Winter Wrap Up

SLTC

Winter is over!  Who says you can't train, race, and have a little fun just because it's cold outside!?  Here is my winter wrap up.
This winter I joined the Salt Lake Tri Club.  The club consists of athletes of all levels who have a love for triathlons.  I love being a part of a group that focuses on being active, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and supporting each other in reaching training goals.  As a team, we participated in the USAT club challenge.  You basically logged your miles for the swim, bike, and run for the months of December, January, and February.  December-swim focus, January- bike, February- run (yay for running!!).  On one of the Saturdays in December, SLTC held a swim challenge to help boost our numbers.  Swimming is NOT my strong point, but I was able to finish 60 x 100's  -the farthest I have ever swam. :)   It was fun to log miles and have your training miles count for something.  SLTC ended up #1 in our division and region!  Woot, woot!!  I also signed up for a 6 week computraining class at the BAM Wattage Cottage.  An hour and a half class at 5:30 a.m. twice a week.  An excellent way to get bike training in during the winter.  Matt Farva was our AWESOME instructor - "bump it up!"  The class was a blast!!

Poppin' Tarts

UTAH LAKE RUN

My craziest winter adventure - running across Utah Lake!  I tried to convince Chad to go with me, but had no such luck.  So I found a few other crazies to go with me - Jeff and Rob!

Before I left the house, Chad halfway jokingly asked if I was taking a rope with me in case I fell in.   He was a little worried about me running across the lake.  I reassured him that I would be just fine and promised that I would be safe.
 The run started out at Pelican Bay in Saratoga Springs.  We met up with a running group around 6:30 a.m. to run across the lake.  One of the guys in the group was handing out foot warmers to stick in our shoes.  They worked great!  Before you know it we were off and running.  With a layer of ice and snow under our feet, we crunched our way to the other side, Lindon Harbor. 

About 1/2 mile from the other side, there was little snow cover and mostly ice, so we slid our way to the halfway point.  It was 6 miles to get across the lake and then we turned around and ran back.  Somewhere in the middle of the lake were these cool drifts where the water had broken through the ice and refroze.  We took some pictures and then kept running.  When we made it back across, we just had to do snow angels to celebrate!  This is definitely something you don't get to do every day!  A little risky, yes, but sooo much fun!!!  Utah Valley 360 write-up

Tri-States Marathon

And of course I had to add a race during the winter to break it up!  I decided to sign up for the Tri-States marathon in Mesquite, Nevada (12/7/13).  I loved the idea of running a marathon through 3 states - Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.  I thought that heading south for a race during the winter would be a break from the cold, but there were lower temperatures than usual on race day.   It was really cold at the starting line.  Once the race started and I was off and running, I had layered up right and was just fine.  This was a smaller race and my goal was to place in the top 3, so I lined up close to the starting line. The first 5-6 miles, I ran with another girl and a group of guys down the small canyon.  By about mile 7, I was running by myself and happened to be the lead female runner.  The course flattened out and I settled into a good pace and kept on going.  At about mile 16, there was a cattle guard you had to cross.  The gaps between the bars were pretty wide and there wasn't a bar in the middle to run across. On the side of this cattle guard was a cement ledge, so I decided to run on the ledge to get around the cattle guard.  I hopped up onto the ledge and since it didn't go the entire length of the cattle guard I not so gracefully jumped towards the road.  My foot clipped the cattle guard and I went down on my hands and knees and landed on the cattle guard.  Ouch! I got up and tried to start running again.   There was a terrible pain in my left knee and I had to walk.  I knew I wasn't that far ahead of 2nd place and if I continued to walk, I would be passed in no time.  In front of me, was the first of many short steep climbs that were scattered in the last 10 miles.  I couldn't give up!  I started running.  It hurt like no other, but I continued moving forward. 


Each hill was excruciating, but I kept on going.  Finally that last short steep hill and then a turn and then I could see the finish.  As I crossed the finish, I was so glad to be done!  I was able to hold onto first place.  My first 1st place overall finish in a marathon! 3:09:45.