The Tale of the Terrible Trot

Our good friends John and Andrea asked us if we wanted to run the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon with them. The race was the last Saturday of April and they asked us mid-January, which was plenty of time to get back in trained shape. Plus we really like them, and also like the half-marathon distance. So we said yes :)

Chris was great and trained up to 9 miles before the race, plus he was also taking a rigorous spinning class twice a week so he was in great shape by the time April 28th rolled around. I on the other hand.... In the 3 1/2 months I had to train had only gone running maybe 4 times, and the longest distance had been 6 miles. 5 weeks before the race. And that was also the last time I went running. But I had paid to do this, so there was no way I was wasting $45 dollars. You think that would have motivated me to train in the months prior but I guess not. I knew that a body could handle 13 miles, even if it would be hard it was doable (26 miles, different story), and that was enough to make me be at the start line come Saturday morning.

Andrea promised to stay running with me the whole time. She is more athletic than I am and I know she could have gone faster, so let me just start this with saying THANK YOU ANDREA. She had not trained any longer distances than I had, plus she just had a baby 6 months ago (you go girl!) so I thought we would be similar in pace....pretty sure she still could have beat me by a long shot :) We wanted to finish under 2 hours 30 minutes, but weren't really going for a time. We wanted to run the whole time and walk only through the water stations. And for about the first 7 miles or so, we did! From that point on, let me tell you about it...

Mile 7 ish - I start to feel my toes pressing into my shoes and I realize I forgot to trim my toe nails. AH. It wasn't really hurting yet, but I knew it potentially could, so I just tried to ignore the fact that I could feel it possibly starting to happen.

Mile 8 ish I am really feeling that I only ran up to 6 miles. Also I kind of have to go to the bathroom but don't want to stop (really annoying, this has never happened to me before).

Mile 9 (I think, maybe earlier) we start running through the gold course so there are a lot of hills. Not long ones, but pretty steep. So we start walking up the hills and through the water stations :(

Mile 10 I really have to go to the bathroom but I am in so much pain in my legs that I know if I sit down I won't be able to stand back up and will be stuck haha so I just keep going and try not to think about it.

Mile 11.... I want to fall to the ground in a heap and sob uncontrollably until I am dead. I am so exhausted and I am literally picking up a lead weight and putting it down again with every step. I have no momentum and I have to consciously choose to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even though there were only 2 miles left at this point I knew if Andrea had not been there to keep me going I would have done exactly this and told someone to find my husband to come get me. So now I am not thinking about my toe nails, the bathroom, or crying, and just literally doing this hobble jog thing.

Interjection - We passed the mile 11 sign what seemed like forever ago and get to a water station. I think Mile 12 marker has to be close and I ask the water volunteers what mile they are at. This girl says "I know that we are mile 11." I just about LOST IT. I thought I had only about 1 more mile to go and if it turns out the signs were wrong and I had 2 more I was going to have a nervous mental break down. Right before I was about to freak out at this girl for saying she was at 11, this lady runs by who knew on her watch we were at 11.7. Thank goodness.

I think to myself if I can just see the 12 sign I can finish. Well, we get to the 12 and I have to walk and want to just walk the whole last mile. Good Andrea put up with that for maybe .2 miles and then told me I could do it. For those of you who know Andrea Taylor, she is the most cheerful, optimistic person probably on the Earth, and I could not have picked a better partner! So we run...I "run"...in the rest of the way. As I come up to the finish I think I can muster enough strength to pick up my speed as I cross. But no. Its all I can do to even get to the actual line and not die. I see Chris just past the finish on the side line, go up to him, and COMPLETELY LOSE IT.  Raucous, loud, heaving sobs for a solid 5 minutes. Everything I had kept from doing at mile 11 plus 2 more miles. Chris said later that he wasn't entirely surprised when that happened, lol! He had been kind of worried about how it would go for me with the little training I had done.

But then it was over! AND guess what? We came in at 2 hours 29 minutes. I am not kidding! There was great food at the end, too, so that was nice. The 2 good things about this race were the weather and the route. It was the perfect day and the more gorgeous terrain! I highly recommend this race for people who like running, if you are trained enough it would be a great first half marathon.

So, here is my take away: I need to either commit to running and sign up for a 10k - half marathon every 3-4 months so that I am just perpetually staying in shape (because when I pay for them, I run them). OR, drop running completely and never do it again. I know that sounds extreme, but what I have learned about myself is that its hard for me to get back in the habit but I pay for it so I do it and this happens. Horrible experience. I can't do one every now and then. I also think I need to find a friend near where I live to train with. So, we will see.

Chris, Me, Andrea, John - After the race!

Chris, Me, Andrea, John - What we all really felt like...at least I did!

Graduation!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL! Well...almost :) Chris walked in the April BYU graduation ceremonies since he is going to be finishing up this month (or early next month). He is all done with classes so it kind of counts, right? It was exciting because both Chris and my younger sister Chelsea were graduating with their Master's Degrees. Chris received his MFA in Creative Writing and Chelsea received her MS in Mathematics (I know, she is the smart one). During commencement they sat by in each other and since they both had wedding rings on and it was obvious they knew each other people around them kept assuming they were married, lol. I was really proud to have my husband and sister be able to graduate together.

Chelsea's graduation was nice and short (how many graduate in the math/hard sciences vs humanities), so hers was done in about an hour and 15 minutes Friday morning. Her Thesis is called something like On the Character of a Finite Group...something. I listened to her present it. It is in the family of Abstract Algebra which is her thing. Imaginary numbers and all that :) Nothing applicable to real life, all good theoretical stuff. I love you Chels!!! :) She was considering getting a PhD but right now she is planning to begin teaching Math at a community college.

Chris's was Friday evening (so I went to one, went to work, squeezed in just the minimum hours, and then came backt o the other). And his college is HUGE. And, his name was the FIRST ONE READ. So we all cheered real loud and then had to sit there for another hour plus listening to add additional like 700 names or something insane. Of course now he can (and does) say that he graduated first in his class :) Chris's Thesis is called Look Me in the Stars and is a collection of short stories he wrote! So it was 100% creative. So instead of being research based (like Chelsea's) it was more of a demonstration of how he has honed his skills as a writer through his program and this is what he produced. So cool!!! I am feeling so proud and happy just writing this. I have the coolest husband ever!  I will post later on what his/our plans are because they are not completely solidified, which should not be a surprise to any of you considering we haven't had any real plans since getting married, haha!

Our families were so supportive, my parent's and other sister Camille were at everything, Andrew's parents came down for Chelsea's, Chris's dad came to his along with his sister and brother-in-law. Also, shout out to Ben and Deja, the Dean of the Humanities College asked people to NOT cheer for their individual grad so that those who didn't have anyone present wouldn't feel left out (and to prolong the already long name reading). But they were both like screw that he is getting his masters and is first in line, we are cheering, and they did. REALLY LOUD. It set the standard and so everyone else did, too. Thanks guys :)

Anyway, it was all a fun time and we got some fun pics out of it. Also I will post later about Chris's actual thesis defense which was later. And awesome.

They do look married, dont they? :)

Sisters!! We didn't mean to match each other and Chelsea's tassle/hood color...but it was a nice touch.

The "brothers" wanted a picture too

Just having some fun with the hood, that isn't really a hood, but Chris made it one :)

Husberg Family: Dad, Me, Chris, Deja, Ben

Johnson Family: Camille, Andrew, Chelsea, Chris, Me, Mom, Dad

Nice hoods!!!

Congratulations guys!!!!!

Arizona Trip and the Welton's Wedding!

One of our best friends and Chris's last single roommate finally tied the knot! Our dear friend Chris Welton met and married Cosette (now Welton) in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple on April 14, 2012. More on this later.

We have a number of friends who have migrated down to that area over the years so we decided to go down a couple of days early and see all of them! The trip was SO FUN!!!

First we spent the night Wednesday with my cousin Kelly and her husband Greg in Vegas since we left Provo late. Even though we had just seen them at our cousin's wedding it was so fun to visit one on one with them. And their two cute kids were very welcoming, and were sad that we didn't stay and play :( maybe next time!

We headed down to Mesa Thursday morning and got there in time to have lunch with my freshman roommate Kara and her husband Clay. Kara and I have stayed in touch ever since Freshman year in the dorms and I loved getting to actually see her since they moved down a few years ago. Last time I saw her they had just had their baby Macee who was only a couple of months old. They are now expecting their second, and see Macee now, almost 3, and this INCREDIBLE talent she has: naming all of the general authorities of the LDS Church by last name from their pictures.

I was so blown away that I had her do it again and recorded it. Kara said she made these pictures for the primary class she teaches and Macee would look at them during church and ask who each one was over and over again. Her parents would tell her and eventually she just memorized them. AMAZING!!!

We then got together with Brian and Kelly Bowen, friends from our student ward in Provo.  They also now have a baby and by baby I mean toddler. Cooper was absolutely adorable and we could tell he was such a fun loving, rambunctious kid! Also Kelly looked amazing. I could have completely forgotten she had had a baby if it weren't for him being there! It was so great to just visit and share what is going on with each of us in our lives . We also established that Brian is going to get some sort of shout out in Chris's first book, for no other reason than just because we talked about doing it during dinner. Something like "Also thanks to Brian Bowen" with no explanation. Then all of Chris's stalwart readers will be on the hunt to find out Who is Brian Bowen, and what is so important...it will be great :)

We spent that night at another of my cousin's homes, also in Mesa, LJ and her husband Adam. Again, so good to be able to visit one on one, especially with Adam because we haven't been able to get to know him as well before now. LJ is also an aspiring writer so it was great to hear her and Chris go on about all of that. In the morning we got to see her baby Hyrum, also very cute! Also, his name suits him perfectly. Its definitely not a well used name anymore, but he looks just like a Hyrum. Good call Adam, and LJ for going along with it!

LJ pointed us in the direction of a great curry place that we thoroughly enjoyed. Very authentic, kind of hole in the wallish. Curry Corner for anyone interested, we now also highly recommend it. We wandered around the Mesa/Tempe area that afternoon and then had dinner with more Provo student ward friends, Tyler and Alyssa Sharp. They bought a house and are in the middle of fixing it up. So fun!!! (Almost everyone we stayed with is about our age and owned their homes, it was incredible!!).  When in Provo we loved to just hang out and talk about things with them. We always have very filling discussions about any topic, and we realized that we have missed that! Spending time with them could have gone on all night.

BUT, we eventually left to stay with ANOTHER cousin that night :) (I have a huge family...). Jess and Jared live in an awesome up and coming area full of young families. Also they had green grass in their front yard which was very refreshing as we discovered that was hard to come by. Last time I saw her kids they were a toddler and baby and they were so grown up!! It was fun to catch up on what is going on with them right now. Jess sings with the East Valley Mormon Choir in Mesa which is so awesome!!!

Well, after lunch dinner sleep lunch dinner sleep with so many friends and family, Saturday finally arrived, the big day for the wedding! They were smart and were having a small luncheon at noon and their sealing later in the day after that, which left the whole morning wide open. I guess the groom didn't want to just sit around antsy, so we got to have breakfast with him and Chris's other best friend roommate Chris English and his wife Katie (yes, all 3 of these guys are named Chris). The Englishes flew in from Texas so we haven't seen them in a while either. It was so great to get together again and just have fun.  After the luncheon we (minus the groom) went to get them a wedding gift and then headed over to the Temple. It had been perfect weather since we were down there and though it was sunny (good enough!) it was windy, only that day :( But, again, good enough! The sealing was perfect. The sealer was kind of weird...and talked kind of strangely...but, what he said was really good and thats what counts :) They had great food and a photobooth at their reception, and even a little dancing! (Hardly any of our friends who have gotten married since us have had dancing, which we love, so that was nice).

We can't WAIT to get to know Cosette! We are sure she is amazing because she was able to see that Chris is an incredible guy. It was a very fun, rewarding trip, and most importantly:

Congratulations to the Weltons!!