Mother Racer

Tuesday: I went out for a Fartlek run this morning. I got a couple of miles in before I started my 90 seconds on 60 seconds recovery (12 times). I was tired…

The girls and neighbor kids went off to school with their duct tape accessories. 🙂

I did head off to the gym to learn how to do… Well weights. Not so good on my end. I didn’t last too long either… We had an out door track meeting with all the kids and their parents. It was a good, informative meeting.

Wednesday: I met up with Beth for an easier run.

For the elementary school spirit week activity, we had a jump roping assembly. Each grade cycled in for a 20 minute jump roping session. It was a blast!!! I had a lot of fun, I might add. I did jump a lot. 🙂 I also brought the kids that I babysit… It went very smoothly.

It was a noon early out day for the kids, so Marti and I took our kids to the Bean Museum. It’s a free, animal museum. I love this place (maybe because it’s free :/).

We had our 1st outdoor track practice today. The distance runners (well the ones that know there distance) went out for a run before “practice”. At practice we had the entire team do most the track & field events to see who liked what and where the athlete is better/more comfortable at.

After practice, Corom came home from work for a little over an hour (it’s his late night) so I could go around with Barbara and Megan and visit some of the ladies in our ward boundaries (neighborhood). I really enjoyed going around! Once I got home, Corom went back to work and I began the cleaning and packing. We are headed off to Phoenix, Arizona.

Thursday: Today started off with a good 10 mile run (well up Harry’s hill :/). I should have taken it easier but I didn’t… Not with the hill loop I did.

Oh well. We took the girls to school, so we could finish packing/loading up the car without any interruptions. Corom took the car in to get the tires rotated and then quickly went to a doctors appointment. Right before lunch we checked all the girls out of school. They were excited!

We are having quite the adventure coming out!!! We 1st started off a couple of hours later than what we wanted (but that was kind of expected). I, then, get pulled over…

I guess, that too, is to be expected! Always!!! I just need to lay off of the lead foot. The 2 officers were nice enough to send me off with a verbal warning. 🙂 Oh that just made my day. We then come up to half way through our 10 hour trip to a road block…

There is no way to drive through it, so Corom turns around and with the help of the GPS ends up on a dirt road. We came upon the Navajo reservation…. Who knows where we are going…

That was quit the detour. About 30 minutes after we found our way back to the highway, we heard a pop and then came the flat tire.

A sheriff stopped as we (well Corom… Not we ;)) were finishing up, seeing if we needed help. Nothing but great experiences with the cops today!!! The girls were pretty good in the car… Considering we don’t have any electronics for them. So there was plenty of fighting and arguing but there was also plenty of playing and being creative…

We finally ended up at our friend’s house in Phoenix (a couple of hours later than we thought) but we had a good adventure. The girls were in heaven here!

It is now 1 a.m. And we are barely getting to bed. That’s ok before a race, right? We had a good time visiting though!

Sunday: We went to church today… It went by rather smoothly. The girls were good! We had our home teachers come (another church term :)). He sang us a few songs and I never saw all 4 of my kids quiet for that amount of time. It was great!

We then had them over (with 3 other families) for dinner. It was nice hanging out and letting the kids play.

Monday: I went out for a 10 mile lone run. It was supposed to be a recovery run but it was really windy! So running against the wind was hard and trying to hold back at a slower pace was hard when the wind was to my back.

It was a good run and a beautiful morning.

Today I babysat, spent time at the school (it’s spirit week) and helped the girls (and some of their friends) make duct tape clothing/accessory wear for tomorrow’s spirit day at school.

My youngest was a handful today!!! My patience level by the time it was bedtime was very thin. Corom went back into work after the girls went to bed. It will be an early night for me!

Friday: I began my day with a 10 mile run in Pocatello, Idaho… I hopped on Idaho State’s Cross Country’s course.

I decided to push the pace today because I was feeling good. It was a hilly run so I was a little more tired doing it.

Once I cleaned up, I was able to sit back and coach and enjoy the Simplot Games Track Meet. Our team did really well today (the distance, sprinters, field events & relays). I had 2 male 800 runners qualify for tomorrow’s finals and a female miler qualify for tomorrow’s meet (one of the female high jumpers qualified). There are over 2200 athletes competing… So to qualify for the Saturday’s meet is a big deal.

We are so proud of the performances of our kids today. The Simplot meet is always fun to watch. We did have the opportunity to meet a few Olympians. That is usually the highlight of everyone’s trip. I met Andre Phillips (400 meter hurdler-gold medalist) and Mike Powell (long jumper, current world record holder).

I was a little shocked when they picked me up. Somehow I ended up with Mike’s VIP pass where it allowed for me to cut the line and go behind their table. 🙂 But they were funny! After the meet was over, we went back to our hotel and had a pizza/swim party.

The HS kids love to come on this trip. For the 4 that qualified for finals… They hung out outside the pool and just took it “somewhat” easier than the rest of the kids (we told them no pool or hot tub.) They didn’t seem to mind at all! It was a late night for most of us and then an early morning…

Saturday: I woke up early to get my run in before my 2 800 runners had their race (their race started at 8:25 a.m.). I was hoping to get a 15 miler in but due to leaving my room a little later than I wanted and due to snowy roads…

… I was only able to get a 10 1/2 miler in. I felt lousy today and sluggish so I was ok with finishing with that.

I made it back in time to watch the boys race in their 800. One ran another PR and the other raced well but fell a little behind on his. But they both looked great. My female miler, looked so strong and solid. She is new to track (she is a junior and the last time she ran track was in 8th grade). She ran a 5:26 on Thursday and turned around and ran a 5:19 today.

For the “half time” break, it was the flag and national anthem, they introduced (recognized) the Olympians, and then had all the athletes line up and walk around the track in parade format… They were grouped in their State/Country. For some reason, Utah always has the biggest group. It’s great to see!

We eventually left the meet around 3 p.m. To head back to Utah. (We did share a bus with our rival school…. It was pretty fun. :)) I did get front door service with the bus… 🙂

It was great seeing Corom and the girls! He had quite the weekend with them… They walked to school, with big wheels and skateboards, crawling under the gutter drains, etc…

They made things out of wood, got dirty, my youngest cut her hair :/, they played dress up and much more…

They visited alpacas today and my girls were spit at. Pretty disgusting! Corom is now on a kick of owning alpacas… I told him no but I will probably come home to one or two sometime in the future… 🙂

After the girls went to bed… The Fullmers came down and we watched a movie.

Tuesday: Amber and I met up at my house and went for a 2 mile warmup (15:50). Then we began our 800’s. We both went at our own pace at this point. My first 800 was a 2:32. It was way too fast for how I was feeling. My legs were tired and sore from yesterday’s run. My 2nd was a 2:36, 3rd was a 2:36, 4th was 2:35, 5th was 2:36, 6th was 2:36 and 7th was a 2:36. I was able to finish off the miles between the times of 6:10-6:18. I struggled this workout but I had to be faster than a 2:40 (these are on a slight downhill for the 1st minute… It really helps with the leg turnover). We finished with a 3 mile cool down. I was able to get a 12 mile run in this morning and then a 3 mile run in during track practice… 15 total for the day. For the rest of the day, I babysat, a few friends came over and hung out, the kids played…

… I went to track practice (and ran 3 miles with the kids… Well they ran more)…

After, Corom and my 2nd child went on their little outing together.

I told the girls to get ready for bed this evening… I heard a lot of laughing and gagging at the same time. My oldest helped the younger girls with their toothpaste by putting bum cream on their toothbrush instead of toothpaste.

Yeah it was pretty funny.

Wednesday: I met up with Beth for a nice recovery run. It was great meeting up with Beth and being able to talk about our goals in running.

It was another day of babysitting, friends coming over and hanging out, school stuff, , piano lessons, activity days, etc. I did have a meeting with the RS presidency in the evening… We met at my house with Corom working late… The girls loved it because they got to watch a movie and stay up a little later then usual.

Friday: I went on a lone run this morning… It was quite pleasant. I was able to go the pace I wanted and I was able to think over a lot of things. I didn’t get to go as long as I wanted but I’m kind of ok with that.

I went to my oldest daughters class 1st thing this morning…

, then went to a few neighbors (with Megan and Barbara) to visit them. I was dropped off at the HS and headed up to Idaho for the track and field Simplot Games.

The meet starts tonight with the miles and 2 miles…

Our kids raced well!!! Our female miler qualified for Saturday’s meet. So excited for her. We had a couple of guys race their PR tonight and a few that raced well. It was a good meet. We are tired and I have already lost my voice!

We made a quick stop off at the grocery store (at 10:30 p.m.) to get stocked up for the all day track meet tomorrow and Saturday…

Late night… With an early morning!

Sunday: Today we went to church (nothing surprising). I was called to serve in the Relief Society as the 1st counselor. I have mixed emotions… One being able to take this calling on. It is more demanding… Busy. I do like to stay busy and I know this will keep me really busy. I just hope I will be able to do what I’m supposed to be doing and serve how I’m supposed to serve. I am excited for this opportunity to be able to go and visit many of our neighbors and to get to know more people and get to know them better. Church was good. We went to my sister-in-law’s (Yolanda’s) house to hang out with all the family and for dinner. I was asked to open up some pesto sauce… Yeah… It was old! I did get it all over my face but was able to wipe it off before Corom took a picture.

Oh and I stunk the rest of the night!!! My 3 older girls did spend the night at their house with her kids and Corom’s brother (Jarom’s) kids… From my understanding, they went to bed late!

Monday: This morning I was able to go out for my run at 7:15. It felt great to sleep in! I did run about 7 1/2 miles all up hill to Yolanda’s house. It was brutal. I tried to keep it under 8 min a mile but my last mile was an 8:50 something. It was tough!!!

I met Corom up there with our youngest… We all had breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls (I had 2 burritos :/). We hung out for a little over an hour until Jarom and his family had to leave for home (in California). I decided to run home (the shorter route). It was downhill but I felt so sick from those burritos and cinnamon rolls. Ugh… Side ache and nasty feeling in my stomach and throat. Oh well… I was able to get another 4 1/2 miles in.

The rest of the day, we hung around the house (no school & work because of Presidents Day). The girls played inside and outside all day (without doing a single chore)!!! But I also wasn’t in the mood to fight them today.

Yeah… Corom was right in the mix of it all too. I did take my oldest out on our one on one date. She is so funny!!! We did go grocery shopping… We had to pick up stuff to make s’mores for our Family Night.

The Rudds (our next door neighbors) met us outside and we cooked up s’mores together. The girls made me nervous on many accounts but we had a good time.