St George Here We Come!!!!

So my good friend Alicia Hughes Baer who was in some of my personal training classes, introduced me to the idea of enjoying training for a marathon. It was just after she ran the 2009 St George Marathon in October when we were heading down to do the annual Huntsman World senior Games Carotid Artery Screenings with our favorite professor Dr. Hager (he's going to be my advisor for my ultimate thesis for my masters over the next 2 years!!). She got me all excited about the reality of actually doing one, which has never been a huge dream, but she really got me psyched about the experience!! And the only other "competitive" run I've done was the Cougar Run 5k back in fall of 2008...

Really, I always tell people since trying out for the BYU Soccer team last February, that the best motivation to stay healthy is taking your mind off of the actual health, and focus on a fun goal instead! So, I'm really walking the walk and I've been preparing for my first ever 10 miler at the Riverwoods scheduled for June 12. I started training weeks ago, but have really enjoyed improving my times and running the long distances, more than I originally thought! I have always known myself to be motivated by kicking some kind of ball or chasing someone down who had some kind of an advantage. Or sprinting short distances, but this will be a real start to my hopes of a life long relationship with distance runs.

And, Dayvisson and I have been preparing for Peru next Thursday (holy cow! less than a week away!). I've been trying to imagine what running on the streets of Peru will be like...sights and sounds, my ipod telling me how far I've gone, and hoping I can really come out strong (maybe improve my O2 with the elevation!!!). Dayvisson might have to hold me back from running switch backs up Machu Pichu! hahaha!

Anyway, besides the 10 miler, I have exactly 16 weeks to get ready for my first ever marathon in St George. This is equally exciting because May 7 (today) is the day you find out if you actually have a spot in the race, and I am SOOOOOOO relieved that I'll have one!! I planned on running it with Alicia, but we'll see how we can motivate each other from states away. I'm really optimistic about our training schedules this summer and hoping to pump some of that motivation in Dayvisson's direction to do something that he would love. We've thought and talked about doing a triathlon for at least a year, but we'll see what the future brings and what we can plan on.

ALSO really exciting news! Dayvisson and I sat down at our last FHE and were talking about the future months of his job. It looks like his weeks off will fall on Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas this year!!! WOW!!!!! We're talking about a few ideas, but seriously SO excited for the possibilities!

For now, just hope we're prepared for all we're planning for and we can improve in our goals! Look out St George!!!