Mother Racer

My site has been doing something weird, but now I got it taken care of… Now for catching up. Bear with me! 

Sunday (Aug 30): We had church today… it went well other than the fact that my youngest daughter burped extremely loud during the Sacrament meeting (the quietest time in church). I did get quite a few laughs and a few looks of “control your kid”. I was embarrassed but in her defense… she sometimes will open her mouth and a loud, uncontrolled burp will come out. It is not intentional; it just happens. There are times that she does it on purpose but for the most part, it is a complete accident. And with how loud this one was… it was an accident. The sad thing is, she is on the very active side and so most people think she is being rude. After church, we had a few families over for a BBQ and to get to know them. We had a good time. So many amazing people.

Monday: I went out for an easy 10 mile run this morning. My race is coming up quick! I get nervous, anxious and even sometimes the feeling of dread… well not dread, but scared. I hope everything comes together on that day; not just my body wise (the physical and mental-which is scary all on its own) but with things not in my control… But, I guess I will keep training to the best of my ability and go from there. I dropped all the girls off at school and then stuck around for our 1st PTO (PTA) meeting. I am the President again this year. I really don’t mind doing it (mainly because I have an excellent board and it really is a easy job) but I also don’t know how I am going to find anyone to replace me in the years to come. Who wants to be PTO pres… I would keep doing it, but we also need fresh ideas, etc. Anyway, I didn’t leave the school until after my kindergartner got out. It was a busy morning. Camille and Stephanie came over for lunch and stayed until I had to leave for CC practice and to pick up my kids.

Tuesday: This morning was a speed workout. There were a few others that met up with me at the track (2 of them being a CC kid and his dad… he wasn’t able to make it to practice, so he came and did the speed workout early in the morning- 5:30 a.m.). We all had our own workout and/or different paces to run. It was nice to have others there, even though I ran alone. We did run a 2 mile warm up together (I ran 3 but ran the CC kid back in)… during our warm up I asked him if waking up this early was hard. He replied back that he actually got up at 4:30 a.m. I was shocked and asked him what was he doing so early… He said he wanted to get up and read his scriptures before he started his day. I was impressed. What a good kid… to be that dedicated. Anyway, I finished my warm up and began my workout of 10 x 1k’s in a 3:40 pace with a 200 meter recovery run. I felt pretty good this morning! My slowest one was number 7 and that was at a 3:40. The rest were about a 3:38 and a couple a little bit faster. I finished off with a 1 1/2 mile cool down. I do love the cool downs!! While the girls were in school, I went to visit a couple of people. I picked up my youngest from Kindergarten, then we went out to lunch with a few ladies. We had a great time.

We had a speed workout today for CC. It was 2 x 800’s, then 5-6 x 480’s (a little over a lap). We went up to a nearby park and ran them over there… just to do something different. It was a tough workout but the HS kids enjoyed this one. My kids did too because there was a park there. My kids actually ran a few of the 480’s with them…

After my oldest helped me with dinner, I left on a short (7-8 mile) bike ride with a few neighbors and hurried home for Corom to leave for his church meeting. I have not been on a ride like that for a while. The girls and I did go to a friend’s to wish her a happy b-day.

Wednesday: I love my easy running days!!! Especially the days after speed because then you know it is really easy. 🙂 I went out on a 10 mile run (no faster than 7:30 miles). I was tired but I felt okay. I came home to everyone being up… a very chaotic morning. We do have many chaotic mornings (many) but when Corom and I don’t have the patience for it, it’s no good (which a lot of the times we don’t have the patience :)). Anyway, I came home to Corom raking the girls’ rooms. We have a hard time getting the girls to keep their rooms clean.

I did more PTO stuff at the school and then helped my youngest (kindergartner) with her show and tell. She is so dang cute! All my girls are and I love peaking on them in their classes. The teachers probably I am a freak, but I can’t help it. After Kindergarten, we ran some errands and picked up a couple of things for my 2nd daughter’s birthday…

We went to Cross country practice and sent the kids off on their easy run. I took the 2 older girls to activity days (a church thing for the 8 year olds… it is twice a month) and then ran them to piano. I stayed at piano and the girls and I worked on homework there.

I had Relief Society visits (Suzie’s girls came over to hang out with mine) for a couple of hours, while Corom worked his late night.

Thursday: I went out for a 12 mile run and averaged about a 7:15 pace (1:28). It was a struggle the 1st few miles until I got into my routine-loosened up. It was a good run. I felt good. I went to my kindergartner’s class to help with their little party and then enjoyed a picnic afterwards with her and her class. We then went around to deliver baskets to all the teachers for a fundraiser. I thought it would be a quick 15 minute job, but with my youngest there and visiting with the teachers and kids, it took about 1 1/2 hours.

I cleaned house and then the girls and I headed over to CC practice. The CC kids went on an easy day before a race run. My kids and I went to a friend’s house for a little while before we headed to our neighbor’s for a BBQ.

Friday: Today’s run was an easy 10 miler. I was tired this morning and had a hard time getting out of bed, but I completed the run and went on with my day. 🙂 We walked the girls, neighbors and dogs to school…

… and then Corom and I cleaned house, visited our neighbor for a while, and then I packed for an over nighter CC meet. The race is tonight but we are staying overnight for the fun of it. Corom and the girls are meeting me at the hotel tonight and the girls are so excited!! The team and I took off around lunch time and had a good time driving up. A good group of kids! They did really well at the meet. There were a couple of the runners that were as happy about their performance but for the majority it went well. We had our top female place 3rd overall (out of 25+ schools) and our top male place 8th. Fun to watch all around.

We hopped on the bus and drove to our hotel. There I met up with Corom and the girls. Coach Thompson went and grabbed pizza for everyone… we ate pizza and swam until the 10 p.m. close time. Shortly after was bed checks and bedtime for me and my family. A very late night for my kids but they were really good and loving it.

Saturday: We (the team, the girls, Corom and I) got up early for breakfast and then to go on a run/hike. Corom and the girls stayed longer at the hotel and then headed home.

Coach Thompson and I headed to Ogden’s trail-head. We ran up to Malan’s Peak. It is 2 1/2 miles to the top, but it was quite the climb! I stayed in the back to be the last person up. I probably sounded like a drill sergeant telling a few of the girls to keep moving. 🙂 It was tough, but well worth it. Running the downhill went a lot faster!

I didn’t want to run this trail because I still had my workout to do for the day… I was a little stressed over it. As soon as I came home, I went out for my run (12:30 p.m.) Oh it was hard!! First off, to start off that late; second, the heat was bad; third, of course it had to be windy; and fourth, I was tired from the 5 miles I did earlier… I had to run 18 miles with the last 10 at race pace. I actually didn’t finish the whole workout. 😦 The 1st 8 was great… I averaged about a 7:15-7:20 pace with the last 5 all uphill- up Payson Canyon) and even the next 6 were good tempoing down the canyon. I ran at least 10-15 seconds faster than race pace because I was going downhill. Corom brought me water right around mile 11 (I was beginning to feel a little dehydrated so I knew I would be struggling soon). I ended up carrying the water bottle the rest of my run and it still wasn’t enough. Haley, one of the CC girls met up with me for the last 3 of my tempo miles and the last 2 cool down miles. She helped me a lot!!! To wrap this up… I only ran 8 miles up and a 6 mile tempo with a 2 mile recovery. I had nothing left in me. 16 miles total (instead of the 18) and a 6 mile tempo (instead of the 10 mile tempo). I do take in account that I went out with the CC kids but it was broken up mileage. I was happy to be done though. But I really was glad to see Haley running up the canyon as I was coming down. 🙂

The rest of the day was doing the Saturday’s chores, taking care of animals, attending a birthday part for a neighbor, and getting ready for my 2nd daughter’s birthday! She actually went to bed early just so her bday would come sooner… Smart girl! The Fullmer’s came down for a movie and then it was bedtime!

This is a long one but many things going on… 

Saturday: Well this morning was my annual half ironman relay race with my old boss from Sundance, Jerry (71 years old) and my friend Megan (she’s my age and Jerry’s daughter-in-law). It is always a fun time with these 2.  

(this is actually last years pictures because I have not received this years pics yet.) It’s awesome because we were able to take 1st over all the relay teams… Including the BAM men’s team (who were all younger than us… Way younger than Jerry), the BYU men’s team, etc. At one point after the finish, one of the men’s team came up to us and asked who did the biking… They talked with Megan for a little bit, complimenting her, we talked about the running course and then they asked who and where our swimmer was (Jerry was standing right next to us)… When we said he is right here, I think we really surprised them & depleted their egos a little. He did amazing! I ran the 1/2 in a 1:24… I thought I didn’t do so well and was discouraged. But I looked at my time from 2 years ago on this course and I ran a 1:25:16, then ran a 2:54 marathon 7 weeks later. Last year I ran a 1:24.33 and ran the 2:48 marathon. So that gave me some hope and took away a little of my discouragement. But every year I forget that the 1st 4 miles has a slight uphill… And the next has the flat and down (and you repeat the loop). This course is hard with the heat from running that late (10:30-11:54) and with the course not being flat like I always think it is…. I just forget. I was glad to finish. I did run 4.3 before and a little over 2 after (but about 2 hours after). The girls went to a birthday party today at the local pool (after they got back from camping). Then that evening, Corom and I along with 4 other couples (Fullmers, Booths, Berrats & Johnsons), went to the Clarion Gardens for a Southern Boil dinner. It was so good and fun!  

 Corom and I made it in time (for cleanup) to attend a neighbors wedding. I quickly changed, so I ran in to congratulate them… Of course they saw Corom in the van and wanted him to come in.  

This is what he dressed up like for the dinner, which he fit right in but for the wedding… Goodthing it was over… 

Sunday: I woke up this morning feeling a little blah and down. Just one of those days. I took the girls to another ward (for church) to go to a mission farewell (J. Martin)… It was a good Sacrament meeting. Then we headed back to our ward to finish off the classes there. We went to the Martin’s for dinner and hung out with everyone there for a while.  

 The kids (Corom included) had fun goofing off…  

   Later on, Barbara and I went to visit a few neighbors… They were such good visits. I love my neighbor, J. Morris! She is so amazing and is one that is so strong. She has 4 children, 1 with Down syndrome and another that is blind and at the age of 8, is still unable to walk. You will never hear her complain about anything!!! It puts things in perspective for me. 

Monday: I met up with Amber and ran an easy 10 miles… It felt ok. I’m glad it was an easy day! I took the 3 older girls to school and my youngest and I hung out all day. She doesn’t start kindergarten until Wednesday. They built a “fort” in their room. 🙂 

It’s weird having one child at home!  For CC, the kids ran our course, while coach Thompson and I began to set up for the meet we are hosting tomorrow.  

 After practice and dinner, Corom, the girls and I headed over to our neighbors for family night…  

 Brett showed our girls how to ride the mini motorcycle… 

The girls loved it even with a crash…  It was my youngest that crashed but she was upset that we helped her.  

I headed over (with my oldest daughter) to the local running store for spike night for cross country… I ended up getting new shoes myself!  

Tuesday: I had a speed workout this morning… It was 12 miles total with a 4 mile tempo at race pace, a 5 min recovery jog, then 8 x 400’s at a certain pace. Oh it was hard but I was able to do it without feeling too bad! Today was the 1st speed workout in a long, long time where I felt ok! I was excited to go home today to just clean my house (with my youngest)… But I got a phone call from the city saying there was an emergency and any person that was home to run up to one of the churches here in our city, to fill sandbags.  

So my youngest and I grabbed a quick (early) lunch and headed on up. The officer explained there was a breech in the canal and tons of water was coming down towards many homes. Within 15 minutes of the phone calls, texts & emails that went out through the city, well over 150 people came. It was so amazing seeing our community come together. We shared the responsibility of shoveling, holding the bags, tying the bags & carrying the bags to the trucks. The football team came 20 minutes later and began placing the bags where they needed to be placed.  

 It was hot and dirty but we got it all done in a little over an hour. We were able to redirect the water and not one house was effected by the water. I did get a couple of blisters from tying all the bags…. What a wimp! 🙂  

 My youngest and I quickly went over to the HS to finish setting up the CC course for the meet today. She was actually a big help! 

 She did start to drive off with the school’s gator (4-wheeler vehicle). She didn’t go far at all because coach Thompson and I just barely jumped out to put out more flagging. It was a little funny but from then on we had to take the key out. We were soon done, so we hung out with the CC kids, while I waited for my girls to walk to the HS and waited for the meet to start…  

 The girls and boys ran well! Both in JV and Varsity. It was hot out… The poor CC runners! Our girls won and the boys took 2nd losing by 3 points.  

 I went on RS visits for a little while and finally sat down with the girls to do their homework. 

Wednesday: I went out for an 8 miler at an easy pace. It felt very nice today!! I’ve been wearing compression socks at night (since Monday night) and that has helped with the aching of my legs. Today is my youngest’s 1st Day Of Kindergarten! All my kids are in school now. It is only 2 1/2 hours but I hate to admit that I am really excited!!! She is so dang cute though! Her older sister came in to check up on her. 🙂 

 I went straight to a neighbor’s house to help her move. A few other ladies came to help. I also had to watch 2 other neighbors kids so I brought them with me (this was after I picked up my youngest from kindergarten, too). The 3 played really well in the backyard while we packed up her house.  

I was there from 9 until 2:30. I had to leave to pick up my older girls, head to CC practice (sent them on a easy long run), then went home to make pizzas for all the girls on the CC team. The girls from the team wanted a team bonding dinner. They talked (really loud) and laughed and even pulled out stitches on one of the girls.  It was way fun and my girls loved it!!  

 I went in RS visits right after the dinner, then visited with Julie for a while! 

Thursday: I had a 10 mile moderate run. I started off with an average of 7:30 miles for the 1st half and then dropped it to 7-7:15’s. I felt lousy for the 1st couple of miles and then once I lousened up, felt great. I went visiting teaching today and then to a couple of more homes with Megan. Once I picked up my youngest, we went to a friend’s house for a little while and then cleaned a much needed house.  

The older girls walked to cross country practice, I sent the HS kids off on their Fartlek run, and then I took my girls and the coaches kids to my house for a while to play…  

 Corom and I got a babysitter for the night and went to a bbq at our neighbors. It was just for adults. 🙂 So yummy!!!  

Friday: I didn’t get up early to run even though I still woke up early. I was hoping to sleep in but I’m on a schedule that my body is on its own time. We walked the whole crew to school (Corom and I)…  

 And then Corom and I went running together, well at least for the 1st 5 min. We started together and I had to run 6 today… Corom put in 4 or 5. It was nice doing it together, though!  

 I picked up our youngest from kindergarten and then I had a church retreat day up at a ranch. It was for all the ladies 18 and older in our stake (I would say a couple of hundred ladies were able to make it). It was an enjoyable afternoon. (Corom was home today.) We had lunch, music, mini classes, kayaking… 

 I had to come back down to coach the cc kids (and I wanted to see my kids when they got home from school)… So I sent the cc kids off on an easy 5 miler (with strides)… Went home while the kids were running; made dinner for my family and for another family and in the meantime, scored on a huge leftover wedding cake. I went back to the HS with the cake…  

 I headed back up to the Ranch (which was only about 10 min away) with a few ladies and enjoyed visiting, dinner, mini classes & entertainment.  

 I stayed until about 9 and then headed home (a few ladies stayed overnight to camp but because of my morning run, I went home). All the girls were up when I got home but poor Corom… I guess they really gave him a hard time tonight. I was in bed by 10. 

Saturday: My alarm went off at 5 a.m. I had to run an 18 miler with speed added into it. I ran 5 miles to the top of woodland hills and began a 3 mile tempo (5:50 pace for all 3 miles- downhill); ran a 1 mile recovery, ran 3 more miles (almost 2 downhill at 5:50 pace & the last mile at a 6:11 pace… Slightly up-hill); ran a 1 mile recovery, and ran my last set of 3 miles hard (the 1st and 3rd had some downhill at a 5:50-5:55 pace and the middle mile flat at a 6:05 pace). I finished off with a 2 mile cool down. I felt better today… A good run. I quickly got ready, picked up a neighbor and headed up to the Ranch for a breakfast.  

I left soon after breakfast to head over to the HS cross country meet. It was a relay meet… The kids enjoy this race.  

One of the varsity boys took a wrong turn and put us 3rd to last out of 47 teams. I felt bad for him but it happens. We weren’t able to catch up but they did make up a lot of ground. Always a fun race to watch. I got home shortly after lunch and we headed off  to go pick up our 2 new pets…  

   I wasn’t to excited about this but I actually really like them. 🙂 It will be fun. We did movie night and pizza with the girls and some neighbors came over… I popped over to the HS for a cancer fundraiser (Corom finished cleaning the shed and garage)… The fundraiser was very touching (even though I was there for the tail end)…  

 The Fullmers came down for a movie. Good times… 

Monday: I went out for a 8 mile easy run. I needed this run because my legs were shot from Ragnar!!! This run didn’t feel very good but I didn’t expect it too. Later today I took the girls school shopping. They had quite the fun time. I hate to say it but this is the 1st time I took my girls shopping. 

  For CC practice the kids had a tough speed workout! They were tired and so done when they did their last downhill mile.  

 We had family night and then Corom set up a little system with pipes and fences to let all the water out of the pool… It was quite the process, but it worked. 

Tuesday: I had a speed workout today. It was lousy! I did my warmup and then began the 1k’s. After the 3rd one, I was so tired! I took a little bit longer of a break (longer than my 200 meter jog). I decided to do the next 4 on the road. It was physically just as hard but not as mentally tough (as it is running around the track). I wasn’t hitting my mark (a few seconds off)… But I did do the last one on the track. Then a couple of miles as a cool down. It’s workouts like this that make me question what I am doing. 😦 But it is what it is and of course there was many stuff to do the rest of the day. I had to run to the school for PTO stuff and for the Open House. The girls got to meet their teachers and I got to fill out a bunch of papers…  

 For cross country practice, the kids went on a recovery run of 7-8 miles. Corom called from work saying he would take care of dinner tonight. I thought, right on! He brought home corn tortillas & meat to make street tacos. Love street tacos! Well… He brought home cow eyeballs!!! Sad to say that I didn’t try any of the meat but all my girls did… Everyone of them spit it out! Corom ate all of it while I cooked up chicken to throw into our tacos.  

 Corom then gave the girls a Father’s blessing before they started school (tomorrow). Such a beautiful thing!  

Wednesday: My coach changed a few things for me this week… I decided to sue the half ironman relay race this Saturday, so he changed things to help me recover enough before the 1/2 marathon. I ran a 10 mile easy run. I felt better than yesterday but still not feeling the best. But I know it will click. I did get back in time for the girls to be waking up for their 1st day of school. The 3 older girls were so excited! My youngest not so much! She doesn’t start kindergarten until next week… She is so ready to start school! But we drove all the kids (and neighbor kids) to school. Of course when we took the 1st pic of the girls, a dog ran right into the pic. 🙂 (Then Corom let the dog into the school just to be funny!)  

I had a hard time leaving the girls but eventually left to go home… Corom was already late for work. We had to walk them each to their classrooms (of course). 

The rest of the day was just my youngest and I… I got so much done today!!! And my youngest helped… That was a shocker! That never happens. 🙂 But it was a good day… The girls loved their 1st day of school. They came home so happy. We did have an easy day for CC and in the evening, I had a RS meeting. Corom worked late so we had the meeting at my house. 

Thursday: I had another easy day today with running. I ran 10 miles easy… It didn’t feel so easy but that’s how it’s been lately. It was a pretty low key day… I had 2 neighbor girls over and it so happened to be their birthdays. We celebrated with a mini party and cookies. 🙂  

 I had our first cross country meet today (it was actually at night). It was pre-region. Our team (males and females) did really well.  

 We did come across a double win of both the girls and boys but that doesn’t mean anything! It is so early in the season to tell anything, but they did race/run well. 🙂 Always fun to watch.  

 There were only 2 races, so we got home pretty quick! Very nice. 

Friday: I had a easy 6 mile run! It was nice not having to get up way early. With Corom having the day off, we were able to walk to school (with the neighbor kids and the dogs). It was very nice!  

 I went to my neighbors house to help with RS/church stuff and then Corom and I took our youngest (and a few neighbor kids) to McDonalds. A few other moms came with their kids… It was really nice! Why have I not gone to McDonald’s more often! 🙂  

 For cc practice, we had our team picture and then the kids ran to the pool for a fun day.  

 I went home while the kids swam to help Corom get the girls ready to go for a over night camping trip (with Jason and his kids & Ben and his kids). I have a race in the morning so I am staying home. 😦  They had a fun night and caught a lot of crawdads (for our dinner tomorrow night at the Clarion). 

 I went to the football game with my friend Megan (her husband is one of the coaches)… It was fun hanging out with her and half the community! 🙂  

 I went to bed early to get a good night sleep… 

Monday-Wednesday: Not to much going on these past few days. My running consisted of Monday being an easy 12 miles. Amber joined me for my run. Tuesday, I had a speed workout of 400’s. 20 of them. I actually really enjoyed this workout. I don’t know if it’s because the 400’s are so short compared to all the other speed intervals but I do “enjoy” this particular workout. On Wednesday, it was an easy 8. 🙂 I love my easy days!!! Especially the short easy days. For cross country they had there easy 7 miles on Monday…  

 A speed on Tuesday (which consisted of 400’s)…  

 And on Wednesday, we drove up to Sundance for a trail run to Stewart Falls. Everyone walked through the waterfall (except for me… I’m trying to teach these kids not to give into peer pressure) and then we went to sonic to get shakes/slurpee’s… The high school kids love this run! 

 The girls complained about doing chores all week so they never did them and we still took them out for ice cream. Isn’t that how parenting goes? We did meet up with our friends (the Barneys) for ice cream, even though our kids didn’t deserve it. They did play with neighbors throughout the week and so did we. 🙂  

Thursday-Saturday (for the kids): I went out for my long run today because we are doing Ragnar this weekend. So I went out for a 20 miler. I was able to run it in 2:26. It felt good. We packed our stuff, got the girls ready for my sisters and then took off for our Tahoe trail Ragnar trip! The girls had fun with their Aunt, Uncle  & cousins. They went swimming, to the park, did movie night outside, etc. On Saturday night, Amber and her brother Brandon (I coached both of them at the HS and now they have both graduated) picked up my girls. They took them to the Demolition Derby. My girls said they had so much fun!!! I was so grateful for Amber and Brandon because my sister had to work and my other babysitter was at our house all day on Saturday. I had already bought the tickets and didn’t want them to go to waste. Anyway… Those 2 took them and had fun! Corom and I were on our way home from Tahoe at that time.  

Thursday-Saturday (our trip to Tahoe with Ragnar): After we dropped the kids off at my sisters (around 3 p.m.), Corom and I finally headed out for Tahoe. We are running the trail series of Ragnar. We caravaned down with the Bells. Tanner is the co-founder of the Ragnar relay races. We are running on his team but running for Clif Bar. The Clif Barbarians. We stopped in Elko (where Corom and I were arrested together) to fix the tie-rod in our car and to grab something to eat with the Bells. We finally made it into Tahoe and stayed at the condos that the rest of the team stayed at (thanks to the Clif Bar representatives).  

 We got in around midnight but had a good night sleep… Come the next day, our adventure began. We set up camp and the introductions began. We shared the VIP campsites with the CEO’s and financial guys of Ragnar (they put a team together)… So we had the hookup with all the Clif products that we wanted and a few other luxerys. Nancy was our camera person (from Clif Bar), so I will be posting more pictures later… Right now you will be getting my cheesy pictures (except for the 1st and 3rd pic…These are from Nancy):  

 The trail Ragnar is nice because you have a base camp with 8 people on your team (in order: Tara-Clif rep, Corom-my husband & original nevernude, Kristen Bell-cofounder’s wife, Kelly Southwell-original nevernude- watch my video on this blog site for the nevernudes Las Vegas Ragnar to see what I’m talking about, Ryan Southwell-original nevernude, Me-an original nevernude, Karrie-Clif rep, & Tanner Bell- cofounder of Ragnar)… Anyway, it’s a base camp and one runner goes at a time. Once runner 1 is done with the green loop (easiest out of the 3, 3.2 miles), that person hands off to runner 2 who runs the yellow loop (medium, 5.6 miles). Runner 2 hands off to runner 3, who runs the Red loop (extremely hard 7.3 miles). Runner 3 hands off to 4 who then runs the green loop.  

You cycle through all 3 loops running non-stop as a team… I ran the 1st one (which was the red loop) around 6 p.m. (Our group started at 1… The earliest groups started at 10 a.m. and the last groups started at 4 p.m. It all depends on your times.) It was amazing. Very Hard with a hard climb up to the top of Soda Springs Resort (or something). The trails (on all 3 loops) were amazing! It was 7.3 and I ran it in 59:57. I handed off to Karrie… I went back to our camp and rested, hung out, ate, etc. The weird thing around my legs were a compression thing that helped your legs not to ache for your next run. Chris (one of the CEO’s) brought it. And as you can see, Corom was as entertaining as ever. Everyone loved him there!!! 

  Kristen and Tanner had there baby there… She was the team’s baby! The cutest thing and she was so good! We all received a free dinner with our entry (so I guess not so free but it was good). 

 I ran my 2nd leg around 2 a.m. It was the yellow loop (5.6) and I ran it in 47:07. This loop was amazing in the dark. Had 2 major hills but there is something about running hills in the dark… You just can’t tell how bad they really are. I was able to get some sleep for a few hours before and when I finished that run, I used the leg machine, ate beef stroganoff with Ryan, then went back to bed around 3:30. Corom’s legs were so tired that he was dreading the red loop (7.3), while I had the easier green (3.2) loop next. So I traded him. Where he was runner 2, I only got another hour and a half sleep. I ran the red loop again but I ran it during the sunrise. I was so mad at myself for not bringing my camera!  

It was absolutely amazing!!! My legs were tired but not as tired as I thought they would be. I was able to run a 1:01.42. I ran to the exchange and my teammate was not there yet. So I began the green loop (it passes by our tents)… We handed off there. 🙂 I ended up running the green loop with Kristen just to get a few more miles in. I was happy to be done once that was over.  

 In between our downtime, we would go from team to team and pass out Cliff Bar products in our Barbarian outfits. It really was a blast!! Corom was grateful to have traded. He ran the 3.2 for his 1st and last run with the 5.6 mile yellow one at night. Our team finished a little before one. We packed up our stuff and sadly said our goodbyes to everyone. It was a great trip and I am so grateful for everyone who helped with my girls (Missy & Mike, Janey, Amber & Brandon and Megan & Travis)! We made it home in pretty good timing. The one bad thing about our trip was the air conditioner wasn’t working in our car. oh my gosh… I never sweated so much! On the way home Corom did make a mini swamp cooler, with a towel, water and ice…

We finally made it home by 11:15 (Travis was there watching over the girls for that last stretch of time) and eventually went to bed a little after 12:30 a.m. We were beat!!! 

Sunday: Corom had an early morning meeting, and I met up with him for another meeting (all for church). Church was good… The girls were a little restless and tired, but they had a long weekend, too. My 7 year old (2nd child) saw a picture of a stork carrying a baby (during sacrament meeting). She asked me if that’s how babies were brought into mom’s tummies. I told her no thinking that that was it. She then whispers, “well, how does a baby get in your tummy?” I did tell her I will explain that later when we can sit down and talk… Thank goodness we both forgot about it. She is also the one that asked me if the “F” word was a bad word. She said the word when she asked. (This was a couple of months ago as we were all eating breakfast). Corom and I held a straight face and I said, “Even the people that do say bad words, try not to say this word because it’s that bad.”  She heard it from someone in her class… This kid did tell her it was a bad word so I guess that was good, right? 🙂 We visited a couple of families after church and then We had dinner with the Fullmers. We were able to put our kids to bed at 7 p.m. And they eventually fell asleep by 7:45. They were tired and we are tired. It was a beautiful sunset tonight (thanks Amber) to finish off our day.  

Monday: I began my day with a 10 mile run. No faster than a 7:30 pace. I ran it with the high school kids. It was a good run. Corom and I did attend a funeral for a neighbor of ours… It was a special funeral for a great man that has served our country for many years.  It was a wonderful service! 

 Corom left for work shortly after and 2 friends of mine (Stephanie & Camille) came over with Cafe Rio to celebrate an early bday lunch with me. It was nice just hanging out! My oldest did come up from the sewing room (she is so good at seeing) with a needle deep into her foot.  It looked like that hurt!

 For dinner we met up with a couple of families at Parley’s Place. A cute little hamburger place. For Salem Days, they are having a meal deal all week long. 2 hot dogs, fries & a drink for $2.50. Cheap for us because for the 6 of us, all we needed was 3 meal deals. It was a nice family night outing, until we had to leave early because the girls were acting up (pretty bad)… But what do you do. 🙂 

Tuesday: I had a speed workout this morning. 10 miles total with 4 x 2k, 10 sec faster than race pace. I thought it would be easy but it was not! I was tired but I hit my mark. I headed straight to cross country practice to send the HS kids on a speed workout. They had 4-5 x 1ks. They were tired also. 🙂  

 The kids played with cousins all morning and then we headed back to Parley’s Place for the hot dog meal and a little carnival…  

 After that we went to the resivor for the boat regatta. All 4 of my girls are signed up with a cousin to make their boat out of cardboard and duct tape. We were given 2 hours to build these boats.  With Corom, Sarah (Corom’s mom), aunt Mary & I we were able to get these boats ready in time. 

 There were 60 teams total… They put 5 boats in at a time and had them race for time around the resivor…  

 2 out of the 4 boats made it the entire way and the other 2 not so much. As you can see, Corom swam out for one of them and the other (with my youngest) didn’t even make it 2 feet. 🙂  

 That was a lot of fun for the kids! All my girls went to G-goats (grandma Sarah’s) house to spend the night with all the cousins. Corom and I went to the church to judge a cupcake contest.  Nice how everyone knows to call us for food. 🙂 

Wednesday:  I had an easy run of 10 miles… I ran 2 by myself and 8 more with the HS kids. It was a good run. I hung out at Sarah’s house with all the kids/cousins. We made pizza & cinnamon rolls. They played in the tree house area the rest of the time. It was nice. 🙂  

My 2nd daughter came in with all the girls crowded around her and freaking out. She got bit by a snake… A little Gardner snake.  It was a little funny if you ask me. 

That evening we went to the tractor pull and then to the movie in the park (for Salem Days).  

A cute family got a hold of my phone and decided to use it….  

Thursday August 6 – My Birthday: I went on an easy 8 mile run with my birthday friend Amber! 🙂 We share the same bday so we make sure we run together!  

I was able to meet up with Amber, Megan and Corom for lunch and then the girls, cousins, Sarah, aunt Mary and I went to the $1 movies. After we went to McDonalds for icecream cones and to play.  

 We went to dinner at the Barney’s, then to the rodeo… The kids participated in the cash cow contest. A cow had cash taped to it and the kids had to grab the cash off of it.  Poor little cow! 

The girls went back up to Sarah’s house for a sleepover and Corom and I went to the Barneys for cake and ice cream. We did get a phone call from Sarah saying our youngest broke out in hives and she is swelling up. We were going to pick her up but then the swelling started to go down after Benadryl and a salt bath…  

 I ended up going to bed early because I have a speed workout in the morning… 

Friday: I woke up at 4:45 a.m. to meet up with my friend Danny. We ran 8 miles up the bike trail and tempoed 8 miles down. I was dead! I hope that is normal… I was only going race pace for my tempo and towards the end I struggled. Well 9 more weeks of training until my race… At home we were able to clean. The girls hung out at Sarah’s for most the morning. A few of the members of the cross country team came over (as a surprise) and brought me a bday gift. It was so nice. The rest of the day we set up Hobowear at the local fair for our city days (we got a booth), did the kids parade and listened to the music in the park.  A lot of great talent in the community! 

Saturday:  A very enventful day… Started off with a 1 mile and 5k run. Corom and I ran with our 2 younger girls in the mile race. Our 3rd daughter  (6 years old) took 1st in her age group with a time of 8:37 and our youngest (5) took 2nd in her age group with a 10 something.  

10 minutes later, the 5k started. My 2 older girls were running that one. Corom ran with our 2nd daughter (7 years old) and I ran with our oldest (9 years old). They both took 1st in their age groups… It was bitter/sweet for me. Not being able to race but hanging back with my daughter. I loved running with her! I ran my speed workout yesterday just in case but I was still open to racing today. At the very last minute as the gun went off, my oldest asked me to stay with her… So I did. 🙂  I was able to get 12 miles total this morning. 

We enjoyed the free pancake breakfast, the parade, the little HS student body carnival and running our Hobowear booth…  

We stayed pretty busy selling Corom’s Hobowear bamboo shirts and socks. It was a lot busier than what I thought it would be!  We were able to bribe a couple of kids to help us clean up at the end for some free bamboo underwear. 🙂 (bottom right picture)

 I went to the Firefighter’s fundraiser dinner, to the library’s auction and to the cities pageant.  My mother in law (Sarah) gave me her credit card to bid on an item. I will tell you… It was a blast bidding on something when it’s not your money!!! I won the bid and spent way too much but I couldn’t stop. I found out after that I bid on the wrong item, too. We had a good laugh but I did feel bad. It’s for the library, right. 😉 

 The girls stayed at home with Corom and hung out with their cousins… They soon said goodbye. They are leaving the the morning to head back to California.  

I left the pageant/firework show early… 1st off, I was by myself 🙂 and 2nd, the Fullmers came down to watch a movie with us. Late night! 

Sunday: I have no pictures today because my phone ran out of memory. 🙂 We went to church, Corom had his usual Sunday meetings, I went on a few visits as a RS presidency and then we went to our neighbors for dinner. It was a nice Sunday today… Well the girls did get into trouble a few times but that is normal. 🙂