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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

Last week was Thanksgiving - where has time gone?! Thanksgiving was the earliest day it could have been - the 22 & it just did NOT feel like it could possibly be time for Thanksgiving already! Jake, as usual, had a 4 day weekend off of work so I asked for the Friday & Saturday off so we got to spend the 4 days together. To say it was much needed time together would be a GROSS understatement. It was WONDERFUL getting that much time together!!

Thursday morning started bright & early! I knew that I didn't want to deprive myself eating wise, but I didn't want to go over board and be sick either. And I knew I wanted to get a work out in to help me reign it in a little bit. So I recruited my mom, Jeannene & Lauryl to do Turbo Fire with me! Usually I lift on Thursdays though, and I didn't want to miss it, so I woke up and did Lean Circuit 2 of ChaLean Extreme and then I went to my mom's to get our sweat on. We did Fire 45, one of my favorites that I haven't done for a while.

 
I cannot BELIEVE how sweaty I got - SO proud of myself!
After our workout, I came back to my house to shower & get Jake & my dad before heading over to my parents for breakfast & Thanksgiving Lunch! I always have protein right after a workout, and read in a LOT of places on Beachbody & through amazing Beachbody coaches how important it was to still get in my Shakeology to be sure that I curb cravings and get some awesome nutrients in me, so I had my Shakeology before I got in the shower!

I'm obsessed with Shakeology - for reals. LOVE it!
After I got all showered, we headed over to my parents house. My mom made turkey bacon and regular bacon for those who wanted it while I made egg sandwiches for everyone. It's Jake's recipe & I have been in love with them ever since he made one for me 4 years ago. SO yummy, and with egg whites it's very low calorie! Started out my Thanksgiving REALLY healthy!

Pepper Jack cheese on top... MMMMMM!

Messing around in the bathroom :)
We watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade & flipped through all the ads in the paper for Black Friday sales, then played Scattergories as a family. SO much fun - I forgot how much I like that game!! After we got through 6 rounds {I won - BAM!} we all went to the kitchen to make the side dishes. It took 30 minutes, tops. Record timing. That's what happens when you have 4 girls in the kitchen I guess haha. We sat down to eat & I dished up my plate - the way that I read on my blog friend's Instagram - make continents. Seperate piles of food. So I did! I read on Beachbody that half your plate should be a salad, so I did that too with a salad I brought. That salad was so good BTW - almonds, craisins, sunflower seeds & spring mix lettuce with vinagrette dressing. MMMMM!


One of our family traditions is to go around the table and say what we are grateful for. We set a rule of 3 things. Jake's were his wife, his family & his job. Mine were my family {Jake specifically, my sisters and the relationship I have with Brynne, my parents and that they get along and can have Thanksgiving dinner together despite being divorced for 11 years}, the gospel {that I have been endowed and can wear garments & that Jake is so close to getting to go through so that we can be sealed} and for Turbo. So technically it was 3 things haha.

After dinner, we needed to rush to Jake's parents house. Not before a few pictures though!!

My sisters {Jeannene has her arm out to hold a spot for Brynne who was in New Port with Blake's family} & me with my mom & step dad
Us girls with my dad
Just the girls
3 of the 4 sisters!

My amazing little family!

Pup didn't want to cooperate for pictures - hope he does better for family pictures this weekend!

2 year difference - crazy huh??
 We were running about an hour behind schedule and we held up dinner at their house, but they were super nice and didn't mention our tardiness at all! We got there and they pulled all the food out of the fridge and we sat down to eat. So 45 minutes after we had eaten 1 Thanksgiving dinner, we had our 2nd. And I lost all willpower haha. Jake's mom makes this AMAZING pistachio marshmellow salad. I hate marshmellows but oh that "salad" is to die for. I had way too many servings. And we brought some pretty good rolls from Kneaders that I ate a few too many of. Yeah it was bad but oh that food tasted good! After eating we sat down to let it digest and flipped through pictures. That was SO fun - I love looking at pictures period, but getting to see so many pictures of Jake growing up and seeing family vacations and everything was just so fun. It made me feel like if I focused enough, I could remember what happened on those trips too. Then we went to the movies to go see Lincoln. Really good movie. Really long movie. But really good movie!

Then we went back to mom & dad McClellan's and had some pie. And yep I still had no willpower. Apple pie with vanilla ice cream sounded amazing to me and I am NOT an apple fan. And who can pass up pumpin pie?? Like I said, it was bad. But oh it tasted good! And the old me would have eaten way worse. And it's one day a year. Don't judge. After we finished our pie we headed back to our house to let Max out and then get some sleep - I was exhausted and fell asleep for about 5 minutes during the movie haha. Which means I did not end up going Black Friday shopping. 2 years in a row I missed out because I was tired. I must be getting OLD haha!

The next day we slept in and then decided to go check out the new Outlets in Lehi at Traverse Mountain. And we bought stuff haha. I had thought we wouldn't spend much but nope I was wrong. After we left there, we went to Scheel's in Sandy and looked around. The last time we went was right before closing so we didn't get to look around the entire store. We still didn't get to look around the whole store and we were there for probably 2 hours - this store is GIGANTIC! We found the duck hunting stuff and spent a little while looking at that stuff though - Jake wants to start doing it and I am SO excited! I love that he is going to have a hobby!! Outdoorsy too, makes him my rugged redneck ;) After Scheels, we went to Applebee's just the two of us and got some dinner. It was SO nice getting to spend the day just the two of us!

Our loot from the day after Thanksgiving shopping - a shirt & basketball shorts for Jake from Under Armour, 2 shirts at Maurices for me, a duck call for Jake & 2 pairs of sweats for me from Scheels, a pair of Nikes for Jake at the Nike store {we got to use Liz's discount - THANKS LIZ!} & an iPad cover from Wilson's leather. Yeah we went a bit crazy haha!
Saturday we watched a few football games and decided to go shopping again. We started at Cabela's and got Jake some more stuff for Duck Hunting and then went to Old Navy to look for some boots. I noticed they were having a sale on jeans so I decided to try on the size 10's and see how they fit. And I was stunned. THEY WERE HUGE. HUGE! I came out of the dressing room and apparently had a weird look on my face because Jake kept asking what was wrong. I was CONVINCED something was wrong with the label. So I grabbed another pair of 10's and an 8 and went back to the dressing room. The other 10's weren't as big, but they were a bit big. So I tried on the 8's and guess what. They fit. THEY FIT!! They are a bit snug, but I AM A SIZE 8!! SINGLE DIGITS!! Can you tell that makes me SO excited haha? That was one of my Crazy Cool goals too! I want them to fit a little better, but they do fit. WOOT!!!
The picture I put on Instagram to commemorate the day!
After Old Navy we went to get some crafts at Crafty Wood Cutouts in Orem and then got some lunch at Costa Vida. We came home & I did my crafts while Jake watched his YouTube videos that he subscribes too & then we decorated for Christmas - the crafts I bought were Christmas crafts and I wanted to get them finished before we did all the decorating. I will post pictures soon of the house all decorated!

It was a long day and we went to bed fairly early. I came in the bedroom after turning off the tree to this - could my life be any better?


Having these 2 boys in my life is just amazing. I love my little family!! Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

October Results

October rocked. I finished my first half marathon. I kicked butt on my eating. I kept my workouts up. And I am now 6 pounds from goal. Yep you read that right. Single digits. But I am still 2 pant sizes from goal so, as a result, I have changed my goal. It was 160 - now it's 145. When I have hit my goal of 145, it means I will have lost over half my body weight! I have had people ask if I have lost half my body weight and the answer is no, for now. It's coming though!
ChaLean Extreme is great. I finished Push phase {the second month} and it was FREAKING hard in the best way imaginable. I loved it and cannot WAIT until I am back in that phase again. This month is the Lean phase and I like it but it requires a lot more balance because it is upper body & lower body at the same time. I really wish I could use weights though - I am still using resistance bands because the weights I bought from Wal Mart came broken. The sides are plastic and they had to be shipped and apparently they handled it roughly and yeah I just decided not to order them again because I figured it would just happen again. I found them at Wal Mart in story the other day, but I am waiting until a little closer to Christmas and then I will get them. So that is coming!! Yay!!

Turbo is still as awesome as ever. I just registered to become certified to be a Turbo Kick instructor!! The training is December 15 and I am really excited and looking forward to it! I am hoping to find a job as an instructor very soon after, preferably somewhere small around home. Ten to one, I will teach at night and that worries me a little since I work until 6 and need to make dinner and have Presidency Meeting for Relief Society on Tuesday nights and activities for Relief Society once a month on Wednesdays so that leaves Thursdays which totally works but I hate going into it telling my potential boss that I have one night a week open. I will cross that bridge when I get to it though!

After a HIIT workout. Because there are breaks of 60 ish seconds in a HIIT, I don't get as sweaty but I am pushing myself to try to get sweatier! 
Bought my first pair of skinny jeans!! I got them at Wal Mart - heck yes for being cheap haha!
My fitit exploded at the beginning of the month, so I went most of the month without it. Fitbit replaced it though, so all is well! It just didn't come before the half marathon!
Trying out a scarf - I have REALLY been trying to work out my clothes and wear more trendy things
Wearing heels everyday now - I feel very tall haha
New skirt I bought during the month - I seriously don't think I have EVER bought clothes like this. I am always buying new clothes!
Another new skirt - this was the day after my half and I was really proud of myself that I could walk, let alone in heels (although they are shorter heels)
The only piece of Halloween candy I had!
Progress shot!!
The month of October was awesome and I am really excited about how November is going. I started Shakeology and I have noticed some AMAZING changes already in my energy, my cravings & it tastes AMAZING so it isn't torture!! I found this on Instagram and it totally fits my goals for the month, so I had to share it! It is currently my wall paper on my phone :)


It amazes me how different things are from where they were last year. I did awesome on how I ate on Halloween - I had broccoli & salmon for dinner with that almond joy. Instead of pizza. I am so proud of myself for that!! And I have made plans to work out FIRST thing on Thanksgiving morning and eat better than years past, and then right back to the work out routine the next morning. Things are so different than where they were last year and I am SO FREAKING proud of me for that!


Last night I lost it though. I had a really stressful day and I came home and ate everything in sight. In horrible portion amounts. Ice cream, brownies, crackers, chips - all in like a 30 minute time frame. That emotional binge eating is NOT something I am proud of from the old days and having it come back, however short, was an amazingly awesome reminder of why I am making these changes and why I started on this journey - because I do NOT like the way I feel after I handle stress that way. I went to bed and woke up this morning and absolutely KILLED my workout, because I had all that frustration built up and it was AMAZING how hard I worked as a result this morning. So even though I regret my binge, I am grateful that I have made enough changes that going back to the old me feels REALLY different. That means this is now a LIFESTYLE and that I will NOT regain all the weight. Because trust me, I have nightmares where it all comes back. But that's all they are - nightmares. Because that won't happen. I love to work out too much. I like the healthy alternatives I have found. And I like how my body feels when I treat it right. Yay for the new me sticking around long term!!  

Thursday, November 8, 2012

To fill you in

So I feel like all I have blogged about lately are things with my half marathon and I want to fill you in on the rest of our lives. Just the regular hum drum daily stuff that makes up my life as a McClellan :)

I am loving working in Saratoga Springs. I love working full time, and I didn't think that I would. I love the girls I work with, and I am finally starting to recognize a few customers. I wish I knew more of them, but it will come with time. I really like my schedule, and I also like receiving paychecks for working 40 hours a week haha. I just passed Peak 4 in the Teller program, which means I am as high and legit of a teller as you can get at the Bank of American Fork. That means a raise and a bonus. WOOT! The test is a beast, so I was really proud of myself for passing it! I feel very blessed and lucky to have a job so close to home that I like so much.

Jake is still working graveyards at US Synthetic - unfortunately. I have been wanting him to go to days for a LONG time but I figure it's his job - let him do what he wants to do. Now though, he is ready to come to days and is having a hard time finding a position. Hopefully something will come up soon - we are crossing our fingers!!

Things with my platelette count are great. The medicine is working and I am tapered down to 40 MG a day. I go to American Fork Hospital every Thursday on my lunch break and get my blood drawn, and then on Friday I call my Dr. and have him tell me that it's ok to go down another 10 MG. Hoping tomorrow brings the same results and I can go down to 30 MG! The only downside to all this is that I am getting my blood drawn a lot and I have "bad" veins, so they have to "wiggle" the needle around in my arm to get blood to come out. Yep it sucks.

I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach! Basically, now I can sell this amazing TurboFire product that saved my life! I have liked it so far - getting to talk to people about fitness is great! I just get stressed that I am coming across as a salesman and really I just want people to also enjoy this amazing DVD series that helped me. If it helped me, it can help them! Because I became a coach, I get a discount so I started drinking Shakeology. Oh. My. Gosh. I wish I had done this a long time ago. The reason I didn't is because it is expensive. But it is worth it. And I mean that. I am NOT just saying that as a salesman. This week alone I have lost 4 or 5 pounds and I should be bloating this week if you catch my drift and instead I am LOSING weight! And lots of it! My body is getting "shocked" into results and I love it! I am close to goal weight, but not there yet and this is really helping!

We just bought a new laptop! I had wanted to buy one for Jake for Christmas and ended up telling him about it and we were at the Apple store this past weekend anyway so we got it! It is really nice - it's a MacBook Air and he loves it. Which means I got his old one!! HECK yes for having a laptop again! I love it!!

This past Sunday, Jake was able to prepare the Sacrament with the Priests in our ward. Yes, you read that right. My husband is a worthy priesthood holder. CAN HE GET A FREAKING STANDING OVATION?! I am SO proud of him!! Next step is for him to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and then he receives his endowment and then WE GET TO BE SEALED IN THE TEMPLE!! Seriously, I am SO excited in case you didn't pick up on that! He is still the amazing man I married, but better. It's hard to explain. But I can tell the Spirit is starting to take over, in things he says and his priorities. I love it. Seriously, the gospel is true people. Amazing things happen when you have faith in the Lord's timing.

Presidential Elections just happened and Romney didn't win. I actually thought he would. Even though I followed absolutely nothing in the political arena. I didn't even vote. But he won my state, so it's not like my vote cost him the election or anything. We were talking about it at work and we all came to the conclusion that the next righteous leader this country has will be Jesus Christ. Our country has just gotten too "wicked" to be ready for a President like Romney. And that is scary. It reminds me of something I would read in the Book of Mormon or something about all the wars and people choosing wicked leaders but it is happening in my day and age and it sucks. My good friend Sarah Hunt posted this on her blog recently and I just loved it, so I thought I would share:

"Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House but on what happens inside your house." - James E Faust


Love that. And that is something I can control. So AMEN!   Around the house, everything is really good. I am keeping the house a lot cleaner than I thought I would with working full time. Keeping up on laundry, grocery shopping - all that good stuff. I even made a revolving menu and laminated it so that I know exactly what I am going to cook each night of the week so that I can buy everything at the store in one trip and not need to go back and get stuff and I have been making dinner BEFORE work so that I just come home and throw it in the oven. GO ME!! Cleaning up after just the two of us isn't hard though, and Max only contributes the occasional toy on the floor or spilled dog food in the kitchen. I just gave him a hair cut last weekend and it looks really good! I am learning, finally! We have family pictures next weekend so you will get to see it when I post those!! I am REALLY looking forward to getting those taken!! I am getting a "clean up" hair cut this weekend so that my hair can be just GORGEOUS for pictures. Seriously I love my hair stylist Kariann. Amazing skills.   Last weekend I got to spend some time with my dad. He is going through a hard time right now {his apartment is getting remodeled and he had to throw away a lot of his books and stuff in an effort to get organized and de junkify, his books are all stored at our house and he just lost his job} and it was really good to spend some time with him. He will be staying with us again next weekend while he is temporarily out of his apartment. For the next week he is staying with Brynne & Blake but next Saturday is their anniversary {well really it's Sunday but they are celebrating Saturday} so he will be staying with us! Can't believe they have been married for a year already - crazy how time flies!     Well I think that is all the stuff I can update you on in our regular lives. Goal for tomorrow is to do a blog post on weight loss in October and specific weight loss goals for November! And I promise I will be better at blogging about family stuff, not just stuff about me. I want this to be a family journal written by me, not 100% about me! But the weight loss stuff is a big part of what's going on with us, so that is getting included too. I just don't want it to over take the blog. Anyway - look for that post coming soon!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Halloween Half Marathon 2012

Guess what? I did it! I finished my Half Marathon!! Get ready for picture overload!!!

The day before the race, I was wanting to take REALLY good care of my body. I had read that you should take a rest day and not exercise, but there was no way I was going to miss Turbo Kick if Brynne was going. We ended up doing my favorite round {Round 51} but we didn't do the full round - just did punches, 2 turbo's, recovery & finale which equals a much shorter workout than normal. Then it was off to work, making sure to drink TONS of water all day long and eat as clean as possible!!

Breakfast was Strawberry Shakeology {Sabrina brought it to Turbo for me - isn't she AWESOME?!} with banana & almond milk! SO DELICIOUS!  
Morning snack was baby carrots, cucumber slices & grape tomatoes. This is my morning snack every single day haha. I just love it!
Lunch was a salad with green peppers, tomatoes & carrots with fat free ranch dressing
Awesome dressing  cup that snaps into the lid for my salad!
And leftovers from the night before. We had chicken in the crockpot, and I had it over broccoli instead of noodles. So lunch contained a TON of veggies for me!
Afternoon snack was an apple. Dinner was homemade "instant" mac & cheese in the microwave with a granola bar & a fiber one brownie. Trying to get more carbs than normal at dinner time while sticking to my calories was kinda hard!
I drink a lot of water every day, but I drank a TON of water the day before the race. This water bottle is my favorite - I got it from the Zumbathon in September and it turns blue when the water is cold!
After dinner I got the chance to watch 2 adorable girls in our ward {the Lovell's} for a few minutes while they were waiting for their grandparents to come from Cedar City. It was so fun - I love those little girls so much!!

Sydney {left} and Kirra! Collette {little sister} was sleeping! Sydney was in my Nursery class!

Aren't they cute??



As soon as grandparents came, I went home and went to bed! Going to bed at 8:30 on a Friday night felt REALLY lame but I knew I needed the sleep since my alarm was going off REALLY early the next morning...

That's AM. EARLY HUH?!?!
All dressed and ready to go! I got my Mario shirt at Wal Mart. In the youth section. And it fits. AND IT WASN'T THE BIGGEST SIZE THEY HAD!! I WORE CHILDRENS CLOTHES!!!!!!
My race bib! Runner # 7254
He came down with a pretty nasty cold that week and STILL woke up to see me off. At 4 AM! Seriously, I don't know how I got so lucky. My husband is amazing!
Everyone told me not to eat breakfast because I normally workout on an empty stomach but race didn't start until 9:20 and I knew I would be sick if I didn't eat anything all morning so I made a Chocolate Shakeology Shake {Sabrina, you are amazing for bringing me 2 samples!} with peanut butter in it. Protein is ALWAYS how I start my day and I didn't want to throw myself off too bad.
And then I left my house, knowing that when I came back I would be in so much pain but it would be over and I wouldn't have to be scared or stressed anymore. My mom has a friend who also lives in Eagle Mountain who wanted to ride to the race with me so we met at the Maverick just down the street from my house. Her name is Jennifer and this was her second half marathon. She had some really good advice, and it was nice talking to someone as I drove to Brynne's so that I wouldn't panic. We picked Brynne up and then drove to University Mall where the buses were. I hadn't thought about what I was going to do with my keys and was kinda freaking out a little bit until Brynne suggested I just lock them in the car so that I don't have to run with them and have Jake bring up a spare. She is a thinker huh?! We got all our gear out, locked the car and got on the bus!

We got on the second bus. We had thought there would be a BILLION people there {it was about 5:30} but there wasn't - we just walked right on. The bus was warm and the energy was already pretty awesome, and it's still 3.5 hours to race start. As soon as the bus was full, we started up Provo Canyon towards Sundance.

Mario & Luigi, complete with mustaches thanks to Susan {Brynne's mom in law}
Don't we look attractive? We don't look creeper AT ALL haha!
View of the bus. Lame picture I know but I want to remember this haha.
That bus ride was awful. The bus driver got lost. And couldn't back up or turn around up the narrow canyon parking lot roads and the bus kept sliding out of gear and he hit a few curbs and it was just scary. He was freaking out and yelling and getting angry and EVERYONE on the bus was getting motion sick. If you know me, you know I get motion sick SO easy. I thought I was going to throw up. I haven't prayed that hard in a long time haha. I was begging Heavenly Father to get me off that bus without losing my breakfast. I HAD to do this race and I did NOT want to start it out by throwing up! Everyone on the bus was freaking out and asking if we could get off and just walk and he wouldn't let anyone off. Eventually, he got us to where the warming tent was and it was the original place we had gone and that he thought was the wrong place so he left. It was just a joke. Because the weather had been cold all week and there was snow up the canyon, they had to change our starting point which led to mass miscommunication on where to drop off the runners. But we got there, and beat all the other buses up despite the ride taking almost 2 hours. We got off the bus, used the nice clean porta potties and went into the tent to wait.

People had some awesome costumes!! So what do we decide to do while we wait 2 hours for the race to start? We take pictures of them of course!

The pope
Cindy Lou Hoo
Twister - Brynne knows this girl too! Small world!
Golfer! I love his hat!!
The Joker. AWESOME huh? He looks JUST like Heath Ledger!
Captain America, Thor & the Hulk. Captain America & Thor were together, but the Hulk was seperate. I asked them to stand by each other for a picture and they ended up staying by each other all night and took 3rd in the costume contest!
Our favorite! Ezma & Emperor Kuzco from Emperor's New Groove! They won the costume contest!!
I ran into one of my favorite customers from the bank in PG! Jason Whaley! And he was planning on running the whole thing, no stopping, without ANY training for it! He is hard core!!

The tent got pretty full pretty fast so we went to stake a spot and sat down and made friends with some girls while we went through our play lists and added any last minute songs. I also downloaded a few apps that would track distance and my steps since my replacement fitbit didn't come in time. LAME HUH?? It was on the porch when we got back from the race. At least I have it now though! Anyway, back to downloading apps. I didn't end up using any of them, but it was nice to see that so many were available if I ever want to use them again!

Brynne suggested we try to call our Uncle Gordon and see if we could find him and then he just happened to walk by us! We stayed with him the rest of the pre race wait time. He has done multiple Ironman & Triathalons and is just a hard core athlete. He had some good advice for after the race, and it was just nice to talk and not focus on feeling nervous. And we talked about food haha. All the yummy things we wanted to eat afterwards that we normally wouldn't eat but because of how many calories we were about to burn it would be ok!

Isn't his shirt awesome??
Around 7:45 we ate our pre race fuel - a banana and a Luna Protein bar that was probably a candy bar in a protein bar wrapper. Seriously, it was amazing! We both took some ibuprofen, drank the last of our water and then waited for the race to start. Gordon left around 8:30 to give them his drop bag and get ready to start. Our wave didn't start until 9:20, so we had a little bit of time to wait in the tent. We decided to use the bathroom one more time before the race...

Yep that's a long line! And it was freezing outside!! We were so ready to get back inside the tent!!
That's a LONG row of porta potties!!
As soon as wewere "done" we went back in the tent to wait! We started a conversation with the poeple standing by us and talked for a little bit, and then realized we didn't have a picture of us with our mustaches that someone else had taken {since I took the one on the bus}, so they offered to do it for us!


On the bus I had mentioned I wanted to watch the YouTube video "Life is like running a marathon" that we saw in Relief Society a while ago. It suddenly occured to us we hadn't watched it yet, but we were about 15 minutes from starting. But we decided we wanted to watch it, so standing there among the incredibly crowded tentees we shared my set of headphones and watched it on my iPhone. And we both bawled. Seriously this video kills me every time I see it. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Watch it. Click here and it will take you right to it. I did all the work for ya. Just watch it.

So we finish it, and are bawling and wiping our eyes and everyone is walking past us looking at us crazy and getting ready to go out to the starting line. We decided to say a prayer before we went out, and that just opened the flood works even more. I can't tell you how grateful I am for my sister and the example she is in my life. I am so lucky to have her in my life and to have her as my best friend. Seriously, I love my sister. So we are bawling and then walk out to the starting line. Which walking out of the tent with a tear stained face sucked. My face was so cold haha. We put on our headphones, warmed up a little bit and then we started our first half marathon.

The first 4 miles were AH mazing. My breathing was perfect. My muscles were perfect. The music was perfect. We were passing people, and passed the "pacer" of 2:45. I made us stop to walk a few times, but for the most part all was great! Before too long, we saw the pacer for 2:30! The one I wanted to finish with! And we had been running faster than them because we caught up to them... Did that make sense? So we catch up to them around mile 6 and started running right behind them. The pace was PERFECT. I KNEW I could stay with them for the rest of the race. And then I tripped.

We were running on a pathway in Provo Canyon and there were a lot of rocks in the path. We were kinda jumping over them and around them and I went to be all fancy and do a leap thing over them and landed on my ankle wrong. Awesome. I fell, slightly twisted my ankle, and landed with FULL impact on my knees. I said I was ok, the pacers kept going and we stepped to the side for a second. And I was fighting back tears. It hurt, but not all that bad. All I could think about was how I was going to have to stop the race and that was NOT ok. So I was like ok lets walk I can do this and I told Brynne we might have to walk the whole thing but that I was going to finish this race. She said that was totally fine, we were going to finish this together and she knew I can do this. A little ways down the path we started to jog again and I felt ok. My ankle hurt a little but nothing awful. We got to a spot where we were going uphill - very slight uphill but uphill nonetheless. I made us walk, the whole way until we were going downhill again which was probably about a mile. After that, it was walk for a bit, jog for a while. Walk for a bit, jog for a while.

Mentally, I was dying. My body hurt. My calves were on freaking fire. It hurt so bad! I felt so bad that we were walking - Brynne was acting like it was nothing and she could just go forever. She was listening to Turbo Kick rounds and just dancing and smiling and seriously she is just the most in shape person I have ever met. We got to a drinking station and asked what mile we were at and they said 11. 11! 2.1 to go!!!! Brynne was super excited and said we should jog the rest of the way. I knew that wasn't going to happen, as much as I wanted it to. For the next mile, we jogged and would walk for a bit. I was digging deep - trying to tell myself ever mental thing I could, trying to find every last ounce of energy, trying to get mad about something to keep me going and I just was dying. Then we saw the mile 12 sign. When we did walk, we walked fast. And when we jogged, it was really slow. But it was jogging. And then all the sudden we saw people walking, really slowly, with medals. And water bottles. We could see people who were done!!

With about half a mile left, we stopped walking and only jogged. There became a pathway of people - waving and cheering us on. I had my headphones on so I couldn't really hear anyone but they were giving out high 5's and waving. I wish there had been people the whole race - that helped a ton!! And then the best moment happened. I saw my husband.

Brynne could see them, I was still oblivious
I actually saw Blake {Brynne's husband} first. He was standing in the middle of the path with his camera. And I am thinking "dude I am going to fall over if I stop running so you'd better move or I will make you move" and THEN I realized oh hey that's Blake!!

"Look!! There they are!!!"
She was having so much fun waving haha! And I couldn't stop smiling!

And then I started crying haha. Not a lot! But I was tearing up. I did it. I ran a half marathon. And my husband is here to watch me finish!!

Almost done!!!
After we passed them, we had maybe 100 yards left. And we sprinted. She beat me, but not by much. And then we were done. And they handed us a medal and a bottle of water as we crossed the finish line. And I could NOT stop smiling. They had tables of bananas and oranges a little ways away and we opted for bananas, since we didn't think we could peel an orange at the moment haha. I drank that bottle of water SO fast. It was gone in myabe 15 seconds. Probably not the greatest idea - I had a stomach ache the rest of the day and that couldn't have helped. Then, it was time for pictures!!

All done & alive!!
SO proud of those medals!!
Less cheeser picture of our medals. Seriously, we both LOVED that we got medals!
My best friend there to support me. I love my husband, in case you didn't know that already!
Brynne & Blake :)
The Wise's all came to support Brynne!! Aren't they great?? Andra ran the Halloween Half Marathon in 2011 :)
I went to itch my leg and pulled up my pant leg and realized my knees were bloody from falling. Way to go huh?? I am so glad I didn't feel it until the race was over though - if they had been hurting all along that would have sucked!!

You should see them now - kinda got the black and blue bruise thing going on!
After pictures, we went to Blake & Brynne's house to pick up the truck since Jake & Blake had driven over to the race together. We met my mom & Jeannene there, who gave us both huge hugs and then we all left to go to lunch at Noodles & Co. with the Wise's! It was delicious - Jake & I both got the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese, and I got a side of the Tomato Basil soup. After we were done eating, we went to the mall to get the Mazda and then drove home to take an ice bath.

Crossed it off my Crazy Cool list!
Yes I took an ice bath. It sucked. SO bad. But it helped, I know it. My muslces were really hurting - walking up the stairs in our garage to our house about killed me and it was 3 stairs. If we had a 2 story house I might have died. I took a nap afterwards and then we ordered Cafe Rio. OH MY FETCHING YUM. I eat there all the time but I order a fire grilled chicken tostada, double black beans, no rice, shell, cheese, tortilla strips, sour cream or dressing. So chicken, beans and veggies. Healthy, yes. Pretty good, yes. But this time, I ordered a Pork Burrito smothered in the house dressing. And you'd better believe I ate the whole thing.


Walking the next day was a litte tough but not awful. I didn't finish as fast as I had wanted, but I finished. Our time was around 2:38. So I set a PR and I have something to work to beat next time. And next time is June 8th. Brynne & I both already registered for it!! Utah Valley Half Marathon - here we come!! And this time, I am running the WHOLE thing - no stopping AT ALL! But for now, I am proud to say I have completed a half marathon!