Shamrock 1/2 Marathon

Saturday was the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon that I have been training for.  I have been training hard for this race, luckily the cortisone kicked in, and I was able to kick it up a notch these last several weeks.  This was an awesome opportunity because the course was literally right in my backyard, and when you live where I do, not a whole lot happens out here, so I had to take advantage.

All week long I had been nervously watching the weather, because they had been predicting rain and high winds for Saturday.  And sure enough, they had issued a high wind warning that was to take effect 10am Saturday morning.  But if everything went "according to plan", I'd finish right around 10am.  My goal was to finish in less than 2 hours, which would have shaved 10 minutes off my old 1/2 marathon time.  The course was extremely hilly, with the majority being uphill, with little bits of down sprinkled throughout.  I was fairly confident I could get in under 2 hours, even with the hills, but if I had to fight the wind too, I was nervous it would zap all my energy, but unfortunately I can't control the weather.

Cam dropped me off at the starting line just a few minutes before the start, and he and the kids planned to come back and see me finish.  It was a little windy when I got there, but not bad at all, so I had hopes that it would be calmer than the weather people were predicting.

When the race started, I was near the back of the pack, which meant it was a crowded for a little while, but I eventually weaved my way through the crowd and found my groove.  My goals were to 1) stay at or slightly under 9 min/miles, and pick up the pace as much as I could on the downhills and 2) try to pass people as many people as I could (sounds cruel, but it was more of way to keep myself motivated than a need to "beat" people).

So I just kept an eye on my pace, and would focus on the person in front of me, and slowly reel them in.

I had so much fun!  I was holding a challenging yet sustainable pace, but managed to have fun too.  I was focused the whole time on staying on pace and just enjoying myself, I barely even noticed the wind.  I kept telling myself to just get to mile 10, then it was nearly downhill from there to the finish and I could really pick up the pace.  I was eating Swedish Fish every couple of miles for fuel, which worked, but man, when your running hard, the last thing you want to do is chew and chew.  So although it worked, I think I need to experiment with something less chewy from now on.  Around mile 9 my legs were really starting to get tired, but those Swedish Fish must have kicked in not long after that because I just kept going, no problem.  Just as I came over the last hill at mile 10, I saw my friend Marcy (who is an amazing runner, she could run circles around me, that is training for a 50 mile ultra marathon in May) who I have been doing some of my training with, she surprised me and came out to cheer.  It was so awesome, I was yelling to her and she was yelling and cheering for me, so awesome!  It was such a pick me up, and loved seeing a familiar face out on the course.

I cruised into the finish, passing a few last people, and was able to finish faster than I thought I could.  I'm not sure what my official time is but it's about 1 hour 55 minutes.  I ended up averaging an 8:45min/mile, and my last one was even sub 8min/mile.  Cam and the kids were there right at the finish, and it was so awesome that they came out and fought the wind!

Waving to Cam and the kids, coming into the finish (running pictures are never very flattering)

With the girls after I finished.  Notice the hair in the girls face, a testament to how windy it was  :)
Also, like my arm warmers?  They are actually a pair of tube socks I cut up to keep my arms warm.  I just had to wear green for the holiday, and this tank top was the only cheap, green shirt I could find.  So I had to improvise to keep myself warm, yet festive :)

After I finished, and got a chance to talk to Cam and Marcy, they both told me it was pretty windy the whole time, somehow I must have zoned out enough to not really notice how strong the winds were. :)

This was the funnest I've had at a race, and I'm glad I was able to enjoy myself, and cut 15 minutes off my half marathon time :)

Now I gotta rest my legs for a few days, then get back to running, because I've signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon in June!  I've wanted to do a marathon for years, but this darn hip has held me back.  So I'm hoping and praying that I'll be able to finish this training cycle, and finally get a full marathon under my belt.

Colton learned to crawl

Devin's Wedding

On Thursday, Cameron's brother Devin got married to Cherie.

Coming out of the temple

Bryce and Jasmin

Cam's parents

The day started really early and we didn't get home till late Thursday night.  I had forgotten how exhausting a wedding can be :)

They got married in the Bountiful Temple.  And by some coincidence, the sealer was Cam's mission president.  Small world :)  It was a beautiful sealing and it was great to be reminded of the covenants and blessing that we receive when we are sealed together.

After the sealing we quickly ate some lunch, picked up the kids and headed to Cam's parents to get the kids dressed and ready for the reception.  Then it was off to the reception to help set up, get some more pictures taken, then hanging out at the reception.  I had been looking forward to wedding cake all week, but they didn't have any cake!?  Talk about disappointment, that's the best part about a wedding ;)

(These pictures of the kids are all taken with Cameron's 

phone, so they aren't the best quality)

It was a long day, made even longer by the fact that the day before the wedding, Colton and Lexi got a fever.  At first I thought it was just that Colton had gotten another ear infection because he didn't have any symptoms except for the fever.  Then Lexi got a fever.  Thursday morning when Lexi woke up, she seemed all better, but Colton was obviously sick.  Will's sister was nice enough to watch Piper and my kids, but I felt terrible leaving Colton when he was pretty miserable.  Luckily he ended up sleeping most of the time.

The girls had a blast, playing with their cousins and getting all sorts of compliments on how pretty they were.  Every time the photographer would come around, Abby immediately went into a cute pose.  She is such a natural :)

MRI results

Last week I got the results of my MRI.  The doctor said the MRI didn't show a labral tear, but it's very possible there is still one that just didn't show up.  I do definitely have FAI which is the likely cause of the pain. He said to give the cortisone a few weeks to see if it would help (as of yet, it hasn't helped) but he felt like it was unlikely it would do much.  If and when I give up hope on the cortisone, he referred me to another doctor who's specialty is hip surgery.  So, unless by some miracle the cortisone works wonders, I'm looking at surgery.

I also have been talking to my sister a lot about this because she works at a doctors office where one of the orthopedic doctors is somewhat of an expert on this particular surgery.  I've sent my scans over to her because the doctor wanted to look at them and give me her expert opinion.  I'm feeling so lucky to be able to be in contact with this surgeon.  From what I hear, it is absolutely important to find a good surgeon who knows what they are doing when it comes to the hip.  Hip surgery's are much more complex than many of the other joints.  If it's not done correctly, you could end up with more problems then before the surgery.  It also sounds like the recovery from this surgery can be long and slow.

So at this point, I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

Colton, 9 months old

Colton turned 9 months this week.  He had his well check and everything looks good.  The only hiccup was that his iron levels were a little low, so I had to take him to the hospital to get some more blood work done.  The Dr says its probably nothing, but just to be safe we still needed to get the test done.  We are still waiting for the results.

He is:
29 3/4in tall-90%
Weighs 19lbs 2oz-25%
Head 46cm-75%

What's new with Colton?

• He now rolls both ways all the time.
• He scoots on his tummy, but only backwards, or in a circle.
• He loves those little puffs cereal for babies.  Like really loves them.
• He is able to feed himself finger foods.
• He has a favorite blanket, which he sucks on the corners when going to sleep.
• He doesn't really get up onto all fours, and hates it if I force him to, so I don't see him crawling anytime soon.
• He doesn't seem to have stranger anxiety at all.  He's the only one.  Both the girls screamed if anyone other than me or Cam even looked at them.  So that's really nice, because I've found that with him, I'm needing more help than ever, especially at church.  Luckily it seems like there are people lining up willing to help me with the kids when Cam isn't at church.  I'm always so grateful for such wonderful friends!
• His bedtime is at 7pm.  And he doesn't like to deviate from that time at all.  

Colton is my little handsome guy.  He's a real joy to have in our family, and the girls absolutely love him and are always willing to help out in anyway they can.

Running/hip update

Since I know everyone is just dying to know how that's going ;) I thought I'd share the latest developments.  The pain in my hip came back a couple of weeks ago.  I had kind of decided to give up, and thought that maybe running just wasn't meant to be.  But, I was reading on the internet and found a less than common running injury, a labral tear, that really seemed to match my symptoms, and then in talking to my sister (who works at an orthopedic office) kind of decided to go to the Doctors one more time and see if they could find the problem.  I found this Orthopedic and Sports Med Doctor that is also an amazing runner and made an appointment to see him.  So, when I got to the appointment, they took some x-rays, then I told the Doctor my long story (I've been having this pain for the last 2 1/2 years) he pretty much knew right away what the problem was, and when he looked at the x-ray, it just confirmed his suspicions.  He is fairly certain I do have a labral tear, which is caused by something called FAI, which basically means that bone in my hip socket isn't completely round and there is little bump.  So as the bone moves around in the hip joint, it has probably torn the lining of the joint, or something like that :).  Next week I have to go in for an MRI to find out for sure what the joint looks like.  At the same time that I get the MRI, I'm going to get a cortisone shot, so I will hopefully be pain free for a little while :)  The cortisone shot is only a temporary solution, and the only way to fix the problem is surgery.  The doctor also said that as far as running goes for now, I can run if I want to.  Running won't make the injury any worse, and resting won't make it any better.  So if I can tolerate the pain, I can pretty much do what I want.

I'm finally feeling like there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but at the same time, I'm a little nervous for what this all could mean.  I'll be honest, I'm already really nervous just to get the MRI and injection, so the thought of surgery kind of freaks me out.  Hopefully by the end of next week, I'll know more what the long term plan is.

All pink for Valentines

Abby had a little Valentines Party at preschool today, and she has been so excited.  This morning I asked her if she wanted to pick out an outfit that would be pink or red for Valentines.  This is the little ensemble she put together.

She must be pretending like she can't stand to get her picture taken, cause we all know  how much she loves the camera ;)

I was trying to get an "action" shot, and told her to  leap in the air when I took her picture.  I thought it was the coolest picture and started laughing after I took it.  I must have embarrassed her because she left the room and refused to take anymore pictures :(