7:20... The Blur

Okay, not to brag or anything… who am I kidding I’m totally going to brag. :) This past weekend I ran the Deseret News 10K. I’ve run it the past 3 or 4 years, it’s a good route, has a lot of down-hill. I had a goal going into it that I wanted to run it averaging less than 8 minute miles. I’ve been doing lots of hill training lately, which I’ve found really helps with increasing your speed in distance runs.

Anyway, I started out the race with my friend Kathleen. After a few minutes of casual running, trying to dart in and out away from the mad crush of people. This race is especially bad because it has so many people. The first half mile is always slow going and just trying to pull yourself away from the crowds. I ran at what I felt was a good pace just running hard when I could, laying off a little when I started to get tired.

I got to the end, and ran past the large timing clock they have above the finish line. The clock read 48 minutes. I knew my time would be faster than that though. They base it off of your chip time, as your foot crosses the start and finish lines, not the gun time. When the gun went off, I was still using the little ladies room (if a gross port-a-potty can be considered the ‘ladies’ room) so I got off to a delayed start.

I got online later to check my official time:

45 minutes!!! Wahoo, my average pace was 7:20. I was 17th place in my age group out of 228 people, and 107th overall in females out of 1233. Needless to say I was pretty happy with my run.

The goal for next year: an average pace of 6:58 :)

Then and Now

I can bravely admit, that I am a die-hard rollerblading lover. I have to say “bravely” because sadly, I get teased a lot for rollerblading. For some reason a lot of people seem to think that Blading (that’s what the cool kids call it) was a fad that came and went in the early 90’s. I can’t even tell you the time’s people have given me ‘the look’ when I tell them I’m going. The look that says ‘seriously? You still rollerblade? Are you kidding me?” They always laugh, and make fun. I merely shake it off, and go on my way. It’s their loss after all.

For those of you who owned a pair of blades similar to the Variflex I have pictured above (don’t be ashamed, I also proudly owned a pair of the flouresent green beauties) you think rollerblading has come and gone, and isn't popular or cool anymore. I’m here to tell you though, that rollerblading is not dead. Not dead at all.

As fate would have it, I had a friend in college who had rollerblades, and got me going again based on her love for it. I invested in a pair of blades, and haven’t looked back since. Since then I’ve gone through 3 sets of blades, and about 32 wheels. What can I say, I really like it.

When I lived in Provo, I would go just about anywhere. The streets were a lot more 'Blade Friendly' then they are here in Salt Lake. My favorite places to go now are along the parkway trails. Provo, West Jordan, and my new favorite, the Draper parkway trail. The Draper Parkway is a lot less busy and has really long stretches of hilly emptiness, no dogs or kids to make get out of your way.

I probably can’t do it justice by writing about it, but there’s this moment as I’m rollerblading along the trail. A moment where I’m going down this hill, followed by a straightaway--I’ve managed to pick up so much speed, it feels like I’m flying. In fact, I’m going so fast, that I’m flirting with being out of control. Like if I hit a rock or a bump at that speed, I would crash horrifically, eating asphalt, or landing in shrubbery and gravel--but that’s all part of the fun and thrill. There’s sunshine and blue skies, wind in my hair, empty trail in front of me, music playing on my iPod, and life is good. Those moments are small little spurts of happiness that help get me through rough days.

This other Rollerblade picture is the pair I currently own. A little different than the above Veraflex. :)

Basically what i'm saying to anyone who doesn't own a pair of rollerblades: Maybe it's time to invest in some. The pro's far outweigh the cons.

Pros: Great alternative exercise, fun, speed, allows you to be outside, better on your knees than running.

Cons: hmm... look at that, I can't think of any cons. :)

Well besides the fact that i've totally fallen and eaten it a few times, and one time I thought I broke my wrist after falling. :) other than that, best hobby ever.

'Real athletes run others just play games...'

Here is my entire team. Thanks guys for another awesome year.

Ragnar-- “In mythology and legend, a man (or woman), often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for their bold exploits, and favored by the Gods.”

I once again did the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay this year. It was my third year in a row doing it. It's over, but i'm already excited for next year. It's always a ton of fun. I hopefully plan on doing it at least 12 times, so that I can experience every single leg. For those of you who aren't aware, this is a relay that goes from Logan to Park City. 188 miles of running. Each team is made of of 12 people, two vans of six. Everyone on the team has 3 different legs that they run, and each leg can be anywhere from 3.5-9.6 miles long. It averages out so that you are running about once every 8 hours. Each leg is ranked by difficulty--Easy, Moderate, Hard and Very Hard depending on length, and steepness. The race lasts about 30 hours. This year I did leg 10, which is the hardest leg referred to as the 'Ragnar' leg. Hence the reason for starting my post with that Ragnar quote.

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My team started at 7:30 on Friday morning, but van 2 which I was in, didn’t have to meet up with them until 12:30. Van 2 was obviously the best. (yes, I’m biased because I was a part of it, but it rocked.) Me, Ruth Binns, Bryce Cravin, Andrew Dawes, My bro. Dane, and Shanna Bird. Just a side note, Dawes and Shanna joined our team 2 days before we were suppose to race. We had two dropouts at the last minute. These two were awesome for stepping in. Andrew is a friend of ours, but Shanna was just a friend of a friend who didn’t know anybody.

This is a picture of the first exchange, I took the wrist band from Bryce, and started running. I look so clean and non-sweaty. That would soon change.


Our first runs took place in the heat of the day 1:30-4:30. It was so HOT, at that point though, you are so ready to run, you just want to get out there. My turn came up, and I hopped out of the van and just took off. Granted my first run was only 3.7 and ranked as easy, so it was a nice little sprint. Our van raced through our legs. 3 hours later we were able to relax, and go get some food.


My favorite part of the whole event is always the night run. Being in Van 2, we get to run in the dead of the night. We start at about 11:00, and by the time my turn rolls around it’s 2 or 3 in the morning--this may not sound fun to those of you who haven’t done it--But there is something so great, some might even say magical, about running at night. It’s just you the road, and your thoughts. (and in my case a little Justin Bieber playing on my iPod Shuffle) You just run, and there’s this energy pushing you a long at night that isn’t there during the day. I guess as a girl it’s even more fun for me because I can’t normally run at night. I had a hard 7.8 mile run, but it flew by. I pounded it out wearing my ridiculous looking reflective vest, which was huge, and flopping all around me as I ran. I also had a headlamp on and blinking light on my back. You can never be too safe right? Those things were actually required as part of the race, I wasn’t wearing them for sheer enjoyment or because they were fashionable.

We luckily were able to meet up with the rest of our team after that and get some cabin keys from them. The cabin was really close, and we had the ‘luxury’ of sleeping for 2 whole hours before we had to race again. I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t feeling so great after the night run, it shook up my stomach pretty bad. It was nice to sleep for an hour or two, but waking up in the morning I felt like I had been hit by a bus, and was not looking forward to running.

Our team dragged ourselves out of bed, and headed off to meet up with the other van, and to complete the final leg of our journey.

After 2 hours of sleep, driving around in a van, already having run two legs, being sweaty and gross, and feeling a little sick to my stomach, the last thing I wanted to do was hop out of the van and start running again. Luckily the excitement of the day returned when we met up with the rest of our team for the final exchange. Our first runner took off, and we started driving.

The final leg was the Ragnar leg. It’s up the mountain, a dirt road in the canyon, pretty much straight up hill the entire time. I was pretty nervous. The past two years I had watched guys on our team run it, and now I was going to do it. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty hard. I ran as much of it as I could. When I couldn’t run anyThis is me right before Ragnar. Look how happy I look… I didn’t quite know what was about to hit me. That smile wouldn’t last for too long.

more, I would walk the extremely steep parts, but then I would force myself to start running for as long as I could. At one point I passed two people as I was running and under their breaths I heard them mutter “she must not be human…” that comment spurred me on, and made me feel fantastic. Right after that I passed two more people and couldn’t help but grin when my teammate Ruth drove past shouting out the window “Dang, you just ran past those B#%@$es!!”

This is my awesome team. They got out of the van, made this tunnel, and shouted out encouragement as I ran through. They also gave me ‘good games’ as I passed. That totally gave me the boost I needed. Look how happy I am? That’s because of my team.

Just as I felt like I couldn’t run anymore I got to the top of the mountain, and finished my run. It was hard, but I’m so glad I did it. It was totally worth it. All of my canyon training had paid off. I was happy with my run.

I really liked this picture Ruth took of me as I was running up the mountain. The blue sky in the background, and the angle it’s taken at.

We finished up the last of our racers, then met up at the Canyons resort in Park City, to cross the finish line. The ending scene was crazy. There were so many people there (over 1200 teams). We had to ride a gondola up to the top. We caught up with our team, and then all of us ran the last 50 yards together to cross the the finish line at the same time. We finished faster than last year, in 29 hours, so that was pretty cool.

I definitely love this relay. It was another great year, and I can’t wait to do it again!