Phoenix, California, Running and Thanksgiving

After cross country season ended Andrew continued to train with the high school team.  In the post season the team went to the Nike Regional race in Phoenix the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Andrew took off with the team a few days before the meet.  They split the drive into a couple days and got a chance to look over the course.  The rest of our family drove all the way to Phoenix on Friday.  We arrived at the hotel late at night after 12 hours in the car.  The next morning we were up early and headed to the golf course where the race was being held.  The weather had turned chilly at home but Phoenix was sunny and warm but luckily not too warm for racing.  It was exciting to watch some of the best teams from several states compete.  Andrew had a great race and ran his best time ever on a 5k course.  17:52!  (That's about a 5:45 mile pace and just a couple seconds shy of my fastest 5k.  I won't be able to beat him at that distance much longer!)

After we watched all the races we got in the van and drove to LA.  It should have been just a six hour drive.  It made for a lot of driving in two days but we were glad that we had the shorter drive on the second day.  It went pretty smoothly until we were about half an hour from my parents house.  We kept telling the kids we were almost there.  We were all tired of being in the car and hungry.  It was Saturday evening so we didn't expect traffic but suddenly we were completely stopped.  It took us an hour to go a mile due to an accident.  So we finally arrived at my parents house very hungry and ready to be out of the car.

California was beautiful for late November.  It was sunny and warm.  It was perfect temperature to just sit on the beach and watch the kids play.   The older kids loved the body boards while Skyler played in the sand and flew kites.

Tuesday was my birthday.  We debated about going to Disneyland but decided we didn't want to fight the crowds two days before Thanksgiving.  Instead we went to the LaBrea Tarpits.  We had a fun time stepping back into the ice age in the museum and touring the grounds to see the tarpits.

After we had gotten lunch in La Brea Jason decided he wanted to take me to get an ice cream sandwich at a place he had been to at UCLA called Diddy Reise.  The ice cream sandwich was great but the only problem was it was the opposite way from my parents house.  Traffic was terrible.  We thought it would be a 20 minute detour and 45 minutes later we finally arrived.  The ice cream sandwiches, made out of chocolate chip cookies, were good but then we had to get back on the 405 south to Orange County.  It was shortly before 4:00 and everyone was leaving work early to get home for the long holiday weekend.  What should have been an hour drive took us over two and a half hours!  I'm not sure the ice cream sandwiches were really worth it.

Wednesday we took Andrew and Jared to the Newport Beach temple to do baptisms for the dead.  It was Jared's first time going to the temple.  We had a great time.

On Thanksgiving morning we got up before the sun was even up and headed to Dana Point Harbor for a Turkey Trot.  My race was first with the 10k.  I had been on recovery since the marathon, not running any speed and just doing distance.  I knew this would be a competitive race with the prize money they were offering.  With the shape I was in I thought maybe I had a slight chance of getting third and taking home some prize money.  The course went back and forth along the edge of  the harbor so there were lots of turn around points to see where you were.  The first turn around was at a mile and a half.  I was in 5th place and there was one lady ahead of me that I thought I had a chance of catching but the first three were so far ahead I knew I was beat.  I kind of checked out mentally at that point and struggled through the rest of the race.  Every mile was slower and when I came across the finish line I realized it was the same pace I ran the first 10k at the Chicago Marathon and I was beat!  I guess that's what I get for not taking the race very seriously.  Jason had a much better race.  He ran in the 5k masters race.  It was kind of fun since he had just turned 40 the week before.  He ran a great race finishing 4th overall and 1st in his age group.  Andrew struggled through his race as well since it was just a few days after regionals but he was 3rd in his age group and I was 2nd in mine so we still got a collection of medals to bring home.  Katilyn and Jared both ran the mile race.  Kaitlyn accidentally ended up in the older kids race but still did fine keeping up.  Skyler had a rough morning.  I couldn't figure out why he was so unhappy and then he started throwing up.  Finally he crashed and fell asleep in the stroller.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal my mom had made for Thanksgiving with my parents, Spencer, his girlfriend Janelle and Janelle's mom.  It would have been a perfect Thanksgiving if it weren't for Skyler being sick.  He was hungry but every time he ate or drank anything he would throw up so we had to keep him eating tiny bites of food and sips to drink.  I felt terrible doing that to him with all the good food around.  All too soon the weekend was over and it was time to go home.