Running Survey

Janae from Hungry Runner Girl posted a running survey on Friday and I'm filling it out today!

1.  Would you rather run along a beach path or on a mountain trail?
Mountain Trail

2.  If you could choose the flavor of gatorade at your next race’s aid stations, what would it be?
I like Green Squall Powerade better than any gatorade flavor

3.  If I gave you a $100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it?
Asics GT 2000 running shoes - I have to replace mine at least two times a year and it gets expensive!

4.  Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far and how fast you want to run?
I like to tentatively follow a training plan. Right now I am following the long run schedule of Hal Higdon's half marathon training plan, I am doing whatever speed work is assigned at our track workouts on Tuesday evenings, and then going by feel the rest of the days. 

5.  Would you rather start your run with the uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with the downhill and end with the uphill?
Start with uphill and end with downhill!

6.  When you can’t run, what type of cross-training do you choose to do?
Jillian Michael's DVDs, classes at the Y (my favorites are Body Pump and CXWORX), and spinning or road biking. 

7.  What is your preference—>  Out and back, point to point or loop runs?
Out and back - it is more convenient than point to point and it forces me not to take short cuts home like I sometimes do with loop runs. 

8.  If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be a—> Garmin Forerunner 10!

9.  Do you ever see any wild animals while out on your runs?
Bunnies and deer! (and occasionally groundhogs and cardinal birds, and once a snapping turtle and a crawdad on a day when the river flooded onto the trail)

10.  Ever gotten lost while out on a run?
Surprisingly no.

11.  If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days… what would that meal be?
Cafe Rio's pork salad

12.  Capris or shorts… what do you run in most often?
Capris

13.  At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it is warming up and ready to go?
About a half a mile

14.  What do you do with your key when you run?
I put it in my pocket if I have one or hide it under a rock if I don't.

15.  If you could relive any race that you have done in the past, which one what it be?
The Salt Lake City Half in the Spring of 2012 - It was a beautiful downhill course, I surprisingly got a huge PR (I had just had Jack) and I had a friend that ran it with me :)

16.  What type of run is your least favorite type of run?

Super hot runs, super freezing runs, and runs when my legs feel sore and/or heavy and I'm not hitting the times I want.

17.  What has been your biggest motivation lately to get out the door to get your run on?

I don't know if I have one big motivation, just a lot of little ones - good weather, track workouts with our local running club, the Bix 7 and the Dubuque Half Marathon, and ENDORPHINS!

18.  When you go for a run, do you leave right from your front door or do you drive somewhere to start?
Most of the time I leave right from my front door because we have a beautiful bike trail across the street from us.

19.  When running in daylight—>  are sunglasses a must or an annoyance?
Annoyance 

20.  When you get tired, what keeps you from quitting?
Knowing that I've never started walking on a run in the past gives me determination to just finish, even if I'm just trotting/shuffling :)
-----------------------------------------
My last running survey I took from Janae at Hungry Runner Girl was back in 2012 ----------> here. 

Summertime in Utah

After a week in Arizona, we got on another plane and flew to Provo. I thought it would be an easy flight because it was so short but it ended up being the worst! David was awful and we had to climb stairs to get both on and off the plane which was difficult because I am a cheapskate and didn't want to pay to check our luggage or pay to bring a small carry-on. I somehow managed to get Jack, David, and everything we brought with us on and off the plane by myself. #iloveandhatealligiant #firstworldproblems

We stayed with my grandparents for the first two days and had such a good time! (Jack's idea of a good time is catching snails, doing chores for Grandma Annie, and swimming in their pool :)

 
 
From my Instagram post:
 
 
 
Papa made Jack a sign for his snail catching record :)
 
I snuck a picture of my grandma doing what she does best #hashtagsandinstagramarewhatshedoesbest ;)

We weren't able to make it to Logan this trip but my grandparents thankfully had my very favorite Praline Pecan Aggie Ice Cream in their freezer.
 
 
Spencer made it to Utah on Saturday afternoon and the Sheets came over for dinner that night!
 
  
I'm all about trendy Utah desserts so I had to try Swig! My review - the Dirty Diet Coke BLEW MY MIND and the sugar cookies were reeeeally good! (My favorite sugar cookies are still the ones from Old Towne Bakery here in the Quad Cities though) Also, I don't get the soda and sugar cookie combo? I want milk with my cookies and popcorn with my soda!
 
 
On Sunday, we headed up to Eden, Utah for a family reunion with Spencer's family. We all stayed in an 8 bedroom cabin had a blast! We boated, played on the beach, hiked, and hung out at the cabin. My mother-in-law even had cute little pinterest crafts and activities for the kids to do every day! #iwasobviouslynotraisedbyher ;)
We had an amazing view from the kitchen and living room!
 
 
Jack got dumped off the tube the first ride of the season with his cousin. It was hilariously tragic! He was really brave and went again though.
 
David loved boating and waved to us his entire tube ride :)
 
I love this boy and his pink life jacket :)
 
 
Lake photo dump:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jack and David LOVED playing with their cousins! I wish we lived closer so that they could play with them more!
 
David and Eliza were all about the kissing! haha I can't wait to use these pictures as blackmail one day :)
 
 
We bought hiking backpacks when we lived in Alabama right before we found out that we were moving to flat Iowa. We were glad that we could put them to use! We've missed the mountains!
 
 
After five days in Eden, we headed back to Kaysville and visited my sweet Grandma Wirthlin and hung out with a lot of my cousins and their kids for a few hours.
 
 
On Friday, we left Jack and David with my in-laws for the night for our five year anniversary. They spoiled our kids with pizza, the movie theaters, and a splash pad outing, and we went on our first ever 24-hour date! We rented mountain bikes in Park City, took the gondola up the mountain and then biked down (and got really beat up in the process - we are definitely rookies!) It was so fun and so hard and so beautiful!
 
 
We stopped for giant burgers for lunch then went back up the mountain again.
 
 
After a long day of mountain biking, we cleaned up at the hotel and then went out for sushi and Jurassic World.
 
We've never had a kidless night together since Jack was born and it was SO NICE sleeping in! (I only slept until 8:45 though - my kids ruined me!)
We stopped at Kneaders to try the french toast for breakfast the next morning (which was amazing and free for Spencer for Father's Day!), wandered around the outlet stores, and then headed back to Kaysville to start our 19 hour drive home.
The drive home was just about has horrible as it sounds. David is not into TV yet and struggles playing with apps so he was crying and fussing most of the time. We also had to stop for a huge David blowout and then a separate throwing up incident. :( Driving through the night definitely helped and giving them presents to unwrap along the way also helped. (My mother-in-law and I stalked up on activities and dollar store toys and wrapped them so Jack and David had a new toy to unwrap every hour or so - I am definitely going to do this everytime we have a long drive now!)
The toys that lasted the longest were these windmills, but unfortunately they were almost as annoying as the crying because Jack and David wanted the windows rolled down on the freeway so that they would spin easily!
 
 
Don't let the picture fool you - the guns lasted 5 minutes and then the crying started again.
 
The final stretch!!! Carsick, mad, bored, and picking his nose!
 
We had such a great time in Utah! I really wish I could plunk Iowa right between Utah and Arizona :) Now back to the grind and a much needed financial and food diet ;)

What's Up Wednesday

I'm linking up with Shay and Shaefer the last Wednesday of the month again for What's Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week: 
We are still recovering from vacation so we are keeping it simple and (somewhat) healthy this week:

Rotisserie Chicken
BLTs
Cobb salad
Frozen lasagna
Fajitas
What I'm reminiscing about:
Spencer and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last weekend in Park City and we had such a good time! We were reminiscing about our wedding day, and as I was looking through wedding pictures I found this gem - our photographer wanted Spencer to "twirl" me for a stupid, ridiculous, cheesy photo and I don't think this is the result that the photographer had in mind! haha! Spencer said that he used his track and field throwing technique on me.
 
What I'm loving:

Cherries and watermelon! We can't get enough - even Jack. (Food therapy was seriously a GAME CHANGER!!!)
 

What we've been up to:
We just got back from our Arizona/Utah trip on Sunday and we had so much fun! Distance really does make the heart grow fonder - I would move to either state in a heartbeat if we could!
(Arizona post here and hopefully I'll have a Utah post up by the end of this week)
 
 
What I'm dreading:
I am currently living what I've been dreading for the last few weeks - the week after vacation is the worst and I've got post-vacation blues.
What I'm working on:
I'm still working on unpacking and organizing and restocking and catching up on sleep and getting back into the swing of things here in Iowa. There are a lot of things I should be doing instead of blogging right now :)
What I'm excited about:

Our summer vacationing isn't over! We've got one tail-end vacation at the beginning of September and I'm excited that we have another trip to look forward to.  

What I'm watching/reading:

I finally saw McFarland and I think it is one of my favorite movies of all time! It was SO SO SO GOOD!!! I highly recommend it!
 
We saw Jurassic World on our Anniversary and it was such a fun movie!
 
I read the spinoff of The Selection trilogy (The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games YA novels ;) and it wasn't as good as the first three. My recommendation is to skip this book :)
 
I read this book because Janae from Hungry Runner Girl recommended it. It is a memoir of a recovering food addict, and her story is so interesting, educational, and inspirational!
What I've been listening to:
A whole lot of David crying/whining/screaming from our 19 hour drive home from Utah.
What I'm wearing: 
My sister sent me home with a bunch of her hand-me-downs that I love! I am now reaping the benefits of being the shorter big sister :) Also, since we've been swimming so much I've been wearing this top (in leopard) and these bottoms (in black) a lot.
What I'm doing this weekend:
NOTHING is on the schedule this weekend but a wedding reception. I'm excited to relax and take it easy and hopefully finish the last season Gilmore Girls :)
What I'm looking forward to next month:
Running! Spencer and I are running a seven mile race (the Bix 7) at the end of July, we start training for a half marathon that is in September, and we are doing track workouts with the Cornbelt Running Club every Tuesday night. I'm really glad Spencer converted to running.
What's up with you?!