The thrill of... finishing

"I am a runner. I never get tired when I run. I run in any kind of weather. Running imvigorates me. I was made to run."

This is the wording of the positive mental paragraph which was recommended I repeat over and over in my mind as I pounded each patch of hard pavement throughout this past spring and summer. Repeated recitation of this paragraph was accompanied by a myriad of other tactics such as envisioning myself as a lawn mower, or a steadfast Clydesdale
race horse.

I had read the books. I had purchased the stability shoes. I had paid the $35 registration fee. I had enlisted help from some more experienced runner neighbors of mine to push me through training runs. I was as ready as I’d ever be for the “La Sportiva Summer Solstice Twilight Trail Run.” In Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Walking toward the registration desk, my sisters and I were surrounded by super tan, lean legged people wearing all the right gear form the Nike caps on down. The Vail Rec. website said this 10K was a “series” race, and I think most of them had done the whole series- along with about a billion other races over their lifetimes.

“They love people like us,” I told my sister. “We add variety to the race. This all so old hat to them. Hard working underdogs are always inspiring.”

Honestly I was not affected at all by the other participants. I am not a real competitive person, and I was racing just to prove to myself that I could go the distance. I may not have had myself convinced of EVERY word in the above positive mental paragraph, but I did feel like I deserved to be there that day and I was ready to give it my best shot.

I don’t know if familiarization with the topography of the trail would have made me steer clear of this particular race. I figured that being in a mountainous town, the trail would not be flat. But I DID NOT anticipate the first mile and a half being straight up a darned ski slope!

Nevertheless, I made it up, and continued across the mountainside through the trampled down grass and dark, slick mud.

My favorite section of the race was across a single track trail overlooking the city. I ran alone, with only my body’s own cues to tell me the pace to keep. I had accidentally left my watch in the suburban after letting Nathan play with it during the drive over.

I will always remember the fresh beautiful solace of those moments. The quakie aspens decorated this portion of the Rockies with perfect patches of green that contrasted crisply with the baby blue sky. Rain had fallen all afternoon leaving clean scented air that begged me to deeply breathe. It WAS invigorating! And when the downhill came, I let my legs fly faster than they ever have for such an extended amount of time. I started to think, “Hey, I AM a runner!”

I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I was RU-NIN’. I listened for any sound of people gathering , and when I heard it, I kicked it into high gear. It was time for my big finish! (I guess it goes without saying that the reason I ran alone was NOT because I led the pack.)

After the race, I was curious to know my time- for history’s sake. I had never officially measured or officially timed 6.2 miles. I asked where this info could be found, and was directed to the “La Sportiva” shade tent. I glanced thorough the list and, unfortunately did not see my name. Turns out the list was printed off immediately after the bulk of the runners had come through. Myself and a few others were too late!

Now anybody with any amount of athletic pride would probably have stopped there- maybe just estimated a time or something. But I had to know. So I walked back over to the finish line and matter- of-factly explained the situation. They fiddled around on the computer, called in a few extra staff who knew the program, fiddled some more. All the while I stood there, waiting. Finally they recovered my time…

I had hit it HARD for One hour, twenty nine minutes, and fourty seconds!

And I am not ashamed.

A little bonus came when the M.C. handing out the medals ended up with some extra sponsor prizes to give away. He picked me out of the crowd, #40, and I got some awesome spray-on sunscreen! He had been the one at the finish line who gave me my much needed Gatorade. He shared a moment of overflowing emotion with the hardworking underdog, and she made him proud, she did.

So not quite the thrill of VICTORY, but yes, I AM FINISHED.

Other trip highlights:

Lindsay's wish was for us to visit the Vail Gymnastics Center. Turned out to be a blast for the kids.

People that know my brother comment often that he and Nathan look alike. How about this pic?

Lloyd women at Vail Overlook after gondola ride. The weather was PERFECT for our mountaintop lunch, horseshoe game, and sand dig, and a little yoga, I guess.

A mid morning nature Hike near the Betty Ford Park.

My sweet Grandma Ginsburg with my children and other relatives that came to visit that day.
Seeing them was the main reason for our trip. It was a beautiful visit, and a fun vacation.

Extra! Extra! en la Biblioteca!

Wednesday morning we were definately right in the middle of the action. You can see William front and center here. And yes, that is Caroline's ponytail and ear on the left side of the pic. Before you read the whole story, let me just take the liberty to edit my own quote so that it is gramatically correct. I was just so nervous during the interview. LOL (Did I just use a texting term? That was especially for my siblings.) O.K. Here is what I meant to say:

"The thing I love about the library is that there are so many options as far as when to attend story time."
READ ON!
http://heraldextra.com/news/local/north/lehi/article_98a90875-523a-5ac8-be4d-4c01377c0241.html

Marshmallows, Museum, Money, Mud, Memories

After about 6 hours of preparation between the two of us, and a VERY full suburban, we headed out for our family San Rafel Swell camping trip reminiscing about the days where we used to pack up the 2 man tent in the purple oldsmobile achieva and be on our way in 1/2 an hour. Preparations are more complex nowadays; nevertheless, we were ready!

But not for 2 days of straight, continuous, wet wet rain!

Plan B: Set up a canopy on Wood Hill and have a campfire. We tried. Too windy.

Plan C: Satisfy the kids' desire for the camping experience by roasting marshmallows in the fire pictured below, and setting up the tent in my parents' front yard.

Other cozy indoor activities included "Catch Phrase," "Floam," and tours of the stuffed animal museum. My kids are such entrepreneurs, and they know that Grandma will pay out, so they love to set up museums and charge for entrance. Behind the display is a sign that reads "do not touch," along with a price list broken down by age and length of museum pass validity.

This museum gave Caroline the idea to go tour the CEU Prehistoric Museum. It is a landmark in Price and surely a world class experience for anyone who travels through that area. My kids especially like the sandbox and life-size teepee. New to the museum is a baby alligator!

Since our nice brother-in-law lent us his GPS, we just had to get out there and locate some geocaches, despite the mud. This pic of Will's shoes is AFTER I had cleaned them off. We definately broke in our new suburban. Oh wait, the scouts had already done that. We'd had our sights set on several of the Udinks caches in the San Rafel, but had to opt for urban ones instead. The pay off came, though, when in one container we found

a MILLION DOLLAR BILL!

Yes, even with some hassle and some noise, a full suburban is indicitave of a full and abundant life. Pitfalls and stresses do come, but always outweighed by joyful memories. This saying on my Mom's wall became the motto of our weekend:

Momsense

1. When you have a crawler in the house, keep the gate up, the bookshelves emptied, and the pantry closed!

2. Rice Bags are magical and can cure those inevitable and contagious [name that body part] aches that aseem to come on nightly at around 8:31 pm.

3. Because you are not generally present at the sitting for school portraits, it is wise to have a back-up plan.

Somebody forgot to say "cheese!"

Before I share my fourth bit of Momsense, I will preface it with a quote by Anna Quindlen (from Jane Clayson's book, "I Am A Mother") She describes a great Motherhood friendship:

"...the ones in which 2 women can admit how difficult mothering is quietly to each other, over cups of herbal tea at a table stickey with spilled apple juice and littered with markers without tops."

When I read this, I could definately identify.

(our marker drawer)

4. "Twistables" markers are the way to go. They had to have been invented by a MOM!

Deceptively Delicious

Well, I do not own the cookbook that teaches you how to add veggie purees to meals in order to sneak nutrients into your kids. I have, however been known to add black beans to my brownies. I also showed up at last year's service auction with some racecars made out of celery and carrots. It must have been for these reasons that my friend Christi recruited me to give a mini presentation at her recipe club on the topic of "Kid Foods." I appreciated the chance to spend a little more time in the kitchen with my future chefs and decided to focus mostly on healthy kid foods, since we could all stand to eat a few more fruits and veggies around here.

I did want to include the angle of sneaking veggies into food, so as part of my research I looked up a recipe for Macaroni and Cheese with pureed cauliflower instead of butter. My kindergartener wants mac and cheese EVERY day after school. So if I could make this little substitution wouldn't she be that much better off? So I thought. I made sure she was occupied in the other room as I prepared the dish, then called her in when it was ready. This was her exact reaction:

"This mac and cheese tastes different."

"Let me see the box."

"You should have added more butter."

(We add some spray butter and a little salt, since the night before, I got her to eat the cream of broccoli soup by adding salt.)

"It still tastes bad."

"Salt came to the rescue last night, but not this time."

and her final comment...

"IT TASTES LIKE OLD YUCKY MUSHED UP VEGGIES."

I never told her what the difference was. I ended up giving her left over pancakes instead and eating the mac and cheese myself.

*Note- I just used a simple recipe with boxed mac and cheese- it would probably turn out better with Mrs. Seinfield's actual recipe.

The crazy tortilla face and the cute fruit and veggie flower garden, however, were much more of a success.

April (?snow?) Showers

As a child I remember that one of my wishes after the birthday present had hit my head was that there would be such a thing as WARM SNOW. Then I could sculpt and play without the frostbitten fingertips. (The other wish was always a trampoline, which my parents promptly bought soon after I was away at college! No hard feelings though. My kids are now the thrilled recipients).

So today...it wasn't actually warm snow, but it was warm outside, and the ground was COVERED in snow! We had to build our snow family quickly before it collapsed due to the heaviness and heat.

Here we are complete with a crawling little Nathan.

Mom and Dad were headless ten minutes later!

Sweets Caroline

The first signs of spring were appearing in early March this year. We saw a robin in the backyard, we took a bike ride, we planted peas, and we got excited about crocuses appearing. Along with all of these sights was a certain magical sound. It came floating through the air one day just as Caroline stepped off the bus. She knew exactly what it was and screamed in excitement, “THE ICE CREAM MAN!!!!”

Her usual dawdling was replaced by wild sprinting straight through the house to her room where the Mason jar containing a few bills and coins sat on her dresser. Before I and the baby could reach the back door, she was out the front door panting and assuring me that she remembers my rule to stay on our street. This rule came about as a result of last years barefoot, three block ice cream man chase-down.

I looked at her and realized that no “You haven’t had lunch yet,” or “Aren’t you saving your money,” comment was going to stop her vigor today. So I went in the house to help Desi round up a few quarters of her own. Desi wasn’t actually as into it as Cara, I got talking with a neighbor, and before we knew it Caroline was back, and NOT empty handed. She looked proud as punch that she had waited and waited and FINALLY he had found her. She rubbed it in a little to Desi and went in to enjoy her spoils. I glanced at the wrapper and was surprised at the flavor she had chosen, coconut. Knowing of her distaste for this flavor, I began to question the selection but the stopped myself, not wanting to prematurely ruin it mentally for her.

She unwrapped the precious prize and took a lick. A lick was okay. Then a bite. Her eyebrows wrinkled. Her eyes widened. Her nostrils flared, and her lips transformed from an angry frown into a wide open wail! “It has COCONUT in it!” she screamed in disgust. If you have ever had something major and expensive break down like the day after your warranty expires, you may have a small inkling of the disappointment and outrage she felt. She was deceived. Shattered. Slighted. Jipped.

At this point phrases like “umbrella mom,” “logical consequences,” “impulse buying,” and “lessons of life” were swimming around in my head right along with the words “mercy,” “innocent mistake,” “heartbroken,” “rescue, ” and “love.”

“I’ll buy it from you honey,” I instinctively offered. But the question now was whether we’d be able to flag down the trouble causing truck again in time. I made the quick decision to leave Will home in charge of the youngins for a moment and told Cara to hop into the bike trailer. We took off up the road and luckily located him. Cara decided to buy from the dollar menu a rainbow popsicle that she remembered trying last year. A safe bet. And fifty cents less. She was learning.

As I pedaled home I wondered whether my rescue had been right. Then out of her mouth came as sincere a “Thank You, Mom. You’re the best.” as I have ever heard her give. She knew that I had saved her from her plight when she had not power to do so herself. I do want to teach her wise money management. It’s important for her to know that some sales are final, and sometimes in life you just miss the boat. But when we fall we need not despair, for if we humble ourselves and come unto our Savior, His grace is sufficient and his rewards are sweet above all that is sweet.

This year's cake was no disappointment. She was pretty excited. Happy 6th Birthday Sweet Caroline!