The Wasatch Back is this weekend. I am, in turns, super excited and absolutely terrified. I ran 4.8 miles last night and felt really good about it. I probably could've even gone further except for the fact that it was getting pretty dark.
To be completely truthful, 4.8 is the farthest I've ever gone. And yes, I know that some people (Katie) run 4-5 miles every single day. And other people (my neighbors) have all recently run a half marathon. But for me, 4.8 is something to be dang proud about! Especially considering my longest route this weekend will be 4.2. Granted, I have to run an average of 4 miles 3 times. In a day and a half. In the heat. With sleep deprivation.
Adrenaline, right? That's what's going to kick in and save me? Adrenaline and my special caffeine filled jelly beans.
Another admission...it took me a full hour to run that 4.8 last night. Yep, I run ridiculously slow. Luckily I am on a very non-competitive team that is more interested in fun than in making good time. Sounds like a perfect match.
I am fine tuning my running play list tonight. Just for kicks, and for future giggles, I thought I'd list a sampling of my playlist. I can still remember some of the old songs on the aerobics tape my mom used to exersize to when I was a kid. My list is very random. The songs don't necessarily have to be overly upbeat. They just have to grab and hold my attention and keep my mind off of how much my lungs and legs are burning.
"Aready Gone" Kelly Clarkson
"February Song" Josh Groban
"Congratulations" Blue October
"Uprising" Muse
"Hometown Glory" Adele
"Fireflies" Sam Tsui (a cover of the Owl City song)
"Don't Stop Believing" Glee
"Forever Young" Alphaville
"Halo" Beyonce
"Stradavarius" Kurt Bestor
"We Belong" Pat Benatar
"Bad Romance" Lady Gaga
"All the Right Moves" OneRepublic
"Goodbye" Second Hand Serenade
"Peace" Depeche Mode
"Soaked" Adam Lambert
"When All is Said and Done" ABBA
"Hold Onto the Night" Richard Marx
"Cry Me a River" Michael Buble
"Falling In Love at a Coffee Shop" Landon Pigg
There are a few more Glee songs, another ABBA, a few more Kelly Clarkson and Blue October. Enough to keep me plenty interested throughout my runs. At least, that's what I'm hoping.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
June 13th remembering...
Thirteen years ago today I graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelors degree in history. It took 5 years and 4 different colleges, a marriage, a pregnancy and a baby, 4 quarters of french and 5 quarters of spanish, just about every history course you can imagine and enough pages worth of research papers to kill numerous trees. But I did it. And it's one of the accomplishments in my life that I am most proud of.
Officially, I finished my last class in March of 1997. I still remember the overwhelming and conflicting feelings as I drove home that day after turning in my final 20 page research paper on women in the French Revolution. I didn't know whether to laugh in triumph or cry from sheer relief. One thing I did know, I was determined to "walk" in June. Graduation announcements, cap and gown, pomp and circumstance...I was going to do the whole nine yards. I was that proud of myself, that determined to have picture proof of my accomplishment.
June 13th dawned beautifully. My parents, my in-laws, my grandparents, Bryan and Rebekah were all there. (I suppose you could say even Julianne was there...I had just found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks before.) I don't remember much about the ceremony. Just little details here and there. But what I do remember with near perfect clarity is what happened afterwards as we were walking back to the car. Bryan and his parents were pushing me to name a restaurant for a celebration lunch. I was confused...they knew that I was planning to have a late lunch with my parents, grandparents and sister Mary who was graduating from high school that same day. I tried to remind them of this but they kept pushing. I couldn't figure out why. Finally, with a sigh, my father in law told me that my grandparents wouldn't be taking me to lunch after all. This led to even more confusion on my part. I could not fathom why they were telling me this or what led them to this conclusion. Finally Bryan stopped walking and turned to me. He took me into his arms and gently told me that they had received a call on the cell phone while I had been doing my graduation walk. My 3 year old cousin Amy had been hit by a car. My gasp of disbelief and horror led to my question of, "But is she going to be okay??" Bryan squeezed me even tighter as he said, "No. She died." I put my face into his shoulder and we stood there for I don't know how long while happy, reveling graduates streamed past us and sad, grieving tears streamed down my face.
Our celebration that day was different than planned or expected. Bryan, Rebekah, his parents and I did go to lunch. Bryan went back to work. And while his parents, concerned about my emotional state, pleaded for me to accompany them back to their home, I insisted I needed to go home and then, most likely, to my parents home to find out more details of what had happened and what I could do. Eventually, my parents, sisters and I made our way to my cousin's home where we all shared in grief and support together.
And so June 13th is a bittersweet day for me every year. A day to remember an amazingly good and happy thing. But also to reminisce about sweet little Amy.
Officially, I finished my last class in March of 1997. I still remember the overwhelming and conflicting feelings as I drove home that day after turning in my final 20 page research paper on women in the French Revolution. I didn't know whether to laugh in triumph or cry from sheer relief. One thing I did know, I was determined to "walk" in June. Graduation announcements, cap and gown, pomp and circumstance...I was going to do the whole nine yards. I was that proud of myself, that determined to have picture proof of my accomplishment.
June 13th dawned beautifully. My parents, my in-laws, my grandparents, Bryan and Rebekah were all there. (I suppose you could say even Julianne was there...I had just found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks before.) I don't remember much about the ceremony. Just little details here and there. But what I do remember with near perfect clarity is what happened afterwards as we were walking back to the car. Bryan and his parents were pushing me to name a restaurant for a celebration lunch. I was confused...they knew that I was planning to have a late lunch with my parents, grandparents and sister Mary who was graduating from high school that same day. I tried to remind them of this but they kept pushing. I couldn't figure out why. Finally, with a sigh, my father in law told me that my grandparents wouldn't be taking me to lunch after all. This led to even more confusion on my part. I could not fathom why they were telling me this or what led them to this conclusion. Finally Bryan stopped walking and turned to me. He took me into his arms and gently told me that they had received a call on the cell phone while I had been doing my graduation walk. My 3 year old cousin Amy had been hit by a car. My gasp of disbelief and horror led to my question of, "But is she going to be okay??" Bryan squeezed me even tighter as he said, "No. She died." I put my face into his shoulder and we stood there for I don't know how long while happy, reveling graduates streamed past us and sad, grieving tears streamed down my face.Our celebration that day was different than planned or expected. Bryan, Rebekah, his parents and I did go to lunch. Bryan went back to work. And while his parents, concerned about my emotional state, pleaded for me to accompany them back to their home, I insisted I needed to go home and then, most likely, to my parents home to find out more details of what had happened and what I could do. Eventually, my parents, sisters and I made our way to my cousin's home where we all shared in grief and support together.
And so June 13th is a bittersweet day for me every year. A day to remember an amazingly good and happy thing. But also to reminisce about sweet little Amy.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Favorite Photo Friday: Cherry Hill
This week started our 9th summer season with Cherry Hill passes. And despite their continually increasing ages, the kids were still just as anxious as ever to get over there this past Tuesday. Lilian discovered, to her delight, that she feels very comfortable floating around the lazy river in a little tube...and then made me walk around and around and around that lazy river while she kicked and splashed and spun circles...for 2 and 1/2 hours!And so as we look forward to another year of wet summer fun, I thought I'd collage some pictures from past years for my Favorite Photo Friday post today.
Little Red Riding Hood 2010
(Mylissa and Sarah: "The Doublemint Twins"...as we got nicknamed by one fellow biker.)Little Red Riding Hood is a all women's bike ride held in Cache Valley. It's been around for over 20 years and, besides providing a well organized, FUN bike ride for 3000 women...also raises money for women's cancer research. With routes of 18, 35, 58, 80 and 100 miles, this ride appeals to women of all different types, sizes, ages, and fitness levels. I met one woman who was riding the 35 mile route with only one lung! She had survived a bout of cancer 8 months earlier and was here to celebrate. She was riding slowly, but she was riding!
My friend and biking buddy, Mylissa, and I had come up to Cache Valley the night before. The ride started early on Saturday so we decided instead of waking insanely early that morning, to make a fun girlie weekend out of it all. A sort of pre-ride party was going on Friday night...a Women's Expo, I think they called it. We headed over and, after signing in and getting our official race packets with our racing number, free t-shirt and other such swag, we wandered through the various vendor tents. It was cold and rainy so after scoring a couple of good deals on biking jerseys and jackets, we headed out to dinner in a warm restaurant. The Iron Gate Cafe, I believe it was called. And there we met up with Mylissa's sister Rachel with 3 of her friends. We ate some fabulous food, laughed a lot and shared a gargantuan piece of the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted before deciding to call it a night and head to bed. Mylissa, Rachel and one of Rachel's friend's all stayed at the home of Aunt Kay who was visiting family in Texas and offered us the use of her beds for the night. I've never met her but bless Aunt Kay! It was so nice to wake the next morning knowing we didn't have an hour and a half drive in front of us!Now as you probably know because I've mentioned it before, Mylissa and I had signed up for the 100 mile route. We had considered our 60 miles in Goldilocks, the ride we'd done last month, to be a kind of training ride for Little Red. But a week and a half earlier Mylissa hurt her back. How, she has no idea but at one point she didn't think she'd be able to ride Little Red at all. And that made us both sad. As she slowly started recovering she'd call me and up the miles that she thought she could handle. Over and over she told me to go ahead and shoot for the 100 miles. We had other friends from our neighborhood that we were planning to meet up with who also planned to ride 100 and Mylissa assured me that she would not feel bad if I continued on with them. Honestly though, I didn't want to. Mylissa and I had trained together and planned this ride for months. I wanted to ride Little Red with her, no matter what mileage we ended up with. At that point I was just excited to have a beautiful ride in a unique atmosphere and have fun with my sweet friend.
And have fun we did! There was no evidence of the rain from the night before. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to wear the new matching tank top jerseys we had bought at the expo. By the morning of Little Red, Mylissa had decided that her back could handle the 35 mile route. But at the mile 18 turn off where the 35 mile route started circling back, she decided that she was feeling fine and nowhere near ready to be done. We decided to shoot for the 58 miles and hope that her back continued to feel as happy as her biking spirit. Luckily for us, it did! Funny enough, remember that Goldilocks ride that we considered to be a training ride...with all of it's ginormous hills? It was much tougher of a course, overall. The hills in Little Red were, what the organizers called "rolling hills." I remember last year riding those "rolling hills" in Little Red and thinking to myself, "Rolling hills, my &*#$ !!!" To an inexperienced biker...yes, hard. But this year...yep, they were right. Happy, rolling hills. Which gently and slowly put us up to the top of the best downhill I have ever, ever biked down! As I was racing down that hill, with a HUGE grin on my face, exhilarated by my speed...morbidly, I did have the thought that if I hit something and flipped, I would probably die. As quickly as that thought entered, I dismissed it once again...but also made sure to be equally focused as I was exhilarated.
We did the 58 miles easily. We were nowhere near as achy and tired as we had been at Goldilocks. Luckily, because that meant we were able to take advantage of the finish line party. Each year the Little Red organizers come up with a theme. Last year was a Hawaiian theme. This year it was a superhero theme. So when we rolled over that finish line we were handed a Wonder Woman crown to wear and a strawberry lemonade with a fun firecracker looking decoration coming out the top. A huge spread of party food greeted us a little bit further into the park. We especially enjoyed the chocolate fountain. 
But after hanging out and enjoying the atmosphere for a little while, we decided that what we REALLY wanted was more of that fabulous chocolate cake from the night before.
We made our way back to the car, strapped our bikes back into the bike rack on top of the car, (Thank you Rob for wisely adding a stepping stool to the list of things we would need so that we short ones could actually reach the top of the car!) and made a bee-line for The Iron Gate Cafe. The employees seemed to get a kick out of our biking attire, our sunburned arms and shoulders, and the story of why we felt like we really, really deserved to eat such a big piece of chocolate cake. And oh! Can I just say...as good as that cake was on Friday night, it had nothing...I repeat, NOTHING...on how truly amazing that cake was Saturday afternoon after 58 miles of biking!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
So, with happy hearts and bellies we headed for home...passing numerous cars, trucks and SUV's that had similarly racked bikes. We found ourselves spending the great majority of the way home discussing all the various bikes we had seen. Everything from colors to componentry and frame. And after awhile it occurred to me that the way Mylissa and I were discussing bikes was the way Bryan discusses guns with his brothers! It made me smile.
(Seriously, isn't Sardine Canyon gorgeous??)
(Seriously, isn't Sardine Canyon gorgeous??)It was an amazing weekend. I'm so glad that I made the decision to buy a bike. Thank you, my sweet, wonderful Bryan...for supporting me in this and being willing to hold down the fort while I do these big rides even though you have absolutely no desire to ride yourself and sometimes think I'm a bit crazy. :) I love you!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
My early morning shade of red
No, I'm not suburned in this picture. I've just returned from a 3.6 mile run. At 8:00 in the morning, no less.The Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay is in just a week and a half. Which means I've been running a lot lately, to make sure I'm ready. I try to go early in the morning before the heat of the day sets in. But this red-faced nonsense still happens.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuckered out...
While my sister, Katie, and I spent the day making these...
...Lilian played good and hard with her cousins. Which then resulted in this...
...when we got home. Ahhh. The joys of being 3 years old.
...Lilian played good and hard with her cousins. Which then resulted in this...
...when we got home. Ahhh. The joys of being 3 years old.
The faces of a birthday girl...
These are the faces of a birthday girl. Her name is Lilian and she is turning 3 today. A big girl, not a baby...as she frequently reminds us. We celebrated by driving to the Gateway (we were all set to take the train...until a big sign at the station informed us the trains were not running due to Memorial Day....) to have lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen and play in the fountain.
This is the birthday girl and her older siblings...who, even though they are older, had no problem braving the horrors of a ruined hairdo to run giggling through the water with her. Especially the brother. Can you say drenched??
These are the parents of the birthday girl...happily watching the scene from outside the range of the spraying water.
Here is that same birthday girl, checking out her birthday cake. Most likely making sure that it has been baked according to her specifications....white cake, pink frosting, her name spelled out, and "candles with fire."
This is the birthday girl and her older siblings...who, even though they are older, had no problem braving the horrors of a ruined hairdo to run giggling through the water with her. Especially the brother. Can you say drenched??
These are the parents of the birthday girl...happily watching the scene from outside the range of the spraying water.
Here is that same birthday girl, checking out her birthday cake. Most likely making sure that it has been baked according to her specifications....white cake, pink frosting, her name spelled out, and "candles with fire."
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Random sighting...
I walked into Hale Theatre a few days ago and came across this display advertising their impressive costume closet and rental possibilities. Immediately a wave of memories came over me. This dress? It's my "Mabel" dress! Last summer I came down to search through Hale's costume closet looking for the perfect Mabel dress. My director and the costume designer came with me. Also Dayne, my "Frederic", who too wanted input on what I would be wearing. (Heaven forbid I wear something hideous! At one rehearsal the costume designer had me try on a dress that she and the director thought was perfect. I wasn't overly thrilled about it myself but what nixed it was Dayne's reaction when I walked out. "No!" he said. "I can't fall in love with that dress!" Which led to our trip to Hale. But I digress.)Needless to say, I tried on numerous dresses and finally came across this one which ended up being THE DRESS. The rest of the cast oohed and aahed the first time I came on stage in it. The sleeves were awesome and the dress twirled beautifully...important because twirling was something I did a lot of! Countless rehearsals, performances and memories later the dress went back to Hale. Never did I think I'd see it again. So what random fun to run into it again while at Hale to see "The Three Musketeers." I wonder if I'll ever see it on stage. Hale is doing "The Pirates of Penzance" this summer. I wonder if they'll deem it the perfect Mabel dress like we did.
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