Foster Care: Year 4; Month 2

Charlie (Hound, Paws For Life)

It took Charlie six weeks to find his forever home. I told myself I wasn't going to get too attached to him, but of course, I was lying. :) He was the sweetest boy, but we know he went to an excellent home. 

As our first long-term foster, we were unsure how long Charlie would be staying with us. We know these long-term cases can result in the dogs staying in temporary housing for upwards of three months. We were surprised how quickly Charlie went (relatively speaking), but also that this awesome man made it a whole six weeks without someone snatching him up. We had our second foster dog from Paws For Life lined up, but, fortunately, she too was adopted the same day Charlie left.

Radcliff (Dachshund mix, Friends Of Animals)

Radcliff was our short-term foster in February. Due to the higher visibility of the Friends Of Animals dogs, they typically don't make it more than 10 days in foster care with us.

I did the math this morning, and Radcliff was the 58th dog fostered with us over these past four years. Wow! Here's hoping we can at least break 70 this year!

Striders Winter Circuit 10K Results

Running the Striders 10K was a last minute addition to my calender. With the hubby having to work, I figured I could easily sneak one more race into the mix, and there's honestly nothing I'd rather be doing early on Saturday morning than pounding out some miles. Striders hold a winter circuit series each year consisting of a 5K, 10K, 10 miler, half marathon, and 30K, but yet somehow I've never had the chance to run any of their events until today.

There were surprisingly a lot of runners out for an 18 degree race. The gun fired, and everyone bolted across the starting mats. This is nothing new in races, and I figured as everyone settled into their paces, the runners within sight would be easily catchable.

They weren't.

Over a mile into the run, no one was falling back. I could see my goal of placing top 10 easily slipping away, but I kept pushing my hardest up those hills.

My 10K splits were as followed:

8:22
7:41
8:29
8:44
10:00 (what happened?!)
9:47
6:44

I finished with an overall time of 54:40, and placed 10th out of 25 in my AG. The goal continues!

**SLC Marathon in 9 weeks!**

Hale 10K Results

I raced the Hale 10K for the first time last weekend. I was pretty excited for this run as 10K isn't a race distance you see very often. To date, I've only ran three 10Ks--two of those being the most popular 10K in Utah: Deseret News.

The Hale 10K course makes a big loop through Orem, which added a nice mix of downhill and uphill.  The route was pretty icy on race day so I ran the freshly salted roads cautiously, and heeded the race director's repeated warning to "not aim for your fastest race".

Hale 10K Elevation Chart

My splits for the race were as followed:

8:53
8:18
8:37
9:02
9:50
8:38

The course came up a bit short, but I finished in 53:20--less than a minute off my current 10K PR. I'm not sure where I stand in my age group, but I'll update this post as soon as the results appear online.

Post script: the results just appeared online, and I took 3rd in my age group.

**SLC Marathon in 10 weeks**

Moab, UT

Our first 2013 getaway is now in the books! Troy and I spent last weekend in Moab to celebrate the hubby's upcoming 38th birthday. We dedicated a full day to Arches National Park and a full day to Canyonlands before make the trip back home to Park City.

**California next month**

Foster Care: Year 4; Month 1

We've taken in three dogs in January, and so far we have successfully adopted out two of them. Here are the pictures of the pups that have been hanging around the Madsen house:

Salty (Papillon, Friends Of Animals)

 Salty was a complete gem to have in our house. We're not surprised that he was adopted in three days.

Rocky (Boxer, Friends Of Animals)

Rocky was a one-year-old Boxer we had for a week before he found his forever home. Out of all the breeds we've taken in, Boxers are easily the most high strung, and this is coming from a gal who has worked with Weimaraners and Rat Terriers. That's really saying something!  In the picture above, you can see even our obnoxious terrier, Shady, felt the need to hide from Rocky. :)

Charlie (hound, Paws For Life)

Charlie is our first long-term foster from the Paws For Life rescue in Heber, UT. We've had him for about two weeks now, and he is an absolute doll! He loves to ride shot gun as I run errands, and when we get home, there's nothing he'd rather do than plop that big 70-pound body across my lap and catch some zzz's. There hasn't been any interest in him yet, but we're more than happy to have him staying with us until someone out there realizes what they're missing without this big boy in their life.

Rail Trail Snowshoe 5K Results

This January was the third consecutive year I ran the snowshoe 5K, and for the third year in a row I took first in my age group! Ok, ok, I'll admit this year I somehow happened to be the only runner in my age group, but I can still count it as a win, right? ;)

The winter season put down almost two feet of snow the day before the race so it was slow running, especially on the second half of the course where runners had to break trail. I ended up snagging a 37:00 finish.

2013 Goals

Expand Our Fostering Service.  Troy and I are now entering our fourth year as fosters for Friends Of Animals. I've been in contact with other rescues for the past few months, and as of this month, we'll be taking in additional dogs as long-term fosters. Our first foster, Charlie, is arriving this weekend from the Paws For Life rescue in Heber.

Continue Volunteering In The Shelter Every Week.  I started this goal in 2012 as a way to do more for my local rescue than just fostering dogs. I spend every Sunday afternoon walking dogs, washing laundry, cleaning floors, etc. at Friends Of Animals. I will continue this goal in 2013.

Run A 1:30 Half Marathon. Right now I'm sitting on a 1:50 half PR. In 2013 I'm going to lower my half time to 1:30 or faster.

Begin Pacing Full Marathons. I have been pacing halfs for a year now, and while I absolutely love helping others along the 13.1 miles, I want to push myself and tackle 26.2 as a pacer. My current pacing team primarily covers halfs (to date I believe we only cover two marathons) so I've been scouting out some additional teams to join.

Qualify For Boston. This is my biggest goal of the year. I am currently in training to hit that 3:35 marathon finish, and plan to qualify at Big Cottonwood in September.

Place Top 10 In My Age Group Every Race. With the volume of races I do, this is going to be tough, but I'll gladly accept the challenge. For the races I'm not pacing, I'm striving to finish in the top 10 for women 25-29.

Become A Better Vegetarian Cook. Troy and I followed a pescetarian diet for four years. Over a year ago, we switched to cooking strictly vegetarian dishes in our house. While I have to admit I am a pretty good cook already, I really want to step it up this year for not only meals, but healthy food prep/snacks (juicing, roasting veggies, dehydrating fruit, etc.) As part of this goal I'm going to start posting some of my favorite vegetarian recipes on this blog.

Travel Internationally. For our seventh year of international travel, Troy and I are currently looking at either Argentina or Tahiti.

Compete In Taekwondo. I will compete in the same state competitions I attended the previous two years. This will be my last chance to compete before I'm a black belt!

Run An Ultramarathon. This has been on my goal list for quite some time. I thought I was finally going to be able to cross it off my list last October, but our Taekwondo competition ended up being rescheduled for the same day. This year it's going to happen! I'm aiming for late fall after I've finished Big Cottonwood.

And that's about it! I have two others goals I'm working on right now, but I'm not quite ready to reveal them. But I'm positive if you check back in a few months, I'll have some posts about the completion of both my secretive and not-so-secretive goals.

2012 Goals In Review

Last January, I posted my yearly goals for all the world to see. Now, as 12 months have come and gone, it's time to bring out that list again, and see how I did.

Run A Sub-2:00 Half Marathon.  I hit this goal early in the season, and beat it several more times.

Become A Pacer. I started with American Flyers in January of 2012. By December, I had paced 6 half marathons with them.

Train 5 Days A Week In Martial Arts.  This goal was easy to do early in the year, but when running season was in full swing, I had to cut back to 3-4 days a week. Right now I attend Taekwondo 2-3 days a week, box 1-2 days a week, and do Muay Thai training about once a week.

Compete In Taekwondo. I competed in both state Taekwondo competitions again last year. Between both tournaments, I competed in five categories. I ended up earning four first place wins, and one second place win.

Continue Fostering Dogs With Friends Of Animals. Last year was our third year as fosters. By the end of 2012, we had taken in 15 dogs.

Volunteer In The Shelter One Day A Week. I'm proud to say I completed this goal, and will continue doing this in 2013. I lined it up so that I work in the shelter every Sunday after church. During the weeks when work was less chaotic, I was able to squeeze in two volunteer sessions.

Earn A Promotion At Work. Done. :)

Expanding My Fitness Teaching Certifications. In 2012 I added TRX and Kinesis to my list of Pilates Mat, Pilates Reformer, BarreEvolution, Spin, and Group Fitness certifications.

Ski 100 Days In A Single Season. This was a hard one with the mild winter we had, but I still ended up hitting my goal before the resorts closed in April.

Continue Serving In My Church. At the beginning of last year, I switched calling from the teacher of the 12 year olds to teacher of the four year olds. I currently still teach the youngsters.

Read One Book A Month. This has been an on-going goal of mine for quite some time. Though I haven't been as diligent to log my books online as I once was, I still am mindful to read a new book every month.

Travel Internationally.  This is our sixth consecutive year of international travel. In 2012 Troy and I visited Costa Rica.

That's it for my 2012 list! I'm really going to be stepping it up in 2013 so stay tuned for the announcement of my new goals!

2012 Running Review

My 2012 Race Board

 2012 was the best year yet for my running. First off, I completed a record number of races. By the end of the year, I had racked up 10 5Ks, 1 10K, 15 half marathons, 3 marathons, and 1 relay. I set and broke PRs in every category. I also placed top three in my age group in several events.

2012 Race With Finish Times

Secondly, I seized the opportunity to become a pacer with a prominent local team, American Flyers. By the end of the year I had paced 6 half marathons around Utah with them.

Lastly, I continued to volunteer as a running buddy with Girls On The Run in Salt Lake City. I volunteered at Whittier Elementary again during both six-week training sessions, and ran both races with a former fourth grade student of mine.

Foster Care: Year 3; Months 6-12

December marks the end of our third year fostering dogs for Friends Of Animals. Here is the update of the pups that lived with us for the last six months:

Coco (Chocolate Lab)

Sherlock (Bloodhound)

Weldon (Chihuahua)

Zoe (Lab mix)

Ladybird (Pointer)

Patches (Shih Tzu)

Rosie (Pit Bull)

Rosie is our current foster dog, and the poor gal has been searching for her forever home for a couple months now. :( She is a sweetheart so we don't doubt someone will snatch her up soon.

In 2013 we will continue working as fosters and volunteers for Friends Of Animals as well as begin work with the Paws For Life rescue in Heber and the Utah Animal Adoption Center in Salt Lake City.