Top of Utah Marathon 2009

Yay! We did it! Last Sat, Sept 19th my two brothers, Jay and Jeremy, and my sister, Amy, and I all ran the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan. It was SO much fun! I know you are thinking "what the world? how can running 26.2 miles be fun?" Trust me, it is. Now the last few miles are never very fun and you typically want to pass out and die at that point. BUT the fact hat you don't and you just keep running along is what makes the whole marathon thing amazing!

I won't give all the gory details and all that, but I was REALLY proud of my time 4 hours 4 min. especially since the last 8 miles were generally uphill and, wow, I so was not expecting that. I ran with my sister, Amy, for the first 10 miles or so and then we split. I met Ben at mile 15 got a good luck kiss and went on my way. I held a great pace the first 18 miles, under a 9 min at least then often under an 8 min mile. However, mile 18 came along and that is where the uphill climbs started and it was all I could do to keep about a 9 min mile. I was expecting to crash burn and die at mile 23, but I didn't and I was glad of that.

But one mile later....24...I was ready to be done. I felt like I was breathing through a straw and my entire body was telling me to stop running already. So that last 2.2 miles was a battle between my mind and body "keep going, don't you dare stop now, keep going, i don't care how much it hurts don't you stop running!!!" and then my body..."What in the world are you doing to me???? Why are you still running? You can't even breathe right anymore, your legs are completely broken can't you feel all that pain??? Look there is a curb over there, just pull over and die already okay?!!" Seriously, even when I got to mile marker 26 I wanted to just cry because I truly did not want to run another second, let alone .2 miles. So I was REALLY proud of myself for NOT stopping and running on through the finish line with a great finish time. I was so happy to see my sweet husband, Ben at the finish cheering me on and see all the rest of my family. It was so great to have that support there and it meant so much to see them all there cheering me on. Thank you family!!!! So here, are some pictures of the event. Enjoy.

Oh, and yes I will continue to do marathons, probably my entire life. I love running. And my next goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. hopefully next year, but if not, another year. I will get there.

My brother, Jay, and I. He came in at 3:45 awesome huh?

And of course, Sophie and I. Isn't she beautiful? Even just in her Jammies.

Yeah, you know this is a cute picture

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Here we all are! Jeremy, Jay, Amy and I. I was SO proud of all of us for running it. Amy did awesome, it was her first and she came in at 4:15 AWESOME!!! Thanks Amy for talking me into doing this marathon, I loved it!

Here I am coming through the finish

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Giving everyone a little cheer as I went though

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Two thumbs up baby

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Okay check this out. A picture of Ben and I and neither of us are making faces!!! That never happens. I think I will frame this one. Oh and just FYI, BEn is amazing. He 100% supports me in all my running, babysits kids, takes care of the house while my legs are recovering, comes to all my races and cheers me on. He is amazing and I am so lucky to have him. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU BEN!!!

okay so yeah, after I finished and we were just chillin it, I died. I just wanted to lay down so that is what I did and I have to say that it felt amazing and I was 100% absolutely comfortable. I didn't want to get up. I probably could have stayed right there the rest of the day and been just fine with that.

My sister, Amy and I. Aren't we cute? Thank you Amy for all the fun running together. We did several of our training runs together and it was so much fun! I am so glad we ran this one together. Can't wait for another marathon, and yes there will be more. As I once read somewhere, 26.2 miles of the pain that you love. Yep. that pretty much describes a marathon.

First Day of Kindergarten

I can't even believe that my little boy James is already in Kindergarten!!! He started school on the 27th of August and he loves it. He was so cute about it. We set out his clothes the night before, he picked out what he was going to wear. I got up early and made a big breakfast for him. Sausage, Eggs and Pancakes, his favorite! Well I guess I should say that HE got me up early. He got up around 7 am all dressed and ready to go with his backpack and everything. His bus doesn't come until 8:50, so we had plenty of time to kill. So we enjoyed a good big breakfast and reading time before he had to go.

It was so cute, just as I was taking the pictures of James, Harrison came along and wanted to go with James so badly. When I explained that only James was going and that Harrison could go when he was bigger he said "I AM bigger!" I said, "I know, but when you are 5 you can go" Harrison's response. "I AM 5! I am bigger, I am 5!". He was really sad to see James go. So sweet.

So then I took him to the bus stop and I was holding it together really well. James was really quiet so I knew he was nervous. Then the bus came, I gave James a big old kiss and hug and told him to have fun. He was the last one on the bus and it pulled away before he even sat down and I thought "wait! Let him sit down" And that's when I lost it. The tears came rolling down and I turned toward my house and walked home as quickly as I could. As soon as I got to my house I bawled and bawled. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop thinking about my little baby James, and how he was all grown up, riding the bus and going to school. I thought of the day we drove him home from the hospital when he was born, and I couldn't believe that he was already 5 yrs old. I worried and cried that whole day. I worried that he wouldn't find his class or get on the right bus or get off on the wrong stop. I missed my little buddy that whole day. (I still do while he is at school). Anyways, then it was 12:00, time to go pick him up. I was so anxious and he came off the bus happy as could be. He had had a great day and loved it. Everyday is like that. He gets off the bus, runs straight to be and gives me a giant bear hug and tells me about his day.

I THINK he is doing well in school, he enjoys it and I haven't gotten any calls from his teacher so that's a good sign right? I have been reading with him every day and I LOVE how much improvement I am seeing. He recognizes several words now and is trying to sound things out and I really so love sitting there and reading with him and teaching him. We have a lot of fun. He checked out a star wars book from the library last week and we read it and read it and read it, and probably will read it another 10 times before he has to return it thursday. Anyways, so yes he likes school. We survived that first day, and yes I am truly a stay at home mom now because I have to be home to get him to and from the bus stop everyday, yes I am one of those moms that HAS to take her kid every time, everyday. So here are the pictures of James. Oh, he did his own hair. So cute.

It was really bright out, so we went inside to take a couple more, I have some really cute ones with Harrison, but he is in his underwear and I didn't really want to post that. ;)

If this isn't the cutest thing...

A Great Weekend

I just have to say that this weekend was one of the best I have had. Seriously. We relaxed, we played, we kept the house pretty clean. We ate a lot of really good food. We worked out. We played games with the kids. It was prefect. So I need to at least blog about it so I can remember it when I am all old and gray.

So Friday started out with me getting James off to school, and a quick walk around the neighborhood, and then off to Allred's for some peaches. Did you know you can get a half bushel of peaches there for $6? Yeah I didn't know either. They are the seconds, which means they aren't quite ripe or are lopsided, but seriously I haven't had a gross one yet out of the 2 boxes I got, so no complaints. Anyways, I had to wait a while to get them but it was well worth it, and I ended up getting some apples too which were delicious if I do say so myself. Then it was back home and lunch and then time to start some peach Jam. James and harrison really wanted to help as well. So while I fed Sophie. They sat at the sink and washed all the peaches. They did a really good job and didn't even bruise them. impressive eh? The rest of the afternoon we made Jam and by the time Dad got home we were too tired to make dinner so it was off to Carl's Jr.

Okay so I love their Teriyaki burger and I usually just get the regular sized one, but Ben ordered the six dollar version for me. Here is my confession. I ate the whole thing, a large order of French fries and a large drink......and I wasn't even full. I guess that is what happens when you are in the middle of Training for a marathon, nursing and working all day. Yeah. Speaking of training I was scheduled to run 12 miles on friday as well. So around 8 pm I got my running shoes on and headed to the gym. Yep, I did the run at the gym. How boring is that? Very. In fact I only got 9 miles on the treadmill before I wanted to die of boredom, and then I went on the elliptical for 20 mins and then I ran on the track until the place closed. So I figure I got close to a 12 mile workout in. But I was really proud of myself for going and getting that workout in, even though I was stinkin tired. It felt good, and I actually enjoyed it.

Saturday morning I slept in, and it was marvelous! Then I got up and dressed and got in a baking mood and found a good looking recipe for peach crsip online and decided to make it. So I did. And the results were not at all disappointing. It was divine. Then we all spent one hour cleaning up and I can't believe how clean the house got after just one hour of cleaning. It was great. So then it was time to relax. We read for a while. I am once again reading Twilight. Yeah I know, I am a little obsessed. but I love it. I also read with James for quite some time. I have to say. He and I have been reading together every day for about 30 min and he is getting so good! I love seeing him improve every day and learn new words and be able to sound out things. He can read one of our books entirely by himself! hurray! It is a Dick and Jane book, and I am ordering more because that one is the best for him to learn with. easy words and lots of repetition. Anyways, we have had so much fun reading together.

After all that we packed up the car, went to costco, got lots of good foods to eat later on, and then got hot Dogs and went for picnic at the park. We were there until later that evening. We had so much fun. We played football and played on the playground and swings and just had a great time. Then it was time to go home and off to bed for the kids and we read once again and watched some shows.

I am just going to say right now that this Sunday was the most relaxing nice sunday we have ever ever ever had. Seriously. It was great. We had a Baby blessing to go to at 9 am so we went to that and it was just great. Then afterwards there was a luncheon and it was just fun to visit with family while the kids played outside. Then we came home, the kids took naps, we took nap, we all slept until almost 4:30! It was so nice! Then we cooked these chicken teriyaki meatballs we got at costco and sweet potato french fries and man! I forgot how much I love sweet potato french fries. I think I could have eaten the whole batch. They were tasty. Then I made another batch of Peach crisp and had some people over for a good game of Scrabble. We played a couple rounds with the kids and they thought it was just great. Then once they were in bed we played by ourselves and had fun. It was a great day.

Then today we worked out again this morning. It felt good. I love a good workout. And I like that I can finally see some muscles in my arms. I know, I am vain. anyways, then we played with the kids for a while and just goofed off. Then we had another hour of cleanup and then reading/relaxing time. I love that. Then we packed a lunch/dinner and went up the canyon to go hiking and have a picnic with my brother and his family. It was great fun. The kids were so excited to see their cousins. And they all had fun hiking. We loved it. Now they are all bathed and in bed and I am eating some white chocolate with coconut. yum. Yep, it was a great weekend.