Riverton Half Marathon

 I ran a half marathon yesterday! I hit my goal target time. And on a course that was almost two tenths of a mile long. Still got in under my goal time. It felt so good to accomplish that. I ran with two of my run club friends. It was awesome to run together. This is actually more of a training run. I signed up for the Salt Lake Half next month, and only found out recently that Riverton’s half marathon fell on a day I was already expecting to run 13 miles. The price was right and I went ahead and signed up. My South Jordan Run Club actually volunteered for the event in exchange for putting our flyers in all the bags. Hopefully we get some new runners out of it. 

I feel like getting back in this level of shape is a triumph. In a bit of a walk down memory lane, I remember back in early 2019. We’d just moved to Seattle. Chloe was two. My body felt like it was betraying me. I was so exhausted. I had headaches 100% of the time. I was dizzy. And I had no idea what was going on. I’d get up in the morning and somehow get the kids to school and then sit on the couch and not be able to get up because I was so bone deep exhausted. I didn’t have babies anymore. The kids had slept through the night for years. All I knew was right before I left Clemson I’d found out my thyroid numbers were low. I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I naively told my doctor there I’d just started a new vitamin and let’s check it again in a month. Little did I know! That’s hilarious to think back on. 

 

So started an intense health journey. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. It’s an auto immune disease that has far reaching symptoms. I started medicine. I didn’t feel that much better. I found a really good doctor that I thought was on my health insurance. Turns out she wasn’t. I fought the insurance company for a year through the incorrect information on that and won! They paid for a number of my visits. The company changed health insurance and she was on the new one. I worked with her for a year and a half. My health felt like an onion. I kept peeling back layers of issues and solving them one by one, or at least tried to address them.

Fast forward to leaving Seattle and moving to Salt Lake. Since we were so isolated during Covid, a jumped into a couple outdoor workout groups I discovered. We could workout together spread out, outside, so we were safe but could still interact. It made all the difference during Covid. I went from working out a little, to like six workouts a week. In what maybe shouldn’t have been such a surprise, I ended up injuring something in my hamstring. Than my hip. Than my lower back. Then my hip again. I got rear-ended and sprained my back. I did so much physical therapy, chiropractic. Got x-rays, MRI. I did Grasston’s scraping. I did dry needling. I tried acupuncture. I had two doctors tell me the solution was just to stop running. I found new doctors. 💔🤣 

It’s now two years after that first injury and four years since I found out I have Hashimoto’s. Have I solved all the symptoms? Have the injuries healed? Actually, no. No, they have not. I’ve addressed them. I’ve solved some issues only to have others crop up. I have tweaked my meds, my diet, a multitude of different supplements. I work to get more sleep.

 

And most of all, I run. I run even though it still hurts. Right now I suspect I have some imbalances in my glute muscles that I need to address, but I haven’t wanted to start physical therapy again. My legs hurt like crazy for a goodly number of miles yesterday. They’re super sore today. But I also ran a sub two-hour half marathon. I ran most of the miles under nine minutes. I did an actual training plan for this race and made specific goals to increase my speed. I couldn’t run this pace two months ago. I think I can probably run faster. I’m tweaking my goals for my Salt Lake Half race because I hit them already yesterday. In my 20s I did run faster. And I thought those days were done. That while I still ran, I was just slower now. I’ve had four kids since then. But guess what? Maybe I could run those paces again. I see that I can run faster than I do now if I put the work in. Keep improving. Keep hitting goals. And that is a beautiful thing. 

 

I wish it was pain free. I hope that I can solve the current batch of issues. But mostly, I’m grateful to be where I’m at, hitting goals. And I’m feeling so blessed to be able to push through and achieve things, even when it hurts to do it. Even when I’m walking mighty slow today. I guess I’m learning that I can do cool things whether the situation is ideal or not. It’s a good place to

This and that

Spencer decided to cut all his hair off! My friend cuts all our hair, and she just does such a great job. He looks so good! 

My mom has started coming over to hang out at my house on Fridays for a bit in the afternoon when my kids are home from school and this week Aaron and Chloe convinced her to play MarioKart with her. They had a great time! 

I gave up on the succulents in this pot and got this pretty plant instead. I've always thought about getting one of these, but never liked the colors of the flowers. But this pink/peach colored one spoke to me and so home it came. 

I successfully got my orchid to rebloom! That feels like a huge plant grower's victory! Orchids are picky. I have three, so I hope the other two bloom again too. 

 

Haircuts and running fast

Bill and I got haircuts this week. He killed his post haircut photo way better than I did, but whatevs. Lololol. And I took this picture of Spencer, and Chloe photobombing, because he told me he does not actually want to grow his hair out long enough to put in a ponytail anymore. He wants to cut it all super short like Bill's! Woohoo! He's got an appointment scheduled for this Friday. He can wear his hair however he wants, but I'm quite partial to his short hair. 

He got new glasses this week too. This is the selfie he sent me from the car after Bill Tok him to pick them up. They're red on the inside and sides, so they look pretty snazzy. He got ones that can go dark in the sun too, so that's also great. We'll see how well they work for soccer. I think it'll be helpful. 

My training is still progressing pretty great for my spring half marathons. I ran 11 miles yesterday and on the last mile my friend, who happens to be a running coach, challenged me to speed up. So I did. And he, being a coach, took me all the way in, pacing me the whole way, so much faster than I ever run otherwise right now. It felt awesome! Too bad he's moving to Nashville in two weeks. It would be super fun to get coached and get fast again. I used to run like that back in my 20s, but I've never trained back to speed after having my kids. I'm planning to run two half marathons this spring, one in two weeks, one later in April. I've trained to run them sub two-hour pace. It's felt really good to get to that speed. I'd been running slower for a long time, nursing several injuries. I'm still fighting some glute and leg pain a bit, but I've been able to run through it, which is good. I'm contemplating whether I want to do some physical therapy again for it or not. It just takes so much time. But I would really love to solve the issues and move forward. We'll see. 

 

Family and friends

Ya'll, I have the best family and friends. I just love them all so much. I did a few fun things with them this week. My grandma turned 80 last year and we weren't able to do anything much for it because of some lingering Covid restrictions. I decided to organize something for her this year. It turned out so fun. Me, my mom, grandma, sister, and niece all went out to Thai food and then went and made our own candles at a place called the Wick Lab in Provo. It was so fun. We really had a good time. I'm so glad we got to get together. My SIL wasn't able to make it and we missed her. I love having so many ladies from my family nearby. It's so special to be able to spend time together. 

One of Bill's cousins and his family plus his uncle was in town this week. We got together for a little dinner and again, so, so fun. I love all my in-laws too. I married into a great family and it's really fun to hang out. Bill actually had a church men's activity he was in charge of, so he came for a few minutes and had to leave, but me and the kids stayed for a few more hours. Good times. 

Happy half birthday, sweet Genevieve. You're so loved. 10 1/2 looks good on you. 

And finally, a big shoutout to my run club friends. They really enrich my life! We had to take a picture in front of the delivery truck at Harmon's on Saturday. It looked so good. We are always excited to have new people come run with us. South Jordan Run Club. Come join! I ran ten miles Saturday. Felt great! Actually, my glutes and hammies are still getting pretty sore after my longer runs, but I'm still feeling strong and faster than I've run in years, as I'm doing some speed work with my friend in preparation for this year's races. I'd really love to figure out what causes my leg issues, and hopefully I'll get there, but even with that, the running is feeling so good and my energy levels so much improved. I've been tracking my eating for a few months now and it's made such a difference to tweak my nutrition. I eat a lot more protein now and I can tell! I'm really happy for all the success, despite some lingering leg issues. First half marathon in seven years is at the end of March, and then another end of April. I am planning to run the Big Cottonwood Race too in the fall. I haven't done any long races in so many years. It feels GOOD!

So much snow

 It snowed so much this week. We probably got 15-20 inches when all was said and done. I've not seen anything like it in years in Utah. And it's supposed to snow again all week. There's still so much snow piled everywhere. Utah seems to be trying to get out of the 20-year drought in one season. I'm a fan of snow. Turns out I'm not a huge fan of so much coming at a time that it keeps me from getting outside to run. I missed my Wednesday morning run and we canceled our Thursday night run club run due to the snow. We ended up running through the streets in Daybreak on Saturday morning, which worked out pretty well. It's supposed to snow again all this week. It's a pretty crazy snow year!

I finished the two bookshelf headboards this weekend, mostly. There are going to be doors on each end for the kids to have a secret shelf they can put their stuff in, but those doors still need to be painted and the hardware attached. I'm working on the footboard and the side rails now, but they're really close to done. I like how they turned out! Aaron's is the purple one, Chloe's is the yellow. They asked me to paint their side rails green for Aaron and blue for Chloe, so I'll paint those doors those colors too to match a little. This is paint leftover from painting the rainbow stripe around their room, so it'll "match" sort of once we set them up in their room. I dunno about a green and purple bed, but maybe Aaron just really loves Joker and he doesn't know it yet, hahahaha. I think having those shelves is going to be so awesome for them though. I'm really pleased how they've come together. It was a little sketchy along the way at times, creating the design. But it all ended up working out and hopefully I can finish them this week. 

Then we'll maybe be able to tackle the next things in our basement that need building. We're still contemplating what work we'll do and what work we'll hire out for. At this point I think I'll hire someone to do the HVAC, electric, plumbing, and the taping/mudding/texturing once the drywall is hung, but we can hang drywall and paint and do trim and depending on if we do carpet or flooring, probably do that. I used to want to do it all, but now I'd rather just have a finished basement. Haha!

Happy Valentine’s!

Happy Valentine’s! We had a great day. Bill came home with beautiful flowers and chocolate covered strawberries and this super cushy pillow for a gift. 

My mom had one of these years ago and I always loved it. My kids have already decided it’s the comfiest place in the house now. 

I’m not that into Valentines boxes but I did facilitate my kids making their boxes. They all painted one, and I love how unique each one is. This ocean-themed one is Genevieve’s. 

Spencer made a castle. 

Aaron’s is on the left and Chloe’s on the right. 

I decided to build a couple new beds for Aaron and Chloe back at New Year’s time. I have been designing it as I go and I took a significant break from them while we finished framing the basement, but we finished that and haven’t planned out our next basement finishing plans, so I worked on one of these yesterday instead. It’s kind of slow to build when you haven’t quite decided how to do each part, but I finally got my head around how I wanted to connect everything. I used my new table saw for the first time in it too and I’m excited about that! It works great. The headboard just needs the back attached and then of course side rails and footboard. Then painting. The kids are so excited about them. 

 

Framing

Bill and I went to our respective morning workouts yesterday and spent the rest of the day working on our basement, finally dedicating some real time to finishing the framing. It is done! There is a couple ducts in the hallway and in one room that we need to do a little framing around, but all the walls are in and the windows are framed out and the door to the bathroom is rough framed and the hall is done. As long as this has taken us to find the time to do, we may tap into the collective knowledge base of so many people in my community finishing their basements and hire out some of the different parts going forward. HVAC, electrical. We for sure will get someone to do the mudding/taping/texturing for us. I'd really like to just have a finished basement already instead of dragging it out for months and months. We'll see. I'm very pleased this piece is done though. 

Our cat is such a goof. Okay, all cats are goofs. Bill left his work bag out on the floor of the office, and she made herself at home right on top of it, straps and all, and took a little nap. 

I bought a pill organizer for all my vitamins. Does this make me old? Hahahaha! 

100 fruit loops for the 100th day of school! What a cutie!

We survived January

 This wasn’t a taking pictures week. I looked at my picture roll and I had a picture or two from my run club runs and FiA workout and I had this one picture. I switched to working two days a week in my office this week. I was feeling like I needed more connection to my coworkers and the rhythm of my office and I do like the change. It surprises me that with the option I have to work almost fully remote I would choose to change that to work more in my office, but this new world of hybrid work is ever changing and for me this is seems like it will work better. So Bill and I are figuring out our new schedule making sure all our parenting needs are covered too. It’s such a huge blessing that we both have jobs with the flexibility to allow us to work full time and not need to have childcare for our kids. It’s a good phase of life to be in. 

So Tuesday morning I was headed out the door and Chloe handed me this paper she had just drawn. It says “I love you, mommy.”  I put it up in the wall or my office and it makes me smile every time I see it. I love that she created it for me just because she wanted to. She’s the sweetest little girl. 

My kids are growing up so fast. They’re so close together in age. Spencer is 12 and I feel the years flying by. We don’t have that many years left with him at home. But Chloe isn’t that young either. She’s turning seven this year! I can’t believe that my youngest is that big already. She’s a petite little thing, so I can pretend she’s still little, but the years are flying by. 

More birthday, snowboarding, ten years of FiA, DARE graduation

We had one more family birthday party Sunday evening and celebrated mine and Spencer's and my brother's birthdays. 

Bill has been giving me tiny succulent lego sets to build plus sweet notes to accompany them for months. He gave me the last four for my birthday and I finished my little lego succulent garden. I just might like it more than my actual succulent garden. It's so cute. 

We sent Bill and Spencer snowboarding as his 12th birthday gift from us. They had a fantastic time. Spencer loved it. This is their smiles early on. 

And this is their smiles at the end, completely beat, hahahahah. They had a great day. 

This week marked ten years of FiA. I love this exercise group. We've had some growing pains in recent months. The group has contracted quite a bit. We only really have one solid workout day a week now. The group has dealt with injuries, health problems, changes in leadership, the pandemic. It's been a hard winter. Utah has been in an extended drought for 20 years and this year the weather is trying to catch up it seems. It's rained and snowed and snowed and snowed. While I'm so grateful for all the snow and what it's doing for the health of our state, it's hard on the mental health. There's a lot of gray days, a lot of really cold weather, a lot of bad weather. It's hard to get the motivation to get out and exercise. The ski resorts have more snow than they've had in years. Bill told me today that Suncrest, which is the subdivision above Draper on the top of that mountain, has 6-12 feet of snowpack. I'm relying heavily on my South Jordan Run Club scheduled runs. I can't get to many FiA workouts, but I rely on the ones I can to get me out the door to exercise with friends. Otherwise I'd be in a much worse place mentally and emotionally. 

I led the workout this Saturday after running seven miles with my Run Club friends and I can barely walk today. I love it. I mean I'd like to be able to do that and not get sore, but I haven't been to enough FiA workouts of late to be able to accomplish that. It's good to feel strong. It's good to burn 800 plus calories on my Apple Watch and have the energy to do more stuff the rest of the day. Yes, I'm super sore. Yes, it hurts like the dickens to squat down to the ground right now and walk up the stairs. But I feel STRONG and I've fought health issues and half a dozen injuries over the last five years and especially the last two and I feel triumphant right now and that feels GOOD. We celebrated after the workout Saturday. Sweet Tea broad a beautiful spread of treats and we laughed and chatted and ate tasty food and had a lovely little party. These are good people and I'm glad I know them. 

Last but not least, we got to go to Genevieve's DARE graduation on Friday. This is the mayor of Bluffdale shaking hands with her. Way to be, Genevieve!