Top of Utah Half Marathon

Today was the day! I ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon! So, here's how it went down. Last night we went to pick up our packets at the finish line and it was a down pour! It was raining so bad, the streets were like flash flooding! Okay, not that bad, but it was wet! I was ready to scream. I did not want to run in the soaking wet weather. But by the time I went to bed, I was mentally prepared to run, rain or shine. And I went to bed earlier than I have all summer-- 10! That felt pretty darn good! :)

This morning we woke up at a quarter to 5 and ate a little breakfast and headed down to the park to board the busses. It was not raining, but there were plenty of ominous looking clouds. The bus ride up to the starting line seemed like forever. It made me really nervous. It felt like 26 miles instead of 13.1. But we got up to the starting line an hour before the race was supposed to start. We visited the bathroom and got some water and then were just walking around a little and ran into my cousin Katie and her husband Ryan. We knew they were going to be there, but not 10 minutes earlier, I said that finding them and Harold (a school teacher and friend at Cokeville) would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Then there was Katie and Ryan. We visited with them for 45 minutes until we needed to go to the starting line. So far, the weather was holding. Thank goodness. My goal all summer was 2 hours. I just wanted to beat 2 hours. So, I went to line up with the 2 hour pacer and there was Harold. So I chatted with Harold for the next 15ish minutes. All week he was telling me how I was gonna whoop him and I kept tellin him that wasn't gonna be the case. I was right. Seriously 2 minutes into the race, I had completely lost sight of him and never saw him again. Speedy! I just started my music and started plodding along. To make a long story shorter, the weather was perfect, I felt really good, and I smashed my goal. Okay. Smashed is a little bit of an exaggeration. I ran 1:47. I was pretty proud of myself for that. I felt good, I tricked my brain through some pain and stiffness, and it's now 4 hours later and I'm still good. I'm not going to go on a 13 mile run tomorrow or anything, but I feel pretty good considering. My mom beat her goal by 30 minutes! She's so awesome! She ran 2:03. I'm super proud of her! I got a medal! It's super cool! I was talking to a friend and he was like, you get a medal just because? And before i ran I thought, yep! But after I ran, I decided, I earned that medal. 13.1 miles is a far ways to run! 

So that was the race today, but my running journey started a long time ago. When I was a just a kid, I was bored of always walking, so I started running... No. Not that long ago. I'll just tell you the motivation for running this half marathon. For those of you who ran with me in high school track, or coached me, you are probably shocked that I voluntarily ran a half marathon. I am a little bit too. I do not love running. So why? Well, I tore my ACL 16 months ago (which seems like a long time, but it's not that long through recovery and stuff) and I couldn't run. It was frustrating! Then, last year, my friend Holly ran the TOU Half Marathon. I was so impressed and watching her come across the finish line, I got really inspired. I thought, I wanna do that! So, as soon as my therapist gave me the go ahead to run, I got online and signed up to run this thing! My sister Taffy gave me a workout schedule and I went to Alaska and did it! My cousins up there said I was the most irresponsibly responsible person they've met because I would play hard into the night, and then never miss a run. I really did a good job training and that's because I had a wonderful training partner, my aunt Lila! She did her own half marathon this morning in Alaska so that we were running together. She's awesome! In the middle of the summer, I had a little set back with my knee, but I saw Garrett, an awesome chiropractor, got a blessing, and then everything got better. It was amazing. I was able to resume my training and I know it's because Heavenly Father knew it was important to me and so it was important to Him and I'm extremely grateful. 

I can't say that I love running and that I'm addicted and wanna do races all the time. I can't even say that I can't wait to go on a run next week. But, I don't hate running like I did in my first few years of high school. Running, to me, is a good way to exercise. It's fairly inexpensive, I saw all shapes and sizes of people doing it, and it's just fun to accomplish something hard, which running is. So, I'm super glad I did this half. I'm proud of myself. I stayed in pretty good shape over the summer. It was my victory run, like in your face knee surgery! It was a great experience and I'm super glad that I did it! And excuse how our hair looks in the pictures--I think we look dang good for what we just did! :)

Alaska

Well folks, I'm back in the lower 48, reunited with my family, and I'm really happy. I have met my new niece and nephew and my brother got married and I saw a bunch of my favorite friends and I got a sunburn while I was rafting the Snake River! Wyoming is so beautiful! It's browner and it's hotter and it's a lot harder to breath when I'm running, but it's good to be home. 

But honestly, Alaska was about the best experience of a summer I've ever had! I had so much fun and I really feel like I'm coming home a better person. I learned a lot of things that I needed to learn and I used my own brain a lot. I experienced some things that were totally new to me and I learned that I like them. For example, I went wake-boarding at Devin's... well, Doug and Julie's cabin on Beaver Lake and I crashed hard lots of times and then gave up. But I went back the next week, and I got up! It was so exciting and so fun! I would so love to do that a LOT and get good! I also played pick-up basketball with some older men and I have always been terrified to play basketball with anyone that's not near my same age, but Sadie took me and it was so fun! I learned how to plant and harvest a bunch of stuff and had to use my rusty math skills. That was fun and I am not turned off to gardening. I'll definitely have a garden when I grow up. It's so cool to watch things that I planted grow up to the point of harvest and then take them to market and people like buy them and are pumped! I ran a lot too this summer. I can't say that I learned how to really enjoy it, but it kept the weight under control and gave me lots of good chats and a good opportunity to get to know my Aunt Lila really well. 

With like 2 1/2 weeks left in Alaska, I made an end of summer bucket list. I put on a lot of things and I had to edit it once when I realized I couldn't quite get everything done, but I still did a ton! Those last few weeks were jam packed with not much sleep and a lot of good clean fun! Sadie was with me for everything that we did and it was great! I also had a lot of good friends that helped me check everything off. It was a good summer.

This last Monday, we had a big family party and roasted hot dogs and I taught the kids how to play kick-the-can and we took pictures and it was just a really good time! I love my family up there and how they treated me so well and just took me in. I especially wanna thank my Grannie and Grandpa for letting me stay with them. They fed me and let me sleep in their house and let me borrow their car and just loved me. I love them so much and I'm so glad that I got the chance to have this summer with them. And I wanna thank Aunt Carol for being such an awesome boss! She never yelled at me and we had good chats that got me thinking about a lot of stuff. It was fun to work with her. And Aunt Lila for running with me and encouraging me all through the training and keeping me going and for letting me play at her house a lot. And all my other family too. It was just an awesome summer! Definitely in the top best summers! 

 Our Party!

 Stellar photo bomb by the lovely Lori.

 Playing football before Kick-The-Can

 The coolest cats!

 Noah, Annie, and Aunt Carol. Best work crew ever!

 My list of fun stuff! Killed it!

My summer-time best friend! Sadie is so awesome! 

Two of the greatest people on earth! I love these guys so much! 

I love Alaska! 

On a Journey

Some people in this world, at my age, are on a journey to getting married. Me... not so much right now. Let me give you my "Getting Wifed Check-up" stats for this week.

• Doing Laundry: 5

           I get a 5 on doing laundry for several reasons. It's at least a five because I did it! It's not a 10 because I waited until I was out of socks, out of work pants/shorts, out of workout clothes. I started my laundry at 11 PM and didn't finish until 11 PM the next day. So, it's done, but not in a timely manner. Hence the 5.

• Making Food: 4

             On Wednesday night, Sadie and I wanted to do a pizza night. I am into making creations sometimes when I am cooking and they don't always turn out that good. I made a pizza that had barbeque sauce instead of pizza sauce. It had corn and rice and garbanzo beans and tomatoes and cheese. Now doesn't that sound good? I thought it did, but it just didn't have a party on my tongue. Uncle Barry, Lila and I were the only ones to eat it and we threw half of it out. So, you wonder, why didn't I give myself a 0 on this one? I made salsa today and it is delicious. But it also came from a salsa kit, so all I had to do was chop it up and boom... Salsa. So a 4. Not ready to be married.

• Vacuuming: 10

            I'm really good at vacuuming, thanks to my job at Heritage Halls at school! I can vacuum a whole house and feel super good about myself! 

• Child Care: 3

             I get at least a 3 because today I pretended to eat a cake that was shaped like a fish and I paid for it with a 4 dollar bill and Daisy thought I was cool. So, that's awesome! I don't get a good score on this because I was a really bad cousin and didn't help Holly feed her kids while she was in some serious pain. I should have helped because that would have made me a better person. So, I get a 3. 

So. I'm in no-where ready to get married because all I'm good at is vacuuming and it takes a lot more than that, I think, to be a good wife and mom. So, like my last post said, I wanna be a good mom when I grow up, but I'm pretty not ready to grow up yet. I'm just not very domestic and it's not worrying me too badly. I'll learn when to and not to make creations and I'll get more efficient at laundry and be a better kid feeder, in a few years. Have a great day everyone! :)