Why??

So many people ask me "why a marathon?" 
This weekend I was in Salt Lake City and needed to run 14 miles so I googled running clubs, picked one and ran with a new group of 'friends', one of the runners asked "why did you decide to run a marathon?"  The answer I usually give is "because I can't climb Mt Everest" I've thought a lot about that question the past 2 days and I think right now the reason I'm doing this goes back a long way maybe it's time you all heard my story.


May 2007 sitting at the park watching my boys play, my sister calls, which is nothing unusual we talked almost everyday, but she is bothered by something I can tell. She tells me that AmyLynne, her 4 year old daughter has had blood in her urine. Well that means a kidney infection right? They were coming to Preston for the weekend because Dylan was being baptized,  'just run her in here for a quick check'. No infection go and see your regular Dr. when you get home. Well after 3 weeks of  'let's do an xray' 'can't really see anything' 'what about an ultra-sound' and finally KL just saying do a CT scan. AmyLynne has cancer. For more on her story visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/amylynne


I watched from the sidelines as an aunt to this sweet little girl, doing whatever I needed to do to help, at times not sure what to do, trying to be strong when KL would ask me the hard questions,"do you think she will die?" Then being at home and letting out the tears and frustrations that I felt for them. 
We came across the Pablove bike across America, they dedicated one day to AmyLynne, looking at their website I saw that they had a team for the LA marathon, I had run some 5k's and thought maybe I could participate in the 10k. 
Then as late Sept turned into early Oct I realized I could easily run a 10k.  AmyLynne had done things that were NOT easy, I needed to do something hard for her, for me, for her family, for KayLynne, for all the children that have to go through this.  We saw and heard of miracles almost everyday not only with AmyLynne but with so many others. AmyLynne passed away October 9, 2010 after a fight worth running a marathon for.


Utah valley marathon is 100% charitable for "Christmas for Families with kids with Cancer"


I have witnessed those I love and care about doing hard things and if this will make something hard become easy for someone else I will do it.

Why am I running a marathon? Because, it is HARD

Blood sweat and tears......minus the blood:)

I have a couple of very disturbing items to discuss today.....


First Blisters

Yes I know I have such beautiful feet, but if you will look beyond that you will notice the very sore blisters on my feet, they hurt so bad I was unable to wear any shoes for 2 days and could hardly walk.  I have since gone through 2 pairs of shoes to find some that will not hinder my running.  I have gotten advise from many to say that this is now just a part of my life ENJOY!!! But then again others say that there is no reason for blisters, oh what to do. I'm to the point that I'm thinking I will just have to put up with them, maybe I will give them names:) I run 14 miles this weekend I will let you know how it goes with Romeo and Juliet???

Next comes the horrible demise of my very favorite sweats.  If you have been with me from the beginning you will remember as I was running and I popped one of my buttons so I had to run the last mile home holding up my pants? Well I simply used a safety pin because they were my favorite sweats.  Sadly the other button gave way, I have since searched far and wide for anything similar to no avail, I'm thinking that 7 years is too long to own a pair of sweats or at least I need to buy 2 pairs, if I ever find something I love so much again!!




Only 9 more weeks to go:0

Life of ease???

I have not posted in awhile, I have been lucky enough to go with Shawn on some trips, we went to Nashville, Seattle, and Palm Springs.  Of the 3 Palm Springs was definitely my favorite!!  The weather was spectacular to say the least!

Running in Nashville was not much fun, I had to run on a treadmill and I just loooove that so much, NOT.
But I stayed on course and got it done. I will post more pictures and more detail on our family blog!

Seattle was actually very beautiful, the sun was shining and no rain, but again treadmill running:(

Now to my favorite, Palm Springs.  The consignor(sp?) sent me to the mountains for a trail that he told me was very popular

If you can see at the base are lots of rocks, yes it is a mountain trail all right.  I started up thinking it was pretty rough, the higher I climbed the more I realized that this was not a running trail but indeed a hiking trail, I had gone about 250 yards when I turned to look back and caught a glimpse of the trail I would now need to go down.......bad move. I am scared to death of heights and I was high. I sat there for a few minutes wondering how I was going to get down, I had not taken my phone so I couldn't call for help, it is Palm Springs the average age is 70 I think so who could come and carry me down??? I proceeded to shimmy my way back down the trail trying not to look down and also avoid the lizards that had come out to enjoy my little adventure!! Needless to say by the time I got down I was full of anxiety and really ready to run! So I started going down the street, the weather was perfect, the sidewalk flat, and no lizards!! I ran about 6 miles and felt great, I could have gone farther but ran out of town.  I would have to say that that was my best run EVER I felt great and totally enjoyed it.

Now back home, it has been cold and windy so I have decided that I am for sure a fair weather runner!!

15 weeks left until the big day, we are looking for a half marathon to run close to home that will give us a chance to get a race day feel, but not embarrass us too much!!

WOW!!!

6 miles in 1 hour 59:58:99:) I did it, I finally hit the big 6 miles!! I'm not sure why this is such a big thrill for me, maybe because 6 miles is twice the distance I had ever run when I started to train for this or maybe it is just because it really is a long way to run!! Whatever the reason it is now done and over and once again i have that belief that I can go 26.2 miles.

Shawn rode the bike with me and helped to keep me going, he has promised to ride along on all my long runs, we will see how he does at 20 miles! He is the best:) It helps to know that there are so many out there giving support and encouragement.  Thanks!

Make sure and check out the "give a million to St Jude" blog, it is really easy to donate and for another great cause.

Just some more random thoughts as I run;

Is it ok to take deep breaths when I go past the horse barn? (it really stinks)

Does it help that I wave to everyone as they drive past?

Does it rain in heaven?

Blue cars really do show the dirt more

Shawn only has to go to scout camps for 5 more years!!!!!!!

I wonder if margarine really does repel ants????

Have a great day:)

5 Miles!!!

So I have my wonderful family here visiting from The Netherlands, we get them for 3 whole weeks and what a great time we are having!!

Els is a runner and does training 2-3 times a week at home, so she has been so kind as to go with me this week and give me some great tips, so great in fact that I ran my first 5 miles!! What an exhilarating feeling to know that i have once again run farther than ever before, and that I WILL be able to run a marathon in June!!

I am so thankful for my family and the support they give to me. I have the best sisters in the world. I am excited to go on this journey with KL. I am also so glad that she has the patience to listen to me!!  Thanks:)

We are snowmobiling and skiing this week, there is soooo much snow here which means fun for all!!

Happy New Year, make 2011 the year to remember.

List of excuses

I have run a total of 6.3 miles in the last 3 weeks. I have several excuses for my lack of motivation, the biggest being I'm just plain lazy!!  I'm not really sure what is wrong I simply don't have the desire to go out and run, really I don't have the desire right now to do much of anything, not even laundry and I LOVE to do laundry (seriously I do) Not sure if I have an early case of the wintertime blahs or if life is catching up to me and all the sadness and heartache are hitting me and I don't even realize it. I've been going through some personal struggles for a couple of weeks and can't seem to do more than just the bare minimum to get by.

I have so much to be grateful for, but sometimes do you ever just want to say "hey look at me sometimes my life is hard too??" I just want to have a pity party.

I think I will take the rest of this week off and begin fresh again next week, the kids will be home so I will definitely want to get out of the house!! Plus all the goodies we will be making for Christmas treats will need to find a way off of my hips!!

Here are some more of my excuses

It's too cold
I don't have cute running clothes
My knees hurt
It's too cold
I ate too late
I haven't eaten yet
It's cold
Can't find my socks
Need to check facebook
My hair is wet
I didn't sleep well
And of course........It's COLD!!!!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Falling behind??

Sorry i have not posted for a few days.... It is all KL's fault, she said she would post so I was giving her a chance!!!J/K

I ran 4.2 miles Saturday in the snow, it was a lot more fun then in the cold!! For my birthday Shawn gave me a watch thingy that tracks my pace, route, time, distance all of that stuff it syncs with the computer and has a gps, so I should never get lost!!  I can't figure out how to use it so I have to wait until Shawn shows me what to do!!

I have not run at all this week, I had a special birthday lunch with some very special friends on Tuesday and we had a snow day today, there was no way I was going to risk being out there on the roads with that mess!!

I will do P90X or something tomorrow.....yea right I will probably not do anything who am I kidding!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas season.