Mother Racer

Monday: Well the girls ended up sleeping in the camper, so me being the overprotective mom and not allowing sleepovers… I slept in the camper with my girls and the neighbor kids. I slept at the foot of the bed… Not the best sleep and not the most comfortable but the kids had fun.  

 I eventually got around to getting my run in. It was a tough one due to being tired! I ran 10.1 miles in a 7:30 pace (1:15.05). It was a beautiful morning out and I really enjoyed seeing all the flags out for Memorial Day. We worked around the house in between the fun stuff. We enjoyed going over to our friend’s house for a lunch BBQ.  

 And then enjoyed going over to the Thompson’s for dinner and to let the girls play. 

Tuesday: I went out for a 8 mile run. It felt good.  

 I do need to slow my pace down for a better recovery run! I ran with Jeff and for some reason it is so hard to “relax”. But rest days are just as if not more important than speed days! The rest of the day was, well-busy. At the elementary school they had their field day/reading carnival. We (the school administrators and PTO) put the carnival on. It was quite the controlled chaos…. 

 but the kids loved it! We had so many different activities going on… A bounce house, face painting, nail polish table, fishing booth, obstical course, food booth, basketball, karaoke, dunking tank, etc…

 The kids loved the dunk tank… The principal and quite a few teachers volunteered to get wet. Great fun!  

I did have to run my Kindergartener (soon to be 1st grader) to her end of the year assessment. She did great! We were able to hang out at the house for a little while (I watched my friends daughter for a while) and then we all headed off to youth track practice. We had a heavy rain storm come through (it didn’t last long) so we moved practice into the school…  

I am so grateful for the HS kids that show up to help. They do a wonderful job and the younger kids really like it. Corom came home from work and I had to go out for RS visits. I came home and he had to go back to work. Work is overrated! 😉 

Wednesday: I had a speed workout this morning and I was dreading it. I ran a total of 10 miles. The 1st 3 was a nice warmup before I started the speed.  

I was able to hit the marks that I was told to hit but it was not easy!!! I dread the speed workouts until they are over and my love for running grows every time after I’m done. That probably doesn’t make sense but it does to me. 🙂 A couple of friends stopped by this morning for a few minutes… As one of our friends was pulling out to go home I noticed my youngest (5 year old) was hiding on the back of the tailgate of his truck. Not in the bed of the truck but on the outside of the truck. I booked it outside yelling for our neighbor not to take off… While I was freaked out she was smiling the entire time. It was a blessing that a car was coming down the road because he quickly stopped. It was that split second as a driver where you decide to hurry and pull out or just wait an extra 5 seconds to have the car pass… I am so glad he waited the extra seconds. My youngest had a long lecture… Now hopefully it sunk in! I was dragging my feet all day today. I was glad my friend Camille came over to hang out… And I had a few extra kids over to entertain my kids. 🙂 After dinner, Corom and I watched our 2 middle girls 1st ever softball game.  

They loved it… They were so nervous going and didn’t want to go! Now they can’t wait for their next game. And they both are pretty good.  

Corom had to leave right when the game ended to go to a church meeting, the girls and I came home and did the whole bedtime routine.  

Saturday: I went out for a 12 mile run this morning… I went 4, met up with Mac, Aubrey & Amber for 4, then ran another 4 on my own. It was nice to be able to run with the 3 for a little while but it was also nice to run on my own.  

 I hurried home to get ready for the day. I took the girls to a day camp at the high school. BYU and UVU (college) athletes came to the HS to run mini classes for the elementary age kids in our city. Miss Salem and her attendees (I think that’s what you call it) put this all on. My oldest did an art class, then dance, cheer and drama. My 2nd and 3rd went together and did volleyball, swimming, track & field and Art.  They offered football, soccer, basketball, baseball & softball. 

 My girls had a great time! There were so many kids that came to participate. The college students were so good and patient with the elementary kids. They ran 45 min sessions per class. What a fun experience for everyone.  Oh and of course they enjoyed the Popsicles and treats afterwards. 

 Corom, our friend Jason, and my youngest (she was not old enough to go to the camp) worked on putting our fence up around the house.  

 That evening Corom and I went out with the Ringals for a bite to eat and then headed off to go volunteer at the Payson temple. It is the last night of the open house. Corom signed us up for parking control… We seriously had a blast!!! Our job was to direct the main traffic as it approached the temple. We were given flags to wave and point the cars in the correct direction. We took this job very serious and gave 110%! Then Corom and I, as always, turned it into a friendly competition of who could get the most people to smile.  As you can imagine those flags were moving and shaking like a 90’s rap music video. We almost caused accidents by distracting drivers too much. But we did make many people laugh!  

 There were so many people that came this evening. The total for Saturday was an estimated 30,000 people. We had the volunteer shift from 6-10 (but they sent all the parking volunteers home earlier than 10 because the traffic died down). It was a fun evening for Corom and I… To be away from our kids and to have good, mature, quality time together. The Fullmer’s and Amber (track Amber) came over after we got home and we all just hung out. We were going to watch a movie but talked for the next few hours instead. Church will be hard to stay awake in tomorrow. 

Sunday: Well, morning came too quick… Corom had to be at a meeting by 7 and our kids were up early… Not a surprise. Well my youngest had teeth hurting issues again in the middle of the night, so we gave her Corom’s phone and put a movie on. I’m hoping the dentist will just get it taken care of on Tuesday! Anyway… We get to church and as I am sitting down in one of the pews, I notice the 2 younger girls are trying to hide something. I made them hand over what they were hiding…  

They brought water balloons. I obviously took them away. I asked them why they brought them. They said they wanted to throw it at dad. Oh boy… How embarrassing would that have been! I am so glad I saw them before anything happened. After church we had a couple of families over for dinner. It was nice visiting and The kids had fun… Some of the girls dressed up as ninjas (supposedly) so they could spi on the other kids around…  

After everyone left, the neighbor kids wanted the girls to come do movies in their trailer. I would have said yes without the begging but it was cute to watch them! 🙂  

 Yep… A late night for us all. 

Wednesday: I was unable to get up this morning due to the fact that my youngest was up all night with a toothache. I was so tired all morning! My youngest and I went to a PTO meeting soon after school started and then as soon as kindergarten ended, my 2 youngest and I went to my friend, Josie’s, house for a birthday lunch for Ericka.  

I was only able to stay for about 45 minutes because I was able to get into the dentist for my youngest. At the dentist, they put her on a stronger antibiotic. Oh, I hope it works! My girls were invited to go to a neighbors house for an hour. It was perfect because I came home and took a nap. It felt great!!! I still had to get my speed workout in (which I have been dreading all day), so taking a nap was a great energy boost for me. Unfortunately, I will be very vague with my workouts because I now have someone helping me. I don’t know the “rules” on that but I will see what I’m able to write about. I started off with a 2 mile warmup and a 2 mile cool down. I did a track workout of running 1000’s. (I did run into a good friend of mine… She is seriously the best!)  

 I am so glad I now have someone to answer to because there was no way I would have finished the workout if I didn’t have someone to answer to!!! I was tired and out of shape! It was also hard to run in the afternoon… But I got it done. 🙂 My oldest went with the activity day girls to the temple. She had fun!  

 I promised my 2nd daughter a pack of gum (for being the only one to listen when I told them to go to bed)… 

 Then The girls and I hung out (Corom had to work late tonight) and after I put them to bed, a babysitter came and me and 7 girlfriends went and saw Pitch Perfect. It was hilarious!!! It was also great getting out! 

Thursday: I went out for an easy run. It felt nice after yesterday! My youngest was up for a lot of the night because of that tooth. 😦 Poor girl! 

 Today was a day where I had a lot going on! I helped with my girl’s school assembly (handed out awards), while my youngest played with my phone…  

 We (my youngest and I) left from the assembly to go do RS visits with Barbara and Amber. We visited with 3 different ladies. It was very nice!  My youngest played in the mud while we visited. 🙂 

I watched my friend’s kids for a few hours and took my 3 younger girls and the 2 extra kids to the dentist. My 2 middle girls have cavities to fill today. All the kids were so good there.  I asked about my youngest… I really want to get her teeth taken care. The dentist is hoping the antibiotics will kick in and she will be able to hold off until the date she can be put under. 

 We had youth track practice tonight. The weather was great until the last 10 minutes… Then it started to pour rain on us and it happened so fast! The kids still wanted to stay out and play games. 🙂  

 I ran my girls home, said a quick hello to Corom, made sure dinner was ready and then ran over to the HS to our track banquet. We had an ice cream bar 😍, handed out awards, talked about the great season and then we sadly said goodbye to our graduating seniors. We also had to say goodbye to our Javelin coach (the one in the middle)… He is moving further north. We are losing the Best javelin coach in the State!!! It was a nice banquet! 

 We (coach Thompson and I) planned a cross country meeting right after the banquet ended. It was perfect timing… We ended our banquet right at 7 and the CC meeting started at 7. 🙂  

 I came home and Corom and I were able to enjoy a movie. 🙂 

Friday: I was able to get 8 miles in with 5 strides for my morning run. Jeff joined for 4 miles but had to stop due to a knee issue…  My youngest was up once again throughout the night( not as much though, thank goodness). I am so sleepy on my runs. 

 Corom had the day off today. 🙂 We were able to attend our Kindergartener’s graduation this morning. She was so cute and she is getting so big!!! Time is going by so fast!  

 Shortly after the graduation ended, Corom, the 2 younger girls, 2 neighbor girls (I am watching for the afternoon), and I went with the 1st graders (my 2nd daughter) on a little field trip to the local park/pond. Corom walked with the 1st graders and the younger kids and I drove… I had to drive the parachutes to the park for the teachers. The kids had a lot of fun!  

 The rest of the afternoon, the girls played with friends/neighbors. They did get a little dirty… But they had fun!  

 We went to a friend’s house for dinner. But just before that, Corom gave the puppies their shots. We had one of the puppies go to his new home (they are 6 weeks old and the guy really wanted the puppy now to start training it). 🙂 I was actually sad to see it go! So now we are down to 2.  Anyway… It was nice to go to our friends for dinner. We had a good time (they have 5 girls very similar in age as our girls). 

 Now I am sitting here, recapping my day trying to stay awake! I have struggled sometimes throughout the day of wanting to take a nap! I’m going to bed. 🙂 

Sunday: 12 years ago today my husband and I were married in the Oakland Temple for all time and eternity.  

 I still remember that special day. Our marriage has been a constant roller coaster of fun, adventure, laughter, tears, heartache, annoyances, fighting and most importantly love and respect  for and with each other. We have had our problems but we have grown stronger as one each trial we have had to endure. Corom is always by my side and has been so supportive with the decisions I have made. I am so grateful for him and the husband, father, friend that he has become.  

Now… 9 years ago today, my oldest was born 3 1/2 weeks early! Really…. Of all the days for her to come early, it happened to be on our anniversary! It stinks to be her because now she doesn’t have a birthday. 😉 It was actually the best gift we could have been given that day. She has been such a joy in our lives. She is maturing and helping us out in so many ways!!!  Such a fun, active, responsible, beautiful, loving daughter! She is not afraid of much, as you can see… 🙂 We love her so much!!! 

 Well, this morning I made her her favorite breakfast (puffed pancakes) and then the girls did their usual thing of messing around before getting ready. She did open a few gifts that her sisters made before we left for church.  

 During the morning chaos (Corom was at his weekly church Sunday meetings), I noticed a little box with a flower sticking out. 🙂 Corom left it on my pillow before he left. It was very thoughtful. The girls ratted him out and said when they were at grandmas (his moms house last night), she had a vase full of roses. He took one out for me… I love that even more about him because I think flowers are a waste of money! He knows me too well.  

The weather was so nice out that we decided to walk to and from church. It’s nice to get some energy out! 🙂 We always enjoy our walks to church and we also enjoy everybody else’s yard on our way to church. 🙂 

 After church we had a few families over (Fullmers, Booths, Thompsons, grandma & Gary) to celebrate her birthday and to plan our beach camping trip. Mary & Siri and the Barneys stopped by too.  

 Of course we had brownies and ice cream (we are not much of a cake family)! And she opened presents… 

 She was so excited to get a box of hot chocolate. 🙂 I am dreading the day when that will not be enough.  

Monday: I met up with Jeff this morning for a morning run.  

It was a good run. I ran the girls to school and then my youngest and I went on a field trip with my youngest to Wild Wonders. They loved it… I loved it! So many cute animals. 

 The girls had friends over and played a lot with the puppies…  

 Later in the evening, I did attend the viewing of one of our track kids older sister. 😦 She passed away from leukemia. I was able to go with a couple of other coaches to show our love and support. It was a nice viewing. 

 We had family night and then my visiting teachers came over.  

 Once the girls were in bed (and Corom fell asleep), I headed over to a neighbor’s house to watch the Bachelorette and help her package jewelry. We had a good time! 

 It ended up being a late night!  

Tuesday: I met up with Jeff for the 1st mile (sent him on his workout) and went on my own. I had an easy 7 miles and it was nice.  

 I got back from my run and Corom got up to go on a run. 🙂 What was even better and cuter was my 2nd daughter asked if she could go with him. 🙂  

 So cute!!! For school I brought the puppy that we are keeping to school for show in tell. The kids loved the puppy.  

 As we were leaving, my youngest fell and hit her ear. Oh it looked like it hurt.  

 I watched a couple of kids today for my neighbors…. They got into the paint…  

…Megan helped me out by watching all of them for about 20-30 min. I ran over to the junior high with a few of the HS cross country kids to recruit them.  

Gosh… I hated junior high and things haven’t changed. 🙂 A neighbor of mine called me and talked me into putting my kindergartener and 1st grader into softball. They needed extra girls to play… So I agreed to give it a try. They loved it!  

Then we headed right over to the youth track practice. More help from the HS kids… Another bloody nose… And of course running.  

 We finally headed home, had dinner, got ready for bed and then I had a RS meeting at my house. Busy day but it was good. 

Friday: I was able to squeeze in a 56:26 minute run today. I had to get up at 4:45 a.m. just to get the run in. By 6:45, I left for the State track meet with the kids. This is it… I think I am more nervous for this weekend then the kids are! This is what we were training for… We are favored to be in the top 3 for the girls and top 4 for the boys. We had many non-qualifiers show up to the meet to show their support and to cheer their teammates on (in the rain and cold). As you can see 2 of my distance runners resting up before their mile races 🙂 

 What a way to start off the meet!!! Our female miler ran a 5 second PR (5:07) and placed 5th overall. She was ranked 9th and pulled the 5th spot and scored good points for us. Our male milers ran well! On PR’d by 4 sec (4:18) and placed 6th.  The other fell short of PRing but still ran well. It was great to start the meet off by scoring great points (especially points where we weren’t counting on them).  

 The rest of the day, we had many great successes and very few shortcomings. The athletes performed well today. We didn’t score as high as we needed to but we do have another day to gain back where we fell short. One of our athletes had a sister pass away a couple of days ago due to cancer… We were so heart broken for him and his family. The one way we could show him how much we cared was by wearing a t-shirt in memory of his sister.  

I did leave the meet for a couple of hours to go to my 2nd daughter’s 1st grade presentation. It was so cute!  

 Corom and I watched a movie and then I went to bed because I had to get up early again. 

Saturday: I met up at the school at 7:45 a.m. to hop on the bus to the meet. I was able to get a 1:14.13 run in, in-between the 2 mile races.  I went with other coaches and ended up on a trail. Loved it! 

 As far as the meet went… The 2 milers did amazing! Our guy ran a 3 second PR (9:21) and placed 6th (scoring points); and our top girl ran a 9 second PR (11:05) placing 5th (also scoring good points where she wasn’t even supposed to score). 🙂  The sprinters and field eventers had many great successes as well. Fun to watch all of them! 

Oh it was a day with so many mixed emotions: joy, frustrations, anxiousness, nervousness, happiness, sadness and lastly being way bummed!!! We were at the end of the meet with the last race- the 4 x 400. We (the female) were ranked 3rd in State but if we were able to pull off a win on the 4 x 400 we would have a huge chance of winning State (if the 1st place team took 3rd or below)… The 1st 3 laps we were in the lead… The other 2 schools were near us also on edge. Come the 4th lap, the team that was ranked 1st pulled ahead (their runner is one of the top in the State in the 400). We knew that if our 4th runners were close we would be in trouble… Well they were too close. 🙂 The guys also ran well… At one point the baton was accidentally knocked out of one of our runner’s hand. It was recovered nicely. We ended up taking 3rd in State for both the male and females. It really is great to end off our season that way but I can not explain the emotions we felt as coaches.  (One of the pictures below show the scores of us going into that last race… We were all a couple of points off from each other!!!)

 I was able to put a smile on my face as the athletes came back to our tent from their cheering spots/race. But I was so bummed and I know the other coaches felt the same way. These kids have worked so hard all season and they fought hard these last 2 days… They competed well and we are proud of them! Just a good group of kids! It was good to come home and hang out with the kids and Corom. They had a fun day of playing and getting dirty. It’s mine and Corom’s 12 year anniversary tomorrow and our oldest daughter’s birthday… I had to get a few things ready for that and then we were able to relax.