Mormon Bloggers

I found this article on my friend Megan's blog and found it interesting.  Comical for sure.  I don't know if I would place myself in this category, as my blog really isn't anything churchy, and my only-child status wouldn't be a dead give away, but after all I am Mormon, I married young (at just 20 years old--but a few months later I turned 21 :) ha ha--is that any better?  And then I had my first child at 21.   I am thrifty...but not crafty.  And we definitely don't have trendy (or even matching sometimes) clothing.   I am also glad that none of my friends qualify for the overly-perfect status they mention in the article, as most of us use our blogging as venting "how unlucky am I..." "you'll never guess what my mischevious toddler did today..."   I mean, sure we mostly post all the good things that happen: the trips we were lucky enough to take despite being young and broke and toting children along, the get togethers we have with friends, etc--but I think it is understood by all (at least everyone I know personally) that it is because it happens so rarely that we want ourselves to remember that good things do actually happen in our lives.  We sometimes get to enjoy time with our spouse, sometimes our kids do adorable things, we have friends that we get to see sometimes, and sometimes our house is clean, and on a really good day we might also cook a meal.  So I think we can all read the article and think "man, those bloggers are wierd...glad it isn't me! :)   Enjoy~ 

Interesting Article about mormon women bloggers

On a side note--I do my own fair share of blog-stalking, but lately the blogs I have been trying to find are some of other moms with an only-child.  We all like to read about other women in a similar situation to our own, and so lately have been wishing I knew more moms in this situation.  It has its own set of challenges that my friends with infants and toddlers haven't experienced yet, and its own set of blessings-  that sometimes would be nice to have some help finding and focusing on.  So anyone out there with a friend with an only child who has already started school--send me links to their blogs, so I can work on becoming their new e-BFF  :)

What she will do for a pair of cowboy boots

Going to school with a big grin on her face since she got to wear her new boots!

(the back story)

Rachel has been wanting a pair of cowboy boots for quite a while now.  Why? Because we live on the rez, and "all" of her friends have them.  Plus--every year they do a whole month of dress up days and one of the days is cowboy day--and she "really, really, really" wished she had boots to wear.  And in all honesty I have been wanting to buy her some as well, because if you are going to truely live like the locals--then it appears to be a necessity.  If she has to go to school and be one of the only white kids, and learn navajo, she might as well get to wear coyboy boots ...right?!  

The only problem is they are expensive, about $50.  And since she has a zillion other shoes  (not sure how, but I think she has more shoes than me--school shoes, running shoes, sandals, nice shoes from weddings, snow boots, shoes bought by grandparents/aunts and hand-me-down shoes from her cousin).  So I thought about getting her some boots for Christmas, but my logical self decided against it.  

Fast forward to last weekend and we were in Phoenix.  I took her to a used clothing store to buy her some more pants and she saw these boots, just her luck--they were her size and only $20. (more than all three pairs of pants I bought combined).   So we came up with a deal and that was she could have them if she paid for them herself with her allowance.  So she had ten dollars already and I had a perfect idea for a chore that could quickly earn her the other half... picking up dog poop.   Let's just say that it has been a long while since it has been cleaned up (I seriously thought about going out there a few times and then it would snow and get all covered up--not my fault-right? :)   

She agreed to the terms so I bought the boots and she needed to finish the chore before she got to wear them.  (Sam was not a fan that I was teaching her that she could buy things on "credit" but c'mon, we live in the middle of nowhere and can't come back in two days when she earns the money--so I won that battle.)  So if you can believe it she was soooo excited to clean up poop that very night when we got back to Chinle.   unfortunately when we got back it was already too dark and she was crying because she couldn't pick up dog poop  (since it meant she couldn't wear her boots the next day to school.)  Then the next day after she got home from school she rushed home and changed and ran outside with a trash can and a shovel.  I was so proud of her for being excited to do a chore to work for something she really wanted.  

I went out to check on her a while later, and she was crying while scooping poop in the trash can, and when she saw me she said "This is disgusting!!"  and I had to hold back my laughter--because now she was crying because she was cleaning up poop.   She stuck with it and after spending about an hour out there two different days she FINALLY earned the money and got to wear her boots today. 

As you can see, it was definitely worth documenting :)

Rock 'n Roll

My First Half Marathon

welcoming sunset the first night in town...and yes Lisa--it was a sun 'set' :)

I am always happy to visit my family in Phoenix during the winter, however this trip I was especially excited.  After training for months in freeeeezing temperatures--I was headed down to run my very first Half Marathon and it was going to be WARM, not to mention at a much lower altitude.

First on the agenda was a trip to the Expo to pick up our race packets and shop around for race memorabilia.  Then it was off to Bucca di Beppos for the requsite carbo-loading dinner

There were 5 of us from Chinle who ran this weekend--the four girls stuck to the half marathon, and Geoffrey was courageous enough to register for the full marathon.

Sam was nice enough to drive us all the way to the start line, so we didn't have to rely on a succession of various shuttles from the hotel to the finish line and from the finish line to the start. 

We had to be there pretty early--we probably got there about 6:45 (race start time was 8:30)

My Goal was to break 2 hours...and while I didn't quite make it I came very close--and by the end I definitely felt like I gave it all I had so I was very proud of myself. 

 

I stuck with my friend Lisa for the first 5 miles which kept my splits nice and low to start...but may also be why my legs couldn't move during the last five miles) ;)   Either way, I was very motivated running with her so I think my time only benefited from trying to stick with her.   I was starting to stress out after seeing my splits so low for so many miles in a row  (I only needed to stay under 9:09 minute/mile to break 2 hours ) so after mile 5 I eased up a bit and let my friend eventually get out of site. 

After relaxing for a mile or so I fully intended to pick up the pace again, waves of people kept passing me, and more than once I spotted someone and thought "okay--I am going to stick with this person"....and about 10 seconds later I would realize they too had passed me. 

My lungs felt great, my cardio training at high altitude worked great--it was just my legs.  Quads and calfs could barely keep going --so while I couldn't seem to go any faster, and later the splits revealed that yes I did actually keep slowing down, I never stopped.  (I stopped once during an 10 mile training run at about mile 8 and realized how hard it is to get going again once I stop--so I vowed not to stop at all during the second part of the race.) And while walking seemed nice at times, being done is what I was shooing for and I kept telling myself I would be done faster if I kept running  (okay--let's be honest I was at barely jogging pace at this point ha ha)

The last 2.1 miles dragged on...and on...and on...  and I was not the only one to think so.  Partly it was because the course curved a lot at the end, so you didn't have a visual on the actual finish line from very far away, and partly because there was one part in particular that tricked us into thinking we were at the finish line already, but probably still had a half mile to go.  And lastly, because I was familiar with the course, and when I hit 12 miles, I was thinking "we end at the stadium, and we are still very far away..."  when I eventually made it to the finish I had no juice left in me--even though I had always trained to have a sprint left for the last quarter mile. 

Here is me almost to the finish line,  The first time I saw Sam and Rachel--and I was so happy to see them cheering me on I felt it was definitely worthy of slowing down for a photo op.....or maybe becuase I was already going as slow as molasses, and my legs didn't seem to be going anywhere, I might as well smile and enjoy the moment of making it this far.  (especially to have it documented)

I Did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



11 miles

Adjustments:  So I actually thought that my phone was dead at amount mile 8 so I didn't pause it when I went into the hospital  --which is why the last part of the run says it took me 47 minutes. 

So just taking that part out of the equation, legitimately I ran 10.7 miles at  2:04:47

And a guestimate for my 11.18 mile run would be  2:12:00

(so...not sure how my goal is looking to break 2 hours for 13.1 miles....but that is still my goal. 

I think I will lose about 5 minutes just running at the lower altitude, and hopefully another five minutes running in non-frigid temperatures, and a few bonus minutes on top of that by not having to wear twelve layers of clothes.)

Here is the play by play of today's run: 

The Half marathon is a week and a half away, and I wanted to get one more long run in before the race.   I woke up in a grumpy funk today and spent most of the morning browsing the web from the couch on my new smart phone...just because I can :)   After about 11:00 I decided I needed to just get out of the house, and with Rachel back and school and nothing on my agenda yet--what better way to get out of a funk than to spend a few hours running with my headphones on and the music cranked up?!   The thermometer read 25 degrees so I pulled on all the layers I have come to find are necessary at that temp and headed out for a run.  I took Cali for 5.5 miles then came back to drop her off at the house.  I had actually gotten pretty hot--the sun was out and shining so it felt a lot warmer than 25.--maybe as far as warm 35 degrees--woooo!!! ha ha! --Shows you what I have come to think is "warm" these days.  :)    So I shed the long underwear, and traded into a lighter weight sweater and lost the gloves and neck warmer.  (Seriously, I think I should account for carrying another couple of pounds during that first part of the run I had so much gear on).   So I took off a second time and was still feeling good so I decided to try and run farther than my current record--which was 10 miles.  So back around the neighborhood and clear down to our one stoplight, and back.  I gotta say, I felt like my body was in a nice auto-pilot-groove from about mile 6-10.  I think my plan for the race should definitely be to not stop for any reason during the last part of the race--still grab a drink at water stations, but slowing to a walk to grab a quick rest, and actually be able to swallow the water is a luxury that I don't think will be possible--since any stop at this point makes it ten times harder to start running again.  Your muscles start getting sore and any other ache or pain that was very slight while running starts throbbing  (this is what I experienced during the previous 10 mile run).  But I just kept chugging along this time and it felt much better.    I was heading back up the trecherous hill up to the housing compound during mile 10  and I began dreaming of being home, taking a hot shower....scarfing down some delicious food...having a giant drink of gatorade--and suddenly remembered that my house key was still in the pocket of the original sweater I had worn, which was now locked in my house because Sam was back at work.  So, good thing Sam works close, but it meant that I had to walk into the hospital (Looking and smelling delightful!) and ask to see Sam--who was apparently in the middle of trying to numb a young patient so I had to wait quite a while before he could come to my rescue.  I didn't want to sit down in the waiting room, because quite honestly I thought I might not be able to get back up, so I wandered the hallway back and forth--which was the perfect place for about 5 other people that i know to walk by and see me in my glorious state.  I wanted to scream--I just ran 11 miles!!! That is why I look like this :) Ha ha ...but instead, I just gave a friendly nod and said hello and hoped Sam would hurry up.   While I had intended to take the long way home to try and make it 12 miles, after the long wait I opted for the short cut, and let's just say that after being stopped for so long, the last half mile home was miserable :)   Again, thankfully it was only a half mile away.  

Now on to lots of eating--in an attempt to make up for the 1500 calories I just burned!  YAY!