Mother Racer

Saturday: My day began really early and it wasn’t because I got up for a run… I got up because we (our cross country team… But mainly the other coach and I) are putting on the Witches 5k/1 mile race.

So we had the whole cone setting up, the food and race day registration stuff that had to be taken care of, packet pick up, etc. Busy morning for sure but it was all worth it. Corom and the girls showed up in there costumes ready for the 5k and the mile…

My oldest (8 1/2 years old) decided she wanted to run the 5k… So Corom pushed the younger 3 in the stroller and my daughter and I ran her first 5k together. It was so fun! She stopped only once when we had to run up a steep hill. She ended up taking 1st in the age group of 11 and under. She was excited.

The other 3 ran the mile race right after (I was the rabbit and then turned around to go back to my girls and Corom)…

We had so many Elementary kids and their families there this morning. We finished off the 1/2 marathon-marathon challenge there (all the kids ran their last mile at that race). The principles from the elementary schools came too… It was great! After the awards, raffles, prizes and clean up… The girls went to the church for their primary program rehearsal and for pizza. Then we all went out for ice cream (well Corom stayed home to work on the backyard stuff) and in the mix of all this… The girls caught a snake…

Corom went to the Octoberfest at the Clarion Event Center (with the Fullmer’s, Booths & MacArthurs) and I went to the Provo Halloween Half marathon to help as one of the pacers. I paced the 1:40 group.

It was a great way for me to get my miles in… I can never run too much on the day we put on our 5k. It is just too busy. So pacing was a great opportunity for me! Here is the controversy though… I took 3rd overall as a pacer. The next female runner was about 3 minutes behind. Do I take the 3rd place cash prize because I did run the whole thing and I came in at the 1:40 time? Or do I step down and give it to the next female that came in behind me. I told the other pacers to figure it out for me and I left to come home. I didn’t want to make that decision so now we will see if something comes in the mail. 🙂 The race directors had a glitch in their system so they were unable to present anyone with the awards. The 2 people in charge of the pacing groups thought differently also… 1 said you take the prize and the other said no way. Oh well… It was fun! I came home and the Fullmer’s, Barney’s and Corom and I watched a movie.

Sunday: Today was the primary program. All the kids from 11 years old and down had a little speaking part and sang different songs for all of sacrament meeting. I love it when it is the Primary program. My girls did really well! All the YW came over to my house afterwards to surprise another leader- Julie! She is an amazing friend and role model to everyone.

She was released from the YW calling so all the girls wanted to tell her thank you… Later we went to the Booths house for dinner and to celebrate a couple of birthdays.

Good Times!

Monday: I met up with Jeff and Amber and went out for a 16 mile run. (Amber met up half way through the run). For the 1st half we averaged about a 7-7:10 pace. It took about 2 hours. It actually felt good. I worked on PTO stuff for the school. It is Red Ribbon Week. Camille and Stephanie came over to help with some of the stuff and then we just hung out. At CC practice the kids went in a 6 mile easy run…

We went up to the Provostgarrd’s house for family night and Halloween fun…

Then met up with the Fullmer’s and Barney’s for a little haunted house fun. 🙂

It is a haunted house that is put on by different auxiliaries at the HS. They do a good job every year. The girls fell asleep on the way home. It is now 8:20, everyone is sleeping, Corom actually got into bed and I am enjoying the peace and quiet. Now I will call my parents… My dad is doing really well. Good night!!! 🙂

Wednesday: Before I headed off to the State meet, I was able to get a 1:17.32 minute run in (a little over 10 miles-10.1/10.2). Rachelle and Amber joined me for 8 of them. 🙂 All my girls got into to head off to school… Yeah… The car wouldn’t start. Our starter went out. My friend Megan picked my girls up and took them to school. I made my way to the HS, caught the bus with the CC kids up to The State CC meet. Oh the nervousness I feel on this race day (and I’m not even racing). We had fun as a team there…

The JV runners and us coaches were able to eat at the Olive Garden before the varsity runners race began. The girls varsity team were running a little late to the starting line… They were freaking out a little because they had to close off the bridge to the main field for a few minutes while another race was going on. We found a group of boys from another team that were more than willing to get their feet wet for our girls. Good kids! The girls ran well! Something about State that brings out the best in runners. Our top female came in 13th overall and broke our school record by 5 seconds. It was fun to watch!

The boys were up and ran well also! I saw more determination in their last 2 races (Region and State) than I have all season. I was proud! 🙂 Our top male runner finished 7th overall in State! Amazing!

I was home by 5 (the girls were with G-goat) and by 5:30 we were up at my oldest’s soccer pizza party.

Corom had to work late today… I went to bed before he got home… Him and our friend Mike fixed the car when Corom got home. 🙂

Thursday: I met up with Amber and went for a 5.5 mile easy run. We ran it in 42:22 minutes. I felt great and it was really nice not having to run too much! I had a lot of school/PTO stuff to do (last school day of our challenge)… The last mile for the 1/2 marathon-marathon challenge will be at the HS CC witches 5k/1 mile fundraiser this Saturday. I went to each classroom and passed out little Snicker bars to everyone. I left the kids with a message, “Keep throwing on your “Snickers”, for a good walk/run.”

The kids were excited for a little treat. I then helped in my kindergartener’s classroom. I had the “leaf” and “bear cave” station.

I ran a few errands for our 5k race coming up and then a couple of friends stopped by to hang out. Stephanie and Camille… It was a nice break to sit and hang out before the schools assembly. 🙂 After school, I had a dentist appointment (oh yeah)…

(A weird picture… That was the light thing above me.) While I was at the dentist, the girls were at their “horse lessons”. It’s one of the neighbor girls (15 year old) that gives them their lessons. She only charges me $15 for the hour for all 4 girls. A great deal! A very sweet girl. My girls just love her!!!

After dinner, I went to our local running store and bought a pair of much needed shoes! I have not had a new pair since February! My feet and my knees were beginning to hurt so bad.

Endurance Athletics is a new running/soccer store that just opened up not even 10 minutes away from my house! I usually go to Runners Corner (about 30-35 min away) but today I didn’t have the time and I guess “points” to get my pair of shoes. We came back home and the girls, Corom and I watched part of “The Sound of Music”. My girls love that movie!

Friday: I met up with Jeff this morning for a run/tempo this morning. Jeff has agreed to come run with me to help “pace” me on my speed days. Better late in the game than never, right. 🙂 We did meet up with all the ladies (Mac, Aubrey, Rachelle & Amber) for about a mile of the run. Jeff and I picked up the pace, ran Harry’s hill into Woodland Hills. Once we reached the top, we began our tempo down. I knew I was only going to get about a 4 1/2 mile tempo in so I had to make these miles count. I only know where the 1st 2 miles start and end, so my 1st mile was a 5:50 and the 2nd was a 5:41… The other 2 1/2 was probably around the same times between those 2 times but who knows. 🙂 It was nice having someone there to help me go. It was a 11-11.1 mile run in 1:19.54. At home we cleaned and made cupcakes and did all the things to get ready for a birthday party. Yep…there was no school today.

So my 2nd daughter had her birthday over a month ago… We told her we would have a party when we moved into our new house. So here we are today… We invited the entire 1st grade and the kids in her church class/neighbors. I did not want any kids to feel left out or sad that they were not invited. So we ended up having about 40 kids here… I guess you could say it was controlled chaos. 🙂 Corom was a big help!!! We just had the kids play for 1 1/2 hours… And we put no gifts on the invitation… Could you imagine all the presents??? Umm No! 🙂 The girls, Corom and I ran more errands for the 5k tomorrow (shopping at Wal-mart for all the prizes, going to businesses to pick up more prizes, etc… All to raffle off). We then had some if the CC kids (and my friend Amy & one of the moms) come over and help put packets together…

My oldest helped make dinner tonight (which was actually a huge help)!!!

Right in the middle of all this… I get a phone call from my mom. She asked me how I was and then goes on to say, “now don’t panic but dad had a minor heart attack”. I just started crying (the CC kids probably thought I was so weird). I could not help it! I went to my room and talked to my mom for awhile. My dad is doing ok but even now sitting down a few hours later… Tears just keep coming down. I can’t help it and I am just so shocked! I can’t explain how I feel. This phone call was the phone call I have always dreaded! It could have been worse and I am so grateful that my mom made my dad go to the hospital. He is the stubborn type and said it is probably nothing (when his right arm and shoulder went numb with a pain in his chest). She took him in and sure enough the doctor told them he had a minor heart attack. Like I said… They caught it early on and so they were able to do surgery (he has a balloon in his heart) and he is doing well! But it still is scary to think about… My dad. The rest of the night went on. I feel bad because I have been a little short with the girls tonight and just in a funky mood. I know I should have been the opposite with the kids but I am realizing that now after they have been asleep for awhile. Girls… When you read this one day… I love you… And you too, Corom. 🙂 I just want to say that my parents are the most kind hearted, service oriented, loving people you will ever meet! Well it is time to go… Until the next blog post.

Sunday: It’s church day! The girls were pretty good… They had their moments. 😉 We had 4 families/households here (one household consisted of an older man in our ward). After they left, we had G-Goat (my mother-in-law) over for her birthday. Yolanda (my sis-in-law) and her family came, too, to celebrate with cake and ice cream.

Corom and I watched Divergent after everyone went home and after the girls went to bed. Good movie!

Monday: I met up with Amber and Rachelle for a 9 1/2 mile run. We finished in 1:13. It was a good run! I enjoyed running with those 2. I’ve been running a lot on my own and it gets lonely. 🙂 I did a lot of PTO stuff today at the school and kept myself busy getting ready for our Witches 5k/mile run that the HS CC team puts on. The Elementarys here in our community 1/2 marathon-marathon challenge finishes the last mile together at the witches 5k/mile run. It will be fun to Unit all the schools together. We then headed off for CC practice.

2 days until State!!! 🙂 We had Family Home Evening tonight. I made a chore chart because I’m so tired of how lazy my kids are. And I take complete blame for that! It is so much easier for me to clean up after them then to take the time to teach them to clean. But… I’m doing it all wrong. So with this chore chart, they have to do the 4 to 5 things on an every day basis (the basics… Clean room, make bed, clean toy room, bathrooms, etc.). Anything after that (mop, vacuum, etc) they can earn a quarter.

Now I get to teach them about tithing $, spending $ & saving $. 🙂 So I gave them each their own piggy bank. This is a bigger chore for me! 🙂 We shall see how it works.

Tuesday: I went out for a 9.3 mile (1:00.53 minute) Fartlek run. I ran about 1 1/2 mile warmup, then ran 12 x 2 minutes fast, 1 minute back to my normal pace. I finished off with a mile recovery. I felt good! Once again, more busy PTO stuff for the marathon challenge (with it being the last week) and getting ready for Red Ribbon Week next week. CC country practice, we started off with a meeting for the State varsity runners. It was a little pep talk about the big race tomorrow. Then they went on a 3 mile shakeout run with 5 strides to finish it off. Once we got home the girls went straight to doing their homework and chores! 🙂

My 4 year old had to help me with dinner. I usually tell them to get out of the kitchen while I’m getting dinner ready… I have realized that they will never learn nor want to if I keep telling them to leave. I had to give up my annoyances of having the tomatoes cut right and at a timely manner… It was actually fun to watch her do it. We then headed off for YW’s (and Corom to his bishopric meeting). The youth and leaders played the game “Bigger & Better”. They started off with a penny and had to go to different houses to trade with something bigger and/or better.

There were 5 different teams… Pretty funny on some of the stuff they came back with! A sink, a bike (which this team had 2 dogs they were going to bring back), a huge bat, toilet paper (score) and a big basket. We finished our activity off with hot chocolate and donuts. Fun night… But my girls were so riled up when we got home that it was so hard putting them to bed! 🙂 good night.

Thursday: I ran 49:40 with the HS kids this morning (there is no school today and tomorrow). I was able to run a 4 mile tempo the last 4 miles in my (I think) 7 mile run. It was too short of a workout but a good one (I wish I could have tempo’d another mile or 2). It was a beautiful morning!

I did turn back a little earlier to get my 2nd child to the dentist. Her tooth has been bothering her.

The girls and I headed to the pumpkin patch and met up with my sister and her kids, and my friend Marti and her kids… Lots of pictures!

… One more…

This pumpkin patch is huge and it’s all free. 🙂 I’m all about the free stuff. My sister and sister-in-law and the girls cousins played and made messes and helped clean the rest of the afternoon. The LDS missionaries and Fullmer’s came over for dinner…

… The missionaries shared a good spiritual message, then had to leave for another appointment.

Friday: I met up with Amber this morning and went for an easy 54:46.09 minute run (about 7.3-7.4 miles). Shortly after my run, the HS kids showed up to their CC practice. I sent them off on a 6 1/2 mile Fartlek run and then they finished up at my house for pancakes and hot chocolate.

We did a lot of house organizing, yard cleaning, field weeding, tons of neighbors/friends playing, etc…

Lots to do and getting a little done at a time. My 2 middle children went to their friend’s little Halloween party. My oldest had 3 friends over for a movie and snacks night. 🙂 They all had fun.

Saturday: I met up with Emily (meeting her for the 1st time) and Devra this morning for a 21 mile run. Emily is running CIM also to try to Olympic Trial Qualify. She ran a 2:40 her last marathon (just wasn’t a qualifier). She will do well!!! It was real fun getting to know her and seeing Devra again. Both, extremely amazing runners and wonderful people. We averaged a 6:50 pace (7:04 the 1st 10 1/2 and the 2nd 10 1/2 we sped up to make the 21 miler a 6:50 pace). I did tempo the last mile into race pace (well I think I was race pace… I don’t wear a Garmin). My legs have been that achy tired all day long… But it was a good run. The girls did all their chores, so we took them to our discounted movie theatre to see “How To Train Your Dragon 2”. It was a cute movie… We ran errands and played out in the field behind our house the rest of the afternoon…

We had a babysitter come babysit tonight while Corom and I went to dinner with 3 other couples… The Halls, Booths and Fullmer’s. They helped us so much with moving. We took them to HuHots. Soo good!

Tuesday: I went out for my speed workout today. I started with a 15:45 warmup (2 miles). Then I started my 800’s (which I found out it is a little shy of an 800 :(. I was so bummed but it is what it is.) My 1st one was a 2:33, 6:11 to finish off the mile. 2nd one was 2:30, 6:06; 3rd one was 2:30, 6:01; 4th was 2:32, 6:03; 5th one was 2:31, 6:00; 6th one way 2:30, 5:59; and the last one was 2:29. I turned around and ran home for a recovery… 14:56. 10 1/2 + miles total. 1 hr 6 min. I thought I ran 11 but with the 800’s being a little short… Who knows. 🙂 My youngest and I (and the newborn that I babysit) went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.

It was fun to hang out with her… I had fun watching her run around with the other preschoolers.

At home I had 4 extra kids that I was watching for the afternoon.

It was off to cross country practice (I had a babysitter come today). The CC kids ran the same workout I ran but with a 1 mile warmup, 1 mile cool down and 6 x 750’s or whatever the distance is.

My 2 middle girls had their last soccer games! Woohoo!!! They had a great time.

We had the YW over at our house for food and a movie. My youngest was so tired she fell asleep on the floor as everyone was leaving.

Wednesday: I met up with Mac and Aubrey today for a 6 mile recovery run. It felt great! I ran for 46 minutes. It was beautiful this morning!

At home we got the girls ready for school and the 2 kids I babysit twice a week showed up around 8. I was not able to get to much done today… The baby required a lot of attention. Towards the end of the school day, I had some PTO stuff to take care of and then went out with a few of the classes to walk/run laps with them. The HS kids were there running with them.

My 2 older girls headed over to piano/violin lessons and my 2 younger girls and I headed off to CC practice. The HS kids ran 5 1/2 miles at a recovery pace.

The girls and I then loaded up to go pick up Corom. He was at the doctors for a vasectomy appointment. 😉 Poor guy! We pulled into the parking lot and my 3rd daughter takes off… Yeah… I caught her peeing by the side of the building. 😦 I blame that on Corom. Corom’s procedure went well! He lost his tight tight underwear on the way there so I had to bring some from home. I couldn’t find any smaller than what he normally wears… So I brought some girl underwear. Way to really take away his manhood. But it did the job!

He was sore the rest if the evening, for good reason, but did have a visitor (thanks Jason) and many funny text messages!

Corom had piece and quiet for a little while… The girls and I headed to my oldest’s last soccer game. They ended up losing with a overtime and then a shoot out. Yes this is 3rd grade soccer… I had to laugh to myself on the intensity and the need to know what team would place 3rd or 4th in the city league. 🙂 My daughter did not play as much in the game due to the competitiveness on this final game. She didn’t seem to care so I didn’t worry about it either. 🙂

My girls really do love soccer… They had a good time this season! The girls went straight to bed when they got home… They were supposed to watch a movie but due to the 3 younger ones fighting, that was taken away. Once the girls were settled and Corom was settled, a couple of friends and I went to a movie, “If I Stay”. It was a good movie. It was nice to get out. I’m home and I’m tired!