A Fantastic Summer of Racing and Countdown to Chicago!

It's become a tradition for me to run the Deseret News 10K on Pioneer Day (July 24th.)  Jason and Andrew were backpacking so I headed to Salt Lake alone.  This race is one of the most prestigious road races in the state and the generous prize money always attracts some of the fastest runners.  Last year I was thrilled just to break into the top ten (7th place) after running a two minute PR.  I didn't think I had a chance at placing in the top three but was looking forward to comparing my time to other years to assess my fitness level.  I was hoping to run a PR again.  I woke up to a warm, humid morning.  Actually, I'm not sure you can call 4 a.m. morning.  I drug myself out of bed and put some loud music on to try to wake up enough to drive to Salt Lake.  There was lightening in the distance and as I pulled into the parking lot at the University of Utah at 5:15 I glanced at my car thermometer.  88 degrees.  HOT!  A really warm morning for the middle of July might be in the low 70s.  I figured I could forget about a PR.  I was just going to have to race on effort.  I was just glad I wasn't running one of the longer races.  I was hoping it would rain and cool things off a bit but it just stayed hot and humid.

Soon the we were off with the gun.  I started out fast and as I looked around at the runners I was next to I hoped I hadn't started too fast.  But I was feeling pretty good in spite of the heat.  The course is a screaming fast one, downhill for most of the first four miles.  My first mile was 5:18.  Maybe a bit too fast.  Mile two was still fairly fast at 5:31.  By three and four I was either settling into a more reasonable pace or I was starting to become fatigued from the heat and fast start.  Mile three and four were 5:53 and 5:49.  I was starting to wonder how the flat and uphill were going to feel the last two miles.  I was drenched with sweat, my mouth was dry and I couldn't get enough water at the aid stations.  We turned onto the parade route and I found I could keep going fast a bit longer.  Mile five was a 5:46.  I'd picked up the pace a bit even with the course flattening out.  The last mile is the toughest when we had to turn and head uphill to Liberty Park.  I had no idea what place I was but I thought if I finished fast enough I might have a chance to still run a PR.  My last uphill mile was 6:09.  My total time was 35:48, a PR by 4 seconds.  It wasn't huge but considering the conditions I was dealing with I was happy with it.  Then I found out that I had placed third overall!  The heat had made for a slower race and I was able to move into third place right at the end of the race.  I even came home with $250 prize money!

Last week Jason and I ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon in Logan.  It's one of my favorite half marathons but I haven't run it for several years.  Unlike the Deseret News 10K the weather was looking perfect!  It was 49 degrees when we arrived in Logan with a chance of showers.  The course is a gradual downhill through Blacksmith Fork Canyon for the first half before leveling out for the second half with a climb about 10 1/2 miles into the race.  I wanted to get up to the start in plenty of time but because of a few mishaps we ended up on the last bus up the canyon.  So I got to the starting line with only a few strides and not ready to run fast in the colder weather.  I looked around at the starting line and as expected, there were a lot of fast runners there.  I was going to have to work hard in this race.  We started off down the canyon and I was trying to keep with the top women.  I knew Emily Jameson and Devra Vierkant were the ones to beat.  I was having a hard time keeping the pace they were running.  It seemed fast but when I glanced at my watch it was just where I wanted to be.  It must be the lack of warm up I thought.  A few times I started to let them put a little distance between us.  I debated whether it was wise to push myself to stay with them or save it for later in the race.  I really thought I had a chance to win this race and I was afraid if I let them go I'd never see them again.  So I pushed myself to stay with them.  Towards the bottom of the canyon we hit a couple miles around 5:45.  I really wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this pace and we weren't even to the halfway point.  At mile six I was coming up on a water stop.  Emily and Devra were on the inside so in order to get to the water I sprinted ahead a bit.  Suddenly that put me in front of them and they were letting me control the pace.  I could hear they were both breathing pretty hard and I was finally starting to feel good!  Before I knew it Emily and Devra were both dropping back and I was taking the lead.  That was a strange feeling for me.  I've won some shorter races but when it comes to longer races there are always at least one or two women in front of me.  I was excited to take the lead but I was also nervous about whether I could really hold this pace for the remaining six miles.  There was still a lot of the race to go and I didn't want to die and get caught later.  Tom Kuehls, one of my teammates from utahrunning.com, had been running with us down the canyon.  I was glad that he kept up with me when Emily and Devra dropped back.  The men in front of me were out of sight and if it weren't for Tom I would have been all alone.

Tom and I were able to keep our pace between 5:55 and 6:00 miles.  I felt like I had gotten a second wind and the miles were coming quickly.  With about 5K left I was calculating what time we could finish in.  I figured we would be right around 1:18.  I had a big enough lead that I was pretty sure I would win and a 1:18 would be a PR but I started thinking if I could run the last 5K under six minute mile pace I could break 1:18.  The only problem was the mile and a half of uphill coming.  I was going to give it everything I had though.  Our mile splits were still coming in just under six minutes.  I turned and started heading up the hills.  About half way through the uphills Tom dropped back a bit.  I was going to have to do the last stretch alone.

My uphill mile was a 6:11.  I was pretty confident I could make up those seconds on the downhill mile to the finish.  I was finally up all the hills and on the final stretch.  The gradual downhill didn't feel much like downhill at that point.  There wasn't anyone to catch in front of me.  I just had to race the clock.  I finished in 1:17:44!

My average pace was 5:56.  It was a two minute PR and my first time with a sub 6 minute pace on a race that long.  I won a $300 cash prize and a fun trophy.  The first four women were all under 1:20!  It was a fast race and I was so glad these women were there to push me through the first half of the race or I never would have been able to break 1:18.

Jenny Sperry, Emily Jameson, me, and Devra Veirkant: women's overall awards.

Jason wasn't thrilled with his race but still ran his fastest time on that course and third in his age group.

This was the perfect race to prepare me for Chicago.  The countdown is on with just six weeks to go.  This race gave me a lot of confidence to be able to keep the pace I did through the second half of the race.  All of my training has been so focused this year on training for Chicago.  I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will cooperate and I'll have another great running day!

17 Years is a Long Time!

Every time Jason and I have had a big anniversary it seems like something has gotten in the way for celebrating.  The weekend of our first anniversary he took the MCAT (medical school entrance exam.)  On our 5th anniversary Jason had just started his 3rd year (the busiest and most challenging year) of medical school.  Our tenth anniversary fell just after Jason had finally graduated from residency and we were in the middle of moving and starting a new job.  Our 15th was right after Skyler was born so with a new baby that wasn't much of a celebration.  So 17 isn't a huge milestone year but I decided Skyler was old enough we should plan a trip and get away somewhere.  I was thinking of surprising Jason with a trip to Cedar City, where we met.  Then a couple months ago Jason said to me, "We should go to Cedar City for our anniversary."  So it wasn't a surprise anymore but it was nice to finally have a getaway even though it wasn't very far or long.  We drove down to Cedar City Wednesday morning.  It was nice to just sit for a few hours in the car and talk without kids arguing, or asking for movies and snacks.  After we got checked in at our hotel we headed up Cedar Canyon to dinner at a steak house.  The food was good but I was a little overdressed and remembered that Cedar City isn't quite the place for fine dining.  I was also having a hard time eating too much.  The morning before, I had been out for my run and inhaled a yellow jacket and got stung in the mouth.  My whole mouth and throat was sore and swollen.  So dinner wasn't exactly what I wanted but we still just enjoyed being together.

After dinner we headed over to campus to where the Shakespeare Festival was going on.  Walking on campus brought back hundreds of memories from so long ago.  We enjoyed the Green Show and reminisced about lots of hours spent on the upper quad in ultimate frisbee games and other activities.  We went to see Sense and Sensibility.  It was a fun stage adaptation of the Jane Austin book.  I thought it might bore Jason, but the acting was wonderful and it made for a fun stage play.

Old Main at Southern Utah University

The play went late and the next morning we had to drag ourselves out of bed to get a workout in.  Earlier in the week our coach had asked us what our plans were for Thursday.  When we said it was our anniversary he laughed and said he was about to ruin our anniversary.  Our workout was one that required two runs for the day, a total of 18 miles, with 8 of those miles fast.  So we skipped out on the breakfast at the hotel and instead threw on our running clothes and headed over to the track.  We finished the workout and ran into our old college coach, Eric Houle, and enjoyed catching up with him.  After finally getting a bite to eat we had a little time to wander around campus before heading back over to catch a Shakespeare play, Comedy of Errors.  The play was hilarious and had us laughing the whole way through.  It would have been nice after the play to enjoy a relaxing afternoon together but instead we pulled out our running gear again and headed out to repeat the workout we had done that morning.

We were reminded how the wind picks up in the afternoon in Cedar City.  After a quick selfie at the track when we were done it was already time to go home.  By the time we arrived home the kids were all in bed.  I was tired and ready for a hot shower before bed: really not a great time to find out the water heater had gone out while we were gone...

It may not have been the perfect trip I had planned but that's really what marriage is all about.  It's crazy to think back about everything we have experienced the last 17 years.  All the good and all the bad, but I'm so glad I chose Jason to take this journey with!

Backpacking and Fun with Cousins

Jason and Andrew went on their annual backpacking trip in July and the rest of the kids had a fun week with their cousins.  My niece, Danielle was here from Louisiana and we loved having her along for several outings.  She even got me to go to the first rodeo in my life.  It's not my thing but she loves that kind of stuff!  It was actually a lot of fun and the kids loved it and were all asking if we can go again next year.  We spent a hot afternoon cooling off at Classic Water Park with Brian and Brooklyn.

We went to the new aquarium that opened in Salt Lake.  Skyler loved looking at all the fish and the kids loved the new underwater viewing exhibit for the sharks and the rope bridge.

We spent an afternoon at a splash pad for a picnic and had a barbecue for the holiday.  The kids watched movies, had fun lighting sparklers and played lots of video games.  I think after a week of sleepovers and fun they were all exhausted!

Meanwhile the older boys had a great time in the mountains.  When they got home and started showing me pictures I remembered one from five years ago and had to pull it out to compare.

Andrew has grown a bit since then.  He doesn't have any problems keeping up on the long hikes anymore.  In fact, it probably won't be long until the older guys have a hard time keeping up with him!  They caught lots of fish and enjoyed getting away from the heat and all the people in one of the most remote areas in the Uinta mountains.

Andrew spent the week before the backpacking trip in Yellowstone with his scout troop on a high adventure trip.  They canoed into the back country on Shoshone and Lewis Lakes into the Shoshone Geyser Basin.  By the time he left for the camp his scout leader had me worried about bears and drowning on white caps on the lake.  I was relieved to finally get this picture text to me when they were on their way home and know that he had survived.  Here he is with a huge lake trout he caught.  It was fun to catch although the lake trout have to be killed because they are non-native fish that are destroying the native fish.

The week after backpacking Andrew went with our ward to youth conference in Jackson, Wyoming.  They got rained on quite a bit but had a lot of fun white water rafting on the snake river.  He got home just in time to take his pack over to the stake center for the stake high adventure.  He got one night in bed and then was off to the City of Rocks in Idaho for a few days of rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking, and skeet shooting.  That's right, three straight weeks of camping.  I missed him a lot.  Having him gone that long made me realized how much he really helps me at home!  He was exhausted when he was finally home.  He slept for about 13 hours that night.  I had to wake him up to get ready for 1:00 church the next day!

A Trip to California and the 4th of July

We headed to California for the Fourth of July weekend again this year.  We spent most of our time there at the beach.  Skyler is the only one young enough to still want to spend his time there digging with the sand toys.  The older three kids have really taken to the body boarding.  They would stay for hours and never want to leave.  It was perfect beach weather while we were there but crowded with the holiday weekend.

We were planning on running the Surf City 5K on the morning of the 4th.  Kaitlyn and Jared decided to run the 5K this year instead of the children's race.  Jason pushed Skyler in the stroller so we could all participate. The stroller race started 15 minutes after the rest of us started the 5K.  Jason was worried about getting the stroller through all the walkers but got a police escort to clear the way since he was leading the race.  The course was an out and back so we all got to pass each other.  Kaitlyn and Jared loved seeing Skyler and Jason pass in the stroller (twice since he caught up to them before the end.)  Jason won the stroller race in 18:35.  I won the women's race in 17:56, only my second time breaking 18 minutes for the 5K.  It's not very often Jason and I get excited about trophies but the awards (for first place only) were these awesome '49 Woody model cars with surf boards on top.  Skyler loved the cars and was a little disappointed when Jason didn't let him play with it.

Andrew ran a great race and got a new PR.  He finished in 19:26, his first time breaking 20 minutes!  He was sixth in his age group, behind mostly older runners.  Kaitlyn and Jared walked most of the 5K so it took awhile.  Jared was pretty miserable from a rash he had gotten at the beach the day before but he made it to the end anyway.  Kaitlyn took her time until the end but was excited to sprint to the finish around the last corner.

Here are all the happy and not so happy finishers.  I'm not sure Jared loves running as much as the rest of us!

We stayed to watch part of the parade.  Skyler loved the horses, cars and fire trucks.  When we got to a big break in the parade he was getting tired and we went back to my parents' house to watch the Brazil World Cup game and let Skyler try to nap through all the cheering. 

My brother Spencer and his girlfriend came over for a barbecue.  Then we headed down to the beach for more body boarding and stayed until dark for fireworks.

Saturday evening we went to the Angels game.  It was hat night and the kids were all excited about the free flat brim baseball caps they were giving out.  Jason kept trying to get his to bend and the boys were laughing at him.  Jared was interested in the rally monkey the boy in front of us was holding so I bought him one.  Apparantly he didn't like the one I got him though because he handed it back to the lady working at the store after I bought it for him.  It was an exciting game with the Angels rallying late and batting around in the 7th inning.  We also got to enjoy a firework show after the game.

All too the weekend was over and it was time to go home but we had a lot of fun!