Mother Racer

Saturday: I got up at 5 a.m. and went out for my 12 mile run. I ran 10 x 1 min at sub 6 pace for the 1st minute of every mile after the 1st 2. What made this run hard and a lot longer was with Corom being in St. George (for his marathon), I had to run back and forth along my street (in front of my house) for those 12 miles. But I did it and now that run is done. I woke the girls up, got ready (very quickly), jumped in the car and took off for St. George. We left by 7:15 and headed out for our 3 hour and 15 minute drive. (Corom just started his race at 7…).  

I didn’t know what time to expect Corom and Mike in, so I wanted to make sure we got there. We had a smooth car ride and by the time we got to the finish line area (parked and everything) it was 10:45 a.m. The girls kept themselves very entertained while we waited… It was fun to watch them climb up the tree like it was nothing, as these boys were trying to follow with no success. 😉 

Corom and Mike finished at a little after 12 (5:08 minutes I believe was their time)… With my mother-in-law about 15-20 minutes behind them.

 The girls were so excited to see them come in!  

 They did a “Brown Bag” method (something Corom and Mike came up with) and it actually worked for them, where they weren’t to sore after! I was proud of those 2 for getting it done! The rest of the afternoon was nice… The girls played at the house we stayed at and looked for lizards. It was relaxing. Amy and I did go out to dinner and then Corom and Mike went to the 10 year dinner. The girls didn’t want to go to either one because they wanted cup-o-noddles and hot pockets. Done! That was nice for me not having to cook (at the house we were staying at) or bring them all to dinner. 🙂 

 We watched a movie and then went to bed. 

Sunday: We slept in (until 7:30 because that’s when the girls got up), began the process of cleaning up, breakfast, loading the car up and getting ready. We headed home around 9:30 and listened to General Conference on the radio. The girls were really good and it was nice to actually listen to our Prophet and Apostles. We met up at my mother-in-laws house for dinner and cake and ice cream. It was Gary’s (her husband’s) birthday.  

 The family and kids hung out and played. We had a good time. Early bedtime tonight!! 

Monday: I went out on a 6 mile easy run!!! Loved it. My legs did feel a little heavy but with it being only 6 miles, I didn’t care. 🙂 After I dropped the girls off at school, I had my PTO meeting. Always a good time hanging out with the other ladies and some of the school staff. I did work at the Clarion Event Center today. That, too, is fun. And the food we get to eat was excellent!  

  The lady that performed was the lady from Payson that put her own words about being a mother into the song hallelujah. I left to go pick up my kids from school and then we headed to CC practice.  

 For family night, Corom, the girls and I loaded up on the bus and went around picking up neighbor kids and families. There were about 21 extra people that came with us. 🙂 It was a little chaotic!!! We headed to our local grocery store and ordered ice cream cones…  

 Another early to bed night… (For me and the kids).

Tuesday: I went out on an easy 8 mile run. I am liking this tapering. This week is going by way too fast though. I am excited, nervous and dreading the race all at the same time! I went with Corom to his doctors appointment just right after I dropped the girls off at school. It was interesting to hear what the doc had to say. Corom is on 2 to 3 different medications to level him out, I guess you could say. One to help him with his extreme mood swings, so he needs another to counteract that one so that he can also stay motivated and I forgot what the 3rd one does. He went to work and I began the laundry and packing today for all my girls… That is a chore on its own! My youngest and I hung out and then we picked up the other 3 from school and headed to CC practice.  

 The 3 younger girls had soccer games tonight. They played well and it is always entertaining to coach. 🙂 My 2 middle girls’ team (they are on the same team) have yet to score a goal this season. They are both actually pretty good but have yet to score. None of them seem to mind… They are having fun! 

  Corom had to run off to a church meeting and the girls and I went home to begin the whole bedtime routine…

Wednesday: Today was a 10 miler with 4 x 1 miles. My 1st mile was a 6:17, 2nd was a 6:07, 3rd was a 6:03 and 4th was a 5:55. I was supposed to do a 6:15, 6:10, 6:05 and a 6. Pretty close… I felt good on this run. My legs were a little heavy and sore towards the end but that’s normal (I hope) with tapering. I had to do some PTO stuff with the school, then headed over to the Beehive home (old folks center) for visiting and a spiritual message. The elderly ladies want our church to come every Wednesday, so 2 months out of the year our ward goes in.  Always fun talking with the elderly ladies. 

 Wednesday’s are a busy day for us in the afternoon. There was CC practice…  

 Activity Day’s for the 2 older girls…  

 Piano lessons for the 3 older girls and then my oldest’s soccer game.  

 We (the girls and I… Corom has to work late tonight) came home, did homework, packed all the girls bags and went to bed. I didn’t sleep well at all tonight! But that happens. 

Thursday: I went out for a nice and easy 6 mile run. It felt good… Calf muscles are a little tight but I know they will loosen up. I went on a field trip with my 2nd daughter and her 2nd grade class. It really was a fun time!  

   I hurried home, finished packing for Corom and I, the girls and I dropped treats off at CC practice to wish them luck at Region (I’m going to miss Region this year… It’s tomorrow and I’m leaving for Chicago tonight)… I wanted to give the kids a little something from their coach and to let them know they are ready!  
 (This is me walking back to my car. I do feel bad that I will miss the meet!) I said goodbye to the girls and went to pick Corom up from work. We headed to Utah Valley University so Corom could teach his class (Social Work 1010). He let them out early and we headed to the airport. I have a hard time flying, so I was glad Corom was with me!  

 Before I left, I had many wonderful friends and family that called, texted and dropped things off. I can not even express the love I feel from them for their support. I think that is my biggest fear/worry… Not being able to reach my goal with so many people rooting for me. (Not too many people know of what I’m trying to do but I like it that way.) The pressure! 😉 No for real, though… This will be a fun and great experience, no matter the outcome. Everyone, thank you for your support… You have no idea how much it means to me.  

Saturday: I had a 16 miler this morning with 6 x 1 miles (at the end of my run) with a 1 min recovery in between. It was tough this morning with my head cold. I was all over the place… I would look at my watch and would be running at a 5:45, so I would slow down and notice I would be at a 6:20… For 5 of those miles, that’s how it was. The last mile I just struggled to keep the 6 min pace. Not a confidence booster… 🙂 my 1st one was a 6:00, 2nd was a 5:56, 3rd was a 6:01, 4th was a 6:00, 5th was a 6:02 and 6th was a 5:58. Right when I hit my 16 miles I stopped and walked the half a mile home! I was tired, thirsty and my head hurt. The girls had to clean their rooms today before we did anything… 

 There were many tears and fights this morning! The 2 younger girls finished in time to go with Corom to check on the Alpacas (that made it harder for me to get the 2 older ones to clean… They were not happy).  

 We did have time to go to a little pumpkin patch… A cute little place. I wanted to get pumpkins to decorate our house.  

 I took the 2 older girls to the women’s conference- for 8 and older (General conference is coming up). We had appetizers before the meeting started…  

 Corom took the 2 younger girls with him on the HS’s Homecoming Dance Date. Corom was asked if he could drive around a group of 20 (10 couples) in the bus. 🙂  

 Fun times! 

Sunday: We went to church and the girls were good today. I love Sunday’s when the girls are good. 🙂 We had a couple of families over and then we watched the eclipse/blood moon…  

 The poor dogs… But at least they love the girls! Oh and we have 2 baby kittens that Corom and the girls brought home. They, too, will be staying outside.  At least the kittens and the dogs get along (outside). 🙂 

Monday: Well it is Taper week!!! I’m way excited and way scared. My training is there… Now I have to work on my confidence- which is key to racing!!! I don’t know why I’m lacking the confidence but I can’t seem to get out of a funk… 2 weeks! 🙂 I ran 10 miles this morning at a pace no faster than 7:30. I averaged around a 7:50-8 min pace. The rest of the day was busy getting ready for the Elementary schools PTO (PTA) fundraiser… A Family Fun Night. Dinner, activities and an auction. All the activities were free, so that brought a lot of people.  

 Corom was the auctioneer… I was a little nervous but he really made it very entertaining and he talked a lot of people into bidding more. Too funny! I was able to sneak away from the setup to go coach CC.  

 My girls liked today because they played all afternoon with the other kids (while us moms set up) and they didn’t have to do any homework. 🙂 

Tuesday: I ran 8 miles total today! It was another easy day. I do like these easy days. I worked at the school today in my Kindergartener’s class, went VTing, then came back for PTO stuff to close up the Family Fun Night activity. My youngest helped us count the change. 😉  

 Then the girls and I went to CC practice (a speed day for them), then to the 3 younger girls soccer games (after homework and dinner).  

 I left the games a little early to go to a movie with a few ladies in my neighborhood. It was really nice and much needed. Corom took over coaching the games. I went and saw 

Wednesday: I had a speed workout today. Ugh… 10 x 800’s at a 2:45-2:50 pace. 10 miles total. I finished with 10 1/2 and I hit the marks (closer to 2:50 for all of them). I was tired but grateful to have this workout over. I worked in my 2nd daughter’s class (2nd grade). She is a very bright girl… School comes natural to her (unlike me… I struggled with every subject)!  

 I met up with a few friends and we went to lunch. The kids ended up at my house and they had a fun afternoon. I had a couple of friends come over to help me finish up some quiet books for church. It was nice to visit! Thanks Megan and Misty for helping me out. 😉 We had CC practice (a recovery run)… 

 I did leave practice early because a debt collector called saying I owed money on a credit card… I DON’T OWN A CREDIT CARD! So now I have to fill out a fraud paper and start that whole process. Awesome! (You know… You would think the credit card company would call after someone from London was using the credit card.) Anyway, after dinner and homework, it was my oldest’s soccer game. They played well! And of course the girls tried to sneak the baby kittens.. I pretended not to see them as the girls brought them into the car. It was too cute with their giggling… But then I got annoyed because they wanted to run around with them. So In-between coaching, I had to yell at them to sit down and to be calm with the kittens. 🙂 Oh the joys. 

 I took the girls with me on RS visits tonight. They enjoyed it. (Corom had to work late tonight.) 

Thursday: I had an easy 10 miler today. I was still tired from yesterday. It took me a good few miles to get “into” my run. Chicago marathon is coming up too fast!!! I was able to get things done around the house before I had to pick up my youngest… Then the after school hours were busy again. CC practice- (Easy run before the meet)…  

 My 2 middle girls soccer game…  

 Then my youngest’s soccer game…  

 Corom put the girls to bed while I attended a RS event. It was a nice evening. We had the privilege of hearing from President Hinckley’s 2 sister-in-laws. They were so fun to listen to. A great spirit to them.  

 
Friday: This morning was a big 5 mile easy run… It was nice to be home earlier than normal. We (Corom and I) dropped the girls off at school and then ran errands the rest of the morning. Corom took off for St. George for the marathon (tomorrow). I had a CC meet to attend… The girls had a babysitter and then ended up at a friend’s house for a couple of hours. They had fun!  

 At the meet… We had Great performances!!! So many kids PR’d tonight! So impressive on a tough course. Our top female came in 2nd overall (the 1st place girl ran a 17:48.22 and she ran a 17:48.56). So close… Our top guy placed 9th overall. There were over 20 schools. It was fun to watch but cold!  

 We got home around 9… I was going to drive down to St. George tonight with the girls (about 3 1/2 hours) but decided to go to bed (at 9:15), get up and do my run early, then leave by 7 to make it before Corom finished the marathon. 🙂 

Friday the 18th: I went out for an easy run of 8 1/2 miles. I was supposed to run 10 but stopped at 8 1/2. My legs were so dead and I have a long run day tomorrow. Corom and I ran errands this morning (he has Friday’s off) and tried to get work done around the house… But we were both unmotivated. I, then went to a cross country meet.  

 Once again the kids performed well! They ran strong… And some even left everything on the course. 🙂  

 After the meet the family and I headed over to the church for our church activity. We had dinner, games, face painting, prizes and more. The girls had so much fun!  

 
Saturday: I got up at 4:50 a.m. so I could meet up with a group of people for my 20 mile run. We headed up Provo canyon for 6 Miles and then I turned around and tempoed down the 6. I tried to stay between 6-6:10. I drove a mile down to a 10k free race… Recovery Days (it was a awareness fun run for addicts). I warmed up another mile and then raced the 10k. I was so tired and felt flat. For 4 1/2 miles I held onto my marathon pace and then I fell back to a 7 minute pace, to finish off my 20 miler.  

 I was frustrated that I couldn’t hold on to my pace for the 10k. I do know that by running the 1st 13 and then waiting another 40 minutes (in the cold) for the 10k threw me off… But I was still disappointed. It was a good workout though. I hurried home to help a good friend of mine get ready for her and her husband’s ceiling in the temple. What a special day for their family! The girls played at home (with babysitters) while we set up  at the church (for a luncheon after) and then while Corom and I attended the temple. It was so good to be able to attend the temple for this occasion. The luncheon was very nice and the girls were very good. 

 We left shortly after to go to the “Recovery Days” little fair/activities at the park (the Barney’s came with.) Corom of course was asked to dress up in a costume…  

 Corom stayed while the Barney’s and I took the girls to some major chalk art display thing. It was pretty cool… A lot of people!  

 We went back to pick Corom up and he dropped me off at my friend, Josie’s house for a bridal show (for Ericka).   

  
we did a lot today! 
Sunday: Today was a good day at church… The girls were good (and that makes it so much easier)! We had 4 or 5 families over for dinner (Navjo tacos) for Megan B’s birthday. Fun times!   

 
Monday: I went out for a easy run of 10 miles no faster than a 7:30 pace… Last hard week before the taper!!! Oh it is coming quick! Too quick… I want it to be over but then again, I want more time. It was a normal day of neighbor kids over and Stephanie & Camille came to hang out. After school, the girls and I went to CC practice. We did a speed… My girls ran a lot of the loops with the team. I love when they decide to join. 🙂  

 Right after practice, the girls and I went into the school to look around at all the halls. With this being Homecoming week, the student council decorated all the walls in the hallways… Way neat!  

 I took so many more pictures of all the work that was put into it but there was too many… It was fun walking around.  The theme was “The World is Ours”, I believe. 🙂 

 Corom got home from work and we headed over to the Ringal’s home for a BBQ with a few other families for Family Night.  

 
Tuesday: I ran a 10 mile run with a decent pace (about a 7:15-7:20)… I felt good this morning. I volunteered at the school today for the vision screening. My girls came to my line, so it was nice to see how their vision was. My 3rd child wants glasses, so she was having a “hard” time reading the letters… I gave her a pair of glasses to try on, and then she really had a hard time reading. I told her nice try and to get back to class. 🙂 

 After school, I took the carpool kids to go get icecream… I told them that if they were to get out of the car (at school) and dance for a minute around the principal I would take them out for icecream. Well, they did it. I had 10 kids total for carpool… It was quit funny. So, we went to the local grocery store and of course their soft serve ice cream was not working…  

 Try explaining that to everyone! I had to go buy Popsicles instead… Not the same but it did the job. The girls and I headed off to CC right after…  

 The 3 younger girls had their soccer games that I had to coach… And they played well!  As you can see below that my youngest and the defender did a great job (sitting down in the middle of the game because they were tired). 

 We came home late and as I was putting the girls to bed… My oldest informed me that she had to bring in homemade blue play dough… What’s one more thing, right?  

 Oh and Corom left for St. George on a business trip for the rest of the week. Fun for me! 

Wednesday: I had a 10 mile workout today… 5 miles of it a speed workout. 20 x 200’s in a 42 sec time per 200 with a 200 recovery in a minute. It went well. I was tired (my chest felt heavy) but I averaged about a 39-40 sec 200 for all 20. We met at the school for PTO stuff. For CC practice, they went on a easy day before the race run.  

 That’s all I saw of them today (walking off to go for their run) because today was parent/student/teacher conference. All of my kids’ teachers are the best! They are so good to my kids and truly care about them. I love it!  

 We (the PTO and parent volunteers), helped bring in dinner for the teachers… So after meeting with the teachers, I ran the 3 older girls up to piano lessons, and came back down to help with the dinner (clean up etc). Stephanie did a great job of organizing it.  

 I was able to get our dinner ready, so we ate and then headed off to my oldests soccer game. She played goalie for the 1st half… She did a pretty good job. The other team did beat us 8-0 but they were really good. Our team has won every other game but this one the other kids played a little rough… But it was fun. 

 My mother-in-law picked the girls up and took them to her house for a sleepover. That helped me out a lot because I had to go to a RS meeting and then on visits (right after the game)… I also have a 12 miler planned for the morning. After my meeting, I hung out at the Barney’s for awhile. 

Thursday: I went out for a 12 mile run. I ran the 1st 3 miles at an easy pace and the last 9 was at a moderate pace. I was in a hurry to get back because a couple of kids get dropped off at my house at around 7:45 every morning. So even though my kids weren’t here, I had to hurry to get back (and I started later then what I wanted to). I met up with my girls at school and went on a field trip with my youngest and her kindergarten class (to the library).  

 I had a babysitter come and I took off for a CC meet. I wasn’t able to stay the whole time because my 3 younger girls have soccer games. But the races I did see, went well. It was so hot today for them! One of our top females took 3rd overall (the other one took 6th)… She was up against the 2 girls that are favored to win State. Our girl was 1st until the last 200… She was out kicked… We were so excited to have her and our other girl that close.  

 Tonight was picture night for soccer (no fun rounding up all the kids)! I forgot to have someone take a picture of my Kindergartener’s team. 😦 But after pictures, they had their games.  

 Right after the games, the girls and I headed straight to the church for the last little bit of the RS activity and to help cleanup. I was so tired by this time!!!! I was a little cranky. 🙂  

 I just hope Corom is having fun in St. George!  

Friday: This morning was an easy 10 miler. I ran back and forth on my street the entire time because the girls were alone sleeping… Talk about a LONG, BORING run. I did meet up with the HS kids early this morning. We decided to have practice in the morning with it being homecoming weekend. The kids loved it!  

 This morning we had a busy morning with PTO stuff… It is picture day at the school and we put together gift baskets for our fundraiser. It took up the entire morning but we had fun! I have such good help with PTO stuff!  

 Of course I had to stay and see my girls at lunch time! 🙂  

 The girls played with friends today…  

…and then it was off to our oldests soccer game. Corom came home in time for her game. 🙂  

 Once the girls fell asleep, we put a movie on and the Fullmers came down to watch it with us. I’m coming down with a head cold and that stinks!!! 

Saturday: The alarm went off at 3:40 a.m. I slept on the floor on a mat and I actually slept pretty well. I realized last night that I forgot my watch for pacing. So waking up this morning, I was nervous for a few reasons… 1st: not having a watch; 2nd: I was the only pacer for the 3:05 time (every other pace time slot had 2 pacers just in case one had to drop or use the restroom, etc)… The paces started at 3:05 and then went up every 5 min (3:10, 3:15…); 3rd: I was going to have to hold the pacer sign the entire time; and 4th: getting in right on time… Hitting my mile marks every mile for these guys. The people racing and wanting to hit their Boston qualifying time are depending on me, so I was nervous about that. Anyway… We got on the bus at about 4:30 a.m. and headed to the top. I love the excitement of the crowd before the races start! On a great note… One of the other pacers brought 2 watches!! I was so relieved!  This course is extremely downhill. A great PR course but a thrasher on the legs!  

 We were given pace bands to tell us what every mile should be. The pace bands are course specific… It was great having it. My 3:05 time was an average of 7:03 per mile. There were some miles that we ran a 6:25 because of how steep the downhill was… We did have about a 4 1/2 mile loop (from 17/18-22) that was a hilly out and back. I started of with about 20+ men and a few ladies… All trying to hit that Boston qualifying time.  

 For the 1st 17 miles I still had a pretty good group, and then we made the turn for the out and back hilly loop. We started to lose a lot of the group. It’s amazing how thrashed your legs feel after running that much of a downhill. Once we came out of the loop we had a 3 1/2 mile downhill to the finish. A few guys pulled ahead at this point and a few more could not hold on… I tried hard to talk them through that mental block, but once you get to that point or hit the wall, it is so hard to push through (and sometimes impossible). I tried taking a few pictures here on my phone and as you can see we ran into the 1/2 marathoners…

 I came across the finish line at a 3:04.53. I loved pacing this race. It was so fun getting to know new people and hearing about their goals, lives, etc. I felt great but I did feel the soreness in my quads. Hopefully the soreness won’t be too bad come Monday!  

 One guy came in and caught everyone’s attention. Pretty amazing being able to smoke a cigar while running the marathon!  

 I left shortly after the race to head home. At home it was the normal Saturday… Chores and goofing off. We had a babysitter come in the evening while Corom and I, with 4 other couples went to the Clarion for the Steak and Stuffed Salmon meal!  

 Holy crap it was good! The salmon was so good!!! I love these dinners and if anyone is in the area… Come with us next time! 

Sunday: We had Regional Conference for church today. Then the 2 older girls and I walked home… My quads and legs were shot!!! I’m in trouble. I’ve been rolling, massaging them all day… The dang downhill! 🙂 It did help to walk home… And these 2 made it very enjoyable! 

 We had a couple of families over for dinner… Corom made the bread (he is so good at making bread/baking) and apparently it wiped him out! It was a good day and we had a great time hanging out with our neighbors. 

Monday: I was told by my coach to run today’s 8 miles as slow as I needed. Well… I ran about an 8:30-9 minute pace. I wish I could say that it felt good and it was a relaxing run, but it was anything but good and relaxing! I did a lot more stretching, rolling and massaging. I did work in my Kindergartener’s (youngest’s) classroom today…  Always fun working in the classes! 

 Tricia, Amber and I surprised our friend, Beth with a little birthday surprise at her work. Then my girls and I headed off to cross country practice… It was a tough practice today. 2 x 1 mile at race pace then 5 x 400’s at 5-10 sec faster than race pace. They were tired!  

 Because of pacing on Saturday, I was able to get free meal tickets to Costa Vida! 🙂 So the family and I went dinner.  

 We had Family Home Evening, then it was early bed time for me. 

Tuesday: Another easy run. I had a 10 miler to run…. My legs are feeling better but still sore. I had the opportunity to work in my Kindergartener’s class again… Loved it!  

 We had CC practice (an easy run), then it was dinner, homework and off to coaching and playing soccer games… I coached my 2 middle daughter’s game 1st… It was fun watching them run around. Then I coached my youngest’s game right after. They were so dang cute and pretty good at playing too!  

 We did have to end my youngest’s game short because a big rain storm came rolling in quick. Lots of lightening. I stayed up a lot later then what I would have liked, but it sure was fun having some friends come over for a chic flick movie (Austinland). Corom did hang out too. 😉 

Wednesday: I was a little worried about this morning’s speed workout! But as it turns out…It went better than what I thought it would. My warmup didn’t seem so promising so after the 2 mile warmup, I decided to go into the 400’s as 4 sets. I was going to do at least 5 400’s but after that 1st set, I felt pretty good. The 2nd set was better and then the last 10 felt really good. My legs loosened up after this speed workout. They are sore now but not as bad. I averaged 85’s-88’s. So 20 x 400’s at 90 seconds. After dropping the girls off to school, I went over to the HS. The juniors and seniors didn’t have school today so we held practice early. It was one of those days where no one wanted to run. It was way windy (and a day off of school). I did go back a couple of hours later for the freshman and sophomores to send them off on their run. 

  It was early out day for my kids (noon)… So many neighbor kids came over to play Then it was activity days and birthday parties in the afternoon. I went on RS visits and then the girls and I went to my oldests soccer game. She played so well! The whole team played well. She made a goal… And was so excited about it!  
 
Thursday: I had a 15 mile hilly run today. I ran the first 11 miles too hard. My body was tired! I did slow down for the last 4. My legs were so achy and strained. I was a little concerned after this run. It was a day of getting work done around the house… My youngest played with a neighbor after school and after the other girls came home from school, we headed to CC practice.

 The girls and I did homework, reading and dinner, then headed off to the 3 younger girl’s soccer games. Just before we left, I saw an empty caffeine strip wrapper on the floor. This strip is full of caffeine and made for long workouts!! I got in the car and asked what child took it… My 2 younger ones finally confessed that they shared it. Well, these soccer games should be interesting…

 The girls were so hyper and running around… It was way funny but also a little annoying at times (I’m the coach of all their teams… So it got hard at times to try to calm them down). They did get in trouble for getting into my stuff and I explained the dangers of these strips, but until they are old enough to read this, they won’t know how me and a few parents were laughing at them. Corom did come late (he is teaching a class at the college again every Tuesdays and Thursday’s and he has church meetings a lot on those nights). We took the girls out for ice cream because my oldest made a goal the night before.  (Our friends, the Thompsons, met up with us too… Their daughter scored a goal.) 

 Anyway… We all came home and ready for bed.  

Sunday (Sept 6th): Today is my 2nd child’s 8th birthday!! She woke up way early and the rest of the day was a party! She opened a few presents before church (and received her own set of scriptures from grandma & grandpa). She was so excited.  

 After church, our good friends Mary & Siri came over to make homemade donuts for her bday. They are the coolest and my kids just love when they come over!  

We headed up to my sister, Missy’s house for dinner and cake. My brother and his family and my Aunt Georgia were able to make it. We had a fun time.  The cousins love these get togethers…

WWe came home and had more treats with G-goat and Gary. She had a fun day full of junk food. 😁

Monday: Today there was no school because of Labor Day. We had a fun packed day planned. I normally do a 10k race but the coach just wanted me to do an easy 10 miler. So I got up early and went out for my run. I came home to lots of fighting and yelling. My 3rd daughter was the only one ready and doing her chores, so Corom stayed home with the other 3 while I took our 3rd daughter to the parade. We had fun while the other 3 were crying and grudgingly doing their chores.  

 We came home and soon after left to go to Rachelle’s place for a potluck lunch and swimming. 

 We took the girls (and dogs) and the Barney family to the Grotto for a short, nice hike. There were so many people on this same trail!!! But it was a lot of fun.  

 We came home to finish off the last remaining chores… Everyone pitched in but of course, my youngest…  

 We did finish off our day with a BBQ with a few other families…  

 
Tuesday: I went out for a nice, easy 10 mile run (a no faster than 7:30 pace). I love workouts like these ones! The rest of my day was the same. PTO stuff in the morning and hanging out with my youngest in the afternoon… She drives me crazy but she also so dang cute!!! 

 We had a Cross Country meet (which my girls came with) in our neighboring town. The CC kids did REALLY well! It was a fun meet to watch and my girls loved cheering and playing on the play ground.  

 
Wednesday: I went out and ran a speed workout. It was 10 miles total with 5 x 1 miles with a recovery between each one. My 1st mile was a 6:01, 2nd was a 5:59, 3rd was a 5:51, 4th was a 5:50 and last one was a 4:43 but .6 was a good downhill. It was a tough workout but that is one more workout out of the way… I went in to my 2nd daughter’s class (2nd grade) to help out (she was spotlighted today). She is so amazing and I just love her (all my girls) so much!  

 Of course I had to peak in on all my girls in their classrooms… My 3rd was being blindfolded and having a great time. It was a busy afternoon for the girls and I! We had CC practice…  

 Then the guys on my CC team that are on the soccer team, stayed after CC to help coach my girls’ soccer teams. I am the coach for all 4 of my girls… Thank goodness that at least 2 of my daughters (the 2 middle ones) are on the same team. So 3 teams and 32 kids total. 6 CC/soccer HS guys stuck around and took over the practice. 🙂 Such good kids!!! Can’t say enough good things about them.  

 The girls went straight to piano (my 3rd child just started)… After dinner and homework I went on RS visits. Corom had to work late so a couple of neighbor girls came over and hung out. Busy day…. I went to bed early! 

Thursday: I went on a good 15 mile hilly run. I felt great and was able to hold onto a 7:15-7:20 pace. But it felt good. I had PTO stuff and then went on RS visits… The girls played around for awhile….  

We had CC practice and then the girls (my 2nd and 3rd daughter’s) played their 1st soccer game.  

 Always fun to watch. 

Friday: I had an easy run which consisted of 6 miles. Loved it!!! I’m pacing the Big Cottonwood marathon tomorrow for the men’s qualifying 3:05 Boston time. I’m a little nervous… We walked the girls and neighbors to school…  

 Corom has the day off, so we cleaned and organized. I had a few meetings at the school (PTO stuff) and then we met the elementary kids out on the playground during recess for jump roping. Corom came down with music and it was a big hit.  

 After school, Corom, the girls and I headed to Salt Lake for a family reunion get together. We met at Wheeler Farm. It was a nice night.  

 Corom and the girls dropped me off at a hotel. I was meeting up with Tricia, Aubrey, Rachelle, Amber, and Beth. We are all pacing the marathon tomorrow (different times), but had a fun time hanging out. We weren’t able to hang out too long due to all of us having to get up so dang early… But we still had a great time.