Another Busy Weekend!

Wow! What a crazy fun filled weekend! Weston and the boys had their annual "Father and Sons" outing with our Ward. The boys couldn't wait to hit the road and they had a really great time but.....not without a few trials along the way. For starters, one of the tires blew on the truck on the way up to Bear Canyon Lake. Weston said they had just barely gotten through the curvy area along the rim (Yes, the section with shear drop offs!) when it blew. He was incredibly grateful (as am I) that it blew on a nice flat straight stretch of road where he was able to keep control and take care of it quickly. Jalon also burned his finger (3rd degree) and Weston froze all night. Weston wanted me to add that in spite of all that they had a really great time and he is happy to report once again he DOMINATED in horseshoes! Way to go honey! So with the boys away the girls got to play! I took Emily out of school early Friday to shop! Yes, shop! We didn't end up buying too much but we had lots of fun together. That night I dropped her off at her Aunt Anne's house to stay the night. Her little one's just adore Emily and they had a really great time playing and swimming. Saturday morning, I was up at 3:30 am to head on up to Prescott with Anissa, her husband and sister-in-law too to do our second 1/2 marathon this year. It was a really great race and it was absolutely beautiful up there. Once again, this experience taught me a lot. I knew it was going to be really difficult and it certainly was but I also found I still have a lot to learn about racing. I had mentally prepared myself for a 6.5 mile race. You see, the route travels uphill for 6.5 miles elevating 1000 feet and then you get to turn around come back down on the same path to the finish line. I kept telling myself if I pushed hard during the first part all I would have to do is keep my feet under me for the second part and let gravity do the rest. Ha! What I learned was that the energy lost in the uphill could not be recovered in the downhill like I had hoped. By the time I hit mile 11, I had NOTHING left. My legs felt like complete mush! With each step I felt like my legs could buckle at any moment. The altitude took it's toll on me as well and my chest completely tightened up. Ultimately, I didn't end up finishing strong at all and that was really disappointing to me but I was happy to improve my time by 8 minutes in spite of the challenges. I ended up completing my race in just under 2 hours and 24 minutes. As hard as it was again, I'm already looking forward to my next race. I'm insane, I know! Anissa did really great, as usual. Her time was in just a little over 2 hours and 19 minutes. Way to go Anissa! One of these days, I'm going to beat her (probably not until I can drop another 20!) but until then, I'm just happy I finished the race!