Mike Wazowski?

Whenever I hear the word "futile" I can't help but think of of a scary dude with a long face and beard, and oversized yellow eyes saying "Resistance is futile!!!!" .....Wow, that was weird. Anyway, I've changed my goal on my training for the one-mile challenge for the next couple weeks atleast. Schoolwork is really taking up a lot of my time, and I'm trying to push through these last few weeks of school so that I can finish strong. Therefore I haven't had as much time to train as I would like. I have gone running three times this week however, and did 400 repeats on Wednesday night. I did four of them, and my times were as follows:

1 - 1:12

2 - 1:10

3 - 1:12

4 - 1:15

I rested for approximately 2:45 between each, and my goal was to stay at 1:15 or less, so I was overall happy with my performance. So anyway, my goal for these next couple weeks is to improve my training, but not at the level that I had originally hoped. My goal by the time finals are over is to run a 5:25 mile, which I think is plausible.

So now on to the real reason for this post:

Ever since the movie "Monster's Inc." came out like my junior year of high school, people have told me that I look like Mike Wazowski. For those of you who don't remember this character, here is a picture of him next to a picture of me:

Yes, he's an eyeball. Some people get compared to Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, etc. I apparently resemble a green eyeball with legs. Let me identify just a few of the differences in our appearances. First, I don't have arms protruding out of the sides of my head. I have two, count them, TWO eyeballs, and there is the strange absence of horns on my head. I'm not sure how this started, but it has been mentioned to me many times. I think it is time to let the public decide. Please vote on the poll. Thankyou. Here is another picture comparison to help your decision.

Girly basketball game....girly background

With BYU's fairly pathetic loss last night to Texas A&M, my dreams of a BYU-BSU NCAA championship game were dashed. Nobody believed me when I said it could happen, and now I see why. No, really, I was just trying to be funny, but deep down there was this hope and belief that someday, somehow it could really happen. I even tried to exercise my faith by filling out a bracket that had BSU beating BYU in the final. Statistically it was possible......but not anymore. Oh well.

Anyway, training this week was a little rough, because I had a little friend visit me on Tuesday. His name was Hurling Joe Pukeface and let's just say that he was angry. I definitely ate some bad salsa or something, and ended up staying home all day Tuesday and part of the day Wednesday, so I didn't run either of those days. I ran a little more than three miles on Monday and Thursday I ran two. Tomorrow (Saturday) I want to go run a 400 meter repeat workout. We'll see if I have time to run today. But mostly I am thoroughly enjoying the running. I love it and have really felt in a rhythm every time I have run these past few weeks. Very relaxing. I'm looking to time another mile sometime next week, so I'm hoping that I can improve my time by atleast 10 seconds.

Also, Julie took the liberty of changing the background on our blog..........and when looking at it I suddenly begin craving fruit smoothies and chick flicks. Yeah, it's way to girly. I think "patsy" would be the name for it. However, I think I may need popular opinion to win this one. So if you agree with me that the background is way too girly, please vote on our poll.

This was my first reaction when I saw the new background on our blog.

Week 1 Training Update

Before I give you an update on my training for the one-mile challenge, I think I should post a disclaimer so that I don't needlessly plagiarize. I was inspired to do this challenge by a man named Adam Campbell. Apparently he writes for the magazine "Men's Health." I can't recommend the magazine, but I found his blog on the internet and he was working on doing this one-mile challenge. He was giving daily updates, and got to day 100 and something, and then he just stopped writing about it. I think he just gave up. That was uninspiring, but I have to credit him with my original inspiration. I also need to credit him with the workouts I am currently doing, as I found them on his blog. They were planned for him by a coach that he had. Here is a link to his blog if you want to check it out: thefitnessinsider.menshealth.com/2006/09/the_onemile_cha_6.html

The schedule consists of four workouts that I will use in some kind of random order, probably depending on how I'm feeling and how much time I have in any given day. I may also do an occasional longer run because it's relaxing and I love it. The workouts are as follows:

Workout 1: 200 repeats. I did this last Friday. The idea is to run 200 meter repeats at just under 5:00 mile pace (34-36 seconds) and then rest for about 30 seconds between each. I do this until my performance drops off by 10%, or about 4 seconds. At that point I am done. The goal is to be able to do 8 of these before I have to stop. Since I was able to do this already on Friday, I am going to change it up a little bit. I will drop my rest time to about 24 seconds and do one set of 4 200's, with a 5 minute rest period. Then I will do my second set with the same 24 second rest period until I can't do anymore.

Workout 2: 3 mile run. This is considered a long, slow distance day, and the goal is to run each mile at 80 percent of my best mile time. You can get that number by converting your mile time to seconds (so if you run a 7-minute mile, it's 420 seconds), and then dividing that by .80 (525 seconds),and then converting it back to minutes and seconds (8:45 pace). For me, my best recent mile time as of right now is 5:50, so my pace for this workout would be about a 7:20 mile. I'm pretty confident I can do that, so I might move it down to a 7:00 pace.

Workout 3: 400 repeats. Here, the plan is to "sprint" 400 meters, and then rest 3 times the duration of the sprint. The goal is to be able to run 4 of them at a 5:00 mile pace, or about 1:15. I'm pretty sure I can do this, but we'll see. I have yet to do this workout. I may adapt this to an 800 meter repeat workout as well.

Workout 4: 2 mile run. This is similar to the 3-mile run, only faster. The goal is to run these at 90 percent of my best mile effort,or about 6:30 per mile.

So I'm off to a slow start with my training. I'm trying to make up for it, though. I ran a 200 repeat workout last Friday, and was able to do 8 200's at about 35 seconds apiece with about a 5 minute rest time after the first four. I was sucking wind pretty bad after the last one, though, so I'm going to continue with this workout until it gets a little easier, then I may modify it.

Yesterday I ran 2 miles at about a 6:45 pace, and then today I ran another two miler with Julie at the indoor track on campus at about a 6:28 pace. It felt really good. I'm excited to see how fast I can do three miles. We'll see. I'm hoping to be able to run tomorrow, but I have a business law test that I have to take tomorrow afternoon. We'll see if I'm able to find time. Here is a picture of me on the last quarter-mile of my marathon. Yeah, I look like I'm about to collapse.....because I was about to collapse. But to prove I actually finished, I included a picture of me and Julie after the race.

Julie's athletic endeavors

So I may not be the athlete that my husband is, but not to be outdone I thought I would update you all on my athletic endeavors. I ran the first mile of my life about 2 months ago. It was hard, but it's not as hard now. Maybe someday I'll make it to 2 miles. more exciting than that is the new appendage I have on my belt every waking moment, my pedometer. A bunch of teachers at my school are in a competition to see who can walk the most steps each week in the month of March. Last week I went almost 50,000 steps. Not too bad, especially considering that I only made it to the track once last week. Wish me luck...my goal is to hit an average of 10,000 stpes a day!

The One Mile Challenge

This is Nate speaking.......

Just thought I needed to specify, since Julie and I seem to post separately to this blog and it's probably hard to figure out who's talking sometimes.

Anyway, I've been feeling rather old and washed up these days. I try to limit my time reminiscing about my glory days to 3 or 4 hours a day, but lately it's been tough. I considered myself a pretty decent athlete back in high school, and I really developed a love for running. I was on a couple state champion relay teams in track, and ran at the state cross country meet my senior year...Anyway, I'm just trying to justify my feeling good about my athletic ability.

So I miss always pursuing an athletic goal of some kind. A running distance that is really easily measurable and familiar to most people is the mile. Back when I was in my prime, I never timed a hard mile, but I was running three-mile races in about 5:30 per mile, and in 2006, when I ran my marathon, I know I could run under 6 minutes per mile.

Julie and I have started running a couple times per week, and I started wondering if I could run a mile in under 5 minutes. So I've decided to start training for it. Julie and I are moving to Colorado the first week in June, and my goal is to do it before then. I timed a mile about two weeks ago, and ran it in 5:50. It sounds close, but 50 seconds is a lot of time. But I'm confident I can do it.

So I'm going to start giving you updates on my training, and any flowery advice or unbased encouragement is appreciated. That is all.

100 things about me

So I've seen a lot of people do lists of 100 things about themselves. I don't know if I can come up with 100, but I feel it's time to add to the blog so I'm going to give it a try. Don't feel obligated to read unless you really want to know me better. Here it goes!

1. my favorite color is red.
2. I love food...all kinds, but especially Mexican food.
3. By the time I got my braces off for good I had had them for one third of my life (7 years!).
4. I had surgery on my jaw when I was 20.
5. I once went 2 months consuming liquids only (see #4).
6. I always hated running until I met Nate, now I'm semi-converted.
7. My grandpa was an ultra-marathoner (no, I didn't get his genes).
8. My other grandpa is a real life cowboy and was a marine stationed at Pearl Harbor when it got bombed.
9. I went to the Olympics when I was 11.
10. I have never had a cavity.
11. The only time I have had a broken bone or stitches are from surgery.
12. I am my parents only biological child.
13. I have 2 amazing brothers.
14. I went to the temple to be sealed with my family twice (once after each of my brothers' adoptions).
15. I have been to 6? temple open houses.
16. I was the Tulare County math bowl champion in 8th grade.
17. I teach third grade.
18. I have known that I wanted to teach third grade since I was in third grade.
19. I love all kinds of chocolate.
20. I love holidays a lot. Most teachers learn to hate Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc because the kids are crazy, but I love holidays more than the kids do!
21. I sang choir and was in the school musicals in high school.
22. I am allergic to cats.
23. I prefer cats to dogs.
24. My favorite pet ever was a cat named Savannah Pearl who hung herself in a car window.
25. I love it when Nate pops my toes and back.
26. Disneyland is my favorite place in the world.
27. The night Nate proposed I said yes then freaked out and refused to wear the ring to school the next day (it all worked out in the end).
28. I love orange juice with my popcorn.
29. I prefer popcorn from an air popper to microwaved popcorn any day.
30. I love chocolate milk from the powder, not the syrup.
31. I got a perfect 36 on the math portion of the ACT.
32. I once took the LSAT just for fun to see how I would do and it was indeed fun.
33. I have lived in 2 cities my entire life, Visalia and Provo.
34. My dream job is to be Belle at Disneyland.
35. My favorite thing about Nate is that he can always make me laugh.
36. I love to think about things to the point that I tear them apart in my mind and think about every possible solution, scenario, possibility...it's exhilarating.
37. Nate proposed on Y Mountain.
38. I love sour patch kids.
39. I love watching almost all sports.
40. I love watching College Game Day on ESPN during football season and I have my mother to thank for it.
41. I love March Madness...thanks again mom.
42. I love to do word puzzles with my dad.
43. I will always root for the Cougars no matter who they are playing against...even Boise State.
44. I love to watch the Food Network.
45. I love lemon meringue pie.
46. I love orange soda.
47. My family went to this place called family camp every summer during my childhood and it was consistently the highlight of my summer.
48. I played volleyball from 4th to 9th grade.
49. I do not like meatballs or meatloaf.
50. I love trying new foods.
51. When I was about 4 I gave my friend a haircut, luckily our moms found us before we could "take turns."
52. The only time I remember being spanked as a child is when I ran away from home to gymnastics class.
53. I took piano lessons from age 5 to18, but I never practiced the piano so I can play the hymns and that's about it.
54. I have the best parents ever.
55. I still have the violin my parents bought me in 8th grade. I quit the violin after 9th grade.
56. My mom planned 75 % of my wedding and I thought it was the perfect wedding because she has amazing taste and consulted with me on most of the decisions.
57. I played soccer in 3rd and 4th grade for the treats after the games and the trophy at the end of the season.
58. If it didn't snow so much around here I would wear flip flops 12 months of the year.
59. I have always wanted to visit Washington D.C.
60. I am so blessed to have a husband who does more housework than I do.
61. I can't wait to have a dishwasher.
62. I collect musical snow globes (you know the really expensive ones from the Disney store) I have 3 and they all were gifts.
63. I hitchhiked once.
64. The only time I ever went skiing I went partway down the hill on skis, walked part way, and rode with the ski patrol the rest of the way.
65. I love to read but rarely have time for it.
66. I love going out to breakfast.
67. I love fresh strawberries, but only if they come from a roadside stand in California.
68. As a child my dad made the rule that I wasn't allowed to ask for anything I saw on T.V. for my birthday, Christmas, etc because I wanted everything I saw on T.V.
69. I can still sing several mid-90s commercial jingles.
70. I can sing the entire Saved by the Bell theme song (yes I was a T.V. junkie as a child).
71. My feet are as big as my husband's.
72. I was on a bowling team for 4 semesters while at BYU, however my average bowl is about a 75.
73. I am more like my mom than any person I know.
74. As a child my mom would have me balance her checkbook because she hated doing it, but I loved it.
75. I am a blog addict and refuse to get Facebook or Myspace as I know they would consume my life!
76. Growing up my family's nickname for me was SG, short for Servant Girl.
77. I was in the newspaper for ordering french fries in the school cafeteria right after I promised my dad I wouldn't eat just french fries for lunch anymore (I promise it was a basket of chicken and fries).
78. On our first date Nate took me to Applebees and dared me to get a steak. Not only did I get a steak but I ate every last bite.
79. Mine and Nate's first kiss was on my doorstep. I was wearing my pajamas and had my retainer in because I had already gotten ready for bed and didn't know he was coming over.
80. I love that Nate loves to bear his testimony and does it whenever he can.
81. I like to sing in the shower.
82. My third grade class is pen pals with my brother's third grade class.
83. I love not setting an alarm clock before I go to bed.
84. As much as I hate cold weather, I love scarves and have quite a collection.
85. My favorite movie is While You Were Sleeping.
86. I love American Idol.
87. I once spent half an hour pressing re-dial over and over to vote for Clay Aiken.
88. I own Clay Aiken's biography.
89. I have won things from the radio 3 times, but have never once claimed my prize.
90. I love county fairs and rodeos.
91. I love to cook.
92. I hate it when the toothpaste gets squeezed in the middle.
93. I hate it when the microwave has time left on it and no one presses clear.
94. My first ticket was for making an illegal u-turn at a spot where it is no longer illegal to make a u-turn (can I get my money back?).
95. I love Visalia, it is the perfect big, small town.
96. I can't wait to move to Denver.
97. My freshman year of college the favorite past time of me and my friends was "Jungle Combat".
98. I fell in love with Nate on a sand volleyball court.
99. Nate is better than me at most things but he will never admit it.
100. I honestly think that my husband is the perfect match for me and could not ask for a better one!