Running--then and now

Once upon a time there was a young teen who got talked into running on the high school cross country team.   She had never really run before.  Actually for that matter, she had never really participated in any sport before, but she decided to give it a try.     She pretty much hated it at first, but kept with it through all four years of high school.  She never did get to be very competitive, but she grew to love running and love the camaraderie of the cross country team.  It is still of my opinion that cross country runners are the smartest, nicest people around.  

Over the years, running has stayed important in my life and running and walking are still my preferred ways to exercise.   But I don't really like racing anymore.  I've done a few races over the years--

A couple half-marathons, a Ragnar, a bunch of 5k's, but for the most part I like to run slow and only a couple times a week. Any more than that and I tend to get injured.   So for the last couple of years I've had the routine of walking most days of the week and running on Mondays/Thursdays only.   It's a routine that keeps me challenged, fit, and uninjured.  And I like being uninjured.   

Fast forward a bunch of years and Cami chose to run cross country in high school too.  Watching her run always made me feel so nostalgic and I was proud of her for sticking with it all four years of high school too.  She also did lacrosse in high school and at BYU. 

Then she married into a crazy running family.  The kind of family where her mother-in-law has run like 20 marathons.  Her father-in-law has run 50 mile trail races.  Even Garrett is hoping to qualify for Boston.  You know that kind of crazy.   

So it shouldn't have surprised us too much when just a few months after she was married, she announced that she was training for a marathon.  And she actually did it.   She trained hard for several months, fighting off a couple of injuries along the way, but this past weekend she did it!   

Cami ran an entire marathon!   

And Garrett did it too.   It wasn't his first one though, so I'm mostly bragging about Cami this time!   

Neither one of them quite met their time goals, but Cami was within a couple of minutes, so she's already talking about trying it again!    And Garrett still wants to qualify for Boston, so I foresee many more long runs in their future.

Meanwhile...this runner here is still quite content with her 10-minute-mile pace treadmill runs twice a week and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. 

Cami in Acrostic

C-lass of 2015!  She is thrilled to be a senior this year!  

A-CT score of 30!   

M-ath tutoring a 9-year-old little boy 

I- will miss her when she goes to college next year! 

R-olled her ankle during a cross country race last weekend

O-odles less homework than last year

S-tarted making her own shampoo/conditioner/laundry soap from scratch

E-xperimenting with making  new cupcake creations….today it was delicious cookie-filled cupcakes

Cross Country Days

As a young girl I fancied myself a fast runner.  I remember racing my siblings around the yard and gloating in my frequent victories, not realizing that my longer legs (for the few years that I had longer legs) definitely put me at a bit of an advantage in those races.

When I was a little older, my friend, Jess, talked me into joining the junior high cross country team with her.  I had never participated in an organized sport before, but my hesitation was quickly won over by her persuasiveness and I slogged my way though the entire season enjoying the company but hating every step of the running.

After my junior high experience,  I vowed to never run again. Luckily though, shortly before my first year of high school started, the cross country coach started calling my house and recruiting me to join the team.  I liked the feeling of being wanted and after a while reluctantly agreed to join the team.

During my years in high school I never rose above being an average JV runner,  but even still I consider my decision to join that team as one of the pivotal moments in my life.  Not only did the cross country team surround me with some of the brightest, most hard working, and nicest students in my high school, but it also helped me to develop a confidence and self-discipline that have helped me through my whole life since then.

My senior year

Fast forward twenty plus years and now my own daughter is running on her high school cross country team.  She's continued to struggle with her asthma and has never come close to winning any races, but she has put her heart and soul into her running and I can't help but feel a whole wallop of nostalgia every time we attend one of her races.

Cross country is about the only thing about high school that I miss and I have enjoyed watching her make her own harrier memories....

                             2013                                                         1990

And I literally have to fight back tears when I see her pushing through the pain...

and giving that extra push to the finish line...

 Way to Cam!

This Week: The Good, the Bad, and the Ironic

A little glimpse at our week this past week....the good, the bad, and the ironic! 


The good:

• Cami got bumped up to varsity for this morning's cross country meet and despite the hilly course got a PR by 2 minutes!

• I love working with the young women at church!  It's a busy calling, but they are fabulous inside and out and I am enjoying the opportunity to get to know them better!

• We just learned that Ellie's 1st grade teacher from last year just had her baby.  Ellie is beside herself with joy and hopes she gets called to babysit soon! 

• The swelling in Glen's lip has reduced somewhat today and for the first time since it happened, he's starting to feel a little better. 

• I've been making some apple recipes for the Recipe Shoebox.  Yum! 

The bad:

• I spent most of the week doing double duty while Glen was out of town.  I may or may not have gotten a little grumpy about it some days. 

• Glen had only been home a couple of hours when the deck incident occurred.  Not quite the welcome home we'd planned after being apart for a week. 

• I drove 40 miles to Cami's cross country meet this morning in the middle of nowhere Virginia and missed seeing her run by 2 minutes.    The country roads were not equipped to handle those kinds of crowds and I was more than a little flustered when it took about 45 minutes to drive the last 3 miles to the event.   And I'm a little embarrassed to admit that he poor parking attendant who demanded $5 payment  from me after all that traffic frustration, may or may not have had to pick up the money from the ground.  

The ironic: 

• That the reason Glen was on the deck in the first place was to check for the loose board that Emma had discovered a couple days previously while he was out of town.  He found it the hard way when his leg went through the deck propelling the other end of the board up to his face. 

• While Glen was kayaking in Maine for an entire week, I worried for his safety every day.  And I found it sadly ironic that within a couple hours of arriving home safe and sound from Maine with nothing more than some stinky socks and a few blisters, that he ends up in the ER getting 7 stitches. 

• After a week of eating freeze-dried food in Maine, one of the things that Glen was most looking forward to upon arriving home was some home-cooked meals.  Now his diet consists of cream of wheat, pureed soups, and mashed potatoes.  I'm thinking of buying some baby food for him.  ;)
  
  

• Since injuring his lip, he's had two job-hunt related events (an interview and a career workshop).   And he's had two job offers to be a Botox lip model!  (just kidding on the job offers)

Tis the Season...

....for long, hot showers, pumpkiny treats, sleeping with the windows cracked open, dressing in layers,  hearty soups,  changing leaves, and....

CROSS COUNTRY SEASON!  

After 4 years of being a middle of the pack high school cross country runner (including a year as captain), I still experience a touch of nostalgia every time Cami comes home with mud splattered legs and sore knees. 

Okay, maybe it's more than just a touch of nostalgia.   In what can only be described as a subconscious attempt to relive "my high school glory days" (sarcasm alert), I just let Glen talk me into running a half-marathon with him in November.   Looking back,  I'm not quite sure why I said yes since I run like a snail and anything past about 5 miles is torturous for me, but I'm hoping the muddy, sore knees will make me feel like a teenager again.  


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