Sock tans

Wasatch loop, 7:50 average. Felt good.

Ran up past the zoo

Ran to the East track and did a mile of speed changes. Crazy how much things can change, looks like the track was redone since my time at East. Kind of crazy how that was 2 years ago... It doesn't feel like that long. And it's been a year since I've attended SUU! Time flies. Speaking of SUU, I might be going down to Cedar sooner than I thought!

First race in 11 months! Not bad considering that. I'm definitely still out of shape. I started out too fast and died, 4 miles in I was just trying to finish/not stop haha. Also, haven't done any speed or tempo or anything to prepare. It's good to know where I'm at, and I'll try to prepare more for the 15k next month.

Ran to sugarhouse, 2 road laps, then back home.

Didn't have time to run today because of Sadie's wedding. It was my first time to a temple sealing, so special! I love the temple :)

Shriners run

Was working literally all day from 9am to 10:30pm. Was going to wake up early to run but went to bed late last night and slept in, then was too tired when I got home. I know, excuses excuses, I'm going to make sure I schedule in some running time into my days from now on.

Took Tommy along, running with a stroller is a lot harder than I thought, especially on hills :)

Wasatch loop, 7:50 average.

I need more sleep. Today my legs felt kind of heavy and I was exhausted from a long day of work, but other than that I felt good. Went up to the Zoo trail and took it over to the Red Butte drinking fountain, then took adventure run backwards to Foothill and back home via 13th. Beautiful day.

Wasatch loop then ran to Horner's to pick up my car (it had a problem with the windshield wiper fluid so got that fixed). 7:50 average.

VA loop then dropped down 500 S to 13th and went over to South temple and somehow found my way to the alley and took Shriners run home. 7:46 average, yeah almost to 50% without trying!

Shriner's run, felt good. My mom just left for England, hooray for being in charge of my sisters when my dad's away too!

Wasatch loop, 7:53 average. Quads​ are a little sore, but I'm almost completely over my cold! Just have the remnants of a stuffy nose. It's been almost 2 weeks so I'm glad to be rid of it.

Shriners run. Legs felt like lead at the end. Felt some pain in the ball of my foot, going to ice it.

I'm feeling more driven lately, I think I'm starting to pull out of my depression! I finally feel like I am going somewhere and making progress. I'm hoping to be up to 60 miles by the end of April, and for the first time since I've been home from my mission I'm not only excited about that but I have the drive to get me there.

Wasatch loop, longer loop today past the zoo. Felt good, legs got tired around mile 7. Ball of foot is still hurting, may try ibuprofen and see if that helps. Iced again.

It's satisfying to feel my muscles strengthening. I lost most of the strength I had built up the past five years when I gave up running to go on a mission. Crazy how fast you lose it, but I don't regret "giving up" running even slightly. Going on a mission was the best thing I have ever done.

I just have to share this one thing because it relates to running. This last week I got to thinking about how God created us all differently, and gave us different talents. So it got me thinking about the different talents I have, and I wondered why running was among them. But as I pondered it I understood that running was not just a random talent given to me just because it was a card Heavenly Father dealt to me. No, it serves a purpose and Heavenly Father had thought long and hard about which talents were to go to which son or daughter of his. Because of running, I was able to find my testimony of the gospel and cling to the truths taught in the Bible and Book of Mormon. When I started running my freshman year of high school I immediately recognized that I could be good at it and became obsessed. Everything in my life revolved around it. Even so, I recognized that God was to be put first, always. In church and seminary I learned things that helped my testimony grow, but oddly it was running that solidified it. Anything I learned in church/seminary I would put to the test with running. One major one was the power of prayer. I cannot count how many times I had prayed before a race or a meet and saw miraculous things happen, either by my acceptance into a meet or in finals, or by my ability. I can list several races where I am blown away at the things that happened as a result of a simple prayer. My absolute favorite scripture since I began running has been Isaiah 40:31, which reads:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

My seminary teacher pointed out the footnote, which says to "wait upon" is Hebrew for "to hope for, anticipate." I researched this more, and the Hebrew word qavah (I'm guessing Hebrew was the original language used in the Bible?) has two meanings, one is just that, to anticipate, literally to wait, but the other is "is to bind together like a cord." Think of a rope, with the individual strands woven together tightly. This is what gives it its strength, and no doubt is where we can find the same strength mentioned in the verse when we draw ourselves closer to God.

But I discovered another possible meaning this week when I was researching the meanings of words in old English (ha, don't ask why). According to the Oxford dictionary, in older english the meaning for "wait on" or "wait upon" was "to pay a respectful visit to." So how do you pay a respectful visit to the Lord? Prayer. My mind was blown. Unknowingly, the times before important meets when I prayed for the strength to perform well I was, in a way, "waiting upon" the Lord, and recieved fulfillment of the promises the Lord makes in Isaiah 40:31.

It could still be taken literally, however, such as in 2 Nephi 6:13 "...for the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah." So, in order to recieve the promises to run and not be weary, and walk and not faint, you also must wait for, as in anticipate, the Second Coming, but that is a whole other discussion.

The meaning I had taken it to be for a long time was "to hope for," which I believe could be to have faith in. So, it could be read, "they that have faith in the Lord shall renew their strength..." What I love about the scriptures is that in any language, no matter the meaning of the word, there is still a valuable lesson to be learned. And even in languages such as english where words have multiple meanings, it sheds light on new things and can be interpreted many ways. So much can be learned from diving into the scriptures.

If you read to here, props to you. I tend to get a bit carried away with subjects I'm interested in.

Was watching my sisters all day today while my mom was in England and my dad flew to California for a work trip. Decided it would be better to take the day off for my foot anyway.

VA loop, foot hurt but otherwise felt okay. 8:00 average.

My mom is home safe, what a relief. Turns out she was a mile away from the terrorist attack in London yesterday. If they hadn't decided to stop for lunch they would've been on the bridge when it happened.

7:58 average. Foot hurt, was torn between 'Better not run to prevent further injury' and 'Run through it, it's just a foot'. Today the run through it won out.

I think I'm dehydrated? Beautiful day though. Foot feels better than yesterday, a good sign that it's okay to run on. Just have to try to help the inflammation go down.

My inconsistency in mileage is giving me anxiety. I had hoped to go up to 45 this week, no way that's happening with this darn foot. Gahhhh I need to get to higher mileage so that when I go to Cedar I can actually get in some good workouts with the girls and not feel like I'm dying.

To sugarhouse, road lap. Foot pain has gone down, now it's kind of just there.

Wasatch loop. Foot is feeling better, barely noticed it today. I didn't have work so I could sleep in, I slept lot longer than I meant to. Oh well, guess I needed it!

VA loop + 2 laps in the gully. Legs felt heavy.

Wasatch loop, 7:45 average. Stomach didn't agree with me.

Was a bit short on time today. VA loop, 7:21 average

Shriner's run, 7:45 average. We put Gus down today :( he was a good old dog.