the single life.

i know i have disappeared a bit over the last month or so. oops! while ive been tryin to figure out where to take this little blog of mine, ive also been working on myself. when one gets out of a 3+ year relationship in which they lived with the person for 2 years it takes a little time to get the new swing of things. and oh, ive been gettin my swing back:)

i forgot how much being single can be! not that i want to do forever, trust me, but ive been havin a blast! to get off work and decide to go for a run then do some errands just because you feel like it and not have to tell anyone where youre going, amazing. i dont have to feel bad about going out after work with friends while others go to work at night anymore. if i want to pick up and go to a soccer game with my parents on a friday night, i can, and there is no one to make me feel bad about going when they cant. i can meet a friend for coffee at the drop of a hat and talk about running for hours with her:) if i want to get out of the house for awhile and walk around town square by myself, i totally can. ive even reconnected with old friends i never should have really lost touch with. and sleep. oh beautiful sleep. i can leave the tv on as i fall asleep, or sleep until 1pm on sundays and not have anyone say a word. oh and i have flannel sheets on my bed again. they.are.glorious! i love them. 

heres a few of the things ive been enjoying, to say the least hehehe, the last few months...

you can get tattoos without explaining why.

welcome new little ones!
taya breyon rivers 02.10.2013

start playing indoor soccer again
with some of your old teammates!

go to a preseason mls game with your parents:)

have tequilla shots on a tuesday during the rebel game!

run with people who love it as much as you do

pedicures with your mom on a sunday,
just beacuse you want too

you can run away to flagstaff!

because your best friend needs you,
and you want to play in the snow:)

celebrate st pattys day on fremont street.

and get to party with new friends!



run away to san diego for a race.

and go to the beach even if it was chilly:)

single kb (as a friend coined for me) has definitley been having a good time. its been awesome to find myself again and do the things that truly make me happy! who knows where this will all take me...but i cant wait to see what new adventure i get to go on next:)

the 2012 running recap.

are we really starting a new year already?? we probably all say this every year but, seriously 2012 flew by! there were a lot of really great ups and some definite downs. thank goodness running has been there through it all for me. it keeps me sane!

january~82 miles.

my mom and i returned to disneyland for the inagural tinkerbell 1/2 marathon!! oh man it was awesome and we seriously had a blast. that race also completed my 3 races in 16 weeks and i can successfully say i rocked it:) i probably should have taken a little break after this, but sometimes im a little crazy hehe.

feburary~45 miles.

the color run made its way to las vegas and it was awesome!! the funnest 5k i have ever run. also, remember that im a little crazy and decided to let the cat out of the bag about my next big training adventure...a triathlon!!

march~56 miles.

with one month out from rage i was starting to panic and found out how some people will always try and tear you down no matter what. but then had the most amazing distraction ever, a trip across the pond for nate and katies wedding!!! i officially became an international runner and got to do a running tour around london with a guide. seriously one of the coolest things ever.

april~43 miles.

in my normal, i like to overschedule myself for everything, 2 really fun things happened in the same month. i became a TRIATHELTE and a WARRIOR!! ps my running mileage is low because i was so friggin busy with the swimming and the biking:)

may~56 miles.

finally able to breathe for the 1st time all year i was able to look at the rest of my year and a few things came about. #1 my 3 year runniversary! #2 i won the lottery and got into the nike womens 1/2 marathon! #3 all this craziness really caught up with me and i went into a serious funk. i should have known it would eventually, it just really did kick my butt hard.

june~84 miles.

and just like that i kicked that little depressions ass, on national running day no less! everything is just right in the world when i am training for something and once i realized that i hopped back into it quickly. i signed up for the et 1/2 marathon that happens right outside area 51 at midnight! did i mention im scared of the dark??

july~81 miles.

i finally signed up for a 5k on 4th of july! and the olympics started. i mean if that isnt serious motivation, i dont know what is. those athletes from every country are amazing!! plus i started to see a nutritionist. i had been running for 3 years and hadnt lost a single pound. inches yes, pounds no. so after a disatourus happy hour (mostly in my own head) i took back the power and started seeing joanie. one of the best decision of my life.

august~75 miles.

half #8 in the books! plus i didnt get kidnapped by the aliens while running in the dark. i also began seeing a physical thearpist. after changing shoes i started having pain in the back of my knees so i went to the dr for help. later that week i sat in rons office and he said he could fix me in 9 visits. he did so much more for my entire running life! plus the official training for #nwm started. my dream race was finally happening!!

september~73 miles.

my 27th birthday was a blast with a staycation here in vegas! #nwm training was in full swing and i was actually able to reveal the results from joanie...
18 pounds lost!
44 inches gone!
10% body fat to never be seen again!

october~82 miles.

dream race complete!!! my parents, jessica, richard, and i headed up to san francisco for an amazing weekend full of adventure and ultimately would finalize a big life decision for me. we had a blast in the city and i am so glad my parents and jessica came! this was also the month i ended my 3 and a 1/2 year relationship and became a half fanatic! wow thats a lot of ups and downs.

november~73 miles.

in continuing my trend of ups and downs i finally got to complete a ragnar race with 2 amazing vans of girls!! i have been waiting years to complete and it was everything i was hoping it to be. then i headed back into a little bit of a funk. the heartbreak really set in and some days i just couldnt pull myself out of bed for a run or much of anything. luckily i was a very busy girl of course and got to be surrounded by lots of family and we continued our turkey trot tradition!

december~101 miles. 

what a way to end the year, my first 100 mile month ever on new years eve with my runner group friends!!! it finally got be to winter around here plus i got to see my ragnar teammates at the ugly sweater run in downtown vegas.

2012~851 miles run. 

wow!! i did not think it would get that high or that did so many things throughout the year. and this year went so, so fast. i cant wait to see what 2013 has to offer!!

the february training recap.

total mileage: 146.56 miles <- holy crap!!! woohoo ;)

# of runs/mileage: 9/42.35 miles

# of rides/mileage: 6/97.24 miles

# of swim/meters: 10/6,550 meters
highest weekly mileage: 41.12 miles
# rest days: 7

favorite run: hands down the color run! it was the funnest run i have ever done. plus i got to do it with my love and he was amazing. crossing that finish line with him was soo cool!

most hardcore run: the love on the run 10k. it was the 1^st week of my tri-training and i think i jumped the gun about a week too early. the sad part is, it was only hard in my head. i had an awesome time 56:31, that’s a 7 minute pr from my last 10k!

current reads: everything triathlon. websites, magazines, blogs, all of it. i do realize that’s not a book, but it’s the best i got haha.

current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: the internet. i don’t think i have done this much googling ever. traveling, racing, triathlon tips, england things i need or want to do, seriously whoa.



source

current obsession: keeping myself full haha. with 2-a-days, harder workouts, new sports, and an extra day i am even more hungry all the time. the hard part is the balance. you cant just fill up on pizza and beer, it needs to be good things.

current drink: gatorade! i don’t think ive drank this much in a month in a long time. gotta get in those electro-lytes :)

current song: drink on it by blake shelton. love, love him!

current wish-list: more time in the day. seriously, with all this training and trying to fit life, school, work, and sleeping into 1 week is kicking my butt.

current need: to start gathering all my things for england. i have made a list, step in the right direction, time to start purchasing! plug converters, wedding gift, new book, etc.

current triumph: making it ¼ way through this cycle! it’s a little triumph, but its huge to me :)

current bane of my existence: not being good at swimming or biking for that matter. i mean i knew they would be hard, but dang, not this hard.

current goal: to personally feel that i am getting good at swimming and biking. yes there is a learning curve, but i want to feel comfortable walking my bike down the stairs before i get it on it or when i hop in the pool.

current indulgence: ice cream! i know its silly, but i have been eating it like crazy:)

current excitement: the countdown to england is getting soooo small. we are under 20 days people. i cant wait to celebrate love and hop the pond to my next adventure:)

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the color run recap 2012.

a few months ago my friend sandy told me about this crazy race she heard about, but wouldnt tell me much more other than go visit this site http://www.thecolorrun.com/. it seriously took 1 click on the video to have me hooked and wanting to have everyone i know join on my team. i posted it on richards facebook hoping he would think it was cool enough for him to sign up. and i called my parents, after my mom stopped complaining about me signing her up for another race she watched it too and convinced my dad. we made a team the color bandits and sandy joined us too!

the color run is a 5k in which every kilometer you get dusted with a new color. everybody wears white t-shirts and at the end they give everybody their own packet of color to throw at the finish line festival that goes off every 15 minutes. its not timed and i have never seen such a huge range of ages participate. we saw people pushing strollers, dogs, old people, little kids, people in jeans, runners, spectators, everything seriously. it sold out about 2 months ago and as it got closer more people started to think how fun it sounded and not crazy like they thought when i first told them.

before the color fun.

race morning richard and i headed downtown to park and wait for the rest of our team. i picked up the packets and still had my parents. we brought extra water and towels to apply tattoos on everybody and were decked out in our white t-shirts ready to run! my parents, sandy and her daughter cameron werent far behind us and we headed to start line much before the 9am start. we gathered in the 2nd corral and just people watched for awhile. soon it was time to go! for a few weeks richard was very particular that we would run together by ourselves. now i knew sandy would smoke us (she is seriously fast!) and my parents were walking so it would be fine.

look at all the people lined up!

we started out down las vegas blvd toward the 1st kilometer and the yellow zone. there was a high color zone on the outsides and the low color zone down the middle. sandy stuck with us the first part as we weaved through the people and got doused with yellow dust! it was instantly everywhere and we couldnt wait till the next color! richard has never run more than a mile and realized pretty quickly the stamina for a 3 mile race was very different. he kept taking off then walking, then taking off again, then walking. we hit the green color zone next and made sure it was on our right side to even out our shirts. and hair. and shoes.

the purple was up next after the water stop and richard realized the value of water stops in a race:) purple was the messiest and got in my ears and mouth. it doesnt taste bad, just not a good feeling either haha. for awhile after i was actually spitting purple to get it all out of mouth! the craziest thing is you have nooo idea what you look like or where it is on you! we continued on to pink, my favorite and knew we were almost done. the pink people werent as liberal with their color as the other stops and i think richard was ready, we had slowed down quite a bit.

told you the purple got everywhere!
not my finest moment haha.

we hit the finish line and crossed it together! there were people everywhere and it had warmed up so i was ready for some water. i ran into my friend rich from our monday night runner group that i hadnt seen in awhile! his wife and daughter were running and i think he was glad to be on the other side of the barrier so my color didnt jump on him ;) we found sandy and her daughter, she smoked us just like i thought and was colored from head to toe just like us. we waited for my parents before going into the finish line festival. cameron had held our color while we ran, awesome spectator!

me and sandy!



finishers!

 my parents crossed the line with a huge smile on their faces and we found each other easily. the 5 of us grabbed our color and headed to the festival. i had pink and everyone else had turquoise. we were a little worried we were all going to end up with the same color, but there were so many people around us with different colors it didnt matter. finally they counted us down and we all jumped around throwing color everywhere!!! OMG it was sooo cool. we had sooo many colors on us now. afterward sandy went to grab cameron and we stayed for one more throw just for a little extra color:)

the finish line festival!



the color bandits!

 somehow we lost sandy and cameron but headed back to the cars to see if we could find them. turns out they had somewhere to be so the 4 of us headed to breakfast at hash house a-go-go. thats right in our color and all! we got lots of stares and questions and werent the only ones there with color. one of the funniest moments of the whole day was taking a shower after and having the color all over the tub trying to drain down. it was literally everywhere!

this was the funnnnest race i have ever done and seriously will recommend it to anyone! runner or not, this is something to participate in. richard is now a 5ker and has a new understanding of what i do, which is pretty cool to me. and a new understanding of the hunger level i feel all the time haha. i cant wait for this race to come back to vegas next year!!

the rage week 3 recap.

this week marks 1/4 of the way through training! now i know that doesnt sound like a lot, but i promise you it is. im learning a lot about this kind of training which is totally different than anything i have ever done and how my body is really going to react. this is the cool part about training for something new, you find out so many things about your body and yourself.

sunday~rest.

rest

i literally did not leave the house and the only time i got out of my pjs was to take a shower and put a different pair on. last week kicked my ass in a major way and my 12+ hours of sleep was the only cure :)

monday~500m am swim. 4-5 mile pm run.

600m swim

5.12 miles = 47:12 minutes/9:13 min/mile

the swim was nice and easy before work, much better than last mondays, thank goodness. kept it simple and actually felt a little bit more comfortable. the pool at my gym is 25m so i tried to take smaller breathers at then and make it more like 50m to try and up the distance.

brian finally joined us this week and i got to hear all about he and derricks crazy races coming up on saturday. derrick did the spartan race in miami (an 8 mile obstacle course that sounds insane) and brian was doing a 12 hour race at the state park (see how many miles you can run in 12 hours, person with the most is the winner). having a race (the color run) coming up as well it was cool to just talk about it with the guys. plus i kept them laughing about my 1st day on the bike and what was i thinking signing up for the olympic distance at rage. it was a good run.

tuesday~800m swim.

900m swim

i was suppper late getting up and raced to the gym to hop in the pool before it gets busy. i found my groove pretty easy and the meters just seemed to tick off. i am now over 1/2 way! this is a big deal only 3 weeks in for me:)

wednesday~spin.

6am spin class

we didnt go as far this week as last week and i am sooo excited for new music next week. i am seriously hoping that means a new routine because this one was old and tired. 

after work i went to pick up our team packets for the color run! it was crazy at fleet feet with people everywhere. the store was on the other side of town which meant i had a great excuse to finally visit pita pit near unlv on my way home. i have a slight food obsession with this place since i went to school at nau, its kind of an institution there. literally everytime i roll into town its the 1st place i want to go. i was ecstatic when i heard they opened one in vegas. i have to say not as good, but it filled the craving for now.

yum. yum. yum.

thursday~500m swim. body pump.

600m swim

6am body pump class 

wow a 5am swim is early. i tried working on my breathing, which kind of worked, taking less breaks in between meters. the whole time though it seemed like my legs and arms were quite in sync. but i shaved a few minutes off my time anyway!

class this week was pretty empty, we did have a sub. i keep thinking this release is going to get a little easier and it never does. especially after a swim, dang.

friday~10 mile bike.

10.12 miles biked = 50 minutes/12.1 mph

2.03 miles ran = 17:12 minutes/8:28 min/mile

could not have been a rockier start to this ride. my seat was too high and after stopping and trying to put my foot down to readjust i fell right outside my complex:/ no scrapes or bruises, just a hurt pride and shaken confidence. this meant every time a car even came close i freaked a little more. i took my bike home and lowered the seat just a tiny bit and felt better. took the ride a little slower, played with the gears a little more, and dressed a little warmer this week.

i decided the night before i wanted to try and run afterward just a tiny bit to see how it was. im pretty sure i figure out what sea legs feel like, i was pretty wobbly at first. took it slow, my body made sure of that. cant lie though, i was a little disappointed when i saw my time upon arriving home. however, i thought the loop around our apartment was only 1.5 miles so it was a pleasant surprise to see the 2 pop up on dailymile! made my time feel way better. 

saturday~the color run.

3.1 miles = 32:00 minutes/10:19 min/mile

my friend sandy had told me about this race months ago and it only took 1 video to get richard and my parents on board with us! it would be richards 1st 5k ever i couldnt be more excited. look out tomorrow for all the pictures and fun. but seriously if there is one in your town, or anywhere close go online and register right now!! the most fun i have ever had at a race ever! 

the color bandits before.

the color bandits 3.1 miles later!

totals for the week = 2100m swam+28.12mi biked+10.25mi run

i was really glad this week mixed in some fun and new kinds of racing. its good to mix things up a little bit.  i also started to think about getting some better recovery tools for in between workouts. my body is supposed to be tired and adjusting still, but not this much. time to start researching and looking at my whole schedule (work, school, and life included) in areas to adjust. 

54 days to the rage triathlon!!!