Mother Racer

Today is race day- Provo City Half Marathon. We headed up the canyon at 5:45 to get to the starting line. It was a beautiful morning with the weather just a little chili but not bad. We ran a 2 mile warmup before the race.

Then we began our race… The 1st mile and a half was a steep downhill and I decided before the race started to take it very conservative! It is easy to run all out to take “advantage” of the downhill but knowing me and my racing… I knew I would be in trouble. My first mile was a 6:15… I felt great throughout most the race. I took a GU at mile 5 and that worked perfect for me.

As soon as we came out of the canyon I did have to battle the race mentally because it was a little over 5 miles of a straight shot to the finish… Mentally I held up pretty good until the 11 mile marker. I still felt good but my thoughts were starting to go more on the negative side. I think, for me, what was hard was seeing the finish line a mile and a half out. I held on and finally broke 1:20 in the half. I ran a 1:19.21 (from my watch) and took 1st in overall women. I won either $250 or $300 in cash and a watch (I was not able to stay for the awards because I had to run to the high school track meet at BYU. I did get a 2 mile cool down in… Running 17 miles total.

I went to the BYU meet and watched my distance runners in the mile and 800 and in the relays. (Corom and the girls helped our neighbors right next door move all day. 😦 I am sooo sad they are moving!!!) Anyway the distance runners did amazing. The guys in the mile PR’d (one by 11 seconds bringing his time down to a 4:25)! He did take 1st in his heat.

The other miler PR’d by 5 seconds (a 4:29) and popped a massive blister in the mile or 800…

The girls did well… 2 PR’d in their 800’s (2:23 and a 2:31)…

And the rest of the team did really well with sprints and field events!

I love watching this meet! Great runners from all over!!!
Corom and the girls came to the meet to hang out for a little while and then we left to go to my sisters to hang out with the family.

At home all the neighbor kids were playing night games, so our oldest was the only one that didn’t fall asleep in the car so we let her play…

Some friends came over and we watched a movie and then went hot tubing… Good times!

I went out for an easy 6.1 mile run in 44:44.60 with Beth and Mac. It was a beautiful morning.

I felt a little heavy on my legs/feet but overall, it was a good run.
After getting the girls ready for the day Corom and the girls dropped me off at the high school to take the track and field kids to the BYU Invitational. We have had great performances today! A few more kids qualified for State and others just did well.

I did leave for a couple of hours to attend my little brother’s college graduation.

It was not the most exciting but it was fun hanging out with my family!

I returned to the meet after we all (Corom and the girls, too) went to dinner. I just rode the bus home and Corom and the girls came home shortly after. They worked on the treehouse all day…

Oh and Corom also went to the school today to decorate our oldest’s teacher’s classroom door. Another mom was supposed to do it for teacher appreciation day but couldn’t do it at the last minute. They asked if I could but I was at the track meet… So Corom stepped in. He thought… How hard could it be, until he showed up and saw the neighboring teacher’s doors…

Poor Corom… The things I get him into!!!

It was a bigger deal than what we thought. But this is the finishing product:

It turned out awesome… But Corom and I could not stop laughing after he showed me the pictures. He is a good man!
We came home and just hung out.

I met up with Rachelle this morning and went out on a 7 1/2 mile run good pace run. We started off at an easy pace, but we got to talking and without even realizing it, picked up our pace. We ran for 55:47.11 and ran about a 7:15 pace.

We felt good and it was beautiful out. I love this time of year-well I had to sneeze quite a few times but other than that it was great.

Today I hung out at a neighbors (Emilee’s with Camille) for a little while and we let the kids play and then we went to track practice… (My oldest and the head coaches oldest walked to track from the elementary school for the 1st time. It is right across the street but you have to cross a busy road with the help of a crossing guard. The girls didn’t know that I went out to watch them walk…(you can see 2 small figures behind the fence :)). Yeah I’m probably a little too much. 😉

But they thought that was the coolest thing!

Anyway for track the distance kids went on an easy 4 mile run and finished off with strides. Their legs are feeling good and they are ready for the meet this weekend. Oh I hope the 3 that are so close to qualifying , qualify for State! They deserve it!

The girls had fun!

My 3rd child helped with dishes tonight…

Then Corom went to a church meeting and I went to a friend’s house for a little while to visit and hang out.

My run this morning with Mac was very nice! I went at an easy pace and ran for 1:05.00. I think I went out for 8.3 or 8.4 miles. We had a great conversation and the time/miles flew by. I could have kept going but I had to get back home. On a side note about running- I truly believe that running keeps me sane throughout my days!
This was my day…
What would you do? Am I being an over paranoid mom? My 5 year old (3rd daughter) has been complaining about her right leg hurting. It has been going on for about 5 months now. So I went to the doctors today….

Dr. Fullmer checked a few different things and said after he was finished that she looks healthy! He,then, ordered lab results for my peace of mind and to be on the safe side… And of course (later) I took her in. Deep down I know she is fine and I think I am over exaggerating, but then I think… What if there was something wrong and I didn’t take her in. So back to my question… Am I being over paranoid?
After the doctors (and before the lab tests) I took her to her speech class… My 4th daughter always does it with her… It is cute.

During a potty break, we ran into my oldest walking in the hallway. 🙂

Of course I then had to peak on my kindergartener (2nd child) but they were not in the classroom… 😦 I love being able to see my kids during the day at school.
We were off to the Outpatient care once we finished with her speech class. They wanted to do some lab work, so they drew blood from her… She was a champ and said it didn’t hurt. It helped that they have a drawer full of toys for the kids to pick out of afterwards. 🙂

Dr. Fullmer did call a few hours later and said everything looks good with all the tests but one. But… the one test that came back abnormal was of no concern. It was barely abnormal and could have been from a previous sickness (a cold, fever, etc.). I was so relieved and so grateful that Dr. Fullmer (Mike) called as soon as possible. Was I over reacting? Yes, probably! But I do not regret it. I feel better knowing and not having to wonder!
Later, the girls and I headed off for track (after my friend Marti had the girls for a little while for me… Nice break. :)). At track, I sent the distance kids on an easy 5 1/2 mile run. While they were out running… The girls were having their own track workout…

We then went for ice cream (I had 2 extra little girls- the sprinter coaches kids), they played in the sand and then hung around some of the high school kids…

Right before dinner, the girls realized that 2 of the baby chicks they got were killed (eaten) by our older English Mastiff, Harley. Oh my… The girls cried and cried and cried!!!

Corom is working late tonight, so I called him and we talked it over about putting Harley down. We have talked about it on multiple occasions because she is getting so old, her back legs are giving out on her so she can’t move her big self around to well and she is getting grumpy and mean. She would never hurt the kids, but she would have never killed any other animals (up until recently). Any way… We know that sooner than later, we would have to make that dreaded decision…
So I just explained to the girls that we might have to put Harley down, soon. They asked what that meant and I said send her to heaven… Oh my!!! I thought they were crying hard over the chickens… It is not going to be as easy as I thought. I honestly thought they would be sad but because of the chickens they would some what understand… My 2nd child is wailing I’m going to miss Harley… My oldest is just crying so hard, my 3rd is asking if we could send her away as tears are streaming down her face and my youngest is saying yeah… Let’s kill her. I am in trouble with my little one. I did explain to my 4 year old what that means and she did say she didn’t want to “kill” her. That made me feel a little better. Oh we shall see.
This week has been our week of “teaching” the girls how to keep their rooms clean and how to do dishes…

I realized, I can’t be lazy about it anymore. I always yell at the girls to clean their rooms, pick up their toys, etc., but when it is not done… I will clean it myself (or if it is not done properly). After meals either Corom and I are always doing the cleaning… Well I am realizing that, that is the easy way out and our girls are not learning a thing! So on Monday… I cleaned their rooms to how I want them to be. We made a rule that they are not aloud to go anywhere or do anything until their room is cleaned. Before they go to bed they need to make sure it is cleaned (going on the 3rd day and it has worked well… Now at least 14 more years to go :)). Same with the dishes… I was about to do them myself because I could have done them twice as fast but it is my 2nd daughter’s night and she needs to learn to do them. It actually wasn’t too bad. We had fun doing it. All I can say is… What a day!

I met up with Melissa, Rachelle and Scott for my morning run. It was cold!!! Back to 30 degrees. We started off at a nice and easy warmup, then picked it up to a moderate pace. At about 4 1/2 miles we began a 3.2 tempo run. My first mile was around a 5:56, the 2nd mile was a 5:50 and the 3rd was a 5:45… I don’t wear a Garmin watch so Rachelle gave me my times when she finished with the tempo. We ran a mile as a recovery and then I ran a 5 minute tempo. My legs were tired. When we finished, I finished off with 3 strides and headed home to get the girls ready for school. I ran about 10.6 miles in 1:17.50. A good run.
Once the girls were at school, I went to South Valley Gym and did my 20 minutes of weights (minus my youngest- she likes going to the gym because her grandma works there).

I came home from dropping my youngest off at joy school and noticed my front door was open…

I had that eerie feeling for just about 30 seconds before it dawned on me that if anyone were to break in… There is nothing to steal or they needed it more than I did. Really… A person would be there for about a minute before they would realize there is nothing of value here. 🙂
This morning a few of us went to our friend/neighbor to wish her a happy birthday… She is so much fun and I am so glad she moved in down the street!

We (Camille, Megan, Stephanie and Nancy) then came over to hang out… I actually watched a few extra kids today (for a couple of friends) for a little while so my friends decided to come hang out with me. It was nice… We just let all the kids play…
At track we had our team pictures…

This obviously is not the actual picture… I just took a quick shot while everyone was getting ready. For practice the distance runners went on a mile warmup then a mile tempo (hard pace). I had them run on effort not based on time. First off it was windy today and secondly, the kids had a hard workout yesterday. I very rarely give the kids 2 hard days in a row. You have to be careful not to cause injury or over fatigue. After their tempo, they ran 3 400’s on a hard pace. As I mentioned, it was windy and I didn’t keep their times. They went back out with a mile recovery and ran a mile tempo. So they finished off with a fast pace.

They were tired but many of them felt good for after doing a speed.
After dinner, we (the girls, Corom and I) went to pack night for scouts. It was the Pinewood Derby… Yeah. It is some serious stuff. 😉

I seriously hung out near the treats all night… Bad news! All the kids had fun!
Now it is time to go to bed. 😉