Thoughts on Finishing My 40 by 40 Goal

I started my 40 by 40 goal at the end of June 2015, when I turned 38.
I completed my 40 by 40 goal two years later, by running a half marathon on my 40th birthday.

Being an overachiever made it too easy to run more than I'd originally planned, so I actually did 50 races in that time.

I'd originally planned on a wider variety of distances and types of races, but had to scale back when Mr M's work schedule got crazy busy. Despite that, I managed to complete a decent variety of races. I'd hoped to do a duathlon or triathlon, a relay (like Ragnar), an international race, a road marathon, and maybe a bike race, but I think those are the only ones I really missed out on.

Overall, I enjoyed completing this goal. It was definitely one of my more ambitious goals, and it took a lot of time, effort, and money, but I do feel that it was worth it. Not that it was all sunshine and roses, because it wasn't. It was exhausting and stressful and a lot of work.

I did get a bit burned out at one point, which is why I hit #40 early: I kind of wanted to be done. But then there were more races I still wanted to run, so I kept going. And then I had to run enough races to get to an even number, because ocd.

I've mentioned it before, but one issue I did run into was that I felt the races interfered with my training so that my times didn't improve for most of the time I was working on my goal. To be fair, I was pregnant or nursing for the first 19 months, and that definitely had an impact on my speed. Ocean stopped nursing back in January, my race schedule has tapered off, and my times have started to improve. Coincidence? I think not.

Purposely signing up for races in a variety of locations and distances forced me out of my comfort zone on many occasions, which is good for me. I don't anticipate making and completing a similar goal, which means I won't be running lots and lots of races anytime soon. Expanding my horizons has helped me find new favorite races, along with races I don't need to run again.

50 races: distances
2 x 1 mile
2 x 2 miles
1 x 4k
34 x 5k
1 x 3.5 miles
2 x 4 miles
1 x 4.8 miles
1 x 10k
2 x 13.1 miles
1 x 13.6 miles
1 x 26.2 miles
1 x 10k kayak
1 x race volunteer

50 races: circumstances, surfaces, etc
pregnant, wearing a kilt, pushing the jogger with one boy, pushing the jogger with both boys, with all three kiddos, wearing a costume, in 20* temps

mixed surface, road, trail, in a corn maze, virtual, cross country, mud run, obstacle run, glow run, kayak race, in a vineyard, predict your time, color run, same race/new course, uphill, in an orchard, in a quarry, out of state

1st in age group, walked an entire race, volunteered at a water stop in a race, 2 races in 12 hours (different days), evening race, 2 races in the same day, 2nd in age group, spent the night in a hotel before a race, ran an entire race (several times), registered with a paper form I mailed in, ran a race for the 7th time in a row, ran a 5k PR, ran a race for the 6th time in a row/1st time by myself/PR for the course, camped before a race

Sunshine's first solo race, River's first race that he ran (not just rode in the jogger)

50 races = 202.4 miles run and walked + 6.2 miles kayaked

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July 2015	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Virtual half marathon
5.	October	Corn Maze 5k	5k	Corn Maze, 1st in age group
6.	October	Kilted Trail 5k	5k	Kilted race
7.	November	Trail Half	13.6 miles	Trail Half, last finisher
8.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	Road Race
9.	December	Veteran’s 5k	5k	Mixed surface
10.	December	Army Virtual Marathon	26.23 miles	Virtual marathon
11.	January 2016	New Year’s Day 5k	5k	Road race
12.	February	Frostbite 5k	5k	Cross country race
13.	February	Mud Run	4.8 miles	Mud run
14.	March	4k Walk	4k	Walk
15.	March	March 5k	5k	Road race
16.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k Walk
17.	March	10 mile race	Not applicable	Water stop volunteer
18.	March	Obstacle Race	5k	Obstacle run
19.	April	Glow Run	5k	Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.	April	April 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.	April	Evening Run	5k	Evening run
22.	May	10k Kayak Race	10k	Kayak race
23.	May	May 5k	5k	1st of 2 races in same day
24.	May	Evening CC Race	5k	Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.	June	June 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	1 mile	Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.	June	Vineyard 5k	5k	Vineyard run
28.	July	July 5k	5k	Road race
29.	August	Predict Your Time 5k	5k	Predict your time
30.	August	August 5k	5k	Road race
31.	August	NPS 100th Virtual 10k	10k	Virtual 10k run
32.	August	4 Mile Run	4 miles	Road race
33.	September	Labor Day 5k	5k	With all 3 kiddos
34.	September	1 Mile Color Run	1 mile	Color run, Sunshine’s first solo race, River’s first race
35.	September	3.5 Mile Trail Run	3.5 miles	Trail run
36.	October	Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k run
37.	October	Flat Trail 5k	5k	Travel to race, trail run, ran w/o stopping, 2nd in age group
38.	October	Halloween Trail 5k	5k	Trail run, in costume, in a vineyard
39.	November	Two Mile Road Race	2 miles	2 miles, road race
40.	November	Two Mile Cross Country Race	2 miles	2 miles, cross country race, paper entry form
41.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	All 3 kiddos, 7th year in a row running this race
42.	December	December 5k	5k	5k road race, new course, temps in the 20s
43.	December	New Year’s Eve 5k	5k	5k glow run
44.	March 2017	March 5k	5k	Road race, PR
45.	April	April 5k	5k	Uphill
46.	May	Orchard run	5k	In an orchard
47.	May	Quarry	5k	In a quarry
48.	June	June 5k	5k	6th year in a row running this race, 1st time by myself
49.	June	Utah 5k	5k	Out of state 5k
50.	June	Glacier Half marathon	13.1 miles	Road half

Running Plans

we came home to muggy heat and a downpour- we're missing the dry heat of Idaho and Utah already!

Normally I post my weekly mileage on Monday mornings, but I didn't log any miles last week. We spent most of the week driving home and while we did arrive home Thursday afternoon, I didn't manage to get on the treadmill Friday or Saturday. That may or may not be because the treadmill is currently buried under camping gear that got pulled out of the closet but didn't come with us. Guess I should get that cleared off really soon...

I've got a post in the works hashing out my thoughts on my 40 by 40 goal, but in the meantime I want to talk about my running plans for the next few months. Back in May I talked about my half marathon plans (or lack thereof), but I didn't really talk about other races I planned on running. 

As you can see if you read this post, I'm not stopping running races, I'm just cutting back on how many I run. The big change is that I will be doing the half marathon in September after all. I'd decided I wasn't going to, but as I ran (and walked) the Glacier half, I decided I wanted to do it anyway. 

I've already paid the registration fee and the campground fee, and while I can defer my race registration, the campground fee is non-refundable. I thought about just ferrying my brother and sister to and from the race, since they're running it. My plantar fasciitis is doing better, especially after the last two weeks of being more sedentary, but it still flares up, so it's still an issue to consider.

Walking so much of the first five miles of the Glacier half reminded me that I can walk a half. I don't have to train for and run all of a half marathon. Obviously, the over-achiever in me would like to, but the realist in me recognizes that I don't have to do it that way. 

In fact, I completed a trail half in Nov 2015 without any training. At that point, I hadn't done much running since I'd given birth to Ocean less than four months previously. I'd planned on walking the race, but it was a small race and I was the only walker, so I ran as much as I could. And I survived, so it's doable :)

The races put on by Vacation Races are walker friendly and are big enough to have lots of walkers so I don't feel like I'm in danger of coming in dead last. Not that there's anything wrong with that- it's happened to me twice before- but it's not something I enjoy, especially when they've already packed everything up. 

In the end, I decided that I will do the race- walking the uphills and running the downhills. I will do minimal training between now and then since I don't have time for long training runs, but I will get on a running schedule that works for me- three or four times a week, ideally. Cutting back on my mileage should allow me to get my exercise in while still allowing my feet to heal. 

As for my race schedule, now that I've completed my 40 by 40 goal, I'm moving back to my one race a month goal. 

I ran the mud run in July, I've got a four miler planned for August, the half in September, a 5k in October (not sure which one yet, there's lots of options in October), the turkey trot in November, and one of two 5ks in December.

I think that will be manageable from a training perspective, as well as a time management perspective. Time is always in short supply and now that we're home I've got to figure out my schedule so I can get everything accomplished in a timely manner. 

Sunday Funny

We were hiking back to the car after hiking to St Mary and Virginia Falls in Glacier National Park.

River: "My legs are breaking."

Mr M: "You mean they're tired from all the hiking?"

River: "Yeah."

He was a trooper, though and hiked most of the way there and back over more than 4 miles of hilly, sometimes steep, trails.

Idaho Mud Run

after the race- you can't see the mud on our legs

Last week we camped at Green Canyon Hot Springs for Mr M's family reunion. We had fun playing in the river, swimming in the pool, going to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, and hanging out. I'll post pics from those activities later. But first, I ran another race, and I need to talk about it :)

Saturday morning, as everyone started heading home from the reunion, Mr M and I drove in to Rexburg (about half an hour away) to participate in Thor’s Mud Run. I’d found the race when I was looking for a 5k to do before my half marathon, and while it was after my birthday, I decided to add it to our schedule. I was even able to talk Mr M into joining me in the race.

We got the RV packed up and ready to go, then left the kiddos with Mr M’s parents and drove into town for the race. In the end, we thought the race was more obstacle run than mud run, but it was fun.

We picked up our shirts and joined a group of runners at the start line. Like a lot of mud runs, this wasn’t timed, and I didn’t wear my Garmin. The website says it's just under 2 miles, but we parked a ways away from the start line and walked to the car twice, so I'm recording it as 2 miles.

We started in waves, with groups of 10 racing to the first obstacle, a bucket carry. We carried buckets with sand in them (not very full, thankfully), and you could carry them individually or in tandem. We opted to do it in tandem.

The next obstacle was a javelin throw: pool noodles with pvc pipe in them that we threw at a target. You had two tries and we each got it on the second try.

From there we ran a bit further, then the course zig-zagged up and down a small berm before flattening out to a trail with straw bales blocking the way. These were just run-of-the-mill rectangular straw bales, not giant round bales, so they were easy to hop over.

We climbed over a couple barriers- one was just a framework, so easy to climb, but one was a wall, so it was harder. I think they were about 6 feet tall- not as tall as they could be, but still a bit challenging. I climbed the framework barrier without problems, but Mr M gave me a boost on the wall :)

We then came to an archery station, where we had two chances to knock a circle out of the target with a blunted arrow. There were five circles, but it was hard to aim properly because of the blunted ends (that looked like giant marshmallows). I knocked a circle out on my second try and Mr M knocked one out on his second try, but it only fell out because he hit the target so hard J  He only had to do five pushups instead of the ten he would have had to do if he hadn't knocked it out.

After hopping (or stepping, in Mr M's case) over a few more straw bales, we came to a freeze tag with arrows section. People with blunted arrows jumped out from behind trees and tried to hit us as we sprinted past. If you got tagged, you had to stand still for a count of 10 before taking off again. We each got tagged early on, then Mr M got hit again by the last archer, who took both of us by surprise- we thought we'd run past all of them already.

There were more straw bales, then we finally go to the mud part of the race. The first mud obstacle was a series of three mud pits that were too wide to jump across, so you had to wade through them. Next was a low crawl through a mud pit, though the ropes were high enough that I was able to crawl on hands and knees.

After that was a mud pit full of tires that you had to step in or on, and then the final obstacle. For that we climbed up a muddy pile of dirt, then slid down the back side of the mud pile into a large pit of muddy water.  The water washed a lot of the mud off, though we did accumulate more mud as we climbed out of the pit.

I may have swallowed some of that muddy water when I splashed down

Then we stopped at the photo op before continuing to the finish line, which was three feet in front of the water line of the small lake we’d run around. There we received our Thor’s hammers, and then jumped into the lake to wash off.

see- not much mud on us at that point

After washing the worst of the mud off, we stopped by the refreshment tables for watermelon, bananas, and an assortment of bottles of small batch root beer. You know you’re in a predominantly LDS area when the post-race refreshments include root beer instead of real beer J Not that we’re complaining- the last mud run I ran I didn’t use the included wrist band to imbibe in the post-race beer.

We didn’t get as muddy as I’d been hoping for, but we still had fun, and ending with a dip in the lake was a great way to finish. And honestly, it was more fun than doing a mud run while also freezing to death. I mean, that's fun in it's own way, but this was more enjoyable. Though part of that was due to my running partner :) We haven't had time for dates in quite awhile, so it was nice to get away for a bit and spend some time together. We couldn't have done it without Mr M's parents watching the kiddos- thanks guys!

When we got back to the car we dried off a bit, then sat on our towels as we drove back to the campground. Once there, we took quick showers then loaded the car on the tow dolly and hit the road, heading for home.

Weekly Mileage:

Saturday: 2 mile race

      total mileage: 2.0 miles

353.45 miles towards #365milechallenge

8th race of 2017

Sunday Funny

While we were driving on 89 between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT, we discovered doodle on the road. Whoever was filling cracks with tar decided to get creative. I only got good pictures of a couple of them, but there were arrows, smiley faces, a BYU helmet, paw prints, the state of Utah, and others. It definitely made that stretch of road more interesting as we searched to see what the next doodle would be!

June Mileage

River saying "I did it!" during a fun hike we did in June (post to come)

In June things got changed up a lot. I did not manage any treadmill time, but we did go on 10 hikes, so I think it's more than an even trade :) I also ran the most races I'll be running in a month this year. I will only be running one race a month from here on out, though there are some months I may not do one.

My mileage fell a little from May's total, which was mainly due to decreasing my training because of my plantar fasciitis and tapering early because of travel. All the hikes we did in Zion NP and Glacier NP really helped make up for the lost mileage. Those 10 hikes made up for the ones we've missed here and there, so we're right about at the half way mark, which is where we should be.

My grand total was 81.25 miles, which makes 351.45 miles for 2017. I'm super close to passing the 365 mile mark for the 365 mile challenge.

The three races I ran in June brought me up to 50 races completed in 2 years, and finished out my 40 by 40 goal, which I'll do a post about soon.

June's mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 10 hikes + 3 outside runs + 3 races (1, 2, half) + 2 walks = 81.25 miles

52 hike challenge: 27 hikes

365 mile challenge: 351.45 miles

40 by 40 goal: 50 races

May's mileage:

11 treadmill workouts + 3 hikes + 1 outside run + 2 races (1, 2) + 1 field trip = 94.37 miles

52 hike challenge: 17 hikes

365 mile challenge: 270.2 miles

40 by 40 goal: 47 races

April's mileage:

15 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 0 outside runs + 1 race = 73.58 miles

52 hike challenge: 14 hikes

365 mile challenge: 175.83 miles

40 by 40 goal: 45 races

March's mileage:

3 treadmill workouts + 3 hikes + 2 outside runs + 1 race = 25.45 miles

52 hike challenge: 10 hikes

365 mile challenge: 102.25 miles

40 by 40 goal: 44 races

February's mileage:

12 treadmill workouts + 3 hikes + 3 outside runs + 0 races = 54.70 miles

52 hike challenge: 7 hikes

365 mile challenge: 76.80 miles

January's mileage:

4 treadmill workouts + 6 hikes + 1 outside run + 0 races = 22.10 miles total
52 hike challenge: 4 hikes
365 mile challenge: 22.10 miles

Sunday Funny

playing peek a boo with bobby the blankie

We were driving in the RV, and River had to pee.

River: "I need to pee!"
Me: "Ok, let's be quick."
Ocean: "Go pee!" (as he tugged on his car seat straps)
Me: "Sorry, but no. You've only peed on the floor so far, so you can just stay in your car seat."

Ocean just wanted to get out of his car seat. While he has shown some interest in the toilet, he always pees on the floor of the bathroom or in the shower or tub, all while standing up. He'll sit on his little potty, but he doesn't pee until he stands up and steps away from the potty. I'm guessing he's trying to pee like his older brother, who insists on peeing while standing up.