Time to 'fit' it in

Father of 4 wins 2013 USA 50 Mile Trail Championships: Continued

Posted on March 25, 2013 by timetofititin

In my article that was published today on ksl.com, I wrote about a former teammate of mine, Cody Moat.

I recently became friends with his wife (who I already knew from college) on facebook, and was able to see all of the post about Cody and his successes. I love seeing how proud she is of him … it’s really cute.

As the title of this blog and the article say, Cody recently won the USA 50 Mile Trail Championships. Not only did he win, but he did it in a record time of 6 hours, 26 minutes an 3 seconds, beating the course record by 4 minutes! Amazing!

This is not the only success he’s had recently. Believe it or not, he took first place in the Spartan 2012 World Championship, which is a marathon-long obstacle course.

Cody has recently picked up a sponsorship from Team Inov8, which is quite an accomplishment.

Not only is he a phenomenal athlete, but he does it all while teaching high school, coaching multiple sports and being a husband and father to 4 children, who adore him.

In the article, I asked the question of how … how does he fit it all in? Here is the link to the article that has the answers to that question. Really, so amazing.

I asked a lot of questions in my quest to gain some perspective on how and why he does what he does, and I got a lot of great information that I wanted to share …

Being a former collegiate athlete myself, I knew that burn-out was an all-too-common occurrence, and Cody was not immune from it. I asked him what got him back into running after taking a break after college. Here is what he had to say.

“I took 5 years of competitive running off. I was still working out on trails but I literally refused to even do a 5K race. I was a little burned out but more than anything, I wanted to focus on other things. So my goals changed and the only reason I would run was because it was the best way to experience the mountains. It was an escape from work and other stresses of life. During this time, I began to develop a passion for mountain running (on and off of trails). I would pick a place on the map that I wanted to explore and I would run to that place. After a while the itch for racing returned. Not to do a road race or a track run, but my new found passion (Cross Country Mountain running).

“I don’t really know why I entered my first trail marathon, I was happy running the mountains on my own. I think I realized that I had really found (my) sport. Running in college and high school were close, but they were not (my) sport. They were just the closest thing to it. So I entered my first trail marathon and it was incredible. It was the funnest race I have ever done in my life. At this point I was hooked. I signed up for more races including the Trail Marathon Nationals. But then I picked up an old college foot injury (plantar fasciitis). I took 1 whole year off trying to get it healed up but I never could heal it. So after another whole year wasted, I decided that I was going to run whether it hurt or not. Much to my surprise the pain subsided. Since that time I have been racing like crazy. I still deal with the injury occasionally but I’m working through it.”

What kind of mileage do you put in on a weekly/daily basis?

“As far as training, every week is a little different. Whether it be due to injury or schedule issues, I very rarely have a week that’s always the same. I try to at minimum, put in 10 miles a day. In the summer, I can do two long days a week of 12-20 miles. Most of those long runs are in the mountains which is a much better workout than down around town.”

What is your favorite type of race?

“My favorite type of race could take place in an obstacle race or in a trail race. It comes down to terrain. I like mountain trail runs the best. If obstacles are mixed in, that’s fine. But to be my favorite, it needs to be in the mountains on a trail or on no trail at all. I’m not sure why these are my favorite-I think it’s because I love the mountains and the great outdoors.”

What is your race schedule like this year?

“I have a pretty exciting racing schedule this year. I hope my body holds up long enough to complete it. I have 8-12 spartan races, 2 of which are World championships. I have some awesome trail races planned including the World Trail Marathon Championships in Poland. I will be on the USA Trail Marathon team (which I’m pretty excited about).”

If you want to follow Cody’s progress, go to Cody’s Blog.

Posted in family exercise, health, running, Trail running | Tagged Cody Moat, southern utah university, Spartan Beast, Team Inov8, Trail running, USA 50 Mile Trail Championships | 1 Comment

The coach’s wife :ksl article

Posted on March 18, 2013 by timetofititin

With some things in the news about high school coaches being fired or pushed to the point of resignation, I felt the need to write about my experience of high school athletics from my perspective as a coach’s wife. Here is the link to the article.

If you are interested a little more in our story, I wrote a blog about it while we were in the thick of it. Here is the link.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A tale of two cleaners

Posted on February 25, 2013 by timetofititin

This past week I have had a serious case of writers’ block. I can’t say that I have really ever had this before. My brain is always so chalk full of stuff, that I really haven’t had to worry about it.

However, I had an idea pop in my head that seemed to be really out of nowhere. … Well, kind of.

For as long as we have been married, Adam has always been the deep cleaner in the relationship. Try as I may, he just always seems to do it better than me. He never tells me I’m bad at it, but he quietly goes about his way, re-doing what I have already done.

This, out of anything in our relationship, has probably brought about the most strain. It’s not that I don’t like a clean house, or that I am ungrateful that he cleans, it is really that I am always trying so hard to keep a clean house, only to always be outdone. It has been more of a role thing for me, than anything.

Needless to say, the other day, while being “out-cleaned,” the words “A tale of two cleaners” popped in my mind. Being an avid reader, I knew that this was a play on A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.

It has been a while since I have read it, or even referenced it. But, the words from the first page came to mind, and as I went online to read it, the ideas started to flow.

I was so amazed how well the stories were able to parallel. It was really a fun write. I had my husband read it first, and he gave me the big, OK … especially since I noted in there that he had huge biceps :). Here is the article.

here are his super-human biceps. Rrrrr!

We really are in love. Can’t you tell? 🙂

Anyhoo… On a running note (since this is primarily a running blog), I found out last week that I get to be a pacer for the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 20th! I will be pacing the 3:35 pace. I have never done this before, but am so excited to help others reach their goals! I can’t wait!

Posted in born to run, exercise, family exercise, household cleaning | Tagged a tale of two cities, charles dickens, household cleaning, ksl.com | 1 Comment

Opening our big hearts to help little hearts

Posted on February 18, 2013 by timetofititin

With my new position as a ksl.com contributor, I knew I had to do a story on my cousin, Rachel’s son, Ryker. He has a complex heart condition known as Heterotaxi RAI. Here is the link to the article. If you feel inclined to share the story, please do. I would like their family to have as much help as possible.

Thank you 🙂

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Heterotaxi RAI, Miracle Ryker | Leave a comment

The love languages of children

Posted on February 12, 2013 by timetofititin

My latest article entitled, Learn to speak your child’s love language, was published on ksl.com today. I have written a little more on my other blog, (Tattle) Tales of a Busy Mom. I would love to hear what you think!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Posted on February 8, 2013 by timetofititin

In my last post, I wrote about running on Utah Lake. When I got home I was on such a high, that I just had to write about it … if you don’t know by now, this is the way I do things :). I wrote a quick blog about it and that was it. I had the fleeting thought that I should submit it to Deseret Connect, which is where most of my stories that get published in the Deseret News and KSL, generate from.

Most of my stories have been picked up, but I really didn’t think that this one even had a chance. I thought it was a little too “bloggy,” and not my best work by a long shot. I submitted it anyway, and within minutes I got an email saying that my story was being picked up, and within the hour it was edited, and then I got a phone call from the editor asking me to add a few more safety tips. The story was published the next day and made the front page of ksl.com. The story was actually my original blog post, but when I got word that it was being published, I quick, changed my blog, so that when the readers clicked on the blog they wouldn’t read the same exact thing they did in the article.

That night, Adam took our oldest to the Jazz game and I took the 4 younger kids to our local pizza place. While there, I got a call from my friend, Becky, who also ran with me in the ice. She said that she was listening to KSL News Radio, and they were talking about it and had a Search and Rescue guy weighing in on the article. He actually said that he thought it sounded pretty fun!

Since then, it has been a little nuts. I was contacted by a writer at BYU’s news paper, The Universe, asking to interview me about it. They did a write-up here.

There have been upwards of 50,000 views on the KSL site, which may seem small to most, but that is crazy nuts to me.

Today, I woke up to a flood of emails again, and found that utahlake.gov had done a story on it, too. By the way, they did a great job of sprucing up the picture. My camera kept on freezing and I was lucky to have gotten any pictures at all. Not to mention, the inversion was so bad. Their editing makes it look sunny … which it was not … at all. They also alluded to the fact that my kids are extra wiggly during the winter, and I think they got that idea from my latest column on combating cabin fever.

before

After

I feel a little silly because I was not the first to have done this, and it wasn’t even my idea. I’m just crazy enough to admit that I would do something like this, and have it published on a mainstream media source :).

Really, though it has been such a positive thing. Because of the buzz that it generated, I was able to have that phone conversation with the ksl editor, and now I am going to be writing regularly for ksl.com’s Motherhood Matters and Happy Living sections, which is really so awesome!

I will still be writing for the Spectrum and The Daily Herald. This just adds to my work load, and I love it!

Funny how things work out. Really so grateful 🙂

Posted in born to run, exercise, family exercise, health, running, winter running | Tagged ksl.com, Motherhood Matters, running on utah lake, winter running | 2 Comments

Running ON the lake

Posted on January 21, 2013 by timetofititin

Just this past Saturday, I went for a run on the lake … yes, I said, “on.” The other day my friend invited me to go with her and her brother for a run on Utah lake.

Now, before you think that we’re all nuts, temperatures around here for the past few weeks have been in the well below freezing range, with highs in the 20’s and lows in the negative range. With consistently low temperatures, the lake has frozen solid.

But before you think that I jumped at the chance, I did actually do my research. When I went to the Utah Lake website, they were actually encouraging people to get out on the lake for winter recreation, and running was one of the activities listed. Here is the article: Winter Wonderland: Top 10 things to do at Utah Lake when it’s frozen.

I also went to a blog, where one of our ultra marathoning legends,Davy Crockett, had posted about having run over 200 miles on the lake, and had a video depicting his experience. In the video, he described different things that you would see and sounds that you would hear. I also had a friend who was going that afternoon, and reported later to me how awesome it was! I was getting more and more excited by the minute.

I took an old pair of shoes to my friend’s house, where she had her husband put some screws in the bottom of them to prevent slipping. Here is a tutorial on how to do this.

As it got closer, I wanted even more for my husband to come with me. I was even able to secure a babysitter for 6 am, but he isn’t a morning person, and decided not to come. Man, did he miss out!

Our plan was to drop my car off at a dock in Saratoga Springs, drive over to Provo, and then run the 7 miles across the lake back to Saratoga. Oh, first a little background on Saratoga Springs: It is named for the warm springs it has in the side of the lake that are in that city. So, there are some warm springs that could prove dangerous. We did our research, and started at a dock that was far from the warm springs, so that we wouldn’t encounter any danger.

When we got out of the car in Provo, the temperature read 5 degrees. Soooo cold! We got moving quickly, so that our bodies would warm up. The first mile or so, was kind of weird because it was all new, and we had the fact that we were running on ice, forefront in our minds.

After a couple of miles, though, it wore off. But by that point, we were out in the middle of the lake, and there was white everywhere. Absolutely no sign of the shoreline. We had our GPS and compass apps on our phones, so we were able to keep good tabs on where we were headed.

We stopped a few times to take pictures of cool things we saw along the way, but soon found that e very time we stopped, we would sweat, causing us to be cold again, and it would take the next few minutes of running again, to warm up. So, we did our best to just keep moving.

Once we reached Saratoga, we were on such a runner’s high, that we decided that we wanted to run the 7 miles back to Provo, totaling 14 miles on the ice. Never has 14 miles aver felt so good. When we reached Provo, I jokingly said, “do you want to do another round?” But, really, I wasn’t joking. Reality set in, and I knew I needed to get home. :)–Funny story: When I told my 8-year-old son what I was planning to do, he said, “Mom, why can’t you just keep to the roads?!”

As we exited the ice, we looked to our right and saw a bunch of people who were finishing a 5k race, and then all lining up to do a polar plunge into the icy waters. The thought in my mind was, “Those people are nuts!” Then I figured that they were probably thinking the same thing about us! 🙂

Such a wonderful experience that I will not soon forget.

: whiteness EVERYWHERE!

: The screws in the bottom of my shoes!

: before

: Two miles in, and I’m turning int o an old lady!

: As we finished our run, we saw a bunch of crazies doing a polar plunge. It was 6′ for heaven’s sake! On second thought, they might have thought we were the crazy ones 😉

: A small crack

: My friend, Becky. So glad she invited me.

**If this seems like an adventure that you want to experience, here are a few tips I have come up with, for running on the ice:

1. Do your research. The lake should post updates on ice thickness, but if it doesn’t, go and cut a section of the ice yourself. The ice should be at least 3″ thick. This usually happens after days and weeks of temperatures in the below freezing range.

2. Don’t go alone. As is the case with all risky activities, there is safety in numbers.

3. Dress appropriately: Ice is cold, so make sure you are covered head to toe in warm clothing. Make sure you layer on in your upper body and chest area, as well as on your extremities. A hat is a must.

4. Get your shoes ice ready: Ice is also slippery, so you may want to get your shoes ready for the ice, by making a few adjustments. Here is a link with instructions on how to do that. It is best that you do this to an older pair of shoes; once they’re ice shoes, there’s no going back.

5. Use a GPS or compass: As opposed to running on the road or trails, there are no marked paths on a frozen lake. A GPS or compass will ensure that you make it to your intended destination.

Posted in born to run, exercise, family exercise, health, running, winter running | Tagged davy crockett, frozen lake, running on ice, uce running, utah lake, winter recreation | 7 Comments

Running Resolutions

Posted on January 11, 2013 by timetofititin

I was recently asked by one of our local news media sources, to write a column for their Reasons to Run blog. Being that it was the new year, I decided to ask some of my friends, as well as some members of a local facebook running group (Utah Running Guide), about why they run, as well as some of their goals for the new year.

When I posted the question, I had no idea, all of the different responses that I would get. While my goal was to inspire others to run, I found myself being inspired not only to run, but to be a better person, in general.

Here is the link to the article, entitled, Running in the New Year.

I loved reading all of these stories, and would love to have you share what your running resolutions are for 2013!…

Posted in born to run, exercise, health, running | Tagged deseret news, New year's running resolutions, reasons to run blog, running goals | 3 Comments

Re-direct to: My mothering blog

Posted on January 5, 2013 by timetofititin

For the past year, I have been privileged to be able to write both a running column, as well as a mothering column for some local newspapers and online news sources. I am not so much of a blogger, per-say, but I have begun another blog that goes along with my mothering columns, entitled, “(Tattle) Tales of a busy mom.”

As much as I have tried to tie my mothering articles to that blog, they aren’t publishing that address. So, if you are here, because you wanted to see more of a mothering-type blog, I am so sorry. Please go to the link above….although if you want to be inspired to run, you are more than welcome to stay here :).

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Christmas Eve Snow Run (Hill, Yes!!)

Posted on December 24, 2012 by timetofititin

It is Christmas Eve, and guess what we woke up to?!!! Snow!!! Now, snow and I don’t generally get along, except of course, if it has running attached to it…and building snow forts. Once I saw the snow, that was it for me. I just couldn’t stay inside any longer. When I headed out, I got to the paved running path. There, I saw a set of footprints. I debated whether to follow those footprints, or to take the road less traveled. True to form, I took the road less traveled, which is also known as, “the hard way.” I like to think of it as the “way more fun way!” I thought about taking a gravel road that is generally pretty easy, but once I reached where I could go up my favorite hill (mountain), aka, “zig-zag hill,” that was it. It was too tempting. This is a hill that I take my kids up a lot during the summer (blogged about it here).

It is about a mile up, and just the coolest ever! I had to stop and snatch a few pictures on the way up.

The view from the bottom

halfway up

the view from the top!

I felt so bad that I couldn’t bring my kids with me, so I had to build them a snowman on top. I can’t wait until Adam and I can bring them up here in the snow. They will love it!

my snowman

Speaking of Adam, when I got home and told him all about my awesome run up zig-zag, he had to do it, too. As he headed out the door, I asked him which run he was going to do, and he said that he was going to follow my footprints…Awe, so sweet. I love it when I head out after him, and find his footprints. I married the right man for me :). He took some pictures, too…