Each Day Is a Gift

Karen texted me for a run. I could hardly stand another day of not running so I texted back a simple OK and proceeded to get dressed. It started to snow, blowing kind of snow when I walked over to Wendy's house who was trying to register for Hobble Creek 1/2. I went inside her house to wait for Karen. We braved the storm and ran westward with me hacking up a lung. Within half a mile, Karen announced, "let's take you home, you are too sick to be out in this cold windy snowy condition." So they escorted me home and I reluctantly bid them goodbye as they ran off for more miles. :(

In the late afternoon, hubby and I went to the LC and did the same things we did yesterday, then we went to KFC for dinner.

Too sick to do any cleaning, so I posted my Boston Marathon report on the blog. I have been feeling icky emotionally and physically the last two weeks. I have restless nights from coughing and difficult breathing, and when sleeps do come, I have nightmares of the bombings. I continue to feel sad for the victims and their families. Time is going by too fast! Soon I will leave my children, grandchildren, dear friends and loved ones. I feel so unprepared to serve. Elder Zwick told us that the four months before our mission is the hardest time, once we enter the mission field we will have no time to think about anything, all the things that seem important before will not even be on our radar. I know I will fall in love with the work and our missionaries. I will have the wonderful opportunities to train, to teach, to work alongside my husband in this sacred work of the Lord. I know the next three years is going to fly by quickly. Right now I just wish this sickness would go away and I could be my normal self doing the things I love. Made an appointment to see the doctor this afternoon.

It was well past 8 after we got home from our church cleaning assignment...so had to run solo since Karen was out of town and Wendy had gone with her hubby earlier.  (She thought I shouldn't be running anything long with my sickness, so didn't make any plans to include me).  

Ate one of those PowerBar puree fruit thingie that I got from the Boston Expo, with no plan whatsoever, carried the cell phone just in case and a small bottle of really old Costco water, I headed out to the MC trail.  Ran west to the freeway (3.15 in 30min) then turned around.  Took a swig of that old Costco water which tasted very bitter.  When I got to 1200W/Bull River trail head, I tried the new water fountain.  To my surprise it was on (although the bathroom was locked); the water had a funny taste but figure it's still better than my water bottle so I emptied mine and filled it from the fountain.

Continued east and debated whether to go home for a 6 miler or keep going for more.  The legs were a bit rusty, the coughing has decreased, and the weather was SUPER NICE, so I decided to run to the east end for another 2 miles.  Got to another drinking fountain, just had to check it out, it's pretty much the same as the last one, figured it must be the new pipe tastes.  So I threw my water bottle in the garbage can and drank from this one knowing another drinking fountain is couple miles away at the Highland end of the gully and Dry Creek.

Had to walk the uphill end of the gully and was so relieved to take a drink break at the fountain.  I did not carry any Gu or money with me.  I told myself I'd turn around at mile 9.  I was averaging 10mm but then hit the wall hard by mile 9,  I could barely keep a 10:45, 11:00 pace for the last 4 miles home.  There were lots of runners, walkers, families, dogs, cyclists out on the MC trail.  I took a drink at every water fountain.  There are mile markers about every 1/4 mile and signs showing distances to various trail heads and roads at "intersections".  Too bad I won't have the opportunity to run the entire 17+ miles of the trail.  I was spent and starving when I got home.  Hubby was mowing the lawn.  I didn't tell him how far I ran...naughty me! 

First time in our 35 years of marriage that hubby and I do not have any Sunday responsibility.  So we went up to SL Mormon Tabernacle and attend the life broadcast of Music and Spoken Words.  It was so fun to watch Bryan played the viola (first stand today) up close with the Orchestra At Temple Square for the first time.  Can't believe for nearly 10 years since he's been a member of that orchestra as a music missionary that we've never watched the broadcast life.  Every Sunday hundreds of people (some from all over the world) come to watch the rehearsal and life broadcast of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I am so glad we did that today which was our first and perhaps last time for awhile. 

They performed some of my favorites:  Let There Be Light, Libera Me (from Requiem, op.48), the King of Love My Shepherd Is, Bound For the Promised Land, Peace Like a River and the rousing closing number, Battle Hymn of the Republic.  :) :) :)

A measly 4 miles that was painfully slow.  Was grateful for Wendy's company.  Wish she was running Ogden with me.  I really have no business doing Ogden in my overweight, out of shape, post pneumonia state.  Sorry to sound so negative...call it reality check, the troo poop, anyway I look at it...running is pretty low on my priority list right now.  Sigh!

Beautiful day!  Mid 50s, calm, sunny sky!  8.25 slow and sluggish solo miles on the MC trail, all the way to the west end from Center, then to the east gully tunnel and back on 3200N to 600E.  Coughing less, still lots of snots.  I have a pot belly, aarrghhh!  :)

So glad Karen is back from AZ and invited me to run with her.  She is running much faster than me these days since she has started a T.A. job and needs to get home soon.  Took me couple miles to warm up.  Still coughing up junk.  Off all meds.

Went up to SL for training on Missionary Medical...man, scary stuffs these days. :)

Ran with Wendy and Karen.  Arthritis pain the first mile.  Kept wanting to stop.  Really struggled today.  Breathing was labored.  Then I went into coughing fits and asthma attack on the uphill.  I felt like a beached whale, literally, a fish out of water, gasping for air...very pathetic! :(  So very grateful for my friends to keep me going.  I need to remember to take my inhaler.  May be these embarrassing splits will serve as a reminder:  11:30, 11:13, 10:14 (downhill), 11:12, 12:03, 10:36. 

At 1pm, our IFR called us from New Zealand.  It was a wonderful 3 hour conference call to receive some training and guidance.  Elder and Sister Bertasso gave me (us) some great advise and counsel.  We are in for quite an adventurous 3 years.  :)

AM:  No running today.  Hubby and I went for a nice walk around our 2 miles neighborhood block, talking, reflecting on our 35 years of marriage, what a beautiful place we live in, the blessings of raising our children who all turn out to be such wonderful, terrific human beings, who love the Lord.

PM:  Today is a very very special day.  We were set apart as mission president and companion in Elder Oaks office.  We were able to have close family members accompany us:  my husband's 87 year old mother, his older sister, his younger brother who happens to be in town from Hong Kong, our son, Jeff and his wife Jen, and Bryan.  Elder Oaks assisted by Elder Clayton set apart my husband as mission president.  Then my husband joined them as Elder Clayton set me apart as full time missionary and companion to the mission president for our mission.  Very special blessings were pronounced.  Tears of joy and gratitude flowed freely.  We could feel our Father's love and the power of the Holy Ghost witnessing to us that these are His appointed servants.  Most importantly I felt an overwhelming confirmation that the Lord has prepared us for a time such as this, and that this is His work.  I am humbled that the Lord would put such confidence and trust in me and pour out His abundance blessings upon me/us.  :)

Evening:  we had a special Mother's Day celebration to honor my mother-in-law with a home cooked dinner and a small program of song and words from my husband and I and we presented her with letters written by my children, her grandchildren.   My mother-in-law is an amazing lady, an immigrant from China in 1949 and settled in Provo with her husband.  She raised four wonderful children in the Gospel with faith and humility.  I am convinced that it is through her example, faith and prayers that all her posterity are safe and well, physically and spiritually.  :)

I don't know what I'm doing!  Got very little sleep last night when Wendy's text woke me up this morning inviting me to join her for a run.  I had noticed the messages on my phone that the group run with Toby did not materialized...so I was going to sleep in...ha, did not happen.  Wendy announced that due to the warmer temp, we should get going.

As I walked towards Wendy's house, my doctor's admin. was running towards me, so we invited her to join us.  We ran east towards Highland thinking that was her route.   Nope, she split off at 1200E intersection and we lost her.  We then connected onto MC Trail at Mitchell Hollow and stopped at mile 4 to drink.  I ate the energy bar I got at the Boston Athlete Village and just chatted away.  We stopped at every drinking fountain and enjoyed the beautiful morning.  We met couple of guy runners and talked about our upcoming races.  I love days like this when we didn't care about pace or distance.

After we got home, Wendy helped me clean out half of my fruit room (to make available shelf spaces for my children's stuff that they have accumulated over the years).  Wendy did all the heavy lifting; I am a wimpy weak sauce girl! :)  I gave away 30 cases of canning jars, threw away 8 cases of expired canned food, emptied five 6-gallons water igloos, threw away 12 rice buckets, 2 (50 lb) wheat, cleaned out boxes of stuff, took several car loads of stuff to DI.  Whew!!!  We still have lots to throw out, clean and organize.  I guess 35+ years of marriage and 6 kids do accumulate a lot of stuff and junk.  The hardest thing is to part with sentimental things.

I was exhausted by 4pm so hubby took me out to dinner at Applebees!  Tomorrow is a going to be a special Mother's Day looking forward to my missionary son's call from Taiwan! :)

Easy run with Karen and Wendy.

Wendy and I were on the way to Karen's when we ran into Dianne so we walked her home and then ran around the block.  Becca ran up to us the last half mile and ran us home, SO NICE!!!  :) :) :)  Very warm day!

My two "made in America daughters" took me to lunch at Blue Lemon, yummy fun time!!! THANKS girls! :) :) :) 

Everyone wanted to walk instead of run today, so we (Wendy, Karen and Leslie) walked 3 miles.  Cooler than yesterday.

Organize stuff to be shipped to Australia.

Movers came to pack up our books, clothes, a few odds and ends and my computer to be shipped to Sydney. They brought a ridiculously large moving truck. Our few boxes could've easily fit it a pick up truck! So silly!

After they left, hubby and I went to the LC to jog/walk on the track and swam in the pool. I had not swam for a long time, still feel the effect of the pneumonia!

On a side note, I had packed away all my winter running clothes to be shipped to Australia thinking the rest of the five weeks in Utah will be warm summer days. At the last minute I felt prompting to pull out the brand new Boston 2013 outifit (the long sleeve race shirt and the one and only running Capri I bought at the Expo). That proof to be useful two days latter.

I discovered Wendy's text 10 min late, quickly put on some running clothes and chased down my friends. Caught them a mile later and walked with them the remainder miles home. No watch, but the distance was 3 miles in about 25 min

Went to the temple with Bryan and hubby. While sitting in the temple, I felt pure inspiration flowing into my heart and mind. It was a quiet whispering filled with joy, clarity and complete calmness. I will share one pertinent inspiring thought here. I have a distinct feeling that I should wear my holy garments (sacred under clothing representing a shield and protection and symbol of the sacred covenants I've made with the Lord) under my race clothes for tomorrow's run. I have never worn garments in a marathon before. I am now a missionary since I was set apart last Friday so wearing of the garments mean so much more to me.

After we had lunch in the temple, I went home to try on my brand new Boston running clothes and different pairs of garments, finally settle on a most comfortable pair and make note of where I should apply extra body glide to minimize chafing.

Toby brought over our race packets. So good of her to do that. I love that girl for who she is, a wonderful mother, wife, daughter and friend! :)

Went to bed early at 9:30 for a 2:30am wake up alarm. :)

Went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 11:00, 1:00 and 2:00. I must've slept because I kept dreaming that I overslept the alarm and made my runner partner (a famous movie star) late for the marathon...very stressful and funny dream.

Anyhow, Karen, her sister Jill and Toby came to pick me up at 3:15 for our ride up to Ogden. I was groggy and sleepy but forced a piece of bread with sunflower seed butter that I got at Boston packet down in between fun chats with the girls. It had rained all night and still raining. Used the warm bathroom in the Summit hotel (formerly Marriott) and walked to the bus line. Saw Josse and her friends, John Vuyk. We got on one of the last buses and sat at the very back of the bus to avoid waiting too long up in the cold and wet and muddy filed. Ate a Greek yogurt (2 hrs before race) and had so much fun looking at Toby's pictures from Venice and Italy! Did I mention I love that girl?

We ran into Lowell and Susan right when we got off the bus. Susan went with us girls to line up at the farthest pops where we saw Matt and Wendy, Brian and Emily. We then spread our garbage bags on the ground to sit. Karen spotted Maynard and brought him over to our pad. Then it was time to make another trip to the pop before shedding our coats and warm up pants. What a muddy mess, in the haste of clothing bag drop, my inhaler must've fallen out of my capri's side pocket which I didn't discover until later when we ran into some nasty headwind and I started coughing.

Jill, Karen, Toby and I made our way up to the road to the start. We again ran into Lowell and Susan. It must be fate! :). What a lovely morning aside from the constant rain. I kept hoping that we will see a rainbow. Toby did a great job keeping track of me. I was having some wardrobe malfunction, the caprice kept slipping down my silky smooth holy garments and the weight of the cell phone in my back pocket kept dragging it down. I find myself pulling up my pants every 10 steps! :). I finally gave my cell phone to Lowell to carry in his rain jacket pocket. Somewhere around mile 4 I saw Eric and we dhatted away while my running friends disappeared into the distance yonder! O well, I didn't want to slow them down anyway. At the next aid station I lost Eric so I decided to see if can catch up to my friends.

At mile 6 Susan was standing in the pop line so I ran up to Lowell and we walked slowly and periodically turned to look for Susan. My caprice was still slipping down so I pinned it up with one safety pin and that did the trick.

I loved the low hanging clouds and the luscious green fields and mountains, the running horses, the volunteers at various stations who came out in pouring rain to support us. Many dressed up with themes such as Egyptians, Richard Simmons complete with cheering posters, island dancers, SO FUN!!! :). With their permissions I hugged and kissed (on the cheek) a young half-Asian girl, a Black young man with one leg, an elderly volunteer trying to offer me candy which I took a piece and sucked on (butterscotch). Whenever I see little children, I'd go over and give them five, trying not to get them wet as they were under the protection of their parents umbrella.

I did not look at my watch once, sometimes I had to ask the aid station people what mile we were at during the middle miles. This being my 7th Ogden, I do know where the hill is and that the dam is at mile 17 and then it's downhill canyon miles till the parkway. Susan was freezing cold bordering on hypothermia. Lowell was getting really tired and kept having to walk. It was quite a task to keep both of them going. I know Susan needs to run to stay warm and Lowell needs to walk to recover. So I would run with Susan then back to get Lowell. Susan refused to leave Lowell so she would walk when I went to get Lowell.

At mile 21 we saw a guy in kilt carrying a flag/banner. Lowell suggested that may be we can run towards him. I did thinking he would follow. I caught up to kilt guy, startied asking him all kinds of questions anout him and his mission that day. i even carried the flag for quarter of a mile or so. By the time we got onto the parkway I have lost Lowell and Susan. The first tunnel was semi flooded so we ran singled file on the right side. Half a mile later, I decided to run back up the canyon to get Lowell and Susan. All the runners thought I had already finished and now back to fetch my friends. Ai finally found them and I made them holler "choo choo" as we ran thru the tunnel.

With the slow pace, I found that we needed to use the bathroom quite often which suits Lowell just fine because then he could walk while us girls use the pop. We had to cross the road off fhe parkway to use the pop When I came out, I could not see Lowell and Susan anywhere. So I asked a bystander if he'd seen two yellow poncho runners. He said no but would keep an eye for them and let them know I will wait for them at the next aid station. I found a runner shivering and offered my cheapo poncho to him. He refused to take it from a girl. I ran back to find Lowell and Susan. When we passed this large freezing runner again, I told Lowell to give him his poncho (which we picked up earlier in the canyon when Lowell was wet and cold). I'd encourage walkers to jog with us, tell them that we're having a fun water fight with Heavenly Father...He won...but next time I see a rainbow...we'd know He still loves us! :)

Teena called and we chatted. Susan was worried about her family waiting in the rain at the finish. They don't have a cell phone. I had no idea that Lowell had called my hubby and told him I was cold and wet and lost my inhaler. Actually he probably said Susan and my hubby thought he said Susanna. Poor hubby was worried sick when in reality I was neither cold nor wet. Yes, my feet and arms are wet but otherwise I was quite warm and dry. When we got off the parkway, Susan and I ditched our poncho for the photographers! :)

Lowell picked up a straggler name Sam. She was walking a lot. So now I have three people to encourage. I would give them target to shoot for a particular hymn to sing when we reach the temple or the next traffic light. Only problem is while we did trio in the earlier miles now became solo (me) singing and annoying the heck out of the other runners. But I did get a lot of smiles out of the runners and bystanders.

When we got close to the barricade, I told our foursome that we have to run holding hands high and proud all the way to the finish! I won't let go of Sam's hand when she wanted to walk! After we crosssed I gave her a hug and did fist pumps. I went over to meet Susan's husband, Eric and their children Elizabeth (9) and Austin (6)...such cute kids. I looked at my watch for the first time and it was completely dead, no screen nothing!

Toby, Karen and Jill were there to hug me right when we crossed. They had waited forever for me in shivering cold. Such wonderful and loyal friends! I am forever grateful for their abiding love for me. I was in their "waiting" situation last year after pulling out of the race at mile 6.5 from a stress fracture and taken to the finish by hubby. I stood at the right side of the barricade until noon cheering everyone in, first ever DNF with no medal, just a painful broken foot and heart. Today, when they put the medal on me, I felt a sense of redemption, I kissed that medal...I finished what I came to do...I kept my promise to stay with my friends. It may be the slowest marathon time I've ever run,(I have no idea what my finish time is) but one of the most satisfying Ogden Marathon. Ogden holds many special memory for me even though I have not had "good" experience (mostly with cramping the last mile on Grant St.). It was here that I met Teena and her brother, at the time not knowing her name. I have run with many good and loyal friends such as the Waites, Maynard, RAD and my own son Eric.

There was no food left in the finisher corral, only bottles of water, small cans of coke, some orange and banana slices. Hubby came over to hug me and was totally surprised that I was dry. Karen said I was probably the only dry runner out there! "are you cold?". "nope, my body, my heart, my spirit was WARM!". How is it possible that all I had on was a flimsy cheapo poncho (the hood was not even on my head the whole time), a long sleeve Boston race shirt over a silky holy garment? While many runners had layers of clothes, Susan and Lowell had Northface hats with ear muffs, jackets, poncho, two to three layers of shirts/tops and long pants etc on and they were so cold that they made a beeline to the hotel for a warm shower. In a warm marathon, I would pour water all over me so I was usually wet but today under rainy condition, I was dry, incredible! :). Could it be the protection of the holy garments? I like to think so. I also feel that I ran with not just the warmth of friendships but the companionship of the Holy Ghost today! :)

Hubby took me to his favorite restaurant, Upchuckarama. I was starving so it was just fine! I have no soreness now hours later! I cannot post any picture or check on pace because my computer is somewhere in a box enroute to Australia. I am posting this on my iPad. Good night and sweet dreams!

Jogged 2 on the track with hubby. Swam 15 laps.

My bunion on the left foot really bugs so after one lap, I took off my shoes and ran barefoot (kept my socks on) for 2 miles on the track.

Swam 20 laps.

Can't remember what I did today. I don't think I ran because my lower calves/ankles were tight from the barefoot running yesterday. May be I walked with hubby. But we did yard work and lots of cleaning!

Walked with Wendy and Diane cause no one wants to run this morning.

My bunion still bugs so I wore the Elixir since the overlay on the Inspire cuts across the bunion. I only have two pairs of running shoes since I shipped the others to Australia.

Ran easy on the MC trail with John and Wendy. Gorgeous cloudless blue sky day! The wild flowers on the side of the trails are beautiful, red poppies, purple and blue flowers...lots of field swallows fluttering to and fro building their nests in the trail tunnels. I am going to really miss this trail for the next three years and the majestic mountains.

FOUR weeks left!!!!

4 easy miles on the track with hubby and Karen.

Swam 21 laps.

5 easy miles, that didn't feel easy, with Karen and Wendy. I sure was dragging! Have been super busy getting the house and rooms ready for Jeff, Jen and Skylar to move in.

I wore the Inspire 7 because the Inspire 9 was bugging my bunion. I didn't realize the 7 has over 376 miles, the arches of my feet were sore all day...didn't help that I was moving boxes, skis, shoes/boots downstairs all afternoon.

Legs and feet still sore so I ran 2 on the track then swam 33 laps.

Jeff, Jen and Skylar are moving in tonight but we won't be there to help them :(. We have a dinner appointment with three other couples, one of whom are called to serve as senior couples to our mission. We're excited to meet them tonight! :)

Came home late last night from our dinner with the Skousens, Bradfords and Petersons in Bountiful. Bryan was helping Jeff move the couch and mattress down to the basement. They worked so hard to move everything in.

Hubby and I slept in, then walked around the block, did not feel like running, it was a beautiful morning for a walk! Played with Skylar...so cute! :)

Cleaned out the other 1/3 of the fruit room to make available space for Jeff and Jen's boxes of things.

Around the hood by myself Garminless.