Garden City Half Marathon!

If you look really close there is orange spraypaint on the street in the middle of the picture. That is the starting line.

Bear Lake

Life has been so crazy! The Garden City Half Marathon was an amazing experience! I feel bad it has taken me so long to sit down and share my story. With kids and school and relationships I feel like I don't have time to breathe so I will stop beating myself up for it and just share my experience!

The Garden City Half Marathon took place on June 14th 2008. We started training for it after I recovered from my run in Moab. I say recovered because I was so sore I was Daniel's "Gimp" (yes it was used as a pet name for a little while) for a couple of weeks. We found a training plan that fit perfect for the 12 weeks we had before the race. It had us running five days a week. We rarely missed a day. Daniel was so good for me. He really kept things in perspective for me and really motivated me to run. We went through some tough time emotionally but we never backed down from the running. I was so proud of us!

About three weeks before the race we stopped running altogether. It was not a decision to just stop running. It just seemed like everyday there was a good reason. (isn't that the reason that anything gets put off? a good excuse? lol) I was really worried that we would not make it up to Bear Lake. I wanted to run with Daniel so bad, but I knew that it would be so easy to decide not to run it based on the three weeks before the race. But, we went up there. The night before the race I asked Daniel how he was doing because he did not seem very happy to be up there. He said that he was disappointed in the last three weeks and he wasn't sure how we were going to handle the run. He said he was glad to be up there with me and that he would be running with me, he just had wanted it to be different. Well, I agreed with all of that. I was still really excited. I always get so excited because I love the feeling you get at the beginning and at the end of the race, and I also knew that Daniel has not had that experience before so I understood why he was not excited.

We got to bed at a decent time and woke up with the sun on Saturday Morning. We still had plenty of time to get to the bus. This was the first year that they have had a half marathon up there so they were still working out all of the kinks. They had two bus times for the half marathon and urged us to be on the earlier bus. So we were there sitting on the bus when we found out that they cancelled the earlier buses and that we were all going up together. So we sat on the bus till 7:30. Not a big deal.

We met a guy that had been running for 22 years. He has run 155 races. He has run a marathon in every state and now is running a half marathon in every state. WOW. I want that life. lol.

The race started at approximately 8 AM and it was a gunshot start. We were right at the front of the pack. Right before it started we warmed up and stretched a little bit. It felt a lot different than any other race that I have run. There were less than 200 people at the starting line. Although there were less people the excitement was still there and I was really excited to have Daniel by my side.

We consistently ran 2 miles and walked just long enough to get a drink and catch our breath. Which was really important seeing as how we were 1500 feet higher in elevation than we trained at. My lungs were really fighting the lack of oxygen for the first two miles or so. Other than that I felt no discomfort for most of the race. Daniel did not feel any discomfort until we were into the 8th mile. I was really proud of him for pushing through the discomfort.

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Everything was so green and the sky was SO blue. There was not a cloud in the sky. At one point we passed a pasture of horses, and we turned at the end of the pasture so we ended up running on two sides of it. The horses were getting as much running in as we were! They would start at one end of the field and follow the runners around and then come back and follow more runners around the corner. It was so much fun to watch!

Up until this race Daniel had never run farther than 10 miles. I was and am so proud of him for pushing through the last 3 miles. There was no one cheering us or any of the runners on at the end of the race so we just cheered each other on!

We crossed the finish line at 2 hours 25 min and 18 seconds.They handed us our metals and I took Daniel's and placed it around his neck. There were tears in his eyes. I could see how proud he was of himself, of us. What an amazing experience to share with my best friend, with my partner for life. I am so grateful that we were able to share this experience with each other.

We will be running the St. George Marathon together on October 4th. I am looking forward to sharing that race with Daniel as well. If we can run together, train and cross that finish line together, I know we can do anything!

Hiking with the Kiddies!

We took the kids up to the waterfall. It is a short hike and it is absolutely beautiful! The water was cold but it felt really good on such a hot day! We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids!

Harrison

Merlin and Zoey

Charlene

Zoey

Isabella

Happy Father's Day!

I am very grateful for the father's in my life. My father is a great example to me. I am grateful for the influence he has had in my life. I am eternally grateful to Daniel. He is an amazing father to his children and a great example to mine. I feel so fortunate that he is in their lives.

This morning Daniel and I woke up at the KOA at Bear River. We got up and broke down camp and drove along the route we ran for the Garden City Half Marathon. We took pictures of the route and the lake. We stopped and took pictures of Logan Canyon and of the Logan Temple. On the way into town we picked up Harrison and Zoey. Later we went and saw a movie with them and Charlene and Merlin.

I hope Daniel had a wonderful Father's Day. He is one of the most important father's in my life. And although I did not make it out to see my Dad, I hope he had a wonderful Father's Day as well.

There's a Mouse in My Cup!

The Hand/Top of the Stick

This picture of Daniel was taken by Merlin with my Mom's camera

In my College Essentials class on Tuesday we had an object lesson. It seems that is what this class is going to consist of. (At first I was a little annoyed with the class, but I am really starting to enjoy it) The lesson started out being a lesson about following directions.

Each of us in turn took a wooden stick and we had to balance it on a flat hand. We were told to try to balance it, but we could only look at the palm of our hand. We all tried and failed miserably to balance it for any length of time. The next time around we were told to balance the stick and look at the top of the stick, and only at the top of the stick. We were all able to balance it for a much longer amount of time.

Was this really about following directions? Well of course not! When we were done, our teacher told us to imagine that there was flag on the top of the stick that said GOAL and a label on our hand that said TODAY.

The lesson? Well, if we focus on today, we will not be able to hold onto our goals. If we focus on our goals it is much easier to correct the path of today (our hand) to balance our goals (The top of the stick).

So I came home from school and told Daniel about the object lesson. More or less making fun of it. I have never really understood the purpose of object lessons.

Later that night Daniel and I had a serious and not so fun discussion about our relationship. (oh the fun things adults get to talk about!) At the end of our discussion, I asked him why he wanted to be in this relationship even though it is really hard sometimes.

His answer? (be prepared cause he just likes to prove that he is perfect)...

He said because I am focusing on the top of the stick and I am trying not to pay too much attention to the hand right now.

Not only did that show that he was listening, but that comment means a lot to me. If we were to focus on our hand (Today) right now, it would be easy to let the top of the stick (our future) down.

We will keep our eyes up and not focus too much on today and the future we want will be ours.

You Look Like a Monkey...

And you act like one too! Happy Birthday Beautiful Bella!

Four years already? Wow. I am so proud of this little girl. She is such a light to me. She was born at one of the darkest points in my life. She had so many of the same qualities that Carloyn had as a baby and I truly felt a connection to Carolyn through her, I got a part of my baby back! And what a journey it has been! She is so independent and smart! She can and will get away with anything that she can and so it takes a watchful eye to keep her in line! lol She makes me smile nearly everyday. It is very rewarding to be her Mother!

She was the cutest little Birthday girl! Daniel did her hair with some of the hair things he got her for her birthday. Doesn't she look precious? The only thing she asked for, for her birthday, was a Monkey or a Bunny shirt. So she got a Curious George shirt for her birthday!

Grandma Dianne came and took her shopping in the morning. Daniel brought her and the other kids out to have lunch with me in between my classes so I could see the Birthday girl. (thank you Daniel!) And then we went to dinner with Grandpa Breitling and Grandma Grape (that is what my kids call the one and only Grandma (Great) Breitling). She was on top of the world like every four year old should be!

There's Nothing Like a First

My first college student ID card!

Ok, so a student ID card should not be that exciting, but it REALLY was for me! This is a symbol of actually starting to follow my dream. I have been wanting to go back to school for so long now, and I finally did it! It would not have happened without the support and the urging of Daniel and I am very grateful for that!

Today was my first day at Salt Lake Community College. And I already have two projects due by Tuesday. Go figure. LOL. I am taking an Intro to Photography class (9 hours of class time a week!) and College Essentials. I am a little nervous and a lot excited to be going back to school and I am excited about the classes I will be taking.

I am guessing that I will not blog nearly as much as I want to, but I will keep this updated as much as I can. I am sure you have noticed that I will post pictures and then will not update the text for a week or too. Just a sign of my hectic life right now! I will do better.

Meet Merlin (the 9 years old boy)

This is Merlin.

This is a classic picture of him. His name fits him perfectly. There were no other names picked out for him. He just was Merlin. When he was a baby people would ask me all the time if I named him after the magician, and I always worried that he would hate being associated with that. When he turned four he was at an age where adults were starting to direct the question to him. They would say, "Oh, and what is your name?" and he would answer, "Merlin". Nine times out of ten the person would ask, "Merlin? Like the Magician?" Without skipping a beat, Merlin would always say, "No, I'm Merlin, the 4 years old boy!". I have loved watching his independance and his love for life. I am proud to be his Mother.

The Haunted Old Mill

This was the first time I had been to the Haunted Old Mill. Everything is fenced off so I did not get to see any ghosts... But we did see a couple of deer in the trees above the Mill! It is beautiful up there and the building definitely demands some respect!