A birthday surprise

We did a 45 mile bike ride on Saturday and it was Gretchen's birthday so we had a small celebration before the ride. Traci made delicious parfaits and nutella crepes for us - yummy! I was in charge of getting the balloons. Let me tell you about the ballooons. I decided that since I was already out I'd just swing by Macey's to get them on my way home from the Provo Beach Resort. Todd had already left so it was me, my 4 kids, Eric and Ryan. It took sooooooo long to get the balloons blown up and the line for ice cream was a mile long so I bribed my kids with drinks and any other ice cream treat they wanted. Then we sat there FOREVER waiting for these 2 guys to blow up the balloons. They popped 3 while we were there and then 3 more popped in the car. My kids were yelling about the balloons filling up the entire back of the minivan. Sophie wouldn't buckle her carseat and kicked Tayson when he tried to help. One of the balloons popped on Tayson's back. I finally got them dropped off at Traci's and got my kids home at like 10:30 pm. UGH! Then the next day found out some of the balloons said "it's a boy" and "it's a girl". What a fiasco! It was all worth it though. The ride was awesome and Gretchen is the best!

Southfork

Me, Rachel, Traci, Sara

I absolutely LOVE Southfork canyon. It is my favorite! I ran down and up it last week then rode it today. It is so beautiful and a great workout. The ride this morning was 35 miles round trip (don't worry when I ran I drove and only ran 4 down and 4 up). Such a great morning and I burned a full days worth of calories before 9:00 am!

Riding Bikes

One night on our trip we decided to take the bikes out for a spin on the beach path. It was so much fun. The sweet teal cruiser had a bell which I took full advantage of when I was riding it. I'm not as good at push brakes as I was when I was a kid...but there were no crashes I just had one mishap when I hit the brakes a bit hard and squealed out scaring a few people walking along the beach. The tandem cruiser was hilarious. The backseat was the most uncomfortable bike seat I have ever been on and when I pedaled I hit Todd's rear every time. It was weird for me to have no control over where we were going or slowing down. Thank goodness I trust Todd. At one point we got the bike moving pretty fast :)

I think the bike ride is one of my favorite parts about the trip! Good Times!

Kickin' it on the cruiser

Todd and Amy on the tandem

Todd and I on the tandem

I finally made it to my last post about our family vacation to Cali. It was such a great trip!!

Little Red Riding Hood Century

We signed up for this race months ago and all of the sudden it was here. It's an all women's ride with 6 different lengths. We did the 103 mile option. There were 2600 women riding of all ages and skill levels. The race was so well run and the volunteers were great. The food before, during and after was great and there were so many porta potties along the way. There was even a portable hand washing station for us at lunch. They know their crowd I guess. It ended up only being 3 of us because Traci got too sick to ride with us. Next year we'll all be out there and maybe have a few more with us. Trust me if you bike (and your a chick) you want to do this ride.

Leigh Anne's husband James drove us, made sure our bikes were tip top, met us every 30 miles to see if we needed anything and even helped a few others on the course. It was so great to have him supporting us. Thanks James you rock!

The start of the ride was freezing. It was cold and the roads were wet so we layered up. Thank goodness I over packed and brought a few of everything. Leigh Anne and Gretchen both had on 2 layers over their jerseys and I threw on my jacket and vest (the best part about that is that my jacket fills up with air so my sleeves were very poofy while we rode but my vest kept the rest tight so it looked like I had 80 prom sleeves on - several people commented on them and someone actually thought I dressed up on purpose).

Leigh Anne, Me and Gretchen

The first 60 miles we made great time. We were averaging around 20 mph and not pushing ourselves too hard. We had this really long steep downhill and I actually hit 40 mph. Then about 20 miles later we had to climb a very long hill right before lunch. I was ready to get off my bike by lunchtime and it felt great to stretch and eat. It had warmed up by now and the weather was perfect.

The funniest thing I heard the whole day was when I heard this girl say "does it help if I break the wind" to her friend. She was being so sincere and I giggled like a 4th grade boy. But honestly...that is some funny stuff!

Me, Gretchen and Leigh Anne

After lunch we hit a MAJOR headwind for a good 25-30 miles. It was completely demoralizing and we could barely maintain 14 mph for most of it while pushing hard. Drafting didn't help much because it was a cross wind but we just kept pedaling through it. Every time a gust would come you would hear Leigh just grunt - it was hilarious but definitely how we all felt.

The course was amazing and completely beautiful. It was so bright green. I just kept looking around me at the farmland and streams and the mountains thinking of just how beautiful it was. The downside to all this farmland beauty was the smell - it smelled like manure pretty much the whole ride.

Gretchen, Me and Leigh Anne
So excited to be done!

Kickin' it with the big bad wolf at the end.


It was a great ride and I will definitely do this one again. By the end of the race and the whole drive home I was so slap happy...I had way too many caffeine shots in my gels I guess.

Getting Ready to Ride

Tomorrow is my century (104 miles). I feel like I've managed to get in enough miles in the saddle even with the ride being so early in the season. I hope the weather is cool but not rainy. I've got my nutrition planned out (now I hope I have room to carry it all). I bought new gloves, bike shorts and knee warmers for the ride and I'm going to bed early tonight. Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.

No matter what else happens I am going out riding with 3 awesome girls (and a whole lot more I don't know) so it will be a fun day!!!

Weekly Updates

My goodness life has been so busy I haven't been able to blog much at all. So...here are a few updates for the week.

This morning when I got to spin to teach the stereo wouldn't turn on. After doing a little checking I found out that the circuit breaker blew - so I had no music, no fans and no microphone and a lot of people who got up at 5:30 in the morning to workout! The front desk was really no help at all. Apparently the only person who could unlock the door we needed was the maintenance man and he doesn't get to the gym until 8:00 am. NICE. Luckily, one of the other teachers was at the gym this morning and he totally took care of business so after riding our bikes in silence with no fan for 20 minutes we were back. He had to run 2 extension cords across the gym..but it worked and we still got a great workout.

I'm so jealous - Todd went out for a bike ride today. I can't wait to get out on my bike!!! She's calling my name and so is this gorgeous spring weather we're having this week.

My half-marathon is in 4 days. I can't believe it's already here. We're trying to decide if we should try to get in to the St. George Marathon or not. I'm not sure if I can do a full marathon - training for this half has been enough work :)

Last night at FHE Todd was teaching the lesson and he asked how we start our prayers and Luke answered very quickly by saying "Dear Heavenly Father, thankyouforthisday"

Last week Todd finally put his foot down with me and we had Sophie "cry it out". I was so mad the first night I just can't stand it when my baby cries and of course I blamed poor Todd. She cried for almost 2 hours in the middle of the night - which meant I couldn't sleep at all. It's just so hard to really fall asleep when you know your baby is crying. Then the second night she only cried for a little over an hour and it got less every night. Last night she slept from 7:30 pm until 8:00 am this morning without a peep. Yahoo! Thanks to Todd for making me toughen up.

A Perfect Birthday

Yesterday I turned 36 years old! Man that sounds so old and I do NOT feel that old, it must be Todd and the kids that keep me feeling young.

For my birthday I wanted to go on a bike ride and I really wanted Todd to come and who could turn down a birthday request like that. So we loaded our bikes up and headed over to Traci's to ride up Southfork. And this is what we saw...



And here we are....


Hans, Traci and Josie (who obviously did not go on the ride), Kami, Me, Todd, and Leigh Anne

It was a little overcast (we started around 10:30 am) and by the time we got in the canyon and started up the mountain the rain came. It rained on us the entire 4 1/2 miles up (lightning and thunder included) then stopped sometime on our way down. The road was wet and there were lots of leaves on the ground, so it was a little scary and I didn't go fast coming down. Luckily, there were no casualties. Todd rocked the house for his first ride up Southfork! Even with the rain and wind the ride was awesome and we earned the right to a yummy b-day dinner at Cafe Rio.

Then after dinner Todd and I went to Chili's for desert (I really didn't want a whole b-day cake around the house) and we had molten lava cake...yummy!!!



Then we went to see "The Dark Knight". I realize I am way behind the times, but a newborn will do that to you.

It was such a great b-day! I decided I must really like road biking because I got 2 bike jersey's, bike shorts, a bike jacket, a bike pump and a bike ride for my b-day.

AND....I got a sweet new camera just for blogging!!! That's right a small camera that I can take with me everywhere and don't need a college degree to operate (maybe now my pictures will be in focus). Here is the camera Todd bought me in Crimson red.

My Bike

This is my bike - the Terry Isis. I finally got my dream bike this summer after riding a mountain bike for 2 years and Todd's way too big hybrid for 2 years. Not only is this bike so dang pretty, but she's light and very responsive to climbing. I swear she pulled me up the canyons a few times. We rode more this year than other years and it has been the best. I'm very sad to see the riding season end with the snow, ice and dang cold weather.

I have the best group of people that I ride with and they push me hard to ride further and faster than I ever would on my own. The goal was to do a century - which I did in August ... woo hoo! Now the goal is to go on a "real bike ride" and do a tour of some sort in Europe. What a blast that would be. Living in Utah you have to be a biker because the canyons are amazing and there is nothing like getting to the top with your legs pushing you the whole way. I'm sad to hang my bike up for the winter ... but hopefully spin will keep me in shape for next year.

My Summer Races

I had a great summer and did lots of fun races.

Team Telos Triathlon (June 16)- My first race of the year was the family triathlon. It was really fun and since it was so small I got first in my age group - not a lot of competition. The best part of the race was seeing everyone out there on the road. (pictured below in another post)

Pacific Crest 1/2 Marathon (June 23) - I let Kami and Sherry talk me into training for my first half marathon. I've run off and on since High School Cross Country (go Vikings!) but training for this was the first time in my life I have ever run more than 8 miles. Kami and Traci were great training partners and I felt good when we got to the race. Of course Sherry made me start the race in the front line with all the speedy people like her so for the first 6 miles I got passed by a lot of people - but then I started to feel good and I even passed a few people in the last few miles. I was really happy with my time (1:55 - 8:48 min/miles). Sherry came back to cheer me on and run in the last 400 meters or so with me. It was classic because she already had her medal on and was holding a towel and water bottle. I never would have sprinted in so fast without her there!!! (the picture is after this race - Mindy, Kami, Sherry and I)

Freedom Run 5K (July 4) - We have been doing "fast friday" in our weekly workout which is a shorter faster run and have been trying to take some time of our miles. So this race was to see if we could run faster than 8 min/miles. Traci, Kami, Gretchen and I all ran it together and we had a Garmin to help us keep pace. I got to be "coach" and wore the watch to keep us on track. We made our goal and I finished in 24:43. Traci even placed in her age group. :)

ULCER Century Bike Ride (Aug 11) - Traci and I did the 111 mile ride around Utah Lake. WOW what an experience. We rode it in just under 6 hours (18.5 mph/avg) and that is a long time to be on a bike. It was great when we were done and I am now completely comfortable eating and drinking on my bike. :)

I am ready for a nice off-season....of course that means I'm back to teaching spin instead of riding outside. :(