Each Day Is a Gift

December 24, 2024

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Location:

UT,

Member Since:

Oct 14, 2008

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

85 marathons, 5 times Utah Grand Slam finisher (division winner twice).

7 Bostons (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016).

Two 50Ks, one 50 miler (Pony Express).

A handful of AG wins in all distance races.

Marathon PR: 3:57:09 (Boston'08)

Half Marathon PR: 1:48:41 (Bryce Canyon '11)

10K PR: 47:50 (Spectrum 10K '09)

5K PR: 22:31 (Nestle 5K '08)

Short-Term Running Goals:

2017 Races:

June 10 - Utah Valley Marathon (5:13:43)

June 24 - Morgan Valley Marathon (5:49:01)

July 8 - Hobbler Half (2:19:37, 2nd AG)

July 24 - Temple to Temple 5K (27:43)

July 29 - Timp Half (2:08:01, 3rd AG)

Aug 26 - Mt. Nebo Marathon (5:16:16, 3rd AG)

Sep 16 - Huntsville Marathon (4:48:53)

Oct 7 - St. Geroge Marathon (4:57:11)

Nov 4 - Canyon City Marathon (5:30:07)

2018 Races:

Jan 13 - St. George Half (2:19:45, 3rd AG)

Mar 3 - The Woodlands Marathon (5:01:35)

Apr 6-7 - Ragnar So. California

June 1-2 - Ragnar Wasatch Back

June 9 - Utah Valley Marathon (5:19:22)

June 30 - Morgan Valley Half

Sep 1 - Pocatello Marathon (6:00:43)

Sep 15 - Huntsville Marathon (5:37:08)

Oct 6 - St. George Marathon (5:25:43)

Oct 20 - SoJo Marathon (5:29:23)

2019 Races:

June 1 - Utah Valley Marathon (5:44:24)

June 22 - Morgan Valley Marathon (6:15:13)

Aug 31 - Pocatello Marathon (5:38:47)

Sep 14 - Big Cottonwood Marathon (6:03:51)

Oct 5 - St. George Marathon (5:57:46)

Oct 12 - SoJo Marathon (5:55:45)

2020 Races:

Jan 18 - St. George Half (2:38:28)

Feb 15 - Sun Marathon (5:51:54)

May 5 - Conquer Covid-19 Virtual Marathon (5:49:07)

May 16 - Clear Creek Canyon Half Marathon (2:32:15)

May 25 - Utah Valley Virtual Marathon (5:33:110

June 9 - Independence Run Virtual Marathon (5:55:22)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Run happy and healthy all the days of my life. Be an example and inspiration to my family.

Personal:

I'm 64, retired RN, happily married, nana to 14 beautiful grandchildren, mother to 6 children (1 daughter, 5 sons) who are kind, hardworking, caring, wonderful people! Wish they live closer!!! :) :) :)

Picked up running in 2005 at age 50, to stay healthy so I can take care of my husband who had endocarditis resulting in AVR and MVR in 2004, end stage renal failure in 2014, kidney transplant on Dec 30, 2015. Six months after the kidney transplant, we discovered that he has a rare auto-immune disease that was probably triggered in 2004 with then the undiagnosed infective endocarditis. The doctors had to make up a name for this rare disease, Monoclono Gammopathy with Renal Significance (MGRS). It is not curable. After desperately trying different chemotherapies, the doctor finally found one immuno-therapy, Daratumamab, that works to treat the MGRS. It is a miracle!!!

Grateful for the gift of life, blessings, dear friends and loved ones!!! Thankful for the ability to move, walk, jog, and yes run!!!!

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00
Saucony Guide ISO Wide Lifetime Miles:						311.91
Saucony Guide ISO Lifetime Miles:						313.31
Sacony Guide ISO (2) Lifetime Miles:						225.26
Altra Torin (sz 7) Lifetime Miles:						44.49
Saucony Guide 10 (2020) Lifetime Miles:						60.91

Sat, Jun 09, 2012

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Got up at 3:50 and left at 4:25 to drive Lowell, Bret, Wendy, Carolyn, Karen and Brian to the start of the Utah Valley Marathon. Wore shoes instead of the boot so I could drive. After dropping the marathoners off at the start I turned the car around and dropped Lowell off at the start of the Half. Got him there at 5:45. About a mile down the road, he called and asked me to turn around because he has left his Garmin on the dash of the car. I ended up with a record of making 7 U-turns today!

Stopped at Vivian's Park (mile 15) to use the bathroom and watched the first wheelchairs and "foot-pedal-cycle" athletes "ran" by. After scouting out couple of turn-off spots and making U-turns, finally decided to park the car at the gas station by the mouth of the canyon (~ mile 20). Switched shoe to boot. Walked to the spot where the Halloween Half hearse was parked carrying my camera, a little folding stool (that I never sat on), my yellow cow bell (the division winner award from Mesquite Marathon that matches my yellow Boston shirt). I was freezing! Misty and her three children joined me until Walter ran by. She waited for Steve Andersen and when she couldn't wait any longer, she gave me Steve's drink and asked me to hand it to him when he runs by. I failed to spot Steve, sorry!

I stood there, took pictures, cheered and rang that bell obnoxiously for nearly 5 hours. I LOVE it when I got a smile, a high-five or fist-bump from the runners. I could tell the headwind has taken its toll on these brave souls.

It was so AWESOME to see Runningafterbabies (Melody) cruised by. So fun to see RAD running in her shinny angelic wings and cape! So glad ByeWing spotted me and said hello. Lowell running with some young ladies as usual. Mark (Fly on the Wall) flying down the canyon with his Hawaiian shirt and matching blue shoes. When I spotted Rhett I knew that something wasn't right and he confirmed that it was a bad day. Got to hug Kelli... seriously don't know how in the world she ran so bravely with so much tummy pain and severely dehydrated.

After Wendy and Carolyn stopped at my "perch" to put up her foot and take picture, I walked back to my car to drive to the finish. I called Lowell around mile 22. He informed me that he was walking back on the course to meet D'ette and was around mile 24. I didn't see him by mile 25 and called him again. He had me make a U-turn to drive back to get him. Picked him up around mile 22. He had me drive all the way back up the canyon insisting that D'ette must be in distress and need help. I had called D'ette's husband earlier with no answers. I also called Doone and heard that Rhett was in the med tent. I felt heartsick hearing that.

I was getting anxious and quite nervous about driving inside the "median" that Lowell insisted so we could spot D'ette better. Did I mention that he asked me to make left hand turns twice on red lights when there were no other cars in the intersection during the wee hours while enroute to the start? Of course I refused to break the law. It is a miracle that I did not get in an accident or gotten a traffic citation with all those crazy U-turns and driving in and out of the "turning lane/median". Finally D'ette's husband called and we made yet another U-turn around Nunn's Park to get back to the finish.

I was kind of bummed that I drove the last 8 or 9 miles (stucked in Canyon traffic) and totally missed being at the finish to see my friends run in. Met up with Bret who has finished and took a nap waiting for me and Lowell at the diner that Lowell ate breakfast after he finished his Half. Then I walked with Lowell to the finish to look for the booth that was supposed to have his "Utah Half Slam" medal. Well, it was almost noon; so the booth must've packed up and left. We walked back to the diner for a quick lunch then drove Bret and Lowell home. We could see some 6:30ish participants walking to the finish. I gave them one last well deserved encouragement/cheer.

There you have it, I cheered on the leaders and the stragglers. Can't say I know what they were thinking. To me, each and everyone of them is a winner. A few days ago I was feeling very sad that I couldn't run this marathon. I love UVM as it is so close to home with so many of my friends and neighbors participating. I remember the first year I ran it, MichelleL was there in the canyon cheering standing with her crutches. She is an inspiration to me. I also appreciate so much the cheer from allie at Ogden the last two years. This injury is teaching me so much more than running. THANK YOU for your support, your goodness, your courage, your strength, your awesomeness and for sharing yourself! :)

Beautiful angelic RAD!

You GO girl, Bye Wing!!!

Here are the pix of the leaders of the marathon in the order they ran by. I missed taking a pic of the first guy as I was so excited clapping and shouting! SO AWESOME!!! :)

Don't know why Sasha looked away when I was screaming my heads off "SASHA!!!"

Walter so ready for his special drink.

The vivacious speedy Rachelle

Fly on the Wall ~ can't miss that cool Hawaiian shirt and blue shoes!

Hi Scott!!!

Got a hug and chat with Chad!

Beautiful Kim!

So proud of Carolyn in her first ever marathon with Wendy alongside. LOVE my running buddies and bestest friends!

D'ette, Bret and Lowell enjoying post race lunch at Nellie's Diner.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00	Weight: 0.00

Comments

From RAD on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 01:02:23 from 98.202.23.178

you have no idea how happy I was to see you!! Maybe you do...I gave you a pretty big hug! I'm sad I missed you at the finish, but it sounds like you had pretty big fish to fry with that story telling guy Lowell :)

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 08:15:58 from 67.172.235.55

Thanks for being there for us all Smooth! It made all of the difference to me and so many others. I did not want to run another step. Your hug and cheering gave me strength and a reminder that I was out there when others who wanted to be were not!

Love Mark's matching shoes. He assured me he did not do it on purpose, but I believe he hunted for shoes to match that shirt!

Sorry you missed the finish! Next time have Lowell drop you off at the finish and give him your car and let him break the law. ;o) He is a lawyer, so he will be covered.

From allie on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 14:11:30 from 174.23.158.139

smooth -- that is great that you went out to support everyone yesterday. it's definitely tough sitting on the sidelines, but i know that all of those runners appreciated your cheers and support. you've made my day at both TOU and des news just by hearing your cheers and feeling your energy. i'm sure you were a great boost to a lot of people yesterday. you will heal and you will be back out there before you know it!

thanks for sharing the great pics.

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 17:16:32 from 67.172.235.55

I am going to pretend this is facebook and LIKE allie's comment. ;o)

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:08:40 from 174.27.212.157

RAD ~ Of course I totally knew how EXCITED you were to see me! And yes, you did lifted me up with a gigantic bear hug. :) That was the best part of my day!

I think Lowell owes me BIG TIME for housing, feeding, driving him around at his every beck and call. He is such a mother hen...it drove me nuts!

Kelli ~ It was truly inspiring to watch you gutting it out yesterday. You are THE BEST!!!

Lowell would have none of that when I wanted to head back to the finish. He insisted that we crept slowly back up the course looking for D'ette who had actually finished in 3:49 and we were looking at faces of the runners who would finish past 5 hr. He was so out of it that he didn't even tell me Wendy and Carolyn passed him and he spoke with them. Lawyers are a different breed...I could never win. I am so glad I am married to a honest banker who listens to ME! :)

allie ~ thank you for your kind words. I just added more pictures of the leading men in the marathon. The guy in the BYU singlet running with two African athlete look so familiar.

Kelli ~ :) what is facebook? j/k

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:11:23 from 67.172.235.55

Who are these people Lowell had to go find??? Relatives? LAWYERS!!!

Love the new pictures!

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:13:47 from 67.172.235.55

WAIT--wasn't my hug the best part of your day????? You sure got lost of hugs from gross sweaty runners. You must have needed a shower!

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:19:41 from 174.27.212.157

D'ette is a girl (Teena's age) from Las Vegas that he met at SGM one year. There's a story about how she got hit by a bike while running 3 weeks before SGM so her husband ran it for her without any training. She and her husband and son and her brother and his wife were all treated to the pre-race dinner Fri. I seriously do not remember meeting her; but she said she has. She wanted to BQ really bad yesterday. Lowell thought she and Bret would be perfect to run together. They never did even their chip time ended up one min. difference.

Bret is from Pocatello and runs in Lowell's group sometimes. I've met her at Pocatello as well as Boston. She and Lowell stayed in my home over the weekend.

So do you know some of the guys in the pix? Is one of them Steve Andersen? I think Misty and I both missed him to give him his drink.

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:27:25 from 67.172.235.55

I do not know Steve Anderson but I think he had a bad race and finished at like 3:10 (yeah, bad race at 3:10!!! I would have taken that!!!)

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:29:28 from 174.27.212.157

Kels ~ we must've commented at the same time. :) Your hug was the bestest part of my day! I was also filled with concern when I didn't see you after the 3:15 pace group passed. I actually took a picture of a girl that I thought was you! Silly me!

I LOVE the sweaty hugs! NOT GROSS at all! I wish I could've been at the finish to collect congratulatory hugs!

At least this was better than when I was cheering at the Ogden finish behind the barracade where I got ZERO hugs and because I was in so much pain that hubby just whisked me away.

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 18:36:51 from 174.27.212.157

It doesn't surprise me that a lot of the elites (you included) had a bad race. It was a tough tough tough day! Almost everyone I knew ended up with an average 15 min. slower than their projected goal times. That is the nature of the marathon beast. We could train and analyze and work hard but there is still things we have no control over. Like anything in life, we have to take the bad with the good sometimes.

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 19:23:45 from 67.172.235.55

I wish I was only 10-15 minutes slower than I wanted to be! That would have been nice. But, it is over and I am done worrying about it. Must get ready for Park City, a course I know absolutely nothing about. I need to go train up there a little! Wish you could take me! Hurry and get better.

It was good you were not at the finish, you would have been not only covered in my sweat but also my tears. ;o) Double gross.

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 19:38:23 from 174.27.212.157

You have the right attitude, forward thinking. Your tummy feeling better?

You will have no problem running the Park City course. You are queen of uphills. It will be helpful to run part of the course. I recommend starting at the Rail Trail and run up to Deer Valley Ski resort parking lot (it was the last exchange point at Ragnar couple years ago) and back down to the Park City Resort (mile 19) then cut back over to where you park the car by the Rail Trail. I can take you but just can't run with you. Hmmm, I'm sure we can work something out.

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 19:52:19 from 67.172.235.55

WHEN can you run??

My stomach is still a bit upset. I have kept the eating pretty low key. Can;t eat much or else it gets grumbley. Tomorrow will be better!

From Smooth on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 19:58:41 from 174.27.212.157

so sorry your tummy is not feeling better.

I dunno when I can run. Eric said I need to be in the boot 6 weeks so I'm half way there. I'm hoping to start some aqua jogging next week. It will be nice if I can start the jog/walk in July then may be run the Park City Half. I am registered for the Full.

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 22:32:35 from 67.172.235.55

Half way there does not sound so bad!! In the mean time, I am currently unemployed, let's go to lunch!

From RAD on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 23:04:54 from 98.202.23.178

What? Now Kelli has taken my 'favorite part of the day'? shoot! I guess I'll just have to invite myself to lunch with you for that one! :) Oh, and I SO want to do a PC trial run...and Smooth, you'd better be out of that boot by PC and running the full or I WILL beat you!!!

From Kelli on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 23:11:42 from 67.172.235.55

WOW, RAD is violent!

From Bec on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 06:30:30 from 68.206.133.141

Best cheerleader goes to you Smooth! The photos are just so great. Way to go supporting all of those runners. Get better soon so you can be out there running around.

From Smooth on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 08:01:00 from 174.27.212.157

Kels, RAD ~ you girls crack me up! OK, let me clear it up. I believe I said RAD was the HIGHLIGHT of my day. You should've seen her with her wings and trailing cape. She was the first to give me a huge hug, not to mention she lifted me up in the air. Kelli was the bestest part. I was getting very anxious and concerned when I didn't see her after the 3:05 pacer has passed for awhile. Then I was super happy and relieved to see her. I just wished my hug could've taken away some of her pain. I remember well the two times Kelli ran me in to the finish at UVM. She was the REAL deal. I could never repay her in the same way.

Yes, we need to go to lunch as soon as Kelli's tummy let her eat! I am unemployed too and always eating! :).

You girls must be feeling 100% recovered. PC run is going to be a blast.

Bec ~ when are you coming back?

From Bec on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 08:27:06 from 68.206.133.141

The weekend after the 4th of July. I want a run with you dang it! If not, we will have to do lunch with the running girls. I can also come aqua running with you. :)

From RAD on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 09:33:17 from 98.202.23.178

Oh, I'm violent all right...just try and take away my Park City running partner and you'll see violent! :) I can't handle running that beast alone, if Smooth isn't there to run with I know I couldn't keep up with you...so I'd be in for a suffer fest!

Becca, oh yes! I say we have a fun aquajogging party with Smooth (if she isn't running) that weekend!! Good times, good times :)

From Maurine/Miles on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 10:38:58 from 63.255.172.2

So sorry I missed seeing you. My sister was sitting at mile 20.5 with a cowbell at the end of the canyon. Did you see her at all?

From Smooth on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 11:24:40 from 174.27.220.150

Bec and Rachel ~ you girls are so so so good to me! I was crying while trying to elliptical this morning. You just put a huge smile on my face, love in my heart and hope in my future! :)

Maurine ~ I didn't know you were running! I would've looked for you! I am so bummed I missed you!

There were others cheering there. I did notice couple of cow bells. Most of them would come and go, with families, sitting or holding bikes. I was the first one there. I kept inching up the canyon to get in the sun because I was freezing! If I have known your sister was there I would've looked for her. My eyesight is terrible!

From Kelli on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 11:25:14 from 67.172.235.55

Rachel and I are equally cool. ;o)

TUMMY feels great and I am starving! I was so happy to wake up and have food sound good to me again. ;o)

From Smooth on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 11:28:41 from 174.27.220.150

YAY!!! So happy to hear you are starving! What ya gonna eat?

From Scott Wesemann on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 11:35:43 from 66.232.64.4

Great pics and report Smoooth.

From flatlander on Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 07:41:42 from 76.31.26.153

Great report, you are an inspiring cheerleader. I am sure you will find a way to forgive Lowell, maybe after he quits practicing law?

From Chad on Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 10:41:04 from 168.177.153.27

Thanks for putting a smile on my face. It was a bad day and I was hurting. I think you probably took about 2 minutes off my crappy time just being there and giving me an encouraging smile. Thanks for that.

From The Quiet Pirate on Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 21:56:39 from 71.49.50.95

Not only are you an amazing runner, you are the world's best motivational cheerleader too!

You've got some good looking people in those photos :-)

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