Run Your Race Chocolate Bunny Race

Even though it was a little bit after Easter, Run Your Race still held a Chocolate Bunny race. Ian heard that there were donuts and a chocolate bunny at the end, so he agreed to run the kid's mile race. It is nice when I don't have to go by myself. I had been running the canal trail by our house all season long, so I felt prepared enough for this race, even though I'm a slow runner and I had actually been running slower than ever. I don't remember the actual running of this race--it all blends together with the other times I've run this path/race, and besides running is very monotonous so there's not too much to remember anyway. My time on this particular race wasn't my best, but it was better than my usual canal trail runs (these races usually are). When I went to check out my time, the woman at the stand said that they were having technological troubles and she just handed me a second-place pin! Later, when the technical issues had been fixed, I found out I had gotten 3rd place, so I placed anyway. The two women that had place ahead of me in first and second place had beaten me by a full 10 minutes! Well, I already knew that I'm a slow runner. But not too slow that I can't ever place! 

After my race was the kid's 1-mile race. Ian had only run the trail with me once before this race, but he did fine. The kid's races aren't timed, but he ran his usual 13- or 14-minute mile. Ian runs for the after-race treats! He got a donut, a chocolate bunny, and even got to pick out some fun prizes.    

I took a few pictures, but I was able to download some pictures that were taken by the Run Your Race photographer that were posted on their website.

Signing in to get my bib

At the finish line. From looking at these pictures, I'm thinking that my stride may be too small and that is why I'm such a slower runner..?

Ready to race!

Run, Ian, run!

Checking out the treats after the race

Prizes, donuts, and a chocolate bunny (not pictured). I'm pretty sure treats like these are the only way to get Ian to come to races with me!

Ian and me after running! I really like the Run Your Race company. The course is easy, the medals are pretty cool, and there's always lots of yummy treats after the race.

New Years Day Revolution Run

I signed myself and my dad up for the Revolution Run for New Years Day. It was held in the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. As far as races go, this was probably the most unique race I've participated in. I've never done a race that is indoors on a track. I was super glad it was indoors since it was raining that morning (and cold!). I was also glad that we could start this race whenever we wanted. We got there early, so we were able to start early. However, doing 12 laps (I did the 5K) got a little old after a while. I felt sorry for the people doing Marathons on that track; if I didn't first faint of sheer exhaustion, I definitely would have fainted of boredom! Actually, treadmill running is the most boring of them all. I don't know how I'll get back on that thing when it gets too hot to run outside. As uninspiring as it is running in a circle many times over, it is still fun to see/watch others around me run. It keeps the monotony of running to a minimum. I do not enjoy running as much as some people, so anything to distract me from "how much longer?" is helpful. Anyway, we were given an ankle monitor and a thumb clicker to track the laps. I also had my phone. I don't know what was going on with the signals, but my phone app for tracking runs didn't work very well, and neither did the ankle monitors, which brings us to the main "excitement" of this particular race. I kept track of my laps by using in the clicker. I believe it was around 12 laps. I ran a full lap before clicking the button; I know better than to start at one. One click meant I had gone one lap. So, after 12 clicks, I got off the track because I was finished. My dad ran the 10K, which meant he finished after I did. Since he had to go around so many times, he wanted to make sure that he had ran enough laps, just in case his clicker count wasn't accurate. So, he asked the guy who was monitoring the runner's laps via a computer. The guy told my dad that he needed to complete another lap in order to fulfill the full 10K. My dad ran one more lap, and then the guy told him that he still had another lap to go. So now we knew the ankle monitor wasn't working correctly because we witnessed it failing in real time. When it came to my laps, it also said I was missing a lap. But by the time I saw that, it was a little too late in the race and I was already put in second place by default because I "didn't finish" the race. Normally I'd be happy with second place, but not when I know I was actually owed first place--I decided I wasn't going to settle for 2nd place! The time that I had ran (according to my phone) also testified to the fact I had ran a full 5k--if I had actually one more lap to finish, there was no way I was that slow of a runner, not even on the trail. So, I let the lady who was managing the placement medals know that I was actually first place and not second. I felt a bit like a cheater even though I knew I wasn't. She said I could have the first place. Yay! There was supposed to be a ceremony for the winners (my dad also placed--he usually does!) so we waited and waited and waited around. I guess lots of other people were having issues with the monitor (or something) not counting their laps. So after a few pictures, we finally left. We should have right after we found out we both placed first, but I stupidly wanted to be a part of the awards ceremony because I rarely even place. Oh well. The medal were pretty cool though. It was a fun race, minus the waiting around at the end.

I liked that you could start this race whenever you got there. We were a little early, so we started early.

All finished?

An accidental pic, but you can kinda see all the medals waiting to be passed out.

So many laps!

We should have just left after taking this picture, but we hung around longer only to find out there would be no awards ceremony due to technical issues counting the laps.

 

I guess this is as much as an awards ceremony as we could hope for--pictures taken on the podiums!

Gingerbread Race

On December 13th, Ian and I ran the Gingerbread race for Run Your Race at Arizona falls. I first ran the 5K and got 3rd place in my age group. It wasn't the best/fastest race I've ever ran, but it really depends on who is running the race because I am not that fast. Even though I'm slow, I run the entire time which is how I manage to place in so many races. A lot of people can run fast for a mile or two but end up walking a large chunk, which ultimately slows them down even more than my slow running. Ian sat on a bench and played the switch while I ran, and then he ran his 1-mile race. Afterwards, he picked out a few prizes and got a few treats.  I thought the medal that we both got was pretty cool. It came with a pin that I tried to give to Gabe, but he refused to take it because he claimed that it was designed by a.i. Silly Gabe. There was a Santa Claus there to take pictures with, but Ian refused. Here are the pictures: 

Me and my cutie

3rd place

A pretty cool medal

Just about to start

Run, Ian, run!

Red-faced after the run

Thanksgiving Day 2025

Here is my Thanksgiving day 2025 post. Grandma and Grandpa came down from St. George to celebrate Thanksgiving with us the day before. The day started off with a 5K race in Anthem. It was expensive, but it didn't help that I signed up last minute. I tried to sign Ian up for the kid's race, but I guess they were all full or at least didn't have enough shirts and finisher's medals to give out. Luckily, when we got there, they let Ian run for free (he just didn't get the shirt and medal). He was a good sport about the whole adventure--walking all the way to the event (I parked kind of far away), waiting for me to run the race (the Nintendo switch helped pass the time), and running the half mile and not getting a shirt or medal (he didn't seem to care). Towards the end, Ian had a good ol' time grabbing fruit snacks, bananas, and rice krispie treat after rice krispie treat--I told him he could because they had SO MANY. We came home with quite a bit of treats! As far as my run, it was okay. I was a little slower than usual and there were some hills that I didn't like. So, no placing in this race but I didn't expect to--there were a lot of runners!

  

Ian took this picture just after I finished

Cool dude waiting for his turn to run

Ian running in the half-mile kid's race

Me and my boo-bean ready to head home

I already posted this, so I'll just post this one picture of the kitties that Elisa and I went to visit on Thanksgiving day between my race and Thanksgiving dinner

Sweet kitty

After coming home from taking care of the kitties, we started making Thanksgiving dinner. At least I started. Erik was already in the kitchen prepping food when I got home. He made the turkey, acini salad, stuffed mushrooms, and sweet potato casserole. I made the mac n cheese (Ian's request), berry salad, baked brie cheese, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. We chose to skip the rolls this year. For dessert, we threw some Marie Calendars pies in the oven that I had in the freezer.  They're almost no work and only $5 each. All in all, a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was really good. The berry salad was a favorite, but the mac n cheese was the least favorite since I had the wrong noodle to cheese ratio. 

Ready to dig in!

Warm and gooey brie cheese with a flaky crust. We ate it with some homemade cranberry sauce.

Delicious berry salad with blue cheese.

The rest of the food...so yum!

Ian enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner. You can also see the new Thanksgiving shirt I bought for him.

Pie!

Pie shirt and pie earrings!

August Random Happenings

August 

A start of another school year! Ian started 5th grade, Elisa started her Freshman year at O'Conner, and Gabe his Junior year.

August 2nd

Not sure how I managed to get myself on the AZFMC board, but I was voluntold to be in charge of some award they give out. I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do. But it sounds like I don't have to do much. I went to the meeting this day. It was fun to meet some of the other board members and have lunch. This is the only picture I took that morning. I might go to this, maybe not. But I will definitely be putting more of my students in the Festival this year. The trophies really hook the kids into wanting to do festival. It takes 3 years to earn a trophy. I'm hoping Ian can earn the 3rd or maybe even the 4th sized trophy by the time he's 18.

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August 4

I had to pull Gabe out of school to take him to his counseling appointment. I read a book during his time, and then I meet with the counselor for about 15 minutes to talk about Gabe. Afterwards, I take Gabe to the restaurant of his choice. This particular week he chose Culvers. I ordered the kids' meal and let Gabe have my custard. Silly Gabe forgets how to smile for the camera sometimes!

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I came back with a few of my Grandma's clip-on earrings that I liked. For the silver braided ring earring, I glued an earring stem to the back. For the another (not pictured) I just added a hook, and for The rhinestone one I bent a part of the clip at a 45 degree angle to make an earring stem. The stem is a bit thicker that I'd like, but it works. For each pair, I did have to rip off at least some portion of the clip.  I'm glad I was able to make these earrings wearable again! They are pretty and deserve a second chance.

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August 5

Elisa at her Young Women's activity. One of the leaders posted this picture. She doesn't go to many of the activities anymore.

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August 6

Gabe's ID card. Another fun picture!

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August 10

Elisa dyed her hair a red-ish color, from a couple of box dyes we bought at Walmart. I think the color looked cute on her!

August 22

I called around to find a hairdresser for Elisa. She said she wanted it dyed (again) but we changed our mind when the hairdresser quoted us $300. At least Elisa was able to get the haircut she wanted. I think it's called the "wolf" or something like that. The hairdresser's name was Heather. We might go back to her, who knows. She was nice and Elisa was happy with her haircut. Pricewise, a bit much though.

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August 22- Ian really wanted to go to bingo night at the school so I took him. I gave Ian $5 for a pizza dinner. We didn't get any bingos though. I left as soon as Erik came since I had my race I need to get going to. I didn't want to stay any longer anyway, all the noise was starting to give me a headache.

Her are some pictures of my much-anticipated race. And by anticipated, I mean I fretted and worried about it way too much. But I really, really wanted the finisher's medal. It was the first race in the Desert Night Race series (I wasn't interested in participating the next 2 races) by Run Your Race. I've done a few other of their races so I was familiar with the track. However, I was worried that I would be walking the race since I:1) hadn't been running much, let alone outside, 2) don't usually run in the evenings, and 3) don't run in the heat. I was mostly worried about the heat since it was forecasted to be over 100 degrees. And it was. I ended up going by myself since Erik stayed behind with the kids and the drive to the race was almost 40 minutes. Just before the race started, I dumped a bottle of water all over myself. The first half of the race I was doing surprisingly well. I ran the entire time. The second half--not as well. I walked for too much of it, but thankfully my time wasn't too terrible (at least relative to how slow I usually run). I should have taken the water from the water station at the halfway point and poured it over myself again--I felt a little too hot so that's why I slowed down. I did run the last quarter mile though. Phew. The race was over and I got the medal that I wanted. It wasn't so bad. I nice lady and her daughter chatted with me for a few minutes after the race, and I grabbed a popsicle on the way out.

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August 25

The kids made themselves really comfortable in the front room that I had just cleaned up. You can see the donation pile by the stairs, it felt good to get rid of lots of junk.

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August 26

My organ teacher brought in the cutest little kitten that she was babysitting for someone. I took this picture to show Elisa.

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August 26

After my organ lesson, I met up with Erik for lunch. We decided to try out Tommy Bahama, which was right next door to their shop. We both ordered tacos, different kinds though. It was pretty good. After lunch we browsed the shop but didn't buy anything. 

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August 30

Erik and I started the process of getting new flooring. We decided we wanted LVP flooring. I hated that orangey-brown tile so much--it was terribly ugly...hideous and out of style. So we went to Lowe's, Home Depot, and Floor and Decor. I narrowed down my choices to just a few, one lighter-toned from Home Depot and another multi-colored one from Floor and Decor. It was a completely different experience looking at the planks at the store versus taking them home. I thought I liked the light flooring from Home Depot, but I'm so glad we took it home to try it out for a few days, because it turned out to be thin, slippery, and showed every little mark. The grayer-looking flooring was much thicker, more textured, and had more colors in each plank. I know it looks gray in these pictures, but its really not that gray! We decided to go with plank B.

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