The Year in Review.

Since I am now 31, I thought you might all want an update on how my year went. Overall I think it went well.



1. Run 30 miles each month. Definitely did this one. In fact, depending on the month I may have run 90-100 miles in some months.

2. Run another 10K at a faster pace than my last one. I ran 2 -10Ks faster than my last one. I ran a lot this year!

3. Run a half marathon. I did 2 and will do another one in December and maybe October if I am feeling ambitious.

4. Lose 30 pounds. Well, I don't think I lost 30 pounds, but I lost a lot of inches and gained a lot of muscle because of my running.

5. Climb a 14er. This one didn't happen, which I was bummed about, but it is something I have to find someone to do with me. Maybe next year...

6. Read 30 books. I read 34 books. A lot of them were from this summer, 11 I think.

7. Watch 30 minutes less of TV every week. I didn't really have a way to figure this one out for sure, but I know that there are many days that I don't even turn on my TV, which is a big change.

8. Pay off one of my student loans. Didn't get this one finished either, but I made some great progress and hopefully it will be paid off in the next couple of months.

9. Save $50/month. I did this, but then I of course had some car problems and had to dip into the money, but it was nice to have.

10. Call one of my friends that I don't live close to each month. Definitely did this and enjoyed talking to many people that I hadn't talked to in a long time.

Staycation

I got to do go on a staycation with a few friends last weekend. It was so nice to get out of town and just enjoy a part of Colorado I've never been to before. Our original plan was go just go to the Sand Dunes, but we actually saw a lot of things besides that. We left on Sunday afternoon and drove down to the Sand Dunes. We planned on staying right by the Sand Dunes, but we couldn't get a reservation so we ended up staying about 30 minutes away and we loved the place and the lady that ran it. She was hilarious!

On Monday morning we woke up and drove to Zapata Falls for a short hike. It was beautiful and I would have never known that there was a waterfall back in there if there hadn't been a sign for it.

Then we went on to the Sand Dunes. It truly is amazing that there are huge Sand Dunes right in the middle of Colorado. I would look at them and forget for a second that I was still in Colorado and then I'd turn around and see the mountains. If you've never been I recommend going just to see it.

Our next stop was the Alligator Farm. I was really nervous because it has 450 gators and a lot of snakes and reptiles too. It was really fun, but I was pretty jumpy the whole time. We even got to hold an alligator at the beginning. I was nervous, but I was fine and I'm glad to be able to say that I held and alligator.

Then we were off in search of lunch. The closest place was Salida, so we drove over there and ate. On the way back we decided to stop at the Royal Gorge Bridge. We got poured on, but we made sure we all got our picture taken by our state flag.

It was a whirlwind of a couple days but I had a great time!

No More Credit Cards

I have been without a credit card for 3 months. I never carried much of a balance on it and then the card company decided that they were going to raise my interest rate. At that point I decided it was time to cancel it because I didn't really need it at all. I'd been toying with the idea for awhile since I'm trying to stick with Dave Ramsey's plan, but I felt a security having it, even though Matt assured me that it was a false sense of security. So, I've been without any credit card (except for my debit card) for 3 months and I don't miss it one bit. I've noticed that I'm definitely aware of what I spend my money on because I know that I don't have that card to use "just in case." I like that I have one less person that I owe money to!

Washington

I had a great trip to Washington! The time really did fly by and I can't believe that it is already over. I feel like I have been waiting for this trip for so long and now it is over. We got into Seattle last Thursday morning and spent the day down by the water and at Pikes Market. Pikes Market is a huge farmers market and is home to the famous Pikes Fish Market.

Friday was a sightseeing day in Seattle. We went on a duck tour, which was a bus tour that takes you on a tour of the city by land and by water. It was a really fun tour and was definitely a highlight of the trip.

On Saturday we headed to Sequim to get ready for our race. We made sure we got there in enough time to register for the race, get back to the place we were staying so we could get to bed early and be ready for the race. The race was on Sunday and I felt like it was a great race for me personally. I ran it in 2:40, which wasn't a great time for me, but I thought that I had great endurance. I didn't walk during the first 9 miles except for the enormous hills and the water stations. By the time mile 10 hit I was so exhausted and my legs felt like lead. But I made it and was really proud that I finished my race. Now I am planning on running another one at the end of June here in Colorado.

The rest of the week we spent in the NW part of Washington. We visited a place called the Olympic Game Park. It is a place that has animals that have been rescued for some reason or another and they wander around and are not in cages. Really the only ones that aren't in cages are the llamas, buffalo, goats, and zebras. The best part are the bears. Most of them are bears that have been in movies, so they are trained to do tricks and most of them will wave to you. You buy a loaf of bread for $2 and you can feed them all they want. The bears were behind a fence, but had a lot of space to run. They stay close to the fence because of course they want the bread. It was so cool!!

We went to Cape Flattery which is the most Northwestern point of the continental United States. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. It took about 30 minutes to hike to it. That night we stayed in LaPush, which is where some of the movie Twilight was filmed. We stayed right on First Beach. It was really cold there, but it was beautiful as well. The next day we drove into Forks, which is where Twilight is based. It was a kind of a ghetto town, but it was fun to see where the story took place. On our way back from Forks we stopped at the Hoh Rainforest. We hiked up to a waterfall that was only about a mile and a half in. It was another beautiful sight and so fun to be hiking in a rainforest.

On Thursday we headed back to Seattle. We went to Pikes Market again and then went and saw the Troll.

It was such a great trip! I had so much fun and really enjoyed the people I was with! Now we just have to figure out where our next destination run will be!

Counting Down

There are several exciting things coming up and I am definitely counting the days.

~5 days until I'm done with the school year
Let's face it, I've been counting this one down for several weeks. It is just so close and within reach that I seem to be counting down by half days lately. :) This past week is filled with field trips, programs, parties, and field day. It is going to fly by. I can't wait for a LONG summer. I'm so ready!!!

~8 days until the BolderBoulder
This is definitely my favorite race so far. I can't wait to run it again this year, especially because I have worked up to it and think I'll have a really great time this year!

~18 days until I'm on a plane for Seattle
I can't wait for this vacation!! It really snuck up on me, but I'm so glad it is getting close. That leads me to the next countdown...

~21 days until my 1st half marathon
YIKES!!!! How did this get here so fast!?!?!?!? I know I've been training for 10 weeks but WOW it is almost here!! I am excited but also nervous. Just praying that my body holds out because this training and distance has definitely taken a toll on my body. I'll definitely be posting an update after that race.

~2 hours until my head hits the pillow
I'm so exhausted. I forget how wild and crazy this time of year is and I'm finding myself either working, running, eating, or sleeping. That is basically my life for the next 5 days. Then it will just be running, eating, sleeping. :)

The Last Several Weeks

These past few weeks have been pretty hectic and crazy. Here are a few highlights of what has been going on.

*My parents came and helped me repaint my entire apartment. It looks great. The color is what we like to call McKenzie Khaki. My dad also persuaded me to paint a red accent wall. It looks really great and I love it!

*I went to Phoenix to spend a weekend with the McKenzies. All the boys were getting together so my mom, Aunt Mary, & I got together for the weekend to. We spend the majority of the time shopping with a little time hanging out by the pool. It was really nice and relaxing. I also got to see my friends the Herringtons and their 3 kids. It was a great surprise to spend time with them.

*Matt, Jena, & Josh came down this weekend. Matt & Jena were looking for things to finish up their house so I got to babysit Josh. He is growing like crazy and is really fun. I loved that I got to watch him and help them out too!

*I've been training like crazy for my half marathon. I have been running 5 days a week and 20-25 miles a week. It is very time consuming, but it has been fun. I'm up to 9 miles so I'm almost there. I did strain my hamstring a few weeks ago which was very painful and required me to stop running for several days (which was not fun), but it is better now.

*I only have 19 days of school left! Yea!!! I'm so excited. I can't wait for summer. I love having vacation.

Runnin' of the Green Race

It has been a long time since I've last updated. Sorry about that. I didn't realize it had been this long. So, to all of you who read my blog I'm sorry that I've been a slacker in my blogging.

I ran a 7K race today. It was 4.4 miles and it was so great! There were about 7,000 people running the race, so it was busy and crazy but I love the frenzy on race days. That is part of what makes it so exciting for me. I ran with 4 other friends and we were going to run together, but 3 of them run much faster than I do and I'm more interested in beating my time instead of beating other runners. One of my friends and I run at about the same pace, so we ran together most of the way, which was really nice. I finished in 50 minutes and 11 seconds, so that is an 11.36 minute mile. I am so proud of that time. I usually run between 12-13 minute miles during the race, so my speed is improving!! Yay!! The course was very hilly even though I was told there was only 1 hill. That was not the case. There were probably 4-5 hills, but my friend I was running with gave me a new strategies for hills. She told me to look down at the road when you are running hills instead of looking up to see where the hill ends. That made it so much easier because before I knew it I was at the top of the hill and running down the other side. I love it! I'm going to do that from now on. I can't wait for my next race. It is the season for racing since the weather is getting warmer. Hopefully it will stay warm so I can keep running! I'll post pictures when I get them from my friend. I think we got some good ones!

1 Year

It's been one year since I've started running. Never in a million years did I think that I would still be running after a year and that I would become one of those people who like to run. I've come a long way in a year. I started out not being able to run longer than 5 minutes at a time and now I'm training for a half marathon! I never thought I would do something like that, but here I am.I've changed my priorities on some things in my life and decided to make myself and my heath a priority. It has been great for me. Yes, that does mean that sometimes I have to say no to going and eating out with people and sometimes I have to choose going to the gym over going home and sitting on my couch, but it has been worth it. I've realized that I don't really need to be sitting around watching TV and I actually accomplish so many more things. I haven't actually gone to do my run yet today so I better get going before I lose my motivation for the day!

Recycling

I started recycling last weekend. I really got motivated when I was at my parents' house over break to look into recycling since they recycle. It really is amazing how much I use that can be recycled. My trash has been cut in half. A bonus is that I don't have to sort it either. I just have to drive it down to the elementary school down the street and dump it in the recycling dumpster. So, it really doesn't take very much time for me to do at all and I'm helping reduce the amount of trash that I contribute to the landfills. I'm not really the tree-hugging type of person, but this is just something small that I can do to help the environment.

I'm trying to be productive this weekend. I didn't do anything last weekend, which was nice, but I really did have things I needed to get done. Hopefully I can get everything done that I need to this weekend. The weekends always go by too fast.

Long Weekend

I have a 3 day weekend and I am so happy. All week long I contemplated a day off just to be at home and do nothing! I think I was needing a mental health day or something. You would think that I didn't just have 2 1/2 weeks off. I guess maybe that is why I felt I needed a day off. I didn't end up taking one because there was just too much to do and I didn't get home until 8pm every night this week. I don't have any plans for the weekend, which I love! I'm just going to sit around, watch movies, read my book, and probably work out too.

I did start reading Marley & Me even though I know how it ends. So, I'll probably finish that today because I can't put it down. It is hysterical. Any pet lover should read it. Hope you all have a nice weekend whether or not you have a long one.

Busy, Busy

I have been thinking all week that I need to blog, but it was just a crazy week. I started back to school and boy was I exhausted. I could barely get out of bed every morning. Then on Friday night I fell asleep at 9:00 and didn't wake up until 8:30. I think I could have still slept some more too, but I figured that I should get out of bed. Getting back in the groove of school just makes me tired. It couldn't have anything to do with 23 6 year olds stealing all of my energy from me, could it?? It has been good to be back. I always hope for the Christmas Miracle when I go back. That is when my students all grow up and are more mature after Christmas. I think I am seeing the miracle in some of them, but definitely not in all of them. They are still cute and sweet though. I also don't have to see the movie Marley & Me because every single one of my students told me how it ends. They even told me after I told them to not tell me the end. I hate knowing the end of books or movies. So, I'm not excited to see the movie at all which makes me a little sad, but what do you do. I'm sure it will still be good and I could have probably guessed the end, but still I would have liked to see the movie or read the book before I knew the ending.

I have also been thinking a lot about my finances this past week. Maybe because my church is talking about the economy and finances right now or maybe because I think about it a lot. The series is called Econome. Get it?? Basically, talking about what the economy has to do with you. They are talking about all of Dave Ramsey's principles and it has just been a good reminder to me to take a closer look at how I'm spending and to be better about sticking to my budget. That car payment that I used to have is getting spent somewhere. I just need to figure out where and figure out how to pay off more debt with that.

I'm back into the running mode these past couple of weeks. I can't say that I'm enjoying it as much as I usually do. I think I am just really nervous to attempt a half marathon and I keep telling myself that I can't do it. Well, I'm going to do it even if I don't think I can just to prove to myself that I can do it! Hopefully I'll start enjoying running again because I do love it. I still ran about 12 miles this week, so I guess I'm not totally hating it. I'll keep pressing on.