Yes, I know the race was like 3 weeks ago. Better late than never, right? Right.

My best friend Bill and his lovely fiance were in town for the race. Its funny- we all originally registered to run the full 26.2 and all of us switched to the half. After Ironman I needed a break from the long distances, and I decided that I don’t actually love running.

I mentioned in my goals post that training for this race had been sort of a failure and all I wanted to do was run the race hard, not worrying about heart rate or anything else. In February I was running consistently enough that I thought I could break 1:50. By the time May rolled around, I was unsure if I could even push the pace very much because I totally fell off the running wagon. But I was going to try- Bill was going to run by my side (he is faster than me) and we were going to shoot for a sub 2 hour finish which would be a 12 minute improvement from my only other stand alone half marathon.

The race was a point to point down the Poudre River Canyon near Fort Collins, CO. It looks like this:

Pretty amazing. The 13.1 started 13.1 miles away from the finish line in downtown Ft Collins. The full started 13.1 more miles up the canyon. The half marathoners had 7 miles of sweet downhill, and the full marathoners had 17.

The start was a bit of a cluster- there were not that many people but there was no wave start and Bill and I spend the first mile bobbing and weaving along the narrow road.

Once we found our own space we just cruised along, taking advantage of the scenery and downhill. I knew we had to hold a sub 9 minute mile pace to get to the sub 2 hour finish.

Mile 1: 9:19

Mile 2: 8:37

Mile 3: 8:40

We kept cruising right along. I got many compliments on my running outfit. Thanks, TriBella!

It’s amazing how quickly the miles tick by when you are running next to a friend and you have an awesome view around you. By mile 4 the slant in the road really began to take a toll on my IT bands and knees. We were only allowed to run on the left side of the road so I couldn’t switch sides of the street to even out my knees.

Mile 4: 8:40

Mile 5: 8:52 <- knee pain!

Mile 6: 9:09 <- knee pain!

At mile 7 you are exiting the canyon and you see a hill in front of you. It actually felt really good to change direction from downhill to uphill- and it was not very steep, just kind of a longer gradual climb.

Miles 7 through 13 are when things started to get hard. I hadn’t realize just how much the downhill thrashed my quads and when we got to mile 10 they started cramping…badly. Bill kept pushing me through each cramp but there were 3 different times that I had to stop and walk to rub my quad in fear of falling over. It was during these three walking breaks that I thought 2 hours had slipped away- so I just stopped looking at my watch.

Mile 7: 8:45

Mile 8:  8:59

Mile 9:  9:21

Mile 10:  8:86

Mile 11:  9:39

Mile 12:  9:41

Mile 13:  9:27

Also, miles 7 through 13 were on a bike path, which was fine at first, but by the end I could not wait to get off of it. It was totally exposed so I was hot by this point and it was boring.

Once off the bike path you make a right hand turn and see the finish line a ways away. I looked down at my watch and saw 1:58. Bill and I decided to sprint our hearts out to the finish.

We wound up crossing the line at 1:59:33. Nothing like cutting it close. It was a good day, and I’m glad I was able to push it as much as I could that day. I really like the half marathon distance…I think I’ll sign up for one in the fall and shoot for another PR.

But until then- it’s triathlon season! And even though I do not have many on the schedule (actually, only 1 as of right now- a 70.3 in September) it’s time to get my butt on my bike and in the pool!

So, I’m running a half marathon this Sunday. I was supposed to run the full, but switched to the 13.1 half way through my training cycle. Apparently Ironman took more out of me than I thought, and I was just not enjoying the long runs.

Let me say that I royally screwed up this training cycle. Like…badly. I hit most of my long runs (except for the one I skipped because the ‘we just bought a house’ celebrating got the best of me), but I hardly ever ran more than once a week. I do not feel totally prepared for this race in the least. I certainly half-assed the training for it.

But even with half-assed training I feel excited to RACE. Since April of 2010 everything was about pace, and heart rate, and zone 2, and perfect execution that would get me to the finish line of an Ironman. Every single race leading up to my 140.6 mile journey was practice.

But with my Cozumel finisher’s medal hanging nicely in my living room, I am ready to go balls to the walls this weekend. Heart rate? Don’t care. Pace? Maybe a little since 13.1 is still a ways to run. Nutrition? I’ll do the best I can.

My goal this weekend is to let the bull out of the pen. I am going to cross the start line and run my little heart out. I want to finish that race panting, with my heart about to beat out of my chest, and knowing that I left everything I had out on the course. Whatever time I finish in, as long as I give it my all, is fine with me.

Bring on first race in over a year that I actually get to try and go as fast as possible!

IM SO EXCITED.

*I say I think because we have been through the inspection and the sewer scope and all looks pretty good but now it is time to negotiate with the seller and we can still walk away if they decide to not fix anything- which we don’t think is going to be the case. Anyways, back to the story*

Phil and I decided that with interest rates as low as they are, and the cost of rent increasing, that it would be a better financial decision to buy a house instead of rent. Also, houses in Denver are much more reasonably priced than the houses in DC meaning that for about the same price that we are paying in rent right now, we could be tossing that cash towards and mortgage and building equity. Sorry for the financial rant- that’s the accountant in me coming out.

We originally started our search in a neighborhood called the Highlands- a trendy place that is close to where I will be attending school in the fall but far from Phil’s work. We love the neighborhood but the houses that were in our price range were not in the “trendy” areas and they were built in the 1800s and had no closets. We quickly decided to look into other neighborhoods.

We decided on the City Park/ Park Hill area because the houses were more in our price range and the neighborhoods are up and coming. Our realtor said Park Hill is the new “investor hot spot”- which meant for us that we could find an awesome home (most likely fixed and flipped since many of the homes in this areas went under when the market did) which was pretty big and still in our price range.

The Denver real estate market right now is CRAZY. If a house is nice and priced right, it only lasts on the market for a few days at most. Phil and I knew that if we saw a house we liked we were going to have to jump on it ASAP. In fact, two homes that we LOOOOVED the looks of online we did not even get to see because they went under contract just HOURS before we supposed to see them.

Let me tell ya something about looking at houses online and them seeing them in person- it is like online dating. They have professionals come in and take these awesome photos and then you get there and its not nearly as pretty. This was not the case with our potential new home. In fact, Phil and I almost crossed it off the list because the pictures were just from a little point and shoot.

When we saw the house last Saturday we were the first ones to walk through before an open house. Phil could tell I loved it because I was walking around with a huge grin on my face. I could tell he liked it too because after walking through it once, he walked through it 20 more times banging on all of the windows and brick and wood and checking out all of the pipes and other manly things. I was taken by the brand new kitchen, the vaulted ceilings and the massive back yard.

The house is a rancher style with a basement. The main floor has 3 bedrooms, a full bath, a new kitchen, and a formal living and dining room. The basement has a large living room, a full bath, another bedroom, a pantry/storage room, and a laundry room. The backyard is huge with fresh sod being put in this week and a detached 3 car garage (that better be big enough for all of our bikes…and no, Phil, you may not get more bikes for at least a year).

We knew that if we had any shot of getting this house we needed to put in an offer on the spot. So we had our realtor do all the dirty work while we continued to walk through the house. As we were leaving several more couples were walking in. I was nervous that we were going to lose the house because we did not offer the full asking price. We went home and discussed like adults – aka Phil was crunching numbers and I was planning where all of our furniture was going to go.

At around 5pm that same day our realtor called. I felt like I was on an HGTV show as I answered my phone nervously and put it on speaker so that Phil could hear. “Are you still excited about the house?” he said. “I dont know- should I be?” I replied. He told us that our offer was accepted and he was sending over contracts. SQUEEE!

We had the home inspection done which returned a few things that need to be fixed. The sewer scope also showed a few issues but nothing as bad “run away, your whole house will flood when you flush the toilet”. So now it is time to negotiate with the seller and see what he can do for us to make this sale happen. Cross your fingers for us that he isn’t a total jerk about fixing some leaky pipes! This is the part I am most nervous about!

I’ll post pictures as soon as we know if we are moving in or not! Also, if you are in the Denver area and we do wind up living in this home, be prepared for epic beer pong tournaments in the back yard.

There has been one huge difference I noticed when I moved from DC to Denver. Not the scenery, not the altitude, but my attitude. I was calm. Content with myself and where I was in my life both personally and athletically. Not competing with those around me.

Back in DC, I felt like almost everything was a competition whether you wanted it to be or not. I was on a team of very supportive triathletes but there was certainly some underlying competitiveness to keep up. Who has a nicer bike, a more expensive wheel set, who is training harder or running more miles. And the truth is- I’m not a competitive person with anyone but myself yet I got caught up in the competitive attitude, which to me, makes things a lot less fun. Not knocking anyone in DC, it is just the general attitude of the city (athletically, financially, in the work force).

When I got to Colorado, all of a sudden that dissapeared. I run with a group on Wednesday evenings and I am the SLOWEST one (Colorado runners are damn fast!). Instead of feeling frustrated and upset, I finished last with a smile on my face and no one judged me. Not even me. For once I feel at peace with my training, or lack thereof, and I am not comparing myself to anyone but me.

I not only feel this way about training, but my current life situation as well. I am a soon-to-be grad student making very little (and soon to be zero) income. Phil and I have had to team up our finances and work as a team to make things work. He is supporting both of us and with one income for the next three years, we have a budget to stick to in order to plan wisely for our future (ie: wedding, children, buying a house, having a savings account). Because of this, I decided to not do many triathlons this season- and I feel no pressure at all to sign up for several. A few is just fine.

There, I said it. I’ve been thinking it forever but I finally admitted it. I love how I feel after I run, I love the feeling of accomplishment after a long run and I love seeing my pace getting faster. I don’t love how my ankles ache after 7 miles, how I have to sit in a bath full of ice for 20 minutes to be able to use my legs for the rest of the day, and how I had to explain nicely to the woman who did my pedicure last weekend why I only have 7 out of 10 toenails.

Maybe I should be a little more clear. I dont like running long distances. My happy distance is between 6 and 8 miles. After that, unless I have a good friend beside me to chat, I begin cursing all things running.

I discovered this on my 18 mile run last weekend. I did it solo. I hated every minute past mile 8. It was then that I decided to switch to the Colorado 1/2 marathon instead of running the full on May 6th. I had been toying with this idea for a few weeks, but I felt like I was giving up if I switched to the half. Especially because I have been killing my long runs…I was on track for a sub 4 hour marathon- but my heart wasn’t in it.

As soon as I switched to the half, I was excited to race again. I’m excited to get out there, in my pink and black Tri Bella race kit, and run my heart out for a shiny new PR. I’m excited to have two of my best friends running the race with me, one of whom is going to pace me (and himself!) to an awesome finishing time by telling me dirty jokes for 13.1 miles.

When I was asked why I switched, I simply said “Because I don’t feel like running that far.”

I do all of this for fun, to stay in shape, and to push my limits. I already completed one of the biggest challenges a triathlete can take on (if any of you say a double or tripple Ironman, I’ll scream) and now I want to push my limits on speed while keeping it fun. 13.1 = fun. 26.2 = not fun.

Phew, I feel better now that I got that off my chest.

Hi! Remember me? I’m the girl that stopped blogging suddenly for no good reason.

Well, it was kind of a good reason. I felt like I had nothing to say as far as triathlon goes since I have not been doing anything (nada, zip, zilch) triathlon related and this is a triathlon blog! I’ve been staying in shape with some running, yoga, strength workouts and whatever I felt like doing to sweat. To be honest, I need a break from the swim.bike.run.

But then I realized that this is MY blog and I can talk about whatever I want- triathlon related or not! So Laurens Tri Blog is now Laurens *whatever I feel like talking about* blog. Hope you guys don’t mind seeing some awesome recipes I’ve created, hikes I am going on, and life stories about Denver

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few weeks- it’s midterm week in my final three prerequisite classes before my Doctorate of Physical Therapy program starts in August so I have abandoned the blog to study the cranial and spinal nerves, chemistry words that I can’t even pronounce and the physics behind electricity in a circuit.

Speaking of studying, I decided to take the plunge on something I have been thinking about for the past several months. This weekend I ordered my study materials to become a certified personal trainer (CPT) through the American College of Sports Medicine!

It is in line with my future profession and a great way to make some cash while in graduate school. The certification is no joke- its a standardized test that ACSM recommends you spend 3 to 6 months studying for. I plan to take the test in the beginning of the summer so that when school starts in late August, I can focus all my energy there. I am really looking forward to studying and learning all about creating exercise plans for anyone from athletes, to people with health conditions, and people trying to get into tip top shape.

I’m so excited about where my life is heading career wise!

Ill be back with an update about marathon training (or lack thereof) after I kick ass on all my midterms this week!

With today being Valentine’s day I figured I would tell the story of how Phil and I met! It’s one of my favorite stories!

It was July of 2008 and I was fresh out of college, living in my first grown-up apartment in Alexandria, VA with a roommate whom I had known since college. In an attempt to make friends (many of my college friends moved to NYC after graduation) and explore our new neighborhood, we signed up for a introduction to rock climbing class at the gym near our apartment.

The class was held on a Saturday morning. We went out Friday night until the wee hours of the morning and I remember telling Ashley that I was not going to go to the rock climbing class because I was too hungover. She scolded me that we already paid the $25 for the class and we were in no position to waste money. She was right. With a pounding headache I threw on yoga pants and a blue tank top that had a hole in the left shoulder strap. I left the house without washing my face or brushing my hair.

We walked into the climbing gym, signed the waivers that said if we died we wouldn’t sue, and took a seat waiting for our class to start. I saw a tall and handsome instructor teaching another class and I remember saying to Ashley “God, I hope he is not our instructor because he is hot, and I look awful!”.

It was then that Phil walked up to us, told us he would be our instructor, and told us to write our names on a piece of yellow tape and class would start shortly.

The class was small- Me, Ashley, and two other people. Phil showed us how to put on the climbing harness, tie into the ropes and belay. Just when I thought things could not get more embarrassing, he handed me a bright orange helmet to wear as I climbed the wall for the first time.

Phil was friendly, so I started flirting. At the end of class I asked him if he and a few friends would want to go out to happy hour with Ashley and I. The next week we met up for happy hour (where I made sure to look super cute and brush my hair!) where Phil asked me out on our first date. The next three and a half years are history!

Guess I didn’t look that bad the first day we met? Or maybe my butt just looks awesome in yoga pants and a climbing harness? Either way- I fell madly in love with my rock climbing instructor

The title of this post is the best way to describe what I did this weekend. Lots of socializing. Lots of ankle thrashing.

Phil and I went to our first Denver Nuggets game on Thursday evening. Even though they lost, we had a great time! After the game we went to the bar down the street from our apartment that features free drinks for ladies on Thursday nights. I was giggling like a school girl after my fourth vodka and soda. Had to get my money worth

4th row seats!

On Friday evening I met up with other Denver bloggers for sushi and a movie. I seriously love how friendly people are here. I tweeted on Wednesday that I needed a girl to go see The Vow (which was not very impressive) with me since I knew Phil would rather go rock climbing (or do anything else for that matter). That one little tweet turned into this:

From left to right: Heather, Courtney, Lynne, Tiffany, me, Liz and Heidi.

It’s always weird to meet bloggers in person for the first time because you dont know them, yet you know all about them. We chatted for a long time before heading over to the theater.

Saturday, I hit the slopes with Phil, Liz, and her hubby Neil. The mountains got over 8 inches of snow on Friday night so Saturday was my first experience snowboarding in fresh powder. I loved it!

I graduated to the medium difficulty slopes this past weekend! That means I was able to go all the way to the top of mountain instead of only half way. I was a little nervous at first but I did really well and had so much fun. Phil told me later that he was really impressed with how comfortable I looked on my board. My Garmin also confirmed that I do snowboard faster than 4 mph

While I had a ton of fun on Saturday, my ankles took a beating being in those snowboard boots for 8 hours. Good thing we had beer to help ease the pain.

Shouldn’t that picture be the next PBR ad?

I woke up Sunday morning with sore ankles and hips. Nothing like a 10 mile trail run in Boulder with Erin and Liz to really make my ankles really hate me. I have never ran on a trail before…and certainly not a snow packed one…for 10 miles. The run was challenging but with great views of the mountains, awesome friends to talk to, and a random cow that decided to block the trail at one point, the miles went by quickly.

My social self is happy I was able to be around so many great people this weekend. My ankles are begging me for mercy…so I am going to give them a break…until next weekend when I tackle Breckenridge with 2 days of back to back boarding and a long run. Hang in there ankles, I am making you stronger!

I <3 TTT because I can write a post that has no flow to it, and it’s totally random! Thank you to whoever came up with this mindless, yet genius, blog meme.

1. I have a new obsession with loose leaf tea. When my big sister was here this past weekend we ventured out to the mall during the snow storm and went into a store called Teavana that specializes in loose leaf tea. We sampled several flavors and both ended up loving and buying the Chai mix. I also bought a tea tumbler that keeps your tea hot for like a million hours. It was even hot after 6 hours of being left in the cold car while I was snowboarding! It has a double protection from spilling as well so it will be great when I toss is into my bag for school!

2. Speaking of snowboarding, I am going again this weekend! And next weekend! I am proud to say that this weekend I will be tackling a few blues (the medium difficulty runs) and moving up from the greens. I am still working at overcoming fear of snow sports but I think that will come with time. I’ve improved a ton, I am able to switch from my heel edge to my toe edge really well, but the speed is what scares me. As soon as I go more than 4mph I immediately slow down. I am going to wear my Garmin this weekend to see how fast I am actually going (I hope its faster than 4mph!) and how far I go in a day.

3. Since Brizzy hasn’t gotten any love on the blog lately, here she is being a huge fatty and checking out the food in the fridge.

She had her whole body except her back legs in the fridge, so I helped her a little. She didnt like it.

It’s almost the weekend!