Ragnar del Sol

I am nearly recovered from a bad bout of bronchitis and am hoping to have full lung capacity back in the next few days.  I got sick last week after our fun family President's Day campout to Bulldog Canyon and by Thursday night, I was feeling pretty crappy.  I even gave in and started on some meds since all the natural remedies I was trying weren't touching it.  Everyone knows that feeling sub-par is never fun, but I am quite certain I made it much worse by being a part of the Ragnar insanity.  You know that part where the doc says, "Rest, rest, rest."  Oh ya, I missed that part :)  I must have heard, "Run, run, run."

Last weekend was Ragnar del Sol weekend, and I was part of an amazing 12-person team who, while still claiming to be perfectly sane, voluntarily paid to run 200.5 miles nonstop over two days in a relay style race (3 legs each) while shuttling between the 36 exchange points in two vans, all throughout much of Arizona.  What an experience.  Really, an incredibly cool experience and something I will never forget.  The van was so trashed with all our gear and crap everywhere after just a few hours.  In and out.  In and out.  I wonder how many times we got in and out of that dang van?  Lots of time spent leapfrogging our runners every mile or two along the Arizona highways, giving support, delivering much needed water, yelling encourgagement over the megaphone, laughing at the insanity, frequenting more porta-potties than any human should ever frequent in one weekend.  My bronchitis/maybe pneumonia lungs burned with a fire I haven't felt in years and my body was so dang tired.  I think I might have slept a grand total of two hours over a two-day stretch, and that was curled up in a van on the benchseat I was sharing with my rad hard core cousin, Jodi.  She rocked the insanity with me, and so did my cousins, Jimmy & Tamara, along with a couple of their cousins on the Van Epps side of the family plus 6 other random friends.  Oh, and I might have caught about 20 minutes of shuteye sleeping on the ground in the cold, bermuda grass football field of some high school after showering in their locker room Friday night (exchange 12).  That was not the most pleasant part of the trip.  Jodi and I were laughing so hard at the insanity at that point.  Still, even sick, it was really so much fun.  And yes, I know that sounds a little deranged.  Actually, a lot deranged as I write this.  But yes, it was actually fun.  And I am pretty sure I will do it again with 2 vans full of my best friends and family.  Maybe we'll get a killer team of crazies together for next year's hoopla.

I posted all my pics on Facebook already as did many of the other peeps on our team, but I am hoping to put them up here too in case I ever turn this blog into a book.  I was runner 5 of 12, one of the two token females in Van 1 and four in our total team.   I followed Jodi (she was runner #4) so I got to get the baton slap bracelet handoff from her each time.  Sweet.  We collectively decided (in our humble Van 1) that we rocked extra hard since Van 1 ran so much more than Van 2.  We logged 111 miles to their 88 as most all of our legs were longer.  Not sure why the Ragnar Gods designed the course like that with so much disparity, but so be it.  Actually, that only adds up to 199 miles, so somewhere along the course there was another 1.5.  They must have rounded down in the Rag Mag that published all the leg distances. 

My legs were 6.8 miles (run along Wickenburg Rd toward Phoenix at 3:15pm on Friday - super toasty but a nice flat and gradual downhill run), then 6.7 miles (run along New River Road, mostly uphill, on the way to New River in the middle of the boondocks at 2:30am Saturday morning - cold, dark, a little creepy, going on 22 hours with no sleep with lungs fire-filled), then finally 4.8 miles (run over super hilly road coming into McDowell Mountain Park in Fountain Hills at noon on Saturday - so hot and lungs now bursting into flames).  Can I just say how happy I was when I finished leg 3?  Soooo happy.  But I was even more happy when I finally laid my head on my pillow on Saturday night at 7:30 pm (after being awake for 48 of the preceding 50 hours) and crashed like nobody's business.  I don't think I moved for 11 hours. 

The hardware from the race is the coolest in my collection.  Our team's race shirts are rad (our team was Rock the Ragnar).  The pictures make me laugh and smile and remember what it feels like to push. 

Good times, good times. 

For our record books:

We finished in 31 hours, 3 minutes, 37 seconds, and best I can tell from the results sheets, we finished 176 of 377 finishing teams (excluding the ultra teams that were running with 6 people only).  Our team's average pace for the whole event was 9:17/mile.  Not bad, not bad for a random bunch of banshees. We'll take it.

The Battle Within

As far as battlefields go, I think I'd take this view over most in a heartbeat.

This was the race starting line.  Tough view, eh?  The website boasted that the Sedona Marathon was voted in the Top 10 Marathons in the U.S. because of its incredible views, hills and weather.  Having now spent a weekend there and been a part of the race grandeur (although I ran the half marathon),  I think the accolades are much deserved. And this picture hardly does the course justice. The entire race was along hilly, winding roads carved between magestic red rock mountains on all sides.  Truly, it was just amazing.  I wish I could have mustered the strength to pull out my iphone video camera for longer stretches on the course.  I only took about 20 seconds of video at mile 7.5, and I must admit it's pretty funny to watch.  I'm huffing and puffing like no other.

We drove the course on Friday afternoon after we got into town, and I am so glad we did.  It's always great having a good mental picture of the fight before you go into battle :)  We stopped alongside the road right at the turnaround point and took this pic.

Here we are Saturday morning a few minutes before race time.  As always, I had a few pre-race jitters - the good kind of jitters - the ones that pump you up and get you excited to do something hard even though your mind is telling you that you just might be a little nuts.  It was super chilly out (in high 30's) when we left our hotel and started walking the short half mile to the race start. Ryan was trying to decide if he was going to take a run while I was out, run as a bandit in the course, or just sign up for the 5k.  I'm glad he opted for the latter and came home with his own hardware and cool shirt.

Quick shot of the corral pre-race.  I'm the small head dab smack in the middle of this photo, although I'm sure no one else can see me. 

Put your hands in the air!  The countdown is on! My friend, Robyn, is the one in blue next to me, although she got some kind of crazy back pains and bad nausea at mile 1.5 and dropped out.  Too bad!  She had really trained hard for this and even came up for a 10-mile practice run on the course two weeks earlier.  But she has another half marathon in two weeks and then another 2 weeks later, so she decided to listen to her body and take it easy.

This picture makes me happy.  That's just how I felt, too.  Really, really happy.  Happy to be in the gorgeous country, happy to be with my husband, happy to be chalking up another cool life experience, happy to be alive.  And then we started to run...

Like I said, I wish I had pics from the race itself.  But at least I have my mental pics.  I spent a lot of time with my nose to the ground, bearing down on the hills.  I laughed as I uploaded my race stats from my Garmin watch to my computer and looked at the elevation change.  1,344 feet.  It only confirmed what my quads and my lungs already knew to be true:  this race had crazy long hills.  They sort of made my training runs on Old Lehi Road going down to the Orange Patch look like speed bumps.  But when you live and train in flat 1200 feet-above-sea-level Mesa, the Lehi Road hills and canal hills and McDowell road hills really are hills.  I guess it's all relative. Perhaps if I lived and trained in Colorado or Utah or some other mountainous region, I might have been more prepared. Or maybe I should have gone out further east and run around by Las Sendas.

But that's OK.  We always have room to improve and new things to try.  I was so happy when I finished.  Happy, again, after 1:58:29 of a lot of unhappy.  Sure, there were stretches along the course with beautiful downhills where I thought I was on top of the world. Stretches where my legs were in full flight and were carrying me down the hills like the wind.  I felt amazing then, as I soaked in the views and cold air and felt like a gazelle.  But mostly, honestly, I was just fighting the battle within.

I have often said, very often in fact, that it's good to do hard things.  I believe that with all my heart.  It's good to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones, good to set new goals and work a little harder to be a little better.  Good to do things that make us sweat and nearly hurl and almost cry, and then let us smile and laugh about it hours later and get excited to do it all over again.  Funny how that works.  On my 20-second video clip at mile 7.5 of 13.1, this is what I said (through much shortness of breath: "So here I am...running...dying...so beautiful out here though. I'm gonna make it I think. I'm at 7 1/2 miles.  It's the hardest thing I've ever done.  No doubt about it.  But I gotta keep running.  Bye."

The night before, while we were sitting at dinner with our friends talking about running and the upcoming Rim to Rim and everything else, I said, "You know, I've been thinking about something for a while now.  Up to this point in my life, the Rim 2 Rim has been the hardest physical thing I've ever done.  I wonder if, after the race tomorrow, I'll still think that's true."  We all chuckled a little, but I thought about that on the course.  When I finally crossed the finish line and realized that I had finished the insanity in under two hours, I was so happy.  Ryan met me at the cool down area and asked how it was.  My reply:  "It was harder than the Rim to Rim for sure.  Not even close."  Now, I don't know if that was the immediate gut reaction of a tired 40-year old girl who had only been in recovery for 2 minutes, but now, two days later, I can still firmly say that it's my new hardest thing.  I've said a gazillion times that running is so mental, but never before have I felt that to be more true.  When our minds tell us to stop, that we can't do this, that this hill is too big, that we can't run any more, our bodies know better and tell us to keep fighting.  Keep pushing.  And then there's always my best imaginary blue fish friend, Dory, singing her favortie song to me when I need it most..."Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running, running, running..."  What would I do without Dory?

Crossing the half marthon finish line (with the lovely ladies finishing their 5k walk next to me)



Even though it was my slowest half marathon ever, I was just so happy to be done and happy to finish under two hours.  Can't you just tell from that look on my face?

See, smiling again.  Just a couple minutes later.  We rebound so quickly :)

Man, I love this guy!  I love that he's there to support me always and that he makes me feel beautiful and amazing all the time.

Here we are, sporting our hardware.  The medals are pie-shaped pieces, designed to be 1/4 of a full pie.  The idea being that if you run four years in a row, you'll complete your pie.  I think I might just do that!

And alas, the fudge shop pic.  We found this place on Friday when we were cruising through Old Town Sedona.  It smelled like a little bit of heaven (and tasted like it too), so we had to frequent the joint once more on our way out of town on Saturday.

We had a great weekend in Red Rock Country.  I'm already looking forward to going back next year, although I think I will train a little differently next time.  More hills.  A lot more hills.

Race Stats:

13.1 miles
Average race elevation: 4442 feet (per Garmin)
1,344 feet of elevation gain
1:58:29 final time
Finished 10/52 in my age group (F40-44)
Finished 63/384 total women
Finished 138/586 total runners

What We Do

I carved a few minutes out of my day and caught up on some good blogs I love.  It's been a month I think since I've logged in.  I've missed the reads.  Lots of inspiration, lots of things to relate to.  Some new ideas now forming in my already packed brain and some new goals for next week.  I think it's fantastic that we write and share and think and struggle and succeed together.  Thanks to my blogging sistas for your inspiration.

It's been a great and busy month for our crew.  We somehow managed to get away to Colorado for our week of skiing after working our tails off and burning the midnight oil the entire week before.  It seems like we have to work double time in order to take vacation, and then work double time catching up when we get back.  Crazy how that works.  But it's always that way with us, especially being dual-career parents and running a business.  But it was so worth it.

Our week in the cold country was wonderful.  Truly, it was the best of both worlds spending the first half of the week with our kiddos on the slopes, creating amazing memories, then skiing the last half with our friends.  I was completely beaming with joy as I watched our two littles cruise down the slopes at full speed on their second day.  They learn so fast.  And the big girls - wow, was I impressed.  This is only their second year skiing and they did so great.  Ryan and I talked a lot about all the fun years ahead we're going to have with our kids.  They are at such fun ages and I know it's just going to keep getting better.  Anyway, the kiddos flew home with Grandma Cindy on Wednesday after being with us in Beaver Creek for 5 days, and then we picked up our good friends, the Binghams, who stayed with us the last three days.  And that was a total blast too.  I can't remember the last time I laughed so much.  The skiing was great.  I did the superpipe 5 times (scary) and played in the terrain park at Copper Mountain all afternoon one day.  Yes, I am a big 40 year old kid.  And I loved it.

I have tons of great pics to share (some already posted on FB), and sometime they might actually make in on this blog.  We'll see.  But suffice it to say that the vaca was nothing short of perfect.  The condo was amazing, the weather was great, the company was unbeatable.

Now we're getting ready for another cool experience.  Ryan and I are leaving tomorrow for Sedona so that I can run in the Sedona Half Marathon. I'm excited and a little nervous for the hills and the elevation.  Looking forward to the time with Ry and the amazing scenery on the runs and the opportunity to chalk up another life experience.  I've been running in the cold and chalking up the miles. Wearing down my treads.  Loving life.  Last night I went running after work, which is not my norm (I'm usually the crack of dawn girl), but since Barrett had her ortho appt at 7:00 yesterday, that was my only option.  It was fun running with Rowan alongside on her bike, keeping me company.  She's so dang cute.  I just wonder what she'll be like when she grows up.  She's excited about ball season, but truly, I don't sense the same "drive" with her as I see with the others.  Maybe it's just too early to tell.  She really wants to do gymnastics and maybe I should just give in and sign her up already.  She'd probably be fantastic with that cute little athletic build and all.

I threw BP to all four kiddos on Tuesday afternoon at the retention basin.  Spring ball is upon us and it's time to get ready.  I must admit that I was really proud of all of them.  They are hitting the ball so well, especially the big girls.  But so was Easton.  This is his first year playing on a team - I hope it goes well.  We still need to play a lot of catch and break in his glove some more.  It's going to be another busy spring for sure with four kids on four team playing 2 games a week at 3 different parks.  But that's just what we do, right?

Shun the Sun 2011

Another great race day come and gone.  Too bad Ryan wasn't out there running with me, but we are both really hoping that the cast will come off this week and he'll at least be able to get a walking boot.  Wednesday is the big day.  I'm grateful that he was there to support me, as always, and that he continues to be my #1 fan.

Both of us were sporting pretty cool shirts.  He decided to wear his last year's Shun the Sun half marathon tee in honor of Saturday's race.  And I love the words on mine:  The faster you run, the faster you're done.  Simple but true.

Ryan and the kids got some good shots of me coming down the chute at the finish line. They made me smile :) The video made me smile even more.

This is my friend, Jenny Clouse.  We seem to meet up with each other at most races these days.  She married a guy I went to junior high and high school with, Doug Clouse, and we have gotten to be friends over the years.  She's a strong runner and usually a little faster than me, so it was great running with her this year.  I passed her up around mile 2 or 3 but didn't know it was her, then she caught up to me not too long afterwards and asked what my goal time was.  I told her I was trying to set a new PR and beat last year's time.  I wanted to run under 1:49.  She said she was shooting for 1:45, so I told her that she could be my pacer.  She laughed and said, "No, you can be my pacer." Ya, right.

We ran together for most of the race, until I started to have a little mental challenge around mile 8.  When I hit the 8-mile marker, I looked at my watch and my average page for the first 8 was 7:59/mile.  Of course you start having all those glory thoughts:  "Man, if I can just keep up this pace the rest of the race, I'll be sub-8:00.  Sub 8!!!  Holy cow."  But then I started struggling a little with the whole, "I still have 5 miles to go" and the canal path was rocky and my legs were getting tired and yada yada yada.  The usual mind game.  Somewhere around here, Jenny got about 20-30 seconds ahead of me.  But I never lost sight of her cute little red running skirt and blonde ponytail flapping as she ran.  Every time I wanted to slow down, I kept willing myself to not let the gap get too big.  She was a great pacer indeed.

Anyway, we finished the race less than a minute apart and both set new PR's.  It was a great day for running without a doubt!  Fantastic cool weather, family cheering me on along the sidelines.  My mom came and was outside the stadium video-ing the final turn off Center street into the stadium area and it was awesome seeing her there.  She must have run inside after I passed because she was there at the finish line too.   Loved it!

At the finish line with Afty

Easton and Rowan really wanted to come too (they all love coming to the races because there is usually tons of cool free stuff, bouncers, food, etc) but we had some balancing to do since my niece, Lainey, was getting baptized that same morning.  So the littles spent the night with cousins and went to the baptism (which I heard was very nice) and the olders came to cheer me on at the race.

Just stretching and chillaxing after the race with a little jamba juice.  Gotta love those race sponsors and all the free goods.

My friends, Kourtney & Richard Garner, post-race.  Kourtney ran the half too, and Richard did the 10k. 

Next race:  Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving.  One of my favs!

Next next race:  Sedona Half Marathon Feb 4, 2012 (scary hilly, high elevation)  Not sure what I'm thinking, but I'm already signed up along with my friend, Robyn, from work.  Maybe we're both insane. We won't be setting any new PR's at that one, but the scenery should be fantastic!

Next next next race:  Phoenix Half Marathon March 3, 2012 - really excited about that one.  Starts at the base of Usery Mountain (under the painted "Phoenix" on the mountain) and ends at Longbow golf course.

(and maybe another one or two in between - we'll see!)

Fast

Today I was.
Fast, that is.
Yesterday I decided that today I'd be fast.
And that's pretty much all it took.
Deciding.
Amazing how that works.

I've said so many times, and firmly believe, that 90% of running is mental.  That old adage that goes, "If you think you can or think you can't, you're right" is so true.   The things that run through my mind when I run is endless.  I think about everything and nothing.  Kids, work, to-do's, song lyrics, the scenery, the smells, memories, frustrations, ambitions.

Sometimes all I can think about is putting one foot in front of the other, or just making it to the end of the street or to the next parked car or to the next driveway.  Then other times I find myself a mile away from the last time I remember thinking about the run and realize that I've successfully kept my mind focused on something else for the past 8-ish minutes.  I love those times.

Well, my next race is two weeks from Saturday and I just finished my longest training week on the schedule.  My Saturday long was 12 miles.  I ran the whole gamut of thought during that hour and 40 minutes.  Wondering why I was doing this (again), especially on such tired feet, wondering why this felt so much harder than last week's 11 or the week before's 10, wondering how I was going to run my half if I was struggling this bad at mile 7, thinking this was a piece of cake at mile 7.5 when I turned around at Power and realized that I'd been running uphill eastbound on McDowell for the past three miles, feeling like the strongest girl on the planet as I hit mile 9 and thinking I could run to Phoenix, wishing I had my inhaler at mile 11, and then feeling like a hero again when my Garmin beeped at 12, then a little disappointed as I realized my average wasn't nearly fast enough to be ready to beat my PR.  I was all over the map, but I did it.

Yesterday as I drove to work thinking about my early Monday morning run and the upcoming race, I started wondering whether I've trained hard enough - fast enough - to chalk up a PR on November 12th.  I wasn't so sure.  I'll have to run 13.1 miles faster than an 8:17/mile pace to beat it, and lately, I've been super comfortable running in "my comfort zone" around 8:30-8:40 pace for my training days, or even a little slower on the longs.  Not nearly fast enough.

So I talked to my friend, Robyn, at work, who recently joined our running world about a year ago.  She just ran her first half in Chicago on 9/11 and is doing the Women's Half on Nov 4th.  We talk about running a lot, and we started talking about our goals for our upcoming races.  I told her I wanted a new PR.  Of course - don't we always?  Truth be told, I have a hard time with the cliche phrase,  "I just want to finish. "  Hogwash.  Really, if we are super honest with ourselves, who just wants to finish?  If we've trained, we know we are going to finish.  Don't we want to finish strong?  Be our best?  Give it our all and leave nothing left in the reserves when we cross the finish line?

Maybe that's just me.  Maybe I'm just super internally driven.  And maybe a smidge competitive.  Just maybe :) But I don't think it's just me.  I think that for most of us, if we don't set a goal, or set one that's too easy to meet, that we're short changing ourselves.  Or maybe afraid of failure.  Who cares if you don't cross the finish line ahead of your target as long as you gave it 110%?  But set a goal and push.  Push.  Push.

So back to this morning.  I told Robyn that on my way to work, I decided I needed at least 3 FAST runs over the next couple of weeks so that I would be ready to push on race day.  I told her I had a five-miler today and that I was going to run sub-8:00 the whole time.  I haven't run sub-8:00 since April.  Sure, I could blame it on the heat - we supposedly lose 10% of our speed for every 10-15 degrees over prime running temps.  So maybe that had something to do with it.  Or maybe I've just gotten comfortable.  Probably a little of both.  So I pushed and I did it.

I was fast and it felt good.  Good to know that our will power can be strong when we decide ahead of time and tell ourselves we can do it.  Just like the little engine that could.

Our Saturday Morning

Chalk up another one for Mr. & Mrs. Brown. We ran the 4.2 mile Pat's Run on Saturday and had a great morning together with 28,000 of our closest Valley of the Sun friends. Crazy crowded...I mean super duper crazy crowded. They wave started us by corral in 1,000 runner waves, but it was the most crowded race I've ever ran. Not sure why it seemed crazier than last year since there were about the same number of runners, but it never really loosened up that much the whole time. We were in wave 4 of 28 too, so we had it better than many.

But despite having to weave in and out of runners the whole race and throwing a couple of elbows here and there (not really, but I thought about it), we made it to the finish line a few seconds apart. Ryan came in ahead of me and we both were really pleased with our times (33:02 and 33:19), which translates to sub-8:00 minute mile pace - somewhere around 7:52 for Ryan and 7:56 for me. Hooray! This was by far Ryan's best race pace EVER and my second best (last year's Turkey Trot 10k was my PR).

We were both happy to support Pat's legacy and Foundation and run for such a good cause. It's always so cool doing a race. I love it. I love the ambiance, I love the fit people, I love the inspiration, I love the challenge, I love the competition, I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish, I love the time with Ryan. I was one super proud wife on Saturday. My hunk of hubby is becoming one lean mean running machine these days and I love that too. He's been running long a couple days a week (8-ish miles) and hitting the mountain biking trails, not to mention really watching what goes in his mouth.

I guess it's the basic formula for healthy living: good diet + exercise = fit.

I'm excited for a healthy summer and excited to work on some new fitness goals of my own. I ordered some new DVD's from Beachbody (same company that makes P90X) so I'm hoping that I love them. Time will tell.

Thanks to all the fellow Pat Tillman fans out there who helped make Saturday morning a memorable one for us.

Run

"Run because you love it. If you don't, learn to love it. Running will bring things into your life that you could never imagine." - Scott Jurek, Star of "Born To Run"


Today I registered Ryan and myself for Pat's Run. It's a short 4.2 mile race (next Saturday April 16th at 7:00am at ASU) honoring Pat Tillman. He was a great scholar athlete. He wore #42 on his jersey when he played football for the ASU Sun Devils (GO DEVILS!). He went pro and played for the Arizona Cardinals, before leaving his multi-million contract to serve in the US Military in the Iraq war. He was killed in the line of duty and will forever be remembered, especially in our town, as a hero. I'm excited to run next weekend. I've been feeling really really good the last couple of weeks. I'm finally "back" after some lost momentum and general fitness atrophy during my plague. Last year, the Tempe crowd at Pat's Run was huge. Crazy packed. I think there were something like 28,000 runners and walkers. But it was so well organized. Lots of corals for starting runners in heats by projected pace so that the course didn't seem too insane. Ryan and I had a great time and are looking forward to this year's race. We'll have to be speedy, though, since Ryan's little sister, Lacey, is getting married that same day at 3:00 in Tucson.


On a training note... I've been feeling the urge to mix things up a little. I need to tone up the soft spots, want to work on some speed, build up more muscle so that the metabolism gets a jolt and I burn more calories. Every week I get an email link to some cool running articles and tips from Active.com. It's always a good read and usually inspiring. Today I was reminded that I need to incorporate more speed work into my routine if I want to get off my plateau. I've been running the same pace for the longest time. So tomorrow I'm going to do fartleks. Yes, I said fart. Fartleks. Stop giggling. It' Swedish for "speed play."


Here's how it works: Fartleks are meant to be fun (remember, it's speed play). To do them, simply vary your pace based on guidelines that you make up. For example, after a warm-up, pick a tree in the distance and run fast (not all out) until you get there. Jog again until you pick out something else—yellow house or traffic light—and run fast to it. Repeat for 5 to 10 minutes, then run normally for 5 to 10 minutes and cool down. Work up to 20 to 30 minutes or longer once a week.


I think I'm also going to work on some drills. This was another of today's running tips: Most people think running is all about putting one foot in front of the other quickly; but there is technique involved—it encompasses your stride, posture, arm swing, and even how you carry your head—and simply going fast or far (or both) won't help you improve it. These drills (do them once a week) will help create a more efficient and powerful stride. After warming up, do each of the following workout routines for 30 to 60 seconds: Run while lifting your knees as high as you can. Next, exaggerate your running stride so that you bound as far as you can with each step (you'll go slower than your normal pace). Finish by running with tiny baby steps (one foot directly in front of the other). Repeat the series two or three times, then run normally for as long as you want and cool down (or just do these drills on their own).


Just keep running...just keep running...

I need some grease

We made it through the weekend. Our preparations for yesterday's church meetings were a little more extensive than normal, but it was all good. Singing in the ward choir, speaking in sacrament meeting, and teaching in Relief Society (me) and Deacon's Quorum (Ryan).

Good, because it's over. And good because the spiritual preparation is always worth it no matter how the end product gets delivered. And good, I guess, because I only cried during about a third of my talk instead of the whole thing. We had some great discussion and participation in my RS lesson on Larry Lawrence's conference talk, "Courageous Parenting." I was feeling super humbled and a little inadequate to teach that lesson directed to the parents of teenagers since we don't even have one official teenager in our house yet. She's close, but still not official.

I was grateful for the good women in our class with much more real life parenting experience than I have who offered their thoughts and shared experiences about how they've raised their teenagers in our challenging times. I was blessed to be among such good women.

So now it's on to the next thing: preparing for our stake RS mini conference coming up in two weeks. I've got to get busy on my talk for my class and figure out what I need for my display. I don't think I'm really a display girl when I teach. I never bring my own tablecloths or flowers. I rarely ever have props or pictures. And I never have. How did they let me in as a RS teacher anyway? JK. Just shattering the stereotype I guess. But for this kind of a conference, I guess I sort of need a display. I have a few ideas - very few, but a few nonetheless. But I have an amazing mom who's super good at the display thing, and she's offered her help. Give me a topic like photography or family history or journaling or memory keeping (like I had when I taught at the conference four years ago), and I'm all over the display. Visual aids out the whazoo. But this time around it's a little harder. I am excited that I kept some of the props from our Love Boat Valentine's party last year. I think they might come in handy :)

Anyway, much more importantly...

We had a terrific weekend together. Awesome date night Friday night, a decent run Saturday morning, Ryan doing some service at his parent's house, Afty's first basketball game, lots of outside play time for the kiddos, friends over, dinner out at Lenny's Burgers Saturday night with the peeps, lots of studying, great Sunday meetings, a tasty Sunday dinner of chops, Caesar salad, zuchini, roasted red potatoes, fruit and garlic bread with Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Steve joining us, chocolate chip cookie making, good scripture session with the fam, getting logged into family search and indexing my first few batches of names (totally cool), happy kids, remote control car races, and three good nights of sleep.

Who could ask for anything more?

Actually, if I could ask for one thing, it would be to get my wheels back. Not that my wheels were ever race-winning wheels by any stretch, but they were certainly faster than my wheels of late. I need some grease. Ever since I've been on the mend from my chest congestion crap that plagued me in late December/early January, my running times have been less than stellar. I feel like I'm pushing myself just as hard, if not harder, than normal, but the watch tells me differently. It's like someone poured a little lead in my shoes or something. I don't know. This morning was so hard to run. It was cold and breezy and pitch black in the 5:30 am hour. I had a hard time getting up. I tried to talk myself into staying in bed, but I am glad that from somewhere deep within I convinced myself to launch. And I ran with no tunes - something I haven't done in a long time - but Rowan had borrowed my iPod Saturday night and I couldn't find it anywhere. And being the kind mother that I am, I didn't want to wake her that early to find out :)

Ryan and I are signed up to run London's Run this Saturday out at Schneff Farms and I wish I was feeling more on top of my game. Yes, I know, I'm a little competitive. But...it's in my blood. And if I'm honest with myself, I'm kinda sad that I'm not running the half marathon on Saturday. Up until the week before Christmas I was planning on it, but I never got in a long run more than 8 miles after that, then got sick, so I caved and settled for the 10k. Not that the 10k isn't a good race - don't get me wrong - every race is a great race, especially when you give it your all. But I sort of feel like I cheated myself of the opportunity to push myself a little more and do something hard.

We all need to do hard things from time to time. It keeps us focused and disciplined. It keeps us working and moving and doing and being. I got on the scale today for the first time in quite a while. Why, I don't know. I was even more frustrated that I've let the running slack a bit while keeping the winter appetite in full swing.

Some changes are on the way, though. I've got a feeling. I've got the desire. Working on the plan.

Just a Bunch of Turkeys

We're keeping the tradition alive. Running the annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving has become a tradition for us, and we hope it keeps going on for many, many years to come. Barrett and Afton have two trots under their belts now. We were proud of them for coming out and being a part of the festivities. They both ran the 1-mile race again and did great!

The girls ended up running by themselves this year (well, not really - there were a thousand or so other runners doing the 1-mile fun run too, but no one else they knew). Jessie & her girls were planning to come and do the run too, but they didn't end up making it so our girls hot footed it alone. We saw them off and took some video footage, then made our way back to the park to watch them finish. Way to go girls! You were awesome!

Ryan & the girls after their race

Ryan and I both had a great race - personal bests for both of us - so we were pleased. We didn't beat the turkey, but then again, we weren't expecting too. His young turkey legs have a little more kick in them than ours do. After the race, we met up with all our Goodman family clan, who were also there participating in the annual trot just like they do every year. Barrett, Afton & Aunt Diane all hung together while we ran. My cousin, Willy, beat us all, but he was just a few seconds ahead of his dad, Bishop Uncle Jim, who was just a few seconds ahead of me. Ryan & Morgan both finished within 30 seconds of each other too, and Rita (my awesome cousin who just had a baby this year and started running again after several years off), was there running too and did so great. Jodi was thinking about running despite the fact that she has been so busy in law school and hasn't been running much, but she decided to cheer from the sidelines. I loved that we were all there together on Thanksgiving morning - burning some calories, juicing the legs, living strong. Just a bunch of turkeys we are. And I love it!

(Front row: Willy & Afton; Back Row: Rita, Jodi, Bishop Uncle Jim, Kelli, Ryan & Barrett)

Ryan & Morgan post-race. Ryan finished in 53:09 (8:30 mile pace) and Morgan finished in 53:38. Way to go guys! And check out those race bib numbers...

On the way home, a good of friend of mine from work, Richard Garner, called. He and his daughter, Kourtney, had also run the race and this was Richard's first race ever. He's been running for about a year or two now and finally decided to do a race. Well, we've been talking a lot about running over the past year and his goal was to run a sub-8:00 average which would be 49:40. He sort of egged me on at work when I told him I wanted to run a 50:something race, telling me that I could do a sub-8:00 10k. Well, as it turns out, I could and I did. Funny thing - he finished in 48:55, beating his goal and just eight seconds ahead of me. I ran a 49:03 race (7:53 mile pace), and I was really happy about that. I've never run a sub-8:00 10k before. Neither Ryan or I ever saw Richard or Kourtney before, during or after the race since they started a little ahead of us in the pack (and there were thousands of people there). But 8 seconds! We were cracking up as we talked. He said that if he knew I was only seconds behind him, he would have run faster. I told him that if I knew I was only seconds behind him, I would have run faster still, just for bragging rights at the office for the next year....

As always, the trot was a fun way to kick off another great Thanksgiving. Can't wait to do it again next year! Hopefully we'll get a few more of our Goodman cousin running crew to join us in 2011.

A Great Day for 13.1

Saturday couldn't have been a better morning to run. It was cool and crisp and just absolutely gorgeous outside. Cold really, but for running - perfect! I love to run in the cold. So here we are, my honey & me, just getting ready to start the half marathon.

I love that all our kiddos were there to cheer us on. They didn't even complain about having to wake up at 5:45 am! But then again, all the fun they had at the event with the bouncers and face painting and never ending snacks helped a little I'm sure.

The race was great for both of us. Although we started the race right next to each other, as soon as the horn blew and we crossed the chip timer, we both just took off and never saw each other again until the finish. I felt really good the first several miles and was running several seconds ahead of my typical pace. But my heart and lungs and legs felt strong so I just kept it up. Thank goodness for my Garmin watch. I absolutely love that thing. It was so nice to be able to look down at each mile (or whenever) and check my pace. Shortly after the halfway mark, I noted that my overall average pace was slowing about 2-3 seconds with each mile, so I worked a little harder to keep it steady for the next couple.

Around mile 9 or so as I was heading west on Main Street, I saw a couple of runners far up ahead wearing those bright orange vests like traffic cops sometimes do. As I closed the gap a bit more, I was able to make out the words "Guide" on the back of the man. As I got a little closer, I saw that the two were connected with a leash of sorts, and then finally was able to read the rest of the writing on the back of their vests as I ran close up behind them. His said, "GUIDE. I'm running for my wife." Hers said, "Caution: Visually Impaired Runner." She was blind or very nearly so, running a half marathon with her sweet husband as her guide, tied together with a rope. He ran a half pace ahead of her so that she could "feel" the direction of the path through the pull of the rope. Of course, I teared up as I passed them. Again, another reminder that I always, always, always need to be grateful.

The last mile was my hardest for sure since I'd been running faster than I'd ever run for that distance, but there was a blessed fellow runner with red hair and a bright green shirt running pretty close with me the last mile or two. We kept passing each other, back and forth, and gave each other a little inspiration near the end to keep kicking it in high gear. Or at least the highest gear we could manage after mile 12. At about 12.7, I was starting to slow a bit, and he said, "Come on, we're almost there!" And that was all I needed to keep running hard.

Ryan and I both finished strong, better than anticipated, and really felt great. The muscles weren't even very sore that night or yesterday. Amazing! I guess all the extra post-race stretching helped. And the super long hot shower I took when I got home! Man, that felt like heaven. Oh, and the hour long rest I took with my feet up that morning :)

My goal was to run faster than last year's race (which was at 8:58 pace or 1:57:30) and Ryan's goal was to finish in 2:10. Since this was his first long race, he was just benchmarking based on his typical training times for long runs, and he did so terrific! I finished in 1:49:43 (8:22 mile pace) and Ryan finished in 1:59:29 (9:06 pace). We we were both really happy with the race and our effort. Great weather, cool race t-shirts, yummy pasta dinner the night before, plenty of restrooms and water stations, lots of fun for the family, and great post-race treatment. It was all good. Very, very well run event. I'm pretty sure we'll be going for Shun the Sun #3 in November 2011. We're kinda liking this new tradition in our family.

It was fun giving our kids high fives a couple of times during the race. They were waiting for us on the side of the canal bank along with Grandma Cindy after our first mile and at the halfway point, then they were all there cheering at the finish line.

Post-race. Happy to be done! See that reddish circle on my rib cage? Ya, that's blood. My sports bra was rubbing me wrong starting at mile 4, and that bothered me more than anything else the whole race. I was chaffed pretty good and ended up with a nice little patch of blood to show for it.

Rowan's amazing face painting. Seriously, they did a fantastic job! She just loved it and kept it on all day long on Saturday.

Me just shortly after crossing the finish line. I was pacing around in circles cooling down and bringing down the heart rate.

I love this guy!

Our crew after the race! Thanks again, kids and Grandma Cindy, for coming to cheer us on. What a great day.

Shun the Sun

If you just happen to be up and about in the early morning hours this Saturday, say around 7:00-ish, and you just happen to be frequenting downtown Mesa (maybe at the temple or Bosa Donuts - two of my favorite places), look for us. Give us a high five. Or wave. Or you could even blow us a kiss. Just sayin'. Because we'll be in the neighborhood too.

We'll be the cute couple in running shorts, traversing the asphalt and canal banks just north of Brown, starting at HoHoKam Stadium on Center east to Stapley, then up to Main, west to Center, and back to HoHoKam. And then we'll do the loop again. We'll end at home plate, crossing the same plate that so many of the Cubs baseball greats have passed. Yep, Ryan and I (and several hundred other runners) will be there running our 13.1 miles. This is Ryan's first half marathon, which is huge. We're excited. I'm especially excited that Ryan is running. He's made amazing progress this year as he's started really training for this race and chalking up 4 days/week of running. He's lost almost 20 pounds this year, and is fitting into all kinds of clothes that have just been taking up closet space and gathering dust for the last decade. He's looking good. And we're both feeling good, which is what's really important.

So even if you don't just happen to be in the area on Saturday morning, cheer for us from a far. Or better yet, grab your box of Bosa Donuts and a lawn chair and sit along Main Street or Center Street and cheer on all the runners as they pass by. Or even better yet, strap on your shoes and come down and run too. They have a half marathon, 10k, 5k, and family fun run too. Something for everyone. I think my cousin Dyan is running the half with us again this year too, and so is our fellow Rim to Rim hiker, Chuck, and my friend Melissa Lee. And my friend Stephanie is doing the 10k. And I think my friend at work, Richard, is running the 10k too. So it should be a party all the way around. I bet that since they added a 10k to this year's races, there will be a lot more runners than last year.

13.1: here we come!

12 Things: This is Us Oct 2010

(Us at the end of a great day at Knotts Berry Farm 10/13/10)

I have too many things to write about. It's like when I don't write in my journal for far too long then finally open it up and think I have to catch up and I end up writing a novel. But I have no time for a novel today.

Life has been so good and so busy and so memorable. Lots of milestones. Lots of memories. Lots of everything. I've taken a bunch of pics, but haven't uploaded anything from my good digital camera all month. There's a treasure of photo joys on that oh-so-precious memory stick, just waiting for a good hour of my time. They're begging to be seen. But until then...a few gems from the iPhone camera.

One of my favorite journaling styles, especially in my scrapbooks (which have been 100% neglected for months and months), is lists. I'm good at lists. I can make them like the best of 'em. So here are the bullet point highlights of October 2010 before the calendar page is turned and the "HOLIDAYS" officially begin:

1) We beach camped at South Carlsbad State Beach for Fall Break. Loved it. Lots and lots of cousins and friends. Kid city...kids everywhere. Mine were in heaven. Grilled steaks, ate at our favorite Mexican food dive, Juanitas - three times. Played Rook. Barrett started reminding me of a teenager, roaming through the campground with packs of friends, just checking in for mom's sanity periodically. She's growing up. The first half of the week graced us with fantastic weather (I was out boogie boarding and loving it), the second half not so much. Still, we worshiped the beach and hoped for the sun and the kids braved the cooler weather like troopers. I've decided that they don't really care. As long as they are outside, with friends, roaming free - life is good. Sun or no sun.

2) Barrett turned 12 while we were there. We celebrated her birthday at Knotts Berry Farm and had the place to ourselves. What a great day together.

3) After a long full day of crazy theme park riding, we ate at Cheesecake Factory with the kids and my folks. Barrett ordered up a scrumptious cheesecake (of course) and even shared a little with me!

3) The next day, we went with Barrett to do baptisms for the dead at the San Diego temple. Such a great experience for all of us. In addition to a few other family names and temple prepared names, Barrett was able to be baptized for her great great Aunt Evelyn, who Barrett met and stayed with in Ohio a few years back during one her trips with Ryan (she passed away in 2007). What a great temple experience for all of us. Hopefully Evelyn is smiling up there...

4) Our 20-year Mountain View High School Reunion was last weekend. Toro Class of 1990. Everything turned out so great. It was such a neat experience heading that up with our marvelous committee and rekindling so many friendships from the past during this past year as we planned and prepared for this big event. Yes, it was a lot of work, but really, I had fun all along the way. Really, truly. So I think that's a good sign. Even our planning meetings were so fun. And Saturday night - amazing fun. I left exhausted but smiling.

Some of our committee (there were 14 of us on the committee altogether): Me, Linda Lou, Shari, Nicole, Althea & JaNae. I loved working with you! (I posted all the reunion pics on my Facebook page and our class website, so that will have to do. Too many for this blog.)

My handsome husband, and fellow Class of 1990 grad. I loved that we graduated together and were both able to enjoy this reunion together.

Some of my best high school friends: Linda, Cindy, Tara, Stacy & Me

Our spectacular Toro candy table. Isn't it awesome? That was a huge hit.

We had about 160 people at the reunion and such a great crowd. The venue was perfect at Rustler's Rooste, in their outside barn area at the top of South Mountain. Spectacular views. City lights. Perfect weather. The place was decorated so festively with all our Toro red and blue. Big blown up black and white photos of our sports teams and graduation pics. Yearbooks. Pom pons. Megaphones. Memory books keepsakes to take home on the table. Food was delicious too. We mingled, ate, laughed, watched our "Then and Now" tribute movie that turned out so good. Had funny awards, took a huge group photo, danced to some good '80's tunes whipped up by our DJ, laughed some more, talked, talked, talked. So many good friends and a good mix of people. The real "cliques" were mostly gone. Nobody really cared who you used to hang out with 20 years ago. Everyone was just so happy to see everyone else and genuinely interested in each other's lives. So many good people that we went to school with. Really, good, good to the core kind of people. And it's so good to see so many people happy and thriving in life. My favorite part of our "Then and Now" DVD was by the far the "Now." As the current family pictures scrolled across the screen, one by one, I was overcome with emotion seeing all the families of our classmates and realizing what a legacy we have. Truly, we are so blessed.

The feedback has been overwhelming. Just about every single person at the reunion came up before leaving with a huge smile and hug, expressing genuine thanks for such a great night. Everyone loved the placed and the more casual atmosphere and dished kudos all the way around. And I can't even begin to count the number of personal emails, texts and Facebook messages we've received over the past several days, thanking me and our committee for such a memorable night. Truly, I've been awed and humbled by the gratitude and the response.

5) And now life moves on, still so busy but so good. My two sisters-in-laws' babies were blessed Sunday (Boston and Ava) and we had a big family dinner afterwards to celebrate that great occasion as well as all the October birthdays in the Brown family, which are many.

6) We drew names for Christmas (can't believe it's here again already). Caught up with the fam.

7) The boys gave Bob, my father in law a blessing, as he went in for his third surgery in a month. He's getting ready for kidney dialysis and has had to have a couple surgeries to prepare, and then he got a hernia that had to be repaired. Thankfully, he's been handling them all well and has been such a trooper through it all. We continue to pray for him day and night.

8) The big annual church Halloween chili & fry bread party is Saturday night. Still the activities director so I'm heading it up. Many fliers delivered Monday night with the Berrey family for FHE (thanks for taking the kiddos on the Ranger - they loved it), lots of volunteers to coordinate for Saturday, too many paper goods to count. It will be great, just as it has been every year for the past 25+ years as we live in such a great neighborhood with great people. And how can chili and fry bread and homemade root beer and kids in costumes be anything but good?

9) I got another calling on Sunday too. Now teaching the 4th Sunday Relief Society lessons as well, which will be good for me. More study, more devotion. I need it.

10) Did the last minute costume accessory shopping at lunch hour today: vampire teeth, white face makeup, fake fairy eyelashes, a little hair dazzle for the rock star. I vetoed new Halloween costumes this year. Just wasn't interested in devoting any energy or funds to that this year. We have two huge crates of past Halloween costumes - four kids' worth - so we let the peeps have it and come up with something to wear. They didn't even complain or ask once to go to the store for something new. I was pleasantly surprised. It was great. I'm doing that every year I think. They were happy as clams taking turns mixing it up and changing their minds a million times before finally landing on "the one." Easton sported the hodge podge of at least six different costume parts and cracked us all up. He was the the cat slash pirate slash lobster slash vampire slash superhero. Nice.

11) Candy ready. Treats and plates and all for four class parties tomorrow - ready.

12) And the running goes on. I'm loving the cooler weather. I was actually cold this morning at 5:50 am. Long sleeves even. Race day is 16 days away and I am getting excited. Can't wait for Ryan to be there running too. His first half marathon, my second. What a cool thing for us to do together. I want to be speedier, but I never do sprint days in my training so I'll probably never gain much speed until I do. So I'll just run my comfortable pace, which is fine. I am doing it and I am happy and life is good.

So this is Us. The Mesa Browns. Living life.

Hard Things

We are funny creatures. We wake up at the crack of dawn when the moon and the backs of our eyelids tell us we should still be slumbering. We strap on our shoes and our iPods and our Garmins and hit the asphalt. We run up and down stadium bleachers countless times until our legs feel like jello. We circle the tracks, traverse the canal banks, scale the mountains. We go and go until our lungs feel like they might run out of air or until our feet beg us to stop. We make our hearts beat twice as fast as normal and we thrive in the sweat. We push our physical abilities to the limits, drive ourselves to push on and stretch to reach further than we thought we could or at least further than we've been before. We crave new experiences. We yearn for hard things - experiences that will help refine us and push us to become more than we presently are.

We do hard things. On purpose.

In one of the conference addresses Saturday (I can't remember which speaker it was), I heard a similar message about how we inherently derive satisfaction from the accomplishment of that which is hard. It's in our nature. Nothing worth having comes easy. I smiled as those words were spoken. He was talking to me. I had run my 7 miles earlier that morning, with legs still mildly tired from the 4 on Friday, and still somewhat un-recovered from the grand canyon the week before. I was rubbing my shin bruise and considering why my blisters hadn't healed yet. I was thinking about Bishop Uncle Jim and my cousin, Jimmy, who had probably just finished their marathon in St. George an hour or two earlier - just a little over a month after running the Park City marathon in August and only months after battling cancer. I was thinking about my next big race with Ryan in just six weeks and the Turkey Trot the week after that and racing again with my SIL at London's Run and the next big Rim 2 Rim hike in 2011 and getting excited about all of it. All these things, hard things...and yet I crave them.

I know that we are all at different places in our lives, and truly - just a few years ago- I couldn't have been further away from where I am now. Then, if I would have attempted a short jog around my block, I'm quite sure my lungs would have given out. I was ten years into motherhood and too many years into sleepless nights and 2:00am work sessions followed by 6:00 am risings. I hadn't made fitness a priority in a decade and the fruits of that neglect manifested themselves in every aspect of my well-being. The best thing that ever happened to me was my dad coming to work for us at RMB and lifting so much of that crazy late-night work burden from my plate. Suddenly, I realized that I really did need sleep. And exercise. And that I could feel good again - really good.

There is a season for everything, a time and a place. I know that. And somehow I justified for so many years that being fit wasn't part of my season. That doesn't even make any sense in retrospect. Being fit should be part of who we are are - always. I think I put fitness on the back burner partly because I thought I couldn't fit one more thing in my crazy life - and maybe I couldn't, I don't know, but mostly because I thought it was too hard. And it is so dang hard when you're not consistent. Every time you try to recommit, you pay the price of sore muscles and aching limbs and burning lungs and then you fizzle and fail. Now I'm afraid to not run. Afraid that if I give myself too many days off that my lungs will shrink and my heart will forget that it's OK to beat at 160 and that my legs will rebel against me. Afraid that I'll have to start over.

I'm excited about the milestones I'm striving for, excited that Ryan is on the same track and that we are doing hard things - together. I'm excited that my brother and SIL are hiking with us next year and that living strong is a priority in our family. I'm excited that I have a brood of inspiring running cousins and crazy hikers and that we all thrive on the quest for the hard things. I'm an advocate for consistency and a believer that we can be more that we presently are.