Mother Racer

Wednesday & Thursday: Wednesday’s run was an easy 10 (in 1:20) and Thursday’s run was an easy 8 (1:02). I felt ok for both of those runs. It was a busy 2 days of getting our house ready for the Foriegners we are housing for the next 9 days. They are coming from the country of Georgia. We said we were able to take 5… So lots of cleaning… My girls helped a lot and then again made plenty of messes (one being the cereal spilled all over :/).  

 We did lots of grocery shopping (and saw our friend Wes there :)), went to a birthday party, played games, did crafts and Corom and I were able to get out and go to dinner with our friends… We found out that the “free” dinner our friends won was a sales pitch… We had a great time and had a good meal. 🙂 

Friday: Today is the 24th of July… A big holiday for Utah. I went and raced the Speedy Spaniard 10k (and then the girls ran the 1 mile run). I held onto a 6:06 pace and came in at 37:55. I felt good for the 1st 2 miles and then fought for the last 4 to finish off taking 1st in women’s. It was a good run. I ran 3 1/2 before and 2 1/2 after for a 12 miler for the day. We then headed straight to the parade…  

And then to the fair/carnival….   

We got a phone call today saying the Georgians are coming in late tonight instead of Sunday morning… It’s all good right? 🙂 We went to the firework show….   

And then Corom left at 11:30 pm to pick up our group of 6 now instead of 5.  I hurried to finish up their rooms… We took in 5 girls from the ages of 10-17 and their dance director (his daughter is staying at our house). 

Saturday & Sunday: I had an easy 10 miler this morning (Saturday). It was a little tough because I was so tired from the active day yesterday and from going to bed at 2 a.m. trying to get the Georgians settled in. We hung out in the morning and then met up with the other host families for a picnic at the park. (21 Georgians all together.)   

 These next 2 days was filled with getting to know them, their rehearsals, playing around, taking them to the mall (while we went to church) and taking home 2 more boys from the Republic of Georgian group that needed a place to stay (their host family wasn’t able to take them for some reason)… So we took in Giga and Erik. 🙂  Wonderful kids all around & the director, too. He was pretty strict when he first came but if you know Corom, he won Alex (the director) over. He really grew fond of Corom… It was funny too watch. 

It was cute because the girls wanted to make our family dinner on Saturfay night. One of them (Salo) asked if we had eggs and then showed me a picture of hot dogs. Her and Ana boiled hot dogs and scrambled eggs. They asked me if I wanted the recipe on how they made it. So cute!!! We were fortunate because 5 out of the 8 people spoke English (not the director though)… But that was probably a good thing because if he didn’t want us to do something but it was fun for the kids, we just shook our heads like we didn’t understand. 🙂 But really… Corom can get away with that kind of stuff and no one gets mad at him for it. 

Monday-Wednesday: I had to leave for cross country camp. Corom was maning the house and running the Georgians to and from their rehearsals. Monday and Tuesday were busy for him for what the Folk Fest group had planned for them… When I get back, they have free time all day up until the evenings for when they perform. Anyway… Cross country camp: lots of running, team building games, Clinique’s, speakers, skits, movies, fire pit, goal setting and most important… The kids getting to know each other and knowing each others abilities.  (On a side note… I had to run 10 miles on Monday, 12 miles with speed on Tuesday and 8 miles on Wednesday… That was tough for me because with these mountains… It was straight up and straight down… My speed I had to change a few things but I did my workouts.) 

We went on some really hard/tough runs!!! They were straight up hill type runs that wiped us all out! But once you reach the top on every route… Well worth it!  

 On Tuesday night we had our rival school come up to join us for the evening. 🙂 It turned out really well!!! We did a run together (about 70 kids total) and the other coaches, C. Thompson and I hung out. They cooked dinner (and I helped with dinner) while Thompson did a get to know you/ice breaker game with everyone. Corom and the girls came up (thompsons family came up) and had dinner with us. We went right into a dance party (our friends Jeff and Travis came up to DJ it). Corom (and everyone) left around 10:30 p.m… Once they left we put on McFarland (outside on a projector)…  

We got up early, cleaned, packed, listened to Tyler Shepard from the local running store, went for a run, and then made it home. I got home around noon-1 and went right into hosting and helping Corom with the 8 Georgians! Oh… One more thing about camp… Lots of dead bats in the chaperones cabin!! We made a couple of the boys come clean them out but I still slept in the schools suburban.  

Wednesday-Sunday: Lots of fun, fun activities and great experiences!!! It was fun having Corom taking work off to do all these activities. We took them to the local pool one day… It was Anastasia’s birthday. 🙂 The life guard sang her happy birthday. 

 Corom taught them how to ride the motorcycle and took them on rides… Any down time we had, they would be out there riding it (I was a little nervous because the boys just learned how to do it but whatever).  

We took 17 of the 21 Georgians (with the 2 other host families, one being the Fullmers) to Yuba Lake… They were able to go boating, fishing (and they caught a ton of fish), kayaking, tubing, paddle boarding, etc. We had so much fun!  

The same group went to Salt Lake to walk around Temple Square, shop around at the mall, and they played around at a park…    

  We were able to take them to Sundance Resort for a lift ride. They absolutely loved that!!! It was beautiful.   Then of course, there were their night performances! Absolutely wonderful!! 9 other countries came to put on a 10 to 20 min dance performance along with the Utah dancers. We were able to attend each of their performances (well not Tuesdays… Corom came up to camp with me and later picked them up when the show was over). Our group did a sword fighting dance-amazing, and many more… I wish I could put a video on the blog! But they were so good!  

       This week, we had 2 of the kids staying at our house that had birthdays… Of course we had to celebrate!  

 Now today is Sunday… We sadly had to say goodbye and send them off to the salt lake area to spend a week up there with another host family fir more performances! It is amazing how sad we were to say goodbye. It was a great experience and so much fun for our family. My girls just Loved the boys. I’m in trouble!!! The picture on the left is with Alex (the director). The top right is with the (7) kids that stayed with us (and Alex)… The middle and bottom picture are of some of the boys & men that hung out with us all week long… (My girls had a crush on the boys in the middle picture.)  

 Here are some random pictures of the week… The top left picture is of our neighbors (Travis Barney) coming to borrow our cafeteria tables… They used Corom’s motorcycle to hall it back to their house. The Georgians thought that was the funniest thing…  

Well once they left… It was off to church! I was grateful because our friends (Barneys) invited us to come have dinner with them… That helped a lot after this busy week!!!  It was a fun week and I’m sad it is over… 

Saturday: I went out for a 20 mile run (by accident). I miscalculated my route and I finished my 13th 1000 when I hit 18 miles. 11-14 were really hard for me to hold on to and 13 and 14 I did it all on effort because I ran against a head wind (I was discouraged when I saw that I was doing a 6:25 pace and having to push harder)… My last one, I was back on track (I turned up a side road to get out of the head wind). I’m tired! 😝 I did have some amazing friends that ran on the same route I ran on. That helped!  

 I hurried home and the kids, Corom and I went straight to the church for cleaning (it was our blocks week of cleaning). We all got it done pretty quick.  

 At home I took a good hour nap! Thanks Corom, I was so tired!!! The girls did their chores… Well somewhat. My 2nd daughter loves to mow the lawn!  

And then we went on a bike ride together…  

 And of course we couldn’t leave without playing on the play area and catching beetles (which turned out that all the ones they found were dead).  So gross!! 

After dinner, we got a babysitter and Corom, Mike, Jeff and I went up the canyon for mountain biking. It was a blast and scary at times. I actually flew off my bike once, while the others had pretty hard falls on many occasions. They did a lot more jumps than I. I was just focused on making sure I stayed right with them.  

We ended up at the Clarion Event Center to hang out with the Carters while a quencierra was going on. Jeff got a little into it, which was very entertaining.  

 What a good day! 

Sunday: We went to church today and the girls were excellent!!! We had a few families over for dinner and then the neighbors brought home their mini horse. The older 2 girls were awake, so they took a ride. 🙂  

Monday: I went out and ran an easy (but hard) 8 miles in 1:04. I struggled this morning but that seems to be the norm lately. My time is getting shorter and I have to figure it out! I headed straight to cross country practice and sent the kids on a 10 miler.  

 The girls had friends over today… They wanted Corom and I to play restaurant with them… So of course we played the servers.  

I was so tired today… All day!! I can’t remember a time when I have been this tired. It was bad. I did go to bed by 8:45 p.m. 

Tuesday: I had a speed workout this morning.  Oh man… I struggled… I did use a road that was a little downhill to help me reach my time, but I had to push hard. A little discouraging but what do you do. I ran 12 miles total and headed to cross country practice. They went on a 8 mile run…

 At home, I finally brought out the girls “homework” and had them work on it… They also helped me with my 3 minute post run routine…  

 The girls had a little nail painting party… I’m not into any of that stuff (makeup, nail polish, etc), but my girls sure loved it!  

 I had my RS meeting (at my house), then Amy and I went to a meeting for the Colombian people we are going to house (next week), and then the ladies came over for bachelorette. Good times! 

Monday: I went out for a 10 mile run this morning. I ran straight to the school to coach the cross country kids.  

 They, too, went on a 10 mile run. I would have ran with them but they ran a hilly route with a short tempo down and I had an easy day. 🙂 The girls had tennis and then after attempting chores, played with neighbors…  

 It was our blocks turn to clean the church… So we all met up at the church and cleaned, then came back to our house for a dinner (everyone brought something), then played a game of kick ball…  

 A few of my girls got hurt (no surprise) and Corom had a good go around with our dogs (they are too big for me to play with, when they get into their playful mood)…  

Tuesday: I ran 10 miles and 8 of them were with the cross country kids. It was a good run. I ran it in 1:16.  

 The girls had tennis this morning and then my oldest went to the library art class…  

I went on RS visits tonight, Corom had his meeting and then it was a low key night. 

Wednesday: I got up early so I could begin my speed workout. I had to run 400 repeats this morning. I gratefully was able to hit the times I needed. That was the 1st time in about a month that I didn’t struggle too bad. I sent the cc kids off on their run, then did the speed and agility session (all this before 8 a.m. :/).  

 It was the usual today… Tennis, playing with friends and neighbors, and getting into mischief.  

 Corom worked late but was able to leave a little earlier to meet up with me and others for games. It was fun. 

Thursday: I met up with Tifany for 5 miles out of my 12 mile Hill run. She ran the hardest part with me. I was grateful to have her there for the major hills (the Harry loop). I ran the 12.1 in 1:30. I ran straight to Cross Country practice (The kids went on a 10 mile run) and then headed home (got there about 8:15 a.m. to get the girls ready for tennis)…  

 After tennis I took the girls to open up their own bank accounts… I have to do something to make them do their chores, etc. I figure that if I can get them to be excited about earning money they will do their chores to move on to other chores that they can get paid for. We play way too much here!  The girls were excited to sign their signatures on their own bank accounts. 

 We went to pick up a new birth certificate for my youngest… For kindergarten. I misplaced them. I, then, took the girls to a $1 movie. On one of our errands, my youngest informed she had to go to the restroom just as we were leaving the house… I told her to run through the garage door because it was unlocked… She misunderstood and decided to go the hard way in (through the garage window… Even though the garage door was 3 feet away and open)…  

Well this may be her profession in life. 🙂 I was able to sneak away after dinner for about an hour… I went for a walk with a few ward/neighbors. We had a really good time. It was nice to be able to walk and talk and after hang out in the shade with no kids around.  

Before I went to bed, I checked on the girls and I found my oldest sleeping on her little table (on the bench) in her room. Talk about uncomfortable!  

Friday:  I had an easy 6 mile run this morning… Why is it on our easy days, it always seems so hard. Anyway I ran my 6 miles and headed over to the HS for our last speed and agility class. (CC practice is tonight.) The kids did really well in this 6 week course. They all improved their times and jumps from the 1st day of the session. Travis (the coach that put this on) did a wonderful job.  

 I took the girls to their last day of tennis camp. The poor coaches are probably so glad to be done (especially with all 4 of my girls there).  

 I watched a couple of kids today and a couple of neighbor kids came over. Corom had the day off so he was right in the mix of it all (I gave him a little lecture the other day about spending quality time with the kids…so quality time it was for him today…)  

 I went to the doc’s again for the last part of the checkup… Long story short: They just wanted to see why my heart is fluttering (more frequently) when my iron level is high (that usually happens when you are low on iron)…  I had and EKG test done and this test made no sense to me… It only captures about 5 seconds of your heart beat and if it’s not “fluttering” at that moment… Then it doesn’t show anything wrong. And that’s what the doc just explained. She said my heart looks like a 15 year olds. 😉 She went to go grab my lab work and came in right away saying she found the problem (at least she was 99 % sure)… My iron is too high, my calcium is too high, my protein is too high, my bun ratio is too high, my AST is too high and one other thing that I can’t remember… The iron is most likely causing the flutters and with the calcium and AST that is effecting my liver (whatever that means)… (I just wish the other doc told me the same thing this doc told me today)… She wants me to stop taking vitamins on a daily basis and if my heart is still fluttering in 3 weeks then they want me to wear and ekg machine for 48 hours to capture it for them. The reason I feel lousy and sluggish is because my iron level is at a 168 when 155 is the max high for anyone… Same effect as a person low on iron… Who would have thought that taking vitamins everyday could be just as bad.  

We had cc country practice in the evening today and then ended up at the other coaches house for a movie in his backyard (The 3 Amigos). 🙂 Pretty awesome movie… I left a little after 9 so I could come home and get ready for bed. (that is my youngest while we met up with the cc kids to send them off on their run… Who knows what goes through her head.) 🙂 

I’m way bummed because Corom and a few of his friends went big wheeling/long boarding and I now have to go to bed early. 😦 Oh well… Next time. 

Wednesday: I had a speed workout this morning… I had to do mile repeats today. I kind of cheated by doing these downhill. I told myself if I did it downhill, then they had to be faster than the time I was supposed to run them in. I ran 10 miles total. My mile times were 5:43, 5:37, 5:39, 5:29 & 5:43. I was still so tired and knew I would have struggled if I had to run the repeats on a flat surface. The girls went to their tennis lessons…  

And then we had Activity Day’s (for my oldest) at our house. (It’s a church thing.)  

 I had RS visits, Corom worked late and the girls tried tricking me with going to bed. I was impressed with the dummy they made and also nervous about what lies ahead in the future…  

Thursday: I went out on a 12 mile hilly route… I ran up Harry’s Hill into WH. I was able to finish in 1:29. I was able to do a session at the Temple today. Now that we have one only 10 minutes away, I will be able to attend more often.  

 The kids played in the pool (even with the rain and lower tempertures; it doesn’t faze them). Corom took the girls to an open house for a business while I had RS visits. He took them there because there was free food/samples. 🙂  

The kids went to bed and the Fullmers came down for a movie. 

Friday: I had a easy run of 6 miles. I met up with Amber and went for a nice run. Then I had the speed and agility class… The kids had a good hill workout. 😉  

 The girls went to tennis and while they had their lessons, Corom and I attempted to play. We had a lot of fun.  

 The rest of the day was busy with cleaning (and a lot of it), babysitting, hair cuts, building forts, playing with friends, going to a surprise party for Jorge our running friend who turned 40, and even having a slumber party on the tramp with dad. This is the stuff I miss out on because of training. I did sleep inside because I have a long, speed run tomorrow. But sometimes I’m glad I have that excuse too. 🙂  

 It was funny because I was awakened at 2 a.m. by the girls and Corom screaming because the sprinklers turned on. 🙂 Yep… Corom forgot about that. Ahhhhh… To be warm in my bed and dry. They stuck it out and slept the entire night out there (except for my youngest who ended up in bed with me). 

Saturday: I woke up early and met up with Danny. We went on a 18 miler with 2 x 3 miles at tempo race pace. After 8 miles we began our tempo. The 1st set was easy, the 2nd set, not so much! I was so glad to have Danny there to keep me going because I would have backed off a lot! I hurried home and the girls, Corom and I attended the baptism of 3 boys in our ward/church. It was neat being there. After the girls finished their chores…  

We took them to the Scottish Festival. That’s always a fun thing to do. We stayed for a little while and then grabbed some icecream cones.  

 We had a neighbor girl call us a week ago asking us if she could have her birthday party at our house… You know Corom and I, we didn’t care, so we had a bday party at our house. When I say party… It’s nothing like what people would think as a “party”. We don’t have drinking or anything of the sort, just good clean fun. Our friends Jeff and Travis came over to help DJ it. 🙂 I swear that Corom and his friends are bigger kids than any kid out there. It was fun. We had so many chaperones just because we all wanted to hang out. 🙂  My girls had fun too… 

 It was a late night, even for our kids. 

Sunday: Today was ward conference. It was an excellent sacrament meeting and great Sunday school class & RS. I love Sunday’s like these when every lesson/talk was good. At home, it was the norm… My youngest making a mess of herself and the girls making a mess of the house. 

 We had a couple over for dinner, and then it was bedtime for all of us! A very early night… I want to be asleep by 9 tonight! 

Saturday: Today is the 4th of July. We had a great day! I started off with a 14.1 mile run in 1:46. Still feeling sluggish and trucking along. We then took the girls to the public pool (my sister-in-laws family rents the pool out every July 4th for a couple of hours). They loved the slide!  

 We then had many people over (about 50 + people showed throughout the night) for a BBQ (bring your own meat and a side to share), swimming, games, hanging out and of course for the firework show that Corom and his friends put on every year (more people came out for that).  

   We all had a great time! I feared more than once for a few of the guys doing the “firework show”, but there is nothing I can do about it. 🙂 My oldest, I realized, had dreads forming in her hair. The poor girl! My neighbors (after the firework show) helped me with the whole mayonnaise routine. She slept over night with the mayonnaise in her hair. I felt bad because having to sleep all night with that smell would make me gag!!!  

 As you can see, she wasn’t too happy about it. The girls fell asleep so fast and a couple of neighbor girls said they would stay to watch them while a few of us went out. So A little before midnight (well past my bedtime) me, Corom and 6 of his friends went to the SF river trail to do some long boarding (it’s a 5 mile trail one way). I have not done this in so long. I absolutely loved it!!! The trail was pitch black except for all of our headlamps so it was hard to see throughout the ride. There were a few falls and battle wounds but that’s to be expected. It really was so much fun! I told Corom, we are definitely doing this again… Soon! 

 After we finished the ride we went over to our friends house (Jeff) to surprise him with a little birthday firework (at 1:30 a.m.).  Oh the poor neighbors! It was so loud and went on for over 60 sec. We lit it and took off…  

 I went to bed so late! Church is going to be hard! 🙂 

Sunday: Yep I was tired today… All day. 🙂 I did squeeze in a 45 minute nap after church but was still tired when I woke up. Church was good and the girls were really good in Sacrament meeting, which I was so grateful for. The girls did dress Corom up all pretty…  

 What a trooper! I went on RS visits for a little bit and then Later a couple of families had dessert with us. 

Monday: I went out for a 10 mile run. I felt better this morning… Still sluggish and achy but better! I was able to get 10.1 in 1:15. The girls had their first day of tennis camp this morning.  It’s a 2 week long camp. They have never played before so we will see if they like it. 🙂 

 Yep, they said it was fun. That’s good because it would have been a long 2 weeks if they didn’t! The girls played with friends today and then my friend watched the girls while I went to the doctors.  

I am having my blood checked to see what I am lacking (if I’m lacking anything). I just don’t have any energy lately!   

I hate needles, so I was glad to get that over with. Now I will probably find out the results by the beginning of next week. For dinner and family night, we went over to a neighbor’s house for a bbq, fireworks and just hanging out.  

Tuesday: I met up with Amber for a 10.4 miler. We finished it in 1:19. But I went back to the achy legs and not feeling the best. My time is running short! I’m doing Chicago in October… I need to figure out what is wrong with me… Soon! 🙂 The girls had tennis this morning…  

And then the rest of the day… cleaned! My kids do not know how to clean. A lot of it is my fault because I’m all about playing… I need to teach my kids better! So they could not do anything or play with any friends until everything was done. My mother in law did come to take my oldest out for her bday (it was 2 months ago) but she was gone a lot. She had fun! The girls finally finished their chores around 3 and had a few neighbors over. My oldest went to the library for the free art class. 🙂 She loves it!!!  

 I put the girls to bed and then watched the Bachelorette with some of my girlfriends. 🙂 Good times!