Category Archives: Running

Summer 2011

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Scott| 2 Comments

Warning: this is one of those “I haven’t blogged in months” posts that we all write occasionally. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll post 9 pictures and let those serve as 9,000 words for the reader.

Mid-June, I decided to run a half marathon. The race was scheduled for the end of June. I allowed myself two weeks of training. Brutal may be a bit exaggerated to describe the training, but it wasn’t easy.

The race started 7 miles or so up American Fork canyon. I was on a bus at 4:30am to get up to the starting line, where I sat for an hour. It was dark, and chilly – cold air floating from the reservoir and over the starting line.

I ran well downhill for those 7 miles. My pace was rocking (compared to my normal pace). Jeana and the kids were cheering for me at the mouth of the canyon. The feeling of support in a race is so motivating. Then, they’re gone, and the downhill is now flat. And your leg muscles are used to compensating on the downhill, and fatigue sets in.

Sure, all you marathoners are thinking, “Quit your whining!” Go ahead think that. For all you who don’t run half-marathons, I’ll accept your admiration of my perseverance. I finished the race in an acceptable time. I don’t remember what it was now, something like 1 hour 47 minutes.

My parents spent some time in Utah this summer, baby-sitting our oldest niece (who is now 22 years old). While they were in town, Jeana and the kids joined them at the zoo. They got a good laugh when a fountain sprayed Kate in the face.

We spent the 4th of July at Sundance resort. Our original plan to walk around the grounds and shops turned into a ride up the ski lifts, and then turned into an impromptu hike. How can you resist when it’s so beautiful up there?

While riding up the lift, we could see a fantastic waterfall off in the distance. Later we learned that this is Stewart Falls (and Jeana would hike it 37 weeks pregnant). Of course, we were not prepared with water, food, or even proper hiking footwear, but we decided to hike until we could get a good prospect of the falls.

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Posted in Hiking, Running, Utah

Audrey and Kate’s triathlon

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Jeana| Leave a comment

Audrey and Kate participated in the Provo tri on Saturday. When I first told them about the triathlon, Kate told me that she wasn’t going to do it. Audrey was game, but Kate was quite emphatic about her decision. So, not wanting to force Kate into anything, I only signed Audrey up…. until Kate saw that Audrey was getting a new suit that would work better for all three events. Then, she said, “I think Audrey’s right. I’ll be sad if I don’t do it. So, I guess I’ll do it.” Luckily, there was still time to sign her up. Being the nice Mom I am, I told her she could do it and get a new swim suit, but if she whined at all at the race, we would put her old suit on and take the new one back.

Kate did really good not to whine until we put on her swim cap – which she usually loves. I think she was just getting nervous about things and it was coming out in the form of complaints about the swim cap. I threatened the whole swim suit thing again and she snapped back into shape.

The temperature outside was mid 60′s. The temperature of Utah Lake averages 60 degrees this time of year. I’m pretty sure, it was no where close to that.

Originally, Scott and I were both planning to swim with the girls but once we got there we convinced ourselves that one parent (Scott) would be enough and that way they other one (me) could stay with Simon and take pictures. Audrey started out great. Look at her awesome freestyle in those pictures above.

Apparently, Kate was having a hard time getting started in the frigid water, so Scott picked her up and put her on her back. I had just enough time to take this picture of her screaming before I saw Audrey begin to come back toward Scott and grab onto him because the cold was finally getting to her. So, I ran back to the stroller, stripped down to my swim suit, ditched Simon, and jumped in the water. It was a good thing I went out there. Scott had already run eight miles that morning and was feeling like he’d be lucky to finish the swim, let alone helping two panicking girls. They both finished with a backstroke – well, more like floating on their backs and kicking, but hey, they finished.

While I helped them dry off and transition to bikes, Scott dried off himself and ran off after them.

The girls came back looking great and full of energy. Scott, however was spent! Audrey got back a little before Kate, so I sent her off on the run and then followed along with Kate a few seconds later.

Audrey finished her run a couple of minutes before Kate and was able to cheer for Kate as she crossed the finish line.

I was so proud of both of them. They worked so hard and did awesome coming in, in the last two spots.

I think Kate may have been the youngest one to do it. They rocked!

Way to go girls!

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Posted in Adventure, Biking, Kate, Running, Scott, Simon, Swimming

Moab 1/2 Marathon

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Jeana| 3 Comments

On Saturday I ran the Moab 1/2 Marathon. Scott met me to run the last 2 3/4 miles with me which didn’t lend to much picture taking. So here’s what we’ve got:

Here I am getting on the bus to take us up the canyon. This was taken a little before 8 a.m. even though the race didn’t start until 10 a.m. The temperature wasn’t too bad, but the wind was blowing so hard. It was freezing up there sitting on my cold rock waiting until the start.

I didn’t have high expectations for this race, being 16 weeks pregnant and having taken about six weeks off during what should have been training. In fact I really didn’t start training until three weeks ago. So, I decided to do a walk run combination and I ended up surprising myself in the end getting a time of 2:15:59.

It ended up being a great race. The scenery was beautiful, I felt good, and it was so fun to have Scott run the last of it with me.

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Posted in Jeana, Running, Scott

Marathon for Adoption

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Jeana| 1 Comment

On October 23rd I ran the Marathon for Adoption. It was a gorgeous day.

It started out nice and cool and then as it warmed up, we had a few rain showers come down on us. I don’t have any pictures of me in the rain but here’s one of Ben. Hopefully he won’t be too mad at me for putting this picture in. I’m still so proud of him for running the marathon.

Look how big those rain drops are.

I think this was around mile 16. At this point in the run, I was doing awesome. I was totally set to beat my PR. I was feeling good. Then, at mile 22, I hit the hill of doom. EVERYONE was taking walking breaks on this hill. And then some major nausea hit me. I don’t know why. I’ve ran in much more humid weather, much hotter, much colder. But for some reason, it hit hard and I had to walk. I ended up getting five minutes slower than my PR, but I’m okay with it. 4:25:57. That’s not bad considering how much I walked and how sick I felt.

Audrey and Kate ran out with me to cross the finish line. It was really fun to have them with me. I know the clock overhead says 4:35, but I started the run nine minutes late. Not because there were so many runners… because I was in the line for the bathroom when the start gun went off. It was a little stressful for me.

I bought this poster board the day before the marathon and then shamelessly hinted for my kids to make a poster for me while I was busy doing something in the other room. If you look closely at it, you can see that Audrey drew a finish line with me running through and the clock time saying 5:60. Apparently, she didn’t have a lot of faith in me. I love how she drew me in a running skirt!

Jamie was so nice to drive Ben and me to our race early in the morning so our spouses wouldn’t have to get the kids up so early. Then she stuck around until I was done. In case you didn’t notice, my bib number was #6. That’s is craziness. Usually the really low numbers are reserved for the fastest runners. It was kind of cool though.

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Posted in Jeana, Running

Kiddie Triathlon 2010

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Jeana| 1 Comment

We had our third annual Kiddie Triathlon Memorial day weekend and like always, it was a blast!

Simon got to participate this year by being Audrey’s support crew with me, while Scott was Kate’s support crew.

The biking portion was a challenging uphill at the beginning, which Audrey commented on by telling me that her legs were about to fall off. Then it was a pretty good downhill to the pool to which Audrey exclaimed, “I am NOT in control, Mom!” She stayed in control though. She did awesome on the run on a little trail and then headed back for the swim. I didn’t get any pictures of Audrey’s swim since I was in the water with her, but she did great. I couldn’t find her floaty, so she ended up swimming the entire lap on her own! Good job, Audrey!

The week before the triathlon, Kate learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She was used to Scott helping her on the bike, so we decided it was wisest for him to be her support. She did so awesome! Scott said that she was a little out of control on the downhill too. On the run, Scott and Kate stopped on each side of the trail and reached each others hands to make a tunnel for Audrey to run through on her way back to the pool. It was really cute.