Heck Yeah!  At the beginning of the summer Jason and I talked about things we could do to get outside, stay fit, and push ourselves physically to the next level.  Running is what we came up with and immetiately to follow came 4 straight weekends of us running 5k ‘s (3.1 miles).  Our first Saturday was a practice run to test ourselves and see if we could run the distance.  We work up early, tied on our running shoes, strapped on our iPods and off we went.  For our run we headed up the Provo canyon, parked at Bridalveil Falls and ran the paved trail down.  It was perfect.  The length of the trail from where we parked was 3.5 miles (about) so once we finished running 3.1 miles the tail kept going which allowed us to walk and have a little cool down.  We drove two cars, one we parked at the top and one at the bottom so we didn’t have to run back up.  The trail is perfect for running, biking, walking, and is really pretty.

After we successfully finished our test run it was time to start signing up for officially races.  The first race we signed up for the Pony Express located in Eagle Mountain.  Second was the Firefighter’s race on Flag Day in Orem, and last but not least the Strawberry Days run in Lindon.

Our good friend Mike was the main catalyst for why we ran the Pony Express.  He convinced Jason it was a good idea, and Jason convinced me… and they were right.  We had so much fun.  The race route was all down hill which really helped our times!

Saturday, June 6, 2009: Mike, Me, Jason

Time: 31.33

The Orem Firefighters Race was on June 13 which is the day Orem celebrated Flay Day!  One of my favorite holidays!  The official holiday is on June 14th but because that day fell on a Sunday the state celebrated on Saturday.  The race route was super flat so my time was a bit slower, but I still had fun!

Saturday, June 13, 2009: Jason and I

Time: somewhere between 32:00-33:00

(this race was a informal so I actually don’t know my exact time)

The last race we ran was the Strawberry Days race.  It was so much fun.  We had a little scare though.  The kicker about running races is the time you have to wake up.  Almost all the races start around 7am, which usually means that you pick up your packets between 6:00-6:30am.  I don’t care who you are, that is early!  When we arrived at the start line we were looking for our friend Mike but he was no where to be found.  Minutes, and I mean minutes before the race started we see him running from the bottom of the hill (we were just about to run down) up towards the crowd.  He made it to the start line just before the whistle blew.  Why was he late… alarm didn’t go off.  I hate that!  We’re glad he made it!

Saturday, June 20, 2009 – Mike, Jason, Me

Time: 33:35

Celebrating the holiday by eating Strawberries!  Perfect right?!

This is one of my new hobbies and I love it!  Who knew?!  In April of this last year is when I made my big purchase.  Buying a bike is a lot harder then I thought.  I seriously felt like I needed to take a special biking class before buying just so I can make an informed decision, but after a lot of research, visiting many local bike shops, talking to a lot of informed people, and a few test rides the choice was made.  I settled on a full suspension bike made by Giant and I love it!  I had a hard time deciding if I wanted a hard tail or full suspension because of the different specs of the bikes, price, and also the bikes ability to do different kind of rides (paved trails vs. dirt trails).  I am so glad I went with the full sespension because it gets me up in the mountains (where all the dirt trails are) and where things up there are beautiful!  Check out some of the cool pics:

Mapleton Ride

Vivian Park Trail (going the long way).

Check-out the snow caped mnts in the background with all the green around it.

So Awesome, I love Utah!

Timpanogos Loop.

This ride was a major workout and it was so hot, I seriously was sweating to death.  Obviously.  🙂

One of the coolest parts of riding is when you come around a corner or get to the peak of a mountain and all of the sudden you have the most breathtaking view in front of you.  Its amazing how much beauty you can find by just going up the canyon for 15 or 20 minutes up.

B-E-A-U-TIFUL!

If you’re ever in need of a good trail a great resource is: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/.  They have tons of trails to pick from and it tells you the best time of year to ride them, the intensity level, GPS coordinates, and often times there is a youtube video you can watch so you can get a sneak peak of what your ride will look like.  If you ever need a riding partner, call me I would love to go!

I love getting together with my girlfriends and catching up, especially when I haven’t seen them in forever!

I went to lunch with Marybeth a few weeks back who I worked with at Orchard Securities up on 106th South just before I moved to New York.  For lunch we went to lunch at Pei Wei which is one of our favorite places.  She introduced me to the Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls and my life has never been the same since.  They’re so good!  I am so glad we are friends, and I am so sad she is moving!  MB, I will miss you!  Come back and visit soon!

Cheese!

Don’t you just love it when you go to lunch with friends and you can pick-up right where you left off, even if it has been 5 or 10 years!  I went to lunch with Tammy and Sheena, who I have known since childhood.  Because of life’s crazy adventures I haven’t seen Tammy in like 7 years!  The last time I saw her we were both in High Shcool.  We were close then but through the years lost touch.  Well, Tammy heard I now living back in Utah and managed to tracked both Sheena and I down for a get together.  Go Tammy!  We met up at Rumbi Grill where we parked ourselves for a couple hours as we caught up.  It was so fun to talk about all the crazy things we did growing up and laugh about all the stupid things we did in high school (a “high speed chase” being one of them) Tammy, thanks for planning our get together.  I had so much fun!

Tammy, Sheena, Kate, Me

June 2009