Saturday, October 30, 2010
I marinated and grilled chicken breasts, made a white sauce/gravy, and foccacia bread, and home canned peaches.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Spud Harvest Vacation: Grand Canyon Trip
Family vacation, October 1st - 9th/10th 2010
October 1 Friday: Friday we left Rexburg around 10:30 am to begin our weeklong family vacation. We stopped for lunch and hot springs swimming at Lava Hot Springs, then made it to Jon & Kristen's house by 6 pm for dinner, a disappointing BYU football game on TV, a fun time with cousins, and a good night's sleep.
October 2 Saturday: We packed up and headed to Mt. Timpanogos Cave, listening to the Saturday morning General Conference session while we drove.
The 1 1/2 mile hike up the steep path to the cave was no problem for the kids,
even little Charlotte and Eleanor walked the whole way. Samuel and Oliver took turns leading us.
The cave tour was fascinating. The kids loved it and were excited about every piece of spalientology they learned. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, cave bacon, heliotites, and all sorts of unusual cave formations.
We grabbed some lunch back at the bottom, then piled in to the car for the drive south, listening to the afternoon session of General Conference, then reading and watching a movie. We stopped in Parowan at 6pm so Jeff could attend the Priesthood session. I took the kids to dinner then to a park while we waited for him, then when he was done we drove to through Cedar Breaks National Monument on our way to Duck Creek Village. We stayed the night in a quaint lodge called Pinewoods Resort.
October 3 Sunday: After we had our complimentary breakfast, we drove south past Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument to Page, Arizona while listening to Sunday Morning General Conference.
We ate lunch and took a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. Our tour guide had a name tag on that said he spoke Italian, which led to the discovery that he had been in the MTC and mission with Ted and Annmarie (Jeff's sister and her husband).
After the tour, we left for Williams, Arizona, listening to the Sunday Afternoon session. We are en route right now. It's a very relaxed, not at all over-scheduled vacation so we can take things as they come and not feel stressed to stay on track. We are enjoying each other's company, the wonders of nature, and the words of our leaders. So far so wonderful.
On our way to Williams, we took a scenic detour to drive through Grand Canyon National Park, the first visit for Jeff and the kids, and my third time here. It is completely magnificent, breathtakingly enormous and beautiful. We are making a few stops, starting with the Watchtower - a replica of an Indian tower, built as a gift shop and offering a panoramic view of the Grand Canyon. It sits right on the edge and is a little disconcerting, and well worth the stop.
Sunday evening we made it to our hotel at bedtime. We grabbed dinner in the hotel cafe then gratefully crawled into our beds.
October 4 Monday: I didn't sleep well so at 3:30 a.m. I got up, put on running clothes, and ran 7 1/2 miles on the treadmill in the hotel's exercise room. After walking around for a while I finally went back to our room, showered, dressed, and at 6 a.m. I went back to bed.
Jeff had bought milk and cereal so we ate breakfast in our room before heading out to the train depot where we watched an Old West Shoot-out (a comical re-enactment) before boarding the train.
During the two hour trip to the Grand Canyon, we were entertained by singing cowboys and stories from our car conductor. We had brought books so we also had plenty of time to read.
We arrived around 11:30, found some lunch, then enjoyed the views. Luckily, we had our rain ponchos on because it soon began to rain. We caught a shuttle to an overlook (Hopi), which was of course gorgeous,
but the rain began to pound down hard and the wind blew fiercely. We walked as quickly as we could to the shuttle point, and waited about 10 minutes for a bus to rescue us. We were all completely soaked and frozen. I felt sorry for the children, especially little Charlotte, and Eleanor, and Oliver, and Samuel...but they were all troopers and tougher than their mom. Jeff was soaked through his rain jacket, while the rest of us had at least a little bit of dry areas under our ponchos.
We braved the rain and wind again, dashing to the visitor center in time for a Ranger-led presentation so the kids could earn their Jr. Ranger badges, then we ran again through the storm to the hotel to get some hot cocoa.
By the time we had the drinks, it was time to go to the train depot for our train ride back to the hotel. The rain paused and the sun came out while we waited to board, then started raining again on the trip back. Thankfully we were inside. The trip back was fun with more singing cowboys and a staged train robbery that the kids enjoyed (they "rob" you for tips). One robber stopped to ask for hugs from Eleanor and Charlotte.
We were all still wet and cold, then had to run from the train to the hotel in even morer freezing cold rain and wind. I was chilled to begin with and didn't handle the additional wet and cold well. I was shivering and disoriented and could feel the onset of hypothermia, so I took a hot shower ton warm up. The kids were fine. Like I said, tougher than their mom.
After we were all dressed in dry clothes, we ventured out again to find dinner. Although it was still raining, it wasn't as hard and the wind wasn't blowing anymore. We were seated at an old fashioned Route 66 Diner, but when we saw the menu we grabbed our stuff and left without any explanation. (If the waitress had shown, I would have gladly excused ourselves, but we waited and waited and she never came!). The menu was all burgers and greasy fries, and we were sick of the fast food fare, so we found a tiny Thai restaurant and had the best meal we'd had all vacation. Chicken satay, won ton soup, a curry tofu dish, dumplings, and a transparent rice noodles with veggies dish...yum! The kids were in heaven and kept saying how good the food was and now they never wanted another hamburger again and this was the best food ever, and the waitress was so delighted she brought her mom (the cook) out to see us. It was delightful, and I loved seeing the kids enjoy good, healthy food so much, and the smiles on the faces of the owners. Good stuff.
The kids had a movie night while Jeff and I had some down time to read and plan for tomorrow. I had no trouble sleeping that night. Good thing, because I would have had to run barefoot if I'd gotten up early again. My shoes were soaked. That brings us to today.
October 5 Tuesday: We packed up this morning and tossed our bags out our hotel room porch to Jeff, who had driven the car around. It was raining cats and dogs again. He loaded the car, we got in, then drove back to the Grand Canyon. We made it to the 9:30 showing at the National Geographic Imax theatre just outside the park entrance. It was very cool to see the canyon on such a big screen. When it was over, we browsed a bit, then drove back into the Park to the canyon rim. It was drizzling, but not too bad. Unfortunately, there was nothing to see. Although it was around 60 F on the rim, it was in the 80's on the canyon floor, and a heavy cloud sat squashed between the canyon walls. We could see above the cloud, but beneath us all was white.
So we got back in the car and headed to Flagstaff, where we had Indian cuisine for lunch - another healthy, tasty meal. We are now headed to Gilbert, AZ, and should be there around dinnertime where we will spend the tomorrow and part of Thursday visiting with Jeff's siblings Marshall and Nancy and their spouses Holly and Josh, and their kids. It is still raining pretty heavily. I hope it lets up because I packed for hot, dry weather!
We made it to Marshall and Holly's house around 6 pm, driving through terrible rain, wind and traffic. The trip was harrowing. It was so nice to arrive and spend time with family and meet our new 3-week old nephew Major. Our kids and their cousins were in heaven, playing so well together. Holly rallied and made us dinner, even though I tried to talk her out of it. I never could play hostess well when I had a new baby, but Holly was perfect. She even had a cake with candles for an early birthday treat for Oliver. Nancy and her two children joined us for the delicious dinner. Afterwards, we drove about 20 minutes away to visit my friend from law school and her family. Talk about a scary drive! Lightening piled on top of lightening, making a strobing flash in the night sky. The rain joined in the fun, pelting on our car in sheets of water and hail. Then the wind entered, blowing the water horizontally across the road and adding desert sand to the mix. I felt like I was in an electrical storm blender. My entire body was taught, especially when the water and sand and wind blinded us. I told Jeff we should turn around, but there was no way he could see to find a safe spot to pull over. We rode the furious storm and emerged unscathed but I lost a good 20 years off my life and went looking for white hair on my head. When we pulled up at Cheryl's house, the rain had calmed down considerably.
It was so nice to see my old friend and her kids. We hung around long enough to see her husband Josh when he got home from Bishopric meeting. Great people, great friends, and great memories. Somehow Cheryl and I survived law school and our respective jobs, and are both "retired" to raise our children.
We made it back to Nancy and Josh's house in time to see Josh (lots of Josh's around!) and spend a few minutes chatting before bed. They were kind enough to scoot their two children into their room so 3 of our children could have a bedroom, and Charlotte slept on a mattress on then floor in the guest room with me and Jeff. We all slept soundly. I think I spent enough calories through adrenaline and fear on all the stormy drives to count as a good long run!
October 6 Wednesday: I got up around 5:45 am, ran 3 1/2 miles, then met up with Marshall at 6:30 to run another 4 1/2 and be home before 7:30. It was muggy and a little warmer than I am used to, but I ran in my cool Nuu Muu running dress, so I was comfy. After showers, breakfast, and tidying up and starting laundry, we are now in the car again for a trip to Phoenix's Museum of Science. Later on this evening we will go to a place called Amazing Jake's for fun, games, food, and celebrating Oliver's birthday. Tomorrow it's off to Sedona, then Friday back to Duck Creek Village, the Saturday up to Provo and after the BYU football game we will either head home or spend the night at Jeff's cousin's home. We afef having a full fun-filled vacation. Since we are not in the car for more than a couple of hours at a time (usually), it has been easy driving for all of us.
We sang Happy Birthday again to Oliver, ate cupcakes, and gave him his presents
then played for about 4 hours at Amazing Jake's. We went back to Marshall and Holly's for a movie while I folded laundry, then we went back to Nancy and Josh's for a chat (they got home right before we did) then bed.
October 7 Thursday: It is now 10 am the next morning (Thursday) - Oliver's 9th birthday! (we celebrated it early yesterday so we could have the cousins' company). Samuel and Oliver spent the morning playing with Malcolm and Jayden while Eleanor and Charlotte played with Faith and Danny. Jeff and I packed up the car, said goodbye to Nancy and her kids (Josh had left for work), picked up the boys and let the girls say goodbye to Chloe and Capri, said goodbye to Holly and baby Major (Marshall had left for work also), and are now headed for a quick visit to Sedona. We had a change of plans last night and decided not to sleep in Sedona but to sleep in Williams again so we can visit the Grand Canyon again now that the weather is pleasant.
We drove to Sedona on Thursday enjoying the scenery that reminded the kids so much of the movie "Cars". On our way we passed an R V lot that had been hit by a tornado two days before, leaving wreckage strewn across the highway and into the lot. Apparently, four tornadoes touched down in Northern Arizona on Tuesday, two of them right where we had driven only hours before. Spooky. We said a prayer of gratitude for our safety. Just outside of Sedona, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant at Oliver's request, the drove through the town to Slide Rock State Park. We donned our swimming suits, brought our towels, and hiked into the canyon for some play.
The water was very cold, so the girls just played in the shallow pools, but Jeff and the boys braved the water and slid down the long, slippery water chute in the canyon creek. A few times down that and we were done. We changed at the restrooms and hopped in the car for the drive to our lodging just outside of Williams - Mountainside Resort, or something like that. We got there in time for the hotel dinner, had baths afterwards, and settled in for the night in the two bedroom (2 queens in one room for the kids, one king in the other room for us), two bath, spacious suite.
October 8 Friday: In the morning, we packed up, ate breakfast at the hotel dining room, then drove back into Grand Canyon National Park for a final visit - this time with sunny weather!
We thought about taking the helicopter tour, but I couldn't justify $1,000 for a couple of hours' trip. So instead we visited it the old fashioned way: on our own two feet. It was again strikingly beautiful. I don't think anyone could ever get used to looking at the canyon, it is just too awesome and magnificent. We ate lunch at the El Tovar hotel jn the same dining room where Teddy Roosevelt had eaten. We walked a bit of the Bright Angel Trail, visited the art gallery, and just enjoyed the cool air, warm sunshine, and lovely canyon views.
We drove from there toward the North Rim, past Lee's Ferry, and stopped in Kanab for dinner, the drove back to Duck Creek Village to stay the night in Pinewoods Resort again - in the same room we had occupied on Saturday night last week.
October 9 Saturday:
After we ate and packed up, we drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument.
At over 10,000 feet elevation, we were higher than many mountains. The orange and red colors of the sandstone were particularly striking with snow streaking down the sides of the cliff walls and Hoo Doos.
The kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges and we are now en route to Provo (stopping first for lunch in Fillmore) for the BYU football game this afternoon. Charlotte and I will wander around while Jeff, Samuel, Oliver, and Eleanor go to the game. Afterwards we hope to visit with John and Mary Thomas then make a late drive home to Rexburg. What a full week! I can't understand though why we are all so tired and so hungry when we are spending so much time sitting and eating! It's incredible how much food we are eating, especially the little girls. We are trying to make sure we have healthy foods and have done a good job avoiding fries and greasy foods. But we are still eating tons. Good. I guess we need it!
Funny that after my little comment about eating healthy food (a paragraph or two above), we stopped for lunch at Carl's Jr. and had battered and fried foods and hamburgers for lunch. Ah, well. I guess we've been healthy most of the trip. Of course, there is still the matter of the $30 worth of Halloween Candy I bought last Friday that is now mostly gone... :)
We made it to Provo with time to spare before the game, so we made a quick visit to two of our favorite people: Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen (Jeff's grandparents). We enjoyed chatting with them and letting them spend some time with our children - their great grandchildren. The grandparents are such lovely, kind people. Just being with them for a few minutes influences us to be better people.
We said goodbye then drove to the BYU campus at 3:30, parking near the Museum of Fine Art. Charlotte and I walked partway to the football stadium with Jeff, Samuel, Oliver and Eleanor, then we turned back to hunt for a treat for ourselves. We split a personal pizza, some milk and a laffy taffy string, the wandered over to the Bean Museum of Natural History, spent about 20 minutes there, then went to then art museum for another 20 minutes. The museums closed at 5, so we headed to the Bookstore. We browsed all sorts of books, buying a few children's books, an illustrated Russian/English dictionary, a Ukranian phrasebook, and some candy corn (Charlotte's idea). The Bookstore closed at 6 so we were kicked out and went in search of more food (see, I told young were uncommonly hungry on this trip!), settling for more milk and some tacos. We walked around, periodically checking on the progress of the football game, then headed to the car around 7pm. The game was over sooner than we expected, and unexpectedly BYU won! (They haven't been doing well this season.) Jeff and the other children joined us around 7:30, then we made it through the sluggish post-game traffic, finally getting on the highway and off to John & Mary's house for pleasant hour and a half visit. They have an gorgeous home with delightful children. It was hard to leave them, but Charlotte kept falling asleep and the rest of us weren't far behind her. The Thomas' will be visiting us in Idaho this week so we'll see them soon, which made it easier to say goodbye.
I am thankful we have been able to share some of the rich beauties of the world with our children this vacation. I know it has been a lot of travel and a lot of changes everyday, but it's been a great way to give the kids some in-person experiences that many people miss out on. Disneyland is fun, but the real land with it's real wonders is simply grand. The very best thing though about this week was just being together. In all the hustle to and fro, and all the oohing and ahhing, the most amazing wonder was the company we kept - that of our children and each other. God created a world of sheer magnificence, grandeur and beauty, then to top it all off, he gave us the gift of families. I am grateful to my parents for insisting that I look out the window and that I get out of the car when we visited places that some people only ever learn about in books. I owe them for instilling in me a love of things and places that are wild. I hope we can do the same thing for our children and teach them to love and care for the world God gave us, and to love and care for the family that we are. I love those little Jr. Rangers.
October 10, Sunday: We arrived home around 2:30 am, sent the kids straight to bed, unloaded the car, and gratefully crawled into our own bed for some much-needed sleep. Thankfully, church doesn't start for us until 1pm, so we took all morning lazily getting ourselves ready and finishing the unpacking. It was fast and testimony meeting today at church. I was surprised when Samuel walked up to the podium to share his testimony. At first he started with an abbreviated travel log, saying that we'd spent the past week traveling to various places. I thought he'd say, "It was fun," and be done. But in a beautiful show of his spirit, he went on to say that he kept trying to hurry us back into the car at each stop so he could get back to his video games. And then he woke up this morning and it hit him like a cannonball that the time was over. Vacation was past. And he'd been hurrying through it, but now he wished it was still there. It made him realize that we need to enjoy the time and things we have. He bore his testimony about the blessing of being an eternal family, and how we could be together forever. It was incredibly touching, not just to me but to many other people who later came up to me and commented on & complimented Samuel's heartfelt testimony. It was very sweet. All of our children make me so proud, so pleased to be a part of their lives and have them call me mother.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Top of Utah Marathon
This past spring, my brother Jon was feeling a little ambitious and signed us (my 3 brothers and me) all up for the Top of Utah Marathon, held yesterday September 18, 2010. He figured that since we had a spring marathon (May, 2010 - the Ogden Marathon), that a fall marathon would keep us motivated to stay training during the summer. It worked, to a point. The thing about signing up for a marathon still months away is that you don't know everything that's going to happen between now and then, you just hope you'll have time, energy and motivation to reach your goal.
Thankfully, my brothers and I had enough training to get us through, although it was tougher than usual. Jon has battled injuries that have knocked him out of training off and on, and he travels a lot with his work. Jim also has dealt with injuries, and had to choose to use his spare time to train or work on his Doctorate. He chose the latter. I was the lucky one who only had one 3-week hiatus because of an injury. I still had time to do a number of races (including another marathon and several marathon distance training runs), and somehow avoided burnout with the increased training. (Side note: I've been taking Hammer Nutrition Race Caps Supreme, and I'm convinced they've been the cause of my boost in energy.) Don, my brother in the wheelchair, was patient enough to let us go as fast or slow as we needed. When I say "we" I mean the whole team of us - Don, Jim, Jon, me. I love running with my brothers. It's a totally different race than running on my own. We run or stop according to each other's needs, without worrying about race time - only worrying about each other making it in. I love it.
Anyway, dear old Dad once again rallied to not only get all of Don's things ready (the racing chair, the pillows, the coat, gloves, hat, etc), but to also wake up after four hours of sleep, get Don up and going at 3:30, and get us all into the car and on our way at 4am. Dad drove us to the race start at the top of the canyon - Hardware Ranch - where it was dark and cold. We got there just before the first buses arrived, bringing runner after runner. I think there were 2000 runners, not sure if they were all marathoners.
We got Don in his race chair, Dad took a picture, then we waved goodbye to Dad as he drove back down the canyon. It was 5:30. He had to be out of the canyon, which was going to close at 5:45. Since we were the earliest runners there, we went right into the warming tents without any problem. But it wasn't long before the tents were packed, bursting really, with people. Don had all his winter clothes on and was roasting, especially with the extra warmth of hundreds of people. By now we were trapped in the tent, and the trouble was convincing people to move aside. It was dark, and people weren't expecting a racing chair - they were looking at eye level, not chair level - but once they realized what was going on, they crowded against each other to make a path for Don to leave. We breathed real, fresh, but very cold air in relief when we got outside.
Don was comfortable now. We huddled close, shivering in the cold night air, waiting for the clock to tick to race start. Finally, it was about 7am, time for the wheelchair racers to line up. We shuffled to the race start, taking our place behind three other racers in wheelchairs - but these guys were going to propel themselves down the canyon to the finish, finishing hours before any other racer. Still, it was nice to start early (5 minutes before the runners) so we could clear out of their way. A wheelchair can cause runners a lot of trouble if they're trying to pass us in a crowd without tripping on the wheels, so races really do need to let the chairs go first.
This was the second time all four of us have run the Top of Utah marathon together, and it was the third time for Jon and me. So we knew what we were getting into. We knew we'd have about 1 1/2 miles before the first elite runners would catch us. The three wheelchair racers were long gone. We had a few minutes of solitude, a few minutes where I was the leading female runner and my brothers were the leading men. It was kind of fun to have a 5 minute head start, but we knew it wouldn't last. Sure enough, the leading runners passed us in a furious battle of three to be the finisher. Two of them were Kenyans. It was amazing to watch them run so lightly, so quickly, obviously pushing themselves but not straining with over-exertion. The next runners were a good tenth of a mile or more behind them. Then it was a few passing us at a time, then it was groups, then it was the whole crowd. We were passed by hundreds and hundreds of runners. They were so nice as they passed us, giving us a thumbs up, clapping for us, cheering, occasionally chatting, and lots and lots of smiles. It was fun to be so encouraged.
The canyon was beautiful. The steep sides were lined with trees and bushes sporting their autumn colors. The day began to warm up, we got into our stride, and the run to the mouth was perfectly comfortable and enjoyable. Like our previous races, we switched off every two miles. That, plus talking with each other, made the miles go quickly. Dad, bless his heart, was waiting with the crowd at the mouth of the canyon to check on us. We pulled over, handed him our jackets, and waved goodbye again as we began mile 14. It flattened out somewhat, but we still had a good pace. The energy gels and caps we took hopefully helped my brothers. (I know they helped me - I can tell when they kick in. I become a little chipmunk chatting away and bouncing around. I'm sure it annoys my brothers, but that's what sisters are supposed to do, right?) We kept going really well, but around mile 18 it got tough, we were tired, and there was still a long way to go. We slowed, but pushed through. The volunteers at the 25th mile aid station were the best! A group of high school girls, lined up to hand out drinks, cheering on runners. But when they saw Don, their cheers turned to full heart-felt screams of encouragement. It was like they couldn't cheer loud enough! They clapped and jumped up and down, and yelled, and we all grinned. That gave us a boost to keep us going up a hill, round a corner, and keep going. A little walking also rested our legs so that by the time we rounded another corner and saw mile 26, we were running our fast pace again. One more corner, and the finish line was in sight. At the last corner, Mom and Jon's family were waiting and cheering and taking pictures. Jon's daughter Kaylee was so cute, yelling in her 7-year-old voice, "YOU GUYS ROCK!" I had to laugh.
Finally, the finish. The last stretch we all grabbed on to Don's chair and ran it in together, passing the people lining the sides of the road, waving to thank them for their cheers, and not stopping or slowing until we ran through the finish line. We'd done it. I think it took us 4:49, but I'm not sure. It was one of our slower marathons together (we've done 4), but it was just as wonderful as all of them. Because it's not our race time, as I said already, but our time together that matters.
I had taken plenty of energy gels and had run a comfy pace, so I wasn't feeling spent. My brothers and parents were gracious enough to let me go run some more. I wanted to get my first Ultra distance, so I ran the race course backwards to about mile 23 1/2 (2 3/4 mile, starting from mile 26.2), then turned back and ran almost to the finish (I wasn't about to cross the finish line twice and confuse the race officials). So I got about 31.2-ish. I wanted 31, since that's a 50K, an official Ultra distance. My last 5+ miles took me 42 minutes. It was fun to run about 8 minute miles after having run a marathon. By the time I got back to my brothers & parents, I was tired. I swallowed some ibuprofen to prevent muscle soreness, changed into some clothes for the ride home, and said goodbye to the Top of Utah marathon. It was fun. Of course, that's really easy to say once it's over, but honestly it was fun. We had a lot of laughs and helped each other finish a marathon. Fun. And satisfying.
Thanks, Don, Jim & Jon - are we going to do another one? (Oooh, now is NOT the time to ask that! :) Wait until the memory of the pain has eased...) And super thanks, Dad - you make this possible, and you never complain. It is, you know, your fault that we became runners in the first place. :) Thanks also to Mom for coming along and helping out, and to you & Jon's family for being there to cheer us on. And a special HUGE thanks to my husband (I came home to a clean house and an amazing dinner!) & kids for letting me do this. I know they think it's crazy, but sometimes you have to find something - like (for me) endurance running - to keep from going crazy.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Pocatello Marathon
"You don't stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running."
I drove to Pocatello on Friday afternoon to pick up my race packet for the marathon the following morning. Jeff's Aunt Julie put me up for the night. I got up at 4am to get ready, left at 4:30, arrived a few minutes before the buses pulled in, then boarded at 5. The ride to the start was comfy (a big tour bus), but dark. Besides it still being night, we were also in a canyon and the canyon walls blocked out even most of the star and moon light. Nobody talked much at the start - it was too dark to make eye contact to begin a conversation, and everyone was tired or wired, jittery in their own little world. The most talking occurred in the port-a-potty lines, which as usual were very long and slow. Finally at 6:10 we stashed our drop bags at the UPS truck and huddled together at the start line. Having shed our sweatshirts or plastic bags, we were now shivering with the wind as much as with excitement. It was promising to be a warm day, so I didn't worry too much about the initial chill. I had on a tank-top, but I also had my arm-warmers so I felt ready.
At 6:15 someone must have said go (I didn't hear anything) because suddenly the pack began moving en masse. It was a very slow start as I tried to run but tried not to run over anyone. I should have positioned myself closer to the front, but it only took about 1/2 mile before the group spread out enough that I could easily find my pace, pass people or have them pass me, and settle into the race. It was an almost eerie feeling to be running with a pack of strangers in the dark. It was still too dark to see anyone, so people still weren't talking. The stars and moon were brilliant, and eventually the sky began to lighten and I could watch the colors of sunrise as I ran down the canyon. It was spectacular. The farms lining the sides of the canyon were beyond picturesque - they were gorgeous. The trees and fields were that bright green seen at sunrise and sunset. We had the whole road to ourselves. I wound down the canyon and was completely surprised when I clocked sub-8 minute mile after mile, some close to 7:15 minutes. It wasn't until after mile 13 that my miles began to take on a more normal-me pace, and I was back to 8:30's. Runners had spread out and I didn't see anyone off to my left or my right. I had my earbuds in and felt like I was in my own world. My nose was running, so like any good, seasoned runner I used the "Farmer's Blow" method to blow out my nose. I heard above my earbuds someone laugh really loud. Apparently a runner was pacing right behind me, so I didn't see him. With music in my ear, I didn't hear him, either. Oops. He pulled up beside me and I laughed out a, "Sorry!!" Then I asked, "Did I get you?" No, he grinned. He was okay. Phew! He paced me for a few miles, then took off ahead. We never talked, but the nose thing sorta made us friends, I guess.
Around mile 15 though the course wasn't so beautiful, the hill was up instead of down, the half-marathoners (who I'd just passed as they waited at their start at my mile 13) had begun to pass me (fresh, fast, and frustrating), we were entering towns, and I was entering what is for me the toughest part of every marathon - the part where I've come so far and feel the fatigue setting in, but I know I still have so far left to go, and I wonder how in the world I'm going to finish and really even if I still even want to... It actually always starts around Mile 13, gets awful around miles 15 - 17, eases a little until Mile 19, and disappears at Mile 20, sometimes Mile 22.
My speed dropped significantly during that tough part. I had to keep talking to myself - things like, "If I stop I'm not going to get to the end any faster!" and "You promised yourself you wouldn't walk!" And, from my friend Natalie, "The deeper you dig the more fun you'll have!" And "This is my one chance to see how fast I can go on my own" (since I run a lot of my marathons with my brothers - pushing my oldest brother in his running wheelchair - and going slower). I tuned out the playlist, completely ignoring the songs that Jeff had picked for me. The songs were perfect for the first 13 miles. Jeff picked them according to their cadence. They had to be 150 beats per minute or faster to theoretically make my feet turn over faster. Like I said, the first 13 it was great. This mid part though was it's own story. No song helped. Nobody cheering on the sides helped. No signs, aid stations, or other runners helped. It was a battle between me and me. I seriously wondered which part of me was going to win.
My head screamed, "Keep going" while just as loudly yelling back at itself, "Just STOP!" My legs weren't even part of my body, they just did their own thing. It was a completely mental battle. I didn't pay attention to my pace, didn't feel my legs, didn't notice my form, I just struggled with the fight going on in my head. I sometimes felt like a spectator, watching the fight play out in my mind. I slowed, but didn't stop. I broke into my mind-fight, interrupting the two sides to announce that I'd decided I just wouldn't stop, so stop arguing about it. I told the two me's that it simply was no longer even an issue. I was pleased to see that the me's listened.
Taking back control of my body and mind, I finally pulled free from staring at the battle in my head and noticed my pace. Whoa, it was slow. There was no reason for that. My legs didn't have to plod along simply because my mind was busy working things out. So I told my legs to get going, I wanted this race over and they weren't helping. My legs obeyed and turned back into a 9 minute pace. Not great, but better than the temporary 11 minutes I was putting into each mile. I wondered how much my psychological struggle had set me back. I was too scared to look at my watch, and told myself it didn't matter - it was too late now and I'd get whatever time I'd get.
I couldn't stand not knowing though, so I finally looked after several miles of telling myself not to. That was the best thing I did - I was still on track to reach my goal of 3:45. That infused me with a fresh desire to run a good race. At the same time, my energy gels (I took them too late - learned my lesson!) finally decided to let their power seep into my body and I got my second wind. I turned my ears back on to focus on the cadence of the songs I'd been ignoring. I found a new game to play to distract me from the monotony of a never-ending run (my new game was counting how many songs I listened to in each mile - it ranged from about 2 1/2 to 4 songs).
Suddenly, I completely was back, a happy runner again. Mile 20. Just a 10K left, but I couldn't think of it that way, I had to think of it as one mile at a time. And each mile got better and better, until my last mile was again a sub-8, and I found myself kicking it the last 1/2 mile or so. I passed Mile 26. Only .2 left. I saw the finish banner. At about 26.1, with only a tenth of a mile left, my iphone's playlist began singing out the BYU Cougar Fight Song. Timing couldn't have been better. I grinned as I thought of my husband putting the song of his favorite football team on my playlist, laughed at the coincidence of it playing right at my finish, and bounded through the finish, passing people at the end and not caring how silly I must look with a big grin on my face. It was fun. The first was fast and thrilling, the middle was a monster that I conquered, the end was a high. After I passed the finish I looked down at my watch, still wondering if I would reach my 3:45 goal. I laughed out loud. 3:39. I did it.
Pictured here: me and my friend Janeese at the end of the Pocatello Marathon, Sept. 4th, 2010. I ran it in 3:39:11 (average 8:21 minutes/mile), came in 12th overall for women and 5th in my age group. Janeese finished in 3:28:something, and was 5th overall for women and 1st in her age group. It was so exciting to not only meet my goal of 3:45 (to qualify for Boston), but to beat that goal by 6 minutes. I bested my previous PR (2 years ago at the Mesa Falls Marathon) by 13 minutes. Who says getting older makes you slow down? :)
After the race I met up with Jeff, Oliver (middle) and Samuel (right) at the Fort Hall replica in Pocatello. It was very cool, but mostly I was just pleased to see Jeff and the boys and share my personal success with them. They were on their way to a BYU Football game and timed it just right to be in Pocatello at the same time I was ready to leave the runner's court at the race (about 2 hours after I finished).
Charlotte, Eleanor and I went huckleberry hunting. We didn't find any - we got rained out - but we did find wildflowers and bugs and fun hiding places in the woods.
While we wandered the woods, which was delightful, Jeff and the boys were mountain biking on nearby trails (in the rain and mud, no less!). Good times.
I had to stop on my morning run to take this picture of the moon and the Temple. It was beautiful enough to take my breath away. My iphone camera doesn't do it justice. Since I never let anything make me stop on a run, that should indicate how lovely this was.
Eleanor on her first day of kindergarten.
Charlotte on her first day of preschool.
I don't have pictures of the boys with their teacher on their first day this year - I guess they've outgrown such things. :(
Charlotte with a lollipop that Grandma gave her, along with the lollipops that Grandma sent with her to give to her siblings. She licked them all to oblivion.
Recipes: The only thing I do differently to this recipe is add a can of mushrooms, sliced olives, and fresh chopped tomatoes or other veggies if I have them. This time I sauteed zucchini and added it (you've got to do SOMETHING with the zucchini, right?)
Emeril's Late Night Pasta (pictured above before I put the cheese on top)
Ingredients
- . 1 pound spaghetti
- 4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
- . 1 -2 Tablespoons chopped shallots or onions (I actually use a lot more - about 1/4 cup).
- . 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- . 1/4 - 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, as desired
Directions
Bring a large heavy pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook, stirring to separate the strands, until the pasta is al dente, 7 to 8 minutes for dry pasta. Drain in a colander, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Add the garlic, shallots, pepper, and salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant and the garlic is soft but not brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the egg and reserved pasta cooking water, stirring quickly until the mixture thickens, but the egg does not scramble.
Divide the spaghetti among plates or large shallow bowls, sprinkle cheese to taste over the top of each serving, and serve immediately.
(this picture includes the cheese)
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