Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

Some people are crazy about running.  Others are just crazy!  I found myself in the second category on Thanksgiving morning as Candice, Camille and I stood out in the cold at the beginning of a 5K turkey trot race in 0 degree temperature.

By the time we were finished with the race, we were semi-warmed up and sweating.  Then the cold really set in!  

There was a children's dash at the end of the race.

3-year-old Kels participated with a little help from Aunt Camille.

Miss Em, in the red hat, gave it her all!

Mr. Cy, lead the pack in his age group and won a $10.00 gift certificate!

Later that day, after a hot bath to warm up the old bones, we had a wonderful dinner with the family! 

 I have so much to be grateful for!  

Love Your Body Race!

Arriving early in the cool morning, wearing shirts from the past because the LYB shirts were too small for all of us,  we stretched and joked about how the race would finish for each of us.  We all had our iPods and headphones because we knew we wouldn't stay together.  We joked that Candice, with pulled ligaments in her foot, had mellow and heart wrenching songs on her iPod that would prevent her from moving too fast, such as "Wind Beneath My Wings", and "Mandy". We figured she'd have a single tear coursing down her cheek as she stepped across the finish line. 
I predicted that I'd cross first then run back to get everyone else.  They all laughed and thought it was a joke!  It was!
Kurt Bestor, who did a good job keeping 1800 women behind the starting line, told us when to go...and we were off! (Kurt's Christmas CD was in our goody bag at the end of the race!)
Shot U Photography was there taking pictures.  I have posted the pictures in the order of how the 4 of us finished the race. 

This is Jeanette on the left, 24 years old, student at the U, booking it up the hill.  She came in first in her age group!  Go, Jeanette!

Next to cross the finish line is Candice, (in the gray pants) mother of 4, with pulled ligaments in her foot.  She had more than mellow music on that iPod!  She's so competetive!

Camille, single mom of 2, and one of the Chevy Moms, crossed the finish line next!  By the way, you can catch Camille on Channel 2 early morning news on Monday.

Last is the best of all the game, right?   I really hesitated posting this picture, but I guess that's how I look during a race.  I've decided that the shirts from LYB races won't ever fit me.  It's a good thing they were long sleeved this year, I just tied it around my waist.

 OK, so I was slow BUT I jogged all the way, without walking (well maybe 40 steps were walking steps)! There were 50 women in my age group and I was 4th!  I think all the others were walkers.
My co-worker gave me one of these Emergen-C packets to mix in water.  Do you think that's what kept me going or is that what made me jog slowly? 

Came home and worked in the yard. We have 3 apple trees in our back yard.  One Red Delicious, one Roman Beauty and one Golden Delicious.  We picked ALL the apples this afternoon.  This is what we got off the Red and Rome trees.  THAT'S IT!!  5 APPLES!

This was the harvest from the Golden.  11 buckets!  That doesn't count the 8 buckets of unacceptable apples we picked up off the ground today or the ones that the birds and worms devoured.   

Loaded some of them in the back of Bessie and spent 3 hours delivering them to family.

I'm tired tonight but thinking of running another 5K soon and picking up the pace.  Any suggestions?

Wasatch Woman Love Your Body

It's time for another race with some of my daughters.  The last race I participated in was in March.  I must love these cool weather races!  The difference between this race and the one in March is; I have actually been preparing for this one!  I've done more running these past several weeks, and I've become friends with this organization:

and have lost almost 10 pounds. I have participated in 5K races before but for some reason, the extra K is playing with my mind!  Wasatch Woman said it's a 6K instead of a 5K  because we're running through the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and they want us to enjoy the gardens.  I'm not sure I'll be taking time to enjoy the beauty of the gardens while I'm sucking air and wondering when my right knee and left lung will explode!

If I don't do as well in this race as I'm hoping to, I have a couple of things to fall back on that could be to blame: 

1. I got my flu shot today.  I could be sick with flu-like symptoms.

2.  Tonight, while washing dishes by hand because our dishwasher is a piece of garbage, a glass broke and cut the dickens out of my hand.  I'm sure that could affect my running.

OK, I think I've got myself covered.  However, one of my daughters has pulled ligaments in her foot and was advised to wrap her foot and walk instead of run.  If she goes across the finish line before I do, I'll need to find a few more excuses.

For my marathon runner friends - just ignore this post.

Tour de Donut - Riding a Bike is Fun to Do...

Saturday dawned bright and early as we loaded the bikes, water, fanny pack,(don't leave home wihout it) camera, our sweet tooth and headed for American Fork to participate in the 3rd Annual Tour de Donut!

Here we are before the race begins.  Jordan and Chelsey, the future Mr. & Mrs., rode a tandem bike that turned out to be a real piece of junk!  They had to end early and took the bike back for a full refund! Too bad!  They look awfully cute!

Andy and I are all smiles because my derrier wasn't screaming in pain at the time!(Now I know why some spandex shorts are padded in the rear)

Camille getting hy - drated before the race!  Speaking of Camille, they announced several times before and after the race that they appreciate,  "Camille from 'Make It Work Mom' for blogging about the race".  They sang her praises then added, "Her mom, Connie, also blogged about us!"  For a second, I was famous!

We did 3 - 7 mile laps.  At the end of the first two laps, we ate donuts.  They were delicious and I thought I could scarf down several but, I must admit, I failed!  I ate only 1 donut at the end of each 7 mile lap! That was a total of 2 donuts!  I just couldn't do it.  Some people ate 20 or more!  One woman smashed 2 donuts together, poured water over them and shoved them in her mouth!  It was a warm morning and all I wanted was water!

(picture from TourdeDonut website)

This is the benefit of having a fanny pack:  remove camera with sticky donut hands,  take a picture of the only other bicyclists on the road and show that they're so far ahead they're almost a memory. (Sigh)  The course was super!  It was flat, along country roads, traffic was minimal and it was well marked. 

I love great big green letters that spell the word "FINISH"!  I found out I came in 3rd in my age group - 55 and older! (I won't mention there were only 4 of us)  I came across the finish line a few minutes before the actual winner, but because she consumed 8 donuts, she had a better net time.

It was fun to share the time with family.  Below is my son-in-law, and Baby Aly right after crossing the finish line .

We were concerned about a 4-month-old riding in the trailer that far in the heat but this is what Aly thought of the whole ordeal!  A little sweaty, a lot smiley!

We posed for our victory picture!  Though we really didn't win, we had a lot of fun and finished with no casualties!  I was very proud of Mr. Cy and Miss Em! 

It was great fun, well organized, good exercise and proceeds went to a good cause.  We're planning on doing it again next year.  Hope you will join us!

p.s. Did I mention I won a raffle?  Free eyebrow waxing!  Woo-hoo!

Ya Gotta Have Heart!

Hearts represent many things; February, love, Valentines Day, emotions, and health.

Let's start with a recipe for soft, fluffy, delicious, sugar cookies in the shape of hearts!

Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tablespoon baking powder
5 cups flour
2 c. sour cream (I used low-fat)
2 tsp. vanilla
Cream butter, sugar and eggs together.  Add dry ingredients.  Add sour cream and vanilla.  Mix well.  Place in refrigerator for at least an hour.  Roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut in desired shapes.  Bake 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes.  Let cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

I offered the frosted, morsels of goodness to my 18 year old.  He asked, suspiciously, "Did you put anything healthy in 'em?"  I assured him there was nothing healthy and he eagerly ate some.

Speaking of healthy and heart. 

The Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is sponsoring a 5K and 1 mile run on March 6th.   This is to raise funds to help in assisting disaster relief.  The mission of the Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is to improve the quality of human life; to enhance self-reliance and concern for others; and to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.  For over 100 years, the American Red Cross has been helping others.  If you live in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis or any other surrounding counties, come and join the race.  
Go here to learn more and sign up. 
http://www.redcrossut.org/runforred

The sugar cookies may not be good for the heart, but running for a good cause is!

THE THRILL OF VICTORY!

Were you ever involved in a pinewood derby race? Did you help your son make that block of wood into a lean, mean, racing machine? Did you help him paint it with racing stripes and make sure it weighed just enough to qualify by using a glue gun and pennies or screws? Was it a last minute project that had the whole family rushing around to get it done and hoping the paint would dry before the first run down the track?
Or was it all Dad's job? Did he re-live his childhood with his son's race and want the car to be the best design, the fastest and the best paint?

We had a great opportunity in our ward, (our area for our church) to have a party with a chili cook-off AND a pinewood derby! One of the categories was the "unlimited" where anything goes - as long as it fit on the track. We had the old duffers talking smack for months about their fast cars. Andy, my husband was one of them.

Andy has a pinewood derby truck that he had bought over 10 years ago. He realized he had a secret weapon and wanted to keep it under wraps until the night of the race. He had everyone curious about his "car." Andy sent it to our son in Albuquerque, who is a custom airbrush artist, to have it painted.

The truck arrived, beautifully painted and ready to be revealed.

The night of the race, Andy happened to be fashionably late and placed his secret weapon on the table next to the other cars. The race began.

The truck, I mean, Andy, won every race he entered. He was awarded the Gold Award and a 100 Grand candy bar (the stakes were high).
He triumphantly carried the truck home, with a smile on his face and the satisfaction of knowing he beat all the other old duffers!
Saturday morning I noticed that everything had been rearranged on the mantle and the truck had taken it's "rightful place!"

Victory is sweet!

MAN...I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN!

A Wasatch Woman that is.

We did it and we had a great time!

Let's start with Diva Night. Not too cool. We waited for over an hour in a long, snakey line just to get our shirts (only had small and medium left...which is great for some, not the right size for others), timing chips and numbers. Next year they'll do better (just being a little optimistic here)

This was the best part of Diva Night. We went to the Olive Garden for a nice pasta, salad, and bread stick dinner! YUM!


Here we are, bright and early, before the race. Jill, Jeanette, me, Lindsay (Rachael's sister), Rachael and Camille. Don't we look happy and refreshed?

This is me crossing the finish line, just like I said I would. That ice cream sandwich was really refreshing.

(This picture may or may not have been staged)

Tired, sweaty, red-faced and happy it's over.

Just a few tidbits. Jeanette, the over achiever, who was way ahead of us, missed the turn off to the finish line and ended up running another mile and a half! Camille pushed both girls in a double stroller during the race. It looked very inviting.

I came in 7th in my age group! Woo-hoo! It's great to be old!

The Definition of Insanity is...

..."Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

A few months ago, I thought it would be a great idea to sign up for the Wasatch Woman Love Your Body 5K run in Sugarhouse Park. It's a big event, with 1300 participants, a Diva Night the night before at the Hilton, breakfast after the race, prizes, and giveaways! What could be more exciting than to participate in such an event with daughters? I felt in my heart that this race would be my best ever! I have 2 months to prepare! I'll get in shape, eat right, exercise daily, and get to the point that I would run the whole race without walking! What a goal! What a vision! What a crock!

The race is tomorrow. Here I am, after consuming anything and everything that is filled with sugar, fat, and salt while lying on the couch watching reruns of Matlock, and for some strange reason not feeling ready for this race!

Are any of you going? If so, say Hi to me. I'll be the last one across the finish line, carrying an extra 15 pounds, (that's not in hand weights) and eating an ice cream sandwich.

I must be insane!