Mid Mountain Marathon

A long awaited update. I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks, I just haven't had the time to sit down and do a blog post. That's super lame, but it's the truth.

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I ran the Mid Mountain Marathon, but I did it. It was definitely hard, but I did pretty well for my first marathon. The trails were in great shape, the aid stations had GUMMY BEARS, I had great company, and there was a cute husband, pizza and beer waiting for me at the finish line. What more could I ask for?

The Jacket. I wanted my jacket. I finished the summer-consuming Triple Trail Challenge consisting of the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, the Park City 1/2 Marathon followed by the Mid Mountain Marathon. I totally felt I deserved that jacket and they did not disappoint. They handed them out right after the race, so that was the icing on the cake for me.

Red Butte Garden

I'm not sure who dreamed up the combination of Booker T and The Drive By Truckers, but whoever they are, they are a genius...right in line with the creator of peanut butter and jelly.

The Hike

So Sunday we hiked up to Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It's about a 2 1/2 hour hike each way and not super easy, but once you get to the lake, your burning thighs will totally thank you. It's beautiful. It's peaceful. And the best part is the trailhead is only 15 minutes from our front door. THIS is why we live here.

Quench

For Munch, one of the priviledges of being little and compact is sleeping in bed with Garrett and me. This has been going on since the first time Garrett went to China and generally, we hardly notice. Until now. It must be the summer heat and a house with no central a/c, but he is now finding it necessary to get up at ridiculous o'clock with a thirst that seems unreasonable for such a little dog. For what seems like hours, he drinks out of his water bowl and he does it so loudly that on several occasions I have gone to check to make sure there is not a giant wildebeast in our living room. No, it's just Munch...back to bed. When he's done drinking his water he comes and scratches on the bed, needing a lift up, waking us up yet again. And then Garrett ever so carefully picks him back up on the bed...you don't want to jostle that water around too much because the only thing that could make the night any worse would be cleaning up the hour's worth of water and mushy Eukanuba from a few hours earlier, thrown up by the cutest little french bulldog there ever was. And you can pretty much guess what happens next. Yep, he's thirsty.

YES...It's Still Going On.

In between my hectic schedule of work, crazy marathon training and my usual weekly onslaught of responsible errands, I have been stressing about our backsplash, or should I say the lack there of. With the exception of getting a new fridge, this is the final project in the kitchen remodel also known as the new tile floor turning into something much more sinister. You see, we did not have the backsplash done with the floor b/c my husband wanted to save a few bucks and do it himself. I was ecstatic to save some money, so I happily agreed. Well here we are 5 months later and he's too busy and his back hurts and he thinks he broke a rib...which makes total sense because of all that alligator wrestling he does after work. So yeah, I feel like I've been patient but I just can't find the time to be as dramatic about it as I'd like, so here we are 5 months later, getting more tile bids. I'm fairly certain this project has taken at least 5 years off my life.

1 Down, 2 to Go

So I haven't wanted to blog about this yet since I wasn't sure I'd live to tell the entire story. August 8 has past, I am still alive, I still have the use of both legs, so really, things couldn't be better. This year, I thought torturing myself sounded like a wise idea so I signed up for the Triple Trail Challenge. It's comprised of 3 separate trail running events: Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, Park City 1/2 Marathon and the Mid Mountain Marathon...oh and they are all 2 weeks apart. Garrett tells everyone I'm doing this for the coveted jacket you receive, and while he may be a little bit right, I'm taking this on just to see if I can do it.

Jupiter Peak Steeplechase

This event is a long time Park City tradition, a 16-mile trail running loop with 3000 feet of elevation gain. If that doesn't mean anything to you, then maybe this will: So you start at the Park City Resort, run 8 miles, straight up the mountain all the way to the very highest peak and then you run 8 miles back down. Yeah, that's exactly why I thought I might not make it. This event was the one I was dreading, the one I just didn't know if I could do. I've been training, but I was certain I just wasn't training enough. Well, with a giant sigh of relief, it's over. I actually did really well...I felt good and out of 105 other crazy women that entered this, I came in 16th. I was pretty psyched. Here is a picture of the last 3/4 mile of the uphill. I heard it was steep, but C'MON!!!

So there you have it...2 more to go. I have the Park City 1/2 Marathon coming up in 2 weeks which is going to be a cake walk. The Mid Mountain Marathon is going to be hard for sure, but its flat and my good buddy Holly is running it with me. I tried talking her into doing all 3, but she thought I was nuts. I think she's going to be awfully jealous when I'm prancing around in my jacket at the end!! I mean, jealous that I ran all 3 races.

The Better to Smell You With

Mogley got a pretty ridiculous looking haircut a couple of weeks ago...his summer do. I'm generally against giving my beautiful doodle a haircut that makes him look like an oversized cocker spaniel, but the couple times I thought he might keel over dead from over heating got the best of me. I am not a huge fan of the haircut by any stretch, and quite frankly, neither is he...but we're all dealing. I think it makes his nose look bigger.