One of THOSE days...

Let me start by saying that one of my goals this year is to run a half marathon - not just finish, but run the whole 13.1 miles.  It's hard for me to run during the winter, and this winter has been harder than usual - fighting constants colds and sinus problems and then it has been way, way cold.  I've been trying to get back to running at least 3 times a week and for many reasons, it just hasn't happened.  One of my road blocks has been the showers at work - last year it took 10 to 15 minutes for the water to warm up, and this year it's just been cold.  I've started turning on the shower as soon as I get back in the building with great hopes for warm water, only to be disappointed.  So yesterday, I struggled to get up and get to work and get things going and then go running.  Then I almost took an asphalt digger while running.  Then I get back to work and turn on the shower, close the door and go into the lab to do what I need to do and get my stuff.  Back to the shower room, only to find that I locked the door, with the shower running mind you.  Back to the lab to find my friend Ashley and see if by any chance she knows how to pick a lock.  We decide that it shouldn't be that hard to pick a lock, so we get what we think are tools of the trade and head to the shower.  Picking locks is not as easy as they make it look in movies and on TV shows - I would love to learn how to pick locks (solely for the purpose of picking locked shower doors, of course).  The closest I got was almost breaking off one of my paper clips in the lock.  So Ashley heads upstairs to look for Bart, one of our building maintenance people, while I continue to attempt picking.  Bart, I'm sure loving that he has something else he can give me a hard time about, breaks into 3 offices looking for the master key.  We, meaning Bart, finally get the door open and I finally get into the shower, only to find the water temperature is room temp - which at least is not cold, right?  I then discover that I forgot to pack a towel.  Drying off without a towel is not easy.  Later I discovered I'd left my lunch at home.  Arrrrgggghhhh....

More Wasatch Back pictures

Wasatch Back Relay

Believe it or not, this is not a house post!!  This past weekend I was part of a team - Hip Hop Chicks - that ran the Wasatch Back Relay - a crazy road race that is 188 miles long, from Logan UT to The Canyons ski resort in Park City UT.  I've been told many times before and after that I was crazy - and I was telling myself that Friday night!  I have been doing a lot of running to get ready for this and felt somewhat confident that I was physically prepared - the week before the race I did 7.5 mile, 8 mile and 4 mile runs.  But holy cow, was I wrong!!  This was brutal - physically, mentally and emotionally, and I was so grateful to have such a supportive team - no way I could have done this without them.  I definitely learned that I'm not as physically and mentally tough as I thought I was!  Anyhoo... some pictorial evidence...

Liz, me, Bridgette, Trish, Kate and Joni

Here we are before we left for Logan Friday morning... these women are truly amazing!  I really only knew Bridgette before Friday morning... funny what spending 30+ hours together will do! I heart each one of them!

Map of my first run - an easy 5.1 miles - and me before I started, I think at about 1 or so.  I had no idea how hot it would be - and running at 6 am doesn't do much to prepare you for that!!  But it went OK...

Here we are after we all completed our first run - don't they all look like runners, except for me!?!  The allergies started kicking in about here...  lots of sneezing, a faucet for a nose, itchy eyes... pretty miserable.  We had about 3 hours while the ladies in van 2 took over....

Most of the HipHop Chicks as Liz started on our 2nd set of runs:

Bridgette, Kate, me, Wendy, Joni, Trish, Shannon, Caitlyn, Muranda, Kadee and Sarah

And here's my 2nd leg... 8 miles up East Canyon to the reservoir.  I started at about 11:30 pm and finished about 1 am...  I felt pretty good the first 5 miles, but the last 3 or so miles just seemed really steep - I could see the lights for the exchange point and they just kept getting higher and higher and higher.  This was the point I thought there was no way I'd ever do this again - full-on insanity!!  I was ready to go home and sleep and eat and never put on my running shoes again!  When I was finished we went to a high school in Coalville and had some food and got to sleep on the gym floor.  For the first 15 minutes I thought wow - this is the softest gym floor in the world, and then after 15 minutes I thought wow - this is the hardest gym floor in the world!  We had about 3 hours before we needed to leave to make it our next exchange

My final leg...  an "easy" 3.1 miles at about 11 (I think... things were definitely blurring by this point!) on Saturday.  I was so done...  once again hot, little food during the previous 24 hrs, little sleep, sore, and not GI distress but definitely discomfort...  (if I have to use a "honey pot" anytime in the next year, it will be too soon!!).  I don't know that I've ever been so happy to see someone as I was when I saw Wendy at that exchange point!!

There was gorgeous scenery along the way...

Oh wait, did I put this under scenery??!  There were many teams who dressed in costumes - this guys teams name was Pants Optional - and to their credit, at this point they were in 3rd place in the men's division and only 3 miles behind the team in 2nd place (they ended up finishing in 4th place, finishing in just over 20 hrs!).  And they started about 8 hours after us!!

The chicks of van 1 at the finish line at The Canyons Resort:

Talk about a bunch of white girls playing at being gangsta!  

I was pretty set Friday night on never ever even thinking about doing something like this again, but a couple of days later I'm thinking it wasn't so bad...  Next time I'll be better prepared and have better expectations of what I'm getting myself into!  And as a team we did pretty well - 36 out of 127 women's teams and our finish time was just over 31 hours.  I was so in awe of the all the women on our team - they were each amazing, and I wish I was the runner that they are, and the good people that they are.  I wasn't as horribly sore as I thought I might be, although I haven't run yet... not sure if I'm brave enough to try tomorrow morning or not!!

 Wasatch Back 2011?  We'll see...

Where do the days go? I have no idea... so here's one of those long, catch it all up posts...

Summer softball is finally over... here's one of the

Mutant teams I played on - this was my Tuesday night league where I ended up pitching about half

way through the season... yes, they were that desperate! While I enjoyed playing with these guys, I think I'm done with that league - of course I've probably said that every year for the last 2 or 3 years, but I think this year I really mean it!!

The last few months have brought many house guests - mostly for good reasons, but a few for not as happy reasons. One was J-man's broken and dislocated arm that required surgery at Primary Children's Hospital. Once in surgery, the actual injury wasn't as bad as the x-rays had led the doctors to believe, so that was at least good news!

One weekend was the Robinson family reunion -

held here in SLC (gotta love when you can sleep in your own bed). It was fun to see Dad with all of his sisters (missed you Melvin and Carole!) and our cousin April and her fun kids... (sorry - didn't get a picture with them)

That weekend Dad, Kirk, Luci and I ran a 5K - the weather was just about perfect for us - a little

bit cool with a light mist, but then J-man ran a 1K (with me and Luci) and the heavens decided to open up and pour (I think my t-shirt was about 10 lbs heavier!!):

J-man did great once he started running! My favorite was about halfway through when he looked around and looked up and gave his evil emperor laugh which I can't attempt to translate into words - but it was awesome. He even wants to run another race, but it can't be raining he told me!

And just so Z-boy gets some time - you can't really tell, but he's trying to put on his momma's high heeled shoes. He cracks me up!!

There has also been the happy addition of two new neices this summer - first came Crabby A (nicknamed by her family!) to join Marc and Ariane's family:

And most recently the safe arrival of Baby E to join Brett and Val's family:

A few weekends ago Rena and I ran a women's only race in SugarHouse Park - now that's something - to run with over 1300 other women... just very cool

And finally!!! Mom and Dad were recently called to serve in the Winnepeg Canada mission - the very mission that my Grandma Rose lives in. They report to the MTC on October 12 for 5 days of training and then are off! I am so grateful for the example that my parents are to me. This is one of my favorite pictures from their last mission (Kiev Ukraine Mission) taken by the Black Sea in Odessa Ukraine:

And now I think I'm mostly caught up... until next weekend...

What in the World??!

I had a big breakthrough last week... you see I ran a 10K race - BECAUSE I WANTED TO... not because my family was (see Bolder Boulder posts), or friends were, or any other reason than I wanted to see how I'd do. Now this is shocking - to me at least. See, I'm not a runner - or at least I haven't been in the past. I'd kind of try to run during the summers when I was in college to stay in shape for basketball, but it just never lasted very long... my knees would hurt (the result of popped bursae), the plantar fasciitis would kick in or shin splints, and there was always something else to do instead of running at nights. But Rena and I started running in January and in the last 3 months I've run two 10Ks and 2 5Ks, with more planned. And next year I want to do a half marathon ... wait, this is me, right?? Not so sure!! And in case you were wondering, I RAN the whole race and my time was 61 minutes - just under 10 minute miles. Not bad for a non-runner, eh?!! Although I have to say, I am just not photogenic... not posting the other pic where I look pregnant!!

2009 Bolder Boulder

Yet another one of those off the wall Robinson traditions - the annual running of the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. This year there were only 4 Robinson participants in the over 55000 runners: Papasan, Luci, Kirk and me:

One of the "perks" of the BB is the photography company that takes pictures along the course:

Not going to be purchasing any pictures with me in it - ugh!!

My goal when I started was to finish in 70 to 75 minutes - one day I'd LOVE to finish in under an hour (I'd be thrilled with 59:59!), but I knew that wasn't going to be this year, and I wanted to take pictures along the course for people who haven't experienced the BB to get a feel of what it's like - unlike any other race I've done or heard about. Well, it's funny how goals can change - I was going OK the first two miles or so and then BAM!! Extreme intestinal discomfort - Holy Gut Bomb Robin!! My goal then was just to finish, hopefully only really sweaty. And I managed that and to get a time of 69:32 - totally got my finish time, gut bomb and all, although I was the slowest Robinson - not a surprise there. As for the pictures, well, I stole some from the Daily Camera website (a Boulder newspaper I think). Enjoy!!

One of two bell dancing groups - Kirk made it on TV one year when he stopped to dance with the belly dancing grandmas... not sure if that's something you really want to see!

There are costumes galore - Santas, gorillas, cows, brides and grooms (this year I heard that there was a bride and her 4 bridesmaids that ran in their dresses), nuns, bananas, etc. I can't even imagine - I was dying in shorts and a t-shirts!!

The course winds through many neighborhoods, the residents participate and provide relief in their own ways -

I love watching the different groups run into the stadium - this year there was a group of "lost girls" from Sudan and of course the ROTC - are you kidding - 6.2 miles and then push-ups??!

And the real reason for Memorial Day - to remember those who have and those who continue to serve and preserve our freedoms - many, many thanks

Race for the Cure

We did it!! I ran an entire 5K for the first time (and with a decent time - about 37 minutes!)... part one of goal - DONE!! Now to recover and build up to a 10K!!

At the finish line with my running buddy Rena!! Go us!!

Memorial Day & the Bolder Boulder

One of my family's traditions is running in the Bolder Boulder, a 10K road race, on Memorial Day. This year was my 3rd finish, despite no training (good intentions, just no time this year). This race is unlike any other - along the course there's all kinds of bands that play (I hi-fived Elvis!), belly dancers of all ages, slip and slides in yards, runners in all kinds of costumes, and just about everything else you can think of, not to mention the over 54,000 runners this year.

Within the first mile, running with my sister-in-law Ariane... notice the smile

And at the finish line... notice the lack of smile!!

I averaged 12min21sec miles, for a finish time of 1hr16minutes - in 30,030th place!