Each Day Is a Gift

Was going to take a rest day but Karen wanted to get a run in before leaving town.  We started at 7:30 and took the hills in the neighborhood south.  It was getting so hot.  I walked the big hill up Center.  Nice chatty run.  Glad I went...need to start the month off right!  :)  Tomorrow's a different story!  So not looking forward to run slow and long by my lonesome!

My quads were/are not recovered from last week's downhill Half and the hilly runs during the week.  So when Kathie invited me to join her and Kimmy to run with them on the flat JRP, I was overjoy!!! :)

Picked up Kelly and JonA at 4:30 to meet Kathie and Kimmy for our 5am run.  SO HAPPY and THANKFUL for the invite and GREAT company or I would've struggled/suffered miserably with a solo run in the heat!  THANK YOU K, K, K and J!!!! :) :) :) :)  The miles just flew by and were done before it got hot!  :)

We ran southward out and back for 6 miles, then northward hoping for 10-11 more miles. The north portion of the trail was flooded with very stinky swampy water at about 3.5 mi out; so turned around and ran the south portion again for another 3 miles.  So grateful for the water/gu provided by WRC at Winchester.  Was cool to run into Teena, JohnnyV and JohnD who were so very SPEEDY!!! :)  

Lots of display of *old glory* in homes and yards.  HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Ran up to Alpine.  Carried 8oz water, refilled at the f.o.y.  Lots of cyclists and runners out enjoying a nice morning, low 70s with cloudy sky.  :)

It got cooler in the afternoon which was perfect to have a BBQ on the deck for 18 people!  :) David drove back to Phoenix at 8pm thru the night so he could be back to work in the morning.  I think he had a fun short weekend, spending time with the family, going to Stadium of Fire, playing tennis with his dad, even practiced his neuromuscular manipulation on the cousins! :)

Stayed up late with the 4th celebration so slept in. Only had time for a quick run so we can spend the day celebrating Lex's 6th birthday.  After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, waffles, fruits and chocolate milk, we took the family to Monkey Island Fun Center so the kids could jump, climb, slide, colide to their hearts content.   Then lunch at Lex's favorite place, McDonald, movie (Kungfu Panda) in the afternoon, pizza party dinner complete with pizza, cake and presents.  I am so PROUD of Papa working at home so he could join in all the fun...well, except for the pizza party since he had church meetings!  FUN DAY!!!!  :) :) :)

We stayed up late to watch the movie, Tron.  I really didn't care for the movie...but the house is filled with boys who think it's a must-see...managed to watch 2/3 of it before dozing off! :)

The earth is so fresh after last night's torrential rain storm.  Nice easy run on the bench loop plus half!   Stopped at convenient store for a drink at mile 6 otherwise no fuel or fluid. 

Today is Jeff's 28th birthdaty!  :) 

Beautiful day to go hiking with the fam.  

A bunch of us are  planning to run the PRP in Provo Canyon on Sat.  Y'all are welcome to join us.  :)

Cloudy morning!  I don't know why...but it's always warmer running westward than east?!

My weight is creeping up as a result of all the holiday BBQs, family parties and eating out!  Consequently I'm running like an elephant.  It seems to take 5-6 miles to *warm up* but it is plenty WARM out!  STINK!!! 

With grandkids and family visiting, I have neglected my post-run stretch/recovery or any form of strength/stability exercise.  On the positive note, I haven't given up running, not yet anyway!  So onward and upward, slow and steady is better than NOT running at all, right?!!! :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!  We are running the Provo River Parkway tomorrow; meet at the park south of Riverwoods at 6am!  Hope to see you there! :)

Friday PM:  My legs, feet were dog tired from the hike UP Timpanogos Cave and the knees majorly trashed on the hike DOWN carrying a backpack full of water bottles and jackets yesterday afternoon.  After the hike we walked around Tibble Fork carrying baby Jett looking at squirrels and chasing butterflies.  :) 

The little *splash* from AFCanyon1/2 couple weeks ago have GROWN plus a few more splashes and remnants of mudslide.  But I think it will be fine for the Timpanogos Half in couple of weeks.

Anyway, the feet took more abuse from standing around in high heels on concrete patio visiting at my hubby's Mission President's 50th wedding anniversary in the evening.  Didn't have dinner until 9pm after we got home and took family pictures in my backyard.  Said goodbyes to my Texas grandkids and their parents before going to bed.  By the time I went to bed at 11pm I had serious doubt that I could get up and run in the morning.  But can't bail on my friends since I agreed to drive.

Saturday AM:  Woke up at 1:40, 2:45, 4:00, finally out of bed to get ready.  Larissa came upstairs to say goodbye (the rest of the family still in bed); they are driving home, a 24 hr drive, this morning back to Texas!  :(  Picked up Wendy, Carolyn and Karen and met Maynard, Kelli at the start of the RHPC for our run up Provo Canyon.

The run:  temp was surprisingly cool.  As always we had the strong canyon headwind going up.  I didn't dare look at my Garmin to see how pathetically SLOW I was!  I am so grateful to have such great company to run with.  Kelli, Maynard and Karen were so good to neither *push* nor *pull* me (see Kelli's Fri. blog).  The miles just flew by.  Wendy and Carolyn turned around at mile 6.5 since they only needed 13.  I thought about cutting my run short but kept going since the knee felt good on the uphill.

Made a pit stop at Vivian Park, again grateful that they waited for me before running up South Fork, the steepest portion of the run.  Was fun to run into Jeff and Mark who were just cruising down.  Karen only needed 16 but I talked her into running 1/2 more mile then another 1/2 more.  We got to mile 9 where a park, bathroom and water fountain magically appeared. :)  Kelli gave me some Gu chomps, mmm yummy! :)  That was just what I needed,  the dreaded quads-burning, knee-screaming of downhill running didn't happen.  The sun came out but it didn't feel hot.  I was able to finish strong.  Wendy and Carolyn waited patiently at the finish where Wendy brought us chocolate milk and blueberry muffins!  YUMMM!!!!  Thanks Wendy!  :) 

THANK YOU Kelli, Maynard and Karen for running with me!  My 18 miler would not have happened if it weren't for you!  You guys are DA BEST!!!!  It was a FUN MAGICAL RUN!!!  :) 

Had a dentist appointment so got out early for couple miles before meeting Karen, Wendy, Mary and Carolyn.  It worked out perfectly since I needed 8, Karen needed 7 while the rest of the girls needed 5.  What a gorgeous sunrise!  Beautiful run with great friends to start the week!  Life is good! :)

Had a sneezing frenzy yesterday and woke up with shortness of breath and tightness in chest.  Dashed out the door to meet Wendy, Carolyn and Karen; only to return to take 3 puffs from inhaler.  The last time I took inhaler was at mile 5 of UVM a month ago.  My friends insisted I take a rest day as I was having a hard time breathing.  Had to walk midway and cut the run short.  STINK!  :/

Went to the temple then lunch at Costa Vida to celebrate Karen's birthday.  While sitting in the temple, doing absolutely nothing, I had a yawning frenzy.  Seriously!  No lie!!!! UNCONTROLLABLE yawns every 60-90 seconds for 1.5 hours interrupted by a 5 min. hiccup episode, and blowing of the runny nose, very embarrassing! :}

Then I got home feeling completely exhausted and promptly fell asleep in my Sunday dress.  Next thing I knew hubby was home and woke me up!  So strange!  Can asthma meds cause excessive yawning, hiccups and knock you out cold?  The sneezing resumes upon getting up!  Life is weird!!!  :)

Another beautiful morning!  We saw a rainbow in the west sky; and brilliant sun beams shooting through clouds in the east mountains.  A nice run, good conversations with wonderful friends.  I love running with Karen.  I have grown to love her.  She is a great example to me!  I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends as Wendy and Karen.  Life is beautiful!  :)

Hubby had no meeting last night so we went to movie (got to spend the movie vouchers I won at AF Canyon 1/2) and a late night snack at Chick-fil-A!  ♥ Life is sweet! :)

Met up with Carolyn and Karen.  They wanted to run the RR trail.  We took the first couple downhill miles easy as warm up.  Then picked up the pace on the 3 uphill miles and cool down the last mile.  Very proud of Karen and Carolyn on their good solid effort.  Carolyn is feeling more confident for Saturday's RHPC!  

Had a RS/High Priest quilt-tying-salad-social last night where I ate too much yummy homemade salad and dessert.  Between the gluttony, the neighbor's dog barking and hubby's snoring I got a total of 2 hour sleep.  Stink!  :/

Got up early to quickly pack an overnight bag and out the door by 8:30am.  Today I got to go to *work* with hubby, not in his office, but on the road!  Yipee!!!  There was a huge traffic jam between Provo Center St. and University.  We were in a standstill for half an hour.  Had a coughing spell (from the asphalt paving and exhaust fume) which made me realize I forgot to pack my inhaler, Stink!  :/

Made it to Nephi where hubby parked at a gas station to do his conference call.  He's such a task master but also a great cheerleader! :) 

Next stop was in Fillmore where we visited with each teller, personal banker, operation manager, store manger.  Hubby is such a kind administrator! :)  We love the small hometown store where everyone is family!  The district manager and Randy, the regional manager and his wife came to cook a BBQ lunch for the bank folks and us.  Forced down a burger and skipped the potato salad and chips.  Still full from last night's gluttony...but didn't want to hurt Randy's feeling! :)

Then it's onto Parowan.  Did I mention I love the small town folks?  The store manager talked my ears off.  Again, they were so proud to show off their *WOW* and *Solution* performance!  They were so gracious and happy to see my hubby! :)

The last stop was Cedar City where we visited the store in historical downtown while hubby's boss visited the store in south part of town.  This is a much bigger and busier store than the two we visited.  Hubby and the store manager did a lot of reminiscing.  She had worked for 20 years while hubby has worked for 35 years in the same bank.  She filled us up on what's happening to some of the *old-timers*.  It was a good but long visit again with every single employee in the store.  Hubby is such a people person!

By the time we checked into our hotel, Springhill Suite Marriott, my dogs were dead tired from standing & visiting.  We had an hour to rest, clean up and get into our evening attire for the Board of Governor's Shakespeare Festival Gala.  There was a social hour with silent auction..more standing and visiting in heels, sipping sparkling juice.  I hate these kind of events.  The speech and presentation was long, dinner was cold.   As usual in these kinda gala, the dessert (a delicate & beautiful chocolate and cream concoction) and the salad were sitting on the elaborately decorated table probably for hours.  The salad was wilty.  I devoured the dinner roll.  I always love the crusty outside, soft inside, rolls, wish there were more. :) The entree was New York steak, grilled prawns with mango chutney, augrante potato with some fancy cheese sauce, baby carrots and squash.  It would have been delicious if it was hot.  There was just not even carb, so I ate the dessert which would have tasted good if it was cold.  As you can tell, everything was lukewarm.  But I shouldn't complain because the folks did a fabulous job to raise money for the new building to replace the old Adams theater.  This is a great year to do it being the 50th year of the Shakespeare Festival.

When dinner was finally over, we walked over to the theater for the show, the Music Man.  My knees were in bad shape as I walked down the stairs in heels.  I began to have thoughts of not running Bryce in the morning.  I dozed off a few times during the performance which was really quite entertaining.  I hope Earle (the Parowan store manager) and his wife seated beside me didn't see my snoozing off.  How embarrassing! :)  Finally at intermission, hubby mercifully excused us to head back to the hotel.  Hubby's boss assured us that he would tell us how the show ended! :)  

We hit the sack at 10:30pm.  The hotel suite was lovely, the bed very comfy.  Hubby promptly fell asleep while I stayed WIDE AWAKE!  What is wrong with me?!!! :)  I could doze off sitting up in a crowded theater during a marvelous performance yet could not sleep one wink in a comfy luscious hotel bed?  My legs and feet were soooo tired.

Life is grand!  :)

Even though I was wide awake all night, I did not get up until the alarm went off at 3am.  I wanted hubby to have the full 4.5 hr sleep so he could drive me 80 miles to Bryce Canyon City in the dark thru the winding mountain forest roads.  Words cannot describe my gratitude for a wonderful sweet sweet hubby!!! :)  What husband would give up sleeping in a nice hotel suite (especially after a long Friday of driving, traveling and working) or enjoying the hotel's breakfast buffet to get up at the wee hours and drive a crazy wife to a race???♥♥♥ :) :) :) My eyes were blood shot, my body dog-tired.  I only had 2 hr sleep in the last two days.  What was I thinking?  Was so tempted to go back to bed or have hubby drive me to Provo Canyon for the RHPC1/2 instead! :)

We checked out of the hotel (that sadly we didn't get to enjoy) at 3:30 am.  I studied the google maps which estimated a 1hr 37 min drive.  Since we've never driven from Cedar City to Bryce Canyon, we figured a 2 hr drive would give us some time cushion.  A beautiful full moon illuminated the pine trees, river and dark winding forest roads.  We must've seen at least a dozen deer.   Thankfully there was zero traffic and only two vehicles passed us the entire 80 miles.  I forced down a yogurt an hour into the drive.

We got to the start at 5:15ish.  Not knowing the logistic I had hubby pull off the side of the road close to the start by the second lines of pops.  Got my bib/chip and went to the pop.  While in the pop, I heard them announcing that cars cannot be parked alongside the road and must be moved to the Rodeo Ground.  What? Where?  I quickly got in the car to put on the bib and chip while hubby assessed the situation.  A lady volunteer asked us to move our car.  Hubby kindly told her that he was just dropping me off and asked where to pull off.  Good thinking on hubby's part, he pulled the car off the roadside just behind the police escorts and buses facing the throngs of runners walking to the start.  I went to the pop a second time.  My tummy was not happy.

In the haste of packing, I forgot to bring a jacket.  I was freezing so I stayed in the car while straining to watch for Leslie Petersen and hoped to spot Steam8 whom I've never met.  I was getting apprehensive.  Why am I running this?  What a surprise and delight when AmberG tapped on our car window.  THANK YOU AMBER for stopping to stay hello.! You had no idea how much that meant to me!  It totally lifted my spirit! :) :) :)  Then Lowell called! :)  He and his buddies had just finished their 34 mile moonlight midnight jaunt on the Poky Course.  It was so COMFORTING to hear Lowell's and Terry's voices and their *good luck* wishes.  I choked down a banana.  With a minute before start, I hesitantly kissed hubby goodbye and headed out into the cold darkness towards the start line.

I started at the back of the pack.  It seemed everyone had two or three running partners to walk, talk and laugh with.  It was a lonely chore to weave around them.  Saw a girl with long dark pony tail and beautiful long eye lashes, I ran alongside and loudly uttered "Amy! Amy!"  (She had ear buds on).  "Steam8? Steam8?"  No respond! :)  I was overjoyed when I spotted the beautiful Leslie at about 0.3 mile.  She was bundled up nicely.  We exchanged hugs and quick hellos.  Was so cold that I had to keep moving.  The first mile was a slight incline on Hwy 63 before dumping onto Hwy 12.  First mile split was 9:30.

Mile 2-6 splits: 8:43, 7:20, 7:31, 7:56, 7:58.  I had no time goal for this run.  Based on Sasha's calculator, my UVM time would put me at 1:50 for this course.  Since I was using this as a downhill training run, I decided to focus on form and feel and not worry about time.  Was a little concerned with my labored breathing from the get-go.  Then I realized the elevation was at 7,700 ft.  The biggest drop came between mile 1.5 to 2.5 where I passed many many runners.  My ears actually popped and breathing got under control and finally got warmed up as the sun rose.  The scenery was spectacular with a vast view of the surrounding mountains and valleys, voodoos and sandstone formations.  The sky was a cloudless sunny blue.  I highly recommend Bryce for its spectacular scenery and sweet downhill course! :)

Mile 7-10:   8:25, 8:31, 8:59, 8:15.  The first little uphill came just before mile 7.  Up to this point no one has passed me.  Some young legs now passed me on the uphill.  I wasn't too concerned, just concentrated on even effort and running the tangent.   My right knee, the one that's been bothering me, was holding out okay on the downhill.  The left knee started to squawk and the 1st metatarsal on the left foot also complained.  I chalked it up as a consequence of being in heels all day yesterday.  The course flattened out a bit as we got near Tropic and another uphill leaving Tropic.  I took a gu at the aid station in Tropic (mile 9).  The smell of greasy food wafting from some diners almost made me puke.  

Mile 11-finish:  8:11, 8:37, 8:29, 7:03.  My GI started to revolt.  Each time I came upon a pop, it was occupied, STINK!!!  I kept running and hoped that I would make it to the finish before the thing explode! :)  It was starting to get warm.  With 5K to go, I finally checked my watch and realized if I held my pace under 9mm, I could finish in 1:50.  I concentrated on reeling people in.  There was a little girl in a pretty salmon color top that was running with either an older brother or uncle whom I had been leap frogging with.  I finally passed them for good around mile 11.  Another slight uphill just before mile 12.  My shins started to cramp up with a mile to go.  Ignoring the pain, telling myself the sooner I get to the finish I sooner I get to the pop and end this misery! :)  With 0.1 to go, I saw hubby and heard JulieC's cheer which gave me the extra boost to *kick* it in.  I was elated to see the clock at 1:49:4x.  Yes!  I PR'd!  :) :) :)   My official chip time:  1:48:41.  What a blessing! :)

I kept walking in circles at the finish corral and saw Steam8.  She is tinier and prettier in person than her blog pic.  What a delight to meet her! :)  She also PR'd and had a great race!  She walked with me to pick up my race shirt.  We had a nice little visit and snapped couple of pic.  So happy I got to meet her!  I had to go to the pop couple of times before heading to the award ceremony.  I wanted to wait for Leslie to come in; but hubby needed to head home so he could mow the lawn and do his stake president's stuff.

Sadly, I made hubby stopped at every gas station and rest stop on the drive home.  The drive took 5 hours.  My tummy was cramping up badly.  Not sure if it was the salad from the RS social or the lukewarm dinner last night, but I must've had a bad case of food poison.  I lost 5 pounds!  After we got home, all I could do was lay in bed between bathroom trips.  So other than the tummy issue, I had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful Bryce Canyon!  If I were to run it again in the future, I would make it a vacation and hike Bryce Canyon!  :) :) :)

Life is a blessing!!!

I slept for SEVEN hours!  SO NICE!!! :)  Still a bit of rumble tumble in there them tummy yesterday so I didn't dare eat breakfast before my run. 

Got out for an easy recovery run at 8:30 am. naked (sans Garmin)!  Temp was around 78, I think, cloudy with a warm south wind.  Quads were tight as expected after Saturday's downhill half.  Everything else felt fine.  It was quite a pleasant little run!

Thinking about DNews!  I ran it in 2007 and 2008.  Not my favorite!  Will only run it if someone needs company and running my snail pace!

Think I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep.  Got another 7 hours sleep!  YAY!!!  Was going to get up early to run 3 miles before meeting up with Wendy, Carolyn and Mary.  It didn't happen.  Only had time to do an easy 5 miler with them before the builder came.  

Took Olga to lunch for her birthday.  Got home and saw the big mess the backhoe has made. 

My baby will be leaving for Taiwan next Tue.  Can't believe 12 weeks of MTC has gone by so fast!

Wanted to run some more this afternoon; but other things got in the way.  Foam rolled the legs.

Going to speak at a girls camp in Payson Lake tomorrow morning...so may have to run later in the day!

Got up early to get 6 miles in before driving up to Payson Lakes.  Not sure I made any difference in speaking to the girls in Cedar Hills 1st Ward.  When you look into the eyes of these girls; you can tell the ones who have it and the ones who are seeking.  Such a tough time to be teenagers! 

Still not sure about DNews. 

7 easy with Wendy & Carolyn 1 by myself.  I talked them into doing 7 when they wanted only 5!  :)  It's all in the mind! :)

So nice to not have the humidity!  Didn't sign up for DNews last night...still thinking about it!  How badly do I want to pay $75 to suffer?  :)

Temp was 74 this morning, sunny sky.   Monday's forecast is more of the same, low in the 70s with high in the mid 90s.  Going to be a scorcher!!!  :} 

Decision time:  The quads survived AF Canyon and Bryce Canyon but I think DNews might push them over the edge.  Better be safe than sorry.  So I'm going to wimp out.  Anyone running the Sogonapmit next Sat.?  The website says it's not for the feign of heart!!! :) 

Oh the air-condition died yesterday!!!  STINK!!!  Well, it is 16 years old, not surprise it's throwing a fit like a teenager! :)  Gonna be costly!!! :}

I decided not to run DNews on Mon. and welcomed the chance to run with RAD on the JRP this morning at 5:30.  Ran with Toby and RAD and yacked their ears off for 13.5 miles.  Forgot to drink until we got to the lake turn around at mile 7 then Gu'd at the drinking fountain at Willow Park (mile 11+).  The miles flew by (at least for me).  Hope I didn't bore my GREAT running partners to death!  :)  RAD brought these sweet juicy oranges that we devoured back at the car! THANKS!!! :) 

Toby needed to leave.  My legs felt fine so I ran with RAD for 4 more to make 17.  My Garmin data was messed up since I forgot to restart.  RAD's showed that our AP was 9:20.  Super happy for that pace.  

THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH Rachel and Toby for running with me and listened to my non-stop talking! :)  It would've been a slow and miserable run for me if it weren't for you girls!  :) :) :)

We ran into Chad then ScottW who finished his run while we were stretching and visiting back at the car.  I am so excited for his Wasatch100.  I seriously live vicariously thru his and Jun's adventurous mountain trail runs and ultras.  

Start temp 61, finish temp 75.  Sunny!!!  Drank total 32 oz.  No net weight loss/gain!  Took ice soak while drinking a can of Slimfast.  Will stretch and foam roll diligently.  By Tue I may be able to assess any damage and decide on the crazy 26.2 next Sat.  GOOD LUCK to y'all running DNews on Mon.  I may drive up to cheer you in, will see!

The Whipple guys came yesterday to take apart my furnace/AC.  The blower and mother board were completely fried.  So we are forking out $13,600 to have a brand new furnace/AC unit put in.   They are installing it now.  Am glad hubby is home...having workmen in my house stresses me out big time!

Had a long weekend.  The Whipple guy forgot to re-lit the water heaters on Sat. after installing the uber-expensive furnace/AC; so we did not have any hot water.  But the house is now nice and cool. 

So glad I didn't have to get up early to catch the bus for DNews.  My running buddies in the ward are all leaving for girls camp this morning.  I text Karen who's back from her vacation to see if she wanted to run.  She had slept in.  So we didn't head out till 7:30, hot, humid and windy!  Had no energy.  Could not get my legs to turn over.  Not sure if it was the 17 milers on Sat or the humidity or what.  I would've quit by mile 5 if it hadn't been for Karen.

Got back in time to say goodbye to the YWs and leaders as they drove out of the neighborhood like a parade!  Dang!  I wish so badly I was going with them.  Stopped to talk with my neighbor for an hour.  So glad I did even though I missed going up to DNews to run friends in. 

My baby is leaving the MTC for Taiwan bright and early tomorrow.  I hope he calls from one of the airports.  I am going to be a basket-case!

Big fat goose egg today.  Longed for the phone call from my baby (err missionary) that never came! :(  But, my SSF's call totally lifted my spirit. :) :) :)  Lowell called twice to make sure I did not commit suicide or harm myself! Haha! :) :) :)

Spent the whole morning monitoring the drywall guy fixing the hole in the downstairs ceiling that was made by the Whipple guy installing the HVAC!

Spent the whole afternoon answering questions and following the LonePineEnergy guy here to audit my home's energy efficiency level.   He uncovered a few things that need to be fixed.  The number one thing was the water heater which was emitting way too much CO so he shut it off completely.  STINK!  Thankfully we have two water heaters.

Spent the entire evening looking for 13 months of utility bills.  Then compiled them in a summary file and email it to the LonePineEnergy people.   

Wanted to run away so bad!!! :)

While I was stuck at home miserably yesterday Karen ran 15 miles by her lonesome.  So she agreed to run an easy chatty 5 miler with me this morning!

Got back to find some funny emails from Lowell who has agreed to run the Sogonapmit Marathon with me.  YeeHooo!!!  I quickly signed both of us up!!!

Spent the entire rest of day with my next door neighbor's teenage boy who loves to cook and is having a hard time with his father's passing.  He is such an awesome young man.  We had so much fun making all sorts of spring rolls, dumplings and fried rice!

Then tonight the phone rang, by the happy surprise voice of my hubby, I immediately knew who was on the other end!!! ;)  MY BABY just called from Taiwan.  He was sitting across the desk from his mission president who has instructed him to call home to let us know he arrived safely!  YAY!!!!  He sounded very happy.  Pres. Grimley who is a good friend spoke to us and said Elder Lew looked happy and prepared.  He said his Chinese is really good and that he even said a prayer in Chinese!  That made us so happy and proud!  Pres. Grimley's last word was "keep on running, I'll be running St. George 2012, be ready for me!!!"  :)

The guy doing the foundation and footings were here super early so I only had time to do a short run around the block.

Dropped hubby off at the doctor's by the AF hospital this afternoon.  Then drove to the Cedar Hills Parkway trailhead.   It was 87F at 1:40pm.  I had T shirt, skirt and crocs on so I didn't run but walked/jogged 1.5 mile up to the golf course to familiarize myself with this portion of the course and back down to the car.  Hopefully I won't make the wrong turn and lead Lowell astray in the dark on Sat. :)  Got all sweaty and feet/legs pretty tired!

Company coming tomorrow...so shopped, washed and cleaned the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Now I am pooped!!!

My legs and feet were so tired last night that I slept fitfully.  No running this morning so I can finish up cleaning the house for company.  

I am going to get up at 1:30 am and get to the start at 2:30 am to run the crazy Sogonapmit.  I hope I can make it up to the Timp Half Start before they start; then brace myself for the stampede down and hopefully not get run over by the speedsters.  O man, what was I thinking when I signed up! :?

***warning!  Please read only the short version and skip down to enjoy the pics!***

Short version:

LOVE this course!  Had a WONDERFUL training run!!!  Had a lot of fun seeing, cheering such GREAT running friends, Kelli, allie, AndyB, Ryan, Steve, Crockett, Josse, WendyC, EmilyH and many many others!

I owe this run to my dear dear friend Lowell who came all the way from Pocatello to run it with me.  I enjoyed every single second of running this crazy Sogonapmit with him.  He provided me with headlamp, reflective tapes, blue probe-light, and flashlight/glow stick.  He protected me from dangerous traffic, potential harm, and literally kept me from self-destruction.  He was literally my guardian angel.   He is the most kind, caring, generous, big-hearted friend!  He spread joy and goodwill all morning!  I am so so so lucky to be counted as one of his gazillion friends!  :) :) :)

Long version (for my personal journal):

I got zero sleep Fri. night after spending a fun long day with Lowell and preparing for out of town guests.  I was so tired and wound-up that I took a TylenoPM around 8 and went to bed at 10 hoping to catch some shut eyes.  Just as I was about to doze off, my cell rang.  It was my son, Eric, calling from Cleveland, with news that his wife had the baby 3.5 weeks early.  It's a boy!!!  5lb 8oz 18" long!!! :) :) :) We talked for a good 30 min.  While hubby snored away I stayed wide awake with excitement and anxiousness, not for the run, but for Eric's little family, so far away and needing help.  I finally got up at 2am to get dressed, ate a yogurt and drove to AF High School for the 3am start.

The Start:  The nice thing about going to an out-n-back marathon is that there's no need for drop bag, long bus ride or pop wait.  Got threr with 5 min to spare.  Parked the car by Lowell's, put on the headlamp, fuel belt and bib, ate a banana and walked 50 yards to the Start/finish arch.  The RD gave a long speech about how nice this course is and some last min. instruction: "follow the cones...stay to left side of road up the canyon...there will be help-yourself aid stations every 2 miles.." and a long speech about how great this race is gonna be... blah blah blah until someone mercifully stopped his talking by announcing it's 3:06 and time to start already.  Kelli and JulieC were there to send us off with cheers! :)  Crockett along with 5-6 guys and couple of girls bolted out leaving Lowell, me and one other lady, Carrie, in their dust! :)

Mile 1-3:  The goal was to get to Tibble Fork Reservoir before the Start of the Timpanogos Half at 5:40 am.  I felt confident that I could do it in 2:30; but Lowell wanted to do the 4:1 Galloway method and since I've never done that before we figured the early start would give us the extra cushion just in case.  So glad I drove the course and walked portion of the trail.  The traffic cones were spaced a bit far apart for the first couple miles and the course was not marked.  Carrie missed the first left turn, we chased after her to get her back on course.  Lowell said he would have missed it too even though we drove the course less than 12 hours ago.  Things look differently in the dark! :)

Mile 4-6:  There are advantages of running in a dark summer night.  You don't see the incline or the distance of the hills.  I love the cool peaceful night air and the sound of crickets (when Lowell wasn't talking or singing or doing military chants).  But I also quickly discovered some surprises.  The south portion of Cedar Hills Parkway has houses bordering both sides of the trail.  We were blasted with sprinklers from both sides, like going thru an automated car-wash!  We were soaked head to toes, FUN!!!!  So glad I had my fuel belt because aid stations were not set up yet.  While Lowell took a quick pit-stop at the park's bathroom, I ran a little bit ahead.  I soon discovered another surprise, nocturnal creatures (mostly cats) darting across the path.  I decided I'd better stay close to Lowell who had me stick to the 4:1.  He set his Garmin to alert the run/walk with a 10 sec beep.  The first few walking cycles seemed unnecessary; but by the time we hit the steep hills in the canyon I found myself asking Lowell if it's time to walk yet! :) 

The UP canyon miles:  The headwind started at the golf course and got worse as we headed up the canyon then I began to wheeze and cough.  In the haste of leaving, I did not take or bring my inhaler.  Where's my SSF when I needed her? :)  Lowell had me draft off of him.  I barely kept up and was so glad whenever the walking cycle started.  The buses started coming from behind.  We turned on the blue flashing light sticks and waved so the drivers could see us.  We noticed how closely the buses brushed across the cones.  Lowell would pick up the knocked-over ones.  We even picked up fallen rocks off the road.  We had to step off the road and waited a few times when buses were coming and going on both lanes.  Kelli and JulieC passed us around mile 7.  I collected my hugs and watched them ran effortlessly up. :) :) :)

Was so glad to reach the mile 8+ aid station where I ate a gu and pocket one.  The wind subsided and my breathing got under control.  The sound of the river was very soothing.  The Start of the Half was a massive congestion.  The spot light blinding me and I couldn't see the arch.  A bus was unloading right in our path.  We walked weaving around the runners who were oblivious to our trying to reach the arch.  There was no chute on the left as promised.  We walked around to cross the timing mat which I did not see but assumed was there and dropped off our headlamps in the garbage bag held by one volunteer.  I forgot to turn the headlamp off (Ooops!) and asked him to do it for me.  When Lowell finally retrieved it at the end of the race, the headlamp was still on! Ooops!  Lowell stopped to visit with his niece.  I got a hug from Maynard! :)  We re-positioned our lighting gears and headed back down.  I think our half time was 2:22ish.

The DOWN canyon miles:  We passed Carrie coming up and two groups of walkers going down.  We saw buses still coming up which made us think the Half would start late.  We were running on the right side of the road when an oncoming car and another car from behind approached which turned out to be the lead vehicle ? because the first Half guy was following it.  So FUN to cheer him and a little later, the next two leading men.  The 4th or 5th guy was friendly, he even answered our question of when the race started.  I kept thinking allie should be passing any minute now.   The first girl ran by alone.  Soon came allie followed by another girl and Mary Ann.  I was SO HAPPY & EXCITED to see allie!  She was running smoothly and confidently! :) :) :)  We exchanged quick hellos and cheers!  She looked AWESOME running strong and controlled!  :) 

It was so FUN when friends and neighbors (Emily, Wendy, Josse and others) exchanged hellos and encouragements as they passed...Rachelle from the blog introduced herself...she's SO NICE!  The highlight was when AndyB called out: "Is that you? Smooth?" by the golf course (mile 21ish)!  So glad he was back from having been sick and running this course! :)  So so so happy to see him!!!! I tried to stay out of the way of the speedy Halfers.  I know what it feels like to have to weave around slower runners/walkers on a narrow parkway.  I had to do that around the slower Halfers at Ogden.

The 4:1 method really helped preserve the legs.  I did not feel any fatigue other than a little niggle on the left hip flexor perhaps from running on the uneven road shoulder.   Lowell was cheering on the runners, volunteers and spectators.  He would try to get people to sing together like a choir at every aid station or groups of spectators.  He was hillarious! 

Mile 23 to the Finish:  After we spilled out of the parkway, (btw, it would have been nice if the sprinklers were on then 'cause it was getting warm) I knew we had 3.2 to go.  Lowell was having too much fun entertaining the spectators.  He stopped to talk to the families.  I just wanted to get the run over with.   When I heard him asked "What's your name? Nic? I had a ... named Nic..." I thought to myself: "O no, this could take forever!"  So I did the unthinkable...I left him!  I felt terrible because I promised myself that I would finally finish a marathon WITH him!  But dang it, my leg muscles were about to seize if I stopped so I kept going and turning back every min or so yelling "C'mon, Lowell!  Lowell!!!"  I think the other runners were annoyed.  I even asked one marathoner if he saw Lowell. :(

I could tell the runners did not like the hill at their mile 12 going up by the temple.  My legs felt fine, which rarely happened at mile 25.  I kept a steady pace and kept looking for my hubby's car thinking he'd be leaving the temple about then and driving to the finish.  I saw a photographer and waved.  Turned out he's my friend, Cougar!  I saw him earlier at the mouth of the canyon cheering his daughter! :)

On the downside of the hill, the shin started to tighten up.  Just then a black and white cat darted out in front of me, my right foot clipped him!  The spectators gasped.  A girl ran passed and asked: "Did you know you ran over that cat?  That's not good!"  I said: "yeah,  me or the cat?"  I think Lowell would've been disappointed at me!  What a joy and relief when I saw Kelli and Misty running towards me.  The joy was short-lived when I saw two emergency vehicles parked in our path, one with the door open.  Hope whoever it was was okay.  Kelli & Misty guided me around the ambulance.  I crossed the finish, hugged my friends and hubby and ran back for Lowell.  At the corner I saw Maynard and cheered him but I don't think he saw me.  Then I saw Lowell and ran the last little bit with him. 

Post-run:  We walked thru the food alley twice snarfing down food.  I was also getting cold.  It was fun to see so many friends (Maynard, Ryan & Kalai Jonson, Emily Hansen, Wendy Clark, Don & Ruth Bigger, Karin Rowley , Nancy Bishop , Rob Rhode and many many others).  Hubby wanted to go home badly because we had out of state company coming and I had to help make sushi and cut fruits for the Asian Ward reunion.   But the RDs had pleaded us to stay for the award ceremony and promised there'd be nice gifts/prizes for the *elite Sogo marathoners* and group pictures.   So we stayed.  It was so NICE to hang with Lowell, Kelli, Maynard and Pron8r but we could hardly talk to each other b/c of the obnoxiously LOUD rap music. 

Finally we were happy to cheer our friends who ran the Half and took podium but there was confusion on the first three overall men and women placing.  Over 2 hrs of waiting, the thing ended without a slight mention of the marathon.  I felt so badly for Kelli who WON the Sogonapmit!!!  She was the first woman to cross the finish (some 3 hrs earlier) even before the Halfers.  The RDs have totally forgotten about the marathoners!  Shame on them!!!  But the medal was nice and hefty.  I had a WONDERFUL training run on a BEAUTIFUL course with the AWESOMEST friends!

Me & Lowell goofing! :)

Me & Kelli, the Sogonapmit AWESOME WINNER! :)

Me, Maynard & Kelli patiently waiting for the award ceremony to start. :)

My GREAT neighbors, the Jonsons!  Ryan ran AWESOME taking podium! :)

Our *own* Sogonapmit group picture! :)

THANK YOU LOWELL and Kelli!  Love you so much!!! :)