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Seven Peaks

It's an Addiction

I have complained a lot, and on Facebook, so I guess some of you already know this. I am having issues with my left leg and my right hip. I am stretching a lot and have taken a pretty good break-- it has been about a week and a half since I have really ran. I did some last week at the gym, but I mostly walked and cycled. I have it out for the elliptical right now, for some stupid reason, since I have always loved the elliptical and hated the treadmill.
I am having massive urges to just throw my stuff on and go running right now. I really want to. But then I remember (well, other than the fact that I am the only person here older than 6 at the moment!) that I should wait till my Zensah Calf Supports come in the mail. I keep telling myself that these stupid little expenses are going to pay off in the long run. Ha ha, literally too! I signed up for the SoJo Half Marathon, which is on September 25th. It is about 5 weeks away, and I am officially one week behind in training. I am writing a running blog for them, which is at this address--http://www.sojomarathon.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx (the blog link is all the way to the right), just in case you are interested in reading what I have to say! If you would like to contribute any tips, thoughts, etc for me to add in the blog (you will receive credit, of course!) then please email me or leave me a comment here.
I am absolutely *loving* these cooler temperatures, even though I know they are short lived, it gives me a taste of what it will be like to run in a month! I am hoping with a major prayer in my heart that Heavenly Father will hear me out and bless my issues to heal so that I can continue this endeavor. I have never had any real physical goals in my life and I have been praying that I will know what to do and this will get better. I have been doing stretches when exercising, through out the day here and there, and every night prior to going to bed. I have the Z things coming, have a massage stick, and plan to buy this really cool ice/heat pack from Herriman Physical Therapy. I need a sponsorship for all these races and things! Am I special? No, not really, I guess that is the point though. I am not someone who was born to run, gifted with boundless energy (side note:I wish I had the energy of a two year old labrador!), a massive competitive spirit, etc. I am just a girl, who agreed to something to help other people in their journeys. I became addicted (lol) and now I am trying to find my place in this sport, get it mentally "right" (cause let's face it. Running is like 80% mind and 20% body.)
After SoJo, I am so freaking excited for the Provo Halloween Half. **SO EXCITED!** I am hoping that I am 100% and ready to go for it. I can not promise a costume, hehehe, but I think it will be another cathartic experience, like running from The U down to Liberty Park, running through areas I spent a lot of time when I lived with Gma K, etc. The Provo Hall. Half starts at Aspen Grove (also a place from those U memories! Its where I really kind of met Shelly and got to know those girls, how I came to join Upsilon!),which I LOVE, and goes through Provo Canyon, which also holds a plethora of memories from my whole life, down to the Riverwoods. I love connecting physically and mentally with nature, music and memories, it just really makes the whole experience amazing to me. It is funny. like it has to be symbolic in five ways for me to a) be able to do it and b) love every second, laugh, cry, and have a cathartic experience.
Thanks to anyone who read this whole post! I know it is all over the place, so you must be a good friend to read it all! LOL!
Oh and can someone remind my body that I need to go to bed before 10:30??? I am back in my night owl routine and that is very bad for someone who wants to get up and exercise and be ready for the day (not necessarily showered-ready, just awake and have accomplished a few things). What can I say? If it were safe, I would probably start going out now. Oh yeah. I have children and no other person here! Grrr! Oh well, I guess we have to adapt and adapt and adapt again.
For all you change resisters out there, I have something for you. My family moved so many times when I was younger ( I went to nine different schools folks, NINE. I have moved, at the very least, 15 times in my life), that I learned a few things.
1. Friends don't make you, you make them. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to learn it, it will always be the same. If you want a friend, you have to go out and make one! Open up, talk, do something nice. It works, its not that scary, I have done it a flippin' million times. I had no other choice (so don't be saying its my personality).
2. It is nice to have friends from all those places. How else could I say that I have like 9 best friends? I know that I have not really connected with a few in years, but I know that I could get with Heather S and Carrie L and we could really just start up like its not been that long.
3. The only constant in life is change. It is good for you, really! Sometimes it is annoying, like when plans change three times in a day for that same day, but what can you do? Which leads me to #4
4. I can not find the direct quote anywhere, and in the interest in ending this and getting my butt to bed, I will find it another day. I have it written in one of my many journals. Anywho. It is something like this "He who is flexible will not break". I love it. It sucks sometimes, but its true. The tree that can bend in the wind will not break in half. Don't let the wind break you :)

The Importance of Good Friends

I was looking for a picture of Danny and found this one- *perfect* for this post (just needs Ryan Nielsen!). This is a picture of my mom's younger brother (caveman track tank) and his friends, left-Chris Tenney, middle?, right- Chris' twin, Brad. And funny enough, I spent half my kid life madly in love with Brad. HAHAHAHA! Anyway. I went to the post office today to drop off a package (web order) and remembered I had seen Chris a while back, so I asked the lady if he still worked there. She grabbed him and we chatted for a few minutes. 

On my drive home, I got to thinking-- growing up, I pretty much worshiped Danny and his friends. I loved when I was hanging out at my grandma's and I could hang around with them. I am quite a bit younger, so I was probably just the annoying niece, but they never made me feel that way. I had crushes on a couple of them, mostly Brad & Ryan (which totally makes me crack up now!), but I really just liked their company. Theses guys were all friends for so many years (still are), so I really saw them enough through the years (into their adulthood, though I was still in high school, etc), still have occasional interactions, to know them a little bit, some more than others. My point is this- what if Danny hung out with dirt bags? What if I worshiped him and his friends and they were out doing drugs, being promiscuous (which I guess I might not know that necessarily?) or whatever.  You really do not know what kind of impression you have on people! I am sure Danny had no idea I worshiped him, and I noticed all his friends. I am sure he had no idea that the fact he chose to hang out with these good guys would affect his niece. But it did and I am so grateful he is a good guy who makes good choices, and he was (is) a good example to me :)

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger!

I had a pretty good (emotional?) breakthrough today. I had a bad run a week and half ago and I have struggled since. It was the farthest I had gone, more than 7 miles, but I was really hot, thirsty, and after 5 miles, my feet were killing me (I walked a lot, especially the last two miles). I have really been pretty down ever since.  This morning,  I was running to some Whitney Houston dance mixes (HAHA!) and One Moment in Time came on, which happened to not have the dance beat. I usually would change the song, but I kept it on and something really happened to me! The words, the inspiration of the song (didn't it get played during the Olympics one year? LOL) really hit me. I actually had to fight back the tears at the gym. It was just exactly what I needed to give me back my confidence and the courage that I just might be able to survive my race this weekend-- the whole reason I have been running so much. I ran a 5k a few weeks ago, but I was not training for that, I am training for this. And now it is almost here. I am nervous, worried I will pee my pants and such. Today, when I heard that song, it was right about the half hour mark, which is the longest I have run without breaks at the gym. It made me commit to ten more minutes, then when those were up, I was feeling good, so I committed to ten more. So I ran 50 minutes in a row, no breaks, which is UM yeah, my personal best ever. I have never ran that long EVER! I went to the bathroom and then ran for another 20 minutes. Outside, I wear Jody's Garmin 305 and it would take me about 80 minutes (I am *not* fast!) to run 6 miles, according to my typical stats on there. So inside, I barely cleared 4.5 miles, but in that same amount of time, I will do the race this Saturday.

It has been a fun experience, I feel a little better, I have some good fitness goals, etc. If I survive and "catch the bug" this weekend, I will continue training with the goal of running the SoJo Half Marathon in September. I have absolutely no desire to do anything more than a half, so I will just continue to do 5k-halves after that. Improve myself, I guess.

I would lose weight if I actually stopped eating like a horse. I will try to work on that one, I just really have no self control whatsoever when food I love is around. Surround me with cake, I would not eat it. Caramel popcorn, ice cream, and that is a whole other story! 

On a different note, something else I am trying to do this summer, is hangout with friends more. I have already seen Kelli more than I do in a year (woohoooo) LOL! I am trying to hang out with all my friends, but understand it may not be feasible, but it is really nice to get out and do stuff, which I normally don't do. I am lazy when it comes to taking my kids swimming and such, so besides having my friends to chat with, it is good for the kids in turn. I hope to keep this up this summer, and one of these days (Crystal!) I am actually going to make it to the lake too!

Kelli 

Katie, Kelli and I at SoDa Row (YUMMMY gelato place there)

Jackson (Kelli) Sydney (me) and {Oh shoot! Which one?!} I think Jace (Katie, she has twins) at Katie's new   place. They get a long really well!

No Words

Honestly I am going to bed, just feel like I have so much to say that I never sit down to take the time to say.  One thing that has happened recently, short version, is my grandpa has colon cancer, though they removed a foot and a half of his colon, he had 12 lymph nodes taken out to check it had spread to them, and 3 of them did contain cancer cells. I have 3/4 of my grandparents, and I am not really ready in any way to lose one of the 3 remaining, so.... I am praying and fasting hard. I have many feelings on this that I simply don't have the time to share right now (I need to wake up early tomorrow), but bottom line is, I really am a "faith"ful person and I believe what is going to happen is going to happen. I know the Plan of Salvation and I have faith in God that if its my grandpa's time, then he will depart. I will not be bitter or anything like that, I will just be sad cause I do not want that to happen. That all said, I am still praying like crazy and hoping this will be treated and he will live for years to come. Those papers he is holding are cards that Ethan and Sydney colored for him. This pic was taken May 29th, a few days after his surgery. We also went to visit him at home Monday the 7th, which also happened to be the day he received the news about his lymph nodes. I am pretty close to much of my large family, and my grandparents definitely mean a lot to me. I have many fond memories. We are actually celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this Saturday (June 19th). Anyway I need to be in bed like 45 min ago, so more deets later. On everything!

Plug #2

Okay this picture is making me crazy. Don't have the time to fix, supposed to be at the end! Just a sneak peek of a future post, about my Seattle trip :)

I promise a real update and pics soon. And I will change my very outdated background too! Today I just want to talk about a site I really like. I use Deals to Meals to help me with my grocery shopping and meal planning. The founder of the company goes through the sales for the week and comes up with a meal plan, then posts the meals in two ways. One is a menu and the other is a grocery list of things you will need to make the meals, along with where to buy them for the least amount of money. You can take this list to Wal Mart and price match, so you don't need to actually go to all the different stores. Another feature is a list of all the best sales, you can choose one or more stores, or all of them, to view. The red is stock up, the blue is okay if you need, and anything else she just leaves off the list cause it is not worth getting. I really like this service and have been using it for several months now. It is $4.95 a month, which I easily save when I use the site. If I need to run to WM for something, I will just go on and see if its in the list so I can price match it. I often get lemons 5/$1 or red peppers for less than a dollar each, etc. Info I would not know if I did not check there first. Sometimes I don't love the meals that are on there, and I do my own thing that week, but most of the time they are ones we (as in me!) would like.

Plug

This is a really lame post, unless you are interested in gardening and chickens, then you will thank me. My lameness is cause I am not saying anything about me, no pics, etc. Sorry. So anyway. There is this site I like,http://www.backyardfarming.blogspot.com/ , and they are giving away something I really want, so that is why I am plugging them. Of course, you might like their site, so that is why I am too. Another thing I like about them, is they are in Utah, so they give local advice too. Anyways, go check them out and I hope you like their site!