Sarai's Introduction

I am a little late on my introduction, but I guess it's better late than never, so here it goes.

I was born and raised in Mexico, lived there 'til I was 13 yrs old when my parents decided to move to San Antonio Texas. I have practically lived in the U.S.A for more than half of my life (I'm 27 yrs old now). Then again, my parents decided to move. We moved to Utah where I have lived for 8 yrs now. I met my husband a few weeks after arriving in Utah, and got married 2 yrs later. We have been married for 5 yrs and we have two beautiful little girls-a 19 month old, and 3 yrs old, that I get to stay home with. They are so much fun.

Like many of you I was never the athletic type. In fact, I hated to run whenever I was required to (e.i. P.E class) I did some dancing in High School (yes, dancing is a sport) But that was the closest I ever got to being athletic. I started running about 4 yrs ago after my husband and I brought our first baby home, a puppy! and being a puppy he just had so much energy that walking wasn't doing anything to him nor me, so we started running. Then I got pregnant and had my first baby, and instead of one running buddy I had two! Got pregnant again and my running team grew once more. At the beginning my reason for running was only for the weight loss. Last year a friend encourage me to train and enter a 5K race and it was then that running took a whole different meaning. I started running for time and for distance and became hooked on the sense of accomplishment that beating a previous best time or running a longer distance gave me. I am addicted now. Since last year I have ran one 5K and two 10K's and I am currently training for my first half marathon in April.

I am really excited about this race. I saw someone blog in the Marathon Mommies about one of these relay races and I wished I could do something like that, only I would never be able to talk anyone into something like this, so I would only wish.......NOT! This is awesome! Thanks for making my wish come true!

I am the Rookie...

My name is Mandy H. and I live in central California with my husband of eight years and our two kids. I have a four year old girl and a one year old little boy who keep me on my toes, to say the least.

I am originally from Springville, UT where my family still resides. I am the third in a family of nine children. I met my husband when he moved to Utah to attend BYU. After we both graduated with our undergraduate degrees, we moved to Vallejo, California where my husband attended graduate school. Then we moved to central California to be close to my husband’s family.

I graduated with a degree in Accounting and worked as an accountant for 5 years at a CPA firm. I quit work to stay home full time when my little boy was born last January. I love being a stay-at-home-mom and I feel truly blessed that I am able to be home with my children. I do miss doing taxes though. I love the financial world and I am always trying to find a way to keep up on things.

I love to cook and love to bake even more-I have the world’s biggest sweet tooth. I love finding new recipes and I love eating. I really like decorating cakes too. I also like to do crafty projects and I enjoy scrap booking, but I don’t have as much time for that anymore.

Like most of you, I started running as a way to stay in shape and have run casually since high school. I absolutely love it. I love the way I feel after a good run and it has always been a good escape for me. I have just started to get into competitive running. Prior to now I have only ever run a couple of 5k races. I am training right now to run the Pacific Coast half marathon in Agoura Hills this march and my goal is to run a full marathon this fall.

It has been so fun to get to know the rest of you though your introduction. I have been so inspired by all of you and I am excited to meet all of you in June.

legs, legs, who wants what legs?

Ok Ladies~

Let's get some of these decisions taken care of so that I can at least stop using this as an excuse as to why I am not sleeping  :)

I need you to each send me an email with a first, second, and third choice for which runner you want to be.  

For those who don't know how all this fun rotating works, here is a hopefully helpful explanation.  

If you were wanting to be runner #1 you will start us out and run your first leg (leg#1).  You will then be off until your next leg (leg #13) after everyone else takes their first turn.  You then get to have a break while the others go again and then you are up for your last leg (leg #25).  At the end of leg #36 (Runner #12) there will be a staging area where we can all get together to come across the finish line as a team.

So back to the legs.... Here is the info.  Pick a first, second and third choice and email them to me.  If you have some special circumstances helping you make your decision let me know so I can make sure they can be accommodated  :)  

Runner #1 - 5.1 Easy {leg 1}, 8.5 Very Hard {leg 13}, 5.6 Hard {leg 25}

Runner #2 - 6.7 Hard {leg 2}, 3 Easy {leg 14}, 5.3 Hard {leg 26}

Runner #3 - 5.6 Moderate {leg 3}, 4.9 Moderate {leg 15}, 5.1 Moderate {leg 27}

Runner #4 - 5.1 Moderate {leg 4} 3.1 Easy {leg 16} 5 Hard {leg 28}

Runner #5 - 7.4 Very Hard {leg 5} 5.9 Moderate {leg 17} 4.1 Moderate {leg 29}

Runner #6 - 6.9 Very Hard {leg 6} 5.2 Hard {leg 18} 3.6 Easy {leg 30}

Runner #7 - 4 Easy {leg 7} 3.9 Moderate {leg 19} 4.1 Easy {leg 31}

Runner #8 - 3.4 Easy {leg 8} 7 Moderate {leg 20} 6.1 Moderate {leg 32}

Runner #9 - 3.5 Easy {leg 9} 6.2 Moderate {leg 21} 3.6 Very Hard {leg 33}

Runner #10 - 3.5 Easy {leg 10} 6.4 Moderate {leg 22} 4 Very Hard {leg 34}

Runner #11 - 3.8 Very Hard {leg 11} 4.6 Moderate {leg 23} 6.9 Very Hard {leg 35}

Runner #12 - 3.1 very Hard {leg 12} 5.2 Moderate {leg 24} 5 Easy {leg 36}

As we all should know by now... my email is info@theribbonspot.com

A couple o’ answers

Lindsay here… trying to dispense what I know so that you have a better understanding of what’s to come…

Clothing: most of us who did the Texas run wore sweats during our ‘off’ times. I had two pair of pants and one sweatshirt. Also, I had 2 clean shirts (one short, one long). As for running clothes, we packed our ‘leg’ outfit in gallon sized bags with everything we’d need: sports bra, socks, shirt, shorts/skirt, print out of the leg, etc. That way you didn’t have to root through everything (and it gets super packed with 6 women) to find what you needed. I’d also suggest bringing an extra pair of shoes… just in case of rain. Also, bring Crocs or sandals that you can put on for in the car and post run. And, lastly, we changed in the car. Some were more modest than others, but your fellow runners will give you the privacy (or lack thereof) that you want.

Food: bring a few of your favorite snacks for the car, but know that you’ll have some time to shop for something more substantial during your off times. Our vans went to Walmart and Subway to stock up and get fed. We had coolers in back with ice to keep the drinks cold. We tried to get ‘good’ snacks for the car: string cheese, crackers, beef jerky, protein bars, etc. It helped balance the candy, Diet Coke (my post run option), and chocolate.

What to bring: we’ll definitely need to divide and conquer. We all brought individual packages of wipes, bandaids, sunscreen, etc and we had way too much and it took up way too much room. As it gets closer, I suggest we make a list (we can use and update the one from Texas) and divvy out assignments. We don’t all need to bring the Costco sized bottle of Aleve. Also, each car will have to have certain essentials: a reflective vest (we found it easiest to have 2 per car, better for exchanges), a GPS (iPhones count), 2 headlamps, etc…. again, we can divvy that out amongst ourselves.

Volunteers: volunteers are at the major exchange points (and maybe all exchanges with all the people running WB) and check teams in, answer questions, provide hot chocolate, etc. They also help keep traffic flowing and make sure that we are keeping in the Ragnar rules.

I can’t wait for the big race!

Love to the Mommies Got Back and Energizer Runnies

I am planning to do my intro soon, but until then, just had to let you know how excited I am about our Wasatch Back teams. This is going to be an amazing adventure!

Also...I live in SLC and would love to host a back yard BBQ for our teams the night before the big event so that we can all connect and celebrate our upcoming race.

Happy Running to All!

My intro coming soon...

A big hello from Idaho...

(Ogden Marathon 2007)

Hi everyone, my name is Roxanne and I will confess that I rather enjoy a good hill now and again. I started contributing on Marathon Mommies when I was pregnant so most of you probably remember me as the pregnant one. I am happy to say that I now have a six month old baby girl (who will most likely be nursing during this race, hmmm that is going to be interesting) and two boys, 5 and 3.

I met my husband while in college at Utah State University and have been married for 9 years now. We live in southern Idaho...a place I never ever thought I would live, and I stay home with my kids. I worked in the social science field for several years before having kids and realized that the best way to "save the world" was to raise healthy little people who will grow up and contribute to society in a positive way. I love my job, but will admit that it feeds my addiction to running.

I started running in college as a stress reliever and ran a few 5 and 10k's but really got into it after having my oldest son. I have many 5 and 10k's under my belt along with a few half marathons and one full marathon. Like many of you I have fallen in love with running and can't imagine life without it.

Running is on the top of my list of hobbies but I also like to water ski, snowboard, hike mountains, backpack, swim, cook, read, listen to music (yea, I am the one who likes to rock out when I run), pottery, drawing, and using my hands.

I have had a rough past six months trying to get my body to work again after having a very large baby. My hips and pelvic area are still hurting when I run and to top it off I was just diagnosed with Menieres Disease this past month. Thus it has been hard to get my running self back and I am feeling pretty frustrated about it. So lets all hope that I will be ready by June to rock some of those hills!

I am loving all these introductions and can't wait to meet you all in June.

My little family December 2008

Guess what tomorrow is?

Any guesses?  There are clues on this page!  

It is the first official day of training if you are following their plan!  :)

Here is what the week holds on their plan:

Novice:

Monday: 15 Minutes

Tuesday:  Rest or easy cross train

Wednesday:  15 Minutes

Thursday:  Rest or easy cross train

Friday:  15 Minutes

Saturday: Rest or easy cross train

Intermediate:

Monday:  3 miles

Tuesday:  4 miles

Wednesday:  3 miles

Thursday:  4 miles

Friday:  3 miles

Saturday:  5 miles

Happy Running!

Weekly Q & A roundup....

Ok so we had some good questions this week.  I will try to get the answers out as clearly as I can.  Again if you think of more questions post them in the comments here and I will hold another answer session {I am thinking of doing this weekly :)}

1.  "how much were the vans?"  ~  They were each $318 so about $650 per team (you need 2 vehicles) divided by 12 runners was about $55.00 dollars each.  We can totally try to get vans but everyone needs to be ok with the cost.  

2.  Getting up to Logan~ Several of us will be coming from the south end of the valley (my parents are in Draper) so we can all carpool up together  :)

3.  I thought of something else this week that I had forgotten about.  Volunteers.  Each team is required to provide 3 volunteers or you have the option to pay instead of providing volunteers.  Each volunteer shift is 4-6 hours long.  To pay for them it is $120 a volunteer ($360 for 3) or $30 per person if we pay for all 3.  You can do a mix of 1 volunteer and pay for 2 or 2 volunteers and pay for 1.  We have a little bit of time but need to know for sure by about the middle of May in order to pay for any.  What are you thoughts on the subject?

4.  Lindsay and I are excited because they posted the dates for the Texas race this week.  October 16-17.  Look at your calenders ladies Lindsay and I would love to have you come join us down here in our neck of the woods.  (and it is still warm at that time of year down here)