Lie #334 It's nice to just relax every once in a while

Hi friends and family...and any anonymous guests!  It's been too long.  I just wanted to say hi!

Hi

Things are great here in CO.  I quit Facebook.  I can't do it and maintain a happy family life.  I'm so much happier off it.  However, I seem to fill my time with other stupid things.  Like games on the iPad and stuff.

I had to quit running for a while and finally found out the reason my calf hurt so dang bad is because I'd torn my calf muscle sometime last summer...and continued to train, and run, for a half marathon and a Ragnar relay where I ran nearly 20 miles!  Stupid...  So, after loads of money and a few MRI's, I decided to take a break for a while until I am pain free.  Almost there.  My muscles aren't too happy, but my muffin top has settled in nicely.  Should be a great swimsuit season.

Miss you all!

Third Time's a Charm!

Well friends, I did it. I ran a third half marathon! This one was in American Fork, UT and it was the Timpanogos Half Marathon. I believe it was their first year holding the race. It was awesome! There were loads of people there and lots of room so no one seemed too crowded. I met up with my awesome sister, Mindy Allison and my awesome friend, Monica Morales. We were awesome together and bought matching outfits because you have to do that kind of thing when you are awesome. So we all had our awesome purple shirts on and people called us the Purple Ladies or the Purple Girls. I think we should've thought of a name before we started, like the Awesome Ladies. But Purple Ladies was okay with us :-)

Here are a few momentous pictures to mark the occasion.


We had to wake up around 3:30 am and arrive in the parking lot at 4ish so we could be bused up to the top of the mountain. Here we are at about, well, there it is on the picture...5:13! Bright eyed and rearing to go!



Mindy and Monica still have a little of that hood mentality in them, I guess because they look like they are TRYING to look intimidating. It didn't scare any of the other racers, though...


And here is my dorky running pose again! Looking especially dorky this time around.

Mindy seemed to do it a little less dorky.



This was the crowd waiting in line for the bathroom and cheering the full marathon runners on as they came in for the turnaround! That was pretty cool to see! They had to get up REALLY extra early!

Then I tried to get a picture of the crowd doing yoga and totally blinded the fella behind me with my super bright flash! Didn't get too great a shot of the yoga people, but a nice shot of his shirt sleeve instead. Haha!


And here we are after the race! We ran it in about 2:43 or something like that! And we all stayed together!


And we earned these amazingly huge medals! They are pretty enough to make out with, too. So, of course, we did. Well, two-thirds of us did!


Then we felt like warriors so had to pose like them. It isn't too intimidating, though, is it?


I guess we could be happy warriors, right?!

It was such a beautiful and smooth run. And my easiest so far, and the easiest to recover from as well! I am hoping that's because I'm in better shape... I hope so because I have another one coming up in November with Betsy and Mindy and any other sisters, cousins, nieces or friends that want to join us! I can't wait for that one!!! I wonder what color shirts we will don then? Hmmm...any suggestions?!

The Pink Ladies Strike Again!

Less than two months after my first half marathon, I ran my second. Today was awesome! I was not as meticulous in following my training schedule this time around and was therefore worried that I would bomb and fall flat on my face around mile 7 or 8. But, I held it together and followed my strategy, which was to ride piggyback with the strongest man, or woman, I could find, and made it to the end. This time, I ran the half with Tirsa and Nichole. The other Pink Ladies ran the 10k, some for the first time ever! My regular early morning running partner is Ginny. She is so great to run with because she is always up and waiting for me, so I know I have to get my buns out of bed at 5:20 every morning! She is a huge cheerleader and has so much energy! I love it!

So we met this morning at about 7 am. This is the crew that rode up together.

Ginny, myself, Wendy, Tirsa and Amy all enjoyed a nice ride up. And we even left on time! Now, the funny starts right away. I told everyone about my dream where I had accidentally been given the wrong drug by the pharmacist, which whacked me out for the half marathon, made my friends call my husband to come watch out for me, and made me walk naked from one shower to another with no memory of any of it, offending an old woman along the way. Thank goodness that was just a dream! I'd hate to offend an old woman.

Then as soon as we get dropped off by Amy, Tirsa and I start walking towards the registration table when I realize I left my running bib in Amy's van...the one that was driving away to the beginning of the 10k race! I turn heel and high tail it across a bumpy meadow trying to intercept the van. In my hands I'm holding an energy gel pack and my gps watch. I'm thinking, as I'm sprinting, that I'll throw the gel pack at the van first, and then if that doesn't get their attention, I'll have to sacrifice the gps watch and chunk that next. I finally flag them down as they are making their way to the exit and am able to grab my bib and pin it on my shirt. There are no pictures of that escapade.

Then, we spend 30 mins warming up inside the hospital, trying to empty our bowels and bladders, and stretching. We meet up with Nichole and the race begins. Somewhere around mile 4 or 5, some girl pulls up alongside us and starts asking me where I got my running pants, what kind they were, etc... She tells me that I look great in them and she just can't get over how awesome they look on me! We all had a great laugh at that and everyone decides to go buy a pair just like mine so they can have awesome butt when running. Then my friend Amy takes a picture as I'm crossing the finish line of my butt and guess what, it's not so awesome, so I don't know what this woman was talking about! And no, you will not see that picture here! Although if you were unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of it today on facebook before it was kindly deleted, you'll know what I was talking about. Anyway, I digress. So, we keep pace with each other at about 10-10:45 mph until about mile 7.5 when I have to slow it down and Nichole keeps going. I never saw that speedy demon again until the finish line! Thank goodness Tirsa already made her goal of running without stopping at the last half marathon and she stayed by me like I was her faithful old running dog! I only walked for a minute and then we carried on. Tirsa is awesome to run distance with because she can keep talking and telling you all sorts of stories and all I have to do is nod and acknowledge that I really am interested and listening and she keeps on chatting! Thank goodness for that! Finally, at about mile 11 I send her on her way and I walk for another minute while sucking down my energy gel pack that almost made an early demise and it gives me the kick I need to pick it back up and run to the end! I don't know about ya'll, but I think I look much healthier in this picture than I did in my first half marathon finishing lap! But I must confess that I made a concerted effort to look chipper this time around!


Now what really made this awesome was the fact that my 10k buddies were already done and waiting for us to cross the finish line. I'm telling you, there is little else as motivating as having your loved ones cheering you on across that line. Right before the last bend, I look over and see my friend Ginny watching for me. That cheered my heart right up and as I got closer, she ran with me to the finish. You can see her black legs in the grass and she was telling me all about how awesome I was. Made me choke up a little that she loved me that much! But the cool part was that after I looked at the pictures and saw Nichole crossing, and then Tirsa crossing, I realized that Ginny was in both of those pictures, just waiting for me to make an appearance! Truly a great friend!

Wendy comes running up and tells me that the announcer will call out my name as I get closer to the finish line and how awesome it was to hear that! And guess what, she was right! He says, "And now we have number 480, Jennifer Fryer! And what a cheering section she has!" Or something along those lines because my friends all started whooping and hollering for me as I got closer!

It was awesome! Here we all are at the end!

Here we have Wendy, Ginny, Joy W, Amy, Tirsa, myself, and Nichole. Then we decide to do a goofy pose because that's what grown women do, and I thought we were all doing the stupid one I did for my last race where I pretended to be ready to take off? Remember that one? Well, they were all showing off their muscles and I was pretending to run again... Here, just take a look for yourself.


So cool, right? I'm still not sure what Nichole was trying to do...

The awesome peeps who ran the half marathon got a medal! But really it was because our registration fee was $15 more... But we liked them so much that we tried to make out with them.


Now ask me if I will do it again and I'll tell you that yes, I will most definitely do it again!! I love it, even though I still haven't ran one without stopping all the way through. That's going to be my next goal. Until then, happy day to you all!!!!!

Love,
Jenny

This is no lie, baby!!! I ran a half marathon yesterday!

Okay, now I haven't posted here in a while and I'd like to rectify that. I have become an addict. I know many people will balk at this. Please stand by me. I need all the support I can get. While I have kicked my addiction to phonics, I am now hooked on running. I finally made it to my half marathon goal yesterday in Buena Vista, CO! And, on top of making it there, I made it to the finish line! It was so so so great! I was dying for the last 4 miles where there was no shade, lots of hot sun, the switch from dirt to pavement, and NO AID STATION! I think the last of only three aid stations was somewhere around mile 7. The first part of the run was so gorgeous. I ran through the golden aspens of Colorado as they start changing colors for the fall. Here, I'll post a picture for you:

Oh, wait...turns out this was the wrong road that we found as we were scouting out the trail the night before. Needless to say we were a little scared. Especially after we drove up this:

So here's the real path I started out running on:
But here's a better picture where you can see more of the trail:
I also had 6 awesome running companions who completely inspired me in one way or a million.

So we all go up the night before and spend an awesome night in a motel laughing and swapping sob stories, crying and bonding and trying to eat some delicious pasta that turned out not so delicious. After sitting for almost an hour, we still hadn't gotten any food. But here's a fun picture of us anyway.
Some of you might want to know their names, so from left to right they are as follows:
Nichole, Joy, Tirsa, Michelle, me, Allie, Wendy

After we complained about the food and got some pizza instead, we went back to the motel and there we laughed until we passed out, each of us waking up intermittently throughout the night due to various stages of nervousness. But here we were in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed sucking our guts in to look as skinny as possible in our hot pants.
Before the fabulous bus ride to the top, it was a tad chilly. We liked our new running jackets so much that we wore them even when it wasn't really THAT chilly. But dang it, we were counting on it being super cold!


We can't say for sure, but some of us believe that Allie, who is a super runner, went up somewhere to the front of the line and missed this fabulous photo op.

Now tell me that this isn't a gorgeous view to be able to run in. I felt like I was in the mountains. Wait a minute, I WAS in the mountains.


Now, counting down from 5

4

3

2

1

GO!
Now for a lesson in stark contrast 13.1 miles later:
Now I know it looks like I may be dying in this picture, but I assure you I was only close to dying. Right before this I had been walking and running the last two miles and praying for a miracle. The finish line is around the corner and I look over and see my big white ugly suburban parked at the intersection waiting for me. They had JUST driven up...my beautiful children and my amazing husband who made the 3+ hour drive that morning just to see me cross a finish line. I rallied all my muscles, encouraged my lungs to cooperate, screamed at them (my family, not my lungs) that I loved them, punched the air with my fists like a huge dork, and ran for the finish line. When I rounded the corner here, I hear my name being screamed like I was a rock star and my friend Wendy, pictured above in the other stunning black jacket, came out to push me on.


I sprinted for the finish line that was down this road, around a corner, over a bridge, and down a path to victory!! I didn't even look at my time because all I remember seeing were some water bottles with someone's hands attached to them being held out to me like a saving grace. I tore off my tag, handed it in with my left hand while my right hand grabbed that bottle of liquid gold and my legs sort of carried me around random spots while I stumbled around guzzling water and running into things until I finally settled on a large boulder somewhere near Wendy and Tirsa. It was amazing. And I finally had a normal look on my face once we all made it across. My time was somewhere around 2:20 or 2:25 but I'll have to wait and see the official posting of the results. Either way, I made it, alive.

I'm finally going to do it!

I'm going to run a 1/2 marathon! I've wanted to do that for so long. Well, actually to run a full marathon, but that is coming! So one of my friends invited me to join her running club, (thanks Wendy!!) and they are starting to train for the 1/2 marathon in the fall. I am so excited! Now, if I could only run...
Ahhhhhh!! It's been so long since I've actually ran! Wish me luck!

Oh, and this is no lie!

Lie #15: I am not eco-friendly

I think I was insulted by someone yesterday. Because someone doesn't recycle their trash at home, does that make them a bad person? Do people really think that is the only way to make a difference in the world? How do people know what I AM doing to help the environment just because I don't want to walk around with a t-shirt that spews anti-gas propaganda? And I'm not talking about flatulence here, although apparently that can be harmful to the environment as well. So everyone just better learn to hold it.

Lie #17: Summer is Coming!

I love living in Colorado. The mountains are amazing, the air is crisp and clean, the folks are super friendly, and my kids can go outside without sweating to death. With that said, I am not sure if summer is really coming or not. It's May 10th and we still have a chance of snow this week! I naively thought Oklahoma was the only place where weather could turn on a dime. I think I can say with confidence that Colorado is worse! Either that, or I don't really know what it's like to live near the mountains where the summer season isn't as warm or as long as the Midwest!

I'm kinda bummed because the kids and I are swim junkies and wait all winter and spring for warm weather so we can don our suits, spray ourselves down with sunblock, pop on swim diapers (well, Jessica anyway!), slip on floaties - on our arms...not actually slip on floaties floating in the pool, sport sunglasses and flip-flops and hit all the fun pools we can find. Let me just say that last summer stank big time for us! I think we maybe went swimming 6 or 7 times and of those times, we got rained out a few times, froze to death in the cold water only to get out and freeze to death a second time from the wind a few times, or showed up and found the pool not what was pictured online. We never had a day where we just bathed in the warm water and basked in the glory of the sun. I'm hoping this summer will be much brighter. If we can only get through this weird weather.