Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Half Ok, so let's rewind a month to my half marathon.
It was such a fun trip. We drove down to surrey, met up with Ann at Jordan and Tracy's and gave the kids some time to play with their cousins and continued on into the states. Once in the Seattle area we decided to stop for dinner. I picked Mexican. Mexican food is so good in the US, and I go for it every time. We finally arrived at Kyle's cousin Leah's house. The kids played for a while and then went to bed. It was way too late by the time I went to bed though, because I went to Walmart with Ann to get a sweater. We had to be up and at em early to go to the temple. We left the kids with Leah and went to the temple. I did the baptisms for Kyle's grandma and for Ann's grandma and some other relatives. Then we did the initiatories for them and took them through the endowment session. It was a really neat experience, and my first time doing work for someone that I knew while I was alive. After that we needed to make our way to the health and fitness expo that was being put on for the marathoners to pick up my race packet. It was hard getting in touch with John and I wasn't even sure if I'd see him before the actual race, since we had so much going on with Ann and our kids were out at Leahs, etc. It also didn't help that our cell phones had to be turned off due to roaming charges. As we walked into the huge health expo, I said to Kyle "it would be good if we saw John here, but I doubt that'll happen, since it was so busy and packed full of people. Plus the way John had made it sound, I thought they'd have already come and gone to the expo. Kyle and I had to pay $15 for parking and so we were set on getting our money's worth out of the expo. There were tons of booths giving out free stuff. We stalked up, stuffing this and that into my purse. It was at the Lara bar booth (which happens to me one of my favourites in the health bar department) where I was greedily grabbing two of each thing when my paths crossed with another lara bar lover. We were both reaching for the same one. "oh sorry" she said. Our glanced at each other and then did a double take. It was Alysha!! It was so funny to meet them that way. John showed me where to get my stuff and some of the cool booths. I ran on this thing to have my gate analyzed. Kyle entered a draw for free stuff (and he ended up winning a free pair of runners!) I decided I wanted to get a cute head band as a momento, and there were tons to choose from. I went with a colourful polka dotted one to which Kyle said was so "me." It was fun.
Then we left and went back to pick up the kids. We found a very sick Adriel who had been throwing up. Poor Leah, having to deal with it. We ate, (a very VERY yummy blackberry cobbler) and said our goodbyes. Because we were dealing with the sick stuff it took us a while to leave and get to the hotel. The hotel was a dump. By the time we got everyone in bed it was late. After 11. I had to be up by five. Adriel kept having accidents in his pull up. Things were looking promising...I had one of those sleeps where I was anxious and excited and worried about sleeping too long which resulted in my looking at the clock too often.
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| this is what I look like at 6am and ready to run |
We met John at 6 at our racing spot. The race was supposed to start at 7. Well it did, but they did the start in waves of people determined according to your goal finish time. John and I didn't get started until around 7:45. It was a really exciting atmosphere.
The run itself started out good but it felt a little fast to me. I was thinking "I don't know if I can keep this up the whole time.." There were live bands playing along the way which was a fun thing to look forward to. Some of them were good. Others were talking to us instead of playing, like explaining about the song they were about to sing. Who cares? I just wanted to some music to run to and give me the extra umph that I needed. It took me a while to get the hang of weaving in and out of people. John was pro at that. I could see this red and black flash around people with ease and speed and perfect form. I didn't feel that cool when I did it. We got to run by some cool things, like a park along a lake, and along the ocean, through downtown and through tunnels. Toward the end, I was in my element and feeling good. As we came to finish line, I felt a wave of emotion go through me. To think where I started at the beginning of this year- having no running experience, and all the training that I worked so hard to do to achieve that goal, and then the feeling of actually finishing it, and getting my exact goal time, and feeling great the whole time. And, of course, getting to do it with my big brother was extra special. It was a feeling of elation that I never want to forget. I'm so lucky, and I have so many things to be grateful for- a body that works, and let's me do all the things I want to do, a supportive husband who never complained about the time I needed of his (to watch the kids) so I could train, beautiful boys who make my life so full and complete, the opportunity to run with John who traveled so far with his whole family, and who didn't actually start training until two months before the race. He's an incredible runner, and so cheerful and laid back about it all. And, of course a Heavenly Father who helps me do hard things.
After we crossed the finish line they shoved lots of food and drink into our hands, and we stalked up. I'm all for free stuff! We found our families and hung around the festivities for a while. John and I got our medals engraved with our names and times on the back. We basked in the glory, had lunch and visited a while longer and then it was time to head back to Canada.
Kyle was inspired by the experience, and now we plan to do it next year together. I'm excited to share it with him!! Also, we'd love anyone who wants to to join us!!!
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| Me post race |
This is John and I crossing the finish line. I look dumb because I ran up to Kyle to get a high five just before I crossed the line. He totally left me hanging. Wait a few seconds and you'll see John.
ps-my goal time was 2:15 and that's exactly what we got!!
3 comments
Sarahstottle posted @ 8:09 AM
Friday, July 20, 2012
I know, it's been way too long since I posted. Put it this way- it's because my life is so full of fun and busy things this summer and I feel they each deserve to be written about. I don't want to ignore or overlook them, so I guess I'm going to try and take them on one by one this week and write once a day. Key words being try. Sorry I'm bad at this. There are so many areas in which I fall short in my life, and keeping up with my blog lately has been one of them. But, I am happy and my life is good, and I should write about it. Also, I have burning feet at this moment. At times like this, I appreciate the coolness of my laminate floor... Maybe I'll see you tomorrow? Depends on how well prepared I feel for my lesson on Sunday. For some reason teaching is just such a daunting task for me (unless it's primary) and I struggle. I need to get over it already. I almost feel that I should have to teach every lesson every week til I'm over it...at the same time I'm grateful and relieved that I don't have to.
3 comments
Sarahstottle posted @ 11:32 PM