Each Day Is a Gift

As a choir director of my ward choir I strive to have a fun as well as spiritual experience for the choir members when we rehearse every Sunday afternoon.  One of the numbers we're rehearsing is My Shepherd Will Supply My Need by Mack Wilberg.  I usually share a  thought or two about the piece to get the singers in the right kind of mind.  Today I shared the story that Teena told us during our Friday's PC run.  :)

One day the Jensen family was talking about Jesus (I think in preparation for Sophia's baptism).   Sophie asked the question "Who is Jesus Christ anyway?".  Everyone was thinking about how to answer that question when the youngest child, Livvy, simply replied: "Duh! Jesus is the Shepherd and we are His sheep!" :D  :) :) :) :) :)  

Is that beautiful or what?!!!  Just love the words out of the mouth of babes!  So pure!!!  The choir members loved it too!!!!  :) :) :) :) :) 

Ran 5 EZ w/ K, W & C.  

Registered for Boston just before 10am and got in instantly.  Registration opened at 9am EST and closed at 5:03pm EST.  That is crazy how fast it filled up!   I am super bummed for those who didn't get in. :(

7 EZ w/ K, W & C.  Gorgeous running weather! :) 

Had fun visiting teaching!  Everyone has Halloween decorations on their porches.  When I got home from visiting teaching, there was a freshly carved pumpkin on my porch! Someone must have felt sorry that I didn't have any!  :)  :)  :)

Ran w/ W & C on the canal trail.  Wore Mizuno Ascend...no new hot spots, yeah!  Another beautiful day!  Saw a big fat hawk soaring overhead and some ducks along the canal!

Questions:  what do you do when you get a hot spot or blister during a race/long run?  I need to prepare for that on Sat's GV50. 

Only had time for a quick run, AP: 8:56.  Lunch at Olive Garden w/ bunch of friends! :) Shopping, laundry, packing in the afternoon.  Teaching Primary children first aids and safety this evening in our Ward's Preparedness Fair~ KNOW-A as in *Noah preparing for rainy days*! :) FUN FUN FUN!!! :D 

I'm terrible at writing report...but here it is!

A little history:  Last year I ran 54K on my 54th birthday (13 days after SGM) on the Pony Express Trail in just under 7 hrs. It was a fun experience albeit long and tiring. After hearing accolades about Goblin Valley and that Leslie and Kelli planned on running it, I signed up.  I did have some concerns: 1) What will my sweet hubby do for 7 hrs in the desert waiting around for me?   2) Because of my lack of experience in trail & ultra running , how will my legs/feet/tummy/kidneys respond???  3) What if I get lost in the wilderness ? (I once got lost in a 5K!)   As it turns out all these concerns were unfounded.   I had a BLAST the entire weekend!

Friday morning, hubby rushed us out of the house for our drive down to southeastern Utah.  Along the way, he visited couple of bank branches in Helper and Price.  It started to rain and the temp dropped. We arrived at our tiny cabin in Green River around 3 pm. Leslie & Harold, Kelli, Scott & their 4 children arrived shortly thereafter.  SO FUN to see them!   My hubby is not a camping type...but he never complains...seriously I think our tuff shed is bigger than the cabin!  I quit whining when I realized Popegirl (Laurie) & her entire family stayed in a tent!  I later found out JD camped by his lonesome for 2 nights in Temple Mountain, WOW!  And to think I booked a $250 hotel room in Boston 360 days in advance!

Here's Leslie & Harold in front of their cabin:

With the cold rain we didn't have anything to do but go to the registration dinner at the Senior Center, kinda like church dinner being served by the sweet elderly RS sisters and HPs.  We helped set up the boxes containing our packets and some tables for dinner (baked potato, squash, tomato/cucumber salad, watermelon, rolls, fig bars). We visited w/ a few runners from Colorado.  Rumor has it that the Colorado folks are the speedy ones.  The mayor welcomed us and informed us that the crew were out marking the course.  Since it had been raining all day, they had to change the course a bit to avoid the flash-flood areas.  We joked about how accurate could it be when they marked the course in the dark.  The ultra folks didn't seem to care whereas the 5K speedsters would NEED to have it precisely marked!

Between the rain, the noisy thin HARD mattress, hubby's snoring, getting up to use the restrooms (which is located like a *block* away) several times, I got zero sleep.   I was fretting over what to put in the drop bags (a new concept to an ultra-newbie ).  At 6:45 am Leslie drove Laurie, Kelli, Harold and me to the start while hubby would go to Moab to visit a branch and joined us later.  It was a fun 45 min drive under a full moon, cloudy sky. We were so giddy!   If it weren't for the big ole' cardboard bib pinned on my shirt I seriously did not feel like I was going to a race; more like going to a fun party in some State Park!   I saw Abbie Hawks as soon as we got there; then met JD whom I would not recognize if he didn't introduce himself to us!   Harold snapped a picture of our *dirty girl gators* while we waited.   There were about 220 runners w/ the majority running the 50K.

This is what greeted us as we drove into the Goblin Valley State Park:

We lined up at the start where the RD said the course may be short and if you're the OCD type to run the gaunlet twice (whatever that means)   With a 1,2,3 GO we were off.  The first couple miles were downhill switchbacks on pavement which means it would be uphill on the return! The speedsters tore down the hill while my ITBs protested immediately, so I took it nice and easy.  For the first 4 miles I ran with a gal, Jan, who had recently run the Layton Marathon.  We talked about the craziness of Boston filling up so fast.  I stopped to take some pictures w/ my cell phone while Jan continued on.  Rick, from Colorado, started to run w/ me and we chatted till we hit the first aid station where I dropped off my jacket and used the pop.  The temp was perfect, perhaps in the high 40s, under a cloudy sky and a gentle breeze.  The trail was made soft and NO dust b/c of the rain from the night before.  Running over puddles and muddy clay was kinda fun, at this point anyway!  

I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the mesa, the strata, the mountain formation, the vast desert.  My favorite portion of the course was meandering around the canyon (slot canyons?) where there were cravices and interesting geologic formations.  The course was well marked w/ orange ribbons.  Saw the first 25K woman and man running FAST towards us.  When we passed the 25K turnaround I joked w/ Rick that we shouldn't be seeing any oncoming traffic for awhile or we must be running terribly slow. With that he glanced down at his watch and said we were running too fast.  He told me to go on ahead.  I ran alone and passed a few runners all the while wondering if I should slow down.  My poor eye sight was a blessing b/c I seriously would have freaked out if I saw snakes or coyotes.  The ONLY thing that really scared me was the cattle guard.  The metal slats were so far apart that my legs could seriously slip through and my hips cracked (osteoporosis).    My legs almost cramped up on the way back crossing the cattle guard.

On the steep switch-back going up I saw the first man blasting FAST down the mountain.   I thought about Crockett doing that!   It was fun cheering many of the runners one of whom called out: "Matt said to say hello to you!"  I saw the first woman at around my mile 12+ and realized it was not Kelli.  For a split second I thought to trip her , but I yelled out a cheer instead!   When I got to the top of a mesa, I saw a sheriff vehicle.  I said to them, "You're not giving out speeding tickets, are you?"  I asked one of the officers to take a picture of me w/ the mesa in the background, a beautiful panaronmic view!  I continued to pass pairs of runners. Then I saw Kelly running so FAST, STRONG & FOCUS in her cute skirt.  She was the CUTEST dressed girl by far!   I told her she's 4th woman (which she probably already knew) and that she could easily catch them!   When I got to the turnaround, my feet and legs felt fine. So I decided to not get my drop bag but use the *camp-potty* instead.  It took a few minutes to unzip the tiny tent and use the tiny potty.   The return trip was fun as I got to encourage all the runners coming up.  I saw Laurie running happily followed by the BEAUTIFUL Leslie.   We paused for hugs! ♥♥♥ Seriously she looked so GOOD, a trail running queen indeed!

I soon found myself leap-frogging with a young couple, Raquel and Scott, the newlyweds.  I would pass them and only to have them take off sooner from the aid stations where I would sample potato wedges dipped in salt, pretzels, bananas, apples and to fill up my hand-held bottle w/ gatorade.  At the second to the last aid station, the volunteers offered girl-scout cookies which were starting to melt.  I declined but *stole* a handful of ice instead to put inside my running hat.  The sun started to beat down on us and getting a bit warm.  The headwind combined w/ the ice felt good though. 

At the last aid station I asked for gel (mistakenly thinking I still have another 9+ miles to go).  I had used up the 3 gels I carried and didn't think I could stomach anymore solid food, a kind runner gave me one of his gel which I ended up not using since I drained my hand-held dry.  Running on the gravel/dirt road from mile 20 on was surprisingly smooth. I kept waiting for the wheels to fall off but never happened.  I felt strong and passed a few runners including the newlyweds who could not believe I'm a grandma.  The spectacular scenery filled my heart with gratitude!  The majestic mountains all around were so inspiring!  This is why I LOVE to run!!!!

Harold called out "Smooth" on his bike heading out to meet Leslie.  That gave me a boost!  Back on the pavement w/ the State Park up on the hill I kept running and focused on tangents.  I asked some campers how far to the finish, they just pointed to the parking lot up on the hill.  Seriously, I had to loose the mentality of a marathoner...there's no mile markers, no splits, no cheering crowds!  Then I saw a lone figure standing on top of the ridge with something like a binocular held to his face.  Could that be my sweet hubby?  He had been watching for me to *come around the mountain*!  When I made it up the very last switch back and saw that it was him I was so excited!   He told me Kelli came in 3:59 (WaHOO!!! ) and said I only had one more mile to go! 

As I entered the parking lot, there was Scott w/ his camera and Kelli running towards me.  I just LOVE her!!!! ♥♥♥ She guided me through this torturous gaunlet of goblins.  If it wasn't for her I would have just plopped down and cried!  My little short stubby tired legs just could not navigate around, up and down and over all those fudge brownie like terrain marked by a maze of plastic smiling pumpkins which seemed to be mocking at my clumsiness.  She and her little boy, Eli, were so encouraging and cheerful helping me through this maze.  Seriously, with my blindness and delirious state of mind, I would have been lost in that pumpkin maze.   Kelli pointed the way to get back up the parking lot to the finish line.  The clock read 5:21:31 when I crossed the finish thingie.  I commented to the RD about the pumpkins not being nice, she said I would have nightmares about them, right!   She was impressed w/ my dirty-girl gators which didn't get that dirty afterall!

After a quick lunch and chat w/ a few runners (one of whom was Carol that I met a year ago at Hoover Dam Marathon...funny how she remembered me dressed up as lady bug) we had to leave.  I wanted to stay and wait for Leslie and Laurie.  But Hubby had a million things to do and wanted to beat the storm.  About 30 min into our drive it started to rain, I began to worry about Leslie.  I got really cold and sleepy.  The rain turned to snow.  By the time we reached Soldier Summit, it was a blizzard.  Kinda scary w/ all these semi-trucks roaring down the winding canyon.   We stopped by my mother-in-law's house in Orem.  She fed us dinner while Larry took care of her paper stuff.  My legs were tired but otherwise fine.  I think I'm hooked on trail running!

I will post pictures later...gotta go make dinner for another family!

Hubby barely fast enough to snap this pic of Kelli's speedy finish:

Took this with my cell:

One of the officers took this w/ my cell:

Hubby took this spotting me on the road during the last climb.  I'm the little blue dot!

The Goblins aka obstacle course.  Great plyometric workouts, NOT!

Kelli & Eli guiding me thru the goblin gaunlet:

Finish at last!

 Cute Kelli and darling Emma!

Some after thoughts:  so may be I should have tried to race this thing...not spend so much time at each aid station.  Since the course measured short...I still have a score to settle with a 50K for real! :) :) :)