Mother Racer

Sunday: Today was church. It went well… My youngest did have a little accident during sacrament meeting. That’s always exciting. especially now that Corom sits up in the stands and I have the 4 girls with me on the bench. Thank goodness for people always willing to help out. At home, we did some more packing. Nancy and I then went to visit our neighbor for visiting teaching and then we went to another neighbor’s house for dinner (thanks Barney’s). It was a lifesaver because this past week I feel like there is no time to make dinner. We helped some other neighbors get their ball out of the gutter…

We put the girls to bed, packed some more, then went to bed.

Monday: I met up with Beth and we went for a 11 mile run in 1:22.42. It was a good run. After the girls went to school, I came home and packed. I cannot wait until it’s all done! The girls and I went to cross country practice (they went out on a 8-10 mile run).

Our good friend brought us dinner tonight… Thanks Candy! We took a nice little break and had family night. I love watching Funniest Home videos with the girls! They laugh so hard!

It was a nice little break… Bed time, then more packing (now it’s all the little things to pack) :/. Bedtime came shortly after for us too!

Tuesday: The lovely 800’s this morning. I decided to do them on the road and I don’t know if that defeats the purpose… I did have a slight (like 1%) downhill for the first minute and then the rest was flat to my finish spot. It was mentally easier doing the 800’s on the road, then on the track. My times were faster (thanks to the downhill). I did a 19 minute warmup (ran into Mac, Aubrey and Holly). Then I started the 800’s… 1st one: 2:33, ran back up to the start to finish off a mile in 6:15; 2nd one: 2:35, mile in 6:15; 3rd one: 2:35, mile in 6:10; 4th one: 2:33, mile in 6:10; 5th one: 2:31, mile in 6:09; & 6th one: 2:32, mile in 6:03. I finished with a 16 minute cool down… Probably about 10 1/2 miles… I was glad when that was over! I came home and had a couple of extra kids there (at 7). I am helping a friend out with watching her newborn and kindergartener.

I took all my kids and the little girl I’m watching to school… It was me and the little guy and the house to clean. Yeah… He wasn’t too happy this morning so of course I had to sit with him from time to time. 🙂 My neighbor took my 2 younger girls this afternoon (once the other 2 left), so I could get stuff done. That was very helpful… Thanks Emilee! Then it was off to cross country (downhill mile repeats)….

(That blister was from the race before… He tried to run on it… Talk about painful! 😦 ). The girls and I then went to their soccer games…

My youngest was running around doing who knows what…

My oldest was supposed to keep an eye on her… 🙂 She is a nut and has no fear! I took the picture from a distance so it is not to clear… Anyway, we came home, did homework, bedtime routine and then tried going to bed. It took the girls a long time to fall asleep! We cleaned (almost done) and then I blogged. Now it’s bedtime! 🙂

Saturday: I am so glad Corom arrived home at 3 a.m. That means I was able to go race in a 10k… The Powerhouse 10k. Rachelle, Amber and I ran a 3 mile warmup together and then they ran to the 5k starting line and I ran up to the 10k starting line. I ended up running another 2+ miles to finish off a little over 5 miles in 40:03. Then began the race… Right from the beginning, a college red shirting female runner took off. I could not keep up with her so I made sure I could always keep her in sight. It was a fairly fast course! For the 1st few miles, I kept thinking, I am tired right now how am I going to be able to hold this pace for 26 miles. That changed quickly when we reached the half way point… It was a 17:38!!! I finished the 10k with a huge PR (personal record)! I ran a 36:01.9! I have never been in the 36’s for a 10k… So yes, I was a little happy about this race. It was a 5:49 pace I believe. The female ahead of me ran a 35:23… Amazing! Towards the end it began to rain on us and then pour. Loved it! We ran a 2.2 mile cool down, totaling today’s run at 13 1/2.

I felt good… Tired but good. At home we loaded up the trailer we borrowed and took it to our new house to unload it in the garage…

It has been raining/pouring most of the day… The girls and neighbor kids had a blast with the rain and with the clogged drain…

I remember as a kid playing in the gutter like this whenever it rained. I rarely ever let my kids do that because I hate cleaning up the mess of wet clothes… I need to not care so much and to not be “lazy” with the dirtiness of kids! I don’t know how my mom did it with 7 kids. My mom is The most patient, caring, service oriented person that anyone will ever meet!!! Anyway… I was able to attend Women’s Conference at our stake center with Megan for an hour. I am so glad I went. Corom and the girls went up to G-Goats house to help her with something. We then headed off to the clown rodeo… In the rain (thank goodness for covering)!

We had so much fun!!! The clowns were amazing and the bulls were scary!

One guy was stepped on… He got up real quick and ran off…

Friday: Another busy day… I did sleep in a little. I wasn’t able to go for a run until after the 3 older girls went to school. It was a rough morning for my girls… My youngest poured a whole yogurt container full of cereal. She had to sit there all morning until it was time for us to leave for school. It was also picture day and trying to get the girls to wear something I wanted them to wear was not fun.

I helped for the last day of the Book Fair, went over and helped with picture day (organizing the classes in their lines), was able to get away for 33 minutes for a nice, easy run, then went back to the school for the 1/2 marathon-marathon challenge (running with all the 1st graders) and passing out Popsicles after. The kids here at the Elementary school are doing amazing with this challenge! So fun to watch!

I was able to get a lot of packing done in the hour that I had (Stephanie took my youngest to her house- that was a huge help). My 2 younger girls and the other coaches daughter went with me to the HS. We are hosting a major cross country invitational at our school. We had 38 teams and close to 1600-1700 runners.

We did divide it into 6 races: girls freshmen/sophomore; boys frosh/soph; girls junior/senior; boys jun/sen; girls varsity; boys varsity. There were excellent performances and many who left it all out there…

yeah…. That’s probably really gross. I couldn’t help it!

Once the meet was over, I grabbed the girls from the babysitter’s and went to my oldest’s soccer game… It is very entertaining to watch her… She is learning. 😉

I was beat tonight… The girls went to bed and I soon followed.

Thursday: I went out for 11 miles this morning in 1:22. Rachelle and Amber ran 8 miles with me. It is nice having them there. Corom left for California this morning to head to his cousins funeral. He was only 42 and passed away in his sleep from sleep apnea… Leaving behind a wife and 2 young daughters. It is so sad but Corom said the service was a beautiful service. Benny was so amazing and has touched the lives of many!
I dropped the girls off at school, helped at the book fair, ran with some of the grades at school…

… I made a complete mess of my house…

Then the girls and I headed off to cross country practice… They went on an easy 4-5 mile run. After they finished running, we all began to get things ready for the cross country invitational at our HS tomorrow.

After dinner, I took the 3 younger ones to their soccer game…

After the girls went to bed, I did lots of laundry. Not my most favorite thing to do! It was late before I went to bed.

Monday: I went out for a 58:04 minute run. It was so dark this morning… I ran alone and it was a little scary. I am kind of a wimp when it comes to running in the dark. It was a good run though! I felt good! I did have many thoughts running through my head though… A few insecurities were flowing through my mind, that I know I should try to push out. It was all based on my training and if I am doing what I should be doing to try to OTQ. I’ve been coming up with my workout schedule/plan on my own. I run based on how I feel, and I feel like there is no structure behind what I’m doing. But I do not want to hire a coach… Anyway… I will keep doing what I have been doing. I hurried home and got the kids ready for school. They were acting silly this morning…

I stayed at the school for awhile to help set up for the Book Fair…

I did come home for a while to do some more packing. It is never ending!!! And my life is so busy! I went back to the school to help, then it was off to cross country practice. The HS kids ran an 8 mile route… And my girls and I followed them in the car.

At home, we had family night then went to our soon to be “new” house to fix a few things. 🙂

Today was a long day and it went by quick!

Tuesday: Another speed day. I met up with Amber and Rachelle for the fun track work. We ran a 2 mile warmup before we began the dreaded 800’s. I ran this workout on my own because the other 2 did their own (it’s easier to get up and do a workout if you know others will be there). I ran 5 x 800’s. The 1st one: 2:43; 2nd one: 2:42; 3rd one: 2:44; 4th one: 2:42; 5th one was a 2:45. I was so tired the last one. I did run a lap and a half for a recovery in between my 800’s. I was hoping to stay in the 2:41-2:43 range and I know that I was a second or 2 off in 2 of them but I was still disappointed. Oh well… They are tough. We then ran a 33:43 minute cool down (4 1/2 miles). It was a nice recovery! I met up with Megan Barney and ran with her for awhile. I ran about 11 miles total. At home, we got the girls ready and off to school they went. I helped at the book fair this morning… It was so fun trying to figure out the credit card machine.

I’m glad we figured it out because it was a mad house! Kids everywhere. 🙂 As I got in my car to leave, I smelt a funny smell… Corom called a few minutes later to tell me he put a bag of popcorn in for our chickens and rabbits… I went to the back to grab it…

It was a monster bag! I laughed out loud because of how big it was. I did some more packing, helped more at the school with the book fair and the marathon challenge. Then the girls and I were off to cross country practice. It was a hill/speed workout.

The kids were tired. After dinner, we went to do soccer pictures and the 3 younger girls had games. My youngest didn’t want to wear her uniform so she wasn’t in the picture nor did she play. (She really isn’t on the team but because I coach the kindergarten team I throw her in the game every once in a while.)

The girls are having fun playing. They are playing better each time and their confidence is building!

Once the game was over, we headed over to the church for YW’s. Corom met me down there and took the girls with him. We had a craft and donut night!

Busy Day!!!

Wednesday: I went on a 54:03.56 minute run. The minute half I met up with Mac, Aubrey, and Holly. We ran at a steady, solid pace. My legs were tired from yesterday but they felt good after they loosened up. I ran about 7.5-7.8 miles. Once again, we headed to the school early to help at the book fair. My girls love it because they sit there and read all the books that are on display. (I helped again after Sep’s this afternoon).

There was so much going on today… Right after we closed up shop, I headed over to help with the vision testing for the school…

A neighbor watched my 2 younger girls so Corom and I could I sign on our new house! 🙂 It took a while but it is done. I think everything will be finalized by Friday and by next Friday we will move into our new home. 🙂 Scary but exciting!!! I came home and packed some more. I went back to the school to help the classes with their 1/2 marathon to marathon challenge (and passed out popsicles). At cross country practice, the kids went on a 7 mile recovery run, while my 2 younger girls, the other coach and I went around and began to set up our course for a big meet we are hosting on Friday. My 2 older girls were at piano lessons.

I took my girls to SEP’s (parent, student, teacher conference)…

The 3 girls are doing well in school. There are some areas that they each lack in but overall they are doing well. I did go back into the book fair for a little bit. I am so grateful for such a great PTO committee!!! I really could not do it without them. We were also in charge of putting a dinner together for the teachers… Stephanie and Candy took care of the dinner… I did not have to worry at all about it! Brit took over the vision screening and had 9 volunteers show up (they needed 1 more person so I stayed)…It was nice not to have to worry about that. Melissa has helped me every step of the way… Always there for the marathon challenge, etc.!!! She is in charge of the Book Fair and it has gone so smoothly! Camille helps out every where she can… I know I’m leaving some people out but really… These ladies are amazing! It’s nice not having to worry about it all! We had my oldest’s soccer game tonight. She is one of those players that is not dominate, will wait until the ball comes to her before she kicks it, etc. I think it’s great… She is having fun and loving it.

Oh she had a cute skirt on too. 🙂 My other 3 played and fought! Nothing knew.

Well at half time, which I thought I was safe, I told her that if she were to score a goal… I would take her and her sisters out for ice cream…

Yep… She scored. She kicked the ball and it was slow motion… The goalie went to go for it but her shoe came off so she stopped to grab her shoe… Well the ball rolled right past her… The ice cream tasted good. 😉 We stayed up until 8:30 trying to finish up homework and then it was off to bed for them. I packed. Corom came home in between work (it is his late night) to help load some of the heavier stuff in the trailer… Good times! 🙂

Friday: After a 1:01 (8.3 miles) minute run at a moderate pace, I hurried home to get the kids ready for school. Most of my day was spent at the school!!! I (and my youngest) met up with the 1st graders to run/walk with them in the morning (we were able to run with my 2nd daughter), then I ran over to Little Caesars Pizza to get pizza for one of the kindergarten classes (they won the pledge challenge)… My 3rd daughter was in that class…

I came back a little later to help the 3rd graders with a math assignment/activity (I was able to help in my oldest’s class). Yeah… I am not the best at math! 😉 Then the HS kids met me (and my 2 younger girls) at the elementary school to run the 20 minutes with the 2nd and 3rd graders (my oldest was out there running). By then, school got out and cross country practice started. I hurried over to the HS and put the runners to work. They ran a 2 to 2 1/2 mile warmup. Then I had them run 2 x 800’s, a set of bleachers & a 1200 at mile to 2 mile race pace, as 1 set. Most kids finished the workout but there were so many that dropped out. they ran a mile to mile 1/2 cool down. It was a tough workout! My oldest had a soccer game tonight. She played better tonight than she did the 1st time. 🙂

They went into overtime and her team won in overtime (not that scores matter in 3rd grade). Later our friend Jason and his band played at Booth Brothers. Corom and I and the Fullmer’s went to see them play. It was fun to watch.

Saturday: I woke up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning just to get 1:53.23 minutes in. I ran a few on my own and then met up with Mac and Amber for a big part of the run. We ran up Harry’s hill loop. When we reached the top of the hill, I took off to begin a 3 1/2 mile tempo. My 1st mile was a 5:45, 2nd mile was a 5:40 and I didn’t know where the 3rd mile marker was so I continued my pace for 7 1/2 minutes. I was tired but it felt good. I finished with a mile and a half cool down, hurried home, showered and went to the church to meet up with a few hundred youth and other leaders for a 5.6 mile walk to the Temple near by.

We started at 8:15 in the morning, stopped twice at 2 designated areas for a little spiritual moment. The walk to the Temple was amazing and the youth were great. We made it by 11, had the closing remarks and then ate lunch.

At home, we packed a few boxes more, played around and at times became very lazy! We found out that we will be moving to our new place (just a couple of blocks away) 2 weeks from yesterday. I’ve been packing a few boxes a day but now that we have a day… It’s push time.

The girls, Corom and I were able to fit in time to run to our friend’s house (the Barney’s). It is her birthday today… So we had to decorate their house as a little surprise… Yeah, it was a little messy but a lot of fun!

I was a little nervous how she would react to the “mess” in her house but she loved it. Thank goodness… Their were about 10 couples (Fullmer’s, Booths, Vantasells, Barney’s, MaCarthers and us) that went to the Clarion Event Center for their stuffed salmon and steak dinner. Soo good!!!

Corom and I decided we wanted to watch a movie when we got home… I probably fell asleep about 15 minutes into the movie. I woke up at 5:40 in the the morning still on the couch, freezing with no blanket…

Sunday: We had the Temple dedication today for church. It was for 8 and over (the age of baptism). It was so special! Corom and I went with our oldest (she is 8). It was a great dedication. I love the Gospel and I know this church is true! It is amazing and I know that Families are for Eternity!!! I am so grateful for that. Yesterday we found out that a close cousin of ours (Little Benny) passed away. He left behind a wife and 2 young children… He passed away in his sleep. It was so hard to hear the news and so shocking but I know where he is and that they have the opportunity to be with each other again! Corom and I decided not to organize anything and decided to spend quality time with the girls…

It was nice! We had our neighbors over for dinner… They watched the 3 younger girls for us while we attended the church session (thanks Stokes). It was a good dinner with them. After they left and the girls went to bed, Corom and I tried the movie again… During the middle of it our doorbell rang. No one was there but our door was decorated! 😉 So cute!

Today was a day with many emotions but the overall outcome… Life is good and family is so important and great!

Wednesday: This morning’s run was not the best! I was tired because I went to bed a little after midnight… My bad. It was supposed to be a nice feel-good 7 mile run… But it wasn’t. I hurt this morning. I just need more sleep! The girls were off to school… My youngest and I also hung out at the school for most the morning for PTO stuff. The 2 older girls had piano/violin lessons and my 2 younger girls went to their friend’s house. No kids for an hour… I got lots of organizing done. 🙂 For CC practice… The HS kids went on a 10 mile run.

They did well! I was able to get away for a little over an hour to go to dinner with a few friends. It was very nice!

Sorry ladies… You didn’t want your picture taken so this is what I got! 😉 I then went home, rounded up the girls and took them to my oldest’s soccer game.

It was fun to watch… My daughter liked chasing the butterflies more than the ball. 🙂 My other daughter was great at entertaining the other kids around.

They went right to bed when we came home… Always nice!

Thursday: Oh the dreaded speed workout!!! We ran a 3 mile warmup and finished off with a 2 1/2 mile cool down. In between was not so fun for me and it doesn’t even sound that bad! I did the Yasso 800’s… So I had to run my 800’s at my goal marathon time (2:40-2:43). Today, I only had to do 4, next week 5, and so on until I reach 10 800’s at the 2:40-2:43 time. I went into it thinking how bad can 4 800’s be… Oh my gosh!!! I was so tired and my legs were jello. My 1st one was a 2:41. I ran a recovery lap and ran the 2nd one in 2:45. 😦 I decided to jog 2 laps as a recovery so my 3rd one was a 2:43 with a 2 lap recovery leading into my 4th at a 2:41. I felt like I wanted to throw up! What is sad was I kept thinking of the weeks to come! How can I add on another 800 each week. Ugh! But, I am going to do it every week until I hit 10 (2 weeks before the marathon). I ran a little over 9 miles today. I then hurried home… I had to get ready before I watched 5 extra kids today. Everyone needed help with their kids on the same day, so that worked out well. Corom ran a long run with Mike (I’m grateful Corom is getting in 1 run a week before our marathon in 2 weeks). 🙂 But that’s how Corom trains… I was able to do my normal packing/organizing routine in between helping the kids today. Then it was time to meet up at the elementary school for a few of the classes 20 minutes of walking/running (for their 1/2 marathon-marathon) challenge. The HS kids came towards the end to finish off with them…

The HS kids then continued on their run of a 6 mile easy day. We had our fundraiser of selling peaches come in… So that took a little while after practice to hand out all the boxes of peaches to the runners. Good times! After dinner we went to our 3 younger daughter’s soccer games…

… Then at home, the 6 of us practiced some soccer drills.

We (Corom and I) need to do that more often with our girls. I know it will help them out and boost their confidence. As soon as we were done with the drills… It was straight to bed. Good night!