Sarah Borst Jarvis

Our wedding anniversary is in December.  This year we were lucky enough to treat ourselves to  3 (!) dates all in one month.  Wow.  While the kids were still in school  but Karl was done with classes,  we got enough snow in Flagstaff to go cross-country skiing!  So we dropped the kids off at (pre) school  and went out to the Nordic Center for some skate skiing .  We were a little bit hesitant since the car thermometer  read -2 degrees Fahrenheit.  Just because it sounds even worse:  That is -18 degrees Celsius.  I wasn't sure if I was going to survive .  Neither was Karl.  He was already planning his relaxing stay in the lodge  for at least the first hour.  But by the time we got there  the sun was out warming things up a bit and my friend, Jennifer, was ready to roll.  So off we went - all 3 of us.  Because who says you can't invite a friend   on your anniversary date?  But soon it was only 2 of us because we

Apparently I can make requests at Masters that actually get heard.  Who knew???  This morning I asked Coach Frank if we could (sometime in the distant future) do 10*200 meters all on the same interval. He looked at me and said:  Sure. How about today !  Gulp!  Hold on. Wait a second. I didn't mean today! I am not even ready...  Too late. 10*200 it is.  Of course I didn't tell anybody that this was my idea for fear of getting drowned... Not that 10*200 is terribly hard and it's certainly not very far but 200s have never been my favorite. (Which is exactly why I asked for them.) It's kinda like running the 800: longer than a sprint but still fast .  I managed to escape into the next lane over after the warm-up. Lots of fast people showed up today and I got a little worried, so I joined P and T who I love for their consistency. I'll take consistency over speed any day. They made me lead our lane and, although I am always par

professional spectator at work I have been waiting for this weekend all year long! I like to race but there is nothing like spending a weekend spectating and cheering with friends for friends. Love it! Especially considering our awesome set-up. I got spoiled and enjoyed every minute of it!  Highlights of Super Saturday :  Hanging out with Karen all weekend. Love that girl! On Friday night I was in my usual I-hate-to-pack-and-leave-my-routine-and-would-rather-back-out-of-this-trip mood. But knowing that Karen would pick me up early the next morning ready to party, got me off the couch and filling my bags. By 8am Max had already been throwing about 24 tantrums that day, so you can imagine my relief that I didn't, indeed, change my mind. See ya, Karl! I am outta here!  Swim session with Coach Heath . In a lovely outdoor saltwater pool. Heaven! Now I just need to figure out how to convince Heath to (at least temporarily) move to Flagstaff. Then there might be a ve

So. The off-season is officially over . Which doesn't mean I am training in full force but I am back on a schedule and hoping to lose the 6 pounds I gained since Vegas sometime before March. Preferably before January, but let's be realistic! It also means: I wear my Garmin and heart rate strap (which I was able to dig up surprisingly quickly). I communicate with Coach M daily (whether she likes it or not). I get 8 hours of sleep  (most) every night.  I am back to a (mostly) gluten-free diet (although at times nothing looks more appetizing to me than a pot full of plain pasta).  I get in the water at 6am sharp for Masters . No more babbling through an entire workout. No more distracting the Coach by asking him completely unrelated questions. And, most certainly, no more getting out early and taking a 15 minute shower!  I get to do some structured strength training. As you know, I am a wuss when it comes to lifting any sort of weights. My favorite are the colorfu

The off-season hasn't been so bad. Not bad at all, actually.  I have been enjoying myself quite a bit over the last few weeks.  (As long as we pretend that my leg is healing up nicely  with all the treatment and care that I have been giving it.  Note:  Please do not ask me how my leg is doing.  Unless you want me to become extremely frustrated !  Thank you. ) It seems like it always takes me a couple of weeks to calm down  after racing season. Once I do, I can (almost) see why some people choose not to spend half their day training. It certainly helps that Karl went out of town for 10 days this month. Nothing like a bit of forced rest!  Here is what one of my days looked like:  swim massage nap bike to school to pick up Max (leave key to his bike lock at home) walk home with Max grocery shopping  walk to school to pick up Noah play at the tree park enjoy the beautiful fall weather bike home  eat dinner as a family play

Remember my last post with this title ? Well, I may have changed my mind and found an even better race that I've never run: The Soulstice Mountain Trail Run ! Don't worry, this is not the first time I've heard of it. This is, after all, the race every Flagstaff runner talks about every day of the year. It's that popular! But the first year we had no idea that we would've had to sign up 5 months before we even knew that we were moving to Flagstaff. The second year Karl laid down a great race and took 2nd but I decided I hate driving on dirt roads way too much to make it up there, especially in freezing cold temperatures. Little did I know how much I was missing out on!  This year I was ready to see what the rave is all about. Just to make sure I wouldn't bail out again last second, I committed myself to watching our friends' son, Owen. I promised to bring him up there along with my 2 boys and cheer everybody on! I certainly love racing but I

Like I've mentioned before: This was my first marathon ! I ran one as part of the Challenge Roth back in 2007 but that doesn't really count... This was the real deal and I was super excited to be toeing the line with Colleen, Jess, Coachie, and tons of other crazies! I am not sure why I was so thrilled about the prospect of running 26.2 miles with a gimpy leg and basically no preparation. Granted, I am in decent overall shape but I honestly haven't run more than 14 miles since that day in 2007. At least not that I can remember... It didn't help that my season ended after Vegas and I kinda quit running after that. I still got in trouble for the few miles I jogged at about a 9:00/mi pace but that's a different story...  The simplicity of running makes me very happy! My friends tried to talk me into all sorts of crazy outfits but I refused. I wanted to feel comfortable and just wear my favorite shorts and shirt. Why make things complicated? I

Karen and I - Team Pay'n'Take I am seriously bummed the weekend is already over!  I was having way too much fun !  I started celebrating my 32nd birthday on Thursday morning  with a 3,200 meter swim.  I know. Big deal.  I actually got out of the water way earlier than usual. Ha!  Good thing it's the off-season or I would've had to swim  32*200 or 3.2 miles or something crazy like that!  The bad news:  I didn't really invite any of my lane mates,  so I was having this party in the pool all by myself.  The good news:  I didn't care one bit. Still had a blast!  Yep. A lovely self-portrait.   After herding the boys out the door and a quick breakfast,  it was time to ride 32 miles with my training buddy Karen.  I coaxed Coach M into putting this ride on her plan  so Karen wouldn't have any excuse to bail on me.  M must've forgotten that it's my off-season  because the plan called for a bunch of 2

The good news first: I am running the St. George Marathon in less than a week! Wow! My first ever marathon! I am sooooooooo excited! I have only run 26.2 miles once before and that was in 2007 as part of the Challenge Roth* triathlon which is all but a complete blur in my mind at this point... If you asked me about running a marathon at any point before August of this year, my (honest) reply was always the same: I am not interested in running a marathon. At all. Especially not one on the road. And, most certainly, not one that is mostly downhill.  Looks like I changed my mind! When a good friend mentioned that his awesome company ( Festival Sounds ) is sponsoring the marathon and, although the lottery to the race closed ages ago, still has a couple of spots, I couldn't help but jump at the chance ! (Almost literally...) Coach M might have been sitting at the same table as me but I wasn't about to ask her for permission. Instead, I yelled: I am in! And that

There are lots of factors that go into deciding which races to run, but close to home is a big one.  The Flagstaff 50k was on some awesome local trails, was organized by a great race company, and starts a short walk from home. So this one was a no-brainer. The only problem was that my training early in the year was not so great. No so great, as in not really at all. It got me frustrated and depressed, so when I heard about the Flagstaff 50k, I figured it was the perfect excuse to start getting my act together. So I then did a bunch of training.  Good job, Karl. Then I went to some of the hottest parts of the Sonoran desert for field work, where my training was crappy.  Not good, Karl.  Then I did a bunch more training. Good job, Karl.  Then I got really sick for a couple weeks right when I should have been doing my last couple big runs. Not good, Karl's body. Then I got over my sickness the week of the race. Good job, Karl. (Big thanks to Aravaipa Running for providing a