Mother Racer

Wednesday: I met up with Amber for a nice 10 miler… 

It felt good this morning. I came home to babysitting (6 extra kids) throughout the day. All the kids just played while I got things done around the house (well at least tried :)). Stephanie and Amy hung out for a little while and it was nice! I took the girls to their piano lessons and then headed off for track practice. It was an easy 7 mile run for them today. 

Corom had to work late tonight and I had a church meeting at my house and then went on visits (4 different people). 

Thursday: I started off my day with a 12+ miles with Amber. It was a good run! 

Corom, the girls and I went to the school early to help with the Arts Fair registration. My oldest worked on a “animal kingdom” made out of clay. 

Shortly after, I headed for the temple (with 4 other friends) to do a session. It was great! Corom was off for the day so he agreed to pick up our 2 youngest from preschool and Kindergarten along with 2 other Kindergartener’s and another little girl from a different preschool. I know… Kind of a lot but that’s how it is. So he was nice enough to volunteer to do it, so I could go to the temple. Well…. I checked my phone when I got back into the car. Umm… 9 missed phone calls and 10-11 text messages… All from the school, preschool, office ladies, etc. Yeah… Corom took a little cat nap right around pick up time. He was only 20-25 min late picking everyone up! 🙂 The girls painted rocks and decided to sell them (for 1 penny). 

 They made about $1 I believe. 🙂 I am thankful for the people that stop! I had to run off to track practice… About 20 minutes later I see my youngest (4 yrs old) running on to the track (barefoot). I realized it was just her! Yep… She ran about 1/2 mile from our house to the school without Corom knowing. 

Honestly… I don’t know what to do with her sometimes!!! She is always in trouble but she doesn’t care! We went to the Art’s Fair this evening and then stayed to watch the performing arts. A lot of talented kids! My 2nd daughter wrote a poem for the literature section. And as I stated earlier, my oldest did a 3D art out of clay. 

It was a late night after the cleanup of the arts fair and trying to put the girls to bed. I was tired today! 

Friday: I went out on my own today with a long tempo run… It was tough but I have a track meet on Saturday so I knew it would be hard to get a long run in on Saturday. I ran up the Harry’s Hill loop… totaling 15.2 miles. 

 I wanted to make sure I averaged about a 6:50-7 minute pace this morning. I did have a good downhill for 2 1/2 miles… That always helps! 🙂 I watched a couple of kids today and then we headed off to the school’s assembly (the PTO was putting it on for the Art). It was fun for the kids to be able to show the rest of the school their projects, paintings, literature, performances, etc. 

I left for a track meet while the girls played at a friend’s house. (Thanks Marti for taking them!) I headed off to a relay track meet… Every race and field event was a relay. Something fun for the kids. It is a Friday and Saturday meet. They did well today! 

The top left corner is of a young man that signed up for the 4 x 2 mile. He has been training with the sprinters but he signed up to make it a full team to help the other 3 distance runners. 🙂 (Today all the freshmen/sophomores raced, while the varsity field events took place… Tomorrow it’s opposite.) You can see the coaches are hard at work… 🙂 We were actually by the javelin throwers (helping with that event) with some of our female javelin/field eventers (if that is even a word) warming up with hand stands… Or something like that. At home, Corom and I sat down with the girls and watched a movie… A late night for them. 🙂 Now it’s time for bed for me! 

Monday: I went out for a easy run this morning… 

I felt ok during the run. I think my body is so tired right now from uping my miles and doing speed workouts. I hurried home because a couple of girls wanted to come over for breakfast (waffles and eggs) before school starts. 

It made my girls get ready super fast this morning. 🙂 As I was packing up the girls backpacks, I noticed something in my oldest’s pack… 

She has a picture of the boy she likes… Gosh… It’s starting already. 🙂 I thought it was cute. I did have fun with 2 of my good friends today. Stephanie and Camille hung out, all the kids played (I also had the 2 kids I babysit today), we had dance parties, ate food, etc. 

Soon it was track practice… My youngest got right in the middle of it all, my oldest decided to sack out on the lawn in the middle of it all and the other 2 played around the bleachers and in the sand at the long jump pit. 🙂 

The distance runners went on a easy 6 miler with strides at the end. Corom took our youngest out on their “date” and then for Family Night we walked to the pond with our neighbors… 

 Then we headed over to another neighbor’s house for s’mores…

We had a hard time putting the girls to bed tonight! With the time change and sugar high… We had no chance of getting them to bed! 

Tuesday: I had a speed workout today of hill surges. I wanted to get 12 in so I ran 6 miles before I began 15 x steep 45-50 second hill repeats. It’s about an 8% grade up. I wanted to stop at 8, then 10, then 12… By the time I got to 12, I knew I could run 3 more. My legs hurt (and they were the achy sore throughout the rest of the day). I did cool down for 2 miles. That felt so good knowing I had no more hills to run up. 

I helped in my 2nd child’s class today. It was so much fun! 

I was able to take my 3rd daughter out on our little date (my youngest was invited over to a friends)… So it was nice to spend time with the 3rd daughter. 

I did have a track meet this afternoon and the girls had a babysitter with them. The HS kids ran and competed so well today! It was a good 1st meet. This will be a fun season. 

It was really a fun competitive meet (fun watching the distance runners from our school battle it out)… I finally got home and helped put the kids to bed. Then a few friends came over for the Finale of the Bachelor. A very late night but always fun to watch and hang out! 

Friday: I met up with Danny this morning for a little over 10 miles. I was tired this morning… Well I wasn’t tired but my legs were! 

Corom and I hung out at the girl’s school all morning. It was the Kindy 500… Corom played Abe Lincoln for one of the stations…

 and I was one of the helpers that took a group of kids around from station to station. They started off with a parade and then went to 7 different “stations” to learn about our country. 

The kids loved it… Well so did Corom, until he had to take his beard off. He super glued it to his face. 

Yes… It hurt for him to take it off and did make him bleed in a few spots. 🙂 Corom went straight to work and my 2 younger girls and a little girl I babysit went back home for cleaning and playing. Soon it was track practice… The mid-distance and distance runners had a tough workout today. For the distance, they ran 2 x 1 mile and then 2 x 800’s (downhill). The mid-distance ran 8-12 x 350’s at a 1% downhill slope. This workout is tough because it’s all faster than what you would normally do on a track. 

They all ran well… A few were unable to finish the workout but that is expected. The Fullmers came down (once the girls were in bed) and we were able to watch a movie. 🙂 

Saturday: I met up with Beth and went out for a 18 1/2 miler. I felt great at times, lousy at times, and times where I was able to pick up the pace for about a mile. Overall… It was a good run. Thanks Beth for running with me! Today I took a child to the doctors (I love that the doc office is open on Saturdays)… 

I lost a child (my youngest; at our own house)…

I eventually found her asleep under the big bear. 🙂 And the girls and Corom gave our dog “Kitty” a bath in this awesome weather we are having…

My youngest informed us that she had a splinter that needed to be taken out. I don’t know when she got it but it had to have been at least a couple of days ago. 

To finish off this day, I’m going to post a quote I saw that I need to keep in mind (especially the last 10k of the marathon)! 



Sunday: Today was church. It was another good church day. The kids were for the most part good. We had a couple of families over for dinner and then had a game of pool before the girls went to bed. 

I was able to sit down and check my emails… I opened one up from the Boston Marathon… I was so shocked to read the content of the email!!! :

 Dear Jennifer Hughes,

The 2015 Boston Marathon will again conduct a separate start for the top female competitors.

Based on your qualifying performance you have been selected to participate in the Elite Women’s Start (EWS) for the 2015 Boston Marathon. There will be approximately 40 open women and 15 master’s women competing in the EWS. 

I am way excited because maybe I will be able to brush arms with Kara Goucher or Shalane Flanagan or whomever. This is where my insecurities and doubts set in! I am no where near their level and don’t even consider myself at an “elite” status at all. Anyway… I was shocked and excited! Time for bed!!! 

Tuesday: I love speed workout mornings. I began with a 2 mile warmup and then began the 8 x 800’s. My 1st one was a 2:40. Not what I wanted. I was a little frustrated with that time but knew that I was going to have a more difficult time trying to run faster this workout. I was already tired after that 1st one. 2nd one: 2:35; 3rd: 2:36; 3rd: 2:37; 4th: 2:40… But I almost got nailed by a car on this one. Not the best feeling! 5th: 2:37; 6th: 2:37; 7th: 2:36; and 8th: 2:36. I was able to keep my mile in a 6:10-6:13 average. (I would run up a little past the mile mark and back before I would start the next set. I finished off with a cool down of 2 miles. 

I was glad when this workout was over! For the rest of the day… I stayed busy! I worked at the school all morning for PTO stuff (I did take a 30 minute break to run to the gym… My 2nd time doing squats :/). Yep… I’m still not good at them. The 2 younger girls each had a friend over until the other 2 got out of school. We had a good snow storm come through today… We haven’t seen snow in a long time! I still had the poor distance runners do their track workout out on the track. 🙂 I did run the 2 mile warmup with them… 

Then they began their speed and I stood out in the freezing cold, timing them. 

Corom had a meeting tonight and We went to “Spike Night” at the local running store Endurance Athletics. We had about about 60-70 kids show up and buy shoes and eat pizza. 🙂 

A few friends came over and we watched the bachelor… It was a late night! Here are a few pictures of the girls today. 🙂 



Wednesday: I started off my day with a easy recovery run. It was nice. 🙂 

It was another busy day! I babysat, ran errands, cleaned house, did PTO stuff, church stuff, then ended up at track (with the 2 younger ones… The 2 older ones were at piano). The HS kids went on a recovery distance run. They were happy about that one! 

After practice, I met up with the RS presidency and we went in to 5 different homes to visit the new ladies that moved in. Corom had to work late tonight so the girls had a babysitter. They were loving it! 🙂 

Thursday: I met up with Amber for the Harry’s Loop run. Once we reached the top, we began the tempo down. I was able to hit a 5:46, 5:45 and a 5:33… I felt great today! 

I was sore when I finished but I liked it! We got the girls off to school and then Corom and I went to the gym together. He went to help me with my squats. I have a lot to learn. 

As you can see, I am not getting the squats down. 🙂 The bar is crooked and I’m laughing in the top picture because Corom is making fun of me… So he switched me over to another squat machine. That was easier! 

Right after the gym, Megan and I went out for more visits with church. I had to run to the Rec Office to help order new track equipment… 



…then met up with some friends from my old neighborhood at Zupa’s for lunch. It was so nice to sit down and visit! I miss seeing them all the time! At home, Corom and I and the 2 younger girls worked on the Kindy 500 car and things around the house. The 2 younger girls stayed home with Corom and the 2 older girls were at track with me. 

They went on a moderate 7 miler… Tomorrow will be their speed day! 🙂 I had a RS dinner tonight. Good food and good company! and a great turnout. 



The girls had a blast with dad because the house was a mess when I came home. 🙂 

Travis and his little girl were over to help (Corom) with the girls, too. Megan, Julie, Jessica and I ran over to a friends to sing Happy Birthday… We took all the balloons from the dinner. 🙂 

I am home now and trying to play catchup from the past few days. It’s been busy!!! 

Friday: I was able to sleep in and then went out for a 32:31 minute run. It was a very nice run in Pheonix! A little warmer than what I have been running in but it felt great! After a huge breakfast (that Chelsea made) of eggs, sausage, fruit, waffles, orange juice, naked juice, etc. (Which was absolutely fabulous), we went to the zoo! The zoo was so much fun… We stayed for about 3-4 hours. 





The girls and Corom went back to the Blazers house to play and I went to the 1/2 marathon expo to pick up my packet. I also went with Rachelle and Heather for the night for 2 reasons… One being I would get a good night sleep and the second reason was to get a ride to the race at 4 a.m. 



I hung out with the 2 (Rachelle and Heather) for the evening and then went to bed early. 🙂 

Saturday: It is race day! It was an early morning of 3:30 a.m. The 3 of us headed out… They went to the marathon buses and I jogged over the the half marathon bus. I was able to get about a 2 mile warmup in before I went to the starting line. 



I knew, once we all lined up, this was going to be tough competition!!! Yep… I was right. I felt good the entire race. I did back off after the 1st 3 miles because the top 3 runners picked up the pace… Like they were starting their kick already. 🙂 I was able to pick it up the last 10k for a stronger finish. 



I hung out for a little while after the race to watch some friends come in and to eat all the free stuff. 🙂 Oh and I ran a 2 mile cool down. 17 miles total. 

I walked over the park (about a mile away) to meet up with Corom, the girls and the Blasers. The park was awesome!!!! We had so much fun playing there. 



Corom and Scott had to race through the netted obstacle course. It was the funniest thing to watch (2 grown men crawling over kids fighting their way to the end). They actually had a lot of people watching them. Very entertaining! 

So of course… My oldest wanted to race next. At first I thought I was going to have to hold back to “let” her win… I was wrong… Once we started, she took off and I was really struggling with the nets. It was hard! 

We went out to lunch (after Corom ran to the tire shop to get the donut and flat taken care of), hung out at the Blaser’s house for a little longer…

… Then took off (around 3:30 p.m.) to drive home. It took us forever to get home. About 4 hours into our drive, we hit a snowstorm. For most of the way, we drove about 25-45 mph. It was quite the drive! 

We made it home a little after 4 a.m. We were all so tired! Corom did a great job of driving! 

 Sunday: Corom’s alarm went off 2 hours after we fell asleep. 😦 He soon after left for his early morning church meeting. I got up a little bit later and got the girls ready for church and prepared my lesson for Relief Society. I actually felt really good today for the little amount of sleep that I had. Church was good… The lesson went well. I showed a short 4 minute video of an elderly couple that is so touching. It is called Enduring Love. My lesson was on, “What is worth fighting for?” A good part was about marriage & Family (& Self esteem/worth, hope & courage). It was nice because I had a lot of people participate and share personal stories! Anyway… We went over to the Barney’s house for dinner tonight. It was not not having to worry about cooking anything!!! 

 Monday: I went out for a 10.2 mile easy run. I felt great. 

I babysat today, went to my PTO meeting, Stephanie & Camille came over, and then I headed out to track practice. The distance runners went out on a 8-9 mile run for their workout. 

 I took my 2nd daughter out on our date and then Corom took our oldest out on their date. 🙂 

We didn’t have time for FHE (family night)… So we will have to do that tomorrow night! Today went by fast… I am tired and am going to go to bed early!