Warrior Dash

This past week has been on the busy side in our household. Perhaps we're overcommitting, but I'd like to think that we're just trying to suck every drop out of summer before we start school on Monday.

Last Sunday we took a little trip up to Copper Mountain for a race. Thankfully this race was just a 5k, but with a twist. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Warrior Dash, and let me tell you... if you haven't done it, you should.

It was Jon's first race EVER!

Kimmy, Jon, and I started our race while Kimmy's hubby Dave took over the photography.

He captured some interesting people

What we had to look forward too

Look at those weirdo's group stretching

There's always got to be that one guy, unfortunately for us there were a group of them.

Since we really didn't know the course David unfortunately missed some of the obstacles and our swim through the mud

While Kimmy and I were leaping fire a security guard was yelling at Dave so he wasn't able to get our leap over the fire

But look at those faces of determination

Jon leaping his way through.

around mile 1 Jon told Kimmy and I to make our way forward, but he was a trooper and came in about 7 minutes behind us.

We had a photo shoot while we waited

so.much.mud

So... it turns out that Jon flagged us on because he had broken his toe during the first mile!

He made it through the last two miles and still finished strong!

I could NOT be more PROUD of him for sticking it out!

And apparently I think this toe is on the ground somewhere else...

Mark doesn't like to get dirty...

Jon's kind of double fistin'

Turkey legging it up

Cheers

Our warrior faces

Just love these two :)

Kimmy, thanks for running it with us. Dave thanks for the photography skills, and Mark... thanks for partaking in a turkey leg :)

A different kind of PR

This morning sucked.

I'm just going to be honest.

But let's start with last night. My great friend Ali and our other friend Vanessa road tripped it down to Colorado Springs and spent the night at Ali's parents house.

Her stepdad made us some fabulous spaghetti and we spent the evening lounging around.
And setting up our running gear, and oohing and ahing over our sweet free stuff!

We knew we had an early morning ahead of us and so we decided to presume with some Nyquil... straight from the bottle.

I have no idea why we have sunglasses, but it made sense at the time.

But I'd absolutely love for you to try and figure out what in the world is happening here :)

Thankfully the Nyquil knocked us out. Not that it made getting up at 5:30 any easier.

But we made it to the starting line and we were ready and rarin' to go!

And while I ALWAYS NEVER watch The Bachelor... :)

One of the old contestants (Andy I think) was there and spoke for a bit

Sarah Micke I have a feeling you know who this is

Then began the race.

I had already mentioned that I had planned on running this race for fun. My body has been crapping out on my lately and with the development of the allergies and asthma my breathing has been mediocre at best.

But it's easy to tell yourself that you're running for fun, and then there is the issue of actually doing it. Thankfully Ali read us a little devotion about being nice to our bodies when running and how by listening to our bodies they will actually thank us in the end!

Quite frankly I got a severe stomach cramp, as in my entire stomach seized up, and it was there for the first 4 miles or so... excellent.

Miles 5-8 were great and at mile 8 I truthfully didn't believe I was even going to finish the race. My entire body was weak and I even had to stop and sit a few times. I had chills for the last couple miles as well... kind of weird considering it was in the 80's.

And I walked like nobodies business. Typically I cringe at the thought of walking during any sort of run, but today I didn't care. I was nice to myself, I listened to my body, and I didn't beat myself up over the fact that I was going ridiculously slow.

And after making friends with some other women that were walking/jogging I finally made my way to the finish... 15 minutes slower than my half marathon last year in Korea... and 29 minutes slower than my Alaska time :)

But I finished.

Honestly this race was HORRIBLE, I have never felt worse during or after a run. 

And while I may not have run a great race, PR'ed or done anything amazing. I was able to listen to myself and be kind to myself. I had grace with my body's limitations, and that feels better than any time I could've gotten. 

and maybe tomorrow after my legs start working again I'll be able to take the advice of the fun necklace we got in lieu of a medal.

run.celebrate.laugh.

Allergies, Asthma, Awesomeness

If you've been reading this blog for any period of time you know that I've been training for half marathons quite consistently since January. I ran a race in April and quickly signed up for a race in July. And because I wanted some extra bonding time with my sis I decided to run another one in June in Alaska. 

So it's been a solid 7 months, and for some odd reason I hadn't been getting any better. Which is frustrating.  Sure I did great in Alaska, but going to sea level doesn't hurt. 

Since May I had noticed that breathing was getting difficult at times, and my heart rate was sky-rocketing within the first 20 minutes. I didn't bother with it until I got back from Alaska and realized something was up. I figured it was Exercise induced Asthma and called a clinic to get it checked out.

My first hint that this was going to be out of the ordinary is that they didn't know how to pronounce my name when they called to confirm the appointment.

Yes, they couldn't pronounce "Sara"... needless to say I was already feeling this place might be a little sketch.

When I arrived I informed the nurse that there was NO WAY I had any allergies, it was all asthma. So I took a breathing test... four times. I apparently cannot breath in and out of a tube properly.

I'm special.

Then the doctor came in. A short, stout indian man with a comb over and a limp started to check my ears, mouth, breathing, and last... my nose. As soon as he looked up my nose he shouted loudly and asked how I'd been breathing.

The man could not see any air passage in my nose. excellent. Allergy testing time.

69 pin pricks in my back, and 17 shots in my arm later, turns out I'm allergic to most weeds, grasses, animals, etc. basically EVERYTHING. And my body doesn't like to show outward symptoms... so it all settled into my nose.

Causing me to not get enough air, causing my snoring, and my constant sniffle.

And I had no idea earlier because the altitude and the dryness have triggered the symptoms. Thanks Colorado.

As ridiculous as finding out about all of this was, I am happy to have some sort of idea as to why it's been extremely difficult to breathe lately.

I left with this...

2 nose sprays (used every day)

2 inhalers

1 set of eye drops

I *think the nose spray has been working, but it's a little hard to tell.

I head back in this next week and if its not any better then I get a cat-scan of my deviated septum and if it's bad enough possibly surgery. 

don't you just love good news??

Anyway, the afore mentioned half marathon is this Sunday so we'll see how it goes. Quite frankly my body is a little on the tired side so I think this race will be purely for fun!

And if you wouldn't mind praying for my stuffed little nostrils... my terrified of surgery self would much appreciate it :)

Alaskan Adventure: The Race

I was a little iffy about how the race this morning would go. A lack of sleep from the evenings before and the time difference weren't in my favor, but we got our stuff ready to go and we were up early hoping for the best!

See my lovingly placed Garmin watch? The watch that I check constantly to see my pace?

Yeah, charged it last night and this morning at the start line it decided it wasn't turning on.

Put a bit of a damper on my mood.

But I realized that it wasn't the end of the world and I would run my kind of race anyway!

Leaving bright and early!

Around mile 3 feeling good!

We had ourselves a little cheering section

Complete with gummy bears

And water :)

Throughout the race there were quite a few hills (which I was in no terms prepared for), some wide open roads, and an awesome wooded trail.

Rebecca and I were doing great!

I felt great and we were really picking up our pace and picking off people in the last couple of miles.

For the last 5 miles or so we were between an 8- 8:30 pace... unheard of in my racing world

Right before mile 10 and we were feeling AWESOME!

It was right around mile 11 that I hit my wall, and Rebecca pulled ahead and the mental games started... right about the time we had a half mile, ridiculously steep and winding hill... right at around mile 12.

I was less than impressed.

I was able to finish with a 2:00:15 time, knocking 12 minutes off of my last time and PRing in a big way.

However I was a little ticked off at not getting a sub 2 hour. 

I know, I know, I should be proud of my PR... but when you're that close to under 2 hours, ugh... just feels like a slap in the face!

But I finished well, I PR'ed, and I got to run an awesome race with my sister

It doesn't get much better than that.

Oh and did I mention we later hiked a mountain??

Yeah...more on that tomorrow!

South Platte River Half Marathon!

Today was the day ladies and gents!

I have to say the 1/2 totally took me by surprise, it didn't really hit me until I was actually at like mile 5 that I was really running the half marathon!

The forecast had been calling for rain, wind, and general nastiness for days.

To say I was dreading it would be an understatement.

However, this morning a clear blue sky greeted me!

There was still a lot of wind, but nothing to absolutely horrible.

Dan came to cheer me on, and to keep Jon company while he was spectating.

And I can't forget my favorite fan :)

Thankfully I wasn't running it alone!

Alison (on the left... or I guess my right in the picture) is an awesome women who I have the pleasure of sharing my counseling classes with :)

Vanessa is one of Ali's friends and is HILARIOUS seriously loved meeting her!

representin' DenSem!

The show offs... just runnin' out of control

Moseying along.

I was so proud of myself for starting at my own pace and running my race.

However, it was at this point (mile 1.5) that my bladder was SCREAMING... I thought I could make it, but 12 more miles with an extremely full bladder? 

Not

Happenin'

So I found a random porta on the side of the trail, unfortunately another guy had the same idea and he took his own sweet time. Another girl and I timed him... he made me miss a solid 2 minutes of my race...

I on the other hand was in and out in 15 second... yes, I really am that fast.

Honestly, the race went by in  blur, before I knew it i was at mile 10 and I was feeling GOOD!

If you'll recall my Korea half it was mile 10 that my knee blew out and made running slightly more difficult.

Not this time.

I was truckin' along and feeling great!

I will say there was a killer hill at mile 12.25 for the next .5 miles, but I was able to catch Ali (who I hadn't seen since the first 5 minutes of the race) and we pumped each other up!

No walking here.

Before I knew it I could see the finish line and away I went!

Please ignore my heel striking the ground, but notice the smile on my face.

I was feeling AWESOME!!!

(and yes, I totally beat the girl in the blue... I have a bit of a competitive spirit)

After the race waiting for some food!

burgers and fondue

I was doing really well with the no dessert thing for lent.

but melting pot fondue?? I just ran 13.1 miles people!!! That and I've heard that some people don't even recognize sunday's for the lent sacrifice...

so there.

Overall, I finished 13.22 miles in 2:12:24 (according to my Garmin)

which puts me at 10:00 per mile!!! Right. on. target.

I also had negatives splits for the last 6 miles.

And I knocked about 2.5 minutes off of my previous half marathon time.

Although because of porta potty man something makes me think I could've finished at around 2:10.

I have NEVER felt this good after a long run, and I'm loving that.

Now it's time to get ready for the next one :)

I'm hoping for a sub 2:10!