Doing it for the Fun of it

On Friday night and Saturday Steve went out camping and coyote hunting with his buddy Cody. They love going out for a "man weekend," and this weekend turned out to be a good one for them to go because Cody's wife Ali was out of town with their 2 boys for a race. I feel bad when they go and leave her alone with the kids...I don't love when Steve leaves and I'm left alone, but as long as I don't make it known on the internet that I'm home alone than I usually don't feel like I'm going to get murdered. And, this weekend was a 3-day weekend, so since they were only gone until Saturday afternoon we still had lots of the weekend left together. I actually had lots to do...like watch 2 girly movies (Monte Carlo and Breaking Dawn if you are wondering) and eat ice cream. Ok, that was only Friday night - I actually did lots of laundry and cleaning on Saturday.

But first, Saturday morning I decided that I was going to go on a long run and take all the pressure off of it. I wanted to do it just for the fun of it, and not worry about my pace at all. I wasn't in the mood to make it hurt for a long time and I had a route I wanted to do that is particularly long and hard. The Saturday before Steve and I went on a bike ride up some big hills that then connect to a trail that runs along the Cedar Hills golf course, a duck-pond, etc. I love running on trails (paved). No traffic, quieter, pretty, and much more interesting areas. This trail goes about 6 miles out and back, but it's about 3.5 miles uphill from our house before the trail starts. (But of course that is all downhill on the way back :) ).

So I wanted to just run it and not care if I was super slow...this attitude made it SO much more fun and reminded me to just love the run. Every run doesn't have to have a grand purpose or be a race. I still wore my garmin because I wanted to know how far I went, and I still checked my pace out of curiosity, but didn't care what it was. This was such a great change for me...good reminder to do it just for the love of it sometimes.

Since this post is full of rambling, I'll do some more of it...

We rented "Courageous" on Saturday night...it's a great feel-good movie with a good message. It's pretty corny and not a grand-cinematic-production by any means, but we liked it. (It's by the same people who did "Fireproof" and has the same feel if anyone knows that one). If you watch it, keep a lookout for 2 of the Duggar girls (from 19 Kids and Counting) who make an appearance.

We had Monday off work for President's Day, and we organized our garage. We are still in the process of unpacking and organizing our house, and this helped move things along. That night we went to the dollar theatre and saw "Tower Heist." It was actually pretty funny. We were going to see The Muppets, but it was sold out. The theatre was CRAZY when we got out...we always forget how busy the "college-town" areas are. (And now I feel old :) )

OK...one more thing...Brit and Josh and the girls came to our house on Tuesday and we loved seeing them. I forgot to take any pictures, but their girls are the cutest ever and have such personalities now! (I'm just glad neither of them left with a snapped-neck after our bean-bag became a crash-pad for Josh's kid-acrobatics.)

Now go do something you enjoy just for the fun of it.... :)

Historical Sites in St. George

While we were in St. George, after the race,  we went to some church historical sites. It got rainy and really windy, so luckily we could mostly be inside to go on a couple of tours. The first stop was Brigham Young's Winter Home:

 Brigham Young lived there during the winters to direct the building of the temple and the tabernacle. It was a really interesting tour where we heard lots of stories about his, and other church leaders lives. We also heard about what life was like in St. George while it was being settled. We learned a lot about the cotton mission, silk industry, and how all the wood they used was pine (from Pine Valley which is nearby). They took pride in making their wood really decorative and sturdy, so none of the pieces in the house look like pine - it's pretty cool to see in the house. I didn't think to take pictures of the inside, so you'll just have to go see it for yourself next time you're in St. George. :)

A little info...

We loved the huge wrap-around porches

After that we went to the tabernacle. It has so much historical architecture that is really neat. There was the sweetest missionary couple there, and the lady was so nice who gave us the tour. Once again we learned a lot about the meaning behind all the architecture - I always think things are so much more intricate and just amazing when you know the builders did it by hand, with make-shift tools and limited resources.

The chairs in the balcony - hard to see but the metal is so decorate and intricate

She showed us the counter-balance system they had to use to get the chandeliers up and down to light the candles. They are high up there!

     

A lot of symbolism with the painting on this wall - the 'all-seeing eye,' two hands clasped together (unity), finger pointing upward to the eye, etc. (And it was a little creepy how real the eye looks)

She had us sit in the bench that was right in front of the two pictured here (in front of the mantle), and she told us that every president of the church (except Joseph Smith) has sat on that bench and spoke from the  pulpit. This is also where President Snow shared his revelation on tithing that saved the cotton crops in St. George.

The staircase was entirely free-standing and really steep.

After that we stopped by the temple and visitor's center for a little while:

 

 

We also ate at some yummy restaurants and enjoyed relaxing and going hot-tubing at the hotel. It was a quick, fun weekend trip!

St. George 1/2 Marathon

I am SO proud of and happy about this race. It was such an amazing experience, and it totally made me fall in love with running all over again (as if I don't already think about it 24/7). In the last 3 months since the Halloween Half, I've just been working on my base - running lots of miles and just loving it. Lots of them have been on the treadmill, with long runs outside most Saturdays. I've been getting faster - especially on the treadmill, and overall just more confident and consistent. I've been running since I was 13, more seriously in the last 2 years, and I've improved SO much and really reached a new level in just the last few months. It's amazing.

I've greatly improved mentally. Going into this race I was so much more relaxed and excited than I have been before. I visualized just going all-out and running hard. I wasn't afraid to push hard and test the limits. I had the goal to get a new PR - not including the Halloween one since that one was all downhill (I did that one in 1:49). So I wanted to get better than 1:57 - hopefully around 1:55. I did it in 1:47:33! 

That's better than even the all-downhill one - and this race definitely had some hills! Overall, it had a net elevation gain, but only a slight one. I didn't feel it was as hilly as some others said - more like rolling ups and downs. I think this type of course was good for me - I was hardly sore from it. 

I placed 7th in my age group (out of about 80), and in the top 17% of women overall...top 23% total overall. (This race had about 1400 runners). Anyways...lots of rambling to say that I was amazed, proud and REALLY excited to do so well.

The race was last Saturday, January 21st, and the day started out to be rainy and windy. Luckily the race didn't start until 9, and we were staying really close to the start. We also could park right at the start, so we hung out in the car for awhile. The rain let up quite a bit, and it really wasn't too cold. It just drizzled a little and had some wind throughout, which was great. I love running in cooler weather - and I just drafted off the bigger guys when the wind got too bad. :)

Ready to Start

I'm not sleeping...that would take true talent. 

 I started with the 1:55 pace-group. I felt great from the beginning, and wanted to push myself the whole time. I was worried I was going too hard at the beginning, but I focused on keeping my pace not too fast, but not too comfortable either. By my Garmin, I was pretty sure I was plenty ahead of goal, but around mile 8, I saw Steve on the side, and I was right next to the 1:50 pacer! I then realized that I had a possibility of beating my time from the Halloween-half...getting a true PR. I decided that I wanted that so bad...I just had to push a little harder!

This whole race I was so together mentally. I was focused. When I got tired, I'd focus on fixing my form and slowing down my breathing. I would give myself a pep-talk and tell myself that I wasn't tired, and that I was doing so awesome. I thought about how amazing it would feel to finish with a time so much better than I expected. I don't remember as much about this course because I was so focused and determined. It was an amazing experience that is hard to describe - but I know fellow runner friends know the type of high I'm talking about.

Showing some of the scenery

I do remember that the last 5ish miles of the race were on a trail overlooking the red-rocks, temple, and other great views. These miles were my fastest, and I just kept digging deeper. I told myself "this is when you make it hurt...all or nothing." I do this on my long runs too, and our neighbors think I'm super fast cuz I'll end my runs in a sprint around the neighborhood. Fooled ya :).

Seeing Steve right before the finish line

 When I saw the finish line I just sprinted. I finished the strongest I have yet, and it made me wonder how much more I'm capable of. I know I gave it my all, but I'm just so hungry for more now! Like I said - I fell in love with running all over again. The clock said 1:49:XX....so I knew my chip time would be faster since I started farther back. Later in the day, a co-worker (who's wife also ran) texted me that he saw my time online. It was better than I expected, and I was so excited to see it. My new PR!

A big THANK YOU to Steve for being my cheer-squad and roadie. He gives me the support that is so needed during (+ before and after) these races, and I love him for it.

Fancy Cars

On Saturday we went to the International Auto Expo in Sandy. It was fun to drool over look at all the fancy cars. It was crazy how many they had there – and that you could just climb in and out and explore. Now if only you could drive them around, it would be the perfect way to see a bunch of cars without dealing with sales people. That is if you’re in the market for some of these fancy rides:

Convertible cross-over anyone?

They did have some  more practical cars, but those aren’t as exciting to take pictures of…unless of course they come equipped with tvs, backseat stereos and fridges:

Or recliners...

Or the ultimate built-in tailgate party...

And My Dream Car:

(not necessarily the color (it is fun though), but I looove Jeeps :)

Ok, fine, I'd also take this for day-to-day commuting:

And Steve's favorite for the day?

...Ok, probably not. I think it was actually this one:

{...when we make our first milion...}

Celebrating 3 Years

(I didn't take any pictures on our anniversary, so I decided to post pictures from our Honeymoon to Mexico...because that was fun, so why not right? :)

We decided to keep things simple for our anniversary and make the main celebration be a nice dinner. We really enjoy going out to eat and trying new restaurants together, and when we found some coupons online to Maglebys, we decided to go there. We went all out - drinks, appetizer, entrees and dessert. It was a good meal (especially the chocolate cake, yum!), but for the price, I'm not sure we'll be back - it was nice to try with the coupons. :)

We were of course super-cheesy during dinner and talked about dating, getting married, our honeymoon, and saying "I'm so glad we got married because..." aww...I know, super sappy...

We went to FYE to sell-back some movies and picked out a couple new (used) DVDs...came home and relaxed/fell asleep to the movie. Overall, it was a great night together to celebrate 3 wonderful years, and many more to come. 

We're also going to St. George this weekend for this, so we'll use our anniversary as an excuse to party hard. :)

Today is a Special Day

3 years ago today we got married, and we're so happy we did. 

 It's so amazing how real it is to love someone more and more everyday. 

We're so happy that we got married in the temple so we can be together forever. So much more to come!