Hills are NOT my friend!

Well obviously I made it through the race because I'm here today to type this.
I have discovered that running your hardest race without any training is probably not the greatest idea.
I have never been so sore in my entire life - every inch of me hurts.
Despite the pain though, I still had a great time.

Arica pushed me to the max in my running and I didn't know I could do so much!
I ran with her for 2 straight miles before we had to walk at all.
And we only walked, because of the mammoth of a hill in the race.
Oh my gosh! I don't train on hills and now I know why.
That hill was the worst thing of my life, but I conquered it!

I am really proud of myself for doing this run. I hadn't run in 2 weeks,
had a back injury, and ran for longer than I ever have at one time.
I finished in 38 minutes and 31 seconds...
...and I will be sore for a week!

The Runner Inside Me

Somewhere inside of me there is a marathon runner that just wants to burst out. I know there is. But, I have yet to find her. I really enjoy running, it is hard for me to do but I like how I feel after I finish. I know that I did something hard and I feel so great!

The only problem is I make tons of excuses and don't go running on a daily basis.

This week my cousin Arica called me and wanted to run the Highway to Hale race on Saturday. I told her I would love to do the race and would be just fine. I went for a run yesterday and thought I would die Literally die, like couldn't breathe, legs cramping up, can't keep going, gonna die. My big discovery this week....

 if I stop running for just 2 weeks it's like starting over when I start running again which is horrible because the first 2 weeks of a running regimen are the worst.

So... I am determined to run at least 4 times a week from now on so that I can build my endurance and strength without having to go through the worst two weeks over and over again every month.

Someday I want to be great. I may never run a marathon or a half marathon even but I know I can be great even in a 5k. I went on another run today and ran about 2.75 miles in 34 minutes which isn't completely horrible. My race tomorrow is 3.1 miles and half of it is probably up hill. We will see if I make it to the end! Wish me luck!

Quitter

I am not one to quit anything too quickly unless the word starts with an A and ends with ugust. Ha ha , yep that's right! I couldn't hack the dog for more than a week. But, the thing is the lady wanted me to train her dog before walking her for an hour a day. If the add says dog "walker" that is what they should be able to do.

Yesterday during adventures with August she jumped on me 6 times and ripped my headphones apart (apparently she isn't a fan of the iPod.) Today she jumped on me a mere 5 times, tried to bite my hand, rip my arm out of the socket, and eat my cell phone.

As you can see this job is not worth $8 an hour 5 hours a week. So today I put in my resignation. At least I am getting an extra $40 for New York City next week! This is the one time I don't care that I'm quitting :D

August

As of late I am a dog walker. Crazy, I know!

If you have known me for long you know that as a child I was deathly afraid of dogs no matter what size or breed. I would cry sitting in the car if we just drove past a mean looking dog (sad that's all it took to get me bawling, lol). I continued to be afraid for a long time thanks to my cousin Abby who told me that if a dog bit my Achilles tendon I would bleed to death!

Well I had to get over my fear when my parents got a dog when I was in high school. I didn't realize I was so attached to the family dog until Pete died. Shortly after, my mom got a weimaraner named Sage. She is huge, but so sweet and a fun loving dog. Since Josh has been called to be in the bishopric I have been begging for a dog to keep me company when he isn't home.

I search for a dog on ksl.com like everyday and as I was searching on Saturday I saw a listing for a needed dog walker for a lady here in North Orem. I emailed her and said I would love to do it and I promptly got the job.

I have been walking with August just twice now and I'm realizing the many challenges with a puppy and how much care and love they need. This job is helping me to learn how to train an animal, be patient with it, commit to something, walk for an hour five days a week, and I have also learned that I don't want a puppy for quite some time :)

BYU Football

As many of you know Josh is a huge BYU fan. Me...not so much. I actually dread the fall season because of football. I didn't grow up watching football or any other sport for that matter so it' s really hard for me to pay attention and sit through a game.

For the last two years I have tried to watch the games with Josh and I still have a hard time. I now understand the game much better and I can sit and watch about half of it. After that much, my brain is totally gone and I'm not interested.

I don't feel so bad because, hey at least I let him watch the game, hang up his Y flag and decorate my living room with his BYU memorabilia. Sometimes I even get him some good football food and have my brother over to enjoy the game with him. So I consider myself a supportive wife and great BYU fan :)




Go Cougs! (The game is on right now....hee hee)

Life is a Roller Coaster!

Normally I am not a huge fan of blogging. Josh and I thought it was fun when we were dating and first married. But then we got to busy with other things in life and pretty much forgot about our blog. I read all of my friends and family's blogs daily and decided that I should give it a try on my own. I need to be better at this form of journal writing since I don't even write in my old journal anymore which is so sad because I was "journal writing queen."

Anyway...I thought I would give everyone an update on my life right now. I am working at Westmore Elementary as an instructional assistant and it's quite the challenging job for me. I help kids that need tutoring in math and reading. I work with the same group of kids every single day. They make me laugh a lot and teach me so much everyday that I know I couldn't learn anywhere else.


The biggest thing I have learned in my experience at Westmore is that I don't think teaching is for me! Being in the classroom on a daily basis has really shown me what teaching in your own classroom is really like and I just don't think it will make me happy for the rest of my life.

So I dropped the program at UVU and I am just taking a break for the time being. So I go to work in the morning for an hour and then I am home during the day to do whatever my little heart pleases. I go back to work in the afternoon for a couple of hours and then I head home. Right now this is working out great for me and I am loving life.

I hate making big life decisions without a real outcome, but I know when I have to do it. My current plan is to enroll at Weber State University and declare Respiratory Therapy as my major. I was an intern in the respiratory therapy unit at American Fork Hospital in high school and absolutely loved it. I am hoping this is the right direction for my life and right now it feels right.

Life is up and down and totally unsure right now and the craziest thing about it is that I'm alright with it. I am a 5-year-plan kind of girl and right now I am flying by the seat of my pants. So here we go...life is one big adventure and I'm ready for the ride!