Mother Racer

Where to begin… I got up this morning to run an easy 5 mile easy recovery run with a few of my running friends (Rachelle, Josie, Mac, Beth, Amber & Amber). I felt bad because I was 15 minutes late and they were all there waiting for me. I had to make a little stop on my way there… There was a girl walking on the main highway and I realized she ran out of gas. Long story short… I turned around, picked her up, went to my house, picked up a gas can, went to the gas station, took her back to her car, put the gas in her car and then continued on my way. 🙂 Well as the ladies and I were running, they surprised me with a very special gift! I am leaving tomorrow for Minnesota and I am traveling alone. That stresses me out and I have been dreading the thought of going by myself. Well, the ladies informed me that they all (with a couple of others) pitched in and bought Corom a plane ticket! As we were running tears began to stream down my face. I couldn’t stop them (and I am not very emotional). I can not believe that they did that for me. Words cannot express my gratitude and love to them!!! I am so grateful for such wonderful friends! We ran 5 miles in 42:22.58. It felt good (my calves were a little sore but I think that is normal with tapering and having a massage). Soon after the girls and I went to the last youth track practice. We played games and ate treats.

And of course I had the younger kids help put away the high jump put… They rock! I then took the girls to their last day of swim lessons. And of course my youngest was pulled out again for not listening!

I did lots of laundry, packing and cleaning before tomorrow. Now that Corom is going, I had to figure out where the kids are going (thanks to my sister… I also had so many others volunteer) and figure everything else out. We stopped off at a friend of mine and I visited with her while the girls played.

The girls and I went to my friend, Amber’s house for a dinner for a pre-race party and an after race party. Some ran the 1/2 and full marathon last Saturday. It was so fun getting together with everyone and their kids! It was great food and great company. All my friends have been so supportive!!!

I then picked up my friend Tasha and Tasha and I picked up one of our young women girls (from church) out for ice cream… It is her birthday tomorrow. Very sweet girl!

It was nice visiting with her (well both of them for that matter). I came home and finished packing. I am so tired that I felt like I ran a marathon! 😉

What a night last night… Corom had the worst toothache… I have never seen him in so much pain. We found a dentist that met up with him around midnight. He couldn’t take care of it so Corom had to come back home and wait it out until the morning. By 2 a.m. we finally went to bed. By 2:10 my oldest came in crying because her foot hurt. I rubbed her foot until she fell asleep. By 2:30ish, I finally went to bed. My alarm went off at 6 a.m. Even though it is taper week before my marathon on Saturday… Today was the “hard” day, my time trial. 7 miles with 2 miles at marathon pace. I felt pretty good for the lack of sleep. I could have ran better but what do you do. My 2.1 mile was 12 minutes. I was happy about that! I ran the entire run in 44:37.12 (it was less than 7 miles… More like 6.5-6.7). We went and took family pictures real quick before Corom had to go to his dentist appointment and work.

Zep (our foreign exchange student) is leaving today 😦 and we wanted one more picture with her. Corom had his teeth worked on for a little over 3 hours…

His mouth hurt him so bad afterwards. Thank goodness for pain meds…

The girls and I went to swim lessons…

Oh what a surprise… My youngest had to go into timeout again. She scares me so much around water!!! Zep was at home hanging out with all of her friends. Quite a few of them came over to say goodbye. She has made really good friends here. I made them all lunch and then it was time to leave.

The girls and I drove her to the airport (Corom was in too much pain :/). It was a quiet ride there. It was sad and weird to say goodbye. She has been with us for a long time now, that it seemed unreal that it was time to see her go home to Turkey. She will be missed! She is a beautiful girl… Inside and out). We said our goodbyes and then I did have to get back quick because there was supposed to be our last youth track meet, but it was cancelled (as I was driving home) due to weather. We had a good rainfall. Once it stopped, it was so beautiful out!!!

Zep sent a picture from the airport (she said it was for her)…

Corom had a church meeting (he is feeling so much better) and then joined me for our youth activity (church activity). We played broom hockey and then ate treats. It was so much fun!

I did stop off at a friend’s house on the way home to support her. She had a jewelry party… I am not into jewelry or anything like that but this jewelry was really cute! (The picture didn’t turn out.) Today was a busy day, but what day isn’t? 😉

I decided to run with the high school kids today for my 6 to 7 mile recovery run. It was a good run… And I felt good. I ran over 6 but under 7 in 47:38.70. I think running with the kids made the run go by fast!

The youth track started right after high school cross country… The kids had so much fun today!

Then I took the girls to their swim lessons. They love going to swim lessons. My youngest is crazy and will just jump in not caring that she can’t swim. So she probably has been put in timeout almost every time.

Z went hiking today and I actually went and got a massage and went to Dr. Crockett (chiropractor) to get my hips adjusted. I had a free 30 minute massage… I decided to upgrade it to an hour for the $10 difference. The time went by too fast. It was great!

Later, the girls and I took Z around to say goodbye to more friends and then we met up with Corom and went out to dinner.

The girls were fighting over who got to sit next to Z. 🙂

She had some visitors tonight and we had a few people over for FHE. It was more of a Family History thing. Our church really wants us to research our ancestors. It has been kind of fun to see our ancestry and how far down our line has been worked on. My mom was adopted from Greece, so finding her different family members has been amazing! And of course we had dessert.

Corom had been in so much pain!!! He has a root canal or something and cannot relax or sit or anything! Oh it is so sad! I don’t know what to do for him. 😦

I’m trying to talk him into calling the emergency line. We shall see.

Oh the joys if Father’s Day! The girls and I got up and we (I) made breakfast. The girls were actually working on his “special church tie”.

Right before we left for church, the girls gave him his tie. He wore it all throughout church and received so many compliments on it!

It was huge! But it looked good. Z (our Foriegn exchange student) was excited to see her picture on it. She has been our “daughter” for the past 8 months now that of course she was included on the tie. We had a nice afternoon… I did take Z around to visit and say goodbye to different friends and families. 😦 Corom was back at the house taking a Sunday nap in the hammock out back. The girls just played out in the yard. We then had some friends over for a Father’s Day dinner.

Z visited a few more friends and then we all went to bed. Today was a rest day for me… I didn’t run or do any form of exercise. Always a nice break!

3:35 a.m. came around way too quick! I grudgingly got out of bed and proceeded to get ready for the Utah Valley 1/2 marathon. Amber came and picked me up and off we went to catch the bus at 4:10 a.m.

I was excited to run this race because I was running with my friend Amber. There was no pressure of racing today and I was able to enjoy the run. I ran the first 9 with Amber at an average of a 7-7:10 pace and then picked up the pace for the next 2 miles. The last 2.1 I went at a 5k race pace. (6:00’s). I felt good and ended up placing 4th in my age group. I ran a 1:30.50. I didn’t do a warmup or cool down because i didn’t want to put in extra miles. I had many friends running today and many that ran the marathon.

They all ran well and it was fun to be there. After a few of us went straight to the massage table…

Because we were the 1st ones there, we had a 15 min massage… So nice! There were a few of us from our racing team and they ran so well! Very talented runners!

Well today’s main purpose for me was to get a 13 miler in. What a great way to do it! At home we did the normal Saturday stuff… Cleaned a little (because we were unmotivated), organized a little and played (mainly the kids).

We had a few neighbors over for a barbecue and then the Fullmer’s and us went to a late movie (after the kids were asleep). We watched Non-stop. I thought it was pretty good. Eventful day!