Gotta Get Down on Friday

So, my cousin Mike did it!  435 miles in 10 days.  CRAZY!  I wanted to be up with him at the finish, but wasn't able to make the 11 hour (round-trip) drive.  Maybe I'll just have to invite him down here to do something equally crazy, like the Wasatch 100.  Oh wait, he's done that before.  A few times.

In other news, I am running.  I'm not training for a half marathon - yet.  My boss at work came into my office this week and told me about a new half marathon and said that he would pay half of my entrance fee if I wanted to run it (I guess he knows one of the race directors).  So, I'm thinking about it.  I hate, hate, HATE running in the heat (and to me, that's anything about 70º), so I'll attempt training and if it goes well, then I'll do it and if not, then I'll run a half in October or November.

Not that you all really wanted to know my race plans, but whatever. 

I'm currently "training" for a 10K on the 4th of July.  I've run it twice - and even PR-ed while 20 weeks pregnant.  We'll see what happens this year.  I'm not expecting a new PR, but I would like a COURSE PR.

I'm also OBSESSED with Zumba classes.  I do them twice a week after my baby that is no longer a baby is asleep.  And it's AWESOME!  I can't do half of the dance moves, so I end up Ska dancing like a weirdo while everyone else is doing the Samba.  But I love it!

Pictures make every blog post better - so here's one of little family (uh... kind of).

My Cousin Mike

I have a lot of cousins.  On my Dad's side of the family I have 42 first cousins. I feel kind of like Tula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when I say that.  But unlike Tula, I am NOT close to my cousins.  Sure I have contact with a handful of them on Facebook.  But there is QUITE an age gap between me and the majority of my cousins, since my dad  was 11 years after the last of his 6 older siblings was born.  SURPRISE!  My grandma was almost a grandma when she had my dad (that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean, right?)

One of my favorite pictures of my dad and my grandma circa 1961.

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So, my cousin Mike is crazy.  OK, he's not crazy, he just runs ultras.  Which means he's crazy.

Tomorrow morning (June 8th) he will be starting a VERY serious ultra endeavor.  My cousin Mike is running across the state of Idaho.  Starting at the western border tomorrow morning, he will run 50 MILES A DAY until he reaches the eastern border and the town of Victor, ID (just before Jackson Hole). 

Let me says that again: 50 MILES A DAY!!!  For 9 days straight!!!

He "says" that he's always wanted to do it (no one else has run across Idaho - I should do that!) and he has joined with an incredible organization and is using his crazy running as a fund raiser.

So, I'm here today to brag about my amazing cousin.  And to beg ask you to check out his blog Mike's Extra Mile and read his short story of why he is doing this run.  And maybe, if you are feeling generous, donate to his cause.  I can't think of a better way to spend an extra $10 than to help out kids that fight cancer.

A New Way to Cross-train

You know what's fun? Zumba.

I went to a class last night with my good friend/neighbor and I will admit that I was kind of nervous about it. I have NO rhythm for Latin dancing (which I had heard is what Zumba is most made up of), plus I have a muffin top that pokes out over my shorts and my tops are all a little too snug. But this class was SO MUCH FUN. Yes, I didn't know what the heck I was doing a lot of the time, so I would just wiggle around and get "jiggy with it" until they were doing moves that I could do. The overhead lights were turned off and we had a disco ball, so it was darker and that made me feel a lot more comfortable. But the people in the class are what surprised me the most. I figured it would all be 20-somethings in sports bras, but there was a surprising mix of women there: big, small, skinny, overweight, older, younger. And one VERY enthusiastic dude. Seriously - the dude was what made it so fun (and hilarious). His moves were a LOT better than me and he was so excited to be there! Yelling out to try to pump people up and jumping all over the place. His salsa moves were REALLY quite good and I found myself being jealous.
So anyway, if you've ever wondered about a Zumba class - you should go and try it. It's fun and a pretty good workout. You know how they tell you that it burns 500-800 calories an hour... um, no. But I did burn about 350 in 45 minutes.

That's almost as good as a run, but running doesn't include a disco ball.

National Running Day

4.5 miles this morning, before the sun came up.

Happy Running Day!

Race Report: Dirty Dash 2012

There was mud.

And I partook.

My gripe?  There were WAY too many people out on the course at the same time.  The obstacles couldn't handle the volume and you'd be running along the path and then come to bottle-necked traffic as thick as you'd find in L.A.  Stand around and wait for 10-15 minutes then finally get to climb the cargo net and move on.  Trying to run faster than the groups around you to get ahead of them for the next obstacle.

It was still fun, but I don't know if I want to do it again next year.  Time will tell if I'll be ready to get DIRTY again.

It's Time to Get Dirty

Tomorrow is the Dirty Dash.  I ran it last year, remember? 

It's about to get very dirty all up in here.

And I can't wait!