Happy Birthday Taylor!

For Taylor's birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Madison. We baked a cake and ordered pizza, and let the older kids play. 

(Everytime we go to Chuck E Cheese I say we are never coming back, but somehow we always find our way back there...)

Taylor is doing well eating solids. We finally bought an actual high chair and have him sitting with us at dinner time. For a while there we were holding him in one arm and eating/feeding him with the other...and that was ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing when we had guests over. Sometimes we are just real bums! But I found a cheap-o high chair since we are so cheap. I am not a big fan of feeding babies, if you know me. I breastfeed for as long as possible because it's just the easier, CLEANEST way to feed a baby. I hate when they start throwing foods and smearing it everywhere... so Taylor still doesn't eat with us every day. He usually has a fruit meal early in the day and may or may not join in for dinner. His favorite foods are avocado, dates, and potatoes. Still pretty limited repertoire because he only has a couple teeth, but we have mastered the soft foods (if you ever lose your teeth and don't know what to eat, I will share my list with you!)  Potato wedges are a pretty good food that he can hold in his hand and take bites of, without needing to chew--only producing a few crumbs. The birthday cake actually worked pretty well for him too, and we have done other flour products a few times. We are still going easy with the grains because he tends to get constipated; I suspect he is gluten-intolerant like his brother, we'll see... This week I started feeding him mashed beans which appear to be a good food choice for him as well.

Hoover Dam Marathon re-cap

I don't feel I have as much to say about marathon #2 at Hoover Dam, compared to my long analysis of marathon #1! I think it might be like childbirth, or the first time you do anything huge you weren't sure you'd succeed at. There is so much excitement and re-living of the first time, and after that there are a few new details but other than that, you've done it before, right?

I will say, it was a Stunningly Beautiful course. Rychen says the best course he's done, scenery wise. It was at Lake Mead, along some sidewalks and then an old dirt road with railroad tunnels, leading up to the Dam. You overlook the dam and then turn back, and do this loop twice. 

Again I did not feel 100% - marathons just aren't the same for me as training runs, energy-level wise, and maybe it's all the excitement, I use my adrenaline up the day before and then I am lethargic during the run. Who knows. 

Well the night before we ate out, and I wasn't very smart... I ate something I don't handle well (soy in mayonnaise) and felt icky. I woke up at 3:45 feeling sick and wasn't able to sleep after that. By 6 am my bowels were ...all cleared out... but at 7 I was still very nauseas and I was starting to feel uneasy about how the run would go. I run because I enjoy it - and running through pain is NOT my idea of fun. (this is where Rychen and I differ) I asked for a priesthood blessing which Rychen promptly administered, in his running clothes :)  The blessing said I would be comfortable for the race, and all my bodily systems would work properly.  Immediately afterward, the neausea left me. I felt stable, strong, and confident. wow!  I felt comfortable the entire race, although like I said I was a bit sluggish, slower than usual. I ran an average of 30 seconds slower per mile than my training runs. 

I ran strong until about mile 24. I do walking breaks the first hour for my warm-up to prevent going out too fast, but after that I jogged mostly (except for the steep switchbacks). I felt great knowing I was still running at 24 miles. But gradually I got slower and slower, until the last mile I really had to force myself to do a slow jog!! As I rounded the corner to the finish chute (last .2  miles) I suddenly picked up speed and sprinted through the finish, grinning from ear to ear!! I really enjoyed that race, there wasn't anything real challenging for me, I was in good spirits mentally the whole time, enjoying myself. I finished in 4 hours, 19 minutes. 

My time at marathon #1 was 4:17 but that was a downhill road course. This one had long hills, switchbacks, and lots of rocky dirt road. Marathon #1 I felt depleted and depressed, it never ended. But this time I felt strong the whole time. So I have improved, it's great to see. (Now I need to do another good flat course and cut some significant time off!)

As soon as I finished, I felt sick again!! How funny is that. Either the blessing was complete (for the time I needed it) or the marathon itself made me sick. I was using lots of gels which were based in corn (maltodextrin) and that's a food I don't tolerate well... I don't know why. But I couldn't eat much. It took me about 45 minutes, then I felt better. I was a little paranoid about missing my glycogen window (recovery is much quicker when you can get in a good carb meal after a long workout) but it all worked out.

after marathon #1 i felt totally weak the rest of the day, even mentally if I thought back to the race I would tense up and feel bad... I wasn't sure I wanted to do it again. But after this one, immediately I was looking forward to my next marathon!! I just felt it was so awesome. Thinking over exactly what was so great, it was hard to put my finger on. It wasn't adrenaline or a rush, it was a more true feeling of enjoyment. I think it's just so wonderful to be out in nature for 4 hours while under rigid physical and mental discipline, among many other people sharing the same experience. Hard to describe, but I am really looking forward to doing many more. I want to travel around the country, seeing new scenery and cities... this is just a mode of tourism. You tour a city by running through it, or running at key natural or historical sites. 

Marathons in that sense are more recreational than shorter distances. Shorter distances I run hard and don't notice my surroundings very much. But a long run, you don't breath hard much at all, you can visit with people, you can look around, and really enjoy yourself. I do like both types of running.

So what's next for me? 

Jan. I have a 20.13K race (12.5 miles) I would like to run in 1'45" and a 5k race I would like to run in 22-1/2 minutes. 

Feb.  I am running a trail half marathon. I have discovered that I LOVE TRAIL RUNS!!! Aiming for 1'49"

June - either Newport marathon or Timberline 14-miler... hmmm a flat, fast full or a trail? Don't get too many opportunities for trails... I don't think I can handle the trail full yet.

August- Pocatello take 2.

October - Hagg Lake and/or St George marathon

November - Silver Falls, probably the full marathon this year