Mother Racer

I met up with Rachelle this morning for a 7 1/2 + mile run… We did run into Amber half way through our run and she turned around and finished our run with us. It was a good run and we it was fun running with them! We were out for 1:00.18. For cross country practice we sent them off on a 9 mile hilly route.

Most of them were able to run the entire route. It was good to see. Towards the end of their workout… The girls came to join me. Corom took them out on his run again this morning. I took over so he could finish his.

The 2 older girls had piano/violin today, my friend Amy and I visited our friend Nicole today for her birthday, I had 5 extra kids that played here, and then I had young women’s tonight. I am over the 14 and 15 year old girls. The activity was at my house. My good friend Megan came over and taught these girls the basics of cutting hair. My girls were the ones that they used to learn on. My oldest, 8, (the one with the extremely curly hair) and my youngest, 4, have never had their hair cut. My 2 middle girls have once a few years ago. The YW did a really good job!

Megan did do the finishing touch up jobs… Their hair is so cute!!! The girls all had a good time. Now everyone is in bed and I am watching the bachelorette. 😉

Monday: So I finally made one of the cross country kids puke this morning! I was really happy about that one. 😉

I did get permission to keep the photos I took. Anyway… I began my morning run as a solo run. I ran for 27 minutes on my own. Then I met up with the cross country kids and gave them their workout. They were to run a 7 mile route and add a Fartlek into it. (At least 6 x 1 min fast-1 minute back to their normal pace.) I decided to go ahead and continue my run and run the 7 miles with them. Well I decided to run with this young man. I told him that instead of doing a Fartlek we were going to tempo 5 miles of the 7 mile loop. We were pushing our pace to about a 6:30 minute mile. We hit the 5 mile mark at 33 minutes. I turned to him and asked how he was feeling and then asked if he could go to the mile 6 marker… He gave me a nod. I was feeling really good so I decided to pick up our pace… Well, we passed the 5 1/2 marker… I picked up our pace and a minute later, I noticed that he was not by my side. I looked back and noticed he was gagging, which led into throwing up on the side of the road. Mission accomplished. It did make me laugh… I kind of felt bad. 🙂 Anyway… It was a great run this morning.

All the kids ran well. When we got back to the school, my 3 older girls came up on their bikes… They informed me that dad was right behind and going to the “Christensen’s Loop”. I headed on over and ran another 3/4 of a mile with Corom and the girls…

I did run for a total time of 1:23.21 minutes (11-12 miles I’m guessing). I took the girls to a birthday party at the splash pad and then to a neighbor’s house (with the marshmallow guns) for an hour while I went to a PTO meeting at the elementary school.

For family night, we invited families over (we opened it up to whoever wanted to come) and we played kick ball the old school way. In the middle of the road. We had a blast!!! We used to do that growing up as kids…

We of course finished off with a few desserts to eat. 😉

Sunday: Today was a good, relaxing day. We went to church and the girls were ok (well it was mainly our youngest… Feeling the need to dance in the isle :/… Yeah I put a stop to that real quick). It makes it entertaining though. We checked on some baby puppies for a neighbor of ours, the girls played with their bunnies, we had a couple of families over for dinner and then the girls had a slumber party in one room…

That was our Sunday! 😉

Friday: I went out for a 1:05.36 min run this morning with Mac and Amber. I ran about 8 1/2 miles and it felt pretty good. We started our run at the high school so I made it back just in time for cross country practice. The kids ran the same loop I ran but backwards.

Good run. At home, I was on the phone with my sisters and mom for about an hour trying to figure out our Greece/Spain trip. My mom is from Greece and my little sister is living in Spain (her husband is in the military). We booked our flight after much talking. So in November my sisters, mom and I are going for a ladies trip. Very mixed emotions but once in a lifetime opportunity!!! After lunch, Corom and I took the girls to a “clean” pond. Well before we went, the girls had to do their chores. One of the chores they had to do was clean their bedrooms… This is what they made to hurry the process up with taking their dirty clothes down to the laundry room…

Pretty clever! I think it actually took more time but it was very entertaining to watch. At the pond… Corom and his friend Jason had fun snorkeling while the girls swam around, jumped off the rope swings, caught little fish, etc… While I sat on the beach area and watched. I’m not a big fan of ponds, so I went along for the ride.

This is our 4 year old doing the rope swing. She has no fear! She did not let go right away… She swung so high!

The girls are braver than I am! I climbed the tree half way up, looked down and realized I was done. There was no way I would jump off of it! Way Too high up for me. Later Corom took the girls to a movie (Earth to Echo)… Which they loved! We had free movie tickets that the girls received from school and it expires in a couple of days. I was a little bummed that I could not go but I worked at the Clarion Gardens for a wedding event. I do like working there. And I have mentioned this before… The food is excellent! After helping there, I went to a friend’s house for a girl’s night out. Our friend is getting married next week… So we decided to get together to eat and have fun. My friend Julia (the one getting married) is an amazing person. Her soon to be husband is so lucky to have her. All these ladies are so much fun.

Saturday: I woke up and grudgingly went on a 49:11.45 minute run. I was not in the mood to go but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go. I felt ok. My legs felt more tired today. The cross country captains and coach Thompson (the other cross country coach) came over this morning for a meeting and breakfast.

The meeting was a little over 2 hours. Corom began our Saturday chores and the girls were so good. They were good all day today!!! After the meeting, I went into a deep cleaning mood. We are putting our house up for sale because we want to buy another house just a few blocks away. So we cleaned all day.

I will not put all the pictures in because it will take up too much room. 🙂 So we shall see if anything will happen. I did take the girls to the $1 store today to buy a birthday present for their neighbor friend (and they were able to pick one thing out). They love that store! Corom and I went on a triple date tonight with some friends of ours to the Derby. That was a 1st for me. The girls went to a birthday party and then had a babysitter. We had a great time!!!

I woke up this morning with a little more nerves than I normally do on a race day. I don’t know if it was because I have not raced for a little over a month, or if I was not mentally or physically prepared or in shape for this… But I had to do it because it is tradition. The 24th is a State holiday here in Utah. It is Pioneer’s Day. It was a fun 10k run. Corom (and Mike Fullmer) pushed the kids in the 4 kid stroller. I was able to race it.

My 1st mile I felt really good. But come the second mile heading into the 3rd, I mentally started to think negatively. I remembered how tired I was for the last 10k of my marathon and it really mentally affected me (I know that sounds weird). I pulled it together for mile 4 and 5 but mile 6 I was tired! I did hold onto a 6:10 pace (my marathon pace :/) and finished off with a 38:23 10k time. It was a minute slower than last year but I know that training for a marathon is so different than the faster 5k, 10k races. I have realized that my 5k-10k races are not as fast but I am ok with that. 🙂 I did take 1st and won $50 cash. That was a bonus. Oh… Yeah, my girls love bugs. I was a little grossed out but there was no way I could pry the beetles away from them. Then my 4 girls ran the 1 mile kids race.

They did so good and they loved it! It was fun to run with them. We then went to breakfast at Magleby’s Fresh to get their all you can eat French toast. We have done this every year after the race…

Then we stayed around and watch the 24th of July parade. It’s a pretty big deal here. I love this stuff!

Corom, if he could, would stay home… He is not a big fan of parades. He comes because he loves me. 😉 Well the other day, we did get in an argument and my 2 older girls came down and asked if we were getting a divorce. My 1st thought was how they knew the meaning of divorce. We don’t fight/argue too much so it made me laugh a little when they asked. I did have to explain that sometimes parents/adults fight but it doesn’t mean that it will end bad. (There was more explanation to our conversation…) Anyway, that was way off the topic for today. After the fun time at the parade… We hung out with my mother-in-law, Gary (her new husband) and his family.

We had a BBQ and Corom and I brought the bounce house over. We stayed for the afternoon. The girls did get in trouble for not listening and acting up, so we took away their carnival ride… Yes, the carnival folks come and set up everything for this holiday (the carnival runs for 4 days). We always let the girls choose 1 ride (because they are so expensive)… So when we took that away from them, they weren’t to happy. Mission accomplished (I hope this taught them a lesson). I actually went there to look around at the different booths. I am not a shopper or a big carnival person but I did want to go see a friend of mine (Stephanie) and her Jamberry nails booth…

The girls fell asleep at about 7:30-7:45 tonight. It was very pleasant. There are fireworks going on tonight but Corom and I rented a movie and relaxed. That was our 24th of July day… I love holidays of any kind!

Tuesday: Well my alarm went off way too early… I hit my alarm and slept in until cross country practice. I didn’t have time to run with the cross country kids (I had a PTA meeting right after practice). The strange thing is… I am normally way bummed/irritated when I don’t get a run in but today I was actually ok. 🙂 The cross country kids ran a 7 mile loop…

The 2 older girls went to piano/violin lessons…

Kids came over and played, my youngest stepped on a rusty nail… You know… The normal stuff here. 😉

I had the YW’s activity tonight. We decided to go canoeing and paddle boating. (My kids and Corom came to.) We had a lot if fun!

Wednesday: I met up with Mac and Aubrey for half of my 58:24.41 minute run. I felt good after the 1st couple of warm up miles. Then I was off to cross country practice.

They cut the route short… So it was a pretty short practice. The girls had their horse lessons this morning…

Today was a very relaxed day! The girls had a couple of friends over but they were very low maintenance today. It was very pleasant. Corom works late tonight and I went to a movie with a couple of friends. Fun times!