Thursday afternoon and evening Angela and I left the kids with our great and generous and talented and kind and good-looking friends, and we headed to St George, UT. Our 9:45 minute drive went quickly, aided by good conversation, good tunes on my iPod, good gyros and strawberry shakes at the Mad Greek in Baker, good traffic, and good weather. It was all good. We stayed with Spencer & Molly & their kids, as well as some of the Mason family, in their gorgeous home on the Entrada golf course. Very nice!
On Friday, Spencer and I went and swam laps at the clubhouse after Angela, Molly, and Spencer ("why am I tasting blood?") went on a short run. It felt great to swim in a lap pool so I knew how far I swam - I went 1000 meters with plenty left in the tank by the time we shut 'er down. From there it was to the Marathon Expo for Ang and me, where we met our great friends the Cutlers for a quick browse and number pickup. It was back to Entrada for a tasty lunch at the Kokopeli restaurant, and then Spencer and I graciously volunteered to get out of the ladies' hair and we hit Green Spring golf course for some serious fun the rest of the afternoon. I played alright, but Spencer played better - beating me by one stroke and by one point in a tense game of Bingo Bango Bongo. I calculated our lifetime head-to-head record for all sports and I'm still leading though, so I'm ok... That evening's BYU-USU game left a bitter taste in our mouths, but we quickly forgot about it with a viewing of Deja Vu.
Saturday dawned very early, very dark, and very rainy. I ran Angela over to the marathon buses at 4:30am, and then hustled back to bed for a few hours. We had brought our noise maker to ensure that Angela could sleep well regardless of whatever noise might be floating through the house when she turned in early, and it was set on "rain" noise. So I was actually surprised when I got up how hard it had been raining - I thought it was just the noise maker... So here's where I eat a little crow: I assured my faithful readers in a previous blog that the forecast would be for rain, but that there was no way it was actually going to rain. Well, I was wrong, and 5000+ runners were the unfortunate recipients of abundant rainfall, a stiff headwind, and falling temperatures throughout the morning. On the bright side, it really prevented me from wishing I was running... so I guess it was good after all ;-).
Ang was incredible during the race. I first saw her at mile 16, and she looked awesome. Molly jumped in at that point and ran with Ang until just before the finish, and that really helped get her to the end. Good job Molly. I also saw them at mile 24, and I could tell it had been a hard day. In the end, Angela achieved a personal best time of 3:47:23, in horrible conditions, and we are all so proud of her. She is admittedly a little disappointed she missed a Boston qualifying time by 1 minute, 23 seconds, but she's reportedly still glad she did it.
Saturday highlights also included seeing the new Highland Rugby movie, Forever Strong. I really enjoyed the movie, mostly because I coached at Highland for four years, knew about half the people in the movie, and had heard first-hand many of the one-liners throughout the movie. I thought it was really well done, and we'll be buying a copy of it when it hits DVD. Another highlight was Spencer, Angela, and I spending about 45 minutes visiting Grandma Gurr in her assisted living center. It's a nice place, and above all Grandma really seems to be doing well. It was great talking with her, and seeing her happy. Spencer and I went to Priesthood session of conference, and then Angela and I had a great dinner with the Cutlers and Trammells, friends from California, at Cafe Rio. That's the best thing about St George for me - the friends and family who congregate for the marathon. Good times.
Sunday was basically about the drive. It always seems longer at the end of the vacation, and this was no exception. We wanted to get home and see the kids, there was a ton of traffic pretty much the whole way, including hundreds of bikers, and we were both more tired than we had been on the way out. We were very glad when we finally arrived home and picked up the kids. They had all done very well with our friends, and we were so grateful for the help. We owe them big time.
Today I started my new job (still at Google). I'll fill you in later when I figure out what's actually going on. A shout out to Dave who also started a much-needed new job today.
Peace out.
2 comments:
Such a fun weekend. Thanks for making the drive, putting up with our kiddos and hanging out with us for 3 blissful days. We can't get enough of you guys! It was fun to read your weekend synopsis but I think you glazed over my stellar performance on those last 10 miles. I think a little more press would've been appropriate..I mean, come on, it WAS raining and I DID set my own personal best time on those 1.5 miles I sprinted to catch Angela the speedster! haha :) Thanks again for a great, great weekend. Till next time!!
Angela way to go on the marathon. I was in the crowd cheering all you runners on. Wished I ahd spotted you. The rain was a nice change for us locals but it was hard on the runners. Great time...whew, makes me tired just thinking about it. So fun to check in on your family.
~Robyn Williams Lamoreaux
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