*Monday Memos* (Marathon Edition)

*Monday Memos*

 

dear nerves, I am happy this is my taper week! But I am also getting very nervous for the marathon!  By the time I publish this post, it will be over!  NERVES!  I have to keep telling myself to trust in my training and quit worrying.  It's all in the bank now and I trained hard this time.  I am going into this race with a positive attitude that all will go well.  I have worked hard and I am planning on a great outcome. 

dear mom, thank you so much for going to the viewing and funeral with me for Julie's dad.  I really didn't want to go alone and so I was so excited when you text me and told me you were coming.  I had so much fun going to Idle Isle for lunch after and then talking for so long.  And I was really happy the special was the hot turkey sandwich.  My fave!  I am kicking myself that I totally forgot to take a picture!  I guess it was our deep discussions that made me completely forget. Dang!  We need to do that more often for sure.  It was a great post Mother's Day gift for me. ☺

dear bubble wrap, what the ?  Bubble wrap with air pockets in between so you can't get that stress relief by popping each one?  Blasphemy!  Pure blasphemy!

dear deer, oh dear you little dear deer are going to get run over if you keep running down the middle of a busy street!  You are very hard to see, but there you are inside the center of the circle.  You were running much faster than I was that day.

dear lilacs, what a delight to have you surrounding me for the past three weeks.  Your aroma is definitely one that gets me high!  I am so sad you only last for such a short time. You above all other flowers are my favorite.  I will never forget when I was dating my husband during the spring, I came home from college and went into my bedroom and every square inch of my room had a vase with a lilac bouquet in them.  My room smelled like heaven.  How I wish I had a photo of that now!  But it is a great memory in my heart and mind.  

This ↓ is my view I can see from my bedroom when I am in bed!  I love it!  I just wish it lasted longer!

dear mr. cat, once again I can't resist adding a photo of you because you have the most irresistible poses!  Let's hear an awe.....

dear shopping in logan, I should go up your way to shop more often.  I enjoy the different variety of stores there that Ogden doesn't have.  I was trying to find a birthday gift for a friend and something to wear for the marathon which I finally did in the last store I went to.  Isn't that how it always goes?  I was a little disappointed though that Sam's didn't have any samples because I was famished!  My favorite stores to hit are always TJ Maxx, Ross, Smiths, Hobby Lobby, Kohls, DownEast, and Sugar & Spice.  Today I didn't make it to most of them, but still did some damage as far as retail therapy goes.  As soon as I got home, I unloaded my goods and ran to the church for Relief Society where I had signed up for a class to learn how to crochet dish cloths.

dear crocheted dishcloths, I guess you didn't turn out too bad.  At least for my first attempt. I really had fun learning to do this, but discovered a few mistakes I made that I really didn't want to unpick since I was almost done.  The next day I YouTubed a bunch of videos on ways to make different patterns and tried a couple out.  I think I enjoyed the one I taught myself better.  I really did enjoy making these things.  I first learned how to crochet when I was a Merry Miss in Primary.  Then when I was a newlywed, Dave's mom taught me how to make an afghan.  I was very busy going to school, teaching dance, running my own business, tutoring at the college, teaching preschool, and trying to be a new wife and so it was taking me a while to finish it.  One day she told me to give it to her and she would be happy to finish it for me.  So I did.  I didn't feel much pride in it though when she returned it all done and blocked.  I really should have told her no and just kept working on it myself.  Then I would have valued it more.  Because of that I was very excited to learn to do the dishcloths because I knew I could whip those suckers out pretty dang fast.  And I did.  I ran out of yarn or I would have made even more.  Guess I need to make another trip to the craft store.  This time I am going to get purple yarn!  

dear ultra marathon runners, you are so incredibly inspiring!  I went over to my running pal Jen's house to watch a documentary movie about a group of you called Unbreakable and I was blown away.  I am in awe that the human body can actually run 100 miles!  And in record time!  So crazy that some people can do that.  As a marathoner of the normal distance of 26.2, I was amazed that these guys were running at a very steady and fast pace for a 100 miles and were totally okay after.  Some people are truly born to run.  I am not one of them. I have to work really hard at it.  And it hurts.  Sometimes every single step.  Other days only every other one.  haha  It was great timing to watch this because after I was almost starting to feel like 26.2 miles was a piece of cake compared to 100!  At least it felt a little less foreboding.  But having run two of them already, I quickly came back down to earth and kept repeating to myself, "Respect the distance....respect the distance.".  26.2 miles is VERY far!  Even compared to 100.  After all, the first guy that ran one died from doing it!  I am hoping I won't join him!  haha  Watching the movie actually got me excited for Saturday.  Bring it on! 

dear dave, I am so sorry you are sick.  And by sick, I mean sick.  Thursday you called in sick for the very FIRST time in 20 years!  Not necessarily because you weren't sick during those 20 years, but more because you prefer to "tough" it out when you are.  Even through kidney stones!  But when you are throwing up and can't move, it's a little hard to show up and tell sick people they are sick and should be in bed when you aren't. So I was proud of you for taking it easy for that ONE day.  Yep, on Friday you were back to work even though you still felt horrible.  But the throwing up was gone and so you figured you were capable.  I really wish I could chain you to the bed and force you to recuperate and recover in a sensible way.  But no.....   

dear dave, I am sorry you got ME sick on my big week!  Yep...I was feeling like I had the flu on Thursday!  I was so panicked!  Here I train for FOUR and a HALF months for my race on Saturday and two days before I GET SICK!  Noooooooooooooooo!!!!   I couldn't believe it!  Seriously. Could. Not. Believe. It.  I never get sick!  When I woke up I felt like I hadn't slept all night, as well as queasy and dizzy,  and my brain felt foggy, and I was sore all over!  Not really achy, but sore....as if I had already ran a marathon.  I didn't feel like I was going to throw up though until I realized that I may have to run feeling like this!  That was a nauseating thought!  I tried to take it as easy as I could all while trying to take care of you because you were much sicker than I (but YOU didn't have a marathon in two days!).  I would be more than happy to be sick, but just NOT RIGHT NOW!  Argh!  I wasn't feeling any better on Friday when I woke up either.  I felt so weak and worn out.  I had a little bawl fest and was sooooo discouraged.  One of my greatest fears was coming to fruition.  Running a marathon with the flu!  Last year another of my greatest fears came to pass too...running a marathon in a downpour. I survived that and after felt very hard core and so maybe I get to experience another fear and see if I can push through this one too. I think I better quit having fears when it comes to marathons!  It seems every time I do, that it comes to pass!

dear expo, I was excited to get my race packet and see if the shirts were cute this year or not.  This marathon doesn't have a very good reputation for having cute race shirts.  Luckily they weren't too bad this year.  As I walked around, I started to feel less dizzy and queasy.  That gave me some hope.  I got my picture taken with running guru Jeff Galloway and it's always nice to see him at the expo.  I was supposed to be carb loading for three days before and I couldn't eat hardly anything on Thursday.  I forced my oatmeal down on Friday and by lunch time I was able to eat a rice bowl and Rumbi sweet potato fries.  They tasted so delish! That gave me a lot of hope!  I had a really hard time trying to hydrate and had to force some pasta down Friday night. NOT good.  I worried and fretted and freaked that I was going to totally crash and burn. I knew no matter what (short of throwing up non-stop) that I was going to run it.  So I tried to put my focus on how I was going to manage.  The good thing about it is that it took away my fear and worry of the heat we were going to experience and instead I was totally focusing on how I would survive being sick.  I put it in the Lord's hands because I no longer had any control of what happened.  I did my best to stay healthy and train hard and the sad thing is that no matter what you do, it all comes down to ONE day.  Just ONE day.  And anything can happen on that ONE day.  Anything...  But usually what happens is one of your greatest fears comes to pass.  At least in my case.  

At the expo with running guru Jeff Galloway.  My bib. They are purple this year!  That has to mean good luck!

dear marathon, you are here!  What a day!  What a fight!  I survived without medical assistance and even set a new PR!  I cut 23 minutes off last year's time and I was beyond happy about that.  I really wanted to come in just under 4:00 so I could Boston Qualify, but with all the crazy circumstances that showed up on race day, I was thrilled with a new PR.  Especially a 23 min one.  Instead of posting about you on this, I wrote a separate post about you and all the amazing experiences that happened HERE.

I felt how she looks!

dear body, thank you for not dying on me during the marathon. I know 26.2 miles is a brutal distance to expect you to run.  Not just to run, but to run at a fast pace.  I put you through it this time.   Thank you for pushing me through and for giving it your all.  I really do appreciate you and all you did for me on race day.  I know I beat you up and pushed you harder than ever, but I also knew that you could do it because I had trained you hard.  And do it you did.  Now if you could recover quickly so I don't have to go down the stairs backwards or slide down the banister anymore.  I think I beat you up worse than ever because this has been the hardest yet to recover from.  I'm feeling kind of bad for you.  Sorry...   

dear boston, maybe we can meet some other time.  Unfortunately it won't be at your next marathon, unless I get crazy and decide to run another Boston qualifying marathon this year, and I get lucky and qualify.  I missed qualifying for you by 14 minutes.  14 measly minutes!  I tried so hard to come in just under a sub 4:00 but the heat was a huge factor this year and brutal on everyone and really took it out of me.   And being sick those few days before also took it's toll.  Had the stars all aligned perfectly for me on race day, I know I could have done it.  The problem is now it's so close that I can taste it and so I know I will have to keep trying until I reach it.  It's a problem because I have a friend that is 20 years younger than me that ran 18 marathons trying to qualify.  She finally did and still didn't get in because now not only do you have to qualify in your age bracket at a specific time, but the fastest of that age bracket gets in first.  Seems kind of harsh, but it is what it is.  However, it is still a dream and it would be amazing.  I know me well enough to know that I will keep trying.  Why didn't I pick a less painful hobby or sport like painting or bowling? 

dear stake conference, I really enjoyed you even though I was in a lot of post marathon pain just sitting there for so long. But it was worth it for this amazing thought I came away with....

dear taylor, thank you for the sweet note about Mother's Day you wrote to me this week.  It made my day! Since your letter was so short, I think I will include it here so I won't forget it.

Mom and Family! Great to see everyone yesterday, really weird and different, haha but glad it all worked out! I've been out here for over 1 year and 6 months, and that is some time that I will never get back, but it's nice to look back and not have any regrets. To know I've been doing what I've been called to do. Big part of that is because of you Ma, always showed me what I needed to do, and helped me do it. Hope I haven't been too big of a headache for you these past 20 years, but I want you to know that I'm so grateful for putting up with all I do, and always being there to help me out! I love you Mom!:) Around Mother's Day is when I always read that part in the Book of Mormon about the stripling warriors and how their moms taught them. Me, like them, have been super blessed to have families that have taught us what we should do to be happy. Things I try to teach people every day. One of my favorite parts in the scriptures. I really don't have a lot to say today, ha I talked to you yesterday! We had a baptism yesterday, that guy is going to be a missionary next year! Can't send pics, no adapter today! Going to kick some Brazilian trash in Basketball;) Love you alllllllll!!  
Love, Your Elder