Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church as usual. We had a missionary farewell. One of the speakers gave a very memorable talk on obedience that involved a colored up version of the interactions between Nephi, Laman and Lemuel. It was completely based on scripture aside from the dialogues that may or may not have happened, but somebody who had not read the account in its entirety or has been spacing out as he read it might have wondered - where are you getting this from? As I get older, I appreciate more and more the value of that story. It was the discussion of Laman and Lemuel that helped Benjamin break 6:00 mile for the first time and never look back. He was a different person after that. I've used that story many times on many occasions in our home when a kid lacked the motivation to do something that I knew was good for him and murmured. That does wonders. They know the story very well, and none of them want to be like Laman and Lemuel.

A.M. 12 miles total, some with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. All kids except Benjamin rested for the cross-country meet tonight. Benjamin ran 2 miles out with me, and 2 miles back, total of 4. I did total of 12. Picked up in the last 0.5 to about 5:40 pace, but it was a harder effort because it was uphill.

P.M. Cross-country meet at Kiwani's Park. 3 K distance. Benjamin won overall with  10:42. Grant Gardner was second with 10:49. They both improved from the last time when it was 10:54/11:04, but Benjamin stayed ahead. There was a rabbit that got Benjamin going at a good pace early for the first 1 K or so, and he pulled away from Grant. But then Benjamin felt the pace was too fast and eased off to rest. This was enough for Grant to catch up. Then Benjamin rested behind him for some time and turned it on with about 800 to go as he usually does. This was enough to create a 7 second gap, but not enough to break 10:30 which we hoped for. Still 10:42 is his cross-country 3 K PR and an improvement of 50 seconds compared to last year. It might actually be a course record in for youth in the recent years - at least I do not recall a faster time.

Joseph did quite well. His assignment was to break 14:00, win the Sub-bantams, and run in contact with John Hunter or Malcolm Stewart (top Bantam boys).  He was not in contact the entire race, and he was not even leading the Sub-bantam race with 300 to go, but in the last 300 he kicked, passed Jayden Fitzgerald (leading Sub-bantam boy), and dipped under 14:00 by 2 seconds - 13:58. He improved his 3 K time by 14 seconds since the last race. John was ahead of him by about 10 seconds, and Malcolm beat him by quite a bit with the time of 13:05. But those boys are at least 2 years older, so that's OK for now.

Jenny struggled today again, but less than in the 4 K, and ran a better time - 14:39 taking 3rd place in the Midget girls.   Jacob ran a solid race finishing with 15:19 and taking 3rd in Sub-bantams. Julia struggled again and ran 15:42, which gave her 4th place in the Bantam girls.

It was quite a challenge to keep track of all five kids in the same race. 

Afterwards Benjamin took William for 0.5 miles. 

A.M. 12 total. All of it with the kids. Joseph did 2, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 1, Benjamin 7. I did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:35 down the canyon after a VPB. Benjamin joined me for about a quarter after I had caught up.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I did a total of 13 with 3x1 mile down the Provo Canyon. The times were 4:56.0, 4:58.3, 4:58.5. The first half a second faster than last time, the second a second slower, and the last one 2.5 or so seconds slower. Not sure if it was due to less favorable winds or just due to the reduced fitness.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. 12 total. 7 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I did a couple of pickups totaling about 1.25.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. 20 mile run with Chad before General Conference. Started at 6:00 AM. George ran the first 4 miles with us, but then we sped up a bit and he could not keep up. The first half was 1:20:10. In the second half (down the canyon for the most of it) I paced Chad through the first 5 miles in 30:38, then sped up and tried to hit 5:40 average for the last 5 miles. Benjamin joined me in the last 3.5 which we covered in 19:42. My last 5 split was 28:16, 4 seconds under target. We calculated that Benjamin ran about 17:31 5 K split in the middle of that, which would make it a new 5 K PR for him. I got 58:54 for the last 10 miles. Chad got 1:02:10, which is a very good time for him.

Watched General Conference with the family after that. Did not realize Elder Perry was 90 years old. He is moving around quite well for that age. I find it significant that we have men in their 80s or even 90s who can speak to the whole Church and instruct us. History books are one thing. History gets written and re-written, and important details are lost as it is transferred from generation to generation. Even though I am only 39, I find that people of the younger generation have no concept of some things that I think everybody should understand perfectly without any special training or instruction. It really helps to have the continuity with people of age being in a prominent position and teaching us from their experience. While the experience of life is important, they do not speak from that alone. That experience is enlightened by inspiration that comes from the nature of their calling.

When you think of preserving that generation continuity, the father to son connection becomes of particular importance. One of the first things that angel Moroni said to Joseph Smith was the repetition of Malachi's words about the hearts of the children turning to the fathers and hearts of the fathers turning to the children lest the earth be smitten with a curse. This quote was on my mind as I reflected on the significance of running near the Logan temple with Benjamin at the end of the Top of Utah marathon a few weeks ago. Before I was a father, this was just another thing that angel Moroni had quoted from the scriptures. Now I am beginning to understand the depth of it and the power behind it.

P.M. More General Conference. Amazingly in spite of arising early and running 20 miles I never felt tired. I was able to feel the Holy Ghost during the talks and it kept me awake and alert. This is significant for me. I've had many General Conference experiences when I would feel inspired by a few talks, but then my ability to handle inspiration would be gone and I would fall a sleep at least for a few minutes.  Ran 0.5 miles with William.