Update for the week

Since it is Friday evening I guess I'll give you an update for the week.

I am running my first Ultra Marathon on August 13th in the mountains outside of Afton, Wyoming. It is 31 miles with lots of climbing and descending. So in preparation for this upcoming race my training goal for the week was to run a total of 40 miles with one long run on Friday. And I did it!
Monday - 5 Miles
Tuesday - 5 Miles
Wednesday - 6 Miles in the a.m. and 2.5 miles in the p.m.
Thursday - 2 Miles
Friday - 19.5 Miles
My run today was all done on trails around Kemmerer. I linked up a bunch of different trails that Audrey and I have ran on to complete that distance. It felt pretty good to do it and especially to be done with it. I'm hoping that it translates into doing well in the race.

The shirts for the Burn Your Lungs Run got ordered this week.
I did some premarital counseling
Got my hair cut
We sold our white car!
Biked Maya & Mountie for exercise
Planned out Sunday
Worked on stuff for the BYLR on July 30 - Got a great ad in the paper
Had a date with Audrey

So there you have it.... my week not in a nut shell, but in a blog post.

Friends Of Animals 5k-9 Fun Run Race Report

On Saturday we ran in the FOA 5k-9 Fun Run in Park City Utah. The run was part of the "Bark In The Park" event. One of the reasons that we decided to run this race was because you could run with your dog. Audrey has been wanting to run a race with Maya for a long time, and we thought it would be hilarious to be a part of. 

They had the runners with no dogs start first, and then the runners with dogs start 15-30 seconds afterwards. I opted to not run with Mountie because in dog years he is equivalent to an old man, and he can only last about 1 mile at a good pace. So I took off with the non-dog runners. I settled into third place at a pretty decent pace, not really wanting to kill myself early on because 1st and 2nd place were still within distance of catching and passing. 

I was gaining ground on the 2nd place runner and passed him in a rural area of the course where the road was doing some winding. I was probably about 50 yards behind first place with about a mile and a quarter to go. Plenty of time to catch him. But as soon as I passed the guy who was in 2nd I noticed his shadow and his arm was waving up and down. So I looked up and off to the right where it looked like he was pointing and there was an arrow telling us to turn. 1st place missed the turn so he was disqualified. I left the guy who was now in 2nd behind and basically died the last 1/2 mile into the finish, but finished 1st place overall!! In 19:13 no less! A new personal record for the 5k!

After about a minute Audrey and Maya came flying across the finish line, which was a total surprise because I thought they would be farther back. 1st Female overall (she even beat the girls who were running without a dog and they got a head start) 1st place overall runner with a dog, and a PR for her too. 20:12!

Once we got a drink and got Maya a drink we let Mountie out of the car and explored the other 100 dogs that were at the park. We hung around till we got our awards: $50.00 each to JANS Sporting Goods Store, $25.00 each to the Tanger Outlet Mall, and a huge winner's medal. 

After that we went and ate lunch, then spent some of our winnings! We each got a pair of sandals at JANS, and then I got 3 pairs of socks and Audrey got a TRI suit at the Pearl Izumi store at Tanger. 

All in all a great day!!!

My race results - the guy in front of me was the one who got DQ'd

Audrey's Results

Audrey and Maya after winning their race!

Giving Maya a little love for running so well!

My winning bib number!

Cooling off after the race for Maya - Cooling off after sitting in the hot Tahoe for Mountie.

They had booths with free stuff for dogs

Posing with the pups

Here we are!

Claiming my first place prize

Bling Bling

Audrey & Maya getting their prize

Winners!

Our new Sanuk Sandals - amazingly comfortable

Our Pearl Izumi loot.

Audrey's new TRI suit

The Hunger Games Book Review

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult novel, geared more towards high school and college age students, but I had heard that the storyline was a pretty good one and that it was a good book... So, I checked it out. And I was pleasantly surprised. The Hunger Games is the first book in a trilogy, and all the books are currently published, so you can go straight from one to the next without having to wait a long time.
A quick bare bones premise of the book is that every year the people in charge at the "Capitol" require 2 teenagers from each of the 12 districts to participate in what is called the Hunger Games. This tournament was born out of a rebellion that was squashed when the 12 districts tried to overthrow the "Capitol". And in retaliation the "Capitol" reminds all 12 districts who is in charge through the games. The 24 teenagers get thrown into an area of land and the last one standing wins. They have to fight, outwit, and stay alive.
The story follows one main character Katniss Everdeen and her journey through all that happens with the games.
It is a quick read, I finished it in about a week. A good book if you are looking for something easy and entertaining.

Wild Iris 21k Trail Run In Lander, WY

The Wild Iris 21k Trail Run was part of the International Climber's Festival held in Lander, WY during the 2nd week of July. The race is held in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains, and it was one of our favorite races from last year. This year didn't disappoint either. The trip started Friday morning when Audrey and I loaded up the Tahoe and took off for Lander. We shopped at an entirely gluten free store in Riverton for Audrey, picked up our race bags, walked around downtown, checked into a cheap motel, got some sleep, and headed up to the Wild Iris area outside of Lander.
The race started at 7:00 a.m. with only a handful of runners (maybe 30 max). We took off and just cruised along not really pushing hard, but just enjoying the beauty of it all. After about 7 or 8 miles Audrey wasn't feeling too hot, a little bit of sickness or flu or hitting the dreaded "wall". So we power hiked, jogged our way back to the finish, which is no small task since the last half of the race is all uphill. I'm talking 2,000 ft. of elevation uphill.
So we finished, had a great time in beautiful country, headed back and showered, ate at Gannett Grill (I got the Bansai Burger - grilled pineapple on it), enjoyed some good conversation over lunch, then headed back to Kemmerer to get ready for Sunday.
All in all it was a good trip!
Pictures will be posted soon!

Linda K. Woody Memorial 5k Race Report

July 4th started off with driving to Mountain View, Wyoming to participate in the Linda K. Woody Memorial 5k Fun Run. We found out about this race last week, and since it was close to us decided to give it a shot. The weather was overcast and cool - just about perfect to run in. The race started at 8:00 a.m. and we rolled into the parking lot about 7:30 a.m. Enough time to get our bib numbers, put on our shoes, go to the bathroom, and head to the start line.
There was probably only about 50 or so other runners so we figured we had a good shot at being towards the top. They director yelled, "Go!", and we were off. At a 5k everyone takes off way faster than they should, including me... I guess I get caught up in it all too. But Audrey starts more conservatively, so I hung with her and didn't wear myself out in the first 1/2 mile. There were about 8 people in front of us that we started to pick off methodically. We passed 4 of them and the ones ahead of us (Cross Country High School Boys) had about 30 seconds on us.
At this point I thought I might be able to catch them, so I sped up some and stayed about 30 seconds ahead of Audrey the entire rest of the race. Needless to say this is how it ended. I was 5th overall; 2nd in my age division from 18-30, and Audrey was first female overall! and 6th overall total.
I finished in 20:09 and Audrey came in roughly at 20:30. After the race was over we grabbed postcards that I made up for the Burn Your Lungs Run and put them on all the cars that were parked there. Hopefully some of those people will come up and run in our race!
Where we really did good was with the awards. Since Audrey was 1st place she won a new pair of sunglasses; a $100 gift card to Amazon; a hydration pack; and a medal. And for my 2nd place Age Division I won a medal; a small cooler; and waterproof backpacking sacks.
Totally worth the drive! And we made it home by 10:15 a.m. 
If you follow the link below it will take you to my Garmin Stats on the race. Time/Elevation/Splits/Etc...
Linda K. Woody Memorial 5k by roscol24 at Garmin Connect - Details

Audrey claiming her 1st place female prize.

Showing off her winnings!

Bling.