Such a pain in the knee

“I’m super-girl & I’m here to save the world, but I wanna know, who’s gonna save me..”

The shadows danced throughout the school bus as the moonlight poured into the windows. The anticipation was leaking from everyone's pores. The occupants on the bus were surprisingly quiet, most listening to their music getting pumped for the race. I sat next to a 29 year old girl who has run this marathon a few times and has qualified for Boston. She wasn't too chatty but humored my questions about the course.

I was on one of the last buses to reach the top of the canyon. I joined the throngs of people lining up at the Port-a-Potties. It was a bit chilly up there but the excitement of the runners warmed up the scene.

That's when the race started!!!!! I couldn't believe it really started. The lines to the bathroom quickly became smaller. This race is chip timed. Meaning we have a chip on our shoe which is unique to our start and stop time when we cross the start and finish line. So I wasn’t worried that it had started. That’s when the announcer said: “WE ARE CLOSING THE ROAD!” What?! I hurried and used the potty, ripped off my warmer clothes revealing my super-girl outfit and took off running.

I was told by the professionals to take the first half of the course easy; that you will make up for it the second half -Dumb idea. I took my time and was still passing hundreds of people. I wish they would just move out of the way, like passing in a car. Instead the quicker ones would have to run off the pavement through the weeds to pass the slower folks.

I saw many people I had grown up with on the sides of the road cheering us on. And many who I didn’t know shouted and cheered for SUPER-GIRL! This was very helpful since the second half of the race I was in a lot of pain. My knee was killing me and so were my shins. I didn’t warm-up nor stretch and I was really feeling it! But hey, i beat my old time by 10 min. :]

My 1st nephew

I am an Aunt!!!

Westin Skyler Francis
new born (below)
3 months (right)

Relay4Life

WOW! So much fun, if you like running in a relay team for 24 hrs :)
Our Team: Dr. Dave's Team took first place!! This was my first year participating and the seventh straight year this team has taken 1st! We won by half a mile. I ran a little over 24 miles for the team, and at a fast pace! Most my miles were under 7.25, which for me is pretty good :)

We each took turns running for 15 min. At the St. George Hansen Stadium Track. I was third in rotation and often after my run was able to rest for an hour and a half before I would throw out another 15 min. Then at night we took turn running for 70min straight. My turn was at 4:50am - my usual running time - so I did fairly well - running 37 laps during that time. After my 70 min I had a 30 min rest - then did another 15 and continued in our rotation until noon.

It was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people!

Holi Festival

I had heard about it a few years ago - but somehow I forget about it each year. This year I was reminded about it two days before. So we decided to jump in the car and go up Saturday after we went rock climbing in St. George.

The Holi AKA Color Festival is a Hindu tradition from India. It has relevance between good verses evil, and good winning. It also has to do with ushering in spring and luck through throwing colored chalk powder on each other.

We definitely did NOT get as covered as others. Maybe next year!! We had a great time and plan on going back to Spanish Fork many more springs to come to help everyone celebrate at the Hira Krishna temple there.

Only when HALE freezes Over

I went to support my friend who was running in a race in St. George, while there I ran into Bobby Swenson. He an LDS actor. He played Zak in the movie Singles Ward. He is the one that tries to bungee jump a car in the movie. I went up to him and chatted with him for a good 30 min. He told me about a race up in Orem UT, which will help fund the Hale Theatre where most of the actors started.

The race's name is called "When Hale Freezes Over" - b/c it is for all people, even those who would never run unless Hell freezes over; for those people they had a one mile walk. I signed up a week before the race and was pretty excited, and thought I would be able to do well in the race. Well I ended up getting a cold the day after I sign up and there are no refunds. I was bummed cuz I really wanted to run it and do well. I had a cough all week and haven't been running two weeks before due to foot pain, and I was counting on this week to get back into running endurance.

I decided to run the 10k race anyway and visit a few friends while up there. The night before the race I didn't sleep much because I kept coughing - even though I took extra meds to knock me out. My friend Lisa decided to run in the 5k race, so in the morning her dad came with us.

Right before the race I ran into Bobby again and he was glad I actually came up to run it. I was signed up for the 10k, but thought I should probably just walk the one mile.

I ran the 10k anyway. And I was proud of myself that I didn't stop at all. There were a few hills - and normally I enjoy them - but not feeling well - I hated them. AND it was really COLD! At least the mountains looked really pretty. I sucked on cough drops while running. When I got near the end of my race Lisa joined me encouraging me to run faster.

I finished 3rd in my division and 7th overall. My time wasn't the best, but I had fun. And my coughing was SOOO much worse after the race. Bad idea to run in it I know :)

Snow Shoeing By the Light of the Moon

So I decided that I need to get out and meet new people. I guess apart of this is I am sick of being set up on blind dates which seems to be one sided. By this I mean that the mutual friend who sets us up usually is looking out for the guy rather than what I would be interested in. My guess is they tell the guy: "she is in good shape, runs a lot, has long hair, oh and she has a house, you want to date her right?" Or they know that I go to church all the time and think that me dating that guy will bring him religion.

But no one tells me about the guy, just that he has a job. Well it turns out that most of these blind dates the guy has a job, but may still be living at home, and had never moved out, or they can't save their money cuz they spend it on toys, and they sit and watch TV/Movies all the time and has no idea what running is. AND I don't want to be someones mom nor babysitter. If they know what they are supposed to be doing - DO IT!

SO since I am an out-doorsy type of person and athletic, I decided to try hanging out with the Outdoor Rec people at the college. I went out of my comfort zone and signed up for night snow shoeing. I was nervous b/c I was the first to sign up, and was worried no one wanted to go. Turns out it was filled with 12 spots and even a waiting list for more pple to come.

I met some really fun/cool pple! People who shared my same love for the outdoors, and could almost keep up with me doing it. I am not a fan of the snow, but I found a new sport that I could really enjoy - it is like hiking/running - but in the snow. We went up a canyon and hiked through some woods. The moon was full and it was beautiful! I recommend anyone to try it at least once!