*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!

dear monday, I think I got in about three miles today.  I've not been feeling like I was hoping to by now. I am getting a bit worried about the half marathon. Hope I can do it!  I am writing so far behind that unfortunately I can't remember what I did today.  Oh well. I am not sure I will ever catch this thing up!  Sigh....  With the boys back home, it seems life is so much busier now too.  I need to get up at 5 a.m. each day I guess.  Oh wait, I do.  Still isn't getting done.  Life is crazy! However, I think I worked on my Boston Marathon story for a book one of the Boston Buddies is putting together.  I still haven't got that done either because it's too long. I need to edit it down. 

Hip Hip Hooray!  My Boston 2018 Marathon hoody came!  These were completely sold out once I got home from Boston and I was kicking myself I didn't buy one while there.  They were overpriced so I wanted to wait until the Adidas sale or get it with my coupon, but then they were gone. I tried Ebay and Amazon and even the Boston Buddies FB group but to no avail. Well, one lady on there said I could buy hers because she didn't finish the marathon due to the conditions and she felt guilty wearing it. I told her I would buy it until I found out shipping was going to be about $65!  She lives in the UK.  Anyway, I was so sad.  I absolutely loved this black one so much more than the one I got last year.  It is just classy and can be worn anywhere.  Then....I just happened to luck out one day when I got on the Adidas website and they were back on it.  They only had XS but I figured if it was too small then I could always return it easy enough.  I told my friend Mitra about it and so she tried to get one too but they were gone again by then.  Apparently THIS was the ONLY one!  Someone must have returned it and they listed it again and I was the lucky one that got it.  Visualization really does help because I was confident I would get one even though they were nowhere to be found, I had total and complete faith I would and even saw myself wearing it.  I am amazed at times how when we really want something we can get it if we only believe.  Even something so silly as this!  But I will wear this for years to come!  I love it so much!  

dear tuesday, I got in a run this morning and took some gorgeous spring shots.  It was a glorious day!  

Yes, I know they are weeds. But even weeds can be beautiful!

I was out for a while because I was trying to get some sun on my legs before the half marathon Saturday.  Dave was off today but I didn't see much of him.  He is so busy now that he can work outside.  McKay helped him all day.  I had a craft party with my friend Heidi down at the school district offices.  I signed up to make a Yardzee and it was a ton of work.  Time wise.  Nancy and Julie were also there.  I was there for four and half hours!  I was supposed to be to RS because I had part of the Taster's Table but never made it. Good thing I took my bowl of fruit to Carol before I went to the craft thing. But I think my craft turned out super cute!  

Julie's did as well!  

It was a lot of fun but just took...so...long!  

dear wednesday, I practiced my harp for an hour or so.  I headed to my lesson.  She told me that Mickey told her I did a great job playing at the wedding.  I am glad to hear she thought that.  I ran to Farmington to shop for some friend bday gifts and then headed to Ogden and a few more places. I ended up at Costco. I always seem to. haha  I came home and made banana bread and when Taylor got home (he had been in Logan taking a test) he brought me a Swig cookie!  He must have got the vibe I was desperately craving one! ☺ What a good son!  ☺  I raised him right!  hehe  Dave and I headed to the temple for our Stake Temple night. Sadly, it wasn't very full.  My friend Joan was the greeter.  I haven't seen her forever.  She also was the session leader.  We chatted with the Hollingsworth's after and then got home and talked to the boys.  I wanted to hit the hay early but it was almost midnight again. 

These showed up on Instagram while I was in Boston.

dear thursday, I got in a five miler this morning.  It was one of the worst runs of my life.  No idea why. 

Still not recovered? Not good since I have a half marathon in two days!  Ugh.  I had a women's forum meeting today but I was only able to stay for about 15 minutes because it was Carson's Preschool graduation.  I picked up my mom and we headed to his school.  We got there 20 min too early and so we parked and then saw the kids come out to play on the playground.  We watched him. He was so adorable.  Then we checked in the office and met Sarah and Sky and then watched his little program. They sang a bunch of cute songs and he was hamming it up. It was so cute.  No graduation caps though!  What!?  I was thoroughly disappointed about that!  I would have made some had I known!  

 Getting his diploma! Such a proud moment! LOL  

 What an adorable human!
↑Both of them!↑

Proud moment!

I gave him his present.  It was a game of Operation because he wants to be a doctor someday.  I wrote Dr. Carson on his card.  He thought that was funny.  We then went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  It was fun.  My mom once again had me nearly peeing my pants.  She is so hilarious.  Sarah had to head back to work but the rest of us visited for a while. Carson played in the play-land and kept hitting on girls. Haha  Just kidding. It was the other way around with the exception of one girl who wouldn't give him the time of day.  Lol  He was determined to get her stamp of approval.  Cute!  

I took my mom home.  My dang body was hurting all day.  Mostly tight muscles. I just wanted to foam roll and that never happens!  It's torture but geeze, I was aching. I don't think I ever fully recovered from Boston I guess.  Not sure what is going on.  Came home and fixed dinner for Dave's parents.  Dave threw the main dish (crockpot steak and gravy) in the crockpot this morning and I made broccoli, rice, watermelon and rolls.  I also gave them the banana bread I made yesterday.  Taylor delivered it for me.  Dave had a meeting in Tremonton so the rest of us ate without him.  Bryce arrived after we finished. He worked another 13 hour day! 

dear friday, today I headed into Ogden to the Marathon Expo.  I used to love this expo but after Boston and St. George, it's not as exciting.  I wore my Boston jacket because that's what you do at the expos and when I picked up my race shirt, three of the volunteers came running over and were so excited and asked me if I really ran Boston this year and how it was. One of them said she ran in the Ogden one when it was rainy and cold and asked me how it compared. I told her I ran that one as well and there was no comparison.  There really wasn't.  Boston was so much worse. I told her Boston was basically a monsoon.  Then a guy came over and reached out his hand to shake mine and told me, "Good job!  You have my respect!"  He said how that was a brutal race and he knows because he also ran it.  I told him he had my respect!  Then I saw another guy in a Boston jacket and shook his hand.  I am sure that is how it will always be when a fellow 2018 Boston runner sees another one. An instant bond and respect because you know no one else could possibly understand what we did if they didn't experience it themselves.  It was pretty cool.  I talked to the Utah Runner's Club lady and got my free shirt for being on the team. I am supposed to wear my tank top tomorrow I think.  But I'm not sure if I will or not.  I think most people wear them for the prestige, but I prefer to wear something cute.  haha  

Found my name!!!

After the expo I ran to get my phone fixed at iQue. The voice texting doesn't work, the volume and Siri.  They wanted it for two hours and so I hit Costco, Sams, Gordman's, and TJ Maxx.  I came home and ran over to Julie's to take her birthday gift to her.  Then Dave and I went to the new Chinese place for dinner. I thought it would be good carb loading, but it was loaded with oil.  I knew that was not going to be good for a pre-race meal.  And I was right. I ended up with GI issues.  Lovely, just lovely.

dear saturday, today was the Ogden Marathon.  I signed up for the half.  Dave drove me to the start so I didn't have to get up at 3:30 a.m. to catch the bus. I was so grateful!  I was feeling the same pain I have been all week on the way there.  The weather this year was PERFECT weather for a marathon!  Two years in a row now!  It was about 45 at the start.  There was no construction this year and so I arrived at the start before the gun went off.  I have always loved the course.  It is one of my favorites.  

Running around the dam is great but once we head down the canyon and run along the river, it's stunning.  

I felt like my legs were just heavy the entire race.  I definitely wasn't feeling well rested but more sore.  My goal was a sub two and preferably below 1:58 since that is what I got last year.  My PR is 1:52 for the course.  I would have loved to beat that but with the way I was feeling, I knew that wasn't going to happen.  I was having GI issues as well.  I started in front of the 1:50 pacers and about mile 4 or 5 they passed me. I kept them in my sights until about mile 6 or so and then I just had to let them go.  I love the downhill part of this race.  

I was getting a bit warm about halfway.  At mile 12 I drank some Gatorade and immediately thought I was going to lose my breakfast.  I tried to keep it down and was successful though I think I would have felt better if it had come up.  Oh, the joys of running. That last mile was tough.  All of my splits were about an 8:20 until then.  I think it was a 9:20.  I just had nothing left in my legs.  They felt like lead.  But I forced myself to sprint the last bit and finished strong.  I saw Dave when I was nearing the finish line.  I usually have to yell at him instead of him yelling at me.  Haha  

Ready to toss my cookies!

I came in at 1:56:12.  I was happy with that.  Especially with the issues I had going on today.  When the results booted, it showed I came in 5th place in my age division out of 88!  I wasn't sure that was accurate, but I checked a few times and it was.  But I was more excited that I came in 223 out of 1612 in the overall women!  And 561 out of 2642 overall.  My age grade placed me 72 out of 2634!  Not sure if I've ever done that well in this race even when I ran my PR. 

Age/Grade:

68.74% Place: 72

Those numbers made me happy.  

My parents were also at the finish line.  They are so supportive!  We chatted for a bit and then Dave joined us.  We got some photos. 

While we were there the winner of the full came in.  It was Riley!  He is my niece Tanae's bil.  He actually came over by us and chatted to some other peeps and so I talked to him and got a photo.  He is amazing. He set a new course record!  Wow!  His wife took 8th overall woman I believe.  He didn't look this good when he crossed that finish line.  In fact, he almost collapsed!

I went in the runner's circle and got my food and ran into some old friends and then came back out to my family.  We didn't hang around too long.  

These numbers changed a bit later on.

Ogden sent me a bunch of free photos (nice race perk!) after I already published this post so I am now adding them.  Sorry for the dups.

My piraformis was being naughty on the way home. I am perplexed why it waited until a month after Boston to return.  My PF has also been flaring up.  It's like all of my old injuries have decided to make a grand appearance. I would expect to feel like that after a full but not after a half.  I had to take some Advil and rest a bit. I couldn't even roll it out because it was too painful. I had so much to do today, but most of it didn't happen.  I did watch clips of the Royal Wedding and so that was fun.  I have always loved to watch those.  I'm a sucker for a Royal Wedding. I am fascinated with it all. I always have been.  I have seen all of them so far.....Queen Elizabeth's (on a YouTube video), Princess Diana's (I got up at 3:30 a.m. to watch that one when I was 19 years old), Fergie and Prince Andrew's, Princess Kate's, and now Princess Meghan's.  Technically those last two are Duchesses I guess.  Princess Di's was the best.  I will forever remember it.  It was amazing.  Too bad it ended so tragically.  Check this out for a recap on the Royal Wedding  HERE. 

We had the adult meeting for Stake Conference tonight.  I sat by Troy and Carol and Kathryn.  Dave did a great job on his talk.  He is a natural.  He always seems to know what to say and how to say it.  It really is a gift.  We went to Maddox Drive In after and got mini burgers. Our fave!  

Bryce had to work again today. I think he got in 76 hours this week!  Crazy!  That poor kid. Not sure how he is surviving because he has no life. When he gets home around 7 p.m. he usually goes and helps Dave's Dad and then hits the sack before the rest of us because he gets up at 5:30 a.m.

dear sunday, today was Stake Conference.  We met in the North Stake center so we could all meet in one building and ours is not big enough. I missed being at the Tabernacle.  I didn't know the boys were coming and so I squeezed in by a family in another ward and they ended up sitting in the back. Though Sky and fam is in Las Vegas this weekend at a wedding. The meeting was excellent.  All the speakers did a fantastic job.  I especially loved Pres. Wight's about when they fell out of the boat going down some white water rapids.  It was an inspiring story.  Dave talked about how small and simple things bring to pass great things.  

He told about how he picks up rocks each day and how over time it has made his garden rock free.  He also talked about the Parable of the Marathon and talked about Boston a bit and how inspiring a marathon finish line is because the runners help one another.  I think he was trying to relate it to life and how we need to help others. He always does a great job.  A lot of the talks emphasized Ministering.

Dave's parents gave me a ride home.  I got dinner ready and we changed things up a bit per Taylor's request.  So we had Brussel sprouts, a strawberry quinoa salad, garlic knot rolls and Rice-a-Roni that we normally don't have.  Haha  It was yummy.

I actually was able to lay down for a nap.  I was exhausted from that race still.  Unfortunately, I just could not sleep.  No idea.  Frustrating.  But I did get some rest.  I then ended up watching a special on yesterday's Royal Wedding. 

dear quotes, 

I had to make this meme