Park City Half-Marathon: The Race in Review

We drove to Utah last weekend for the Park City Half-Marathon.  It was kind of a quick trip.  We stayed with Emily, one of my roommates from college, and her family, and got to watch her make this amazing cake.  We got there Friday night and went to the "Expo," which was not really an expo, it was a pretty small race.  The just handed me my bag with my bib and the T-shirt in it and said, "See you tomorrow." 

The race was hard.  It was slightly uphill on the way up.  So slight that I didn't really realize we were going uphill until about mile 5, it go pretty steep at mile 6 and 7, then we turned around right after mile 7.  Then I was cooking on the way back, trying to make it in less than 2 hours.  I went pretty slow on the way up so I had my work cut out for me.  I was averaging 9:30-9:45 on the way up and then trying for 8:30s on the way down. 

In the end, I got discouraged because I didn't know how much longer I had.  There wasn't a lot of us, so we're running and I can't hear anything (I had my headphones in, I'm an idiot!) or see any sign of the end so I'm still running but I realize I can't make it in under 2 hours so I slowed down a little and wondered if we were actually going the right way.  Then I turn a corner and the end is RIGHT THERE.  I was kind of ticked.  I wish, at the end of a race, they would have indicators at 1/2 mile left, 1/4 mile left, something.

Me finishing the race, stopping my watch, and being totally oblivious to James taking my pictures and cheering for me because I'm the idiot that forgot to take her headphones out.

In the end, I finished in 2 hours and 2 minutes, which is not a bad time.  I guess because I did the Seattle one much faster, I was hoping to do better on this one.  It was good practice and preparation for the Colorado Springs Marathon on Labor Day.  Also, our friends John and Ashley and their little munchkin Lindsay came, which was awesome!  And James was there, taking pictures.  This is the first big race he's been at and not been running, too.  The more people I know are at the finish line, the faster I run. 

  Here's me with my "medal" made out of recycled glass.  That's cool, I like being green, but let's call it what it is:  a necklace on a ribbon that says, "Park City Half Marathon." 

Yet Another Wall Hanging

James and I rearranged our bedroom a couple months ago (best thing we've ever done) and I found out that James likes this quilt I made

but that it doesn't really match our bedroom color scheme, which is true.  So this quilt will hang in his mancave (the loft) and I made a (supposed to be) quick wall-hanging to cover the HOT HOT window behind our bed.  We covered it with insulation.

Then the new matching wall hanging.

I traced the letters from a font on my computer onto fusible web for applique, ironed them on muslin, blanket-stitched around them, added a border, then quilted it with batting and muslin on the back.  I "stitched in the ditch" around the letters and along the border and did the heart detail things, then my Mom did the AMAZING quilting detail you can see in the picture.  My Mom is VERY talented.  I can't believe what she can do and she makes it look easy.  It is very intimidating to me to quilt on her machine so I was grateful that she put all the work into this because it makes it so much better.  Then I did the border, there are not close-ups of that because I did a crappy job.  But it's okay because you can't see it unless you look very closely. 

Podcasts

My sister Marie told me about this podcast a little while ago, and I've been listening to this and a few others lately.  Last night on our drive home from Parker, James and I were listening to "Stuff You Should Know," and when we got home, I told James, "I really like podcasts," and he said, "That's SO five years ago."  Whatever.  Maybe I was on my mission when they first started, or I just don't pay attention very well, but I've just discovered them and I LOVE them.  It's like listening to talk radio but you get to choose what they talk about, and there are no commercials.  And you learn new things and it's free and because ANYONE can do a podcast, you know it's good information, kind of like wikipedia (That was a joke from The Office.)  So some of my favorites so far are:

Two Gomers Run a Marathon
Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Missed in History Class

Anyone have a favorite?  My sister Marie likes "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," which is an NPR program.  There are also lots of good LDS Podcasts. 

Looking Forward to Fall

James' Fall promise to me:  caramel-apple cider from Starbuck's and a walk in the leaves.

My Fall promise to James:  I won't give him a hard time about fantasy football. 

I've got my work cut out for me.