Utah Grand Slam: Marathon #4, St. George

Pre-race.  Mood:  Excited.  Still on my high from Park City.  Looking for vindication for my "not-so-good" marathons.  I felt my calf injury from time to time during the Colorado Ragnar so I decided to baby my joints some more and only train on the elliptical again.  I really pushed my speed in my training--even got to 7:30 on the elliptical for my daily workouts--but didn't do any long runs between the Park City Marathon and St. George, with the exception of the Colorado Ragnar.  

 

 During the race.  Mood:  Awesome to miserable.  I kicked some serious booty the first 10 miles.  I felt really strong and was pain-free.  I slowed down for the uphill miles from 9-12.  My feet started hurting a little and by halfway I was done!  My energy level was good.  My injuries were fine.  But my feet hurt. So. BAD.  It wasn't from blisters.  It was because my semi-minimalist shoes had no cushion and I hadn't run more than six miles in them.  It felt like I was backpacking for three days and hiking over rocks.  I have never been so miserable on a race.  I thought of quitting.  I thought of ways I could swap shoes.  I even thought of cheating.  That is how miserable I was.       

 Post-race.  Mood:  So glad to be finished!  Surprisingly, I kind of got a second wind the last three miles.  At least, I didn't want to cut my feet off at the ankles anymore.  I finished relatively strong and more importantly, I finished the Utah Grand Slam!!!

 The aftermath.  Mood:  Somewhat disappointed.  I didn't get the vindication I was seeking nor do I have a race that I feel brag-worthy of.  I know I ran four marathons this year but for some reason the accomplishment didn't give me as much satisfaction as a really great time would have.  Oh well, there will always be more marathons. :)
My feet are just starting to feel better (five days later).  The evening of the marathon I noticed that I had bruises on my feet.  I guess that goes to show that the pain wasn't in my head:

Lagoon

We had the opportunity to go to Lagoon a couple weeks ago with my dad's work.  It had been about five years since we'd been--I think Stockton was almost two--and we didn't have the most positive experience then.  At the time, they didn't have a lot of rides kids could ride with their parents and Stockton was nervous about riding by himself.  It made for a long day with few fond memories. 

 

When my dad invited us to go this year, we figured Stockton's tall enough to ride any ride now, and he could still do the kiddie rides with the girls, so we thought the kids would have fun this time.  I'm so glad we went because "fun" was an understatement.  I have never seen my kids so happy in their lives!  There was not one negative moment to the day.  All three kids had the best time they've ever had!

 

My dad was there, of course, to capture all the fun memories:    

 Tess was a little unsure about "Puff" on the first lap:

 But by the last lap she loved it:

 This is one of my favorite pictures.  I'm so glad my Grandma Howe is nearby now and my kids are getting to know her better:

 Stockton's favorite ride was the Turn of the Century.  The girls probably liked the kiddie swings the best, too:

Fun Days with Stockton

 Stockton loves to play!  Lately, he has really wanted to be apart of "the group" and do what the other kids do.  It's so much fun to see.  He's even getting better at initiating play.  I was watching my nieces and nephews the other week and we went to Tanner Park.  Stockton loves to climb trees and we found the best climbing tree ever.  Stockton invited one of his cousins to climb with him and pretty soon all of the cousins were climbing the tree together:

 Stockton had a field trip to the zoo last week.  I volunteered to help with a group.  He and his friends had so much fun together.  Again, whatever the group wanted to do, Stockton wanted to do:

 

Stockton's school is doing their spirit week this week.  We haven't always participated in the past but Stockton is really into his school this year.  Yesterday was crazy hair day.  This is not up my creative alley but I did my best with what I had on hand.  Stockton was so excited:

 



Fun Days with Mary and Tess

 My girls have really grown up in the last few months.  There is nothing "baby" about them anymore.  They are little girls.  Every season, I have to get them new clothes.  I have some hand-me-downs, but not enough to outfit them for the year.  I put these new button-up blouses and skinny jeans on them the other day.  They looked so grown-up!  They're getting big way too fast but their personalities are growing with them and it's so much fun to hang-out with my girls. 

They love spending time with their cousin, Anna, who is only a couple months younger:

 

 I still don't know what to do with the little hair they have.  I tried enhancer their curls with some foam rollers.  It didn't turn out the best but we had a lot of fun putting them in. 

 



Colorado Ragnar

Somehow, along with my four marathons, I got talked into doing three Ragnars.  I really don't like running as much as it appears I do.  Anyway, my family did the Colorado Ragnar in September.  It was so awesome!  If I only do one Ragnar a year (which is my plan in the future), I'd want to do Colorado. It was so beautiful and it was so different than any of the other races I've done.  Most of the legs were run on bike paths or paved trails.  My first leg ran up a hiking path and down a ski slope.  It was also nice that it wasn't nearly as crowded as other ragnars.  There were only 160 teams so you never had to fight traffic.  It was a fun weekend, to say the least.

 

Decorating the van:

 

 

I hurried and snapped this picture just before it started pouring.  Unfortunately, ten minutes after I took this picture my creative work of art washed away:

 The starting line.  I was the first runner this time:

 Some of the passing scenery:

 The finish: