Mother Racer

We made it to Greece!!! It was a long day of traveling but we had a great time together (my sisters and mom)…

We had food, snacks, free movies, 22 hours of flying, layovers… What more could you ask for…

It was fun to see (from the airplane), France and Greece… 🙂

We drove another 3 hours from Athens to Sparta… We ate an excellent Greek good dinner, walked up and down one of the main roads, hung out in our room…

And then I attempted going on my 5 mile run… I was so tired and jet lagged and I went about 30-40 minutes after we ate. Not a very good run tonight. I was also a little nervous running at 9:15 p.m. and in a place I have no idea where I’m at (I kept thinking of the movie Taken… I know… Weird)… But it was fun to run back and forth from our hotel room.

I did get 31 minutes in, so about 4 miles. I know Corom is having fun at the Las Vegas Ragnar and the girls are having so much fun with their babysitters! I’m grateful they sent me pictures!!!

Well it is now 10:45 p.m. Greece time; 1:45 p.m. Utah time (a little bit of a difference)… I’m tired and am going to try to go to bed!

Wednesday: Today is my 3rd child’s 6th birthday!!! 🙂 I made sure I got up and out the door by 5 a.m. for my run. I was only supposed to do 6 miles and a recovery but I ended up running 7.3 miles in 58:35… And we ran up Harry’s hill into WH. I was home by 6:15, ready to start the day with a birthday (and lots of babysitting). The birthday girl picked out the breakfast she wanted…

I ended up babysitting all day long for 3 different friends of mine… But my kids loved it because it was a constant play day. G-goat (the girls grandma) took my 3rd daughter out for lunch and then to the $1 store… She was in heaven. 🙂

We had dinner, had cupcakes and opened a couple of presents…

Then the girls and I went to the movies… Corom had to go back to work.

She had a fun birthday!

Thursday: I ran 4 miles before I met up with Amber and Rachelle… We then headed up the canyon. I pushed it going up the canyon at a solid pace… Coming down I ran a mini tempo. The last 2 miles were a 6:03 pace. I ended up running 16.2 miles in 1:50.47. I wanted to get 17 in but that is one of the negatives of not running with a Garmin.

It was beautiful though… Started off in the dark and with the time change ended my run in the light. I helped in my kindergartener’s class…

… Stuck around the school for PTO stuff and then a friend of mine (Stephanie) and I went to the park for a little while…

Back at home… It was lots of cleaning, organizing and packing! Fun times!!! Early tomorrow morning Corom heads off to Las Vegas for Ragnar (which I was supposed to do but completely forgot that I was leaving for Greece and Spain the same day). So lots to do today! We went to CC practice for a little while. The girls brought their kitten to play with but the rest of the team played with it more than the girls did :)…

I did go up to a friend’s house for a little while (with Megan and Becca) but the kids were asleep and Corom was packing his stuff. Busy day… I’m way excited about tomorrow but also WAY nervous!!!

Friday: Our alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. Corom left for Vegas shortly after 5 and I ran on the treadmill for 51:01…

It’s a love hate relationship with the treadmill and I… I hate running on them but I love it because I would not be able to get a run in otherwise. I ended it short because at 5:30 a.m. all 4 of my girls came walking downstairs. Early morning!!! It was good though because I was able to get the girls ready for school, breakfast made, lunches made, etc. all before I had to leave for the airport (I left at 7 a.m.). Now it is my little sister and I at the airport…

We are now boarding from Salt Lake City…

We will be flying into Minneapolis to meet up with my older sister and my mom… I will post this just in case something happens… 😉 I hate flying!!!!

Sunday: Church was really good today! The girls were good, the testimonies were excellent & the classes were good. We had some of my running friends and their families over for dinner (Amber, Rachelle, Scott, Melissa & Megan). Soon after many of the YW/YM from the ward (church) came over for a little talk (fireside) and ate the cinnamon rolls Corom made.

My 3rd child had a loose tooth… Her sisters (and me) helped get it out.

Monday: I met up with Mac and Holly. We ran 8 miles together and then I ran about another 4 1/2 (maybe a little more) on my own. My legs are sore and tired from Saturday. I went at an easy pace…1:40.99. I hope I can do my speed tomorrow! I had my PTO meeting this morning at the school…

… Took care of a few things and then went to CC practice. The girls loved it because we ran at a park. The HS kids ran a nice set of hill repeats…

I hurried home because we invited a family over to celebrate “Halloween”. I found out that my neighbor (the sweetest family) and their 4 kids were unable to go trick or treating. They were all ready to go but the mom had a emergency medical issue come up and had to go to the hospital. The kids told their mom not to worry about Halloween and they would be fine at home. 😦 So we had little activities at our house while the rest of the neighbors were meeting up outside to do a “trunk-or-treat” for them. It was all a surprise. As I walked outside when I knew everyone was set up, I was so shocked to see 50-60+ people all standing down the street with bowls of candy in their hands. They were all smiling waiting for this family to come collect their candy. It was an amazing site! This family is so loved that everyone wanted to show them that.

The picture does not do justice. We have so many wonderful people around us, that it brought tears to my eyes. The mom was so surprised and could not believe that they all came for her! After we came inside and had ice cream sundaes with a couple of other families that stayed after handing out candy. It was a good night!

Tuesday: Oh Yeah… Speed workout!!! So I did not sleep well last night and getting up at 4:45 a.m. Just to make sure I can get my full workout in and be home by 6:45 was already tiring on its own. I really went into this thinking instead if doing the 9×800’s at a 2:40 or less… I would do 4 or 5 and call it good. Anyway Mac and Amber showed up to do a warmup with me… Mac gave me a Gu (and I have never taken a Gu during a workout)… Mac and Amber ran the 1st with me and then took off to do a run. 1st 800: 2:40, then ran back up to the start line to finish off with a 6:19 mile. 2nd: 2:40-6:09 mile
3rd: 2:39-6:01 mile
4th: 2:39-6:02 mile
5th: 2:36-6:07 mile
Yes I decided to finish out the last 4… That Gu did wonders… I need to start bringing XOJO with me on my workouts!!!
6th: 2:36-6:06
7th: 2:37-6:01
8th: 2:36-6:01
9th: 2:33-5:53
I finished off with a 15 minute cool down… Totaling my miles to about 12 1/2-13 miles. I was so happy to have finished this workout!!! It was a tough one but I was so grateful to have these 2 show up because it made me get out of bed knowing they were waiting for me! I babysat all morning and into early afternoon. I did have some school PTO stuff to take care of so the newborn came with me. He was hard today (just cried a lot) but what do you do. 🙂 Corom and Travis Barney earlier this morning went to a friend of ours work. It’s his birthday today… He works at the city office. We arranged it with someone to let them in and make a “mess” of his office…

… Well later today there was a notice on my door about 2 wanted men here in our city… I was reading through it when I noticed it was a picture of Travis and Corom, on the cities surveillance camera… It made me laugh (because I realized it was a joke). I told Corom next time he was going to do something like that, that he didn’t want to get caught to wear a mask or something. 🙂

Well the rest of the day was a typical day… Kids running around, neighbor kids running around, homework, dinner, bed time routines (Corom at his meetings at church), etc. I am so tired right now! Time for bed.

Friday: I ran a whopping 5.1-2 miles today in 40:00.64. It was nice not having to put a lot of miles in today. Amber and I ran it together (we are both racing Snow Canyon 1/2 marathon tomorrow). Now for the rest of the day… All Halloween-I’m kind of a Freak with Halloween!!! It began with getting the girls ready… We went to their school and stayed there all day. The kindergartener’s had their costume parade and then my youngest and I worked in my 3rd child’s (kindergarten) classroom for their Halloween party.

I had a little bit of a break before I headed over to my 2nd child’s (1st grade) classroom to help with their Halloween party…

Then I went to my oldest’s (3rd grade) classroom to help with their party. For all 3 we made the ghost suckers using blow pops. We then played Halloween bingo. After the parties, the school had the kids walk around the block in their costumes (a parade) for all the parents to come down and see.

Right after school, I took the girls to the City’s Trunk-or-Treat… All the businesses got together for this. 🙂 Right after we quickly went home for our taco soup dinner…

Soon after we headed for our ward’s (church building) trunk or treat…

As that one ended… We headed off to the neighboring towns Trunk-or-Treat (where we used to live) but on our way up there we passed another ward’s (another LDS church building) Trunk-or-treat and of course pulled over to hit them up…

We finally made our way up to our old neighborhood and spent another 30 minutes there.

It doesn’t stop here. We took the girls to a neighborhood for the “old school” way of trick-or-treating and not the trunk-or-treat… They went door to door and loved it! We came home and had trick or treaters come to our door.

Oh… The last house they went to (Corom walked them up because I was handing candy out at our house)… The people have my girls a baby kitten as their treat… My trick, their treat! Who gives someone a baby kitten? I told the girls the kitten has to live outside!!! I’m allergic to cats and I do not like animals inside.

She is cute, though… I am probably raising monsters for Halloween but I cannot help it. I love getting candy on Halloween! 🙂 At around 8-8:15 p.m., the Barney’s came and picked me up and we headed off for St. George. Megan and I are running a 1/2 marathon in the morning (Snow Canyon). Her husband is coming for moral support and Corom decided to stay with the girls because having to pay a babysitter is too expensive!

Saturday: We woke up early (5 a.m.) to head on over to a HS to load up on buses. The buses took us up the canyon to the starting line. It was so freakin’ windy. We had a head wind the entire way! The 1st 7 miles was downhill but with the wind it sometimes felt like it was a flat course. I liked it because The steep downhill didn’t seem so downhill. It was still a fast 1st half!! At mile 6, I came across at 34:43… Way to fast… I knew I would be struggling towards the end. But you can also see how downhill the course was for that time. From 7-9 the downhill ended and it became a flat to rolling hills downhill… From 10-13.1 it became a rolling hills down. This all makes sense to me so sorry if it is confusing! I wish it wasn’t so windy for my time sake but I’m glad it was because it made me work harder… Especially the last 3 miles! Their were gusts so strong at times that I just had to drop my shoulders and my head (close my eyes) and push through it… It didn’t help that I was fatigued, too. I was able to finish with a 1:17.50 and placed 1st overall in women. That was a PR for me so I was happy about that. All my friends ran well and Megan want to break 2 hours… She ran a 1:53! Amazing!!!

This was a great race for CIM… I just hope I can hold on for another 13.1 miles. We shall see! The Barney’s, and Megan’s sister & husband and I went out for lunch, then we headed home. It was a fun trip. At home, the girls, Corom and I hung out and as soon as the girls went to bed… Corom began making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow. The YM/YM are coming over tomorrow evening. Corom is so good at baking… That is not a talent of mine!!!

It’s going to be a late night.

Tuesday: I woke up around 5:15 a.m. To get my speed workout in. Oh yea! I ran a 2 mile warmup 15 min and then began the Yasso 800’s. I have to run 8 x 800’s.
1st one: 2:36 (but it was .52)-6:54 to finish off the mile (Amber came to do speed also so I ran back to meet up with her-she also had a Garmin on so I was able to see where the 800 really ended. :)).
2nd: 2:34-6:04
3rd: 2:34-6:06
4th: 2:36-6:09
5th: 2:35-6:07
6th: 2:34-6:06
7th: 2:34-6:04
8th: 2:34
Just went straight into my 2 mile cool down… 15:19.51. Amber and I ran a mile together and then headed our separate way. She came this morning to help me to stay motivated in doing my speed workout. I was so grateful to have her there!!! Throughout the day, I stayed busy. It is Red Ribbon Week at the elementary school, so a few other moms and I have been working on a few things there. I really enjoy being part of the PTO and being at the school with the girls. A few kids came over after school today. I was sitting outside with the kids when a few CC boys ran by with treats/drinks in their hands…

On Tuesday and Fridays the CC kids meet up without the coaches to tell them what to do… They are supposed to do a workout. Well these 3 were obviously not thinking when they ran past my house with treats in their hands. I thought it was hilarious… But they thought they were going to be busted… I did stop them and said, “if you’re going to ditch out on a practice the smart thing to do is not run past the coaches house.” Yeah… They felt pretty dumb. It still makes me laugh. 🙂 Not too much going on tonight… Corom went to his church meeting and the girls and I hung out.

Wednesday: I met up with Holly and Mac for a early (5 a.m.) morning run. We went out for 1:15.22 and ran 9.8 miles. It felt good (we ran Harry’s hill loop). I hurried home and began the process of crazy hair day with the girls for school. That was a chore… A lot of crying, laughing, and chaos, but that’s how girls are I guess. 🙂

More PTO/Red Ribbon Week stuff and then the 2 older girls went to piano lessons, the 2 younger girls went to a friends house and I went to CC practice.

After practice/lessons/playing… It was off to the dentist for the girls to get their teeth cleaned. They loved it… Their own personal T.V. and headphones…

It was bad because a couple of my girls have to go back to the dentist for a couple of cavities… They are excited to come back. Great!!! It was dinner time so I took the girls to Subway… They were hungry and I didn’t have anything planned… Perfect…

… Well that’s how it was the entire time! We went home real quick… It was an early night for everyone (well Corom had to work late tonight).

Thursday: I was supposed to put a 12 miler in today… I kind of slept in so I only had time for 1:16.32. Later today I drove the route I ran and saw that I ran 11.3 miles. I will take it! I did run by myself… I was a little spooked this morning so that did motivate me to run a little faster… It was so dark and I saw very few people this morning. But I felt good. Corom had the day off today… He came with me to the school to get the PTO stuff done and then at home We got a lot of cleaning and outside stuff done! I like days like today. I did watch a few kids today but it went by very smooth! I only went to the beginning of CC practice.

We (the girls and I and a few friends) came back to the house. They played with their friends for a little while and then did homework, etc. We were booed tonight. 🙂 No we didn’t catch the people that did it.