Friday night, I ran another half marathon. This was another one held right here in Eagle Mountain, so I couldn't pass it up. This one had a fun glow in the dark theme and was held at night. Once again, my friend Marci ran it with me.
We had planned to just go easy and have fun, but I tend to get a little competitive, so we ended up pushing it pretty hard, oops :)
We lined up near the front because we were running this race on the trail, and we were afraid there might be some major congestion at the start, so in order to avoid that we lined up near the front, and took off pretty fast to get ahead of the pack. This course was a pretty challenging course, lots of hills, especially in the last half, luckily I run these trails pretty regularly, so I was pretty accustomed to all the climbing. It was, however, way different being out there running in the dark. We both had little head lamps on to help us see, but you could only see right in front of you.
We cruised through the first 6 miles pretty quickly, there were some good little stretches of down hill that helped us keep our pace pretty fast.
At the turn around (it was an out-and-back course), we were able to count the number of females in front of us, and we were #11 and 12. I think we both had hopes of holding that position, but there was a couple of girls that were right on our heels pretty much the whole race.
There was a pretty major climb at about mile 9, and it really took it out of me. I had a major side ache that I couldn't shake, and that hill had me huffing and puffing pretty hard. Once we reached the top, I was ready for the race to be over, I still had the side ache, I was having a hard time catching my breath, and was feeling close the puking. But I kept pushing as hard and as fast as I could. With only 3 miles left, I kept telling myself that it was down hill to the finish, so it should be fast and easy (relatively speaking) to the end. Except for, somehow I totally spaced that it was actually a good 1 mile climb to the finish. I was not expecting that, and it took all I had left to keep a decent pace.
About half a mile from the finish, a girl was starting to pass us, and I guess she was right on Marci's heels and it kind of ticked her off, so Marci just took off and was able to shake the girl. Sadly, I was wasted and didn't have enough in me to kick like she did. A couple more girls were able to pass me the last few tenths of a mile before the finish. I was so frustrated, I don't like being passed, especially that close the end, but I just had nothing left in my legs.
I finished in 1 hour 57 minutes, about a minute slower than my PR, but this was a really challenging course, so I wasn't expecting to come that close. Marci finished about a minute ahead of me. I think I ended up being the 14th female finisher, Marci was 11 or 12th. When I crossed the finish line, my one and only goal was to sit down as fast as I could, because I knew if I didn't, I was either gonna puke or pass out. The lady handing out the medals asked if I was ok, but I just waved my hand and kept on walking, no time to talk :) After several minutes of sitting on a curb, I was able to pull myself together enough to walk to the car to come home.
We had such a blast, and I'm loving these smaller races, it's fun to be in the front of the pack. If this was a larger race, I'd have no chance of being so close to the front. However, this course was brutal, all those hills and I didn't enjoy the whole out-and-back thing.
Now it's time to rest up and recover, cause I'm doing another marathon in a week. I think I might be losing my mind, all this pain and suffering in the name of fun :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
More pictures and updates
For lack of anything substation to post, I'm doing another quick overview of what we've been doing :)
Colton is walking. He's all over the place with his stiff legged walking :)
More trips to the park. We've started exploring many of the parks here in Eagle Mountain, because the girls are getting bored of the usual ones.
Ever since we moved Lexi into Abby's room, I've been meaning to make something with both the girls names on to hang in the room. Up until now, just Abby's name has been hanging on the wall. I finally got around to doing it. I was happy with the way it turned out.
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Also, both Colton and Lexi seem in need of switching up their naps. So Colton is down from 2 daily naps to just the 1, and Lexi is showing signs that it's near time to get rid of her naps all together. She still enjoys taking a good long afternoon nap, but then she also enjoys staying up and playing in her crib till 9 or 10pm. As I would rather her sleep at night than in the day, lots of times I don't put her down for a nap anymore. I'll be honest, I'm kinda bummed. I was hoping that nap time for her would last at least till she was 3 years old, but, oh well.
And lastly, Colton has been one sick little kid. I can't really figure out what his deal is. About 2 weeks ago, he had a little cold, which, as always, turned into an ear infection. A few days after he got that and started antibiotics, he had a stomach bug, and was throwing up for half a day. Then a few days later, he threw up, but just once, then last night, he was up throwing up several times again. And finally, today he has a fever. It's just the most bizarre thing. I don't know if he has just been so unfortunate to catch three bugs one right after the other, or if there could be some other cause. Anyways, we've spent a lot of time hanging out at the house because of this little guy.
Colton is walking. He's all over the place with his stiff legged walking :)
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| Only recent pic of Colton, so just imagine that cute little guy walking :) |
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| This one had monkey bars that were just Abby's height. She hopped on and just started going across. Also this one had some random little boy in a Spiderman costume :) |
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Also, both Colton and Lexi seem in need of switching up their naps. So Colton is down from 2 daily naps to just the 1, and Lexi is showing signs that it's near time to get rid of her naps all together. She still enjoys taking a good long afternoon nap, but then she also enjoys staying up and playing in her crib till 9 or 10pm. As I would rather her sleep at night than in the day, lots of times I don't put her down for a nap anymore. I'll be honest, I'm kinda bummed. I was hoping that nap time for her would last at least till she was 3 years old, but, oh well.
And lastly, Colton has been one sick little kid. I can't really figure out what his deal is. About 2 weeks ago, he had a little cold, which, as always, turned into an ear infection. A few days after he got that and started antibiotics, he had a stomach bug, and was throwing up for half a day. Then a few days later, he threw up, but just once, then last night, he was up throwing up several times again. And finally, today he has a fever. It's just the most bizarre thing. I don't know if he has just been so unfortunate to catch three bugs one right after the other, or if there could be some other cause. Anyways, we've spent a lot of time hanging out at the house because of this little guy.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Recent stuff
I've been slow putting up some posts and updates, so I'm going to just put all the new and exciting stuff in one post.
About the fire, the first day, the wind was blowing the fire in our direction, and it was getting kind of close, but then the next day or two, the wind was blowing in the other direction, so it wasn't much of a threat after that.
Colton is getting so close to walking. It started with this toy, he loves to push it around. Slowly though, he's gaining confidence in taking a few steps on his own. He's even been practicing standing up on his own with no support.
Fun summer activities!
Playing in the sprinklers. This has been happening a couple times a week because it is so darn hot this summer.
Lexi got her glasses. She has been amazing with them, we'll put them on in the morning, and never seems to mess with them all day. I'm have been shocked at how well she's adjusted. The first day or two, she took a ton of spills, I'm guessing they might have messed with her depth perception a little, but she seems back to normal now.
And lastly, Colton got his first hair cut. It was getting a little long in the back, and over his ears, so Cam busted out the shears and gave him a little trim.
About the fire, the first day, the wind was blowing the fire in our direction, and it was getting kind of close, but then the next day or two, the wind was blowing in the other direction, so it wasn't much of a threat after that.
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| The first day |
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| The second day. It spread a ton overnight. |
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| We took the kids to see "Brave". They loved it, it was super cute. |
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| One day Abby spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, so me and Lexi had some quality time by making cookies together. (Really all Lexi did was turn on and off the mixer, but she enjoyed it) |
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Lexi got her glasses. She has been amazing with them, we'll put them on in the morning, and never seems to mess with them all day. I'm have been shocked at how well she's adjusted. The first day or two, she took a ton of spills, I'm guessing they might have messed with her depth perception a little, but she seems back to normal now.
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| These are her "pink ones" that Lexi picked out, and are her favorite. |
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Fire
Yeah, that's the hill right behind our house. Like, literally right behind our house. We are just one block from the base of that mountain. It started on the other side of the hill, but with the wind, it quickly spread over the hill, and was coming down the mountain. The wind was blowing all the smoke our direction so it was REALLY smokey and ashy here all afternoon.
Lexi's getting glasses
Back at Lexi's 2 year well check (6 months ago, in December) her pediatrician recommended her to see an optimologist because of some differences in the red reflex (similar to the "red eyes" that show up in photos) in her eyes. I kept putting it off, and the wait time to get into the pediatric eye Dr was several months, so finally she had her appointment today. Back in December, her Dr said it was most likely nothing, but he wanted her to get checked just in case, so I really was expecting to be told her eyes were fine, and be sent on our way.
Yeah, that's not how it happened.
Instead, we were told she needs to wear glasses. Ha. My first thought was how in the world am I supposed to get a 2 year old to wear glasses.
Apprently, the prescription in one eye is drastically different than the other. The optimologist said that she see's clearly, but one eye is working a lot harder than the other, and eventually, the one eye that's not really working could start to lose vision if it's not corrected. So she needs to wear glasses in hopes that will get both eyes working together.
The Dr said it's going to be especially hard to get her to wear the glasses because she won't really notice a difference by wearing them. I'm not looking forward to this. Lexi is one stubborn little girl, and in the middle of the terrible two's, where everything is her way or the highway. And even if I can get her to wear the glasses, I got to keep Colton from ripping them right off her face. However, there is a huge insentive to get her to wear them cause if the glasses don't do the trick, then she'll have to have a patch. Yeah, I'd kinda like to avoid that, so I'll try my best to get her to wear the glasses.
The Dr also said that it can run in the family, so we should bring Abby and Colton in to get their eyes tested as well. Could you picture little Colton with glasses? Now that would be kind of funny.
Lexi was tired, her eyes were feeling funny from having them dialated and really wasn't interested in the mood to help pick out some cute frames, but we got a couple of pairs of glasses ordered. They won't be here for a couple of weeks, so we have a while before the real battle begins of trying to get her to keep those suckers on her face.
I'll post some pic's once we get the glasses. She looks super cute, and so sophisticated ;)
Yeah, that's not how it happened.
Instead, we were told she needs to wear glasses. Ha. My first thought was how in the world am I supposed to get a 2 year old to wear glasses.
Apprently, the prescription in one eye is drastically different than the other. The optimologist said that she see's clearly, but one eye is working a lot harder than the other, and eventually, the one eye that's not really working could start to lose vision if it's not corrected. So she needs to wear glasses in hopes that will get both eyes working together.
The Dr said it's going to be especially hard to get her to wear the glasses because she won't really notice a difference by wearing them. I'm not looking forward to this. Lexi is one stubborn little girl, and in the middle of the terrible two's, where everything is her way or the highway. And even if I can get her to wear the glasses, I got to keep Colton from ripping them right off her face. However, there is a huge insentive to get her to wear them cause if the glasses don't do the trick, then she'll have to have a patch. Yeah, I'd kinda like to avoid that, so I'll try my best to get her to wear the glasses.
The Dr also said that it can run in the family, so we should bring Abby and Colton in to get their eyes tested as well. Could you picture little Colton with glasses? Now that would be kind of funny.
Lexi was tired, her eyes were feeling funny from having them dialated and really wasn't interested in the mood to help pick out some cute frames, but we got a couple of pairs of glasses ordered. They won't be here for a couple of weeks, so we have a while before the real battle begins of trying to get her to keep those suckers on her face.
I'll post some pic's once we get the glasses. She looks super cute, and so sophisticated ;)
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Random pictures of these cute kiddos
My sister talked me into getting some photo editing apps on my phone, so I've been messing around with them trying to figure it out. Anyways here are a few pics of the little ones :)
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Utah Valley Marathon
Yesterday I ran my first full marathon. Running a marathon has been on my wish list for many years, and finally my body held up through all the training to make it to the start line healthy.
I'll just cut to the chase, this was one of the hardest, most painful things I've ever done. And things did not go as well as I had hoped. It was kinda feeling like all the things I was afraid could go wrong, did go wrong.
The day started for me at 2am. That was what time I needed to get up to be out the door to pick up my friend Marci and be to downtown Provo to catch the bus to the start line. We got to the start line at about 4am. Thankfully it wasn't too terribly cold, and they also had tons of fires set up that we all gathered around to stay warm. The 6am start time came surprisingly fast and we were off. This race is a net downhill, but there are several pretty killer climbs on the way down. The first 6 or 7 miles our goal was to just stay on our goal pace and not let the down hill carry us too fast. We managed to do great at staying on pace till mile 7, and then we had our first major climb. It was nearly two miles climbing up. Obviously we slowed down a bit, but held on pretty good. It was at about this point that fear number one started to come true. Stomach troubles. I've had a very sensitive stomach when it comes to eating while running. I've tried all the typical fuels (Gu's, Shot Blocks, etc) and they all have given my trouble, so I was going into the race just hoping that I could keep it together enough to make it to the finish line. But it was about mile 9 or 10 where I really was having to choke down any fuel, and my stomach was starting to cramp pretty bad. I held on to about mile 15, but then things really started to get hard. My stomach was really angry, and because I had stopped eating because I was having so much stomach pain I completely fell apart. Our pace slowed, I was having to stop at the aid stations to use the port-a-potties, my legs were heavy and after every walk break or stop, it was a million times harder to get them moving again.
I'll be honest, I wanted to quit badly. Physically I was definitely in pain, but mentally I was in a pretty dark place. Being 10 miles from the finish and feeling absolutely beat was really defeating. The only reason that I kept going was because of Marci. She was there with me every step of the way, cheering me on, trying to pump me up. I'm so grateful for everything she did for me. She was AMAZING, absolutely amazing for all the encouragement, and putting up with my whining. At every aid station she'd try to get me to eat something or drink some Power-aid, but I just couldn't stomach even the idea of putting anything but water in my tummy. So we continued to plug along, and take walk breaks and slowly make our way to the finish. At mile 21, Marci's husband and kids were there cheering us on. This was were we'd finally gotten out of the canyon, and it was just making our way through Provo to the finish line. Cam had planned to bring the kids to finish area to see us there, so as our pace slowed, and I knew my goal time was not gonna happen, I'd text Cam with a new estimated time to expect me near the finish.
Finally, we could see the finish line. We were still about 1.5 miles away, but it really helped to see the finish, and watch it slowly get closer and closer. Cam had texted me to tell me he was about a block before the finish, so I just started counting down the blocks till I'd see them. The race finished very close to Cam's parents place, so he picked up his parents so they could help him with kids while waiting at the finish. Finally I saw Cam's mom. She must have walked up a little bit ahead of the rest of them to get a picture or something, but when I saw her, I just fell apart. It was kind of one of those "I just want my Mommy" moments, and since my own Mom wasn't there she was the next best thing. I nearly collapsed in her arms. She was trying to get me to keep moving, so she held onto my arms and walked/ran with me a little bit till I got moving again. Then she moved back to the sidewalk and Marci and I made it the half a block more to where Cam and the kids were. Once again, I nearly collapsed on Cameron. The girls were so excited to see me and jumping up and down, giving me high fives. I was openly balling, and a complete mess at this point. I still had another block or so to go to the finish, so we got going again to officially be done. Marci was cheering me on and telling me that this was what we'd worked so hard for, and finally, finally, we crossed the finish. I hugged Marci, and slowly walked my way to where I could sit down and take my shoes off.
I had no idea how badly running that marathon would hurt, or how difficult it was going to be. I finished no where near my goal time, but I know without a doubt that I gave it everything I had. I ran nearly 13 miles with little to no fuel, and my stomach rebelled terribly nearly the whole way. In fact, even a day later, I'm still having a hard time eating.
I have so many mixed emotions about the whole thing. It was hard, really hard. I am very disappointed in my time, and having a hard time getting past that disappointment to just being proud of actually finishing a marathon. I'm feeling frustrated, grateful, embarrassed, and of course I'm incredibly sore.
Marci was so awesome. I'm so glad I had a friend to be with me through the whole thing. She was doing her best to get me to the finish. I know she could have run it a lot faster, and I'm so glad that she stuck by my side.
Cam was awesome to bring the kids out, and wait, and wait and wait for me to finish. And then, even after we got home, he took care of the kids so I could lay down and sleep for a little bit, he made dinner, bathed the kids and everything before he had to head to work last night.
Cam's parents were amazing for their help with at the finish line. After the race, we went to their place so I could get cleaned up and into some clean clothes. They were trying to do any and everything they could think of to help, and get me whatever I needed. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by loving, supportive friends and family.
I have no idea what's next as far as running goes. Running a marathon, just like childbirth, requires time for the memory of the whole event to fade before you're crazy enough to even think of doing it all over again :)
I'll just cut to the chase, this was one of the hardest, most painful things I've ever done. And things did not go as well as I had hoped. It was kinda feeling like all the things I was afraid could go wrong, did go wrong.
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| Me and Marci at the start line. Smiling. There wasn't much smiling after that. |
The day started for me at 2am. That was what time I needed to get up to be out the door to pick up my friend Marci and be to downtown Provo to catch the bus to the start line. We got to the start line at about 4am. Thankfully it wasn't too terribly cold, and they also had tons of fires set up that we all gathered around to stay warm. The 6am start time came surprisingly fast and we were off. This race is a net downhill, but there are several pretty killer climbs on the way down. The first 6 or 7 miles our goal was to just stay on our goal pace and not let the down hill carry us too fast. We managed to do great at staying on pace till mile 7, and then we had our first major climb. It was nearly two miles climbing up. Obviously we slowed down a bit, but held on pretty good. It was at about this point that fear number one started to come true. Stomach troubles. I've had a very sensitive stomach when it comes to eating while running. I've tried all the typical fuels (Gu's, Shot Blocks, etc) and they all have given my trouble, so I was going into the race just hoping that I could keep it together enough to make it to the finish line. But it was about mile 9 or 10 where I really was having to choke down any fuel, and my stomach was starting to cramp pretty bad. I held on to about mile 15, but then things really started to get hard. My stomach was really angry, and because I had stopped eating because I was having so much stomach pain I completely fell apart. Our pace slowed, I was having to stop at the aid stations to use the port-a-potties, my legs were heavy and after every walk break or stop, it was a million times harder to get them moving again.
I'll be honest, I wanted to quit badly. Physically I was definitely in pain, but mentally I was in a pretty dark place. Being 10 miles from the finish and feeling absolutely beat was really defeating. The only reason that I kept going was because of Marci. She was there with me every step of the way, cheering me on, trying to pump me up. I'm so grateful for everything she did for me. She was AMAZING, absolutely amazing for all the encouragement, and putting up with my whining. At every aid station she'd try to get me to eat something or drink some Power-aid, but I just couldn't stomach even the idea of putting anything but water in my tummy. So we continued to plug along, and take walk breaks and slowly make our way to the finish. At mile 21, Marci's husband and kids were there cheering us on. This was were we'd finally gotten out of the canyon, and it was just making our way through Provo to the finish line. Cam had planned to bring the kids to finish area to see us there, so as our pace slowed, and I knew my goal time was not gonna happen, I'd text Cam with a new estimated time to expect me near the finish.
Finally, we could see the finish line. We were still about 1.5 miles away, but it really helped to see the finish, and watch it slowly get closer and closer. Cam had texted me to tell me he was about a block before the finish, so I just started counting down the blocks till I'd see them. The race finished very close to Cam's parents place, so he picked up his parents so they could help him with kids while waiting at the finish. Finally I saw Cam's mom. She must have walked up a little bit ahead of the rest of them to get a picture or something, but when I saw her, I just fell apart. It was kind of one of those "I just want my Mommy" moments, and since my own Mom wasn't there she was the next best thing. I nearly collapsed in her arms. She was trying to get me to keep moving, so she held onto my arms and walked/ran with me a little bit till I got moving again. Then she moved back to the sidewalk and Marci and I made it the half a block more to where Cam and the kids were. Once again, I nearly collapsed on Cameron. The girls were so excited to see me and jumping up and down, giving me high fives. I was openly balling, and a complete mess at this point. I still had another block or so to go to the finish, so we got going again to officially be done. Marci was cheering me on and telling me that this was what we'd worked so hard for, and finally, finally, we crossed the finish. I hugged Marci, and slowly walked my way to where I could sit down and take my shoes off.
I had no idea how badly running that marathon would hurt, or how difficult it was going to be. I finished no where near my goal time, but I know without a doubt that I gave it everything I had. I ran nearly 13 miles with little to no fuel, and my stomach rebelled terribly nearly the whole way. In fact, even a day later, I'm still having a hard time eating.
I have so many mixed emotions about the whole thing. It was hard, really hard. I am very disappointed in my time, and having a hard time getting past that disappointment to just being proud of actually finishing a marathon. I'm feeling frustrated, grateful, embarrassed, and of course I'm incredibly sore.
Marci was so awesome. I'm so glad I had a friend to be with me through the whole thing. She was doing her best to get me to the finish. I know she could have run it a lot faster, and I'm so glad that she stuck by my side.
Cam was awesome to bring the kids out, and wait, and wait and wait for me to finish. And then, even after we got home, he took care of the kids so I could lay down and sleep for a little bit, he made dinner, bathed the kids and everything before he had to head to work last night.
Cam's parents were amazing for their help with at the finish line. After the race, we went to their place so I could get cleaned up and into some clean clothes. They were trying to do any and everything they could think of to help, and get me whatever I needed. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by loving, supportive friends and family.
I have no idea what's next as far as running goes. Running a marathon, just like childbirth, requires time for the memory of the whole event to fade before you're crazy enough to even think of doing it all over again :)
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