Ready to Run

I just viewed a picture of me running away from the camera (a.k.a. my backside) that was taken last week. I was so embarrassed by the size of my derrière that I decided that I can't wait any longer- I must register for something that will get my booty off the couch and out training. Here are the events that I am now registered for:

April 9, 2011: Kiwanis 5k

This race is being put on by some of my friends and is designed to raise money for the Kiwanis Club. I honestly have no idea what the Kiwanis Club is or what they do but I figured it will be a great way to break back into the racing without getting too overwhelmed right off the bat.

May 8, 2011: Goldilocks Women's Bike Ride

This ride is off limits to men. I have to admit, I am not totally stoked about rides that are all "she-power." I sorta feel like segregation is not the best way to make women equal to men. However, I do love that a lot of women come out to these events that would never participate if men were involved. I have a couple of girlfriends doing this ride so I figured it would be a fun one to get involved in. I haven't decided yet the distance I am going to ride but I am thinking I would prefer the 60 miler.

October 8, 2011: The Pink Series 1/2 Marathon

This is, again, an event created for the ladies. I went into that above so I won't waste your time explaining to you how I feel about this type of event. I am excited that this race takes place in Park City which is where I hope to be living by then. I am also excited to run this with a couple of girlfriends. And, I know the race directors. I'm always happy to support the races of my fellow race directors as I hope they would do the same for me.

So those are my upcoming races. After scheduling out the next few months of my life, I honestly don't feel like I have very many other open weekends to participate in local events. One thing that I am actually really excited for is a day of trail running in Boulder, CO. My friend, Melissa Stratton, and I both have to be in Boulder for the week of May 9-12. We are going to leave a day early and go trail running for a day. That's right, X-Country Camp is being revived, even if it is just for one day. I can't wait!

Need a training buddy? Let's get together and run or ride!

Oquirrh Mountains

I went trail running with one of my girlfriends yesterday morning. There was a fresh blanket of snow that had fallen overnight making the morning quiet and still. While the sun was coming up over the peaks of the Wasatch the Oquirrh Mountains turned into a shimmering gold and the clouds rolled silently across the blue sky. These are the things that those great spiritual trail runs are made of.

a new card

My niece is celebrating her first birthday on Sunday. I made this cute little card to send off to her. My two favorite parts are the safety pin that goes through the knot in the ribbons and the white writing on the dark brown paper.

Happy Birthday Lilly!

loving it!

I was with one of my most fashionable friends today who is a designer and a hunter of beauty. She inspired me to look around at clothing that is beautiful. So this afternoon I did a little window shopping. These are some of the things I am loving!

photos courtesy of anthropologie.com

cards by belle returns

You may wonder, if you haven't known me for long, why my blog is at cardsbybelle.blogspot.com. What do cards and belle have to do with Rhielle? Many years ago, I was famous for making beautiful home made cards. This was at the beginning of the card-making boom and I thought that someday I might open a business where people could purchase a one-of-a-kind card for their loved one. I soon realized, however, that creating one-of-a-kind cards was not important to people because using a design for only one card made them very expensive. I created a blog where I thought I would showcase some work but then it just turned into a place to write down my thoughts. Now, people turn to cards by belle to read about me!

On Sunday, my father celebrated his 58th birthday. I took him and my mom out to lunch on the next day and gave him his birthday card. I haven't made any of these unique cards in a while. It was fun to put one together again. And, the inside (although you can't see it) the card hosts a gift certificate which makes it great wrapping paper.

Later that afternoon, I came home and made cards for everyone who has a birthday in March. You will have to check back for images, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for those who are receiving them.

ebay fun

I love equipment. In fact, I like it so much that some people would call me names

like,"gearhound," "gearhead," or my personal favorite, "gear-whore." That's right, sometimes I wonder what I would do for some new gear. Now that I have a new career that involves running and using a particular brand of gear I don't necessarily have a chance to use all that old gear. My little sis doesn't run in the same size of running shoes as I do anymore so I decided to get online and sell all this unused gear. Ironically, it isn't worth much, $10 or $15 for a pair of running shoes here and there. But you know what is surprisingly worth a lot more, beer tap handles!

Yup, you read that right! A few weeks ago I was cleaning out one of the homes that Ashley takes care of in Park City after Stella Artois, a beer company, checked out of it during the Sundance Film Festival. Stella had left behind an entire box of beer tap handles. I decided to take them home with me and see if I could list them on ebay and make a few bucks. Little did I know, they are super valuable on ebay and each one went for at least $15 and some went for as much as $25! Seriously, I had no idea.

This little pile of stuff is worth a few hundred bucks. Not bad for a day's work! Lesson learned: anything that has to do with alcohol is worth money...never leave it behind!

November

With a career change, a running conference in Austin, TX and visiting family in TX for Thanksgiving, November turned out to be an eventful month in my life.

The first week of November I accepted a new job as the local area Pearl Izumi sales rep for the Run

portion of the line. I opened a sales rep company, Real Sales, and am contracting as an independent sales rep. This means I also have the ability to pick

up other lines and increase my earning potential

(right now I'm in negotiation with Sol Sunguard and

Nuun Active Hydration). The change came super

fast. I was contacted about the job on a Tuesday and sent in my resume on Thursday. I had my first interview Friday morning, my second interview Friday afternoon, and had the offer Friday night. After mulling it all over during the weekend, I had a few questions for the sales manager and accepted the job on Monday morning. Then I walked in from my car and gave my employer my notice...one of the harder things I have done in a long time.

There were so many great things about working at Salt Lake Running Co for the last 5 years. One of them was my freedom to see an opportunity and

then go conquer it under macro-management. For a lot of employees, a lack of supervision wouldn't work. For me, I loved knowing that as long as I had the company's best interest in mind, I essentially had the ability to do whatever needed be done to complete a job. This skill will

transfer so well to this job as I am solely responsible for the success of my territory (UT,

Southern ID, and Western WY).

The second week in November I went to Austin, TX on behalf of Pearl Izumi for The Running Event, a conference designed to bring run specialty shops together to grow the independent retailer industry. I got there a day early and because my sister, Elspeth, lives in San Antonio just

1.5 hours South, I was able to spend the afternoon with her and her family. We went to a petting

zoo where we saw some of THE FATTEST goats I had ever seen. It was fun to feed the animals and especially fun to watch the girls enjoy it.

Jocelyn and Tahlia were so generous to share their seat with me!

The girls feeding the dwarf-sized deer.

And then dinner at the legendary "Rudy's"

The week following the conference was Thanksgiving. Ashley and I planned to visit family during the holiday and Elspeth had planned to run her first Thanksgiving Day race with me for several months. It was a lot of fun to have her included in my tradition. I even blogged about it while I

was working at SLRC. We flew into Houston on Wednesday morning, and got to San Antonio on Wednesday evening where we met up with Dan and Elspeth on the river walk for dinner.

We sang happy birthday to Ashley (even though his b-day is in April) so the girls would have a little extra fun. On Thanksgiving morning, Elspeth and I met for the annual T-day race in San

Antonio. It was a 4-miler and I told Elspeth that when she decided to walk I would keep going and meet her at the finish. Well, she never stopped to walk so we ended up running the entire race together in about 45 minutes! I have only run with my sisters a handful of times and I can truly say that this was one of my favorite running memories.

Elspeth and Dan prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner for us and we were able to spend the entire day with their family. Thanks, Allens! We loved spending time with you.

Friday morning we woke early to drive to Hemphill, TX where Ashley's parents live. The drive was much longer than we expected but we finally made it (after visiting the Blue Bell Creamery) at about 6:00 that night. Ashley's sister, Wende, arrived with her husband and two boys about an hour later.

I was able to enjoy a "Texas trail run" running in the neighborhood. It was nice and flat and I got to try out my new Pearl Izumi trail shoes. It was a great run in the perfect temperature!

We finished out our trip to the big state with an NFL football game. It was the first game I had ever been to and we were so lucky because the Houston Texans were playing the Tennessee Titans. If you know anything about football you will know that the Titans used to be the Houston Oilers so this game was the big rivalry game. Ash and I dressed in our best Oilers fan clothing and enjoyed a game where the home team blew the visiting team out of the water! I seriously had a great time.

We got home and I got to work training my replacements at the store before starting full-time with Pearl Izumi.

November was a great month where I got to enjoy the Texas fall weather, family, and a new career. What a great month!