How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!  This past Saturday our elephant came in the form of a half-marathon that Will and I signed up for on a whim back in July. I hadn't really considered running that far before. In fact, I had only ever run 6 miles at one time but Will's sister, June, and her husband, Steve, convinced me that we could do it so I signed up for it quickly before I could change my mind. (It's funny how sometimes we don't believe in ourselves until someone else does.) Anyway, there was no backing out. We paid our money and had no choice but to go for it. As soon as we were home from vacation I found a training plan and we got started.

The training was challenging but never more than we could handle. We did all of our long runs on the Jordan River Trail which made those runs really pretty nice. It's so quiet out there and you can feel secluded but without being too far from civilization. I actually look forward to my long runs because of that trail. Even though I saw at least one snake cross my path every time I ran out there. Creepy but it usually put a little extra pep in my step!

The only snag in training came for me 3 weeks before the race when I wore some new shoes out for a 9 mile run. By the time I made it back, I had strained a ligament in my foot and was out of training for a little over a week. Not smart! Injuries are certainly a part of training, though. And I'm learning to work through them and  not get too down when it happens.  After all, it always gets better, right?!

Race Time: I was really anxious/excited the day before the race. I spent the whole day doing the two things I do when I'm nervous- cleaning and baking. I really get a lot done when I'm anxious about something.

That night I made pancakes for dinner (a little carbo-loading) but I really had to force myself to eat it. I just didn't feel like eating but knew I had to so that I would have fuel to burn on the run. So, I ate a pancake but wasn't able to eat anything else the rest of the night. Will's sister picked the boys up at about 8:00 pm and took them to her house to stay the night (yay for awesome sister-in-laws!) and Will and I got to bed early to get some much needed rest. Well, I should say we both got to bed early only I wasn't able to fall asleep until past 11:00. Pesky anxiety.


So, finally we made it to race day. The day that I would become a bonafide long-distance runner. I was so excited that I jumped right out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:00 am. I ran downstairs to eat half a waffle with peanut butter and 1/2 a banana. Again, I didn't want to eat but knew I had to.  Will and I were out the door by 5:45 and on our way to Spanish Fork.

It was dark and rainy when we arrived but once we got our race packets, put our race chips on our shoes and pinned our numbers on our shirts, the sun was starting to come out and the rain stopped. It looked as if it would be perfect weather for a run.  I made a pre-run trip to the loo and met a bunch of friendly ladies while waiting in line. People are super friendly at long-distance races. I even met and talked with a few people while running! It's like some kind of "we're all in this together" attitude and it's infectious. I love that.


Will and I made our way over to the starting line. We were both feeling confident and ready to go. The race started and we were on our way. Knowing we didn't want to go out too fast, we stuck to our race plan and ran at about a 9:25 min/mile pace for the first 6 miles. Our plan was to run a negative split (basically run the 2nd half faster if we felt like we had the juice to.) Around mile 6, we hit the big, mile-long hill.  No kidding, we ran uphill that entire mile! The Garmin beeped when we hit mile 7 and I realized that we had run our fastest mile yet! That's when I knew we could pick it up a little. Miles 7-13 we averaged a little under a 9:00 min/mile and finished the race in 2:00:45, a 9:13 min/mile average pace. Wahoo!! It's great when things work out the way you plan them to! Of course, I would have loved to have finished in under 2 hours but I was just happy to have finished. Under 2 hours can be my next goal. :)

As soon as we crossed the finish line, my legs locked up. I felt it right away. I had to run around for a couple minutes just to keep loose as I cooled down. Will seemed fine. He was just happy to be done I think. Let me take a minute here to talk about my husband. I basically forced him into running this with me and I think it was the best training decision I could have made. What a huge support he was for me. He was right by my side the whole time, giving me gels when it was time and gentle encouragement when my IT band was acting up. I loved sharing this with him. I just love him.

Anyway, we congratulated ourselves, had some water and fruit, and walked around until they handed out medals. We finished 108 and 109 out of about 270 runners. No awards for us although we were hoping maybe Will would finish in the top 3 of the Clydesdale division. That's for guys that are 200+.  But alas, he didn't. We sat through the billion different raffles hoping to win an iPod or a camera or even a chicken dinner but it wasn't in the cards for us. It's okay, though, because we had already gotten our award- the feeling of knowing that we had finished the race was enough for us. And finishing easily, without a single thought about stopping, was our reward for all the hard training.

All in all, a great experience and way easier than I expected. I'm feeling completely confidant about training for the full marathon. Training starts next week!

Super Cooper is 4!

It's been particularly hard for me to let this baby boy grow up. I have been seriously sad that he isn't 3 anymore. Three was such a good year for him! He has been such a Mama's boy. I've gotten lots of love and hugs and kisses from him. I think I am just afraid that as he gets bigger I'll get less and less of that cuddly time.  Kinda makes me wanna wrap him up in a blankie and start moving in reverse. Alas, I know that my efforts will be futile and I have to embrace the 4-yr-old Cooper which has so far proved not to be so bad. He's had plenty of love for Mommy today, even though he's 4. So, little boy, I'll let you grow up. I have no choice...

That being said- let's celebrate my little Cooper. Here's a little about this special boy.

1. He is incredibly goofy. A total ham who just eats up the attention he gets from anybody. This is pretty much proved by every photograph that I ever take of him. He loves to pose and be silly.
2. Many, many times Will and I have retired for the night only to find this little fella' (and his older brother) in our bed.  We've successfully been able to lock our door to keep them out for a long while. However, just last week we went to bed only to find them in there again! The next morning I asked Cooper how he got in my room and he said, "I used the key!" Ha ha! I have to admit I kind of love it that they want to sleep with us. It's comforting to have us all together at night.
   
3. This one is obvious to anyone who knows Cooper. He loves is totally obsessed with superheroes! In fact, he can name a couple dozen superheroes and villains off of the top of his head. He has also learned the real names of his favorites- Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Johnny Storm, Dr. Bruce Banner, Ben Grimm. He can go on and on.
4. He's been boxing since he was 1.  For some reason, he has always just taken to it. He's got a natural ability that's a bit uncanny. I, for one, am not thrilled about this but he does seem to love it. He doesn't hit when he gets angry. So it hasn't made him aggressive. He just seems to love sparring for fun. Here's a pic of him in one of his first sparring matched with his cousin Amy back in 2007. In fact, he moved through all of his cousins that day!
   
   
   
5.  To counterbalance his tough boy image I have to mention this- Cooper helps me make cookies every single Sunday night. He puts on his little turtle apron and promptly pulls everything out of the pantry that we need. Mom measures and then he adds everything to the bowl. He even knows how to gently tap the bowl until all the flour has been added to the Kitchenaid. Once the dough is made he always gets to lick the beater and has seconds and thirds of the cookie dough. Usually, he's full of cookie dough before the cookies are even done. I love having him as my cookie-makin' bud. Love this little tradition of ours.

Just a few of the things that we love so much about him. Happy birthday, bud! We love you! Here's a few pics from his first 4 years.

We love you little guy!

Back-to-school!

How can it be time for school already?! I never even got a chance to post all the fun summer stuff we did this year! Oh well. I'll have to come back to that later. Just wanted to jump on here and mention that Coleman says that, "2nd grade is awesome!" and Cooper is thoroughly enjoying his time in preschool. And I am thoroughly enjoying time to myself two mornings a week.  (Yay!)

A little about Cooper's 1st day in his new preschool: I dropped Cooper off at his preschool looking like the top pic and picked him up 3 hours later in his Flash costume. 

What happened, you ask? Dang kid ran home and got his costume when he saw a toy that reminded him of it! You see, Cooper's preschool is right next door taught by my sweet neighbor, Sandra. The whole group of preschoolers were outside playing when he took off towards home (30 ft. away.) The door was unlocked. (I was not at home.) By the time they went to get him (pretty much immediately) he had already grabbed his costume and was on his way back. Sandra, bless her heart, allowed him to wear it and even helped him to put it on. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw him but had a very stern "talking-to" with him soon after I picked him up. He won't be doing it again. Goofy kid. He is obsessed with superheroes.

Coleman's a 2nd grader! He was so nervous last night about going into a new class. In fact, it made me nervous to see him nervous. By this morning, though, he said that he was just excited and by the time he got home he said he had a great day "other than the ride home." Ugh! The bus ride home. He didn't get home until 4:45 today! School lets out at 3:30 so that is a dang long time to be on the bus. Granted he does go to school in another town but it should never take more than 1/2 an hour. The bus driver got lost when he tried to backtrack his morning route and ended up restarting his route from the furthest point. Huh?! What kind of idiot do you have to be to drive a school bus?! Sorry. That was uncalled for but I was just livid that he was on the bus that long. Thankfully Will is friends with the head administrator over transportation (perks of having a school administrator as a husband) so tomorrow this guy better get it right. Oh, that sounded threatening, huh? I can be a beast when it comes to my kids.

Anyway, here's a couple pics of Coleman before school this morning. He was stoked to wear his new Star Wars tee.

He's not really one to pose for pics. Ha ha! Love this kid!

Worth mentioning, too, I hosted a back-to-school donut party yesterday morning. You can read more about it on Jenn's blog. (Click here to see.) I really need to get to bed!

A couple videos from Park City trip.

We got back from Park City on Friday after spending 3 nights at the Westgate Resort. Nice to get away for a few days. Will says this was our "appetizer" vacation since we are leaving this Saturday to go back East for nearly a month. That must be the main course. Ha ha! Anyway, I spent my time in Park City keeping the boys entertained while Will went to his meetings, etc. Just wanted to post a couple videos of the boys that I captured while we were there.