Journey to Boston: The Spring Fever 1/2 Marathon

I'm finally getting to this race!  I just got all of the race photos downloaded and wanted to wait until I had them to write.  

You know, in racing, you win some and you lose some.  Yes, that can be literally and figuratively.  For me it is mostly figuratively.  Some days you run an IRONMAN race faster than you ever thought possible.  Some days you run a half marathon at a snail's pace, have to walk because your heart rate is out of control and quite honestly get completely humbled in one 2 hour race.

Again.....you win some and you lose some.  That is the beauty of endurance sport.  You have never arrived.  You are always a work in progress.

I am so grateful for this friend of mine.  2 months ago when we decided to make this race happen we promised each other that no matter what we would start and finish together and that we would let the race be fun.  The Spring Fever Half Marathon was the first race we ever did together and we have done it for 3 years since.  

The course for this race is brutal.  Fun......but brutal.  Lets leave aside the fact that it is at 6000 feet of elevation and just talk about the general course.  It is a dog leg course.  The first 5 miles are out and down.  The rest?  Up.....and up.  The big draw to this race is the climb up the dam.  From mile 9 to mile 11 is straight up.  I think you gain 600 feet if elevation.  It is quite literally a CLIMB.  What can I say....we like challenge.  The last time we ran this together we were both in tip top shape and I was still one with the altitude.  Not so much this year.

Our race morning was lovely.  It was unseasonably warm in CO so even at the start I was only slightly chilly in my shorts and sports top.  My parents graciously took on the care of our 4 kids and we lined up at the start all smiles.  So good to be back racing with Sarah!

We started off fast.  We knew it wouldn't last, but enjoyed the downhill cruise knowing only too well that it was short lived.  I had been having trouble keeping my HR down the entire visit and blame many factors including dehydration for it.  Altitude sickness is FOR REELZ people!

At mile 5 we made the turn around and if I though my HR was up going down, we started climbing and it went through the roof.  Thankfully, Sarah was also not on the top of her game so we decided to enjoy the time and turn our race into a run walk strategy.  We are both competitive, but we have this keen ability to embrace our non competitiveness too.  We wanted to do this together.  We wanted to enjoy our time.  When we both let go of the time on the clock we traded it in for actual conversation.  It was nice.

So we would run three quarters of each mile and walk the rest.  I found myself frustrated that I simply didn't have it in me to run like I wanted to.  I know Sarah felt it too. Everytime I would feel the frustration I would stop the negativity, look down at my Mdot tattoo and remind myself that I had nothing to prove.  Then I would look at my sweet friend and ask her the next question about her life.  Friendship is a beautiful thing (especially when 4 littles aren't interrupting us with a constant, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy).

We came around the final uphill climb to the finish ready to be done.  We had done what we had promised each other we would do, finish together.

Our race wasn't an A race, but it was a wonderful time of connection and fellowship, so in my book it was a win!

We added another medal to our collections and are proud to be counted amongst the alumni for this event.  I think its safe to say that the Spring Fever Half Marathon is "Our Race."  

I am so grateful that we can't win every race because without loosing a few we can't learn and get better.  My experience here brought to light the work I will have training my body for IRONMAN Boulder in 2018.  Thank goodness Rome wasn't won in a day.  I've got lots of work to do.

I'll start with qualifying for Boston.

Spring Breakin' It Up!

Boy.......life is busy.  It's good and wonderful and perfectly chaotic. You know its been busy when you sit down to blog and realize its been nearly 3 weeks since your last post.  WOW......just wow.

Last week was Spring Break and the Longmire family made the absolute most of it.  This year we are doing a lot of travelling and adventures.  It seems like every month we have another adventure on the books.  The girls are actually keeping track of their next adventures on a calendar in their room.  First up Spring Break with Memaw and Papa!

Since we hadn't planned on heading to CO until the middle of break, we made the absolute most out of our time with Daddy.  We renewed our Children's Museum membership and spent one of our days there.

The PCM is awesome and the girls absolutely love that we are back with a membership to come ANYTIME WE WANT TOO!  

Our next adventure was to tackle the zoo.  I took my tribe to my favorite breakfast stop and then we headed to our other favorite park, The Phoenix Zoo.

Even with all the animals to see the girls wanted to do 3 things, see the snakes, play in the treehouse and get wet on the splash pad.  We conquered all those goals and then settled home for a nice afternoon of movie watching.  AHHH Spring Break at its finest!

Early Wednesday, the 3 of us girls packed up and headed to the airport for our trip to CO.  Even at 5AM the girls were fired up and ready to go!

Our first day was spent catching up with our buddies and my sweet solemate Sarah.  We took 3 of our kids to the old running grounds for a 5 mile shake out.  Lily did amazing and ended up riding all 5 miles on her buddy's bike.  It was hot (abnormally hot for CO!) and the altitude just about trounced us flat landers, but it was so wonderful to reconnect.

Once Caleb got home from school, we let the kids play and play and play!  It was so much fun to see these friends pick up right where they left off.  So special.  We ended the day at Chic- Fil- A with hugs and snuggles.

When we weren't playing with friends, running a 1/2 marathon (next blog on that...) or working the photography business, we were running hard up in the mountains doing all sorts of mountain activities.

The girls absolutely LOVE these two Aussies and spent most of their time asking if it was okay to "Give the doggies some treats."  Even though my girls are big and loud and constantly asking them to do tricks, Oreo and Skittles kindly oblige because there is normally a treat to follow.  The girls threw balls and let them lick every plate they ate off of.  Those dogs LOVE my girls.

Papa got busy working the tractor one day and took the crew for a ride.  I may have missed the experience, but my camera loved all the great shots I got!

 

 

The tractor rides were only to give the ponies a break between horseback rides.  I love this picture below.  I cannot tell you how many times I have walked that road out to the barn, following my Mother to the place she finds the most joy.....the barn.

Lily is a true horsewoman and is easily following in the footsteps of her Memaw.  I snapped this picture of her with Bon Bon and had one thought,  "Man........she is beautiful."  

Bon Bon is truly a favorite of the ponies at the Flying E.  I have known her nearly all my life.  I grew up with her and have watched her age so sweetly.  She is an old lady now and yet her ability to connect with any rider big or small still remains.  I love that pony........so do my girls.

RJ, although young is an excellent horse.  Lily got reacquainted with him.  She remembers.  It all comes flooding back.

While Lily was all about the details and listening to Memaw, my fearless wonder was over lounging on the 1000 pound animal.  Not a care or fear in the world.  Lordy.

All of Lily's time on the back of a horse when we lived in CO came right back to her and Memaw got her independently riding and trotting in no time.  Lily doesn't like the saddle and prefers to be bareback.  That's my girl.  We Longmire girls have got good balance on the back of a horse.

After a while we traded horses.  Evie ran right over to the mounting stump and entertained herself

Lily joined in and I couldn't stop my smile.  Oh the moments between these two.......priceless!

Evie climbed up on her new ride and quickly re assumed the position that she had been keeping previously.  Seriously kid?  Have you no fear?

Lily, of course, was dying in laughter which served nothing but to egg her sister on.

The girls rode and rode and it was only when it was dinner time that we convinced them to get off.  Such little horse ladies.  We cannot wait for the next time!

Unfortunately the only black spot on an otherwise GREAT trip was that both kids arrived in CO sick.  So sick that we ended up at urgent care with ear infections, coughs and a whole lot of nonsense.  Boy am I grateful for antibiotics.  As wretched as they felt they were such troopers.

We spent our last night in a hotel so that we could be up super early for our flight.  We were all tired when we arrived back home.

Spring Break was a win and we had such a blast in CO.  Now we are off to the next adventure!