Cherry Days 5K

Every year for the 4th of July, North Ogden City sponsors a 5K Run/Walk. I first ran it about 5 years ago, and Chip and Sam ran it together last year. This year Chip, Sam, me and my friend, Mary, ran it together. Actually, Chip and Sam ran together and I ran with Mary. This is our pre-race photo, taken by Caitlin, our dedicated photographer, who got out of bed at 6:15 a.m., after a late night of scooping ice cream at the dairy. Chip and Sam crossing the finish line. Sam has been training with me since school let out. We run together every other day. He got up to 3.3 miles before Race Day, and his goal is to be able to run 5 miles by the end of the summer. I can tell he's giving it his all here as he's finishing. He's like his mom in the sense that we pick up the pace when we "smell the barn. "

Here's Mary and me crossing the Finish Line, with Sam high-fiving us. This was Mary's first race since sustaining a serious running injury last winter, when she slipped on some ice while running and broke her ankle in three places. I think it's fair to say she's impressed pretty much everyone who knows her with how well she's healed and how quickly she's returned to running. Her tenacious attitude and love of running are to credit for her quick recovery. I was so happy to be able to run her first race with her post-injury!

Post-race photo....a little sweaty but feelin' good!

I have a picture of these two in the exact same shirts, race bibs and all from last year. The big difference is where Sam is in terms of height. Last year's photo shows him barely at Chip's shoulder. I can't believe how much he's grown in one year. I'm betting in next year's photo Sam will almost be the same height as his dad!

My buddy, Mary. Together, we have laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. I respect her immensely and love her to pieces.

Bryce 2009

Before leaving on our trip to Bryce National Park we took Caitlin to the dance studio where she left with the Performing Troupe for a trip to St. George. They were going to perform in a Pre-Show Performance at Tuachan. While there, they got to participate in a dance workshop at Tuachan with some of the performers, see the plays "Footloose" and "Annie," and go shopping at the outlet malls. Caitlin thought all of this preferable to camping and hiking with us in Bryce.....go figure?
Sam is going to miss his big sister!
Camp is officially set up! We like to camp at Ruby's Inn Campground. The campsites are nice and shady, you can use the indoor and outdoor pools, there's a great store, a rodeo every night, and most importantly (for me) the bathrooms are extremely clean with large, spacious showers that are not crowded. We even had internet access on our laptop from camp.

Breaking in the campsite with a glass of wine on our first night.

Sam is breaking in the campground with a root beer on our first night.

First day of hiking. We did three hikes this day, logging 9 miles total. The first hike was Peek-a-Boo Loop. This was BEFORE the rain.

Sam is imitating the tourists we saw from Eastern Europe. There was a whole bus full of them and they all felt compelled to stand as close to the edge as possible, throw their arms in the air, and have their picture taken. Why not? It's amazing! One of the things that we enjoy about visiting the national parks is the fact that you have the opportunity to be around tourists from so many different countires and you hear such a variety of languages. Although you might not always understand what they're saying, you know from the tone and inflection of their voices that they are awestruck by the beauty and vastness of this country.

Me and my hiking buddy. I love hiking with Sam.

Our attempt at the Leonardo da Vinci guy. Pretty lame attempt.

It rained. It hailed. It blew. Rivers ran down the trails. Fortunately for us, our sherpa, a.k.a. Chip, had the foresight to pack rain ponchos.

Even hiking in the rain is enjoyable and beautiful in Bryce.

After our rainy hike in Bryce we decied to head to Kodachrome Basin State Park, which was about 20 miles away. It was much sunnier there. We did two hikes....the first was to Shakespeare Arch, the only natural arch in the park.

Sam is in character as Moses. Hmmm....somehow I don't remember Charlton Heston doing this in The Ten Commandments.

Our second hike at Kodachrome Basin. It was actually very pretty there, but you definitely wouldn't want to be there on a very warm day.

Our second day of hiking begins. Sam and his new friend. Actually, the critters there are professionals at begging for food. This little guy sat there looking absolutely adorable and pathetic at the same time. All he got was a photo op out of us...no food.

This is at Bryce Point, where we began our first hike on our second day. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We hiked to Hat Shop, which was a much quieter hike than the our previous day's hike at Bryce. This one was about a 4-miler and had lots of Bristlecone pines. You weren't right amongst the hoodoos, like our hike the day before, but always had them in sight. After this hike, we hiked to Tower Bridge, which started at Sunrise Point. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! You were right down in the hoodoos. It was a little more crowded, but well worth it. We hiked a total of 17 miles on our trip, saw lots of amazing scenery, and replenished both body and mind. Chip and I are heading to Glacier National Park the last week of July, but are really itching to get to Capital Reef as a family sometime soon.

Serving With The Youth

Last week the Youth Group (Jr. High aged) participated in a service project at St. Anne's Center (one of two homeless shelters in Ogden). I had the opportunity to go along with the group as a chaperone. I believe there were a total of 18 of us that attended. We were all asked to fast for two meals, if able, work at St. Anne's for a few hours, and then back to the church for tacos. We were given a variety of jobs to do. Here some of the youth are taking large packages of diapers and making smaller packages to give to families with babies.
One of the more time consuming jobs was putting together mens/womens hygiene kits to distribute.

These lovely ladies were in my group. We were given the task of washing all the doors down and they did a great job. As you can see, they are clearly enjoying their work :)

More ladies in my group, washing doors. They worked hard...there's a lot of doors at St. Anne's and we washed EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! I told the girls this would get their arms buff for summer. I don't think they bought it.

This was a great service project to be involved in! Based on the conversation I had with the youth, and the conversation I overheard while working there and on the drive, I believe it was a meaningful experience for them. We are fortunate to have people at our church who are very committed to the youth and take the time to organize activities, like this, for them to be involved in. Sam absolutely loves his Youth Group and has lots of friends there.

On another note, my mom had a pacemaker put in last weekend. After her physician gave it a few tweaks on Friday, she seems to be much better. Unfortunately, right around the time she had her surgery, her husband, who has Parkinson's disease, took a turn for the worse due to a virus he'd caught. This resulted in him having some severe hallucinations, which can be quite scary not only for him but for all of us! Due to my mom not being able to drive post-surgery, I've taken them to quite a few appointments this past week and I think we're on the downhill slide from a very stressful couple of weeks.

Sam is running the local 4th of July 5K this year with us. He has started training with me, and I must say he has improved exponentially since last year when he trained for the same race. We started out by doing 1.5 miles around our neighborhood and he never even broke a sweat! We went out today and bought him a new pair of running shoes, so I hope I can keep up with him tomorrow!

I've finally been assigned some Hospice patients to work with. Fortunately for me, all three are in an assisted living center close to home. I'm looking forward to meeting them all tomorrow and Tuesday. I have no idea what to expect from this volunteer work, but I'm sure it will prove to be an interesting experience!

Our First Official Weekend of Summer

Yesterday Chip had the day off so Sam, Chip, Cloe and I went for a hike. Every summer Chip and I like to hike to Lewis Peak a few times. Sam wants to do it with us this year. The first 2 miles are all uphill and quite steep, but after that it levels off nicely and the rest of the hike, the other 3 miles, to Lewis Peak is like a rambling little trail compared to the first part. We took Sam up the first 2+ miles so he could get a feel for it. He did great but was a much happier kid on the trip down.
That's Sam up ahead, once we got past the steep part of the hike. This picture shows all the wildflowers that are in bloom right now, but it doesn't do justice to the real beauty. In addition to the copious amounts of yellow flowers in bloom, there are numerous purple lupine scattered amongst them. The contrast is spectacular. The last time Chip and I did this hike was the last weekend of September and leaves were changing.
It was breathtaking.The guys on the way up.

The girls and "the guy" on the way up. Our other girl, Caitlin, was home asleep. It was her first official day of summer vacation, after all!

Cloe will follow Sam anywhere, and she did. He wanted a picture on this rock and as he was getting himself all set up for it, she bounded into the picture. You can tell she took him by surprise and almost knocked him off the rock!

Sunday afternoon after church we drove down to Salt Lake and went to a Bees game. It was great fun. We haven't been to a ball game in a long, long time. The weather was perfect for an outdoor event. We actually stayed the entire game. That might not seem noteworthy to a lot of people, however, every game we've been to in the past 15+ years we've had young kids who lost their sense of humor way before the 7th inning stretch. (The novelty of a tub of popcorn only lasts so long.) The Bees won 8-3, by the way.

We had a great time! The Humane Society was there with pets that were up for adoption. It was "bring your dog to the game"day, so lots of people had their dogs with them. We were thoroughy entertained by the beagle "sitting" in front of us. (I should've taken a picture! Darn!) I can guarantee not one of these pictures would've been taken if we'd brought Cloe with us.

My family!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than A Day Like Today!

Chip and Cloe...she's always up for having her picture taken and never complains about how fat she looks. That's Chip's kind of girl!
Me and Cloe. I tried to fix her eyes with the "correct red eye" feature, but it truly only corrects red eye, not bright white eye!

There is a hiking trail we love that's not too far from home. It takes you up to the North Ogden Divide Trailhead, and is 2.5 miles one way, making for a nice 5 miler. We do this hike about 3 times a week from mid-May until about the end of November. It's a beautiful hike in the spring, summer and fall, the scenery being equally beautiful yet different in each season. We snowshoe it in the winter and it's spectacular.

We often have the entire trail to ourselves, but will pass an occasional mountain biker or someone on horseback.

I took Cloe up for the first time last September, when she was about 6 months old. She's a wonderful hiking companion. She never gets too far ahead; she'll stop to wait for us to catch up or run back to meet us. There's something very soothing about hearing the jingle of her tags as we hike along. She especially likes the trip down, when she gets running and takes the corners so fast I'm always sure she's going to wipe out. She likes to find the occasional mouse to play with and takes a dip in the water every chance she gets.

Chip and I do this hike together a lot. We've found it's a great time to talk uninterrupted about anything and everything...or not. However, I do it alone (or now with my four legged hiking companion) during the week, after taking the kids to school, and have had some real "aha" moments the past few years while hiking this trail. It's a very special place to me.

Today was a great day. Chip and I started the day with a hike and beautiful weather, after which Caitlin and I picked up my mom and headed down to Salt Lake for some time with all my aunts and cousins. We met at Gardner Village for lunch and to browse in all the shops. There were 12 of us that were able to make it this time and we had a great time over lunch, talking and laughing. We're all so different in so many ways, but we really enjoy each other and I feel fortunate to have these women in my life. While we were gone, Chip and Sam played basketball, rented a serious guy movie ("Live Free and Die Hard"), and made tacos. Caitlin is at an end of year party now, and I'm enjoying a glass of wine and updating our blog. It just doesn't get any better than a day like today!

Memorial Day 2009

Caitlin and my cousins Bethany and Brandee doing what they do best....being dorks! These photos are out of sequence but I'm tired and I keep deleting the pictures when I'm writing underneath them.

My guys, one of which needs a haircut. (But he's still awfully handsome.) Almost all the pictures we have of Sam from the time he was a toddler show this same pose...thumb up. I swear he has his thumb up in the ultrasound picture taken of him at 16 weeks!

The Paul H. Workman Park in So. Salt Lake was named after my Uncle Paul, a volunteer firefighter and all around great guy. Uncle Paul was a lot of fun and I have great memories of him. He died of cancer in 1980, at the age of 36.
This is where we hold the annual Workman Family Memorial Day Ball Game/Picnic every year, weather permitting. Last year we were in Myke and Erica's garage because it was pouring rain. This year the weather was a little cool but nice. There's our Caitlin up to bat. She finally kicked off her flip flops so she could run. She did pretty darn good but shares her mom's tendency to hit foul balls.

Caitlin's off and running....

The cheering squad
L to R: Chip, Sam (behind my mom), Mom (a.k.a. Grandma and Gloria), Aunt Marci, Aunt Lisa, Cousin Christie

More family...Left side: Cousin-in-law Steve and son Seth. Right side: Cousin Christie, Aunt Marci, Aunt Lisa.

Both these guys are cousins, Craig on the left and Richard on the right. Both are also newlyweds, having been married in March and April. (My poor Uncle Dennis and Aunt Bonnie!) Craig's wife is Aubrey and Richard's wife is Wendy. Melissa, my well traveled, ultra-cool cousin is at the head of the table...where she belongs!!!

Sam, just hangin' out.

We had another great Workman Memorial Day get together. Our extended family comes together twice a year, on Memorial Day and at Christmas time. I'm not sure how the tradition of Memorial Day came about, but we've been getting together for this holiday for as far back as I can remember. These picnics were always a lot of fun and also meant Grandma's potato salad, which has been respectably duplicated by my Aunt Marci and her daughter Brandee. I seem to remember the first baseball game occurring when I was an adolescent. Since then it's been tradition.

Race Day

That's me, just about ready to cross the finish line. Chip had finished about 15 minutes before me, so he got to be the photographer that day. (That's what he gets for being so fast!) As you can see, the sky was a bright, beautiful blue and it was perfect weather for a race.

Chip and me after the race, drinking a refreshing Jamba Juice, and sporting our medals. This race was a P.R. for each of us. Chip ran it in 1:35:58 (9th in his age division out of 61) and I ran it in 1:53:20 (11th in my age division out of 87) It was a fast, beautiful course.

Kim and Eric, both long time runners. They employ the walk/run method for running and swear by it. They've both run numerous half-marathons and several marathons.

Our friends Bob and Carol. They've run so many races I've lost count. The travel all over the country to do so, mostly recently running a 10K while in Boston to watch the Boston Marathon. They're the most knowledgeable people we know when it comes to running. I always just ask Carol any running question I have rather than trying to find the answer myself, because I KNOW she'll know the answer. Bob placed 2nd in his age division for this race!

A group shot of all of us who ran the Half-Marathon this year.

L to R: Chip, Me, Kim, Eric, Carol, Bob

Our race experience actually began on Friday, when Chip and I, along with friends Bob and Carol, volunteered at the Race Expo. We set the timing chips for the runners, which really wasn't difficult, but we kept extremely busy and at the end of our 6-1/2 hour shift, we were beat! It was a lot of fun to interact with and be in the midst of literally thousands of other runners. I love to overhear the dialogue between runners as it makes me realize that there are universal worries, concerns, or things we just like to talk about, particularly before a race. I met people from all over the country who had come to Ogden just to run the marathon. Supposedly 49 states and 4 countries were represented in the race, but I have to question the accuracy of that fact, as I set people's timing chips whose home towns were listed as Fruit Heights, Maryland and Clearfied, South Dakota (Fruit Heights and Clearfield are town within 25 miles of Ogden). I think rather than 49 states being represented, there are a bunch of people who don't know how to put the correct state in when registering! Volunteering at the Expo was a very positive experience and something that both Chip and I would do again. It was a great segue into Race Day.

It was a very early morning, 3:00 a.m. to be exact, as we needed to be in downtown Ogden and ready to board the bus at 4:45. We arrived at the start area about 5:15, which meant we had 1 hour and 45 minutes to just "hang." It was dark and it was COLD! However, there were lots of fires, excitement, and just plain body heat that made it tolerable. The race started at 7:00, when almost 1,970 people crossed the Half-Marathon Start Line to run their race. I realized while standing there waiting to begin that this was by far the largest race I've ever done and I liked it. I loved the energy of all the people; we were all so different in size, shape, age, and appearance, each of us having our own reasons for running this race. The Start Line was the last Chip and I would see of each other as he was always 1-2 miles ahead of me.

It was an absolutely beautiful course and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to do a half. There were only a couple of hills, all very tolerable, numerous aid stations, incredible scenery, and because the majority of it is ran down a canyon, it's a very fast course. I have never been in a race that had so many spectators cheering on the runners and I thrived on that.

About 1 mile before the Finish Line, the course takes you through a tunnel that has a grated surface. Just as I was at the end of the tunnel, my right toe caught the grate and I knew I was going down. My first instinct was to fall as far to the side as I possibly could so as not to cause a domino effect of people tripping over me. Fortunately, there weren't many people behind me and this was avoided. I popped back up, knew immediately nothing was broken, and ran the rest of the way with a scraped knee and elbow that looked far worse than they really were. They did get me a lot of sympathy after finishing, however :)

As you get to the last quarter mile or so, both sides of the streets are filled with people shouting, waving cow bells, and holding up signs. Last year, the kids and I were at this point, cheering on Chip as he finished his full marathon. It's nice to have experienced both sides now.

When it's all said and done, I'm glad I came out of racing retirement. For some reason this race felt different from any other I've ever done. (This was my 3rd Half Marathon, my last one being 5 years ago.) I really can't pinpoint one specific thing that made it different. It is the first Half I've ran by myself, which I think made a difference. My pacing and thoughts were all my own, making it truly MY race.

We're planning on doing the local 5K here in North Ogden on the 4th of July. We have run this in the past, and last year Chip and Sam ran it together. I was in Iowa at my niece's wedding so I didn't run it with them. This year the three of us will run it together and Caitlin will do her part by showing up to take pictures. We're also planning to run a 5K in August near Ketchum, Idaho. This race has been organized in memory of our Youth Director who was killed when he fell while bouldering in the Sawtooth mountains almost 3 years ago. Sam is also planning to run that race with us. I think we'll do another Half-Marathon the end of August, the Top of Utah near Logan. That being said, I guess this was the kick-off of racing season for us and a great beginning it was!