathons in 16 days and 3 in 90 days August - October 2009. They have different levels of Fanatics I am at the first level. My goal is to go up to the next level. My goal is to run 8 Half Marathon's in a year on top of the 2 marathon's I am registered for. Here is their website if you want to check them out www.halffanatics.com they also have a group called Marathon Maniacs for a similar group but they run marathons.

Here are the races I am registered for so far in 2010:

Surf City Marathon - 2/7/10
Riverton City Half Marathon - 3/27/10
Salt Lake City Half Marathon - 4/17/10 (1800Contacts is paying for me to run)
Ogden Marathon - 5/15/10
Utah Valley Half Marathon - 6/12/10

Here is the list of races I want to try to run but haven't registered for yet:

Deseret Morning News 10k - 7/24/10
Provo River Trail Half Marathon - 8/7/10
Hobble Creek Half Marathon - Late August
Top of Utah Half Marathon - Late August
Salt Lake Half Marathon - 9/4/10

Maybe:
Moab Other Half Marathon - 10/17/10
Provo City Half Marathon - 5/1/10
Park City Half Marathon - 8/21/10 If it isn't the same weekend as Hobble Creek


If I can get money for an airplane ticket I would love to visit my sister again and run:

American River Parkway Half Marathon 5/1/10 I registered last year but didn't run due to injury. They said I could run it for free this year but I can't afford the flight right now.

so maybe I will have money to go see her next fall and run:
Lake Natoma four Bridges Half Marathon - 10/31/10

Long story short Jason has been really sick the past year and hasn't been able to work since April.

So I thought I would donate plasma to afford registrations fees and travel for Surf City. I hate donating plasma but it is good money. If I donate 2 times in a week I get $55.

But it hurts and I almost passed out last time I donated. My blood flow was slow so they tried to see if they could get my blood flow to go faster by digging the huge needle around in my arm and it made me sick. I got light headed and really hot. It was so weird I have never felt the way before in my life. They put a ice pack on my neck, raised my feet, had me sip on water, and they returned my blood that was in the machine that was being collected to be processed. I was going to go again that week but it was the day before I ran 20 miles and I didn't feel good about donating the day before running 20 miles.

I haven't gotten the nerves to go donate again after that happening. Looks like I need to get over my fear of last time and start donating again so I can afford race registrations :)

Cooking and stuff

This week I have been a busy one with working late a few nights and Jason's brother moved in with us this week. He got laid off so we told him he could come live with us for a little bit. It is weird having another person living with us. I can't walk around the house braless anymore.

Monday I made homemade pizza again it is just so good that I had to make it. I also made bread again but it was a failure. I didn't cook it long enough this time so it is doughy in the middle.

Tuesday I made a yummy skillet for me, Jason, and Cole (Jason's brother) I used 3 or 4 left over baked potato's cut them into cubes and put them in a frying pan with butter. I cooked them for about 5 minutes then I cracked 3 eggs over them and added cheese. It was yummy and really fast.

Rest of the week I worked late and tonight we are going to Jason's grandpa's 70th birthday party.

Tomorrow I am running 20 miles it is the last really long run before Surf City Marathon February 7th. I am nervous for the race the training has gone by fast and doesn't feel like it should be only 3 weeks away.

Better go we are late for the party.

2010 Cooking

One of my goals for 2010 is to cook more at home and eat less junk food/processed food/restaurant food. So I am going to try to cook new stuff each week.

Last week I made homemade pizza. We went out to California to see my sister Michelle for my 30th birthday. She made her awesome pizza for my birthday and she coached me on how to make it when I got home (she is a good cook).

Here is a picture of the first pizza I cooked it was BBQ Chicken. I also made a pepperoni pizza. If you want the recipe let me know and can email it to you. For some reason I can't cut and copy the recipe from word to blogger tonight. I posted the recipe on facebook if you are my friend there.

My 2nd week I made bread. This is the first time I have made bread or atleast the first time by myself not just helping my mom make bread.