Wedding Weekend With a Long Run...

My Sulfur Mask...Tyson calls it my war paint

Beautiful Bride

Bridesmaids at rehearsal

Probably right before we all wiped out...

Last week seemed like such a blur that I couldn't really get excited for the wedding, also I broke out with a bad acne break out but went to visit Bri and she stitched me up and made me all better (note the red sulfur mask). I ran out of work on Friday around noon and got to Alex in time to meet my mom for a quick mani and pedi, which got the weekend started on a good note!

The grooms dinner was great getting to see everyone and meet Erin's fiancee Shane's family. After the dinner we all headed home pretty early knowing that the next day was going to be a long one. Ty and I set are stuff out to get ready for an 11 miler the next morning. The furthest he had ever gone and the furthest for me since my last marathon.

Saturday morning we woke up to a thick fog and we headed on our way. My legs felt like lead and Tyson seemed to be on cruise control, I thought maybe I just needed to wake up but I felt terrible the entire way around the lake (8 miles) we stopped by my house grabbed some water and split a gel shot and took off again to finish the last 3 miles which again I felt terrible. I don't know if it's because I haven't really done too much running, humidity or if my legs were just tired. Tyson was feeling great and I then realized that I needed to worry less about him being able to keep up and worry more about me being able to keep up! It was awesome to finish with him and see someone conquer something they had never done. Tyson officially understands the runners itch & high:)

We couldn't tell what the weather was going to do that afternoon but it was perfect and she looked beautiful and everything went great. We danced the night away and even survived a few falls, Courtney went to hop on Tanya's back but Tanya wasn't ready therefore they crashed, then Courtney, Tanya and I were dancing when Courtney all of sudden pulls out a new dance move sprang her ankle and wiped out which lead to Tanya and I laughing so hard that we proceeded to wipe out. No permanent injuries, just a lot of good laughs.

a fathers day not to be forgotten...

Went home this weekend to celebrate fathers day with the whole clan, my dad and I planned to go for a long bike ride and then go to our favorite spot for breakfast. The morning was going pretty good despite biking into the wind for 20 miles we were pretty much wrapped up in our conversation and we made it to Evansville before we knew it. We were at 18 miles and my dad made a comment that he would like to get 40 in so we kept going and when we hit 20 miles and started to turn around so did the entire morning...

As I was about to turn around I heard my dads bike crash to the pavement and looked back to see my dad do a complete barrel roll across the pavement. At first I started to giggle because I didn’t know what else to do and told him “that was an amazing barrel roll!” I saw him do something to his hand and he said “I broke my finger, but I think I just reset it.” He held up his hand and his middle finger was still crooked and his ring finger was bleeding pretty bad. Two seconds later my dad was on the ground pouring water on himself trying not to pass out. At this point I started to freak out and started bawling and he had to tell me to pull it together and call mom. I was panicking so much that it took me 5 minutes to call her number. I knew my dad was in a ton of pain because when my mom suggested she pick up the suburban that has the carrier for both our bikes my dad told her to come straight to Evansville and said she might even have to drive on the bike path to get him. Right before he crashed he had told me his heart rate was at 160, when I looked at his watch after the crash it was down to 60 so I knew he could pass out anytime. He wanted to get back to Evansville so my mom wouldn’t have to drive on the bike path so he pedaled a little ways and got dizzy and had to get off a couple times. At one point when we moving at a snails pace back to Evansville I looked at him and said “happy fathers day” he started laughing pretty hard and then I knew he was going to be fine. We made it to Evansville in perfect time as my mom was just pulling up, we got his bike thrown in the truck and they took off. My dad had to get his finger reset again and the nurse thought it was too much adrenaline and the shock that was making him so sick, he was already feeling 100% minus the finger when I picked him up from the doctor so we decided to go get some breakfast. We were so hungry we practically ordered the entire menu and rehashed the scene a million times, by this time it was so funny we could barely talk. We both agreed it was a fathers day we would never forget...

1st for everything

This week was all about going out of my comfort zone and doing a few things I've thought of doing for a while now but just couldn't get the oomph to do it!

Carissa (my marathon partner) decided she was going to do her first triathlon this summer, so we were going to meet up Tuesday night for a brick workout, an hour of biking followed by a 3 mile run...the weather has been so unpredictable so we thought we would hit up a spin class and run on the treadmills but much to our surprise we got some gorgeous weather and didn't want to waste it being indoors. I have been wanting to try the bike path from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius for a while now but with my sense of direction (lack of) I didn't want to try it on my own. Carissa is a human Garmin so I thought it would be the perfect time to go and find it.

I loaded our bikes on the bike rack which I put on entirely by myself (for the first time) I sort of impressed myself with but couldn't take my eyes off the bikes the entire way there I thought for sure it was not going to end well! Of course I got us lost but Carissa put us back on track and we were able to find it and park no problem. The path was great and it was so much fun to catch up with Carissa, we were definitely a pair out there, I'm sure people were wondering who the two yahoos in the neon tanks were! Neither of us are comfortable on bikes so it was sort of hard for us to even look at each other. Taking one hand off the handle bars meant veering in that direction and I of course had to show Carissa how I have a near wipeout every time I bike...for real. We finished the night with a 3 mile run and got cleaned up and went to Cowboy Jacks for Tuesday night Fajita Night, my FAVORITE!! Overall a great night, put on the bike rack by myself, bikes didn't fall off, found the bike path, and didn't actually totally wipeout...

I'm really going to get serious about the food I buy and learning how to cook. So Thursday I researched a recipe I could make and headed to Fresh and Natural on the way home. I about had a melt down when I walked in and saw my asparagus I wanted was 10$ but kept an open mind, took my time walking through the aisles and found that I could buy my dinner supplies and not have it be totally outrageous! I ran into one obstacle, the recipe called for ginger root, I didn't even know where to begin to look, I got side tracked by the chocolate covered raisins (YUM) for a while and then decided I should ask, she pointed it out to me and I about panicked, did I need to buy the entire root? How do you cook with it? I don't get it??!! I asked the lady if I had to buy the entire thing when my recipe only called for 2 inches (I should have known when it called for 2 inches dangit) and she said that was exactly what I did. So I broke off a couple inches, bagged her up and went to the check out. I got home poured myself a nice glass of wine and told myself to take a deep breath before I started. I made Mahi Mahi with a Lime/Soy/Ginger marinade, red potatoes and green beans with almonds. I must say that other then a couple burnt fingers it all turned out and was probably the best dinner I've made for Tyson in our 4 years of marriage. I was really proud of myself for completing the task but also I made a few mistakes during the process and instead of throwing it all away and calling Pizza Hut I just figured out how to deal with it (ie fish exploding, shaving the ginger root??, putting plastic in the oven!) and thought it my head, well now you know better for next time.:)

This morning Ty and I both got up early to get a workout in and I got back to the house earlier then expected so I made oatmeal on the stove and mixed in peanut butter. Tyson couldn't believe it, cooking twice in one week, let alone 2 days...I could tell he was impressed:)

Looking forward to next week and teaching this ol' dog some more new tricks!

Love the Handles...

The love handles that is...the nice squishy stuff that when I'm frustrated or in deep concentration they provide such nice added cushion and resting ground for my hands to be placed.:)

I went to a physical therapy appointment Monday, after being sick all winter and with the busyness of training I needed a refresher course in my exercises, stretches etc. My PT is an ultra marathoner so we love to talk about races, paces and all that fun stuff. After we got done going through my workout I asked him what I can do about my “love handles” and he looked at me in almost disgust and goes “Katie, those are what being a woman and an athlete is all about.” I kind of just rolled my eyes and thought “easy for him to say he’s a guy!” But the more I thought about it the more I think he’s right. These love handles swam in the lake taking in waves each breath and endured chaffing from my wetsuit, biked with my dad 30 miles allowing us some quality time to get away and catch up followed by running 4 miles with my dad pedaling next to me all back to back. When you ask me the best part about my weekend I would tell you the 3 hour workout, that I got to do something that I love with someone I love.

I got a fitness magazine and there was a huge Dove campaign where women were saying what they were thankful for about their bodies. Many said they were thankful their body fought cancer, held up during a marathon, or was able to have a baby. It got me thinking about why we don't see all the great things our bodies do for us and instead focus on those lingering love handles?

I had a 10 miler this morning and the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about how I don’t want to be that woman who misses all these great things in life because I’m focusing on a little piece that I don’t like so much. It’s so easy to listen to the voices that tell you all the things you are lacking, missing and needing but I think if I can be intentional about silencing them and instead think about all the many things I have to be thankful and excited for I can become that woman I want to be...

Along that note their are a lot of things I have to be excited for:

1.) I’m thinking about going back to school to be a Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Health, I’ve always been intrigued my nutrition and how it can heal and fuel our bodies for a while now and with the program allowing me to keep working full time, I thought why not?!

2.) Going up to the Cabin with my four best friends from High School for the weekend, need I say more?

3.) Saving the best for last.........KRISTIN ARMSTRONG is running the Twin Cities Marathon, I might ditch Tyson so I can run with her and her clan, how great would that be!!???

training has started...

Up until the last couple weeks I really haven't felt like I've been training for a half-ironman. However the last couple weeks I have been completing every workout on the schedule (not blindly "skipping" the ones I don't want to do) and even completed a few 3 hour workouts.

For Memorial Day Weekend I went up to Alex and the weather was glorious! I left work early on Friday to get up to Alex without hitting much traffic. That morning I had met a friend for spin class and also got a swim in so I could just relax Friday night.

Saturday morning my dad and I got up early to get going and were pumped to see how gorgeous it was outside! We hit the trails, and headed to a nearby town of Osakis and got off the path a bit to go around the lake. All the cabins were buzzing with vacationers getting their weekend started, it was so fun to see. We forgot to eat anything before we took off, we were starting to get super hungry and to make it worse every cabin we biked by smelt of delicious bacon. My dad made the comment that if he smelled bacon one more time he was inviting himself in, and I think I would have joined him!

After getting back we enjoyed a huge breakfast and then joined the family on the lake. I forgot to wear sunscreen so it was a good thing I had a shower to go to at 3, because when I went inside I was already fried! The shower was with my four best friends from high school and their moms, it was a good time to catch up.

The next morning I got a 1o mile run in, I mostly went around the lake as that's my favorite path but had to veer off a bit to get the mileage in. My legs felt heavy but not too bad, overall it was a great run!

To close out the memorial weekend I decided to get my wetsuit out and get a swim in, while my little sisters followed by me on the jet ski. It's been a while since I've swam in the lake and forgot what waves feel like, after swallowing two of them I decided to just breath on one side and call it good.

The weekend was an overall success, little by little I'm feeling stronger and more confident I'll survive the race in 8 weeks, yikes!!