Addiction

Hi. My name is Kara and I'm addicted to running.

It's the only conclusion I could come to after rehashing my Saturday long run to my husband.

Him: How was your run?
Me: Miserable.

I then went on for minutes and minutes about how during the entire 7.5 miles, I never warmed up. How it suddenly started snowing, like, HARD at about mile 4. Have you ever seen an animal in the middle of a snow storm out in the middle of a field and thought, Oh, poor cow. I was the cow.

My rear end took days to finally get warm. I felt like I was hauling around two frozen hams.

Later that day, I had a text conversation with a friend and continued to rant to her how terrible it was. (She was the first to hear my cow analogy.) It was then I realized, yes, it is conclusive, I really must be addicted to this crazy activity. Or else, why? Why in the world?

I was actually giddy Friday night when I went to set my alarm because I needed to wake up and get running before the babies woke up. (Side note: I heart Saturdays. Daddy is so good at getting our munchkins breakfast and such on the weekends. Such a welcome break. LOVE it.) I was looking forward to plodding along at 5 miles per hour in 35 degree weather on the one day that I could actually sleep in if I really wanted to.

Before: excited.
During: miserable.
After: complained about it.

But will I do it again? Abso-friggin-lutely.

Because although I was a freezing cow, that familiar endorphin rush kicked in (during my complaint session) and my body and mind felt whole and good for a long time.

Because there are lots and lots of reasons why I run. Four of them happen to be the cute faces I left behind that morning. I'm such a better mom and wife when I get my running fix.

I could've slept in or steeped a herbal tea cup or two. (This was a thought I had around mile 5.) But I got up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, in February, in the back of the Wasatch and ran.

I think I might need help. (Or just an extra layer or two.)

Run or Freeze aka SoJo 5K

I officially kicked of the 2011 racing season with a sweet little 5K in South Jordan.

Running with my friend Steph was a definite highlight. The cute Wickify shirts with a cupid on them in honor of Valentine's Day was another outstanding highlight. Not to mention the pink bag our swag stuff came in.

But the cold! Good gravy, the freezing wind. I checked the weather that morning and saw pleasant little numbers like 48. But the wind was making it closer to 12. Agghh!

Good thing we were there to run, otherwise, what a stupid day to go to the park! It was the least amount of time I've ever spent at a finish line.

After being shuttled through the line of ropes most races put you through, there was a table full of fruit and water. Then, at the very end of the table, there was a big bag full of medals. The girl in front of me got one, so silly me, I thought they were handing out participation medals. As I stood with a goofy grin on my face, hand outstretched, waiting for my medal, the guy asked to see my time card. After a quick glance at it, he reached in a bag that had no medals in it and handed me a $5 card to Village Inn. Yea. No participation medals after all. Age group winners got those. Oh well. My goal was not to win my age group.

Goals for most recent 5K: Have fun. Run with a friend.

Mission accomplished.

There is a whole lot of year left for time goals and the like.

Also, I am officially endorsing two great 5K races coming up soon. Both for meaningful causes. Stay tuned. (Because I'm such an important person, my endorsements really matter. Ha.)

The darling racers after the run, in a house, away from the cold. Sorry no pictures at the race. I couldn't think about much except for moving to keep my eyelids and lips from freezing together.

Also, PS - my ever supportive husband and three babies came! Of course they were in the car the entire time. (Did I mention it was soo cold?) But cute Chris got out of the van and cheered us on for the 10 seconds it took to run by his little parking space.

Last Saturday

Six point two miles: awesome

Snowy weather: awesome

Beautiful mountain landscape: awesome

Getting splashed with sludge from rude driver: not awesome

Lovely device that tells me my stats: awesome

Lack of traction from snowy roads in some places: not awesome

Endorphin high lasting ALL day: always awesome

Dad hanging back with kidlets so I don't have to rush: sweet

On a scale of not awesome to sweetness on a Saturday: Absolutely Outstanding.

Morning Date With Treadmill

I'm usually not a big fan of treadmills. But when it is negative seventeen degrees outside and the sun rises after your children do, I'm glad I have one around.

Did a lovely little interval workout this morning. Nothing crazy. Thirty minutes. Jogged for four, then a one minute sprint. Rinse and repeat.

Still Running

Six months since I last posted here? Sheesh. Good news, I'm still running. Bad news, I'm going to blog about it.

Summary of last six months:

August : Ran a sweet 5K with some neighbors and some church going peeps. Felt real good since it was still round the clock with the babies. Loved, loved getting out of the house by myself.

September: Ran a sweet 10K in Midway. So pretty. I had a great picture but lost it due to technical difficulties on my phone. The Galleys came to see their kin folk finish, but I pretended they came to see me.

October: No races. But plenty of 80's music montages going through my head as I hit the hills to take in the majesty that is fall in the mountains. (It's the eye of the tiger...)

November: Cold.

December: Still cold. BUT, my cute honey surprised me with a treadmill. What?!? Nice.

January: Found durn cool app to help me log my runs. Result? Total miles: 42.67. Total time: 6:48:31. Average pace: 10:10.

February: Hoping I don't get stuck in my day tomorrow and have to repeat it over and over and over and over until I learn some kind of lesson.