What Now?

So, looking at my results from The Utah Half, it's pretty obvious where my weakness is:

Running.

As if I didn't already know this. :)

The people who win are the runners. Seriously, they do the run more than an hour faster than me! How are people so fast?!

If I want to get any better, I really need to become a real runner. I think that's what I want to work on next. What I don't know is how long I should focus on running. Should I just work on it during the winter then come back into full triathlon training in the spring? Or should I lay off triathlon for a season and really just focus on running for a whole year?

I don't really like the thought of that because I already took last year off triathlon and hated it.

I've thought about signing up for the St. George Marathon in October of 2012, and giving that a shot again. Since it's at the end of the tri season, I could still do a tri, possibly even Utah Half, along with it. Or should I focus on shorter distances to get faster?

I'm also worried about getting burnt out if I run too much or getting injured. I really don't want to get to the point where I hate running. I also want to have time to do other things this winter, like snowboarding so I don't want anything too big too early in the season. I missed it so much last year and am excited to get back into it this year!

The other question is, what distance do I want my next big tri to be? I know I want to do another full some day, but is next year the right year or should I just do a half again and keep working on getting faster while George is little? If I do decide to do a full next year, it will be Vineman, and I'd love to do the buy 2 get 1 free deal they have on registering for that. If 3 of us signed up, we'd each just have to pay $233.33 which is an amazing price for a full! Plus it would just be so much more fun to have some people to train with! Does anyone want to sign up for that with me??

These are the questions.

I know I need to figure this out for myself, but I'd love some feedback (especially from you runners!) on what would be best for me. Or if you have any races you'd like to suggest or want someone to do with you, let me know!

Is it crazy that I'm not even a week out of my tri season and I'm already planning next year? :)

The Utah Half Ironman 2011 - Race Report

By Friday I was feeling pretty much all the way better from my cold which, in turn, made my stress level go down too. It was also nice that I had already picked my packet up at the swim clinic so I didn't have to worry about that. I was now able to just be excited! (mostly)

We drove to Heber Friday afternoon when we could no longer stand being in our hot house. It was so much cooler up there at my dad's house, but watch out for the mosquitos! We got the kids to bed then my husband, Pete, and I ran to the store to get some more baby food for George (7 months old). We wanted my dad to have a lot of options for the day ahead. He was worried about feeling like a monster when George got hungry. :(

I slept relatively well, considering it was really starting to hit me what I was going to do in the morning! George woke up once during the night, then I woke him up again at about 4:45 to feed him just before we left. I was feeling nervous and sick, but driving down Provo canyon in my dad's truck sure helped me forget about it for a little while! We left our Jeep with him so he could bring the kids if George got too sad, and his truck has really crazy steering plus it's so big!

Anyway, as we got closer to Utah Lake, there was a huge line of cars that wasn't really moving, and we saw a bunch of people parking on the side of the road. Pete checked on google maps, and we were only about 1/2 mile away from transition so we decided to park. I got all my stuff and my bike and rode in. I told Pete he could go ahead and go back to sleep for a little while. I told him I'd text him when I got done with the swim.

I got to transition just a little after 6 and the race didn't start until 7 so I had plenty of time. It was still dark and there were mosquitoes everywhere! I had put bug spray on before we left the house, but I must have missed some spots because I've got a few itchy spots now to remember that lovely morning.

I picked a spot in transition right by someone's green balloon, with a darker green ballon on the next row so it would be easy to spot. I set up my stuff, and managed to drop the stopper from my race belt into the grass as I was trying to put my number on. Amazingly, I found it even though it was dark! I brought a bucket to sit on in transition for the first time which was so nice, and just put my wetsuit back into my backpack.

I decided I didn't want to wear my wetsuit, though most people were wearing them. The water was around 76 degrees which is plenty warm, and I just didn't want to deal with getting the dang thing off afterwards.

I got body marked and dropped off my special needs bag. I was number 37 which was awesome and made me feel a little bit like a pro! :)

After the race director talked to us a little, we cleared out of transition and trekked down to the water. We had to walk quite a ways, and there were some spots that were pretty gravelly. I was a little worried about having to run back with bare feet, but it turned out we would exit the swim closer to transition. Whew!

I got in the water and swam around for a little while, and it felt really nice so I felt good about my decision not to wear my wetsuit. Then I got out so I could see when they pointed out the course, and I started to get cold. I got back in because the water was warmer than the air, but I still felt cold the rest of the time while I waited for my wave so I began to question my no-wetusit decision again.

All females were in the last wave, along with the relay and some of the men, and we started at least 15 minutes late. Normally I wouldn't care about this, but I couldn't help thinking, "That's 15 more minutes George will have to wait to eat." But he was in good hands, and I felt pretty good. I knew he would be ok for half a day without me, even if he got sad. I just tried to not worry about him, and focus on the task at hand. I think I did a pretty good job!

The gun went off. I was at the front of the pack and it got really crowded really quickly so for the first little while I just had to focus on getting around people. Then suddenly it totally thinned out and I was all by myself. Turns out, this was because I was pretty much to the right of all the traffic, but not too far right to be off course. We did 2 laps, but it was kind of a weird shape lap. After the second buoy you couldn't see the next one because of a rock wall that you had to swim around. I feel like that was a little confusing and might have slowed me down a bit on my first lap.

On my second lap I ran into those rocks a little bit, but so did 2 other ladies who were right with me, and who I made it a point to stick with. I felt good and smooth out there, and didn't think about being cold for one second. It was so nice to just be able to run out and get right to transition without worrying about the wetsuit. Who knows if it would have made my swim faster or not.

SWIM 1.2 miles - 40:10

I didn't wear a watch so I had no idea what my swim time was. I just didn't want to get depressed and dwell on my swim time for the rest of the race. I'm really happy with this time, though since it's right on what I was shooting for (not counting the longish run to transition), and realistically I thought it would take me 45 since that's how long it took me to do one loop in my Ironman!

I just felt happy and excited to ride my bike as I got my bike shoes, race belt and helmet on. Then I was off! As I rode out past the truck, I realized I had forgotten to text Pete when I got to T1. He was probably still asleep, but that was ok, I would just make sure to text him when I got to T2.

T1 - 2:52

Right away I found myself cruising at 20mph, but I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard so I kept that up. I figured it was a false flat so it would be harder on the way back. I watched my speed the whole time and made sure it was at least 18, but it was usually higher! It was such a flat, fast, fun course! It was awesome, I loved it! I passed a lot of people and only a few people passed me. Mostly men. I noticed the lead guy coming back when I was about 20 miles out, and spotted the first woman 12 minutes before I got to the turnaround. I don't know why but I counted how many women were ahead of me, and I there were about 10. I could have missed a few because, I hate to say it, but sometimes it's hard to tell if it's a boy or a girl...

Anyways, like I said, the bike ride was really fun. We rode through corn fields and by a dairy farm (which brought back memories of when I was a kid growing up right by a dairy farm...ah, the smell!), through trees and along the lake which was really pretty. The road wasn't the best, and I saw many ejected water bottles, but thankfully I didn't lose anything. We did have special needs bags at the turnaround, but I didn't need mine. I just kept going, which was awesome! For the last 20 miles or so my back started to hurt and I started to feel a little more sluggish. I kept waiting for that false flat to come back and bite me, but it never did! I was able to keep my average speed up at 19.9! Wow! I looked at my time as I came into transition and about started to cry, I was so happy!

BIKE 56 miles - 2:49:05

I couldn't believe how fast that was! It almost took me 8 hours to do the bike at Coeur d'Alene so I was going to be happy with 3:30. Cutting almost an hour off that made me ecstatic!

I texted "T2 baby!" to Pete and knew he'd be surprised too. He called me back right away to tell me sorry he missed me, he was getting breakfast. I told him it was ok, it was faster than I had planned, but that I had to go. I still had a half marathon to run! I was so glad my bike was so fast because I knew my run was going to take forever.

T2 - 3:01

I could hardly even walk after getting off my bike so I was a little worried. My hip hurt like I had pulled something during the bike! I started running slowly, hoping it would go away, and it did! Whew! I also followed the 2 women ahead of me into the restroom at the beginning of the run, and had to wait a few minutes for my turn. It was probably worth it though. The only thing I'd complain about with this race is that there were no port-o-potties out on the course. This bathroom was just the park restroom, and it was just where I needed it, but I'm sure some people had problems with the lack of bathrooms. In fact, I saw a couple girls squatting just off the path at one of the turn-arounds.

Like usual, a LOT of people passed me on the run so it was kind of tempting to try to run faster at first, but I had to remember that I needed to run my own race and that meant going slow so I could run the whole thing. I didn't want to go out too fast and end up with my knee or hip hurting too bad to run the last few miles like I did at the Utah Valley Half Marathon (speaking of which, I passed one guy on the bike wearing the shirt from that). Pete appeared right after the first aid station and said I looked good. I grabbed his hand for a second, but didn't want to stop and talk. He said, "I'll see you in an hour."

The run course was 2 loops with 2 out and back sections so you really got to see the other athletes around you a lot. It was fun to smile, say "hi" and "good job" to people I recognized like the lady who was in T1 with me with the purple tape on her leg who always had a smile or a thumbs up for me as well. The run was also really flat, and thankfully most of it was along the river or lake on a shady path. This, along with dumping a cup of water on my head at each aid station, kept me pretty cool. I actually didn't really notice the heat that much so I was kind of surprised by how concerned Pete was when I saw him again. He asked me if I'd been walking much and I told him, "No, only at aid stations." I told him I felt good, and he asked me if I could do 4 more miles. I was like, "Yeah, I can definitely do 4 more miles!" I really did feel pretty good! But a few miles after that, I realized he must have been mistaken about that number, and my legs started to hurt. I made it to the second turn around and the girl there told me I was at 10.5 miles so I had less than 3 to go, but I felt so bad for the girl who turned around with me who was still on her first lap. Ouch! I was really hurting, and I started walking for longer at the aid stations, and a little not at aid stations, but not for long. I made myself start running again even though it was really hard! When I had about 1 mile left, my knee started to hurt, but I was like, "Just one more mile!" and just made my feet keep moving forward.



I saw Pete just before the finish line and he commented on what a good pace I was running at, but I hadn't been running that fast the whole time! I averaged 11:42 min/mile for the half marathon.

RUN 13.1 miles - 2:33:16

It was a great feeling, like always, running down the grassy area to the finish line! I had kind of planned on the kids being there because my dad was going to bring them if George got sad, but they weren't there. It would have been nice to see them, but it was great having Pete there, and he ran down the finish shoot with me!

FINISH TIME - 6:08:22

If I would have known I was that close to 6 hours, I might have tried to push it a little more! But I think it was really good to not wear a watch because I just had fun and listened to my body. It was such a great race!

I've never taken advantage of the free massages after a race because I always seem to be in a hurry when I get done, and this was no exception, though they did look very temping! I just walked over to a shady area with Pete and stretched for a few minutes while he got a hold of my dad to see how George was doing. He was asleep! And had had been really good! Wow! We still wanted to get back soon because we knew he'd be hungry when he woke up. I really wanted to get in the water for a while, but figured I could just ice my knee later so we headed to the truck.

This was when I noticed the heat. It was scorching, and I practically burned myself when I climbed into the back of the truck to put my bike in! Pete reached in his pocket to get the key and said, "Oh crap." He didn't have it! The though of walking all the way back to the finish line and searching for a single key in the grass in this heat was just overwhelming to me. Luckily, Pete just told me to wait there and ran off to find it while I tried, and failed to get ahold of my dad to see if he had an extra key. Even if he had an extra key, though, he'd have to drive all the way down there with the kids and we'd have to wait around for 45 minutes so I really hoped Pete would just find the key! I was also really hot and my knee hurt. We were parked right by the river so I just went and sat down in the river while I waited. It was like an ice bath, it was so cold!

Then Pete texted me and said he had found the key!! Wow, what a miracle! When he got back he said he wanted to jump in the river too, and I told him, "No, you don't. Just wade in and you won't want to swim in it." He did, and that was enough for him. I dipped myself in one more time, then we headed back.

We stopped at Wendy's on the way home and ordered enough food for 3 people! To be fair, one of those things was a salad that I ended up eating for dinner so it wasn't really that crazy. But I did get a cheeseburger and a frosty with fries, which I hardly ever do.

George was sad and ready to nurse when we got home, but he was ok. My dad said he wouldn't drink the formula, but he drank a lot of water and that kept him happy enough. I don't know if that was particularly good for him, and sure enough he threw up all over after I fed him. Poor little guy. But he was still happy, and I haven't noticed any other side-effects other than seeming a little extra hungry yesterday.

I'm so glad everything turned out so well, and I was able to have such a fun race! Now I remember why I love triathlon so much, and I'm all ready to plan next year's schedule! It'll be good to take a little break, though.

More Than The Usual Pre-RAce Nerves

I woke up this morning feeling a cold coming on. Oh no. Not again! I don't think I've been sick since Utah Valley Half Marathon in June, and now that I have another big race in 2 days, I'm getting sick again. What's up with that?!

I really hope I can just get over this dang cold in the next 2 days so I'm taking as much Vitamin C as I can and trying to drink a ton of water.

Stress.

On top of that, George refuses to drink out of a bottle or really eat any baby food. Sometimes he'll drink from a sippy cup, but I don't know if he gets enough to be happy that way. Last time he still wanted to nurse afterwards. He did get really excited when he saw me eating bread at dinner so I gave him a piece and he ate some of that. Again, I don't know if it's enough to fill him up or anything, though. Hmmm, I just don't know what to do. My dad's already said he's fine with watching him while I race, but I'm just worried about him being hungry for half the day if he doesn't eat. I'm sure if he gets hungry enough, he'll take a bottle or drink from a sippy cup, though, right? Of course, I could always have Pete bring him and try to coordinate meeting somewhere on the course so I can feed him, but I'd really rather not have to worry about that.

Stress.

Today was the first day of school and that went pretty well, other than me forgetting it was a short day and them having to walk home in 100 degrees when I told them I would pick them up. Oops!

Mindy is in 4th grade now, and she was really happy to see her friends again.

Ethan, the 2nd grader, wasn't super excited, but at least he went quietly (without any tears) and didn't seem too sad when he got home (just hot from the walk...).

I was also supposed to get a massage today, which I was really looking forward to. But it turned out to be scheduled for the same time as Mindy's ballet placement class. That was ok, though, I was just going to drop her off early, get my massage then pick her up a little late.

When it was time to go, Mindy came to me and told me she didn't know where her ballet shoes were and that they probably got contaminated in the flood. Ug! So, we had to hurry and buy her new ones.

Of course the first store we tried didn't have any so we had to go to the Gateway, which is never a quick trip. Luckily they had her size so we grabbed them and hurried on our way. We ended up getting to the studio right on time instead of early, but then there was some confusion about what time she was supposed to be there. I guess they had planned on the girls her age coming at 7, but a bunch of us were there who were told to come at 5. Finally they just said they'd take them then since that's what they told us. I hugged Mindy and ran out the door, thinking I'd just be like 10 minutes late for my massage. But then I got on the freeway which was NOT moving at all and I knew I would be more than a few minutes late. Finally, at almost 5:30 when I still wasn't close, I just called them and told them I wasn't going to make it. I was dissapointed, but I knew by the time I got there, I'd only have time for like a 10 minute massage before her next appointment, plus I had to go get Mindy.

Stress.

The good news is that when I got back to the ballet studio, I saw some of her friends outside acting excited and I heard them say, "I can't believe Mindy made Grade 2!" Then I saw Mindy in the window getting her shoes on, looking SO happy. It was worth missing my massage just to see that look on her face. :)

I went in and asked her, and sure enough she had a little Grade 2 card with her name on it. It's where her friends will be so she was really excited. I had been planning on doing at least another year of Grade 1 because the Grade 2 flyer says, "12+" on it, and Mindy's 9. I talked to the teacher, though, and there was no mistake.

The bad news is that Grade 2 girls go 3 times a week so it's more money (ahem, flooded basement anyone?). But we really want her to be able to do this, so we're going to make it work. I'm so proud and happy for her! We had to walk to the store after dinner and pick out a treat to celebrate! (She picked all natural strawberry popsicles)

Ug, my nose is really running now. I should go to bed! Goodnight.

Taper Time & Swim Clinic

Only 3 more days until Utah Half, and I'm in full taper mode. My training has decreased a lot, and I should be eating less too, but I don't know if that's actually happening. I did weigh myself last night and was happy to see 140.6 on the scale! What an awesome number!

That seems like a pretty good race weight, doesn't it?

I really haven't done much since I got back from North Carolina. I took Wednesday off to recover from my trip, ran with the stroller and the kids at the park on Thursday, did a swim/bike brick on Friday, and an 8 mile tempo run on Saturday. That tempo run hurt too!

This week... Oh it's only Tuesday. It feels like it's later than that! I've "slept in" the past 3 days, and that's been nice. I just ran for 30 minutes with George in the stroller at his bedtime last night. It was so cute, he was asleep after less than 10 minutes. I felt really good too!

Today I lounged around the house and did a bunch of cleaning until the evening when we went to Orem/Pleasant Grove to pick up my bike from getting tuned-up then the swim clinic for The Utah Half.

It was really fun! It was taught by last year's winner, Heath Thurston who is a really cool guy, a good teacher and a really fast pro triathlete. It was awesome to hear all the advice he had to give, though there was so much, I'm sure I'll forget most of it.

We did a little swimming with the group that was there. I wore my wetsuit, but Heath said he almost always choses not to wear a wetsuit because it makes it so you can't feel the water and you forget about your form. I don't really love wearing a wetsuit anyway, and it always takes me forever to get it off so I'll probably go without on Saturday. The lake should be warm enough that it won't be a problem. We didn't actually swim in Utah Lake for this clinic so I don't know exactly how it will be, but there was a lady there without a wetsuit and she said she thought it would be fine. We'll see.

We had a pretty big group and we practiced doing a group start a couple times which was really good to do. It just made me feel more prepared and excited for Saturday!

The awesome thing about the little pond we swam at was that it was a great place for Pete and the kids to play and watch me! It was a really cool place. Some people from Winder were there giving out chocolate recovery milks to the athletes, and they were kind enough to give one to my children and my husband. We didn't end up leaving until after 8 so the kids were all tired, but we hadn't had dinner either so we thought we should stop at In-N-Out to get something for them to eat on the way home. Of course, a full burger after chugging a whole chocolate milk gave all the kids tummy aches so it probably would have been better to just come strait home. We didn't get the kids to bed until 9:30 or so (though they did sleep a little in the car) and tomorrow's the first day of school! Yikes. Parent of the year here! Hopefully they'll sleep well and not be too tired for their big day tomorrow...

North Carolina - Day 5 (Homeward Bound)

Tuesday morning I had kind of planned on going on a short run, but with how tired and sunburned and chafed I was, I couldn't get myself to do it. Instead we slept in until 8, packed up and check out by 10. We went and hung out at my grandparents house, met some of their neighbors and showed off my baby.

Here's George doing some planks with his great grandma.

We did a little shopping then went to lunch at Panera with my grandma before it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to the airport.

The flights home were so much better than the flights out. He hardly cried at all, and mostly slept on the long flight since it was past his bedtime. I'm thinking it was because he was over his cold, and I was so glad! We had dinner at Chili's in the Atlanta airport too so that was fun.

On the long flight, at one point he woke up just long enough to look at me, say, "Mmmm," touch my face then go back to sleep. It was pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

I seriously can't get enough of this boy.

What a great little vacation this was! Even though I had George with me, I still had significantly fewer people to take care of and got some good relaxing time in. There was no one to get after or make sure they were doing what they were supposed to. I really love my kids, and I spent the whole time thinking about how much they would have loved it there, but it was also nice to take a little time away. Pete was wonderful to take care of them by himself while I was gone, along with taking care of our latest flood.

Yep, another flood. That makes 5 in the 3 years we've lived here. This time it was from the sewer so we had to have the carpets, mats, linoleum and bottom 2 feet of drywall ripped out. It's pretty much a mess down there right now. Luckily it's all cleaned out, but it's not really livable down there so the girls have been sleeping upstairs and we've pretty much cut our square footage in half so we're in a little bit closer quarters than we're used to. It should be all fixed up in a few weeks. Meanwhile we've got the first day of school on Wednesday, Utah Half on Saturday, then my birthday the next week. We'll just have to try not to get too stressed out...

North Carolina - Day 4 (Ocean Swim)

Day 3 was Sunday so it was a rest day. We went to church at the little Morhead City ward, then to lunch with my grandparents at The Olive Garden. Then it was back to the beach for some more relaxing. We went for a walk and collected a bunch of shells to bring home to the kids. This was a really nice day, but I didn't take any pictures so it doesn't get its own post. :)

Monday we had a nice leisurely morning, then headed down to the beach at about 9:30. It was so nice because my grandma rented chairs and umbrellas for us that they set up every morning so we had a nice place to sit. George fell asleep pretty quick so I decided to take this chance to get my swim done while Katie sat with him.

I was super nervous about swimming in the ocean. I've watched a few too many animal attack shows on Animal Planet at my dad's house, not to mention Jaws. I know the chances of being attacked by a shark are so rare, though, especially here so I was brave and just fought my way out to past where the waves were breaking. It was surpassingly calm out there. I'd feel swells sometimes, but most the time I hardly noticed the waves as long as I was careful to stay out far enough. I swam for what seemed like forever, but hardly went anywhere so I think I went against the current. I saw another guy out swimming so I said hi, and he told me he was doing a little triathlon with his daughter. Fun! After talking to him, I swam back to check in with Katie and see how long I'd been out.

It had only been about 23 minutes so I went back out to do it again. This time I felt more relaxed. Really the hardest part was getting out past the waves. It was so salty too! My mouth felt like it was coated with salt by the time I got back, and I was covered in green slimy stuff. Plus my swimming suit was chafing so bad! I should have known not to forget body glide when swimming in salt water! Well, you learn something new every day.

After resting in our nice shady spot for a little while, we walked down the beach a little ways to The Crab Claw where we met my grandma and had a delicious lunch.

Then we walked back and my grandma sat on the beach with George while Katie and I played in the waves. We didn't have any boards or anything, but it was so much fun! I felt like a kid again just playing in the waves and catching a few rides! I tried to teach Katie how to catch the waves and she caught a few, but we just had fun jumping and diving around too.

And just like a little kid, I didn't even think about reapplying sunscreen. We were out in the sun for a total of about 5 hours, and when I went to bed that night I noticed that my skin was practically glowing red! Ouch. When will I ever learn? That on top of my chafed underarms made it hard to sleep.

North Carolina - Day 2 (Long Run)

I thought it might be a little chilly when I got up because it was still dark and it was cold in our condo, but as soon as I opened the door, I knew that would not be the case. It was very warm already at 6am.

My plan was to run nice and slow so I could enjoy the sights and still feel good by the end, and it worked! I did NOT run on the beach. Whenever I told people I went running, they assumed I ran on the beach, but that would have been very unwise to do my long run on terrain I'm not used to at all. Running in that loose sand would have killed my calves! Anyway, I ran on the sidewalk, and the road when there wasn't a sidewalk, down to Fort Macon which was about 5 miles. It was so fun to watch the sun rise while I ran, and here's where it was when I got to my destination:

It was really pretty and I was just so happy to be out there!

One of the reasons I was excited to run to Fort Macon is that it's a state park and it said there were bathrooms there on the map. Yay, bathrooms on a long run are a must! But, I had to go under a gate to get in, and the sign on the gate said it opened at 8. It was about 7 when I got there, but I was still hopeful there would be an open public bathroom. No such luck, though. They were all locked up. I felt ok though, so I ate my margarita shot blocks (which were really good!) and refilled my hand-held water bottle at the little foot showers (hoping the water was good to drink) because I was about out, then headed back.

It's weird because I'm not used to drinking that much when I run at all. Even on my long runs, I usually just take a few sips when I need to take my gel, but with the humidity there, I was so glad I decided to bring water since I was so thirsty the whole time!

On the way home, I kept an eye out for a bathroom. It took a while, but I finally got to a public beach with a bathroom. This was such a welcome site because I was to the point of having to walk a little on and off. When I got up to it, the sign said, "bathhouse hours: 8am to dusk" and I wanted to cry! Luckily it was open, though! Whew!

I felt much better after that, but decided I'd just be done when I got back to the condo even though it would be closer to 10 than 12 miles because it was taking me forever. I ran on a little boardwalk on the beach, then just stayed on a little road that was different than the one I came out on, thinking it would take me back to the main road before I got to my condo. It did put me back onto the main road, but after I'd been running for a lot longer than I thought I'd have to run, I noticed I was getting closer to the Sheraton then I remembered being. I took out my phone, looked at the map, and sure enough, I'd got 1.3 miles past our condo! Oops! I texted Katie and told her that since I knew she'd be waiting for me, then turned around and just kept plugging along. I was soaking wet, and had just finished my water by the time I got to our parking lot, but I was so happy to be feeling really good! It had taken me 2.5 hours instead of the 2 I had planned, and I ended up going 12.5 miles! This run was a really good confidence booster for my upcoming race. It may have been slow, but I can do the distance! :)

George was still asleep when I got home too! Katie was so sweet and made me some eggs, and I made a smoothy to go with them. Then we went right down to the beach so I could soak in the ocean for a little while. Of course, you can't just float in the ocean (at least I can't) so I ended up playing around and riding waves for about 20 minutes while Katie sat with George.

Then I just sat and relaxed on the beach.

And George got his first taste of sand. Literally.

He liked the water too, but only if it was just his feet in it. Otherwise, it was a little too scary.

LOVE this picture!

The rest of the day was very relaxed. We went to lunch at The Rudy Duck with my Grandma, and I wore my compression socks as we walked around and looked at some souvenir shops. Katie said, "I can't believe you're wearing that." But it made my legs feel better! Then we went back to our condo and watched the first half of the 6-hour Pride and Prejudice and had french toast and sausage for dinner there. What a great day!

North Carolina - Day 1 (Travel)

Friday, August 12, Pete and the kids dropped my sister, Katie, George and me off at the airport at 6am. This was going to be George's first flight, and my first flight with a baby. George was actually the first one of my kids to ride on a plane, and yes, the other kids were jealous.

He was so sweet, we got on the plane and he played for a few minutes, then he just laid down on Katie's lap and fell asleep for take-off. He slept for about 45 minutes like that. So sweet!

He woke up for a while, and I learned that there's not really anywhere to change a baby on an airplane. I had to change him on my lap in the tiny bathroom. He was just happy and played some more, then I put him in his sling and he fell back to sleep.

All together now, "Awwwwww"

The only part of the flight that wasn't good was the landing. As soon as we started descending, he started crying so hard! It was so sad! I didn't realize until after this that he had a cold. I've flown with cold before and couldn't believe how much it hurt so I kind of knew how he felt. Pool little guy.

Here we are in the bathroom at the Atlanta airport, so glad to be off the plane! Also happy to have a nice surface to change a diaper on!

We were in Atlanta for about 2 hours, then flew to New Burn which was a quick flight with another sleepy take-off and a really tough landing. Poor George. By the time we'd landed I was about ready to stay there forever so I wouldn't have to put him through that again!

We rented a car and drove about half an hour to my Grandparent's house in Morehead City.

It was so fun for my Grandpa to be able to meet George since he actually hasn't met any of my other kids!

Of course it was fun for my Grandma to meet him too. Everyone just loves this little boy!

It was dark by the time we got to our condo so we just took a short trip to the beach with the stroller my Grandma had rented for us to check it out, then got settled in. It was tempting to postpone my long run since we'd spent the whole day traveling, but I decided to head to bed early (kind of) and wake up early to run for 2 hours...

St. George IM Bike Course Trial

This summer is just flying past! It's been fun, but super busy, and I hate to see it go!

Last Tuesday (I can't believe it's already been a week) I met Amy and Heather at a little splash park in Lehi so our kids could all play.

It's always a good time when there's water and cousins involved. The girls all slept over at Amy's house that night too so they were just in heaven.

Then Friday, after my 10ish mile long run, we drove down to St. George to stay with our friends. Their son was getting baptized on Saturday and we wanted to be there for that. I brought my bike, though, so before the baptism, I was able to get my long ride in.

I went for 3 hours and covered 40.5 miles. That's almost exactly the same as last weekend!

Starting in Santa Clara, I rode up through Gunlock to Veyo then back down through Snow Canyon. Most of that ride is part of the course for the St. George Ironman, and man was it hard! It took me 2 hours to get to Veyo, which was only 22 miles. That was probably the hardest 22 miles I've ever ridden, and you have to do it twice in the Ironman! While I was riding it, I decided that whatever inkling of desire I had to do St. George Ironman was now gone. There were a couple points where I didn't want to go on, and I felt like crying. Yeah. Plus I lost my gel flask somewhere and didn't notice until I was halfway up "The Wall," and starting to think about taking another serving. There was no way I was going back down to look for it so I was pretty hungry by the time I got home.

But like I said last week, I'm not used to hills anymore. I haven't been training on them at all. I think if I rode a lot of hills, it might not be totally unforeseeable to do that twice! Maybe. Someday. Ouch. But not in the near future. I don't know, but I can say that whoever came up with that course is mean.

When it took me 2 hours to get to Veyo, I was worried that by the time I got back, George would be hungry and that I wouldn't have much time to get ready for the baptism. Amazingly, when I got home, George was still asleep and I had just enough time to get ready, even after a 20 minute recovery run and a good stretch. Nice!

Our friends have the same amount of kids as us who are about the same ages and they love to play together. Their youngest is 3 months older than George. That's right, I said older. Look at how little and sweet she is! It was so fun to see her and imagine what George will be like in a few months. George was very interested in her. I think she help him improve his crawling a little bit too.

Here's the young man who was baptized. I can't believe he's 8! He and Mindy have been friends since he was born. She and Ethan were both really excited to see him. It had been way too long since we'd seen them!

When we got home Sunday night, I realized that my new aero bar pads had blown off during the drive! What?! Somehow they made it to Heber and back, then down to St. George, but they didn't make it back. I was devastated when I saw this. The guy at the bike shop who sold them to me even told me I should put some adhesive on them or at least put a rubber band around them when they were on the car. I had totally forgotten about that, and now I felt so stupid that I was going to have to go back in there to see if they had any more. The crazy thing is that he was surprised they had them in the first place and I was so happy to just get them instead of having to order them, so I was pretty doubtful they'd have more. When I called them the next day, they confirmed this. So I've got some ordered, but they're supposed to take a week and a half! UG!

Anyway, the fun thing about getting home was that there was a package of new diapers there waiting for us! They are sunbaby brand, and I got 12 of them in several different colors for $60 which is a great price. They are so cute! I'm excited to try them out!

Our Tour of Heber

This weekend was so much fun!

Friday I did my long run. I was going to go for 90 minutes, but ended up having to add probably 10 minutes on because a train was stopped on the tracks the way I had planned on going. Oh well, it turned out ok. I got to my turn-around point, the base of City Creek in 54 minutes. Have I mentioned how much I love the drinking fountain up there!? Coming down was much quicker, and luckily the train was gone by the time I got back there so it took me 44 minutes to get home. My total time ended up being 98 minutes so I'm going to say I did about 9 and a half miles. It was fun! My knee was hurting a little most of the way home, but it wasn't anything serious enough to make me walk or anything, and it didn't hurt after I stopped. I hope if I'm diligent about my stretching, it will get better and not cause me problems at Utah Half.

Friday night we went up to Heber where we spent the night at my Dad's house so Pete and I could wake up early and go ride together while my dad and step-mom watched the kids. I fed George at about 6am and we left by 6:30 so we told my dad we'd be back by 9:30. I knew George would be hungry by then, but I hoped it would be ok!

At first it was a little chilly so we both had jackets, but we promptly took them off before the first big hill. We rode up around Midway, then up, up, up to Francis. Yikes, I am not used to hills anymore! It was fun to have some challenging terrain and beautiful scenery for a change! It was also great to be able to ride with Pete! It's been a little ridiculous that I'll go ride for 3 hours, then come home and he'll go ride for 3 hours so we hardly see each other most Saturdays. I just felt so happy to be out there the whole time, and it was so beautiful. At one point, I asked Pete, "Ok, when are we moving back here?" He reminded me that we don't have to move there because we have people there we can visit. Oh yeah. Nice.

Here we are at the Joranelle overlook after we'd been riding for about an hour. That hill was extra hard for me, and I couldn't figure out why at first. It wasn't untill more than half-way up, after a guy had ridden past me like I was standing still and Pete was getting farther and farther away, that I realized I still had 3 or 4 more clicks to get to my easiest gear! I was making it much harder than it had to be. I did better on the other hills! :)




We also ran into Mindy's old preschool teacher up there riding with her husband so that was fun!

It took us almost exactly 2 hours to get to Francis so we took a more direct route home, and just rode through Heber. It was so fun coming back down all those hills! I haven't done that in a long time since all my rides lately have just been trying to go as fast as I can on relatively flat since that's what my race will be. I know this was good for me, though, and I'm looking forward to working on hills again after my half ironman.

We did a total of 40 miles in 3:08 which is almost exactly how long it took me to do 50 last week! Thank you, hills.

We got home just after 9:30, which is what time we told my dad we'd be back, and George was just waking up from a nap. I fed him then headed out for a little run where I saw Mindy's teacher and her husband ride by again! That was kind of funny. I felt really good for the first 4 minutes of the run, but then my knee started hurting so I turned around at 5 minutes, thinking I'd stop at 10. But when I got home, I felt better so I kept going for another 5 before turning back around for a total of 20 minutes. It was really supposed to be 30 minutes, but I always feel bad about running for too long after I've already been gone for 3 hours on my bike. I feel like I cold have gone for 30, though. If that means anything!

We hurried and got ready to leave, then drove to this faraway park for a family reunion for Pete's family. It was fun park, and we had a nice time. It was fun to see everybody, though I'm not as social as I should be.

We went back to Heber where Angela gave me a hair cut, then we turned the kids over to them again so Pete and I could go out to dinner, then to the final Harry Potter movie. We ate at our favorite place, and I was so happy to get the shrimp tacos I've been craving since last time we went there. So good!

The movie was really good too, but I feel bad because George ended up waking up just after we left and kept his grandma and grandpa up pretty late. Poor kid. He's got 4 new teeth coming in on the top too! Ouch.

Sunday morning, George was up at about 7:45 so when he went back to sleep for his nap at 9, I went back to bed too, thinking I'd just sleep for an hour or so then we'd head home. We had to be back by 1:00 for church, especially because Pete was speaking. Then, all a sudden, I woke up and it was 11:30! We had an hour drive ahead of us and none of us were ready for church! Luckily the kids had baths the night before, and we didn't have too much to pack. We managed to get out of there by noon with grilled cheese to eat on the way thanks to Angela. It was a miracle that we made it in time, and Pete did such a great job on his talk. I am so proud to have him as my husband. :) And thank you so much to Dad and Angela for making this fun weekend possible!