OUR RACE REPORT

It was COLD at the start a freezing 31 degrees. Good ol weather on the computer forecasted low 40’s so I didn’t pack gloves, hat or sweatshirt. I run in low 40’s all the time and just wear long sleeves, but this was much colder than anything I was used to. I needed more clothes! I used the porta pottys at the stadium (where the finish was) but you had to walk up a hill (about a ½ mile) to the start. After hanging out there ( amongst houses, no potty’s) I needed to go again, but alas…no facilities. I knew I would be taking advantage of that porta potty at the trailhead, line or no line. I also decided at this point to let son run his own race. He was supposed to stay with me but I didn’t think that was fair and told him to run his own race. The gun went off and we went down that ½ mile hill we just walked up and right away my knee started to complain. (hills and my knee don’t like each other). I decided to just hang in and do what I could do. I kept running and found my son at mile 2 waiting for me. We ran together to the trailhead and stood in line more than 5 mins for the doggone potty. Then started the dirty part. Mud, mud so thick and slick that it would and did goop on your shoes so that they were extremely heavy. Then when you would hit really wet spots you had to pray you remained upright as the footing was treacherous. I worried at times that it was going to suck my shoes right off my feet. NO JOKE! The trail for the first 2-3 miles or so was about 4 feet across. After than it narrowed to single file. This made for tough passing as you had to plan it carefully. There was so much mud but also roots and rocks and we forged 8 creeks, 2 requiring wet feet to get across. Are you getting the picture. This was NOT a pr course. This was NOTHING that I was prepared for mentally or physically. However, it was incredibly beautiful and a lot of fun. I passed a lot of ppl on the uphill portion. The hill training I did paid off! However, with conditions….I was 3 "miles" off my pace when we hit the tough part of the course, the steep incline. I was pleased with my progress though. I have to tell you when I crested this hill, I was surprised that I was still feeling good. This was at mile 8.2. We were now looking at downhill for the rest of the race. I truly expected to hit the wall between here and the finish. Why? Because fighting all the mud and having to run up the inclines and so forth took their toll. I was sure I was spent or about to be. I decided to run as far as I could, what the heck gravity was my friend. I passed 12 people coming down that hill. Can you believe that? Woo hooooooo. Once I left the trail head and got back on pavement, I decided to start walk/running it. The downhill had taken its toll on my knee and my quads were aching too. I still felt good cardio and energy wise though. This was such a good mental thing for me to realize that I was doing so well in the second half of what surely turned out to be the hardest half marathon I have ever ran. I finished in 3:01:25 clock time and 3:00:15 garmin time. Don’t have my chip time yet. Now my goal was originally to finish in 2:30. Why does she sound so happy you ask? Let me tell you. There was a Kenyan at this race. I introduced myself, (almost asked him to sign my shirt but didn’t) and casually asked him how long he anticipated it to take him to do this race. He just as casually said "ONE HOUR". Incredible! He finished second…..with a time of 1:23:17 and the winner finished in 1:22:49. I figure he was definitely an elite and almost ½ hour off his projected finish time. Well guess what….so was I. I can live with it. It was a wonderful experience. Tough course made tougher due to all the rain in the last week. We came, we saw and we conquered.

James and I are having a bonding weekend!

Tomorrow, James and I depart for Agoura Hills, CA. We are both running (together, he has promised to not leave me behind) the "Great Race of Agoura" Half marathon on Saturday. I am hoping for another personal best, but not sure if its going to happen. I have been consistently running for the last 2 months or so....with no walking. I also started training on hills versus just flat and I increased my weekly mileage from 20 miles a week up to 30+. The problem is that my right knee is unhappy. It started acting up when I did my long run last Saturday. I did 8 miles but I did them at 10.5 min miles. That is the fastest I have ever gone in my life and for the longest distance at that speed. My knee didn't appreciate it. I tried to do 3 easy miles on Monday but ended up walking most of it. I have stopped running and walking the last few days and its stopped hurting (good news) so the hope is if I wear my knee brace on Saturday I should be able to knock out a PR. James and I are excited about staying in the hotel together and hanging out. Regardless of our finish time, we will enjoy ourselves and the area. What is everyone else other than the Spencers doing this weekend?

Happy Birthday Vallen and Happy Baptism too!

I cannot believe that she is 8 years old. It seems like she was just born yesterday. I am finding that I don't feel old with my own children. Its the passing of time and the growing up of everyone else's children that does it. I hope that all goes as you have planned and that having Jan and Carleton there helps so you can rest and enjoy the occasion. Pay attention, it all seems like a blur from here on.

Denver, here we come!

Dear Family,
Dad and I will be flying to Denver this afternoon so that we can attend Vallen's baptism which is on Saturday. We are blessed to have an understanding and flexible mission president who has given us permission to leave. In the unlikely event that the plane will crash I just want to tell you all that we love you very much and we consider it an honor to be your parents. You are each amazing people and we can't believe we are so fortunate as to have 7 incredible children, 6 incredible children-in-love (as President Faust likes to refer to their children in law), and 18 incredible, beautiful grandchildren.

We'll try to post pictures of the events of the weekend. We'll be back on Sunday evening. Our cell phones are always on and we would love to hear from you.

xoxoxoxo, Dad and Mom :)

Nathan's friend....

the occupational therapist came today and said he is doing very well. He now holds his head level with his body when being pulled to a sitting position, though he bobbs around a little when held up right. He likes to roll from his back to his left side but has no interest in his right side. Therapists like to see things be even, so if something is happening on one side it should be happening on the other. So, that's the homework for little Nathan; to start rolling to his right side.

Nathan is now a proud eater of Good Start formula. Boy has he been a happy kid since that started. No more crying fits; the whole Smith house is a lot happier, though Mama Smith is going through the not so fun engorgement of weening. Yikes!

Nathan is all set for hearing aids. He met with the ENT this week and got clearance. We are hoping to be picking them up within the next two weeks. We will keep you posted.

Thanks for the pictures of Paisley!

Love to all....

I Can Feed Myself!

We have started to give Paisley some rice cereal every once in a while and she sure loves it!

Mialee's request

Today Mialee told me she wanted to see Paisey. How cute. She practiced her name often before our Ventura outting. Unfortunately, since there are no new pictures of that child on the Blog, we have been staring at her in her car seat on her way to Ventura all morning. :)