Work will win when wishy washy wishing won't

We waited around today for various reasons and didn't get out the door till around noon.  But that delay was well worth it!  B E A U T I F U L!  Shorts and short sleeves on Jan. 2.  However, I'm afraid I'm going to be paying for it in April or May.  : (  

Tom and I went 3 miles together then I turned back the same three to take the doggy for his mile.  This week we are lucky (?) enough to be tending our rowdy grand'doggy'.  I decided to take our grumpy older dog with the playful younger dog both on the last mile.  They were a little crazy but seemed to enjoy things...I went a different way that added a little extra and there were dogs all the way down that street causing us trouble.  I was very glad to get home  without being tripped or tied up by the doggies! 

Tom and I decided to shake things up a bit today and run a random route.  The wind was a bit nippy but shorts and short sleeves again.  Crazy.

Tom was doing his speed workout today.  I ran with him for a mile warm up then ran in the same area and watched him on his first four 1/2 mile repeats.  He looked awesome!  I was impressed that he didn't seem to look like he was even doing much more than a jog.  Good job Tom!

I did two 1/2 mile repeats without looking at my watch....just ran hard to see what I could do.  Two was enough for me.  : )  Later when I got home I looked and they were both at a 7:11 pace.  "Kind of" fun for 2 but too fast for me to do more at this time.  I just enjoyed the rest of the run by myself...in shorts...in the sun!  

When I got home I took the 2 doggies out for a mile...in shorts...in the sun!

 After the run I decided to take the outside Christmas light down...in shorts...in the sun! 

Theme for today..."In shorts...in the sun!"  Very strange for Jan. 4th in Utah!  I will enjoy it while I can!

Tom and I ran 6 then came back to get the doggy and the grand doggy for the last mile.  Having both the dogs sure makes it tricky...they are so competitive.  Today is our last day with Mu Chan the grand doggy.  

After the run I was tempted to go out and mow the back lawn to clean up all the leaves that are still there.  But that temptation passed and I didn't do it. : )

This morning was our first snow challenge in a while.  Luckily there was still a good crowd that met together to slog through the dark, winter morning.  It snowed the whole time we were out there.  We were all covered in the white stuff and trying to find the best footing the whole way.  Kind of crazy and we all felt like we were working harder than our pace was showing, (I guess that is because we were), but we had a nice time out with the gang.  

Six mile loop then the one mile doggy loop.  

For Christmas I got two new pairs of shoes.  They are exactly the same so I took a needle and thread and put a stitch in the back of one pair so I could keep them together.  That is how they got the names of Lilo and Stitch.  I thought it would keep me from getting them mixed up.  But when I got home today I realized I was wearing one Lilo and one Stitch.  So much for that idea!  Maybe I will check closer from now on.  But I had meant to wear Stitch so Stitch will get today's miles.

Now I've got to get back to Utah/LAL overtime!  Go Jazz!

Felt good today!  

I thought I was done at 13 but when I got home and had an anxious little doggy waiting for me I decided to do one doggy mile.   

Six exciting miles in the crazy wind and snow!  Fun to get the looks of "Are you crazy?" from those who drive by!  : )

Maybe I wasn't so smart to only run with my two new pairs of shoes.  I have been feeling some pain in my right heel/arch area.  Today it started being a bit more annoying so I think I might take a day or two off.  I get paranoid about big injuries so I like to take it easy when they are in the beginning stages. 

What a fun, fun race!  I totally loved being a pacer for the 2:10 group.   Oops....sorry about coming in a bit ahead of schedule, but everyone who really started out with us and wanted to stay with us did!  In fact, when we turned the corner and saw the finish line Chris (the other pacer with me) and I told the gang that we would get in trouble if we sprinted in but they were welcome to give it a kick....and all of them did!  

We were lucky enough to have the weather hold out until our very last mile or so.  It was actually wonderful weather to run in!  Fun...fun...fun!  I love it when a half marathon can be so fun!

Tom and I went out and battled the stiff, cold wind today!  We have battled worse than that...we can handle a little ole Spanish Fork Canyon winter wind!  : )  When I get home my little doggy ALWAYS wants to go out for his mile, no matter what the weather, so after dropping Tom off Rui and I went out for one more. 

Six on the TM....bleh..

Seven fun miles in the January sun with my hun!

6

Chilly wind to greet the SF Running club this morning.  It was just me and Tom and most of the speedy guys.  It's good it's not training season so I wasn't left in the dust!  At our 3 mile turn around we were walking for a minute before getting going again and I stepped off the edge of the road and fell.  Luckily it was cold and I had long pants and two pair of gloves on so the injuries were very minimal.  It learned me a lesson...while on a run, run, don't walk.  : )

 As soon as I got home I got showered and got ready for our Stake Women's Conference.  It was from 9:00 till 1:00.  Tom and I had a little "being parents" stress last night and didn't get a whole lot of sleep.  So after a short sleep and a 12 mile run I got to go to a 4 hour church meeting.  :o)  And guess what?....I didn't even get sleepy.  The whole meeting was very nice and very worth my time to be there.  The theme was "Messages of Light".  There was a great talk on the Atonement.  Then we could chose from different workshops.  I chose to go to one on helping make a stronger marriage, one on Mothers and Daughters and one on recognizing the hand of God each day in your life.  After the workshops they served us a yummy lunch with a not so yummy dessert.  (which is good because I don't know how to turn down yummy desserts, but I do know how to turn down yucky desserts.)

Tom and I went out together but my left calf was not wanting to be happy so I decided to have him go on ahead while I stopped to stretch out a bit.  Luckily I ended up feeling much better as I got going again.  I picked up Rui and took him for a mile and a half.  

Busy day.  

Things on my mind today....Kara (35ish, never smoked a day in her life), waiting for a double lung transplant, Ashlee (11 years old) in the hospital after 9 days with pneumonia.  Prayers to both of them and their families.

Had a nice day at the temple in behalf of Kara and Ashlee.  Then a fun, exciting, surprise thing and lunch with Tyler.  Was with Jansen for 10 minutes while picking up his car from the fix-it guys. (That is noteworthy since Jansen doesn't give very many of his minutes to his mom and dad).

Tonight Tom & I get to go with Tani & Tia to New Beginnings (we like to call it Noobie ginnings.)  Tia is our youngest and goes into Young Women's this year.  Kind of crazy to think our baby is almost 12 years old. 

Three with Tom, a couple alone and one with Rui.  The one with Rui was crazy wind into the east.  Eek!  But Rui loves his mile so I do too!

Tom and I gave blood tonight.  I ended up having all the trainees working on me so my overall time was longer than Tom's but my bag filled in 4 minutes 27 seconds!  The girl said a lot of people are around 8 minutes.  So at least I am a speedy bleeder!  I guess in a car accident or something like that being a speedy bleeder might not be something to brag about.  

Just for my info. Ran in older shoes today and felt the PF a bit in the right heel. Gotta keep an eye on this.

With giving blood this week and that wonderful wind there for us this morning I am just glad to have this run done.  I am very glad I don't have to run alone when I feel like this.  Having others with you makes it bearable.

We have a nephew and his wife who are looking at homes here in SF.  They called yesterday to ask about the wind.  Maybe they should have been along with us on our run this morning to help them decide if this is the place.  Cause if ya don't like wind then don't move to SF!  

Ohhh! Beautiful day!  This winter is just crazy!  I don't know if the skiers like it but as a runner I love it!  Hopefully some snow is going in the mountains for them and for all of us when we need water in the summer!  But you are not going to see me complain of wearing shorts in February!  :o)

Tom and I decided to start of on one of our not-used-so-often routes for a change.  We did about 3 miles together and then parted ways.  On my way home I saw a cute little pregnant mommy and 2 little kids out looking for a little white doggy they were doggy sitting.  As I went down a few blocks I saw the little guy and he came to me very willingly so I took him back to the seekers.  I feel like I not only saved a doggy but I also saved a pregnant little mommy from running all over trying to get him.  She seemed very grateful to get him back.

When I got home to get my own doggy for his doggy mile he was quite curious of the "other doggy" smell on me.  But luckily he forgave me and we went on our way.  It was so nice and I was feeling good so we stretched the doggy mile out to almost 2 to give me 8 for the day. 

Another fun run in the sun with shorts and short sleeves!  It was fun watching kids playing outside with no jackets like it is spring time! We have not even used our snow shovel once this winter! 

I am kind of feeling pretty wimpy when I get out lately.  Hopefully that passes soon.

Happy Birthday tomorrow to our oldest son!  Camron will be 24 years old tomorrow and his cute wife has her birthday the very next day.  So happy to have these two in my life! 

Ran 11 with the SF crowd.  As almost always we started out into the wind.  We had an enjoyable time for the most part though.  Pat and David were discussing their new invention and company they are going to start.  We had  a good time coming up with names and marketing ideas.  I think they ought to go forth with their plan...I think it would be a great product. 

Hurried home to get ready and go to a baptism for some neighbor kids, then home to get things ready for company and off to the final performance of Willy Wonka.  Tani and Tia did such a great job!  They have a fun time with the Spanish Fork Youth Theater.

Now I have a headache!  I hate it when I forget to drink good on Saturdays.  Must remember to hydrate better!  Have a great weekend.

Yesterday we finally got some snow that stuck to the ground.  We still didn't have to shovel because we are a south facing house and the sun comes out to do our job for us!  But I'm glad it came on Sunday so it hit on a rest day.  Today we were able to get out in shorts again and enjoy the sunshine.

Yesterday was such a nice day as my parents and all my bros except one were able to be here with us to celebrate my parent's wedding anniversary.  We don't take the time to get together often enough.  I wish Cam and Rurika and my brother Brandon could have been here and it would have felt a little more complete but it was a really nice afternoon with the fam! One extra exciting thing with the day was to meet my brother Shane's new girlfriend Lisa! 

Tonight we will be picking up our friend Aoi who is flying in from Japan.  Tomorrow we will take her into the MTC as she will begin her mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am so excited for her to serve in the Texas, Houston Mission.

Since I am such a slacker in my journal writing I need to make sure to make note of some of those things in here.  Sorry to anyone who happens to glance at it and only want running info.  :o)

I had too many fun things to do yesterday that I didn't get a run in.  I took our friend Aoi to the MTC in Provo.  She flew in from Japan on Monday and stayed with us that night.  Tuesday morning I helped her, spent time with her and went out to brunch before heading up to the MTC.  It was lots of fun to be with her.  She will be serving in the Texas, Houston Mission.

Later I had to help my son with some big plans....and then in the evening Tom and I were on a stake out.  More details on that later... :o)

Today was fun because Tom had to take some time off so we got to spend the whole day together!  It was our Valentine Day since we were not able to celebrate yesterday.  Of course part of our day together was a run this morning.  A very, very, very light snow fell on us towards the end.  Crazy winter here in Utah!  We still have not had to shovel our driveway this winter. 

While Tom and I were out today we came across something dead!  I don't know if it is a RAT or a MUSKRAT or WHAT!  But it was a very large rodent and it was only a couple blocks away from our house!  The front end of it was too squished to get a look at but the tail and feet are very, very rodenty and way to big for my liking!  

I was the only girl in the group this morning. We used to have a few but one went to a different group, one decided she is not running on Saturday mornings anymore and one had to do her long run yesterday.  Luckily the guys are all pretty nice and include me in the mix.

Tom has not been feeling very well the past few days so he finished up with 8 miles.  Four of us went up the trail to add a few more.  At home I grabbed the anxious doggy for his mile.  

OK, so earlier this week I mentioned a little stake out that Tom and I were involved in.  Our second son, Tyler, had us hide and video his Valentine's Day Proposal!  We wanted to wait and make sure family and close friends were aware of the news before saying anything online.  It was fun...Tom and I got to sit at a picnic table wrapped in a blanket looking at Salem Pond and secretly video them as he knelt down on one knee and asked her to marry him!  Luckily she said yes and she wasn't even bugged to find out later that the couple close by during the proposal was her future mother and father in law!  Congratulations Tyler and Chelsey!

Mmmmm....so nice to just sleep in a bit and enjoy a relaxed morning with the fam.  Tom and I went out in the beautiful sun.  When we got back home Tani and Tia had stomped a big American flag into the snow on our front yard. 

Today since I was on my own I decided to stay up in the neighborhoods around my home.  It was kind of fun to wander the streets.  I don't do that much anymore.  

Now I get to go help at the elementary book fair.  Then I get to substitute for Activity Days and then help prepare for and attend the annual Blue and Gold Banquet. 

Gorgeous day for a mid week double digit run!  Nice to have Tom along for more than half of it and Rui for the final mile.  

Great way to end the week!  We got to come down to SG with most of our kids for the weekend.  We also brought Tyler's finance and her family.  Its fun to spend time with them and get to know them better.

After staying up late playing games we decided to sleep in until 6:30 and get out the door around 7:00.  We drove to a trail head and then went out 5 miles towards Snow Canyon.  I love running along there.  It is crazy to watch the sun start hitting the cliffs down west that seem so far away....and then before you know it the sun creeps silently our way until we see our very own shadows running along with us!  I LOVE IT!  

Back at the van Tom finished up with 10 and drove back to the condo as I headed on to get four more miles.  As I was running I heard people shouting...."Kim!  Is that you?"  I looked across the street and 4 friends from Spanish Fork were out and noticed me.  It was fun to stop and chat with Rachel, Breanne, Kaliegh and Tammi for a bit before finishing up.

I had told Tom to have the phone handy in case I wanted him to come and pick me up at the bottom of the hill so I didn't have to run up.  I was planning on getting all 14 down and giving him a call.  But then I thought....Go big or go home!....And I headed right up that hill and finished my time in some neighborhoods around here!

Tyler, Chelsey, Tani, Madeline, and Preston all went out to check out the Lava Caves.  Tia wasn't feeling like much hiking so I volunteered to stay here with her.  We have worked on a puzzle, had a nap and made chocolate chip cookies.  Now we are going to play air hockey and shuffle board.

Today I said, "Rui, we're not in St. George anymore"  I tried to click my heels together and say "There's no place like St. George, There's no place like St. George, There's no place like St. George!"  But it didn't work, maybe its the fact that I had running shoes on and not cute, sparkly red pumps.  :o(  It was so nice to be down there this past weekend!  Oh well, back to our Spanish Fork wind.  Five miles was about all I had in me today.  

Today was one of those fun runs in the snow!  Not much wind to be too bothersome and just some fun snow pellets jumping around all over me!  

Twenty four years ago today my first baby was due.  Fortunately for him (and me at the time) he came 20 days early and didn't have to have a birthday only once every four years.  But to anyone out there who has a birthday today, I hope it is the greatest birthday ever!  How weird that we have a day every four years that we throw into the mix!

My leap day celebrating was a 10 mile run, mostly with Tom and always at least one with Rui.  While Rui and I were out for our doggy mile a medium to large sized dog jumped his fence and came barreling towards us!  Rui is a small dog, (10 lbs).  I had a quick moment to wonder if he would be torn apart or if I would.  I got scared and yelled "Big dog go away!" (I know...really intelligent and threatening huh?)  Well, that big dog stopped right there, turned around and went back to his fence!  I didn't stick around to see if he jumped it again.  But he did not come after us!  Needless to say I was (and still am) very grateful for that guardian angel that must have been standing between me and that dog and was much more convincing than I was!

Tom made today sound so exciting...I will do the same...

Six with Tom. 

It is so nice to live in an area where there is a group that gets together for Saturday runs.  It is also very nice that Tom gets up to go running too.  I can't imagine how hard it is to get up on cold mornings and get out and do an early long run by yourself!  Oh, and while I'm at it, it is so nice to have a member of that running group (Hal) who gets out early and has our Gatorade and water stop all stocked!  

One more thing that was very nice today....very little amount of wind!  Because the wind wasn't so bad we could add on a little bit of the west route without having to come back into the stiff wind. A few of us went up the trail and then up 6 mile hill to get to 14 miles.  When I got home I grabbed Rui for our doggy mile.  Happy to get a nice 15 miler in today.  Crazy to be thinking of adding 11.2 more on in a few months for marathons.   

Beautiful day but maybe not a good idea to have a cinnamon roll with chocolate chips and cream cheese frosting for breakfast before running!  Major stomach issues...didn't get the doggy mile in....that's all I"m sayin'.  

Yesterday's stomach issues stayed with me well into the evening so I was a little nervous about going too far away from my house.  The scare drove me to my treadmill.  I watched Monster House.  I had never seen that one.  I have heard it was strange and now I can agree that it is indeed strange.  

I have a 10 miler planned for tomorrow so I hope the issues will be all gone by then. 

I had to get done while Tom was in meetings so that I could get to a meeting so I had to do my 10 miler alone today.  He had a 10 miler too but his pace was much quicker without me, so I'm sure he enjoyed that.  

I was nervous that it was going to be terrible weather but it was mainly just the wind.  However the storm winds come from the opposite direction than the normal canyon winds so it kind of messes with me when I turn into the wind at a place where it is normally at my back.  

It is kind of strange to me to think that a 10 miler outside on my own was easier than a 4.5 miler yesterday on the TM with a movie on.  

Ave pace for the run was 9:14.  So not a speed-myster, but I am not going for speed today. 

Had some time with my parents this morning.  My dad likes to make bird houses and brought me a new one to enjoy.  Its always fun to get hand made gifts from your parents! After giving my dad a haircut we headed out around noon.  Nice sunshine..nice run...nice company.

My back woke me up a bit earlier than I would have liked and Tom was doing his own thing this morning so I was able to get a couple miles in before I met up with the gang.  My stomach has been a bit bothersome this week so I was happy I had a few miles in and then I could run with the back of the packers and still get my miles in on time. 

Ludlow was on call and had to stay within 2 miles from home so we turned around to back track a few places before getting to the drinks.  I ended up doing my whole run with no drink until I picked up Rui for his doggy mile at mile 13.  A little Gatoraid would have been good in there.

Today we are going up to visit our sweet Brielle on her 4th birthday!  It will be fun to spend some time with the family. 

Oh my, oh my...if we are going to continue to have beautiful days like today I will have to start going before the sun comes up or dress down a bit more.  Lovely, lovely weather!  I wish we could plan to have this for 3 months!  

I started out the day with my wanna runners.  We did day one of week two.  I had 8 ladies there today.  There were a couple who couldn't come today.  So far, so good...no dropouts yet.  I hope they all continue with the program and that the injuries stay away!  I have a few more who have mentioned they want to start...it will be fun to see how many come along this year.  

Later I went out in that wonderful sunshine with Tom.  We parted ways around 3 miles as he sped up for a progression run and I came home for the doggy mile.  

Tia hasn't been feeling great the past few days so she stayed home from school today.  It was fun to spend some time with her.  We did our Crocodile Hunter puzzle in a record 44 minutes today.  

Out in the morning before the sun came up.  Tuesday workouts have been hard the past few weeks.  Very slow this morning.

Today Tyler and his cute fiance' Chelsey are out getting their engagement pics!  I can't believe we are already doing this wedding stuff again, but it sure is fun!

Tonight we are celebrating with Chelsey as she has just completed beauty school and finished all her tests!  Yay Chelsey!

Not the best day....started off with a fall in the dark on my way to be with the Iwanna girls.  Later my daughter ended up staying home sick again.  We also had married kids coming that I wanted to visit with and have clean bathrooms for.  So I kept coming up with reasons for not wanting to get my 10 miler in today.  As you can see I gave into all the excuses. I went out and got 2 miles but just didn't want to go more. I am indeed mad at myself but I'm not going to beat myself up for it.  I just was not feeling it today and I didn't want to do it. I am planning on doing some tomorrow when I usually have a rest day to kind of make up for my slackerness of today.  

The end 

I guess my body (or more likely my mind) needed a little rest this week.  I sure did not have the running love on Tues/Wed/Thurs.  Luckily today I 'just felt like runnin'.  

This afternoon I got to go shopping with my future daughter in law, her mom, my current daughter in law and  my 2 daughters.  We were looking for bride's maid  and mother's dresses.  Didn't find everything we needed but we got a good start on looking.  

After shopping Rurika, Tani, Tia and I met up with Tom at the Pizza Pie Cafe for Tani's 1/2 birthday.  Now I'm tired...shopping wears me out.

Oh man...I just realized if I would have taken it .5 more I could have had 17 miles on this St. Patty's Day.  Oh well...I am just happy I got at least 14+ which was my goal for today.  Glad to have Tom along for most of the run.  Then Bob and Dave kept me entertained for a few miles. The last 3ish were on my own, they were the toughest but I made it through.  

We just got back from Tani and Tia's piano judging.  They both did great!  All that time at the piano and all those dollars to the piano teacher are paying off!   It is so fun to listen to them and watch them perform.

The weather was better than I was expecting for the wannarunners this morning.  It was a bit cold, a bit windy and a bit snowy, but not bad at all!  Very fun to see the ladies progressing.  

Went out on my own after kids headed to school.  The sun started shining nice toward the end of the run.  Enjoyed Rui's doggy mile at the end.

Tonight I have been having fun with Tia with Just Dance on Kinect.  Lots of fun!  :o)

Yesterday was not my favorite day.  But....I'm kind of getting used to not so favorite days...I hope there is something that changes to make them less frequent.  : (   

But today is a new day.  It has been a bit better.  The bill that was going to be $225.00 ended up being only $109.00 and it had a very funny story to go along with it.  AND I got my 10 miler in without any hiccups.    

I was thinking about the song "Some days are diamonds, some days are coal"  That is true and I miss John Denver so I pulled up a few of his songs on the internet today to listen to.  

Random, I know.

So glad I had a bit of company this morning for my 16 miler.  Tom headed up to SLC for the Running of the Leopards 5K so I was hoping there would be someone who wanted to go most of the distance with me at the running club. I hate it when you have a 16 miler planned and everyone else is only out for 8-10.  Luckily Doug and Hal were out for long runs today also.  Tom had a great time at the 5K...looks like I might have to try that one out next year.  

There were lots of runners out today!  So many that I have never seen before.  I wish more would feel comfortable joining in with our group so there would always be more people to run with no matter what pace you are going.   

Crazy weather today.  When I was out with the Iwanna ladies this morning the weather was quite warm and nice.  That changed dramatically as the kids headed off to school.  I'm sure there are many broken trees, fences, etc...Luckily none here at our house.  

I was happy it was more settled as Tom and I went out before lunch but we still got a little of about every kind of weather there is to offer.  

It was nice to have Tom along for most of this run.  We split off for a bit in the middle while he did some hill work and then I got to add my Rui mile in at the end.  

Random non-running thought of the day.  I think it is really cool that David Archuleta headed into the MTC today.  :o)  

Well, the first 18 miler of the year is behind me and all is well.  I felt good and haven't even been worn out today.  I was able to stay awake (except for maybe a few minutes at the very end) of General Conference.  I was also able to go to Joseph & the ATDC this afternoon.  Tani and her friends did a fabulous job on this musical!  Lots of talent out there!  

Now for a nice evening at home in jammies with the girls while the guys are at the Priesthood session of conference.  

The Iwanna ladies are up to 3 five minute runs with 3 minute walks between.  By Friday they will be at a 20 minute run with a warm up and cool down.  A few of them think that is impossible but I know they can do it and can't wait for Friday morning with them!

Later I ran out a bit with Tom and then back to get Rui.  

I am in the process of cleaning out my storage room.  It is fun to go through and get rid of a lot of junk!  It is also fun to find treasures of when my kids were small and I thought parenting was hard.  Little did I know that when they are small it is the easy time.   :o)

Today I am grateful that:

• the sun was shining
• I could run a couple miles at the beginning and a couple miles at the end with Tom
• the bathroom at Canyon View Park is now open!  :o)

.

What a cold, windy morning to start out today!  The great big full moon seemed to make it even colder as we watched the snow whirling past us in the wind!  Brrrr!  We talked about how it was giving us all a cold headache and decided that from now on if we are going to have cold headaches there better be ice cream involved!

I was able to run just over half of my miles with Tom and the triple Ds...Doug, Darin and David. They were all doing 12ish or less (except Darin but he was going to start going faster) so I left them just after 11 and headed back out away from home.  So I was alone for a bit there.  I was looking forward to a drink at the ball park but no bathrooms or fountains were going this morning...: (  I called a friend who lives down that way to have her have a drink out on her porch for me but I didn't get an answer.  Come to find out they were up till 4:00 this morning celebrating birthdays and they were all snoozing! 

Then I ran into my two new running buddies...Corinne (sounds like Car in) and Katie!  Yeah for some new running buddies!  I was able to run a few with them and then we had Tom come and get us so we didn't have to run uphill and east into the nasty wind.  I still needed just under 3 miles so I had Tom take me to the top of Canyon Road and drop me off so I could finish up with the cold wind behind me!  

When I reached home I still had about 3/4 of a mile left for my buddy Rui!   

*I forgot to add that when I got home I finished my 20 miler with a snow angel on my front lawn.  I was a little embarrassed (and nervous that I might not be able to get up) but I did it and it made me smile and maybe someone else too if they were watching.*

Did my Wednesday 10 miler today so we can enjoy more time with the girls the next few days.  Nice to have the first 4 miles with Tom.  

Sad note:  We got a call in the middle of the night last night informing us that building E at our condo complex caught fire.  Friends of ours own the condo right underneath the one that caught fire.  Everything they own there is now swimming in water.  Makes you stop and count your blessings...that is only 3 buildings down from our condos.   

Yesterday I just got a measly 2 miles on a rickety old treadmill at a scary hotel.  Tom went out but he was doing some speed work so I didn't want to be in places I didn't know all alone.  Plus there was no way we were leaving our daughters at that hotel without us. 

Last night we came to a different hotel and have had a much better experience!  Tom and I were able to go run some city miles and some nice City Creek, Memory Grove miles.  It was much more enjoyable than my yucky 2 of yesterday!

My Iwanna ladies ran 25 minutes straight today!  Congrats girls!  

We lucked out this morning.  The rain came in the night and was done by the time we headed out at 6:00.  It was a beautiful morning for a run.  I still get sad that I slept through so many lovely mornings in the past!  

The running group has kind of split into the 5:30 Eastsiders, the 5:30 Westsiders, the Speedy Trio, and then the 6:00 leftovers.  We seem to fall into the leftovers.  Kind of lost the running community a bit.  Doug, Tom and I enjoyed the run together.  Came upon Kelly and his dog for a bit.  Later I ended up with Doug, Hal and Ken for a second loop up the trail.  I was planning 16 but ended up a bit long.  I was at 17.5 when I got home which gave me an excuse to make sure to get Rui out for a short run. 

Thinking today of our good friend Bonnie here on FRB.  Also of my dear friend who lost a sweet 7 year old grand daughter this week.  Thoughts and prayers going their way.   

Lovely morning!  The Iwanna ladies did a great job with a 25 minute run.  Then later a nice run on Tom's warm up and a bit with my almost married son and Rui.  The only downer for today was having to make eye contact with the squater off the side of the road.  We wouldn't even have noticed him if he were a bit quieter.  He pulled our attention his way.  Poor kid!  

Kind of rainy throughout the whole run but never a down pour while I was out.  PF bothering me on the right foot more than I would like it to.  Seems worse going up hill and when I go faster than normal.  Hmmmm....I SO wanted to do this grand slam thing without fear of injury.....

I intentionally took Wednesday and Thursday off and kept today short and simple because I promised myself I will listen to my body and make it through the grand slam this year without preventable injuries.  Hopefully the unpreventable injuries will stay away too.  But I am trying to play this thing smart and keep my promise to myself. 

Today's plan was 20.  Things went well until about mile 16.  I think the first 15 were a little faster than I should have been doing for a long run and we also had some more hills which I came down faster on. That always seems to get my knees a bit.  So I decided the form was going downhill and it was only going to cause harm rather than help me so I called Tom to come and pick me up a bit early.  Just caught him before he was heading up north to a 10 K.  Kind of strange the race up there is starting at 11:00.  Seems like a rather late start for this time of year.  I'm glad I am not running it.

I am looking forward to attending my future d-in-law's bridal shower and then a nice trip to the temple with Tom later.   

Today is my Father in Law's birthday.  It is also my cute Grandpa Max's birthday.  Too bad neither of them are still here to celebrate with.  Both fabulous men!  Both very missed!  

Today I parked out by the trail head so most of my run wasn't just getting to the trail and home from the trail.  When I drove home for my last mile with Rui Tyler was just starting his run so Rui and I were able to join in with him for a bit.  So fun to run with Tyler.  I'm gonna miss that kid when he moves out in a few weeks.  Glad he is only moving to Provo.  

I am going to start counting my Iwannarunna miles as easy miles.  They are now up to a 30 minute run without walking.  It is .25 down and .25 back to my house and they are getting in about 2.5.  So I started out the morning with a 3 mile easy run.

Later I went out for my 10 miler.  It was hard to get out the door today.  I knew that once I got going it was going to be fine, but it was still hard to get out.  The weather was actually perfect.  I went out to the trail and up around Jack Rabbit Hill.  I decided to go back up and down Jack Rabbit for a total of three times.  I need to get some hill work in.  I just need to make sure not to try to go full speed when I come back down, that is what trashes my knees.  

Things are going pretty well.  Two weeks from tomorrow is our son's wedding.  The next week is Ogden and 3 weeks later is UVM.  I think I will be ready for all three events.  :o)

Started out with Tom and a bunch of guys at 5:30.  I was with them for the first couple of miles and then I just watched them from behind.  I ran up Harry's Hill and just as I was about to hit the top I saw Janae coming down.  I was so happy to see her.  I turned around and headed back with her.  When I dropped her off at her house I only had about 3 more miles to go.  We are planning to meet up more often....yay!  I'm kind of tired of being the only girl in our group.  

I got a nice, soggy 10 miles in today.  

Rowdy grand-doggy is visiting for a few days so I had the pleasure of running some of this with both dogs....I'm lucky Mu Chan didn't dislocate my shoulder...he is so strong when he wants to make a quick run toward another dog.  

Woke up at 4:30 this morning so I could get my 20 miler in before I had to be at a baptism at 9:30.

Our neighbors had a very stressful night.  There son who is friends with our son and another guy did not make it off the mountain last night.  When I got home from my run I got a call that he was missing and that search and rescue was setting up to look for him.  Luckily with an airplane or helicopter they were able to locate their truck and find that they had slid off the road and were stranded safely waiting for help.  

Beautiful bright moon this morning as Tom and I headed out.  Some miles with Tom, some solo and a bit with Annette.  Rui joined in on the last couple and was very happy to be out too.

Three nice and easy for me and then all day in the sun watching Tia at her 5th grade Hershey's Track meet.  This is my last elementary track meet.  :(  Kind of sad, but hopefully Tia or Tani might take up a little bit of track in their future.  

Tia did a great job in the 100, 200, long jump and the anchor in the 4 x 100 relay.  She came in a very close second in her heats in both the 100 and 200.  She jumped 65 inches.  I'm not sure what the winner was but second place was 74 inches.  Holy cow! I'm impressed with how well Tia did and am glad she put forth her best effort and had a fun day!   

Got 12 in today so I can just enjoy my son's wedding tomorrow.

Wonderful day with Tyler and Chelsey as they were married in the Manti LDS Temple!  We are so thrilled to have Chelsey as our sweet new daughter in law!  We have been lucky twice in a row now with the sweet girls our boys have chosen to marr 

Tom and I went out after the kids were off to school to enjoy a nice, sunny run in the river bottoms and around the trail.  It sure was a pretty morning for a run.  Everything just looks pretty at this time of year!  

Warmish and windy and not hydrated enough to start with made for a not so great run today.  I just hope the marathon on Saturday feels better than I felt for this.  Sometimes 5 miles seems like a long, long run.

Tom and I were lucky to have a place to stay at my brother's apartment just around the corner from the bus pick up and finish line!  Thanks for the cheap hotel Shane!

Unfortunately I didn't have a very good night's rest but I woke up well and ready to go.  Tom walked me to my bus and then he headed over to his for the 1/2 marathon.  Our bus started down the road like all the other buses but then turned the wrong way to go up the canyon.  Of course everyone started yelling at him that he was going the wrong way.  He said...."I'm out of gas."  WHAT?  We couldn't believe it!  We stopped at Maverik while he put $125.00 worth  of gas and went in for a drink and a snack!  Everyone was laughing and taking pics of him filling up!  It was kind of funny!  When we got to the top he couldn't let us out for awhile because of some buses ahead of us so he wouldn't open the door.  Everyone was needing POPs and some were getting rather cranky and rude.  One guy went up to the front of the bus and was denied an open door so he marched  very rudely to the back of the bus and opened the emergency exit and got out.  

We were finally let out and got into the POP lines that were quite long.  It was already 6:30.  We were all hoping we would make it to the start line on time.  Funny moment in line with my new bus friend, Candy, and the older gentleman behind her who saw her shivering while she was trying to apply body glide.  He mis-saw what was going on and there was an embarrassing moment for him following.  So far we already had fun memories of this marathon and we hadn't even made it to the start line yet!

As soon as I was out of the POP I was able to throw my bag on the U Haul and get in line for the start.  

My plan was to take a 20-40 second walk break at the beginning of each mile or at the water stop closest to that.  I am running UVM in three weeks and have never done more than one marathon a year so I need to play it kind of safe.  I was able to follow my plan pretty good.  I assumed with this plan I would probably come in around 4:20-4:30.  I didn't really watch my Garmin I mostly just made sure I was feeling pretty good at all times.  The last few miles still felt harder than I wanted them to though.  

It was fun to run into the finish line with Tom and Shane in the stands cheering for me! Tom had finished his 1/2 and been back to Shane's house for a shower.

Now, to make sure I do things right the next 3 weeks to be able to have fun at UVM. 

First of all....Happy birthday to my big brother!  And.....Happy Graduation to our middle child!  Happy day!

As for running I am following a very easy plan for the next 3 weeks to take me from Ogden marathon to UV marathon.  Since I am treading in new waters I want to really be careful.  Today I went a whole 2 miles!  Left hamstring let itself known to me today.  Kind of strange since I hadn't been feeling any problem with it until I started to run.  It loosened up and felt ok by the end.  

Just following my back to back marathon plan.  Today felt really good!  

Nice little run down in my home town of Manti.  Always love to run past the beautiful Manti Temple.

My little Rui was pretty anxious for his mile today.  He has been neglected this weekend as we were away and our son was in charge of him.  No doggy miles when I'm not here. Today he was a very happy doggy!

Breaking in a new member of the shoe family.

Glad to have Janae and Carolyn at the Saturday morning meeting place today.  I didn't have to try to keep up with Tom and the speedy guys or run behind them all alone.  

Now we are off to set up for Tyler and Chelsey's wedding reception.   They were married three weeks ago today.  It was hard to find a good time in May for a wedding reception with Mother's Day and Memorial Day and all kinds of end of school activities so they decided to get married then and celebrate with everyone else later.  Looking forward to a wonderful evening with family and friends.

Had a great day Saturday for Tyler and Chelsey's wedding reception.  I wish everything were always like that, just happy and fun and games...but alas it is not.  Gotta have the hard times in there too.  

At the UV Marathon today I had a great time! Not a great time, but I planned on that. Sometimes it is nice to swap a great time for a great time. I chatted with more people on this marathon than I ever have before. I met people from Australia, Canada, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, many Utahns and even someone from Boise! :o) I met people doing their first marathon and a guy doing his 119th marathon. Alison was a 14 year old girl who looked like she was 11, doing her first marathon. There was this cool older guy doing his 19th....he said it was going to be his last....he didn't need to make it to 20 because 19 would be more of a conversation piece. The wind was crazy, I'm glad I was there for a good time this time and not for a good time. :o)

Been a good week to take'er easy on the legs.  This was my first time doing more than one marathon a year.  Did the 2 in three weeks exactly as I had planned.  Feeling great and ready to pace the AF 1/2 next week.  It is fun to have a few years behind me and learn from some of the earlier mistakes I made.  June will continue to be low key before ToU and SGM training starts in July.  

It was nice to sleep in till 6:25 on this Saturday morning!  Tom and I headed toward the trail and found Leslie and Todd and ran with them for a few miles.  Took Rui out for a mile when I got home.  Poor doggy has been a little neglected this week.

It was a warm morning today, I'm glad I got up early to get the run in.  Tom and I mixed up the route a bit for a little wild and crazy fun.  We separated at the hills, he was doing a few hill sprints and I had no desire for that.  On the way home I saw Annette (one of the 2012 Iwannarunna gals) heading out on mile road.  I told her I would go get Rui and then come and run her home.  I caught her at the top of mile road so I got my good 5 miles in and then about a mile and a half with her.  So happy to see her continuing on....and usually all by herself!  Way to go Annette!

Julie and Natalie are 2 of the 2012 IWR 5K gals who have kept going and are working on a 10 K training plan.  They have been so consistent and are doing very well.  This week Natalie is out of town so Julie asked if I would come and run with her today and Thursday.  It was nice to go out with her and visit on a perfect running morning.  I did 4.1 with her then a 3 mile progression run.  Rui's time with me was a bit of a cool down run and then a very nice walk with the sun shining over the mountain at us.  What a nice start to this day.  

Four easy miles helping Julie out with her 10K training.  She is doing so well!  

Another fun opportunity to pace a half today!  Beautiful course and fun to help others!  Its always a bit scary when you know people are relying on you to bring them in at a certain time, especially in canyons with glitches on the Garmin.  I would like to have come in more perfect, but I would rather take them in a minute before their time than a minute after.  

As for my own goals...I am exactly where I wanted to be at this point.  Since this is my first year doing more than one marathon a year I wanted to be sure to play it right so I could come to this point feeling great and no injuries.  I hope to be able to go into SGM training now with a little more speed work than I have been doing the past few months.  

Saturday after the 1/2 marathon I was able to get a nice nap but then I helped out with my bestie's daughter's wedding reception all night.  It was a joy to be there with Lesa and Katelyn and be able to help them on such a special night!  

With a busy weekend I was happy to not wake up too early this morning.  I decided to drive over to the trail and run with the shade of the trees and the tiny bit of cool that comes off the river.  

It was a nice little progression run.  At first I wondered if it would be a run at all, I was still feeling tired and a bit more sore than I was expecting.  However, half way through I started feeling much better and enjoyed the run. 

Nice and easy on today's miles.  Two alone then 4 with Julie and Natalie and 2 with Rui.  

Sad to see so many fires here in our state.  I wish they would ban fireworks for this year...I think it is crazy to think of more fires being started needlessly.  

Glad to have Tommy Boy along today to help me through 7 long hill repeats.  It was also nice to have Janae join in with us for 4 of them. I haven't done much speed work this year but hope to be able to add that in good as I prepare for SGM.  I would love to have all the stars line up right for me to PR and BQ this year (and maybe even have a PRBQ afterwards....yummy Sanpete PRBQ turkey!)

Ran most of this with Julie and Natalie.  Tomorrow I am running with AnnaLisa...it is nice that I have been finding some more people to run with!  :o)

Luckily the skies look a bit better this morning than they did yesterday afternoon.  There are so many fires burning in our beautiful state.  It is so sad.  Yesterday we had ash falling on us.  :o(

This morning I was able to meet up with AnnaLisa.  She is one of my coworkers that I don't get to run with often because of her schedule.  She usually runs alone so she doesn't feel comfortable running on the river trail.  Today I took her there for her first time.  

I am going to Manti today to be with my cousin as her and her hubby of 20 years are being sealed together in the Manti LDS Temple.  I am so happy for them.  This is a good example of not giving up on someone.  Congratulations Jeff and Melody! 

Tom and I decided 5:30 was early enough for today.  All this meeting-buses-in-the-wee- hours-of-the-morning-thing we have been doing lately was not missed this morning.

We met up with Hal and Janae and later found Ludlow.  It was nice running and nice company.  I especially love to hear what Ludlow has to say.  He is a great guy and always has some words of wisdom.  Today we talked a lot about the Atonement and forgiveness.  We also touched on charity in a way that I don't usually think about.  He makes me stop and think about some good things.   

Wow...I can't believe we are already to a fresh, new month!  June passed by so quickly and I'm sure that is what will happen to July and August. 

Kay and I were able to get some runnin' time in together this morning.  It was great to be with her.  She has had some major knee issues keeping her away for quite a while. I think she is getting to the bone on bone stage....very sad.  But for now she is plugging away with the pain.  After a few miles we were joined by Natalie.  By the time I got back home I only had about a half mile left for Rui so after his short run we had a nice little walk.  He loves his time out on the leash!   

Thanks to my awesome hubby/coach for:

• Getting up early with me
• Taking 2 vehicles to Payson with me
• Parking one at Patetneet
• Parking one at Maple Dell
• Running up a mile on the steep part
• Running down the steep part slower with me so I don't trash my knees
• Helping me do 4 x 1 mile faster on the bottom gradual downhill and rolling hills.
• Driving back up to pick up vehicle at Maple Dell
• Driving home in two vehicles
• Getting ready for work while I am crashed on the couch
• Working all day to bring home the bacon

Four for the Fourth.  I went out alone and headed up past the pioneer cemetery.  When I got there I couldn't stop myself from going in and enjoying a few solemn moments by myself.  There is a bench that looks out over the whole south part of the county.  From there I could see clearly without any smoke from fires in that direction.  It was also nice because the mountains I could see were not black and burnt.  As I sat there looking over the valley and thinking of many blessings and trials the sun rays popped over the mountains over my left shoulder.  It was a tender moment that was needed from the hubbub of everyday living.  

Fun day yesterday down in the good ole hometown of Manti.  It is always a great time meeting up with friends from days gone by.  

At 5:00 this morning I walked out into the darkness and saw the most beautiful star lineup ever...and then a star burst right across the sky in front of me.  It made me happy that I had gotten out of bed and was headed out for my long run.

Tom joined in shortly there after.  He wanted 2 less than I was planning so I ran with Dan and Carolyn the three mile way and he ran the one mile to meet up for the rest.  

We ran a lot of our regular river bottoms  area for the first 10ish and then headed out to Mapelton and ended up in Springville.  We had taken a car in last night so we would have a ride home.  When we got to the car we enjoyed a little stretching and then went down to get us some breakfast from McDonald's.  (Breakfast is the only thing you will find me buying there.)  We took our breakfast and went up to watch some of the Hobbler Half people crossing the finish line.  

It was fun to meet up with several running friends and watch the excitement of race day without actually racing.  

When I got home guess who was anxiously awaiting his turn to get out....yup, Rui.  So I grabbed his leash and took him for a nice little walk...no run for him today.  But he is always happy for whatever I have to give him.   

Six alone, but I think I was suppose to meet up with Natalie.  Dang...I feel bad.  

Joy Nybo was nice enough to wake up early and take her hubby and 5 more of us up Payson Canyon this morning.  Tom and I got out earlier than the rest and ran up a bit and then down.  Maybe next week I will be ready for an all-down-steep-stuff-run.  I just want to be very careful with my knees.  Still on plan for a grand slam year with no injuries.  

Mostly with Julie and Natalie.  Nice and easy with enjoyable company.  

I'm sure 6.5 miles doesn't even touch the big piece of absolutely wonderful chocolate cake I had last night at a wedding!  But the cake and the wedding were both delightful!  Tom's cousin's son (Brady) married our friend's daughter (Merika).  We had a very enjoyable evening with many family and friends.  I love to get together like that!  

My plan for today was to get a 6 mile tempo run in the middle of my 13.  I started out a little sluggish and wasn't sure I had it in me today so decided to just see what happens.  After a 3 mile warm up and visit with other runners for a few minutes we started off.  I was keeping it easy at first as Tom and a few guys took off a bit faster.  The group I was in was lagging a bit so I decided to try to catch the guys and see if I could get my tempo run in after all.

I ended up with a 3 mile/2mile/1 mile progression run.  The cool down miles and the Rui mile felt a little harder than I would have liked them to.  But I'm glad the guys gave me the motivation I needed to get some faster miles in there.

 Three other things define this morning's run:

• The "skunk puddle".  Carolyn could smell a skunk and then she saw something in the road, therefore it must be a skunk.  Everyone stops to sneak carefully around....a puddle.  
• Dang Chad did his sneak up behind Carolyn and I to give us both an early morning scream session.  I hope no one in the river bottoms was yelling at me for waking them!
• Bug breakfast....I need to run with my mouth closed...bug in and right down the throat before I knew what hit me.  I'm sure it was still wiggling as he took the slide to my tummy.  Yuck! 

Today's run takes me over the 1000 mile mark for this year.  It was a beautiful morning for a run.  The air was crisp and a bit cooler.  It was nice to run with the group but I ran mostly with Kay and had a nice start to the morning and the week.  

Not my favorite night, great run and then not my favorite day.  Without going into detail Tom and I were NOT able to get much sleep last night.  I "woke up" I say it that way because I was not asleep) at 4:20 to get ready to run down Payson Canyon.  Luckily the run went really well but needless to say I was tired when I got home.  

Instead of hydrating and eating well I went back to bed for a few hours.  When I woke up something was not good at all.  I was passing out and hearing buzzing noises.  My face was a very wrong color.  My cute 11 year old was here with me and I told her that her brother was down stairs and she needed to get him.  Anyway....felt terrible, tried to get some gatorade in me and ate a piece of toast with jam.  I had a hard time getting much in me and fell back to sleep for many hours.  I woke up feeling quite a bit better but as the evening has continued I really don't feel well at all.  

Yesterday I had a booster shot at my yearly checkup.  I am wondering if these symptoms are actually from that.  I really felt like I hydrated right and it was definitely not hot and it was only 8 miles. I am hoping to get a good night sleep and feel much better in the morning.

This evening we went to our 3rd son's final city league baseball game of his career.  It has been fun watching him.  They lost in the championship game but had a good time. 

One more thing...a friend of mine is in the hospital waiting to see if the donor lungs that came in today are a match for her....It kind of puts things in my life in perspective.  

I went to bed still feeling quite yucky last night so I decided today would be a good time for a rest day.  I am feeling much better so far today.  Too bad I have lots of catch up work around the house since I wasn't much good at anything yesterday.

My friend who went in for the lung transplant got there to find that the lungs would not work for her BUT another set with her same rare blood type had also just got there.  They had to postpone the surgery a few hours but she has now gone into surgery.  Crazy stuff.  Her hubby keeps giving facebook updates and said everything is going great.  This gal sure has had a positive outlook through her whole journey.  She is a great inspiration to all!

I took a few days off since I wasn't feeling well.  Today I got out there and could hardly make it through 2 miles.  I came back to get Rui and see if he could perk me up.  I barely made it one with him and ran into Annette who was just starting out.  I brought Rui back and joined in with her for a bit.  FINALLY...I started getting out of that nasty funk!  I hate when it feels so hard....if it always felt like this morning I would understand why most people hate running.  I just hope tomorrow's 20 miler is much easier than today's first 3 miles!  

Update: My friend with new lungs is doing well.  They call her the poster child of double lung transplants so far.  I hope it continues.  

Sad news is my best friend's mom passed away.  Life continues to have its ups and downs just like it was meant to have.

Luckily I can say the morning was pretty and the scenery was beautiful but the run was dang ugly!  Only good thing about it is that it is done!  Glad to have Tom, Carolyn and JaNae to help me make it through this one.  

My favorite part of the run was when JaNae and I came down off Harry's Hill and around the bend to the sun coming up from the east and looking out over the beautiful valley that we live in to the North/West.  Amazing!  We were both feeling the gratitude of living in such a wonderful place.  It was our little morning spiritual uplift for the day.  

I actually had to plug through the last 3 miles alone.  I am just happy I did it when I really wanted to bag the whole thing.  I hope next week feels much better.  I suppose after having the issues of earlier in the week it may not have been the best time for a 20 miler. 

Today was not like Saturday and that is a good thing!  Felt a little more like my old self again.

 Today I am going to my best friend's mom's funeral.  Sweet Donna Hanks...she will be missed by many, many people.   

Six before the Speedy Spaniard then down to pass out info for the SF 1/2 Marathon and local running club.   

Spent a nice day with family at the parade, park and at home.  

Payson Canyon with about 6 others.  Such a fun run.  I'm glad it is going well so far.  It is one of those fine lines....trying to decide how much is enough but not too much. 

Today's run felt much better than last week.  I am happy it was only 15 though.  "Only 15" not sure when I became that person that could say "only 15".  :o)

Today's wildlife report.  Cute little bunnies who hopped right along side me for a short distance.  Monga spider who stopped me in my tracks!  Dozens of bats swarming on one section.  I hate bats!  I just kept telling myself, "they are more interested in all the bugs in those trees than they are in me!"  

Glad to have my mom and dad with me in SG to help with some condo remodeling.  Time to work.

Wow!  August! Unbelievable!

Unfortunately I have had to take some goose eggs for this week.  I have been doing lots of remodeling projects at my condo that made my back not so happy.  I hope I will be good for a 20 miler tomorrow.  

With the big help of Tom and some of the running gang I was able to get my downhill and a long run in today.  Tom took us up to Payson Lakes nice and early and let us out with the beautiful full moon shining down on us to light the way down for us.  We saw lots of deer and a few lovely cows but luckily no bears!  

Tom took the van down to Beer Can Flats and ran up to meet us and then down to the van.  He had water and Gatorade for us there and then drove further and ran to meet us again.  He continued to do this for my whole run.  He was a fabulous pit crew of one!  

During mile 17 I started feeling a bit too much pressure on my right ITB area and decided to call it at 18.  I was planning on 20 but felt it right to call it quits there.  Luckily I had my pit crew guy right around the corner to take me home.  

Big thanks today to Tom, JaNae, Doug, Dan, Hal and Stephen! 

Tom and I on the Bunny Trail.  Lots and lots of bunnies out this morning.  Also a quick lizard crossing our trail.  I'm always surprised we don't see more lizards here in St. George.

Last night we went to Aladdin at the Tuacahn.  What a great show!  So fun how the Tuacahn uses their awesome stage and special effects!  It is our new favorite show there!  We got home around midnight so 5:30 am came quickly but we know we will regret it if we don't get out at least by 6:00 while we are down here in hot country!

Got our carpet all done in our big condo today!  We are so excited and looking forward to our furniture being delivered tomorrow and the next day!  

I almost did 8 since the 6th I did 6 and the 7th I did 7.  But I decided 7 was enough.

Today our new furniture in H-10 was delivered.  Yay!  We like it!  Tomorrow the kitchen table and dining room table will be here and we will have er done!   

Five in SG then back to reality.

Yay to Tom again for being my amazing personal pit crew again!  Also yay to Kellie, Doug, Ken, Alan, and especially Dave and Stephen who went all the way to 20 with me.  

Tom dropped us off up Payson Canyon again.  It works out well as it is almost a perfect 20 miles to our house from there.  

Today we will head down to Ephraim to my niece, Tiffany's, wedding.  I think I will sleep in the car.   

I was planning to meet Kay this morning when I got a text from her saying it was raining outside and she wondered if we should just go back to bed.  I told her I would still go out but she could get some more zzzzs if she wanted.  She wrote back that if I were going out so was she.  Later she thanked me for not letting her go back to bed.  It actually stopped raining and was quite a nice run.  

Five with her and 2 with my poor neglected Rui.  He was so mad at me after being gone for 2 weeks and not taking him out.  The day I came home he completely ignored me.  He never does that....he is ALWAYS excited to see me.  The good thing about doggies is that they forgive easily and quickly.  He is now my buddy again.

This week I had to try to get back on the regular Payson Canyon day.  Since I just ran it on Saturday I wanted to take it very easy so I don't cross that fine line of too much Payson down hill.  A couple of us got out two miles down from where everyone else got out and we ran up a mile to meet them before starting the down hill.  Around mile 6 I was feeling the slightest bit of discomfort in my right ITB area so I brought up the rear on my own so I didn't pound things too much.  Right before I got to my van at Beer Can Flats a wild turkey and her 7 youngsters crossed the road just ahead of me.  

Kay and I did the River bottoms loop.  It was kind of nice to do since I haven't been around to do it for a few weeks.  Nice morning. 

Tom, Tani, Tia and I went to see Wicked at the Capitol Theater last night.  Very fun night!  They do an amazing job.  I can't believe how much we pay to go see that though!  Thanks for a fun night hubby who brings home all the bacon around here! I am a lucky girl! 

I took yesterday off and only did 4 today hoping that tomorrow I can do 20-22 without any problems.  I am feeling a bit nervous about doing that "one wrong thing" that I really want to avoid as I am doing the Grand Slam this year. My whole goal with this is to do it smart without injury.  

The girls outnumbered the boys today!  We had us a nice gang of 5 girls!  Yay for girl power!  It was nice to have a couple guys (including Tom) around too.  Only Carolyn and I were planning on getting more than 16 though.  At the trail Carolyn and I went up around the golf course to add in our extra.  I felt good most of the way today.  The first three miles I wasn't sure if it was going to be a fun morning or not, but after things loosened up a bit it all turned out pretty good.

Nice morning with Kay.  She was a bit stiff today because she wrecked on her bike Saturday. She is banged up but very grateful she was wearing a helmet.  I enjoy my time with her.  

Today was Payson Canyon downhill day.  Luckily everything is still going well with that.  I hope I am getting the right amount of good downhill to help me at SGM and not too much that will cause an injury before I reach the start line.  

The first 6 miles were all 7:27-7:49.  The final two miles I slowed it down to a 9:02 pace.  It felt good but I just get nervous on that downhill stuff!

I have a billion mosquito bites on both of my ankles (and other places but mostly my ankles and feet for some reason).  That might be a little bit exaggerated but not much!  We had a fun SF area runner club social Monday night at the pool but there were many unwanted and univited mosquito guests who also showed up!  

Today I decided to go out after kids were off to school to get a little heat/sun training in.  It was nice to be out in the sun.  It was also fun to see many more people out and about.  

One sad note, I ran into a sister of a friend (Susan G) who has cancer.  The sis said the docs just informed them it is in the bones and there is nothing else they can do for her.  She is down to about 5 months or less on this earth.   It gave me lots to think about for the rest of my run.  Susan is such a good person.  I can't imagine that she has many regrets in this life.  She has lived a very happy, good, service oriented life!  She makes me want to be a better person.  

Today my cute hubby/coach helped me with a 5K time trial.  I haven't been doing speedwork so I wasn't sure what I could do.  We went up to Jack Rabbit (4.25 miles) for a warm up.  I wasn't sure what I could do.  I ended up with a 24:06.  That is actually better than I was expecting.  But the last 1/2 mile was definitely not fun.  I am excited to do some specific 5k training again after SGM is out of the way.  

After we got home we changed and went to our ward service morning.  It was pretty neat to see all our ward members out helping each other out!  Now we get to go to the park for a ward lunch.  Tani and Tia were great helpers today!  Jansen was excused because HE HAS A JOB!  It is so nice to have him get out of a bed and have a purpose in his day!!!!!

Today is Camron and Rurika's one year anniversary!    

Eleven of us coming down Payson Canyon this morning.  It is nice to have a big group on this run!  The first miles are quite steep and I would prefer to use the brakes a bit there but unless I want to run alone with the bears I have to keep up with the crowd.  I usually back off toward the bottom.  Today I wish I would have backed off a bit sooner.  Now I am having some heel/arch pain that I could do without.  

To remember my goal for this year:

Run the Grand Slam and all my training runs smart so I can finish them all injury free!  

After my downhill on Tuesday I felt like I needed to take yesterday as my extra rest day of the week instead of today.  I think it was the right choice.  

While Kay and I were out this morning we ran into one of our two running friends who are facing cancer. Two weeks ago saw the first one out with her new bald look and now this one.  My prayers are with both of them.  

Rain makes you wet....wet makes you chafe....chafe makes you sore....and it was still great!  Of course I may be walking a bit differently for the day, but I earned it!  

At 5:00 in the morning it is very dark except for the times that the lightning is flashing all around us and lights up the whole world! The first hour was the worst part....soaked to the bones and a bit frightened by the closeness of the storm.  But we plugged away and got another 20 miler in the books.

It was fun to have Maegan join in with us today.  She did her very first ever 20 miler in prep for her very first ever marathon.  There was also Doug, JaNae, Kellie and Tom along for the fun.  

Up until about 5:30 last night Tom was not in for SGM.  That changed as there was a contest on the St. George Running Center's facebook page.  Tom is now in!!!!  He is going to run with me and help me do the best my day has to offer!   

Lovely morning!  A couple miles with Tom and some nice, quiet, alone time!  Perfect morning for a run!  Perfect for lots of other runners, walkers and bikers too!  Always fun to see others enjoying our nice trail!

Tom joined us on the Payson downhill run today.  It was nice to have him along.  I think we had 11 runners there today.  We are all so grateful to Joy (wife of one of the runners) who takes us up EVERY Tuesday morning bright and early!  

Slept in and went out after the kids were at school.  It was fun to run in the sun.  Got to spend some time with Desi and Alison and feel of their strong faith again!  What awesome examples they are!

I went out with Tom this morning and tried out a new section of our trail.  Got 6.1 there.

I spent the afternoon at MVP handing out packets for tomorrow's SF 1/2 marathon.  Tomorrow morning I am helping with that so I went out tonight to get a half marathon in.  

I met up with Kay, Kelly and David for a nice river bottoms 6 miler and then came home and took Rui out for his happy mile.  

Saturday was our Spanish Fork Running Club 1/2 marathon and 5K.  It was lots of fun to put on this year.  We had lots of awesome volunteers and runners!  The Mt. Nebo 1/2 has come along and taken some of our runners but those who have stayed have really seemed to like this race. We had not quite 300 runners.  It would be nice to gather about a hundred more next year but we really like the home town feeling that we have with our race and are very satisfied with how things turned out!  Many from the FRB took home the AD medals!   

The last few runs I have had some pains that make me a bit nervous as I approach my final two marathons of the Grand Slam.  Today when I started I didn't like the way it felt so I decided to go for a nice walk along the trail instead.  It was quite enjoyable and I loved the "stop and smell the roses" feel.  After a 3 mile walk warm up I did 2 miles and felt ok.  I just don't want to do anything stupid right now to ruin my goal of completing the Grand Slam with no injuries.

Today is actually Sunday, September 16th.  It is our daughter, Tani's, 15th birthday!  Happy birthday to an amazing girl!  

Friday Tom and I took off our mommy and daddy hats and went away for our anniversary weekend.  This Wednesday will be our 26th wedding anniversary so we decided to have a little fun with the number 26.  How many couples run 26 miles together on their 26th anniversary? We also pulled in the 26 letters of the alphabet.  

Friday night we got to meet up with some good friends from back in our Logan days of yore.  It was so nice to be with David and Linda Barney again.  We went to Maddox for dinner...not much on the menu there for the night before a marathon.  But we did our best and didn't worry since this marathon was all for fun.

It was nice to have bus service from our hotel to the bus pick up park.  We hit that bus at 5:00 and then jumped aboard the bus to the start line.  At the top the bus driver told us it was 23 degrees.  We didn't feel like it was quite that cold. I'm sure it must have been more like 26 degrees to work in with the rest of our 26s.  It was nice to hang out in the heated tents while waiting for the start.  Since we had a very casual plan for the day we stayed in the tent until after we heard the gun start.  It was kind of interesting how many others did the same.  

The canyon was beautiful.  And the weather was perfect! We only talked to 2 other guys we knew.  Other than that it was all a bunch of strangers who like doing the same thing we do.  We wore our new purple Spanish Fork Running Club singlets with an added sign on the back mentioning our 26 years and 26 miles.  It also said "lovin the jouney".  We got lots of comments and congratulations!  

With the 26 letters I had made up a set of alphabet flash cards that I carried with me.  I also had my camera.  We took pictures of something with every letter of the alphabet.  I am going to make them into an ABC book dedicated to all of our future grandchildren.  

A Anniversary

B Bus

C Cowbell

D Ditch (Tom sat in a nice cold ditch after the race.)

E Elevator (At our hotel.  Some of the letters were just from our weekend away.)

F FOOD  (Dinner after the marathon!)

G Gloves (nice to have for a few miles)

H Halfway point

I Ice Cream at the finish line

J Jail (there was a jungle gym at the park.  The only other idea was to jump but we are afraid to jump...my back would not like that!)

K Kim

L Love (we did a fun pic with our fingers spelling love with the blue sky in the background.)

M Medal, Moose. (I have always wanted a moose medal and this one did not disappoint!)

N Number

O Oranges

P Port-a-potties

Q Quirky (a friend our ours who looked a little quirky with his garbage bag on let us take his pic for that.)

R Red (the race shirt was red and I loved that it said 26.2 instead of marathon on it....it worked right into our weekend.)

S Shoes

T Tom

U University Inn.  (where we stayed)

V Volunteer

W Watches

X (this one was a bit tricky.  We just made our arms into an x for x marks the spot or something like that.)

Y Yawn (big yawn after the race)

Z ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz (after the big yawn that was after the race.)

It was fun on main street to hear a honk and a "go Tom and Kim" from Tyler Shepherd who happened to be driving past.  It was also fun to see Smooth at the finish line.  She is always a fun one to be around.  One more that we met up with was our buddy from good ole Manti High School, Bob Blauer.  He was so excited to meet and even go beyond his goal of 3:20 to reach 3:12.  He was pretty giddy to do so well and get 4th in his age. 

We had a great time and was happy to come home to our good friends who had planned a nice birthday dinner for Tani and the rest of us.  Thank you so much Scott, Marcia and Kelsie for a yummy dinner to come home to. 

The first two miles my legs felt very tired.  The second two miles I felt great.  The last 2 miles I was happy to be done.

Felt good enough after Saturday's marathon to go do the Payson Canyon down hill one more time before SGM.  

Five very wimpy miles.  I took yesterday off since I did a pretty hard down hill on Tuesday after running the

marathon last Saturday.  I am paranoid of some dumb over training injury as I recover from ToU and get ready for my final marathon of the year.  I really would like to have SGM go super-dee-duper!  

I wanted two full days off to give my left hammie and my right arch a bit of time to settle down.  It seemed to be a good idea as today neither of them gave me much trouble.  Tom, Doug, Carolyn, and I met at Harry's Hill to do a few repeats.  We went up and down Harry's 3 times.  We weren't doing Payson Canyon today but we still wanted some kind of hill work.  Harry does provide some hill work.  On the way up the third time the hammie talked to me a little bit.  Not much but just to let me know it is there.  :o)

Six with Kay and Doc L.  I'm in good hands here.  Kay is a nurse and Doc is a doc.  If I go down with them I should make it through.  When I went up heartbreak hill today it felt better than any time EVER that I have gone up that hill!  Is that what 3 times up and down Harry yesterday did for me?  I am willing to do that again.

Four fun miles on the sport's park trail with fellow runners at the annual moonlight run.  

I don't think I mentioned my son's birthday yesterday.  Happy birthday to Tyler.  22 years old and married to his cute Chelsey!

Today Tom has the day off so we went out after the kids were off to school and enjoyed a nice run on the sport's park trail in the morning sunshine!  

Today a few of us decided to go at 6 instead of 5.  Met up with JaNae,  and new gal Karen, Hal and Stephen for the first couple miles.  Then the guys wanted to go one way and the girls wanted to go the other way so we split apart at the water stop.  Windy and chilly but very nice with a beautiful moon.  I had to laugh as I ran beneath the moon like I do so many mornings because we had what we call the moonlight run with our running group Thursday evening and didn't see the moon till we were headed home.  We should start calling that one our daylight run and name all the other ones the moonlight runs.  

Tom gets to be down in SG with Terry and KC and all their daughters for a fun weekend.  I'm glad I still have my 18 year old around so I'm not completely alone.

One week till SGM.  I'm getting excited.   

Wow!  A new month again!  Only 5 days till SGM.  It was nice today to get out with Kay and Kelly and do an easy 6 miles with a beautiful full moon to light the way!  It was a perfect fall morning for a run.  I will miss this kind of weather all too soon!  

Today I only did 3 miles but it was up and down a hill so I figure that is good enough.  Tomorrow I will probably run 6 easy and then take a few days off before the big day.

Today is our daughter Tia's 12th birthday.  She is the baby of our family and a most wonderful part of our family!  It is such a joy to be around her.  It is fun to be thinking back and celebrating her life.  And at the same time I am heartbroken for my dear friend Amy.  Today her and her family have to make one of the biggest decisions anyone is asked to make on this earth. Weather to turn off life support on her 33 year old sister.  My prayers are with her and her family, especially her momma.  What a heart wrenching decision for a mother to make.  

Probably my last run until Saturday.  Everything seems to be feeling good.  Too bad I haven't been a better eater the past few months so I could be at a little better running weight.  Oh well, too late to worry about that now.

Had a fun little surprise birthday party for Tia today.  Now I think we are done with birthdays for a while around here.

Going into SGM I had three goals.  I am weird though and did not think of them as gold, silver and bronze.  I thought of them as Gold, Gold plus and Gold plus plus.  This is because my lowest expectation was worth a gold to me and the rest would all be lots of extra frosting!

Gold:  Make it through all four Grand Slam marathons with lots of fun memories and no injury. Check!

Gold Plus: Get a PR.  Anything under 3:57:58 would do that for me.  Check!

Gold Plus Plus: Get a BQ.  For me that is under 3:55:00.  Check!

Tom and I went down without kids this time. We stayed in our small condo with Walter and Misty staying next door in our larger condo.  Always nice to see them!  We were invited to a nice pasta dinner at Ronda's beautiful home Friday night.  It was delicious and so nice to be out of the crowds!  Thanks so much Ronda and hubby!

Things all went well on Saturday morning except that we never found Doug who was planning on running with us.  It was nice that it was a bit chilly at the top and the fires were actually needed.  I was also very grateful that all worked out well for the POPs.  :)  In fact I am thrilled to death that I went through this whole marathon without a single potty stop!  Yay!  

I was so happy to have Tom running this race with me.  He didn't get into the lottery and was not planning on running.  However, I really wanted him to pace me so I kept having us enter contests that were giving entries.   Luckily we finally won a contest through The St. George Running Center!  I was so happy that he was now in to help me through my goals!

Everything felt pretty good throughout the race.  I didn't have any pains making me hate every step like many others around me were obviously feeling.  I was so grateful for that!

My dear friend Amy lost her 33 year old sister last Saturday so just before going up the hill at mile 19 I said, "This one is for Amy!"  I kept thinking of the things she was going through and how much harder that is and that soon my "hard" would be over but hers would continue to be there.  It helped me get up that hill and continue to the end.

On the last turn before the finish line I heard someone yell Tom and Kim!  I looked over and saw my other dear friend Lesa and her hubby cheering for us!  She had surprised me and came down to cheer us on!  I was so happy to see her!   

I was happy to have Tom grab my hand and lift it above our heads as we crossed the finish line together!  It was a great thing to have him share with me.  I am so happy he was able to be there for me!

I saw the people giving the medals and was excited to get it...I walked to where a cute older gentleman was handing the medals and said, "I LOVE YOU!"  The guy next to him said, "We all love him!"  But I didn't think much about it until we went past them and Tom said, "Do you know who gave you your medal?  It was LaVell Edwards!"  So I turned around and said to him...."I loved you even when I didn't realize who you were!"  I'm sure he thought I was just another loony fan but I really had no idea it was him.  I just thought he was a really cute guy who was giving me my medal!

Today I went to Darin's PT pool and did an hour of pool running.  That has been a good cross training option for me in the past so I think I will head over there a couple times a week through Oct.  

Everything is feeling pretty good.  Just a little pain in the left hammie.   

How's that for a low weekly mileage?  Tom and I slept in and then went out on the trail on an absolutely beautiful fall morning!  Along with the 4 miles of running we stopped to enjoy about a mile of walking in the beauty!  

I went down to the west end trail today to avoid the wind and it was a great choice.  Beautiful run with the yellow leaves arching over the trail for me to run through.  Such a gorgeous time of year in Utah!  I love it!  Finished up at home with a nice walk with the anxious doggy.  

Under the stars with Kay and Kelly.  Nice and easy.

Only a small handful of runners out this morning.  Others were hunting, resting or running the Haunted Half.  Two out of five of us were named Dave, then there was a Hal, Tom and Kim.  It was breezy, a bit chilly and dark....I guess that and colder is what we have to look forward to for the next several months.  

Out at 5:30 with Kay and Kelly N.  I like starting Monday off with them....they like to keep it nice and easy.  Still able to enjoy mild weather at that time but by Thursday I think it is suppose to be much colder... :o(  

I got my first run in the snow of the season done this morning.  I also got my first fall of the season.  But the fall had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the dang newspaper delivery car driver!  Grrr!  Luckily I think I made it through quite well.  Hopefully I don't stiffen up tonight and feel it more tomorrow.  

Yesterday I had to get out early with Kay, Kelly and Dave so I could be up in Lehi by 8:00 to volunteer for packet pick up for the Halloween Marathon.  It was fun to put in some volunteer hours up there.  It was also nice to see it run much more smoothly than last year's pick up.

This morning Tom and I went out a bit later when the sun was shining.  It was a very nice morning for a ten mile run with Coach Tom.  He has put the coach hat back on to help me gear up for the St. George 5 K in January.   

Six miles around a few parks in St. George while I was down at our condo with 8 girlfriends. We went down to see Thriller at the Tuacahn.  It was a very fun girl's trip.  Thriller was good but just being with friends was what made it more fun.  Thriller is actually quite disturbing....but fun too.  

Perfect morning for a Halloween run in the dark with an almost full moon and the wind howling!  Met up with Kay, Dave, Carolyn, Dan and Chad.  My last mile I did 8 X 40 sec speed pick ups.  Then took Rui out for a nice walk.  

The rest of the day I have been painting bedrooms downstairs.  Getting ready for the girls to move down into the abandoned boys rooms.