Salt Lake City Half Marathon 2016 Recap (Megan)

We did it! Jordan and I ran our first half marathons on Saturday and both of us performed way better than we anticipated. My immediate thought after crossing the finish line was “what race will I do next?”

It had been snowing and raining the week leading up the race, but luckily it finally cleared up by Friday night. We went to the expo the night before and got our race packets. We ate brown butter noodles with kale and mushrooms for dinner and (tried to) fall asleep around 10 o’clock.

We woke up the next morning at 4:45 and drove down to meet Jordan’s mom who was nice enough to drop us off at the starting line. We got there a little after 6 and waited for the race to start at 7. It was COLD-around 32 degrees outside-and we did not bring any extra clothes or anything. We now know better. You live and you learn. 😉

Here are my splits according to my garmin:

1. 8:42
2. 8:51
3. 7:57
4. 8:03
5. 8:16 (stopped at porta potty)
6. 8:33
7. 8:15 (took my GU)
8. 8:41
9. 8:15
10. 8:12
11. 8:04
12. 8:10
13. 7:41
14. (.26) 6:49 pace

Miles 1-3 I honestly could not feel my feet. They were still way cold and numb from just standing there, but they finally got warmed up by mile 3. I ran next to the 2:00 pacer for awhile until I realized that it was way too easy! I left her behind and started going at my own pace.

Miles 4-7 I realized around mile 4 that I had to use the porta-potty, and the longer I put it off the more miserable I would be. I was quick in and out of there and was happy that it didn’t effect my time.

There was a pretty steep uphill about miles 6.5-7 and it was brutal! I didn’t take my Gu until a little after mile 7 but I wished I would have taken it at the aid station before because my energy dropped pretty low at this point.

Miles 7-10 by mile 8 it was back to being mostly flat/downhill. Someone standing outside their house had set-up a “temptation station” of tequila shots. I did not partake but did see one or two who did. It made for a good laugh.

Miles 10-13.1 I started to get a second wind here. I knew I was close to finish and wanted to give it my all. Mile 13 was my fastest mile and as I saw the finish line I noticed how close I was to breaking 1:50. I really started picking up the pace from there and I heard someone yell my name but all I could see was that sweet finish ahead!

I finally crossed that finish line in 1:49:23 at an 8:16 avg pace (21st out 183 in my age group) which completely shocked me! I was nervous telling people my time goal because I honestly thought I was going to be lucky to break 2:00. After crossing the finish line, I realized that I am totally capable of doing so much more.

Jordan did amazing too, but I’ll let him recap his own. This race seriously made me fall in love with running all over again. It was such a fun experience and I thought the race was so well organized. I was definitely that weirdo at the race with the smile on her face the whole time. 🙂

We are thinking about doing the big cottonwood canyon half in September next-I will keep you all posted.

Happy running!

Megan

We’re almost there! (Megan)

Well, it’s been really quiet on this little blog of ours lately. BUT the week of our half marathon is finally here!

I’ve been really pleased with how my training has gone for this race. I’m on week 12 of running 100% healthy. This hasn’t happened for me in years. I have had problems with my left foot since a stress fracture high school that has always started acting up the second I get serious about running again. But this time around I have had ZERO foot pain. I credit this to practicing yoga twice a week along with taking 1-2 rest days per week.

I am so excited to see what I am capable of during this race. If I break 2 hours, great. If I don’t, I’ll still have a blast, learn a lot about the half, and continue to chip away at my goals in the future.

Jordan has been so busy between work and school that I don’t think he got in as much training as he would’ve liked. He did get some good long runs in though and I believe he will do a lot better than he thinks. I hope he enjoys the experience so he will do another one with me in the future. 😉

I have to say though I’m feeling a little lost now that training is coming to a close. What will I do next? Is it too soon to sign up for another? Will I stay motivated without having a plan to follow?

Hopefully in coming posts I can answer these questions. I also hope to start taking more pictures for the blog and post a little bit more. But for now I’ll be back after this Saturday with a full race recap!

Happy running!

-Megan

My make shift training program (Jordan)

Well to give a little bit of back ground, I am a pre-pharmacy student at UVU and also working full time as a pharmacy technician. So with all that going on I am have to find time to train for my goal of running my first half marathon in Salt Lake City on April 16th. Almost all of the training programs I have seen have some sort of work-out every day. But due to the lack of time that I have and really the lack of desire to go work out after a 13 hour day of school and work, I have made this make shift training schedule for my self.

Monday- 3 mile run

Tuesday- 10000 steps (anyway I can get them)

Wednesday- 3 mile run

Thursday- 10000 steps/ yoga sometimes with Megan

Friday- rest

Saturday- rest

Sunday- long run

I have been doing this the best I can for the past 2 weeks and have seen some promising results.

Today my long run was 5 miles, which gave me some anxiety this morning because I had not run 5 miles for a couple of years. I was able to keep a pretty good pace finishing the 5 miles in 49:47, keeping my pace under a 10 minute mile. This was great confidence builder for me after my last run a couple days ago. I can feel my body getting stronger with each workout I do.

The main thing that I like about my make shift work-out schedule is that I can make gains with out being tired through out the entire week, which I have not been able to do in the past.

So for now I will continue with this schedule in hopes of being ready for my race on April 16th.

Gotta love the runs on Sunday,

Jordan

 

My training plan (Megan)

For my first post I thought about talk about my training for my half marathon coming up soon. I’m currently on week 4 of 12 and training has been pretty smooth so far. This is my first half, but I have been running for a while so I don’t consider myself to be a “beginner” but not quiet intermediate either. So I am following the Novice 2 program by Hal Higdon, but I’ve made a few adjustments to fit my schedule better.

A typical week so far looks like this:

Mon: Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series (90 min)

Tue: 30 min run EASY

WED: 4-5 mile run easy or at race pace (sub 9 min/mile) + 75 min yoga

Th: 30 min run easy

Fri: cross train, yoga, or rest

Sat: long run (I did 7 today!)

Sun: rest

My BIG goal is to run it under 2 hours but I’m not sure if I’m completely in over my head on that one. My B goal is to run under 2:10 and C goal is to just FINISH. On my long run today I was able to keep a steady 9:20-ish pace without it being super hard, which is pretty good for me right now. 

Running Tip of the day! Wearing these sweet purple running pants make you feel like a faster more awesome runner. Just sayin’ 🙂

 

Happy Running!

-Megan

 

Outside running

Yesterday, Megan and I went for a run outside. We live up on the side of a mountain so that made the run pretty hilly. These hills turned out to be harder than I thought they would… I was just running along side Megan for about a mile and then we started our decent down the mountain a ways.. the whole time I am think o boy, I really hope that I can make it back up this.. so we got to our half way point and turned around heading back up this mountain hill. Lets just say that I was sucking wind and she was just trotting along like nothing was happening haha. She was able to push me to keep running, mostly due to the fact that she kept a pretty steady pace up this hill. I am very happy to say that I was able to run the entire thing ( it really was only like a half mile of steep up hill) but hey gotta start somewhere. We kept about a 10 min pace throughout the entire run so in the end I was panting for air haha but it was a good run for my first outside since I picked up running again.

.

The Upgrade!!

So after I graduated from high school I bought some new running shoes… The Nike Freerunner 2’s to be exact. I have had them for 5 years now and have put well over a thousand miles on them in my many attempts to enjoy running. Of course all of these feeble attempts have failed with me running for a few days and then either starting a lazy streak or going back to lifting weights. #getswole haha just kidding I was never one of these ” Provo all stars“. We call the kids that do summer sales and live at the gym provo all stars… just an FYI you will probably get this reference again. Back to my shoes though..

So these nike’s have been every where with me, I have taken them to Finland and to  London and to Frankfurt. I can say that my shoes are well traveled. They are quite dirty and dusty because after the first year of owning them, I lost all hopes of keeping them clean.

Now Last week my wonderful wife convinced me to buy some new running shoes.  Just look at these babies!! Pretty sweet huh?

After being surprised by the $130 price tag, I brought these bad boys home.  Say hellow to my Mizuno waveriders 19.

I have taken them to the pavement twice now, and by the pavement I mean the treadmill. I went for a 4 mile run on Sunday and a 2 mile walk on Monday. I have to say that these shoes support my feet super well. Megan kept telling me that I am not getting enough support from my old Nike shoes which was causing my knee pain, and I never believed her until now. I felt great after my 4 mile run with no knee pain at all so I have to agree with her… (dont tell her that though)

So these will be the shoes that I train with to get ready for my half marathon. Ill keep you updated on how they do.

The Beginning of a new age

Hi my wife (Megan) and I (Jordan) are starting this running blog to share how running is building our confidence as individuals and as a couple. I am working through addiction and have been using running as a way to overcome the urges and temptations that I face day in and day out. I have a goal of running a half marathon with my beautiful wife in April of 2016.  My wife on the other hand has been running for quite a long time now. She has been running since the beginning of high school. I am trying to gain the same love for running in my life that she exhibits in hers.