I qualified for the Boston Marathon!

Pray for Mom and her marathon...that was my request to "How can we pray for you in the coming week?" during our family council  meeting, which we've been holding on Sundays right after we do Come, Follow Me. A couple of years ago, I ran my first marathon. I'd trained and prepared well, and hoped to get a Boston qualifying time. Throughout my training, I prayed like I always did, read scriptures like I always did, but I didn't really include Him in my training, and I didn't really go to Him for help and guidance with these goals. Or at least, I didn't include him as much as I should have, but I did go to Him when I needed a friend/mentor to run with on long runs as I was stepping into new territory, and he provided Kim who lived down the street and was in my stake, which is another amazing story. And then there's the time when He answered Scott's prayer, that I would find a friend to run with during St George marathon because it was my first and we were both a little nervous and I found Tom, also in the stake, and we ran the first 18 miles together. I did not qualify for Boston then.  

Fast forward to several months ago. I signed up to run my second marathon, the St George marathon again. Most of my training, physically, was the same as the last time I trained for a marathon, two years ago, which is when I ran my first marathon. And actually, I did less running this time around. Last time I tried to run 5-6 days during the week, and increased the length/distance of my tempo runs, and my runs during the week. This time, I still did my weekend long run, I still did a tempo day (but only going up to 4-6 miles, which was less miles than before), and a day where I did sprints for half hour and cycling for half hour, but then I also had a walking day, and a day of weight training, and then a day where I'd do a really slow jog or walk jog sort of thing. BUT, what I DID do differently this time, was I prepared more spiritually and mentally. I prayed as much as I usually do, but this time, I included the Lord in my marathon prep. I included Him in my training and shared with Him my dreams of qualifying for Boston. I prayed regularly for help, strength and guidance. And He delivered! That's why I signed up for the Big Cottonwood marathon in the first place. Because I was prompted to, literally 3 weeks before the event happened. That's when I learned about the race, and it is when I learned that it is the fastest Boston qualifying marathon in Utah. It wasn't even slightly on my radar before, but I had been preparing for the St George marathon, so I was mostly ready and I felt strongly that the Lord had provided this opportunity for me and that this was His will. I was also prompted at this time, to listen to certain podcasts and follow different motivational speakers. I started writing down my dreams everyday, as if they'd already happened, so I'd write each morning, "I qualified for and ran the Boston marathon." Apparently when you write things down in that way, your brain doesn't know the difference and it really thinks you did, which is such an important piece in giving you confidence to going after your dreams. The things I learned helped me to train my brain. I felt prompted to visualize my hard runs. Many mornings, I'd spend time visualizing the race course for Big Cottonwood. Not only that, but I saw myself come down out of the canyon, and then keep running, even though I was tired and in pain, and I visualized myself pushing hard during the last several miles. I was also prompted to memorize a couple of scriptures that I used during the really hard parts at the end of my marathon.  

Saturday morning, September 14th, I woke up at 345am, drove to Shauna's home (a new friend from cheer carpool, who was running the Big Cottonwood half marathon) and together, along with Heidi, we drove out to Big Cottonwood Canyon, where we caught different buses, to head up to our starting places for our races. I met a friend on the bus. Her name is Ariel and she's in her late 20's and has run a few marathons in the past. We had different goals and knew we wouldn't be running together, but we stayed together once we got up to the top, at Guardsman Pass, and hung out until the race began.

I felt great during the beginning of the race. Around mile three, my Garmin stopped working. I worried because I was trying so hard to keep a specific pace so I could qualify for Boston, and now I wouldn't know exactly where I was at. I had worn two watches, the other was to control my music and restart some songs once my playlist finished (I had 3 hours and 15 minutes worth of music), but by mile 6, I decided to turn on my running app on that watch, which would mean I wouldn't be able to control my music anymore. Shortly thereafter, my Garmin started working again, but it had restarted, so I was never quite sure on my distance and average pace. I used the mile markers to determine when I should drink my Glukos gels I'd packed (Glukos is more a liquid than a Gel, which is why I like it), I packed 4 and drank one about every 5 miles, and I also  made it a point to get in front of the 3:35 pacer, and stay in front of him, since I was shooting to finish at 3:30. For a moment there, when my watch stopped working, a negative thought crept in my head about how unfortunate this was when I needed it for this particular race, but I did not let it linger. I quickly pushed it out and came up with another plan. Mile three is mostly uphill, but other than that, between miles 1-18, it's mostly down the canyon. This was nice and it definitely helped with my speed during those miles. I was trying to maintain 7:30's or right around there on that downhill section. I knew I'd need it at the end when there were several small but long hills that would slow me down. Around halfway through, it got harder. My body was getting tired. I took a quick potty break at mile 16 or so, but I tried to keep it as quick as possible; probably 30 seconds. By the time I'd hit the 19-20 mile marker, my body was spent. I was exhausted and in pain. I could tell I would be losing a toenail or two. But I kept a prayer in my heart throughout the run, and I turned it all over to Him now. When I did, I felt a real power enter my body. He renewed my strength and helped me to finish strong. During the final two miles, I felt so much power and love that it was overwhelming and a couple of times I began to cry. But I'd quickly pull myself together, because it's hard to cry, run and breathe well at the same time. It was such a powerful experience and another testimony to me of His love and tender care for each of us. I couldn't do it alone. He made all the difference. And we did qualify for Boston...me and the Lord. 

In order to qualify, I needed to finish within 3 hours and 35 minutes. I finished in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 42 seconds! That's an 8:04 mile pace!

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Elisabeth was there with her cheer team, working a water station. When I saw her at mile 25, I handed her my water back pack which also had my phone inside, and kept going. I had started with 4 cups of water, which was too much for this race as it was nice and cool the whole way down the canyon, so I still had nearly 2 cups of water left at mile 25, and I wanted to get rid of the extra weight on my shoulders and back. 

Scott and the little girls were there at the end, cheering me on. Charles was at an overnight scout activity.

So, SO happy!!! And I am SO grateful to the Lord for all His guidance, strength and support throughout this entire process!

Maintaining a good weight, Hard Work, Sprint Tri

When I was visiting my mom a few weeks ago, she gave me some old pictures to bring home. I smiled and laughed at some of them, remembering some bad hair cuts and awkward phases, and that time in high school when I was my heaviest. It wasn't for lack of activity; I've always been active. Growing up I played a lot of soccer and did dance and cheerleading. But I also ate poorly. Very poorly. I loved McDonald's and went there often (I drove myself for lunch in high school). I loved their chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, shakes, soda etc. Some of my other favorite foods that I ate often were taquitos, pizza, burritos, refried beans, chips, and anything sweet, especially cake,  candy, ice cream, cookies and donuts.  I did not like salads or vegetables, so I didn't really eat them. My mom always had salads and veggies available, but why would I eat that when there were all these other yummier tasting foods available? It seemed like a no-brainer. As a child, it didn't seem to make a difference, what I ate, at least not with my appearance. But once I hit puberty, it was noticeable and I gained unwanted weight. 

I blamed it on my genes, or things out of my hands, because I had small friends that ate similar to the way I did. I did not make better food choices until I was married and had children. And once I did, it made all the difference in the world, not only with the way I looked, but I felt great! I had so much more energy and I was sick less. And that's even true after having five babies! Exercise is only half of the equation to health and wellness. The other half is the food piece. It's fun to look back and see how far I've come. 

I took this picture this week, for a comparison of then and now.

Here's Nora dear, snacking on some watermelon I'd cut up and set out on the counter.

Here are a few more favorite foods, including meals and snacks that are nutritious. When we have left over Mexican (which is weekly), we'll sometimes do Mexican-style baked potatoes. 

I eat this salad almost every day, either for lunch or dinner. If we're having Mexican for dinner, this is what I'll eat, and if we're not, I'll often have it for lunch. There's a chopped up black bean burger on the bottom, then lettuce, some cooked veggies, avocado, tomatoes, green onion and salsa. Sometimes instead of the burger, I'll put on black beans and quinoa.

The kids like these whole wheat, honey-sweetened honey banana muffins. Sometimes we add some chocolate chips.

And for breakfast each morning, I have green smoothie. Lately it's been one of these two recipes.

I think a month or two ago I mentioned that the girls were doing bake sales this summer to earn enough money to go see Cinderella at Hale Center Theater. The children's tickets are $22 each. Well, after a few sales, they made the money they needed and we went! We also went with some of the Ludwigs. It was an awesome show.

Scott and Brian Wilcox (lived in our previous neighborhood, and still lives close) did a sprint triathlon, and the youngest 2 girls and I drove down to Salem to cheer them on.

This was a great race for spectators to watch because everything was close. We went to one in Syracuse and had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the swim, and then had to walk the half mile back to get to the bike and run part, and there wasn't really many places to sit, or shady areas, so it was a bit more uncomfortable. But in Salem everything started in the same general area, plus there was plenty of shade and benches, and a park for the kids to play at. That being said, Scott said, as an athlete, it wasn't his favorite because it was a little less organized and there weren't porta potties along the way, just at the beginning, and only a couple.

They did awesome! We brought the cowbell to help bring them in.

And the girls were super excited to see that James from Studio C was there racing. I went and talked to his mom after because their family was in my ward growing up in WA. I was an elementary aged kid, but I remembered her and another one of her sons who was my age. James was a little younger.

Saturday night we had a family game night (we're going to try to do it once a month, the first weekend of the month). We played pit, scattegories, and catch phrase, and the BYU game was on in the background; Scott and the kids had ice cream sandwiches.

Cheer, Active Life, Date Your Kids, Marathon Toe, Real Life Family

We have our first high schooler, and our first high schooler on a sports team! Which means life is getting even busier, but we love the experiences and though I can't make it to everyone's everything, I make it to everything I can, which sometimes means, I can show up for 10 or 15 minutes to watch, before I have to dash over to pick up the other sibling, or watch their game. 

Labor Day weekend we decided to take the family over to the pickle ball courts and play some ball. We went in the morning, and all of the courts were full (there's like 15 courts), so we waited for a while, and while we waited, Nora got bored and hungry and decided she wasn't going to wait with us any longer, so she ditched us for the swings at the park. Which was okay. We only have 4 paddles anyway, so she would've been unhappy waiting for her turn, and her older siblings didn't mind not having to be patient with their 7-year-old sister, who is learning how to play and not quite coordinated enough to figure it out all that well.

Jane played too, but she was also the photographer, which is why she's not in any of the pictures. But later that day, Scott took her on her September date! She wanted to eat lunch at Chuck a Rama. We take the kids out on a date twice a year; during their birthday month, and half birthday month.

And during that birthday date, I also took Charles out for a lunch date, because he says we didn't do his. I think we did, but I also don't have any proof in the form of pictures, and I have a horrible memory, so we went to lunch at Costa Vida.

My marathon is in less than 2 days!!! I am super nervous! I've been doing a lot of visualizing and running and cross training and praying and all sorts of things to get all geared up and ready for my run. I'm really hoping I will qualify for Boston. These Glukos 'gels' (more like a liquid than a gel) are my favorite fuel during a marathon. I'll drink 4 during the marathon and they are basically sugar, which I need since everything will be depleted. If I don't take these regularly, I will for sure hit a wall and not be able to finish well. I learned about this Glukos brand from Jared Ward, who is a BYU professor and an Olympic marathoner.

The real gels are too thick and hard for me to swallow. And food in general, is also hard to swallow when you're running fast. I also think the ingredients in this brand are better than many others.

I have endearingly named this my 'marathon toe'. And it is just that. When I'm running lots of miles, there sometimes comes a point when I damage a toe nail, and not damage like what's going on in the picture, but more like, the toe nail will turn grayish black and hurt for a few days, and then it'll either come off, or if I'm lucky enough to save the toe nail (though it's loosely fitting), then I do, and I paint that gray sucker another color and try not to make the toe nail come off all the way. I know it looks bad in the picture, and the toe nail does hurt for a couple of days at the beginning, but then it's fine. It doesn't hurt now at all,even though it's all cracked and ugly looking.

And can I get an 'amen' to this statement? "Please excuse the mess. Our standards have lowered with each child." I love having a big family, I really do, but it means the mess multiplies rapidly. The solution, is also the family: lots of hands make light work...as long as I can leave it alone during the day, while they're at school. Sometimes I do, but sometimes the mess gets the best of me and I don't want to see it all day, so I just turn on a podcast or audio book and get to work.

BYU education week 2019; UN Civil Society Conference, setting goals, Start Today Journal

The same week I got back from WA, and the same week that school started, was also BYU education week. I blocked out time in my schedule to go, after I'd done an 18 mile run that morning...gotta love that marathon training! I'm grateful I have Kim J who does the long runs with me. We're running the St George Marathon together, and if I can qualify for Boston on my first marathon (Big Cottonwood Canyon), then I'm going to run St George alongside Kim and help her to meet her goal...we are in different age groups, so we have different qualifying times we need to meet. If I don't qualify for Boston during Big Cottonwood, then I'd try for St George and I'd need to run it faster than Kim needs to run hers.

I had a snack in the car on the way home from our long run (we ran down big cottonwood canyon), and once I got home and showered, I had a bowl of oatmeal with some almond butter, sliced almonds and fruit, and then I took off for BYU. I went to several classes and then felt starving again. There's not a lot of healthy options on campus (though one is coming soon!!! It looks similar to Zao Asian Cafe, but it's not that), but they do have a Jamba Juice, so I ordered a Peanut Butter Banana Protein Shake AND a protein bowl! I normally wouldn't do that but I was super hungry from my run and I knew I wouldn't be home til late. I brought a quest bar and some pistachios, which I also ate during the day, and later that night, for dinner, I had a Chick-Fil-A salad. I didn't get home that night until after 10pm. A long, exhausting day, but so good! I loved the classes I attended!

Tamara Fackrell is one of my all-time favorite presenters. She is a divorce attorney and has mediated loads of marriages over the years. She also is a marriage and family activist, which seems a little contradictory to her career, but she is! She is such a fun and dynamic speaker and is so relateable. Here are a couple of her slides.

She also mentioned Family Councils, and that her family has them weekly. Scott and I have started these multiple times over the years (as they've been mentioned by leaders in our church), but after a week or two, we'd forget. But I looked up some information and ideas on Pinterest and we've started again and have had 3 in a row now! I'm hoping we keep it up. So far, so good!

Here's the board we've put together with our Family Council agenda. I keep it in the living room and we've been doing it right after we finish up Come, Follow Me on Sundays. With 5 kids ranging in age from elementary up to high school, Sundays are the day that work for us, when everyone is home. 

Marathon training means I'm getting a lot of mileage on the roads, but I'm also careful to get some cross-training in each week which for me looks like a day of cycling, a day of walking, and a day or two of weights(usually one day weights and one day I'll do weights in addition to running...same with cycling. I cycle for 30 minutes, and do sprints on and off for 30 minutes). I like to cycle indoors on my stationery bike (that will not get flat tires, that I absolutely do not know how to fix), while watching my favorite Studio Sweat cycling class/show on YouTube. Kat Com is awesome.

Not sure why I took a picture of my medal board....I think because I just took a picture of my cycling show? Anyhow, this board has a hook for each member of our family and when they do a race, they add their medal to their hook. It helps them want to do races, for sure. My sister made me this lovely board, and eventually I want another one. Next time it'll say, 'stronger everyday'. 

Which is similar to this phrase, which I love:

And it reminds me of this scripture which I love, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." -Alma 37:6

And it's good to remember that it's not about the speed (unless you're trying to qualify for the Boston marathon ;)), but the direction in which you're heading. Small steps in the right direction each day, will get you where you're heading. 

The last week of August, SLC hosted the United Nations Civil Society Conference. As part of that, they asked local volunteers to help assemble 375,000 meals for children in need, who live in the USA. April told me about it and asked if I'd like to do it with her. It was such a cool thing to be surrounded by so many willing volunteers who were happy to give back and help in any way. Which reminds me of a quote:

I like to write down favorite scriptures and quotes from prophets and apostles, and I keep them in my scripture bag and review them periodically. I love this one about marathon runners who set explicit goals, and how we should be doing that with our lives. Where do we WANT to be one year from now, five years, ten years and beyond.

A couple of months ago, because of this quote and after reading about Rachel Hollis's Start Today journal, I started writing down some of those goals, and I write them as if they've already happened. This simple morning practice helps me set my intentions for the day. It reminds me of what's important to me, what my priorities are, and then I find myself, unconsciously, working to make these goals/dreams a reality. I love this practice. 

And just for fun, look at our trees!!! When we planted them a few years ago, they literally were the size of a small branch, and now some of them have surpassed the height of our vinyl fence, which is taller than me!!! Hooray! But we have had to replace 3 over the years, that died. But that's okay. Someday they are going to stand so tall and proud and they will help provide a little more privacy to our back yard, which is not so private. I love my neighbors, but I also like my space :).