The Best Family Fourth

The fourth of July is the Best Family holiday. 

It's not secret we like to have fun (2013, 2012, 2011, 2009)

I love celebrating this holiday. 

It is better than Christmas. 

All the time spent with family and friends but so much less stress. 

Wednesday night, I received a phone call from Dylan. 

He asked me if I would run with him in the 5k.  

Julie is far too competitive in this 5k and it never ends well with her and Dylan running together. 

I gladly accepted his invitation. 

Dylan likes to sprint for a good 2-3 minutes and then he is dead the rest of the time.  

I let him sprint and caught up to him within .75 miles. 

We then continued the rest of the 5k with each other. 

He was a great running buddy and only stopped a few times. 

2014 Best Family Runners. 

Julie was the winner 25:00

Matt and Gabers were only a couple minutes behind her. 

Porter is really into picking the poses for pictures.  

Here were some of his greatest ones from the 4th. 

After the run we headed over to the city breakfast and then to the parade. 

I love being home and doing the Layton city celebration. 

Luke was feeling pretty cool on his first holiday with his shades. 

We were all pretty overheated after the parade and run. 

We headed up to Talia's pool (Thanks again Talia!)

The kids and adults had a blast.  

You can see that Matt & Luke were tuckered out...

And so was Grandma

It was time for the family BBQ followed with a dance party in the back and then half the crew headed to LHS for the fireworks while the others stayed and watched them from M&D's house. 

Luke was really loving the fireworks.

It was a great day. 

Grateful for the freedom our country has. 

The men and women that have sacrificed their life for my freedom.

Ragnar, Wasatch Back 2014

I still can't believe that this is my 3rd Ragnar?  

I have quickly come to love them and the challenge of the relay. 

I lucked out having one of the greatest teams possible.  

There were a few people that I ran Vegas Ragnar with last fall.  

We added a few people and we were ready to go.  

Somehow I convinced Talia she NEEDED to do it with me this year. 

It was so fun having her there. 

I don't get to spend nearly enough time with her. 

Here is Van #2. 

Tyler, Ryan, Ryan, me, Talia and Julie.

I'm so glad each of them were with me. 

They were all so much fun. 

My family truly is the best, especially on things like this. 

They were there to cheer us on. 

Julie was runner 8 and I was runner 10. 

They were able to cheer both of us on Friday. 

Gabe and Matt were both running so Natalie & Mom bounced back and forth to see us. 

These were the best faces to hear when my energy was running low. 

It rained all morning Friday, so thankful that I was in van #2.  

It stopped by the time we made it to our exchange. 

But a morning full of rain made it VERY humid. 

Which makes for very big and unruly hair. 

This was only after 3 miles.  

After my first run, we waited up at Snowbasin for Tyler and Ryan to run. 

I was sitting and talking to Talia and our long lost Cabber friend, Keith ran into us. 

It was a fun little college reunion for us!

We also were able to meet up with Matt and Gabe at Snowbasin. 

Julie and I both hated that we all weren't on the same team, especially since Gabers joined Matt's work team last minute. 

He was runner 4 (my same runs from last year)

Gabers did such a great job. 

That is a long ways to run and no sleep makes that even harder. 

I can't do anything without these little cuties cheering me on. 

I sure love them. 

The 4 runners and 4 cheerleaders. 

Baby Luke did a great job cheering us all on.

Natalie and the kiddos were great sports spending their entire weekend watching us. 

Tyler participated in many dance parties throughout the weekend. 

I know I will always have a good time with him. 

He had some really difficult runs and did such a great job. 

All of our second legs were in the middle of the night.  

One of the exchanges the volunteers had decorated it with black lights and were having a giant party.  

Makes it so much fun. 

My night run was rough, it was 7.5 miles with no support. 

In fact, I was on a trail and was completely separated from all the vans. 

It was 2:30am when I started my run. 

I didn't pack my light running jacket because it was suppose to be warm. 

But thanks to the rain storm temperatures dropped a lot. 

I only had a sweatshirt to run in and I knew that it would be too much for 7.5 miles. 

So I ended up opting to just run in my tank top.

BAD DECISION. 

I froze the entire way. 

And because it was so cold, my breathing was causing fog and that is all I could see with my headlamp. 

Once I finished, I was shivering and wanted to snuggle up in truck. 

I finally got to sleep for 30 or so minutes after that. 

Here we are in Oakley, finishing up our 2nd legs.

We ran ALL night long.  

It was still pretty cold up there but we were ready to head to our final exchange with van 1 and shower and sleep. 

A middle school in Heber does a fundraiser during Ragnar where you pay $5 for a shower and place to sleep and $5 for a hot breakfast.  It was heaven even if we only slept for 90 minutes or so. 

Hads loved coming and sitting in the truck with TyTy.  

She wasn't quite sure about the dance party happening, but with a little help from TyTy she was into it. 

I knew going into this year that I had some difficult legs, specifically my 2nd and 3rd leg. 

My 3rd leg was the top of RAGNAR HILL. 

I had no plans of ever "running" the hill, but thought I could power walk up this beast. 

.50 mile into my 4.0 mile climb I broke down. 

My team was only going up 100 yards every time and I was hitting a major wall. 

I was so frustrated mentally and physically. 

My legs have never felt so heavy in my entire life. 

My team was trying to pump me up... it wasn't helping. 

My sister, Julie and Talia saved the day.  

They both took turns walking with me to help me finish what I started. 

It was tough. 

I was slow. 

I felt defeated. 

Eventually, I saw that 1 mile left sign and I knew the end was in sight. 

The last .25 of a mile I was able to see the finish and picked up my feet and ran to Tyler. 

It was the most emotional and best exchange of my life.  

I'm not sure what I would have done without my team to help get me to the top. 

I knew I could not climb in the truck and let someone else finish it for me. 

I needed to do it. 

and I did it!

Despite my two miserable runs, I had a great time with my team. 

We know how to dance, run and laugh.... and eat. 

Sounds like Ragnar 2015 is already in the planning stages.  

Whether I want to admit it or not, I am a Ragnar Addict. 

THE CAPTAIN'S MISFITS!

13.1 on the books

Sometimes when you are making year goals you put down....

Run a half marathon.

WHY?  

Why do I do this to myself?

I've been training pretty consistently for the past several months.  

Surprisingly, I have started to find myself in a pretty good groove with running. 

My body feels pretty good during and after my runs. 

I signed up and paid my money May 31st, so I could no scare myself out of it. 

The week of my race, I started getting allergies... or so I thought. 

Turns out I came down with a NASTY COLD!

I'm so mad. 

I haven't had a cold ALL year long. 

The week of my big run. 

BOOM! Cold.  Hacking cough. 

I was still determined to complete this goal. 

Friday I started getting really nervous and anxious. 

I called Tyler to see if he would be nice enough to do it with me. 

At midnight, he officially decided he was the greatest friend ever and was going to get up at 3:00am and hope they would let him buy an entry! 

Thankfully they did! 

I was so glad that he was there with me.  

I was so nervous. 

It was nice to have someone to be at the starting line.

Did I mention it was 32 degrees at the starting line?

SO COLD! 

We ran the first mile or so together and then I told Tyler to get running so he could make his 1:50 goal. 

The run was gorgeous. 

It was down Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

Considering how sick I was and that this was my first half, I felt great. 

I got tired around mile 11.

Pushed through entire this little lady grabbed my hand and ran with me until the finish line.

My kiddos are finish line experts and love running with us.

It is so nice to hear and see your family.

They make the experience. 

I have some real great cheerleaders. 

Best finish line ever!

I'm really glad that I pushed myself to do this. 

I'm so glad that Ty was kind enough to not only support me on this, but to come do it with me.

Ragnar in 8 days and counting.....

The worst part: training

For the most part I really enjoy working out. 

But working out and training are two different things in my book.

When I have to train, it makes me really wish I wouldn't set running goals. 

Especially, when I haven't run in 3 weeks. 

Last nights run was rough. 

And so will today's and the next day.

I'm determined to be ready for my half. 

Then remind me to never make running a goal. 

63 days.....

High five for running!

Did I really just high five that?

Talia and I high-five'd after our run on Saturday. 

4 miles down... lots more to go!

I was warm outside which made it a little more enjoyable to be running. 

And it was even better to have a pal to run with. 

I have officially convinced her to run Ragnar 2014 with me!  

Hive five for pals running Ragnar with you!

2013: Recap

The reason I started this blog was to keep up with some dear friends that moved across the country.  

Now, it is for me.  

I like to be able to look back at things that I have done or places of my life. 

I have always done a recap of the year. (2010, 2011, 2012)

Last year, I did a video. 

It's even more fun to watch and remember certain moments of the year. 

Here is 2013's Recap, video style. 

2013 has been a year of growth for me.  

I'm proud to say I have learned a lot and ready to put the lessons into actions. 

Here is to 2014.

Pushing my limits

This year I made it a goal to run Ragnar relay.  

I don't enjoy running.

I am not good at it. 

And I wanted to accomplish something big for me. 

Turns out, I not only did Wasatch Back but Vegas as well. 

Even though Vegas was not nearly as well run and it was A LOT of time in the van.

I'm so glad I did it. 

I was able to run without a torn ligament and pushed myself. 

Next year, half marathon and Ragnar. 

Pushing my limits. 

Ragnar: Saints to Sinners

Sometimes you make dumb decisions and commit to another Ragnar. 

I blame the double medal. 

If you run Ragnar: Wasatch Back and Ragnar: Vegas in the same year, you get the Saints to Sinner medal. 

Stupid medal. 

Because seeing this sign 3 different times... doesn't make anyone happy. 

I convinced my dear friend, Keri to run with me. 

She had never done a Ragnar or actually heard much about it. 

She was a champ. 

She was a saint. 

I would have poked my eyes out without this darling gal. 

We all rode in one van, so that left limited room. 

We will told to pack light. 

Keri and I did just that. 

Which left us wandering the streets of Vegas in our sweats. 

Classy. 

We had a 3:00am wake up call and were at the starting line at 4:30am. 

Talk about early. 

Because Keri and I were runner 11&12. 

Which meant, we had a good 12 hours until our first run. 

That left us to entertain ourselves. 

Tats were obviously a good choice. 

Shows we are tough. 

Hardcore. 

And lots and lots of pictures.

And SnapChats. (Sorry, if you were the receiver of all the pictures and videos)

And Bubble Gum Blowing contests. 

Keri is hands down the winner. 

Every time. 

We had so much fun that during a dance party, right before my first run, this happened. 

Makes for a fun story. 

And it is just my luck. 

When someone gets up at 3:00am and doesn't sleep much the night before, you get a little crazy. 

This was at 8:00pm. It easily felt like 3:00am. 

Keri and I took our turn driving and entertained ourselves and the entire van. 

We survived by always having a coke after every run. 

As Keri says, "It's a life style."

Our 2nd run, was in the middle of the night.  

I started my run at 3:15am.

It was a quick 3 miler, but I was exhausted and so excited to be able to sleep some without having to worry about a run in a couple of hours. 

We passed out and woke up refreshed and ready to go! 

This picture makes me laugh, so hard. 

Keri was snapping and so was I.  

I turned to show her in my video and this was the face I got. 

Love this picture. 

It's a framer. 

This was right before my final run.

My last run was scheduled to be 7.3 miles of intense hills. 

But Ragnar lied and it was almost 8.5 miles. 

It tested me mentally and physically. 

I had never been so happy to see a finish line and my team there to run in with me. 

We finished!

This one was a little more fulfilling because I was able to run better because I wasn't dealing with a torn ligament. 

Thankfully my knee didn't bother me at all this time. 

It has pushed me to do things that I normally don't enjoy. 

I don't enjoy running, but I do feel accomplished after. 

I am thankful everyday for Keri. 

She is a gift from my Zach and is my rock.

I'm so glad we did this together and were able to be nut jobs in the back of the van together. 

Ragnar Vegas: See you... NEVER!