Love the Hill!

My sister and I ran hills today.  They were BIG hills.  The kind that made you want to stop and lay down.  As we were trudging up the final one I thought to myself, "UGH why do I run these hills?" Sure the downhill is rewarding and enjoyable.  But sometimes after an hour of endless hills, your legs are so trashed, even the downhill can seem arduous.  So why run those blasted hills?

Once you get to the top and you look around at the view, you remember exactly why you endure those hills.  Not many people get the chance to see and enjoy the breathtaking vistas that I am privileged to see after a killer uphill.

So I run the hills, knowing a view of God's creations is at the top of each and every one.

Here are some of my favorite that I have captured on my runs.

Mini Me's FIRST Half-Marathon

Well she did it!  My sweet 12 year old accomplished something that most adults NEVER do!  She completed her FIRST (and not last) Half-Marathon!  My oldest son ran his first half marathon when he was 14 years old.  He hated it and swore he would never do it again.  At age 19 he has so far stuck to that oath.  Mini-me has wanted to run one for a couple of years.  I made her wait until she was 12.  She has trained hard all summer (something her brother did not do) and yesterday was the big day.

Race start was in downtown Boise at the New York Life building.  The race was called "Run For Your Life."  Our start time was 8:00 AM.  I was concerned about this late start time because I knew how hot it was going to get.  I wore my trail hydration pack to ensure we would always have lots of water on hand.

Our timing chips went on our ankles and we were ready to go!

Getting ready for the Start. We are close to the front at this point.  Mostly because the fast people had not lined up yet!

 

The Start.  We are on the left just about to leave the picture frame.

The race was pretty since the majority of it was on the greenbelt.  Mini-Me surprised me as she hit a 9:45 pace and said it felt good.  She stuck with that pace for the first 3 miles as we came upon the first aid station.  We walked only long enough to drink some nice cold water and then she was off again declaring with a smile, "I feel really good!"

As we continued running she confessed to me that she is "feeling really competitive".  She did not want anyone to pass us!  So she kept a steady pace through the next two aid stations.

Here we are at mile 9.  Mini Me is not smiling as big as she was before.  It was shortly after this photo that she experienced what it was like to hit the WALL.  She hit it at mile 9.5.  At that point aches and pains started to kick in and the heat felt more intense.  She really did a good job breaking through.  We had a few walk breaks, at an orange, and drank lots of water.

Here she is saying good bye to the last aid station.  It was at mile 12 which made her made because they said it should be at mile 11.5.  She called this mistake DUMB!!!

Closing in on the finish line she really found her second wind and started to pick the pace back up.  Once she saw the finish line looming she started sprinting.  I can not keep up with her when she sprints.  She had also made me promise that I would let her beat me!  There was no chance that I was going to catch her now!!

So proud of this little one!  She did great! I can't wait to run many more races with her...if I can keep up!

    Balloons at the finish line from her older brother and sister!

This is exactly what I looked like after my first Full Marathon!!

Leg massage from Daddy!!

FIRST PLACE IN HER AGE GROUP!!

(Let's be honest, no other kids ran the half-marathon! That emphasizes what an accomplishment this was for her to do!)

Stranger Than Fiction

A very bizarre fire was recently fought and extinguished in the Foothills where I like to run.  The cause of this fire is so strange it seems to ridiculous to be true.  Yet it is true!  Here is the clip from the headline in the local papers:

A cyclist stops to poop, ends up starting wildfire

No joke!  This is copied and pasted straight from USA Today's website!  This really happened.  What he did was try to burn his toilet paper when he was finished and....... well what else would you expect when you strike a match in dry, dead grass?

So, a few days after the fire Michele and I ran in the area to check out the damage.  It was pretty bad.

So for Heaven's sake!  We all nee to "go" sometimes when we are out there on the trails.  But what ever you do, don't strike a match!!!

Photo from the News

We started off so early!  There were zero cars in the parking lot!

Burnt Hills in the distance

The trails were torn up pretty badly in order to get the fire crews in.

Seaman's it's been ages!

I cannot remember the last time I ran the trails at Seaman's Gulch.  The loops in this trail system are very short and it is impossible to get over 7 miles without doing a lot of repeat loops.  This is the perfect place to take Mini-Me for another short trail run.  This time it was the two of us and Michele.

She always talks me in to treats after these harder runs!

Mini Me's longest run!

Today I took my daughter on her first greenbelt run.  She has announced that running in the roads in our town is BORING!!  To keep this girl moving I am having to mix things up a lot!  So the Eagle Greenbelt was our destination today.

She is still not a fan of waking up early!

We decided to run an out and back.  I wanted her to get 7 miles today, her longest run yet. Running the greenbelt is fun and distracting at the same time.  It is beautiful and has a lot of natural sounds.

Running through tunnels of trees!

Water fountains

There was a cool family of ducks but they took off before I could snap a picture!

This was the biggest bridge she dared go over.  There are some very large ones that go over the main river but "I have a fear of going over big bridges and water!!"

So many pretty flowers!  Too many to take photos of.

Legitimate lily pads!!  These are the real things folks!  This was the highlight of her run!

We took quite a long break at these Lily Pads.  She was so excited!

I really enjoyed running with my little buddy today.  We had a great time and she handled the mileage quite easily.  We took walk breaks and had some stops to enjoy nature!  She was still all smiles at the end!

Here she is proudly holding up the watch showing the record of her longest run to date! 7.18 miles

She may be tiny.... but she sure is MIGHTY!!

First Trail run for MINI- ME!

My youngest daughter just turned 12 years old.  She has always expressed an interest in running a half marathon but I would not let her until she was 12.  So it's TIME!  This summer we have embarked on her half-marathon training.  Today marked a momentous day in that training.....

FIRST TRAIL RUN!!

And not only that, it was her first run with the SOLE SISTERS!!

She was very excited.  She even "popped" right out of bed when it was time to get rolling!  We would meet Michele and Kris at the trail head at 6:00 AM (The early time is due to the triple digit heat wave we are in).  Since we live a ways from the trail that meant a very early morning.

We headed to the trails at Veteran's Cemetery because it has the least intense hills!  Kris loved that she was with us because it meant I would go slower!  Little does Kris realize....my 12 year old is faster than me!   Kris also noticed her bright new running shoes.  "Those will not be new for long!  When we are done they will be gross and dirty like mine!"  

LEAVING AUNT MICHELE IN THE DUST!

We ran Junkyard, Rabbit Run, Twisted Sister and D's Chaos.  She loved it so much."MOM can we run these trails everyday?"  That made me swell with pride!  But alas we cannot because the cost in gas would bankrupt me.  LOL

Se was so excited to see some of the things I have blogged about and took pictures of for herself!  She even asked if we would see the Christmas tree that I had told her about in December.

JUNK YARD!

THE CHRISTMAS TREE!  IT STILL HAD 3 ORNAMENTS ON IT!!

STORMIN' MORMON

SHE LOVED SEEING THE BIKE RAMPS!
(Michele would not get up on it with her and Kris was afraid to get down)

STOP TO TAKE IN THE VIEW
Kris declares, "This is my kinda girl!!" 

A FORCED SELFIE!

During the run she kept saying that she was craving a smoothie.  I told her that Michele would have baby Cokes at the end of the run for us.  Whoops, Michele did NOT have baby Cokes for us.  So we went in search of a smoothie!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

I am beyond thrilled to have my little girl share my love of running!  With her oldest brother in Panama I have been missing someone to share my running adventures with!  Her half-marathon is a month away....Can't Wait!!