So, in May I finished my 1/2 marathon, in spite of being sicker than a dog three days before the race. Then in June I had a friend in my ward approach me about running another race. This one is a 188 mile relay race, run over the course of 2 days. The Ragnar Wasatch Back. Conversation goes like this:
Friend: "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to run the Ragnar next June!"
Me: "Well...maybe...."
Friend: "The race is a year from now, and it's already filling up."
Me: "Well...ok....count me in."
I tell Ben. He asks me what could I possibly be thinking. I am wondering the same thing. I try not to think about it too much. I'm told to register online, and look at the course maps. I get registered, and navigate away from the page, so as not to have panic attacks about the course.
Eventually, though, I knew I would have to choose which legs I would run. That time was this past Sunday when we had a team meeting. I met everyone and got a glimpse of the runners' maps. I started to lean toward doing the "easy" to "moderate" legs of the course. Then realized (with horror) no one was signing up for the "hard" and "very hard" slots. Ugh. Are you kidding me? Do they not know that I am not a runner?! Do they not realize I have two paces when I am moving: slow and walking?!
So, I told these ladies that if no one else will do these challenging legs, I will do one, just as long as they don't mind how long it will take me...because on a couple of the legs, there is a 1600 foot elevation gain in like 3.5 miles. They still haven't let me know which runner I will be, but I'm preparing for the worst and thinking I am going to be either runner 9 or 10.
In a way I am very excited for this, and I do enjoy training. But in another way, I am really scared about this. I hope I can do it. At least it's not a marathon! Here's to the latest challenge!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
First Day of School
Sorry for the odd layout of this post...it has given me fits trying to get it right...and it still looks odd.
All the kids were very excited for the first day of school. Lemur woke up extra early, and couldn't wait to get going. He and Mister had decided that they did not want to ride the bus on the first day, which was fine with Mom and Dad. Even Bug decided he wanted a ride. There have been renovations and additions going on at the elementary school, so it was fun to see the "new" school. As you can see, Lemur and Mister have Mrs. King for Kindergarten. When we found out who their teacher was, they were very excited, and even more so when I told them that Mrs. King is married to a King! They found their desks, which they share with the afternoon class, and sat down. They were excited to wear their name-tags. And were tickled that their crayons and pencils have their names on them.
The first day of Kindergarten here is very slow. Moms stay that first day and they are only there for about an hour. Then the rest of the week the teachers do assessments on the students to see what they already know and what level they are at. So, they get all geared up for school to start, go the first day and then...you don't go back until the next week. So they will start their first real day this coming Monday. They can hardly wait. Lemur asked me today if he got to go to school today. He was disappointed when I told him not until Monday. Then he asked if tomorrow was Monday. It's been a long week. They will be very glad when Monday rolls around.
All ready, waiting til it was time to leave.
Even Missy and Buddy were excited, though less likely to admit it. On the first day of school at the Jr High here, the 7th graders go to school on time, and the 8th and 9th graders go an hour late, giving the 7th graders some time to rotate through their schedule quickly before the school is full of the older kids too. So they got to wait and then weren't sure when the bus was coming, so their dad had to drive them to school the first day. They look so grown up to me, especially now that they have their braces off. Missy is taking an art class (from Mrs. Long, who Ben and I know from college), keyboarding, orchestra (violin), English, US History, health, PE, science, and probably a couple more classes I'm forgetting. Buddy is in keyboarding, orchestra (viola), English, US History, health, PE, science, and guitar...for which I had to buy him a guitar. (Got to put a plug in for KSL.com for cheap instruments!) I'm excited to hear him on the guitar. So far, they haven't played yet...I think most of the students don't have their guitars yet.
Bug was as excited as the rest of them. He has Mrs. Woody for 5th grade. Since the new K-2 school addition was made, they were able to get rid of the portables that Missy and Buddy had 5th grade in, and so he is in the same classroom that he had 2nd grade in.
He doesn't look very enthusiastic, but I think that was because he was trying not to look too excited (even though he was).
This year he has several friends in his class, which I am very glad for. In years past, he hasn't started the year with very many close friends (if any) in his class. Plus, he's so shy, it's hard for him to make friends. He really has a funny personality once he lets his guard down a bit.
All the kids were very excited for the first day of school. Lemur woke up extra early, and couldn't wait to get going. He and Mister had decided that they did not want to ride the bus on the first day, which was fine with Mom and Dad. Even Bug decided he wanted a ride. There have been renovations and additions going on at the elementary school, so it was fun to see the "new" school. As you can see, Lemur and Mister have Mrs. King for Kindergarten. When we found out who their teacher was, they were very excited, and even more so when I told them that Mrs. King is married to a King! They found their desks, which they share with the afternoon class, and sat down. They were excited to wear their name-tags. And were tickled that their crayons and pencils have their names on them.The first day of Kindergarten here is very slow. Moms stay that first day and they are only there for about an hour. Then the rest of the week the teachers do assessments on the students to see what they already know and what level they are at. So, they get all geared up for school to start, go the first day and then...you don't go back until the next week. So they will start their first real day this coming Monday. They can hardly wait. Lemur asked me today if he got to go to school today. He was disappointed when I told him not until Monday. Then he asked if tomorrow was Monday. It's been a long week. They will be very glad when Monday rolls around.
All ready, waiting til it was time to leave.
Even Missy and Buddy were excited, though less likely to admit it. On the first day of school at the Jr High here, the 7th graders go to school on time, and the 8th and 9th graders go an hour late, giving the 7th graders some time to rotate through their schedule quickly before the school is full of the older kids too. So they got to wait and then weren't sure when the bus was coming, so their dad had to drive them to school the first day. They look so grown up to me, especially now that they have their braces off. Missy is taking an art class (from Mrs. Long, who Ben and I know from college), keyboarding, orchestra (violin), English, US History, health, PE, science, and probably a couple more classes I'm forgetting. Buddy is in keyboarding, orchestra (viola), English, US History, health, PE, science, and guitar...for which I had to buy him a guitar. (Got to put a plug in for KSL.com for cheap instruments!) I'm excited to hear him on the guitar. So far, they haven't played yet...I think most of the students don't have their guitars yet.
Bug was as excited as the rest of them. He has Mrs. Woody for 5th grade. Since the new K-2 school addition was made, they were able to get rid of the portables that Missy and Buddy had 5th grade in, and so he is in the same classroom that he had 2nd grade in.
He doesn't look very enthusiastic, but I think that was because he was trying not to look too excited (even though he was).
This year he has several friends in his class, which I am very glad for. In years past, he hasn't started the year with very many close friends (if any) in his class. Plus, he's so shy, it's hard for him to make friends. He really has a funny personality once he lets his guard down a bit.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Today I had to jump rope. You know what this means....high chance of wetting my pants. It's not all I had to do though.
100 jump rope
50 reverse lunges
25 push-ups
25 squats
25 swinging pull-ups
100 jump rope
50 push-ups
25 squats
25 pull-ups
25 lunges
100 jump rope
50 squats
25 pull-ups
25 lunges
25 push-ups
100 jump rope
50 pull-ups
25 lunges
25 push-ups
25 squats
100 jump rope
50 reverse lunges
25 push-ups
25 squats
25 swinging pull-ups
100 jump rope
50 push-ups
25 squats
25 pull-ups
25 lunges
100 jump rope
50 squats
25 pull-ups
25 lunges
25 push-ups
100 jump rope
50 pull-ups
25 lunges
25 push-ups
25 squats
Thursday, June 24, 2010
More Hong Kong
Our second day there, we went hiking in these beautiful mountains behind our friends' house. It was sooo beautiful. And humid, too. I don't think I've ever been so wet with my own sweat before in my life. You can see the Tai Tam Reservoirs here...there is an Upper and Lower, and then the bay. They have lots of reservoirs, but you cannot swim in them or boat on them or anything. You can only look at them.
Beautiful view of the city from the other side of Violet Hill.
This is the apartment building our friends live in. They have spacious apartment on the 19th floor. Amazingly luxurious and beautiful.
The view of the beach from their apartment.
The view of the bay from the apartment. They live in an area called Repulse Bay, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. We watched the cargo ships in the distance coming in and leaving port. All our Walmart goods on their way to the US.
On the pier at Stanley. Very neat building in the background. Had something to do with the colonization of the area.
Crazy tree...it had a sign that it was some sort of rubber tree. It puts out roots from the branches, and if they grow down long enough to take root, they turn into a new trunk.
Everywhere there was new construction they had this bamboo scaffolding. It must be quite stable, because it didn't seem to matter how tall the building was, just add more and more to the top. It was such a contrast of new and modern with old.
Hong Kong is very rich. The rent is astronomical, and everyone drives high-end, luxury cars. This is my Bentley beside a Bentley.
Beautiful view of the city from the other side of Violet Hill.
This is the apartment building our friends live in. They have spacious apartment on the 19th floor. Amazingly luxurious and beautiful.
The view of the beach from their apartment.
The view of the bay from the apartment. They live in an area called Repulse Bay, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. We watched the cargo ships in the distance coming in and leaving port. All our Walmart goods on their way to the US.
On the pier at Stanley. Very neat building in the background. Had something to do with the colonization of the area.
Crazy tree...it had a sign that it was some sort of rubber tree. It puts out roots from the branches, and if they grow down long enough to take root, they turn into a new trunk.
Everywhere there was new construction they had this bamboo scaffolding. It must be quite stable, because it didn't seem to matter how tall the building was, just add more and more to the top. It was such a contrast of new and modern with old.
Hong Kong is very rich. The rent is astronomical, and everyone drives high-end, luxury cars. This is my Bentley beside a Bentley.
Hong Kong
We had such an amazing time. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go to Asia. I never thought I would ever go to such a place. If I had a pick of anywhere to vacation overseas, Hong Kong would have probably been last on my list. But what an experience!
We flew from SLC to Portland, and from Portland to Narita (Tokyo), Japan. Ben's friend, Erik, met us in the airport, since he had been in Tokyo for business. We took the same flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
This was at the market on the first day of our trip. It reminded me a lot of Mexico. Tons of stands with all sorts of exotic fruits and vegetables. Plus a good variety of assorted animal parts
Then it was into the city for some city experience. Massive sky-scrapers everywhere.
They have a very efficient mass transit system. We rode these double-decker buses everywhere. And when we weren't on the bus, we were on the subway, on a ferry, or in a taxi. 
We flew from SLC to Portland, and from Portland to Narita (Tokyo), Japan. Ben's friend, Erik, met us in the airport, since he had been in Tokyo for business. We took the same flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
This was at the market on the first day of our trip. It reminded me a lot of Mexico. Tons of stands with all sorts of exotic fruits and vegetables. Plus a good variety of assorted animal parts
Then it was into the city for some city experience. Massive sky-scrapers everywhere.
They have a very efficient mass transit system. We rode these double-decker buses everywhere. And when we weren't on the bus, we were on the subway, on a ferry, or in a taxi. 
back to the gym
This week has been brutal. It's amazing how hard it is to get back into working out after taking 2 weeks off. This is what I did on Tuesday of this week:
40 squats with upright row (12 lbs--20 on each arm)
30 second run on treadmill as fast as possible
40 jump squats
30 second run
40 ABX hamstrings
30 second run
40 weighted lunges (35 lb bar)
30 second run
I think did this nearly 2 times...second time through I got as far as 20 of the lunges.
Today's workout looked like this:
20 sumo high rows
20 hanging abs
20 squat thrusters
20 back extentions
Every 5 minutes I had to stop and do 10 burpees. I think I got through nearly 4 sets of this. (Didn't do the last set of back extentions.)
Tonight we're running the 5K for South Ogden. They do a kid's K to begin with. The little ones are going to participate in that. Buddy, Ben, and I are going to do the 5K. I hope I can do it after these workouts--I'm sore!
40 squats with upright row (12 lbs--20 on each arm)
30 second run on treadmill as fast as possible
40 jump squats
30 second run
40 ABX hamstrings
30 second run
40 weighted lunges (35 lb bar)
30 second run
I think did this nearly 2 times...second time through I got as far as 20 of the lunges.
Today's workout looked like this:
20 sumo high rows
20 hanging abs
20 squat thrusters
20 back extentions
Every 5 minutes I had to stop and do 10 burpees. I think I got through nearly 4 sets of this. (Didn't do the last set of back extentions.)
Tonight we're running the 5K for South Ogden. They do a kid's K to begin with. The little ones are going to participate in that. Buddy, Ben, and I are going to do the 5K. I hope I can do it after these workouts--I'm sore!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Hong Kong
Vacationing in Hong Kong...I will post some pics later when I get home. We've had tons of fun touring around. It really is amazing how many people live here...how big it is for such a small piece of land. Incredible. Post more later.
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