Mother Racer

Wednesday: I didn’t wake up in time to go for a morning run so I had to wait until after I sent the girls off to school before I went. (My youngest went to a neighbor’s house to play.) I then went on a 7.8 mile run and finished off in 54:14. I felt good and knew I only had about 50 minutes to run. I picked up my kindergartner and her friend from school… Then we played restaurant. The 3 girls were very demanding!

I picked up my 2 older girls from school and dropped them off to violin/piano lessons. The 2 younger girls and I headed off to cross country practice. They had a good speed workout. A 2 1/2 mile warmup, 7 x 800’s and a 2 1/2 mile cool down.

It was a pretty low key night with Corom working late. The girls went to bed and I worked on the school fundraiser/ 1/2 marathon to marathon challenge. There are so many little things to do and worry about. But it is coming together and the community is getting involved! Very exciting!

Thursday: I woke up at 5:10 a.m. and met up with Amber and Rachelle. We went out for 1:28.24 and got 11.7 miles in. It was a beautiful morning. My legs were a little tired this morning but was a nice, enjoyable run. When I came home, my 2nd child, the one that lost her tooth (well Corom pulled it out) was crying… The Tooth Fairy forgot to come. 😦 Yeah… I had to think quick!!! I quickly went to my room and grabbed a dollar… Then I went to hers and said let me help you look. (She has a couple of pillows on her bed that are stuffed animals). I hurried and shoved the money underneath one and waited until she found it. She switched so quick from crying to laughing. I, then, had to explain that the tooth fairy wanted her to keep her tooth for 1 day only and to put it back under her pillow for tonight. Oh boy… Rough morning! All 4 girls went to school today. But I kept very busy with the marathon challenge event. We are putting on an assembly at the school tomorrow and need to finish up on the last minute stuff (ok not finish up but start on what we are going to present :))…

Yep that is a huge map… We are going to track all the miles of all the kids and hit certain land marks throughout the US (Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Disneyland of course, etc.)… Anyway… Lots to do but stuff I enjoy and am excited about!!! I did meet with the city, recreation office and the other cross country coach to go over the final race. My oldest had a field trip today and Corom went as one of the chaperones. He had a good time with her, even though she didn’t really want to hang out with him. 🙂 At cross country the kids went on a 7-8 mile run today.

I went with Corom for his 2nd day of teaching at the university (UVU) as an adjunct teacher. He actually did a really good job… Yes I was pleasantly surprised. 🙂 He looked hot up there!

We then headed up to Salt Lake for a Ragnar fundraiser. We ate dinner with Tanner and Kristen Bell (he is the co-founder of Ragnar). Tanner then shaved his head to raise money for child’s cancer.

The 4 of us went to a concert out in the park… “The Head and the Heart”. I have not been to a concert in a long time… Well I’ve only been to 1 concert maybe 2? Good music! My mother-in-law watched the girls… She took them to a concert in the park catered to families. They had fun.

Sunday: Church , Rest and Meetings… We did have a few families over for dinner… We had a fun time.

Monday: I went out for a 1:17.37 minute run (a little over 10 miles). I ran with Mac and Aubrey and I felt great! Later in the morning the house inspector came to “inspect” our house to finalize the sell. I was informed that the family (that is buying our house) was coming to meet up with him to go through the house. That immediately made me stress… I cleaned my house but not thoroughly clean my house. The bathrooms needed some work and some other areas… I had 30 min to run through and get things done before the girls and I had to leave. Well… It worked out as much as it could have. 🙂 The girls and I headed off to cross country and sent the HS kids on a 7.8 mile run with a 3 1/2 mile tempo.

That evening for family night we hung out with a few other families. We played a little dodge ball and ate some treats…

Good times. It wore my kids down!…

Tuesday: Speed work… Need I say more! I met up with Amber, Melissa and Scott. Oh I love these guys! They always meet up when a speed work needs to be done. It makes doing a speed workout so much easier. We ran a 3 mile warmup (23:53). We landed on the track and ran 7 x 800’s with a lap recovery. My 1st one: 2:56; 2nd: 2:55; 3rd: 2:55; 4th: 2:51; 5th: 2:54; 6th: 2:51; 7th: 2:45. We then finished off with a 2 1/2 mile cool down. I felt good after my workout but during my workout… A whole different story… I didn’t like it too much. 😉 But I know that that is normal. I try to teach the HS kids that and to let them know that those feelings (of not enjoying it) is totally normal! I ran 11.25 miles total… I did hurry home to be there when the girls were waking up. It was my kindergartener’s (3rd child) 1st day of school.

She was so excited and her 2 older sisters were just as excited for her. 🙂 It was cute to watch. I then ran my pre-schooler to school. 😦

I don’t like all my kids being in school… But what do you do? 🙂 During that time of the kids being in school, I met up with the PTO board and all the classroom helpers to go over our 1/2 marathon to marathon challenge. The meeting went well. After picking up my 2 younger girls from school…

…it was errands and hanging out until cross country practice. The HS kids went on a 5 1/2 mile recovery run with a few strides at the end.

The girls did their homework and reading and then we made pizzas with the YW in our ward…

Right before the girl’s bedtime… My 2nd child wanted her loose tooth out. Yeah… It was not the funniest thing to watch but she was so adamant about getting it out!!!

Once in bed… My visiting teachers came and then Stephanie and Camille came over to watch the bachelor. Yeah… It was a late night! 🙂

I woke up early, early this morning, not because of a run but because of a major thunderstorm. It was pretty amazing… But I did worry about my race. I am running in a relay for a half iron man. I showed up in time for the swim to start… But because of the weather, it was delayed by an hour and 20 min.

My old boss from Sundance Ski Resort (70 years old) started off with the swim. He is an amazing swimmer! We started with the Elite group and all the other relay teams… It was a mile swim and He came out of the water 6th! (He was a talked about man this morning.) He ran into the exchange station and handed off the ankle chip to his daughter-in-law, Megan. She, too, is a phenomenal biker. The top female cyclist in Utah.

She took off for her 56 mile ride and held on to her spot. She was cruising!!!

As you can see, no one was behind her… She was able to move with the other 5 or 6 teams ahead of her. She finished her leg and handed off to me. I ran 13.3 miles (a tiny bit more than a half). It was good weather, they had aid stations everywhere, and it was a fairly flat course.

I felt really good the 1st loop (6 1/2 miles) and was able to pass a couple of the guys. On the 2nd loop I was a little more fatigued. But I held my pace. I caught a couple of more guys and headed into the finish.

I did struggle mentally the last mile. I didn’t take any gu’s or snacks or drinks (well I did drink water) and I felt it the last few miles. We finished 2nd in the relay category and 3rd over all. My time was 1:24.33 (I did run a 10 minute war-up.)

We had a great time! My teammates are amazing people and the best thing was… Corom and the girls surprised me by showing up and cheering for me while I finished.:) Oh and I also had a nice foot/calf massage…

Today was a busy morning for Corom and the girls. They cleaned while I was gone, my 3rd child went to a birthday party, and Corom had to run to the college he is going to be an adjunct teacher at to pick up the schedule. He brought the girls with him and then came to the race. They also washed the dogs today… That is quit the chore!

Now the cross country team had a meet today… That I sadly missed!!! They changed to date of this meet so I obviously had other things going on. Our girls team ran really well!!! They placed 1st as a team and I believe our boys placed 4th. I wish I could have been there. But what do you do!

A great bunch of HS kids! Later, Corom, the girls and I went to our Ward/church activity. The theme was games of yesteryears. Playing the old school games (stilts, jump rope, marbles, darts, badminton, face painting, tether ball, four square, etc.) We also had a nice dinner. 🙂

That, too, was a great time! It is fun acting like a child (which Corom does frequently). 😉 We put the girls to bed and then the Fullmer’s came over for a movie. I’m tired but I’m always up for a movie!

Thursday: I met up with Rachelle and Amber and went out for a 8.3 mile run in 1:01.43. We felt good and had a great conversational pace. It was also beautiful weather. I then took the 2 older girls to school and my youngest to her 1st day of pre-school. 😦

My 3rd child (starts kindergarten next Tuesday) and I drove around and found Mike and Corom on their long run.

They went out for 10 miles… That was Corom’s 1st long run and well only run since the 5k. But that is how Corom rolls… He is running the St. George marathon again this year. He probably runs once every other week and a few races here and there and will get up and run the marathon. I don’t know how he does it but I will tell you that it is very entertaining to watch him after the race. 🙂 Anyway… A few neighbors met up for a play date and picnic. It was a nice break to hang out with friends.

I had to run to the DMV before school got out and cross country started… I gave myself plenty of time to get through the long lines… Well I showed up and 10 minutes later my 2 younger girls and I were walking back to our car… With my drivers license in hand. The best DMV visit ever! At cross country the kids went on a 8 mile run.

Corom had football (sprints) practice and then a meeting. The girls went to bed and Corom and I watched a movie.

Friday: I slept in and then went out for a 34:06.36 minute run. It was great! 😉 The girls and I were able to walk the mile route to school this morning.

We have a lot of fun walking to school! The girls do like to play in the gutters. It was entertaining to watch them crawl in them. I did have a meeting for PTO stuff again. This is just the beginning. 🙂 Then neighbor kids came over to play. After it was time for cross country and picking up my girls from school.

Amy, Camille and I headed off to the play Les Miserables. The local community production put it on. Soooo good!!! My running partner, girl’s piano/violin teacher and friend, Amber’s husband and daughter were in the play. He was Jean Valjean and his 8 year old daughter was young Cosette. Excellent… Their voices blew me away!

I met up with Beth this morning and ran for 1:06.18 minutes. It was perfect weather this morning… But so dark! It was a good run though. We ran over 8 miles (I just don’t know how much over). I took the 2 older girls to school and then my 3rd child (later in the morning) had her kindergarten assessment/testing. From what I saw… She did well.

The 2 younger girls played with neighbor kids until the older ones got out of school. The girls went to their piano lessons and the 2 younger girls went to a friend’s house. I had to meet with the faculty at the elementary school. I was a little nervous But… It went well. Melissa (the treasurer of the PTO) and I presented the 1/2 marathon to marathon challenge. It is a fundraiser that we are putting on for the school, while getting the kids to be more active and fit. Hopefully we can pull this off! We had our cross country pictures today…

Then off we headed to our 1st cross country meet… Pre-Region. This is where we find out where all the schools are at. We won Region last year for the boys… I honestly didn’t know how we would finish off today. We ran the course as a warmup and then The girls started off with their race…

They ran really well from our top runner to the one that came in towards the end. I love, love, love watching the runners come in when they know they gave it all they had. Their fatigued smile is priceless! The girls placed 3rd in the meet. The boys went out and ran really well. I was pleasantly surprised with the team placing 2nd tonight. They were 5 points away from 1st. The other coach and I were “glad” they didn’t win because we feel they wouldn’t work as hard. This probably doesn’t make sense but it does to me right now. 🙂 The boys now know they can “win” if they want it and work for it. We have great, raw talent on our team- male and female… The desire needs to be there though.

I came home (Corom was working late tonight) to take the babysitters home (2 came over because our babysitter wanted to bring her friend). Well… I found out that while the girls were making dinner for my girls, some guy/man? Walked into our house. He realized people were home; well the babysitters yelled out asking who’s there… He ran out the door… The girls followed him. He stopped at the driveway. One of the babysitters yelled she was going to call the cops… He took off :/. Very freaky and eerie. Good job to the babysitters… I will be calling the police station just to report it. I did have to finish off my night with my birthday Ganosh Cake! Thanks Rebecca from the Clarion Gardens!!!