exercise/sport — Kristie & Tom McConnon

Halloween Half Marathon

October 29, 2011 By Kristie Lee Leave a Comment

I loved the idea of everyone running a race in costume, so I decided to sign up for the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. When all was said and done, I did actually enjoy running the race, but I did not enjoy everything leading up to it! It was one of the most unorganized, chaotic, and frustrating events I’ve taken part in (in terms of the race organization and logistics).

To start off with, it was really expensive. I wasn’t hesitant to sign up for that reason, but assumed that for that price, it must be a well-organized race. On Friday evening I went to pick up my race packet at the mall. I left Tom and Lilah at home because I was just planning on running in, grabbing it and leaving. We had a party to get to that evening and a babysitter to pick up by 7. Well, when I got there I found a line that ran down almost the entire length of the mall! I could not believe it! Some people walking by even said they had to wait 2 hours to get their packets! I definitely didn’t have 2 hours…I arrived at the mall at 6:35 and was hoping to be back to pick up the babysitter by 7. Luckily I only had to wait for 40 minutes, but the actual room where the pick-up was located was a total mess. Many people’s packets were missing, names switched, and there were additional lines for certain names, missing t-shirts, etc. In their defense, there were 4,000 runners…that is a lot of people to keep track of.

Now skip forward to the morning of the race. We were told to arrive at the mall parking lot between 5:30 and 6am to ride a bus to the starting line. I arrived at 6 remembering the delays from the night before. Then I sat in another line on the cold concrete from 6am-7:45am! Not one bus showed up in that time. Finally the buses rolled in around 7:45 and tried to get us to the starting line. Our bus almost took a wrong turn and many others actually did end up in the wrong place. Some runners finally asked their bus driver to just pull over and they walked the half mile to where they knew the starting line would be.

After getting dropped off, the morning was pretty uneventful. We were lucky that the start time was scheduled for 9am. I was confused as to why they had it start so late when they wanted us at the buses so early, but now I wonder if they knew they were unorganized and knew they would need the extra time.

I lined up close to the front of the pack and they fired the gun soon after 9am. A lot a people go out really fast on a downhill course and I was quickly passed by many many people. About 1/4 mile in I ran into a friend, the daughter of Hawk, who ons Runners Corner (the store I run for). We ended up running together through mile 8. It was really nice to have someone to chat and run with. I had decided before hand that I wanted to go out conservatively for the first downhill portion of the race. We kept our pace between 6:05-6:30 for the first 4 miles. It felt like we were crawling along, but I was sure that a lot of people would die at the bottom of the hill and we’d be able to chase them down if we saved our energy and legs.

Pretty quick after we got down the canyon we were passing people right and left. We tried to keep our pace under 6:30 with the plan that we’d speed up for the last 5 or 6 miles. Everyone’s quads seemed to be suffering from the quick descent down the fist long hill, so I was able to continue passing people till the end. My friend and I split up about mile 8. She ended up doing amazing and taking 3rd overall with a 1:23 finish! My legs were a lot more tired that I had hoped they would be by mile 8, and I wasn’t able to kick it up a notch like I wanted to at the end.

I kept my pace between 6:25-6:40 from 8-13.2 miles. I was able to sprint down the last stretch, but that was all I had left. I finished with a 1:25:21 and 1st place in my division. I was happy with my time, but wish I could have closed out the race a little stronger. Seeing all the hilarious costumes along the way made the whole event a pretty unique experience!

Filed Under: exercise/sport, holidays

BYU Homecoming

October 8, 2011 By Kristie Lee 1 Comment

I decided to run the BYU Homecoming 5k. I’ve always wanted to run it, but most years I was in the parade with the cheer squad. A 5k distance is definitely not my race, in fact it is only my 2nd 5k ever, but it’s fun to race no matter what distance it is. I went out too fast and died a little by the end. I ended up racing a 19:34 and taking 2nd in my age group. The top 3 overall (excluding BYU track athletes) received cash prizes. I thought I kept pretty good track of who was in front of me and finished the race thinking I’d won the $50, 3rd place prize, but I had missed a girl. I actually came in 9 seconds after the 3rd place girl & took 4th. I was a little bummed about that, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Lilah all bundled up at the race.

That night Tom and I were able to get tickets to the football game. The game started at 8:15pm! Lilah goes to bed between 8:30 and 9pm, so Lacey and Travis were nice enough to put her to bed for us so that we could go to the game. It was so nice to go out just the 2 of us. Tom is my favorite person in the world to be with, and we had a great time.

Tom got this amazing sweatshirt from my Dad for his birthday this year! Thanks again Dad!

AJ & I stunting at half time

We both went down onto the field at half time and Tom took pictures of us in a cheerleading alumni performance. It was really fun to see a bunch of people that we spent so much time with. Thanks again AJ for stunting with me, and thank you BYU for pulling out another win and end our night on a positive note!

Filed Under: exercise/sport, school

Cheer Reunion

September 8, 2011 By Kristie Lee 1 Comment

A group of us who cheered together met up Kiwanis park to catch up. It was a pretty small group, but I’m so glad we met up. A lot has changed since we all cheered together… lol But it’s amazing how quickly things can almost feel like old times again. I wish I had remembered to get a group picture.

KC and I doing a stretch minus

KC and I doing a Scorpion

I actually felt quite nostalgic afterwards; I miss our daily practices, warming up to the “Spelling Song,” getting thrown into the pit, sitting against the mirror talking…complaining, braving the ice bath up to our stomachs and sometimes our necks, trying new stunts, dances and pyramids, getting bruises over and over again…lol, the butterflies I got standing on the field as the football team ran out of the tunnel. I really enjoyed my time cheering for BYU. There were definitely ups and downs, but I’m grateful for all the time I had to do something I loved.

Lilah has never seen anything like that before and actually really enjoyed it! She ran around trying to do somersaults and tricks herself. She also kept wanting to hug and kiss me. I think she thought it was pretty cool… lol

Filed Under: exercise/sport, family, friends

Pocatello Marathon

September 3, 2011 By Kristie Lee 4 Comments

Angela and I decided that we would run the Pocatello Marathon this year. We have been wanting to run a race together for a long time, but it just never seemed to work out. I was really excited to be able to do the same race. Then Angela’s sister-in-law Amanda decided to run it with us as well, and it just got better! This post is kind of long and detailed, but I want to have it documented for me to look back on.

Angela flew into SLC on Thursday night. We got to spend most of Friday hanging out, and talking about strategies for the next day. Tom was able to leave work a little early and we took off for Pocatello around 2pm. Angela and I tried to get a little extra sleep on the way up, knowing that we probably wouldn’t sleep very much that night. After arriving in Pocatello we met up with Amanda Stevens, her son Gideon, and Angela’s mother-in-law Lori. Then we all headed over to the expo to grab out gear. We got a bag and a pretty cool long sleeved shirt, which I thought was a good deal for the $60 entrance fee.

After the expo we decided to head to dinner. We basically just stopped at the first place we saw…Texas Roadhouse. I was really nervous because I never eat out the night before I run a race, but after looking at the menu I was able to pick something that seemed pretty safe. I had chicken, a plain sweet potato, and fresh steamed veggies. We had a great time eating, and laughing.

Us 3 runners waiting at Texas Roadhouse

After dinner we dropped Lori, Gideon, Tom & Lilah off at my cousins house and us 3 girls headed to our hotel. We decided that a hotel would be a good option since we needed to go to bed real early, wake up really early, and be close to the shuttle. I loved having our little girls night before the race…I’ve never done anything like that, and I really enjoyed it. Sleeping was pretty much horrible for all 3 of us. I literally only slept for 3 1/2 hours…my nerves really keep me awake. Angela and Amanda didn’t get much more than that either.

We were all pretty much wide awake by 4:30am. I was grateful that I didn’t need to try and sleep anymore and was very ready to just get this race started. We got up, threw our clothes on, talked and laughed a little more and were out the door by 5am. The bus ride was about 15 minutes long. It dropped us off at the starting line, which didn’t look like much of anything. We spent all our time in a barn full of animals… lol (literally, there was a barn full of animals on the property next to the starting line) and standing in line for the port-a-potties. After our 2nd time through the line we threw our duffle bags with our warm clothing in the truck and jumped in the pack of people ready to start the race.

Here we are hanging out in the barn, trying to stay warm…lol

I was very happy when the race finally started and felt great right from the start. It was still dark when we started, but I could tell that we were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. I would have to say that this may have been my favorite course I’ve even run on. We watched the sun rise over the mountains and it was beautiful. There was nothing but trees, mountains, and a few random cabins. It was very peaceful running down the quiet windy road. The first half of the race dropped about 1400 ft in elevation, which was very significant. I had to hold myself back from going out too fast. I really wanted to be able to enjoy this race and not kill my legs right at the beginning.

I made quite a few friends a long the way and was reminded at how much I enjoy racing and spending time with people who love doing what I love doing. About mile 7 there was a little loop that made it possible to see all the front runners go by and I was able to figure that I was either the 9th or 10th girl overall at that point. I decided at that point that I was going to focus on my time and that I would be be really excited if I came in, in the top 10. I had decided that I was shooting to run the race under 3 hours & 20 minutes.

Mom Tanner, Tom, Lilah, me, Cole, & Angela after the race.

For this race I decided that I only wanted to eat my own homemade power bars instead of Gu’s. I had trained with them and felt great. They were made out of dates, walnuts, oats, unsweetened coconut, cinnamon, and sea salt. At mile 7 I started eating my first bar and finished it around 10. At the half way point (13.1 miles) I was feeling really good and really having a hard time holding myself back. I had been trying to keep my pace between a 7:20 and a 7:30 for the first half, but ended up averaging a 7:15 pace. I decided to let myself speed up a little bit. My legs were feeling fine and my lungs were feeling great. I pulled out my 2nd bar around mile 14 and accidentally dropped the whole thing. I was pretty sad about it, but wasn’t about to turn around to get it. I only had 3 bars, so I had to rethink my strategy for my last bar. I decided to eat the first half and save the 2nd half for later. I drank small amounts of power aid at each aid station.

Lori Stevens, Gideon, Angeal, and Amanda after the race.

The 2nd half of the course dropped about a 150 ft total but actually had quite a few rolling hills. There were a few that were quite tough, but I was still feeling great and this is where I started to pass people. There was one hill at about mile 20.5 that was really tough. I could see 2 girls ahead of me and decided to go after them. I passed one in the middle of the hill and the 2nd closer to the top. I knew by that point that I should be in about 7th or 6th place.

At that point we were starting to get closer to town and there were a few people around cheering us on. I was actually missing the quiet country roads, but definitely appreciated the encouragement. I picked off another girl pretty soon after the hill and set my sights on 2 more ahead of me. I ate the second half of my last date bar around mile 22. By mile 23 I was keeping my pace under a 7 min mile and picking off people pretty quickly. I could tell that a lot of people were hitting the wall and just trying to get to the finish line.

I really picked up my pace for the last 1.5 miles and was able to pass 2 more girls. As I came down the home stretch I got to see my parents, my brother Cole, Tom & Lilah, and Lori & Gideon. It was really fun to have them all there to cheer us on and support us. I could see one last girl ahead of me and watched her cross the finish line. I heard the announcer say that she was the 2nd girl overall. I had stopped calculating my position by that point and was surprised that I would take 3rd place! I came in 10 seconds after the 2nd place girl. I felt great after the race and even jogged back down the course to find my family. I finished the race in 3:08:34 which was a new PR by about 22 minutes.

Family celebrating after the race. Thanks again for coming guys!!

Amanda and Angela both were able to run PR marathons as well! We hung out at the finish line and ate a bunch of food, took part in the awards ceremony, and just celebrated our accomplishments. All in all it was a fantastic day!

The 3 of us hanging out before the award ceremony.

Filed Under: exercise/sport, family, out of town

Spartan Race

July 9, 2011 By Kristie Lee 1 Comment

Tom signed up for this 8 mile trail run/obstacle-course-type-race with his friend Ryan a while back. I was thinking that it would be a pretty easy race where they ran around in the mud, but it ended up being a lot tougher. Both the guys were surprised at how tired they were after they finished. It didn’t help that the race didn’t start till 10am and it was already really hot by that point.

Mandy and I hung out with the kids and tried to get some pictures of the boys, but I wish we could have gotten more. The course was quite confusing and we had no idea what obstacles were in the beginning, the middle or the end. The contestants ran up and down this set of mountains and hills over and over. To us it looked like people were running in every direction… I actually asked someone in charge for a map, and they told me that there wasn’t one. They said that part of the challenge was to not know what to expect. They didn’t even want spectators to know where the race was headed to discourage giving hints to contestants.

So, we decided to pick a spot and stay there to ensure that we could at least get a few pictures. Both kids were pretty upset to have to sit in the hot sun, with no naps, and with mom’s who didn’t know how long it was going to take…lol We were eventually able to figure out that we were waiting near the end of the race.

We were all really excited when the boys got to us! We got to see them go through 4 obstacles. I found out later that if you failed to complete an obstacle you had to do 30 up down drills. Tom thought that was one of the most difficult parts of the race. Luckily each of them only had to do 3 sets of up downs. But that’s still 90 total! First they climbed up this wet and slippery board with a rope and slid down the other side.

Then we say them crawl under barbed wire through the mud.

After that they had to jump over some fire. Then they had to run through a really muddy pit, which we didn’t get pictures of because we were trying to get to the finish line. There were tons more obstacles that we didn’t get to see that included anything from completing a rubik’s cube to climbing a rope or throwing a spear.

It was funny to compare the before and after pictures! Luckily they had an outdoor shower for everyone to use. I definitely have a new respect for Spartan Races. Nice job guys!

Filed Under: exercise/sport, friends

Tanner Reunion Day 3

July 4, 2011 By Kristie Lee 1 Comment

Happy 4th of July! Today began early and we stayed busy with fun activities! I decided to run the Freedom Run 10k this year. The course ran right along the parade route which brought lots of screaming spectators. I loved the crowd. The course had some tough hills, but I ended up placing 2nd in my age division and finished with a 41:45. It was really fun to have family there to support me! Thanks guys!

After the race we headed straight down to the parade where Angela and Jeff were saving us a spot. The kids had a great time watching everything go by. Lilah especially loved all the huge blown up characters… lol

After the parade we headed home for a quick break before leaving for Seven Peaks. We thought we’d have to brave some pretty big crowds at the water park on the 4th of July, but it ended up looking like a pretty average day! We were grateful for shorter lines which made it possible to ride lots and lots of water slides! Grandma and Grandpa win the prize for being the most fun! They ran around with the kids until the park closed! It was super hot all day which made me a little nervous, but I used my new Alba sunblock on Lilah and she didn’t get burned at all… Yah!

Some people in our neighborhood have been throwing a pretty great 4th of July bash for the last 4 years, so we decided to join in. Last year we stopped in but got there late and didn’t know very many people yet. We had a great time this year! They had music playing and fireworks exploding all evening long.

It actually started raining during the fireworks and they had to hurry and do the finale earlier than expected. I was surprised, as I was last year, with how many big fireworks they lit off! It was quite a good show. Thanks again to our friendly neighbors for letting our whole family participate in the festivities!

After the show we actually headed home and lite off a few of our own fireworks. Thanks Jeff!

We ended the night laughing our heads off playing a game because a) we really are that funny; or b) we were all exhausted… I’m gonna have to go with A. I am so grateful to be able to celebrate our Nations birthday with some of my favorite people in the world!! All I have left to say is MMmmmm…. Betsey…

Filed Under: exercise/sport, family, food, holidays

Boise Ironman 70.3

June 12, 2011 By Kristie Lee 1 Comment

Tom just completed his first half Ironman! This event consists of a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride, and finishes with at 13.1 mile run. Back in 2009, Tom did his very first sprint triathlon and has toyed with doing this distance ever since. This weekend he got his chance! The race took place in Boise, Idaho which was quite convenient since my family lives up there. We drove up to my parents house on Thursday night and spent the weekend there.

Friday afternoon we headed downtown for the race registration. Grandma Tanner so helpful with Lilah while Tom and I waited in line to pick up information and supplies. During registration, we found out that Lucky Peak Reservoir (the location of the swim) was only going to be 53 degrees on race day. Tom had his own wetsuit, but it was the sleeveless kind, and I was worried about him swimming in that freezing water. Luckily, we were able to find a swim shop downtown that still had 1 long-sleeved wetsuit available for rent. Big relief!

After picking up the wetsuit, we met up with Nathan and Kendra. Nathan and Tom headed up to Lucky Peak to drop off their bikes at transition 1, while the rest of us headed back to my parents house. We all had a fun family dinner together and stayed up a little too late making race plans and getting prepared. Everyone seemed excited and a little nervous, even those that weren’t competing.

The boys got up earlier on Saturday morning than the rest of us and left for downtown. They had to catch the shuttle bus to the starting line. Each bus ticket was $8 (plus you would be stuck up at the lake until everyone was done swimming) so we decided to cheer the boys on at different portions of the race instead of watching the start. Nathan and Tom’s wave started at 12:45pm, so we left for Boise around 1:30.

We first stopped at the Boise Institute building, where my mom works, and made that our home base. We set up our pack-n-plays and put the 2 kids down for their naps. Then my mom, listened for the kids while Kendra and I set out to cheer on our boys! (Thank you Mom!!) We were able to see them finish the biking portion of the race and watch them transition to the run portion before having to head back to get the kids. Both boys looked good at that point!

After seeing them we ran back to the institute building, grabbed the kids and we all headed out again. We only had to walk about a mile from the institute building to be right down in the action again. Kendra headed to the finish line and Mom and I picked a portion of the running trail where we could wait for Tom. We had a great time cheering people on and being inspired by all their hard work. Lilah actually started cheering and clapping for people too! It was really cute. It sounded like she was yelling “guay guay!” then she’d clap and yell every 30 seconds or so… I don’t know what she was trying to say, but she was definitely cheering for the runners.

We got to see Nathan run by, but hadn’t seen Tom yet after we had been there for about an hour. We decided to head to the finish line since we weren’t sure where Tom was. Sadly we found out later that we had probably just missed him before getting there and missed him coming around for his second lap pretty soon after we left for the finish line.

At the finish line Mom was so nice to walk around with Lilah in her stroller while I watched for Tom. We were all so excited to see him when he came around the corner! He still looked great and crossed the finish line strong. We had a fun little reunion before he headed off to grab his food. After he’d gotten through the food line he started feeling really sick. We gathered up his bike and transition bags, but by the time we got to the car he was feeling pretty sick.

Saturday night was rough for Tom, but he was still quite positive and very happy that he had been able to finish. He woke up Sunday morning feeling good and we were able to enjoy going to church with my family.

After church we had a delicious dinner, and then Mom and Dad spoiled Tom and Lilah with gifts for their birthdays. It was really fun to see Lilah learn to open gifts for the first time. She did pretty well, especially when she could see that there was something she wanted inside. I think her favorite was a doggie book…she didn’t even know what to do with herself, she was so excited! She also got some adorable clothes and a little purse with bracelets in it! (You’re so thoughtful and fun mom! Thanks again!)

Mom also picked out a really nice polo shirt for Tom and bought him an awesome T-shirt from the race! Tom had just been talking about how he wished he’d bought a shirt. Then my Dad surprised us by giving Tom his very own, old-school BYU sweatshirt! Tom has been a huge admirer of that sweatshirt ever since we first met. We had a hard time accepting it, but Dad convinced us that it would make him happy to see Tom enjoy it so much. (Thanks again Dad!)

We had a really wonderful weekend, and we’re glad we all made it back home safely!

Filed Under: exercise/sport, family, out of town, outdoors

Salem Springs Triathlon

June 4, 2011 By Kristie Lee Leave a Comment

Today Tom got to participate in the Salem Springs Sprint Triathlon. Nathan and Tom decided to do this triathlon last minute to help prepare for their Boise Half Iron man next weekend! Nathan and Kendra spent the night at our place on Friday so that the boys could head down to Salem first thing in the morning. Kendra and I met them down there for the beginning of the race so the kids could sleep in a little longer.

The course was set up very conveniently for the spectators. The transition area was right in the middle of a park. So first, they swam in a lake connected to the park, then they did a bike lope twice which went by the park, then they did a run loop and ended in the park. I loved being able to cheer them on so many times.

While we were watching the bike portion of the Tri we actually saw a pretty bad bike crash. One biker ran into 2 other bikers and those 2 fell off their bikes & hit pretty hard. They slid in the gravel and one of them flew into a parked car. It was kind of crazy! I was very grateful that Tom and Nathan didn’t have any accidents.

Tom and Nathan both really enjoyed the race, and it made me excited for the big race next weekend. It is going to be really tough! I’m proud of them!

Filed Under: exercise/sport, family, out of town

Born to Run

May 8, 2011 By Kristie Lee Leave a Comment

Today I got the chance to attend a presentation by Christopher McDougall. He is the author of Born to Run. My mother-in-law Rita bought me his book for me for my birthday one year and it quickly became one of my favorites. I have since loaned it to a lot of people because of the impact it’s had on the way I look at running. So I heard that Chris was coming to Runners Corner and I got a chance to go!

Filed Under: exercise/sport

Provo City Half Marathon

May 7, 2011 By Kristie Lee Leave a Comment

Today I got to run the Provo City Half Marathon. Everything was great starting out; the weather was beautiful, I had a lot of great competition to push myself against, and I felt rested and excited. I went out a little too fast, but tried to calm myself down during the first couple miles. I soon settled into a comfortable pace for the opening stretch. I wanted to save some extra energy for the second half so that I could kick it up a notch at the end and come in strong.

But at about mile 7 I started to notice a side ache, and it kept getting worse. At first I wasn’t too worried and just tried to breathe deeply. After another half mile it had gotten a lot worse and I was having a really hard time breathing while I was running. I decided to slow down but that didn’t help much either. I finally made the tough decision to come to a dead stop and try to stretch it out. I have never had to walk–let alone stop–in any race before, so I was feeling really discouraged. People started passing me and I felt like the race was ruined for me. But after a few minutes of stretching & walking I managed to slowly start jogging again.

Soon after I saw Tom, Lacey, and Lilah who were waiting along the trail to cheer me on. They were so encouraging and positive, I was really grateful for their support.

After passing them I had to stop & stretch one last time. From there I slowly increased my pace, but could never get myself back to my target pace I without feeling like I couldn’t breathe. So I just ran as fast as I could for the remainder of the race. I was sad that I didn’t get the chance to finish strong, but I was very grateful that I was still able to complete the race. Tom met me one more time near the finish line and cheered me on for the final stretch.

In the end I still really enjoyed the day and the whole race environment. I placed first in my age division (25-29) and 5th overall in the women’s open with a 1:33:24. I was pretty happy with that, especially considering the crazy second half!