Josh, Jenn, Ashton, and Emmy…

So, I highly recommend running to “Rocket” by Def Leppard (as mentioned below), but another great running song is “SAY” by John Mayer.  On days LIKE TODAY when I have a ton on my mind and a million things I need to SAY, I turn on this song and just take off.  For a mile, two miles…three or four miles, I just keep repeating this song as I think of all the things I wish I could say but SHOULDN’T.  After a while, my frustration with the world and things I have no control over, fade.

Josh showed me a fabulous trick that really came in handy today and it really works!  When you’ve just had ENOUGH, you lift up your arm and like a big, lazy bear swatting slowly at a bee, you figuratively “shove” all the stuff you can’t control away, with a nonchalant grunt.  And I’m not even kidding, all those cares just disappear.

Today, after I ran out all my frustrations and “shoved away” all the junk, I could focus on things that were really important and things I really should SAY.

MY FAMILY…the people I love most are what deserve my energy and thoughts.  My little sister, Cari, had surgery this morning.  My parents are in town, Angie’s family changed their vacation plans to go to Disneyland to be here.   Last night we all had dinner together and then, as I was leaving, I gave Cari a hug and fought back the tears as I told her that I loved her.  I had to SAY that, AT LEAST.  But there were so many other things I wanted to SAY, things that kept running through my mind today as I ran to “SAY”.

Cari, my sweet, baby sister.  I love you soooo much!  You are my shopping buddy, my tanning/pool buddy, my dancing buddy (along with Kris ), my crazy flip-handstand-gymnatics-trying buddy, my new music discoverer/provider buddy, my sewing/crafty buddy, my crying and laughing buddy.  Even though there are ten years between us, you have always been one of my very best friends.  You are gorgeous, so incredibly smart, HILARIOUS, talented in so many ways, and amazingly strong.  Thank you for being a second mom to Ashton and Emmy and pretty much all the grandkids.  I have so many memories of you working your magic, making babies fall asleep cuddled in your loving arms.   I love you so much, Cari!

Here is a “commercial” Cari made for school.  She was assigned to make a 35 second commercial describing herself.  I smile through the whole thing and laugh along with her at the end, EVERY TIME I WATCH IT!

I graduated from BYU with a Sociology degree.  I loved it!  Every Sociology class I had was just completely interesting and fun.  A couple years later I thought,”Hmmm, maybe I’ll just go take some accounting classes…JUST FOR FUN.”  So I went to UVSC for Accounting for a couple of semesters…it was NOT fun.

So Josh, Kris and I ran the Long Beach Marathon six months ago.  I loved it!  I had so much fun and I wasn’t even sore after.  Then when I found out there was a Salt Lake City Marathon, I thought,”Hey, I will do it JUST FOR FUN (and hopefully do it faster than Long Beach).”  Well, this time, it was NOT fun.

I need help redefining what FUN is…More school and more marathons????  What was I thinking?

Anyhoo, I did run SLC Marathon a couple days ago.  I didn’t prepare for it as well as I should have, but I wasn’t too worried, it was JUST FOR FUN, right?  I was having lots of fun for the first 13 miles.  I was kicking bum, if I do say so myself, 8 minute miles the whole way!  Then I decided I HAD to take a quick break to put a band-aid on my foot and take care of business so I wouldn’t finish the race looking like THIS:

Well, that little break KILLED me, it was all over after that.  My legs were just completely cramped up!!!  By mile 18 I was questioning if I could finish at all.  I was looking for spectators who might be kind enough to help me cheat.  At 19 1/2 miles, I came upon the sweetest sight ever…..

Cari made these amazingly cute posters.  I cannot even express how happy I was to see these guys!!!  I got hugs from everyone….

Begged Josh to take me home…….

He refused, gave me a pep talk, then my little fam ran with me for a while….

I wish I could say that this little reunion gave me enough energy to sprint 7 more miles to the finish….Noooope.  But I made it, eventually.  Josh, Cari, Ashton and Emmy were waiting at the Gateway.  When I ran by, Ashton came out and ran the last 50 yards with me.  He was so cute!!!!  Everyone was cheering for him and yelling “You’re gonna beat your mom!”  Yeah, no kidding.  It was hard to keep up with him.

So I finished the marathon, I DIDN’T have poop all over me, AND I finished a tiny bit faster than my first marathon(4 hr 30 min instead of 4 hr 45 min), so I guess I have to say it was a success. In the picture below, if it looks like I was crying and then trying to smile…it’s because I WAS crying and trying to smile.  Josh and Cari took such good care of me and spoiled me.  I was just a little bit exhausted and WAY overwhelmed by their thoughtfulness and support.

This is how Emmy is MOST of the time, just happy and cute. This particular night she ran back and forth like this for 15 minutes (I have many more minutes of footage that I love but didn’t want to bore you to death). I’m sure she’s trying to get faster so she can outrun her big brother and avoid being tackled 50 times a day.

Josh, Kris and I ran the Long Beach Marathon last weekend. It’s strange, I don’t really know what to say about it. We worked so hard and I stressed myself out over reaching this goal for the past few months and now it’s just over. Leading up to it, I was sure that I would never run another marathon again, I could just put a check mark next to ‘marathon’ on my list and be done. But I can honestly say that I had tons of fun and I MIGHT even say I would love to run another one.

The first 10′ish miles of the course were right near or on the beach…GORGEOUS! I didn’t even turn on my music until mile 9, I was just enjoying the incredible scenery and feeling the energy of everyone around me. Kris and I ran the first 13 miles together, it was nice to have a buddy to keep me going. But by then, we just needed to concentrate on finishing and taking those spurts of energy when they came and we got separated. Josh hadn’t been able to run for five weeks before the race, having a completely messed up knee, so we weren’t even sure if he would be able to run 5 feet. He just took it easy and snapped these beautiful pictures with his iPhone along the way. By mile 13, he realized he might actually run another marathon and just kept going. The course double-backed on itself and when I was at mile 20 and just about out of steam, I saw Josh turn the corner and come running toward me on his mile 15! Just like when we were training, getting a huge hug from Josh gave me enough energy to keep going and finish! Sadly, because Josh took these amazing pictures, it used all his battery and he had no music to listen to from mile 20 to the finish.

There were people all along the course to cheer us all on and since we had our names on our numbers, it was nice to hear people yelling “Come on, Jennifer! You can do it!” I finished the marathon in 4 hours 45 min. I’m not totally happy with my time but ah well.

I love you, Josh and Kris!!!