Heaven and Hell: Vegas adventures

Better late than never!
Here's the recap of our Heaven and Hell wedding and race adventures from Las Vegas!

We flew into Vegas late Friday night. After being up for 25 hours plus, I was eager to crash, but my friend who flew in from chicago called and was excited to see us so we waited up for her. When she arrived, she had in tow MY MOM and Connie, another great friend! I was so so shocked. I couldn't believe my mom was there as she had been telling me all along that she wasn't able to come! Saturday morning we woke up early, picked up our marriage license, hit up the race expo, ventured around, ate a yummy mexican lunch and I headed back to the room to meet Trish who was coming to do my hair and makeup. She showed up and can I just tell you that this chick was AWESOME! She did such an amazing job! Then I headed off to the chapel to become Mrs. Kilcher. After our meet and greet (did I mention my husband looked so handsome?) we headed out for pictures on the strip. I'm posting below some of my favorite shots. :)

It was so so fun!!! The next day we woke up and bummed around waiting for our race. I had made us these super cute outfits as we were planning on running together:) Sadly, I didn't get a single picture of us during the race, but I think we were pretty cute!

When we got to the start line, it started to set in that this race was not set up well. Granted, I just ran Chicago a few months ago, but even the start line felt squishy. I also was not prepared for how cold out it was...my short sleeve shirt and capris were not cutting it in the 40 degree weather. Once the race started, I remember I kept saying, "it will be better when it thins out a little." Much like Chicago, it never thinned out. I found myself running into people, jumping curbs, triping on stuff in the street. The part where you run down "the strip" was kind of fun, but the scary, very dark back part (mile 6-10) were kind of scary and not so much fun. My favorite part was seeing my family at mile 11! This was the first time my mom has ever been to a race, so I thought that was pretty special. My other favorite part was when Tim and I crossed the finish line hand-n-hand. Love this. Our time was 2:30...not my best, not my worst, but one of my favorites for who I was with <3!
We bummed around Monday, saw a show, ate lots of yummy food, did some shopping and gambling and headed home Tuesday. It was such a great time aside from the kind of crappy race. I wouldn't run it again unless the streets were wider and the finish line was set up better. Did you run Vegas? What did you think?
Looking forward to being back to blogging when I start my new training plan 1-1-12!

Talkless Tuesday

Hi everyone! Wow, 2 posts in one week:) Kicking a$$ and taking names! Ha! I just wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from our family vacation to chicago over labor day, and Jack, Maddie and I goofing around at Ayden's football practice this fall. Oh how we already miss summer around here!
















These are things I'm grateful for this year:)
Happy turkey day!

Exciting news:)

well...I have no excuse for not posting in so stinking long except my life has taken crazy twists and turns and unfortunately my Internet/blogging has taken a back seat to my monkeys, weddings, showers, work, and on and on and on. Since I've last posted, I ran Chicago which was success far from what I would consider a success, but I'm going to say that the crowd support was great and at least I finished. Enough said. My next race up on my calender is coming up in 3 weeks when I head for VEGAS and I'm so excited! It's going to be an amazing weekend! It's going to be amazing for a few super special reasons. This will be my first half marathon with my NEW HUSBAND:) Wanna see what I got?

Yep that's right. And we are trying the knot just 24 hours before he runs his first ever half marathon:) I'm so proud of him and it's going to be so fun!! Aside from that, my monkeys are are doing well and growing like weeds. I can't even believe that my youngest monkey jack is about to turn 3!!! Where in the heck does time go? He's so funny these days, and I'm still set that 3's are much harder than 2's:)

Are you running Vegas? Where are you staying? We are staying and getting hitched in the Excalibur...eeekkkk! I love Vegas!

See you in CHICAGO!

Hi folks! With a new schedule in place and lots of home projects going on, blogging has taken a back seat to life for now.
But I do want to know...WHO IS RUNNING CHICAGO??
I'm heading their with my EPIC race crew on Saturday and will be running Chicago on Sunday! If you see me in my zebra pants/glitter skirt and EPIC shirt, make sure you say hi!!! Happy racing folks!

North Country Trail Run Race Report

My first trail run was AMAZING!!!!
There's lots to tell, but I'm going to keep it simple with lots of pictures because they tell a story:)
Nicole, Sami and I headed out on an epic adventure. About 2 hours into our ride we stopped numerous times looking for a supermarket, only to have some people look at us like we were from another planet. (Did I mention that up north Michigan is kind of like another country?) we also had a lady tell us that they possibly sold pasta salad from the deli section in the freezer aisle. Really? We found our pasta and some beer and headed out again. When we arrived to our camp site, we cracked open some beer and started setting up our tent. Leave it to 3 somewhat high maintence chics to bust this bad boy out in less than 15 minutes. Since we were the first people there, the guy that lives there came out with a beer to see if he could help and thought it was pretty cool that we already had it set up:) hell ya, ladies!

did I mention that our tent was the biggest on the block?? heheh
After our tent was set up, of couse we had to set out race gear and prep by having spa night to paint our nails to match our race outfits...I seemed to be the only one who didn't know what fetch meant, but I think our nails were fetch?!?


We woke up race morning and all headed to the start line...here's out EPIC crew before the big race

At the start of the race, we all had to write out goal times on a block of wood, then throw them into the fire...my goal time was 3 hours...I've never ran that far on a trail and honestly had no idea what to expect. Before long and after cheering on our fellow ultra and full marathoners, us halvies toed the start line and we were off.

By the 2nd mile in I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe...I may have even been snorting. By mile 6, I wasn't laughing quite so hard, especially when I came upon this hill...

But we were still trying to have fun along the way...

Towards the end of the race, Nicole took a spill and we slowed down for a few...but by the end we realized that we could finish under 3 hours if we picked up the pace. With our last 2 miles being under 10 min miles, we crossed the finish line in 2:55:57
And guess what...we got medals AS BIG AS OUR FACE! That's right. Nicole and I took a picture with them right afterwards and you should check out the North County Website and see if you recognize anyone...oh, you might not be able to make out our features, but that's miss nicole and I hiding behind those GIANT medals!!! HAHAH!



We had a great time at the cookout then, eating yummy burgers, pudding shots and lots of summer shandy. Seriously, it was the most epic adventure that I've been on in a long time with racing friends...so much, in fact, I registered for next years race today!!! Now, regroup and 5 weeks until Chicago!!! Whoot whoot! Any of you running Chicago?
GYRO

the lost has been found?

I received a text message today from one of my oldest and best friends today that stated:

Tomorrow is August 24. Your last blog post was July 24th. How is a girl supposed to know about your life?!? :)

Well, Jo...this one's just for you!!!

Where or where have I been?? Running, chasing monkeys, making the most of every minute I have! Enjoying what is left of summer (boo that it's almost over) and preparing for fall. How does a girl prepare for fall??? With a new hair color! That's right, I've been rocking it red. It was weird at first, but it's kind of growing on me. What do you think?


Some other really fun things I've been doing:

Last weekend Tim and I went to see billy Currington, Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney...two words...fricken awesome!!!
I totally suggest you snap up a ticket to see this tour if it comes near you!!!


We also took the monkeys to a lugnuts game: super fun minus Maddie's multiple meltdowns...for some reason I thought those ended at 3, but I'm guessing that her 6 year old attitude sometimes just can't fit in her 4 slim jeans.

This week I've been preparing for my first trail race! I'll be leaving Friday and I'm off to Manistee to tackle the North Country Trail Run. I've got a super cute race outfit that I'll be rocking...did I mention that there are going to be about 60 of us camping?? Epic adventures with amazing friends!! Nicole and I have decided that we are going to run the entire race together and take a camera with us...since we are only running the half and will be waiting for the marathon and ultra marathoners in the kiddie pool, while the keg floats in the other kiddie pool. I can't fricken wait!

On a running note, I've decided that I will be running the grand Rapids full this october. There is also a chance that I have an entry to Chicago, so I may be running the week before grand rapids. I'm really excited about GR though because my kids will be coming to cheer for me, and they have never been to watch a race before. I'm so excited to share with them something that I love so much (and I'm kind of hoping they will be able to cross the finish line with me:) But, we shall see!!

Off to bed, have to take Jack to his first dentist appointment tomorrow:) How are ya'll doing??
GYRO!
PS If running the dawn is reading this...I can't comment on your blog:( I miss you though! How's it going?

24 days, really?

Has it really been 24 days since my last post. Geesh.
Sorry that I've been such a blog slacker. Life has seriously been crazy, and with summer in full swing, I haven't had much time to be on a computer unless I'm editing pictures:/
I have a new favorite...trail running! Much harder than running along a road, but so so fun! I met with the EPIC running group a few weeks ago at Yankee Springs and last week I met Miss Sami near Chelsea.
Here's a few pics of our pace group at Yankee Springs. Around 3 miles in the trail opened up to a really pretty lake and we had to take the opportunity to pause and enjoy the sights for a few minutes:)




On a workout note, I'm back to kickboxing which makes me happy, happy, happy!!! Oh how I've missed my most favorite cross training activity:) I've also been super consistent with my trainer speed/strength workouts, and it's been pretty awesome. It's mostly high school kids on treadmill days (speed workouts) and last week some kid asked what school I went to...bhahahah! I replied, well my kids go to JPS:) Really, confused me for a high schooler. Now, that's funny! Fridays speedwork I ended my session with 10 second sprints at 14-14.5 MPH. Yep, hauling ass. I slightly felt like death and amazing all at the same time.
I think I've decided on running the Grand Rapids Full in October and the Vegas half, only so I can really enjoy my time while I'm out there. I still have time to think about it before the price increases, so we'll see how it unfolds.
I hope everyone is doing well and braving the heat to get their runs on:)
GYRO!