Eugene Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran the half marathon down south in Eugene, OR.  My buddy from Portland ran the full marathon and since I signed up later than him, I just ran the half.   It was a great race and the weather was perfect.  I ended up finishing at 1 hour 48 minutes.  I stared to walk back and meet my buddy and ended up running the last few miles with him as well.  It was a great day to run and see many others out there as well.  We also had a little time to explore Springfield and the college campus in Eugene.

St. George Marathon

Last weekend I flew from Portland to San Diego.  I met up with my buddy Logan and we drive up to St. George for out first St. George Marathon.  Neither of us had trained as well as we would have wanted to, but we finished and did ok.  We got to see some friends, had a great pasta dinner with some family and even managed to sleep for a few hours before the big race. 

It really is an awesome race and it is put together very well.  They have great choices and options at each water station and there were so many other things that were nice, that I wasn't even expecting, like the ice chips, the wet towels, the misters, Popsicles and more. 

I did ok in the race.  I have ran 4 marathons now and all of my finishing times have been within 13 minutes of each other.  They have all been under 4 hours, which I think is good, but there is still room for improvement.  One of these days I am going to actually train, and train hard so I can get a better time.  It's just something that I want to do.  For all of the results you can go here. 

I will definitely try to run this race again in the future.  I wish I would of had more time to relax, go swimming etc.....  Unfortunately I had to get to Vegas that afternoon for my flight back to Portland.  Here are some of the pics, taken with my iphone of course.  Thanks to everyone who called/texted me for the motivation, I needed it. 

June Goal

My goal for the month of May was to floss my teeth everyday.  I think I did pretty good.  I would floss when I could and where I could.  (Not in public though, eww!)  Although I did not officially post about this goal, it still happened.

Now moving on.  We are already in the month on June, can you believe it?  My new goal has to do with running again.  So, since I am starting to train for the St. George Marathon and I need some motivation to get running I am going to set a goal to go running (or walking to the clubhouse and back with the wifey) five days a week!  That means I can miss one week day and most likely skip Sundays. It doesn't matter how long it is for, either a good 5-6 mile run, or a quick walk to the part with the kids. It is totally doable, even though some days I might have to go before work.  Waking up early has never been easy for me, but I am sure it will be worth it.  So here's to me and running and getting up early!

These are some old pics of running back when we lived in Colorado. 

Finally.

After 3 years of being rejected, last week I finally got this long awaited email:

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We would like to congratulate you on being one of 7400 runners selected for the 2012 St George Marathon. We will be hosting runners from all 50 states and 18 countries. We would like to thank you for your interest in our event and we look forward to seeing each of you cross the finish line Saturday October 6th!"

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Yes!  I am beyond excited for this race to finally happen!  October 6th will be here so soon so I better start running and training.  A couple of my other friends got in too, so it should be a fun weekend in St. George!  Come on down and cheer us on!

I finished....We finished!

The marathon was a success! Both Logan and I finished and I got 2 minutes better than the last one I ran. Not bad, not bad at all! It was a great course with a lot of downhill. We started way up Big Mountain and by the time we came into Salt Lake City, we were already at mile 15. I had my sister Natalie and some of her East High running buddies run me in the last couple miles and my dad ran in with Logan. It's nice to have that motivation to push you through the end.

Some others ran the 10k that morning too and did really well. 

Overall a good race, ready for the next one.  I may or may not lose a couple toe nails, but it's totally worth it. I am pretty much recovered from the race and starting to run again today!  See you out on the streets and I need a new running buddy because Logan up and moved for school, what a punk!  Ha..... 

Just in case you care, go HERE for all of the race results and go HERE for the fancy pics taken. 

Deseret News Marathon Training

Remember a couple years ago when all of the Shields Family ran the 'Grant Shields Memorial Run?'  Well this year I am doing the full marathon.  I will run my heart out for you Granty Boy!  We finish at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, so come out and cheer us on! 

I have been training with my buddy Logan since May for this race and it is almost here.  Logan and I did our last long run (18.5 miles) this week and I think we are ready.  I am going to just relax this last week (and play at Lake Powell instead). 

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Here are the results of the last of the training though. 

• June 28 - 8.4 miles, 1044 calories burned.
• June 30 - 7.51 miles, 928 calories burned.
• July 2 - 4.22 miles, 522 calories burned.
• July 4 - 8.25 miles, 995 calories burned.
• July 5 - 8.1 miles, 983 calories burned.
• July 6 - 6.82 miles, 843 calories burned.
• July 7 - 13.33 miles, 1650 calories burned.
• July 11 - 8.08 miles, 1009 calories burned.
• July 12 - 18.55 miles, 2301 calories burned.
• July 13 - 3.5 miles, 439 calories burned.
• July 14 - 5.59 miles, 735 calories burned.

And if you want to run the 5K, 10K or the full marathon then go HERE to sign up.  See you there! 

Marathon Training

A marathon consists of running 26.2 miles, and that is it.  Easy enough, right?  I wish it was.  I want to train for real this time and so I will keep a basic log of all the days I run, the distance, pace, location and calories burned, just because.  Now, I realize that this is not 100% accurate, but it's still nice to have a general idea of whats going on, ya know?  So here is the first few weeks of my log all thanks to the runkeeper app! 

Wednesday April 27, 2011 - I officially signed up for the race.  And I ran that night.

April 27 - 6.47 miles in Salt Lake City, UT.  8.38/min pace, 805 calories burned. 
April 28 - 8.13 miles up Hobble Creek Canyon.  8.47/min pace, 1013 calories burned. 
May, 2 - 4.1 miles trail running in Draper, UT.  9.16/min pace, 479 calories burned. 
May, 3 - 5.33 miles through the streets of Mapleton, UT.  8.38/min pace, 665 calories burned.
May 4 - 10.31 miles up Hobble Creek Canyon, UT.  9.03/min pace, 1282 calories burned. 
May 5 - NO RUN!  CELEBRATION INSTEAD!
May 6 - 6.23 miles through the streets of Springville, UT.  8.33/min pace, 774 calories burned. 
May 7- 1.9 miles hiked the Y Mountain.  Did not track the pace, calories, etc......
May 9 - 3.99 miles to the base of Hobble Creek, 8.36/min pace, 477 calories burned.
May 11 - 10.9 miles up Hobble Creek Canyon, 9.31/min pace, 1358 calories burned.

I love this picture from our run last night.  Baby T put his hands behind oh his as we were walking around the block to cool down acting like he was so exhausted from the long run, ha!  Love that kid!

Wish me luck!!  And honk if you see me on the streets.  I am sure there will be more updates of the training in the future.