Recovering from micro-fracture surgery :(

My nephew texted me this morning at 3am (woke me up) to let me know that he didn't want to run early, he wanted to start at 10...which ended up being 10:30 by the time he got to my house.  He had been out partying with friends all night.  Partying in Utah isn't the same as partying in other states--A lot of us are Mormon.

We started out going up Little Cottonwood to the mouth of the canyon and then down to Wasatch.  We hit a grocery store for Muscle Milk and kept trudging through the misery of the heat! My legs hurt, my side hurt (from laughing at my nephew too much) and just all over misery because I am in pathetic shape!  We ran 13.1 in 2:16....no lie, that sad!  I didn't even want to post it.  It was hard to keep in the 9s! Sad! Sad! Sad!  How am I going to run a half marathon in 2 weeks and even get a semi-decent time?  I'm not! :(  I guess I will get out there and do it for fun and enjoy the beautiful scenery and make a few new friends along the way.  I am a bit too chatty! 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend.  I am so grateful for our forefathers that sacrificed so much for their posterity and their beliefs.  What a wonderful country we live in.  

Happy 4th of July!

 It is overcast and a bit humid here in Salt Lake City today which is rare for July.  I felt better out running this morning.  Ran 10 in 1:30...I know, still sad!  I will be lucky if I come in under 1:50 for the Bryce Canyon half in a week and a half.  I guess I should just be grateful that I am out running and nothing is hurting on me right now!  It is nice to not run in heat and it sprinkled a bit on me here and there while I was out running today.  

 My hub and I went and played doubles tennis this afternoon with some friends of ours and we got poured on.  The court was a bit slick but we had a lot of fun. 

 We are now off for a bbq and fireworks.  I hope you are all enjoying your freedom on this great day!

My 13yr old has been a stinker about going to swim team in the mornings.  I told him it is either swim team or me for one hour every day.  He chose me.  I am hoping after a week of me, he will be begging to go back to swim team in the mornings.  

We ran around the Crestwood trail before my two youngest had swim lessons.  James was huffing and puffing and complaining.  I was pushing my two younger ones in our double jogger.  After a half lap, we ran into a friend of mine.  He turned around and started running with us.  When I had to leave for swimming lessons, he finished up James' workout for me by running him up hills and running more laps.  He brought James to the swimming pool for me and his face was red and splotchy!  James said he wasn't feeling very good.  He thought he was going to throw up! haha!

I had all sorts of plans to run today and I ended up cleaning my house too long, making pancakes and bacon for my kids and two nephews that slept over....laundry got the better of me and when I looked at the clock and realized that I was about out of time, I ran down to the treadmill and ran myself sick.  

I thought I would get to run later today but again ended up with too much going on around here.  What can I say....I am a mother of four and I like to play more than work! 4 hours at the pool today about did us all in! My house is clean and laundry done and we had a fun day.  Not a great run day for me.  I am becoming more and more afraid of my Bryce Canyon half marathon in a week! ha!

Ran to Bells Canyon Trailhead and up the trail and a quarter way around the lake and back.  The runoff is still high so unless I wanted to go swimming in glacier water I had to turn around. Sooo humid today.  I was dripping with sweat! This is not like me and not like SL weather....what is the deal?

 Off for the Ballet West dance drop off and then swim lessons and to exercise James into vomiting today! :) Yee hoooo!  Fun day ahead!!!

Humidity is 75% today.  I might as well have taken a shower in my running clothes and gone out for a run because that is what I looked like out running.  My nephew said he has never seen me soaked before.  This is not a normal July in Utah!

Barely made 17 miserable, long, nasty, unbearable miles today.  My legs were throbbing! My nephew Michael and I were laughing until we were crying we were so miserable out today!  We are both in pathetic shape right now.  I can't wait until our miles get up and we can not be in so much pain while out running! 

Hiked up to Bells Lake with my girls before church.

My sis from Seattle was in town and she wanted to hike up to Lake Blanche and Lillian up Big Cottonwood.  She cancelled on me because of the storm Sunday night.  She was worried we would get caught in another thunderstorm or stuck hiking in the mud, so we hiked up Little Cottonwood and then Bells.  Trails were fine.

I was planning on running outside, but my 4 year old thought I was going to run in the basement and was so excited to get down there and play while I run....I ended up running on the tread for him.

I couldn't decide weather to run an easy half and run it with my friend or make it a race.  I was at the starting line and the gun went off and I thought...well, it is a race and even though I am not in the greatest shape thought I should give it my all. It was a PR for me.  It was a fun run and made some new friends along the way.

I'm in Lake Powell now and had the most beautiful run yesterday morning from Page, AZ to the Wahweap Ranger Station.  I ran across the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge.  So beautiful.  This is my favorite place to run.  I love Powell!  Two full days of water skiing, wakeboarding and tubing.  Kids are having fun. One more day to go in the sun! :)

Ran from Page, AZ to Wahweap Ranger Station.  Ran across the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge.  Beautiful!

Ran around Panguitch and down my favorite River Lane.  

It was the 24th parade on Saturday and I sat on our little float with the kids (just to make sure my 4 and 7 year old didn't end up falling off) throwing candy to all the kids on the street.  We ended up at my husband's family ranch for the rest of the day having mutton, beans and potatoes. Rick has a family reunion there every year and we never miss it. 

I'm with our friends that we went to Powell with.  Bruce dropped us off at the start and went to the finish to run the 5K and  Terri and I ran the half.

Had to post my Bryce Canyon time.... I'm 6th place. :)

         Female 35 to 39

                                                                                        Chip         Gun        Chip 

    Place    Name               City               Bib No  Age   Overall     Time       Time         Diff       Pace 

      1    Julie Esplin        Orem  UT USA          842   38       17     1:22:14.8   1:22:16.2    0:01.3     6:16/M

      2    Erin Strout         Flagstaff  AZ USA    1003   37       54     1:31:18.1   1:31:19.7    0:01.5     6:58/M

      3    Heather Ellison     Springville  UT USA  1324   36       57     1:31:38.7   1:31:42.8    0:04.0     6:59/M

      4    Kimberly Dolatta    Escalante  UT USA    1485   36       70     1:33:16.4   1:34:45.2    1:28.8     7:07/M

      5    Angela Anderson     Edmonton  AL Canada  1352   36       91     1:35:37.7   1:35:41.9    0:04.2     7:18/M

      6    Amy Farnsworth      Sandy  UT USA        1305   38      114     1:38:29.0   1:39:37.0    1:08.0     7:31/M

Crawled out of bed at 7:30 this morning to find my husband had already been up for 2 hours.  He hit the grocery store (since we have been gone for 10 days) and already crossed several things off of his list to do for the day.  He asked what I had planned for the day.  Hahaha! I said, "a run" :)!  He didn't look thrilled. Can't I just relax after cooking and cleaning for 10 days?  A family vacation is really no vacation....and it was Rick's family reunion too.  I already did all of the laundry at our house in Panguitch.  The house here was spotless due to the fact that our house is for sale.  Rick is very much type A and loves living by a schedule and I couldn't be more opposite.  Rick was mowing while I left the house for a run.  

The run started out terrible.  Side ache, zero energy and feeling very sick!  I knew I would be hitting a park about mile 3 with a restroom.  I was sprinting for the restroom by the time I got there.  I passed three grandmas sitting on a bench watching their grandkids playing on the playground.  After getting the toilet paper surrounding the metal bowl and getting ready to sit down I hear some cackling at the door and loud talking.  The grandmas had to have stood up and headed for the restroom door just after I passed them!  Really?  They didn't notice a sick, pathetic looking runner heading for the potty?  I have 4 sisters and 3 of them have terrible public restroom phobias -- luckily I don't have that problem.  I thought if they are stupid enough to not notice me running by them then they deserve a shock! It suddenly went quiet and I didn't hear them anymore! ha! I know TMI! I didn't dare leave the restroom for a while-- I was not feeling well! I started back at it again and headed down Bengal Blvd and when I started back up the hill a guy in  a wheelchair was having a hard time getting up the hill.  I stopped and turned around to see if he needed some help or just wanted a workout.  We ended up chatting for about 20 minutes.  He was in a ski accident 11 years ago and broke his neck.  I then chatted with a lady in her 60s that always runs along Wasatch Blvd and I had already passed her about 45 minutes earlier.  She said that she used to run marathons but runs for stress relief these days.  She is taking care of an elderly mother and kids are back living at home with grandkids.  

I decided to head up to Bells Canyon Reservoir about mile 8.  I chatted with EVERYONE along the way and realized that there must be something wrong with me because I am just too darn friendly and chatty! I saw a dad that was at least 400lbs hiking up the trail with his 3 kids.  I know that had to be really difficult for him and I was so impressed that he was out hiking that I couldn't help but tell him what a great dad he was and encourage those little ones and tell them what great hikers they were.  Then I thought that I would not talk to anyone else because I was spending way to much time talking to everyone today.  I then ran into a neighbor and talked to her for 5 min.  Then I really decided that I need to just say hi and that was all and a minute later 20 BYU coeds were coming at me with blue shirts and shorts with cougars on them! WHAT?  I couldn't help myself.  I had to ask why they were a little too far north and were they lost?  I told them I needed to have my Utah clothes on.  They were really fun.  They all said that they were aware they were in enemy territory and were trying to be careful.  After I passed them, I thought that was stupid since it was 20 to 1.   Then I chatted with a lady that was having a hard time getting down the trail.  Chatted with a couple more groups before I got to the bottom.  I got to the bottom and realized that I didn't miss chatting with one group.  I really hope that I am not one of those irritating people that just talks too much.  I guess I am! :(  Made it home and my hub was out running errands and here I am stinking up the house and on the computer instead of in the shower.  Off I go!  I hope you all have a good day today! It is a Utah State holiday today.  

Here I sit stinking up my house again when I am suppose to be getting things ready for the pool today!

Started out my run by chatting with a neighbor for a few minutes before I even got out of the neighborhood!  I decided I was really going to discipline myself today and not talk so that I can actually get a good workout instead of stopping throughout my run.  I started running up the canyon when I saw one of my favorite 70 yr old ladies that walks around the canyon picking up trash that lazy people have thrown out their windows.  I just smiled and waved and did not stop like I wanted to.  I then ran into another neighbor that was out walking that I know has been having health problems and again, I smiled and waved....so not like me.  I felt guilty after passing them.  

I got to park about mile 3 that I stop at to get a drink from the fountain.  I ran past a guy standing all by himself on the tennis court holding two rackets.  Before I knew it, I said, "Got stood up today, huh? Haha!"  Then he said he was just hoping for someone to come by to hit with him and asked me to come and just hit a few balls with him.  The thought immediately went through my mind that I should have just kept my mouth shut!  I heard myself say, "sure".   Heard all about him moving here from California, his divorce, his job.  He is a 45 yr old bail bondsman.  Nice guy.  He would like to play tennis together a couple of times a week....don't know about strangers...kind of made me nervous.  HALF an HOUR later...I headed back on my run.  So much for my workout today!

One thing did really make my morning that hasn't happened in a long time.  I heard a bunch of yelling and honking behind me about a mile before my home.  I thought it was probably someone I know or something crazy going on behind me.  It was a truck load of teenage boys .... I bet they were shocked to see my 38 yr old face as they passed.  Still made me smile and made my morning! ha!

No running today.  I will be cleaning and packing all day.  I am heading up to my parents cabin in Woodland.  My nephew and I will be running 18 tomorrow.  We are running from Woodland to Kamas and around until we hit 18.  It is a pretty run along the Provo River.  

One of my friends just gave me some pics from Bryce Canyon. I thought I would add them to show the before and after look.  

 BEFORE

 Bryce Canyon start.  5:20 a.m. It was in the 40s.  It was really cold!

 Finished!

 Chip cutting

AFTER (yikes!)

 Siiiiick!!  I was about to barf!

 Susanna Lew (Smooth)  She sent me a message letting me know she was running the half and sent me her number.  I forgot to put it in my phone before we left town.  I looked for her EVERYWHERE at the start and couldn't find her.  After I finished, I went to watch all the runners sprinting towards the finish and I saw her.  I think she came in at 1:48 and PRed.  She came in 3rd in her age group!!! :)  It was so fun to meet her and her husband.  Her husband is one of the most wonderful and supportive spouses!

These are my friends.  Bruce ran the 5K and Terri is my hubs old girlfriend and now one of my best friends! ha!

Ran along the Provo River with my nephew Michael (21).  First 10 miles were so slow and miserable.  Honestly about barfed passing one of the stinkiest roadkill! After 10, I started to feel a bit better.  We were planning on 18, but we took too long and my two sisters picked us up as we were running around Kamas and we decided to call it a run so that we could get our Diet Peps at 7-11.  It was HOT and I think the altitude about did us in!