Day Two - My First Half Marathon (Part II)

So after the race, besides being exhausted, I was feeling pretty good. I made sure to eat lots of bananas and food and stretch out a lot before driving home. I showered and ate another good meal as soon as I got home, but then I started to feel a little, okay a lot, sick to my stomach.

About an hour after finishing

I ended up putting my pajamas on and getting into bed. I slept for about and hour and I got up just before dinner when Nichole and her family came out. I was still in pajamas, no make-up, and hadn't even brushed through my hair after showering. Zeniff and I were sitting on the couch when Trentyn walked in the back door. He wasn't at the park earlier that day and so I said "Hey Trent! Guess what I did today?" Then before I could respond, Zeniff says "She hasn't done anything ALL DAY! Look, she's still in her pajamas and didn't even comb her hair! Can you believe how lazy she is?" I quickly tried to explain that I had actually ran 13 miles and slept for an hour because I felt sick, but alas, it was too late. Trentyn did not believe me! He sided with Zeniff!

Zeniff says it's because he's cooler but I think it was only because he called Trentyn T-dawg. None the less, I spent the rest of the weekend trying to convince my 6 year old nephew that I'm not completely lazy!

Trying to show Trentyn an picture of me running on my camera but he is rufusing to open his eyes!!

Day Two - My First Half Marathon (Part I)

So this was the real reason for even going down to Moab. I signed up last December to run it and have been training since the first of the year. Things had been going pretty good until about mid February when my knees started to hurt so bad while running that I couldn't get past 3 miles. I ended up buying new shoes, and taking a couple weeks off then the last week of February hit the training hard because the race was only 3 weeks away!

The weather in Moab was absolutely gorgeous last weekend! I was actually really nervous for the race and it was a little intimidating being surrounded by 3,500 other runners who all appeared to be in excellent physical condition, and looked super prepared to smoke me at the finish line! I hung toward the back of the pack and actually didn't even hear the starting gun go off. The mob just started moving and I followed.

The first 8 miles I was feeling great! I had tons of energy, and was moving along at about a 10:00 minute mile pace. (Maybe even a little quicker) But then starting the 9th mile my legs began to get really wobbly! I still felt like I had energy, thanks to the nasty cliff shots, but my muscles just weren't cooperating! About that time, I thought the long hike the day before probably wasn't the best idea. Anyway about mile 11 when I came out of the canyon, to my surprise Zeniff was waiting there with some water and Gatorade for me to drink. He was very encouraging and kept re-appearing two more times before the finish line to keep pushing me along. What a sweetheart! :) Well I finished in 2:21:45, with an average pace of 10:50. So all in all I guess I am happy with the way it turned out. For next time though, definitely no hikes the night before.

Mom, Valerie and me leaving for the race

(Mom and Valerie ran the 5 mile run)

Zeniff captured these pictures about Mile 11

Just crossed the finish line!

Almost my entire family was there at the finish line to cheer me on. It was great!

Weekend Getaway - Day One

Zeniff and I headed down to Moab for the weekend. Here is a little update on our trip.

Friday morning my Dad, Valerie, Zeniff and I went on a hike up through Hidden Valley to an old indian fort. We got a lot of pictures of indian writings and had a blast learning from my Dad about the geology of the Moab Valley.

Unbelievably Blessed

I didn't forget to write about this in my weekend recap, I just thought something of this measure deserved a post all to it's self. My family has always been pretty close and very supportive of each other in all of our activities. It was just always understood that if you could reasonably make it someones game, recital, race, or whatever that we would always be there to support each other. Well promenade is a pretty big deal in Moab an so in an effort to support my brother I went down for the weekend. Valerie also wanted to be there for Spencer and so she planned to leave Cedar City and drive to Moab Friday night after she got off work. Mom, Nichole, Joshua, and I were in the middle of planning Spencer's prom day activity when Valerie called to tell us that she was just leaving Cedar about 8:45 pm. A few minutes later she called to ask what the road conditions were because it was snowing a little just 20 minutes into her 4 hour trip. Mom hung up with her and then called road conditions. The forecast? Snowy, Snow packed, and icy. We called Valerie back to give her the report and as soon as we started to say snowy and slick, the conversation was interrupted. What we heard on speaker phone on the other end of the line sitting at the kitchen table in Moab went something like this:

A lot of static and scratching

Then a very panic-ed, "Mom"

more static and scratching

a very frightened, and tearful, "MOM! Mom! I'm okay. I just wrecked. I'm okay, but... I'm upside down."

Before I go any further, let me just say that Valerie is perfectly okay. She walked away without a scratch! Back in Moab however, that was the most utterly helpless feeling I have ever felt in my life. As soon as she said "I'm upside down," I immediately thought the worse and felt completely dis-empowered to do anything. Within moments (although it felt like much longer) someone had arrived at the accident and helped her out of the car. The police and EMS arrived within 5 minutes and checked her out and confirmed that she was okay, no back or neck injuries. Over the next couple of hours we were on and off the phone with her and also trying to get in touch with some of her friends and her bishop in Cedar City to be with her when she got back to her apartment.

I guess that it was snowing pretty bad where she was driving, just north of Parowan. She was switching lanes and got caught in the slush in the middle and somehow, started sliding, spinning, and ultimately landed upside down, and facing south in the median.

Now a few days later, I keep thinking about that night and I realize how incredibly lucky my family is. And how much worse it could have turned out. The more I learn about the exact location of the accident, the terrain, and hear statistics about car crashes on the interstate I realize that we were playing against the odds. As soon as I heard Valerie say she had wrecked the only thing that I could think to do was to pray in my heart. I think my mind was so blank and so confused about what was happening, that I couldn't actually say a composed prayer. All I could think was "Heavenly Father, please be with her." It is unbelievable to me that we were on the phone with her the entire time, and even while spinning Valerie never dropped the phone and the connection was never broken. Maybe it was so that someone was with her. There was immediately a familiar voice other end of the line for her to hear. I don't think she ever got the names of the people that stopped to help her before the police arrived but they were undoubtedly those angels that dwell among us showing up at the right place at the right time.

In any event, I am grateful for the tender mercies of my Heavenly Father who extended a hand of protection over my sister. I am also thankful for the knowledge I have about eternal families. That our family unit will extend beyond this life and into eternity.

Weekend Recap

It was the Junior Prom in Moab last weekend and so I made the trek down to watch Spencer promenade. Friday night about 7:00 Spencer and his group still weren't sure what to do during the day, so Nichole, Mom, and I came up with this great idea to send them on the "Amazing Race" around Moab. We had to do a little convincing with the four other guys in his group to let us plan this activity for them, but once we said it won't cost you anything, and you don't have to do anything, it was no surprise they were sold.

So the three of us plus Joshua spent the next couple of hours making clues and riddles. We had such a fun time and then come the next morning it was even more fun to hide the clues around town and then watch as the 5 groups 'raced' around town, solving riddles to be the first ones to arrive at the end destination. Just because we had so much fun making them, here are the ten clues we came up with. For those of you familiar with Moab, see if you can figure out where these clues were located...

If performing is your favorite art
Then you would have a ball
The next clue in your search
Is hidden at _______ ______

If you’re looking for a Rhino
Or something of the sort
The best place to find it is at
_________ _______ _______

If you want to see the view
You’ll have to climb the hill
Your next clue it hidden
At the ________ ________

We recommend you pray
To help you in your search
Your next clue is hidden
At the ________ __________

If you’re in the mood for popcorn
And feeling kinda groovy
Go to the place
Where you would see a movie

This next one is quite easy
There’s no need to despair
Just go to the place
Where you would buy a chair

This next one is a dead give away
It isn’t very hard
You’ll find your next clue hidden
At the entrance to the __________

If you saw the circus here
You’d laugh like a hyena,
You’re next clue is waiting
At the __________ _________ ___________

One of the funnest things to do
Here in the Moab Valley
Is to go a get a strike
Down at the _________ __________

You’ll see a World of Wonders
Tonight when it gets dark,
For now your journey ends
When you reach the Rotary Park

Answers: 1. Star Hall, 2. Moab Power Sports, 3. Sunset Grill, 4. The brown Church, 5. Movie Theater, 6. Knowles, 7. Graveyard (Cemetary was harder to rhyme), 8. Spanish Trail Arena, 9. Bowling Alley.

We had and official stop watch going th entire time and gave them one 'free' phone call if they needed help but any additional hints meant minutes added to their final time. The best part of the entire morning though had to be when Spencer was on his clue that was supposed to lead him and his date to Sunset Grill. Since he works there we thought for sure that he would figure it out right away and be the first one to finish the "Amazing Race." Then a few minutes later he called as asked "You're talking about the Sand Hill right?" We just busted up laughing! As we were writing clues we it never occured to us that some the the teams may have thought to "climb the Sand Hill", and not climb the hill to see the view at Sunset Grill. Turns out he was already half way to the top, and it had been raining all morning so it was really a big mud hill. Whoops! :) All in all I think it turned out to be a success and all the groups had a fun time.

I didn't take any pictures from the activitiy but here are a few pictues of the dance that night...

Juniors getting ready for their dance

Spencer and Olivia

Me and Spencer

Spencer and his 'ladies'

Promenade partner Megan, Prom date Cynthia, and Girlfriend Olivia

The guys in his group