Thoughts

Near the end of September, Rinar and Zach ran a road race sponsored by Corner Canyon High School.  It was on a Friday afternoon and Rinar took the afternoon off from work to do this with Zach. It was fantastic. Zach looked comfortable out there and ended up getting 18th place overall.  I think he might have a future in running if he desires to do the necessary work. He may very well. I hope so.

This is what I looked like the day before giving birth. I guess I really did not get that big, even though I felt like a house. 

And this is all of the cousins together for the first time: Danny, Paul, and Noelle. And clearly, the cutest kid is on the right! 

My life is starting to get back to normal.  I am sitting down with the kids again to work on their school assignments, driving them to lessons, taking the little ones to the park. Life does not slow down.

I never realized how big Eli, Harry, and Julia have grown.  In my head, they are always little. But now that I am the mother of a tiny infant, the contrast is stark.  They are really big kids now. I am just grateful, when it is all said and done, that I did have a good break between Noelle and my older ones.  They have really grown up and are at a really wonderful stage in life. They are still little, innocent children, but old enough to really do and absorb.  Ages 4 and 5 are my favorite.  I can still cuddle with them, but they go to the bathroom by themselves, get their own drinks, play alone well, and are saying lots of funny stuff.  

I just hope with all the business in my life, I don't miss the little things Noelle will do as she grows up.  The little things are the best things. And speaking of that, she is now screaming at me and telling me in her adorable 3 week old voice that she is hungry.

Tough Mudder Phoenix

Warning: This blog may contain several rants.  You have been warned.

Rinar decided to do the Tough Mudder in Phoenix this last weekend. His brother Nordel joined him, in addition to other Fidelity guys from the west that Rinar has worked with over the years.  We decided to make it a weekend getaway.  

We flew in on Friday and went to the Mesa Temple in the morning. Then we met up with Nordel and Brooke, and my sister Heather, who lives in Scottsdale.  We ate dinner across the street from the Suns stadium and then went to the NBA game. The Phoenix Suns were playing the New Jersey Nets.

My animosity of the NBA has been cemented after this game. First of all, the game was totally lame.  It was like NBA D League.  Our tickets were ridiculously expensive, and probably some of the worst in the entire stadium.  There were people constantly in front of the court, so that 30-40% of our view was obscured.  This included the usher and this cameraman.

I mean, look at this view. The cameraman and producer stood there for about 5 minutes of the game. Yes, this was my view.  Awesome, right?  But don't worry. It was, like, totally worth it.  Our section won t-shirts, as long as we stood up and danced around like a bunch of buffoons.  I didn't, but I still got a t-shirt somehow.  Do you know what it said?  "We Want Tacos"

I thought it would be a Phoenix Suns shirt.

Then I decided to model it for our section just like the cameraman would.

Cool, huh?  And the usher actually told me to move.  It is good to see he is so concerned about it.  Do you think he said anything to the cameraman?

The next day was race day. It was on the outskirts of the Phoenix area in Mesa, at some desolate proving grounds.  Nothing was out there, including roads to actually get you to the event. Rinar's wave went at 9:20. We got to the freeway exit at about the same time and sat there for, like, EVER!  I also found out that parking cost $10.  Yes, you had to pay to park in an abandoned, gravel mosh pit, in which you still had to walk a considerable distance to the entrance.  We didn't even make it to the parking lot. We parked outside and then walked in. (At least I didn't pay for parking.) 

Then we had to pick up our tickets.  Tickets? What? You need tickets?

Yes, correct. In order to be a spectator, prepaid tickets cost $20 (plus fees).  If you pay the day of, it is only $40.  Luckily, we prepaid, so we would be able to pick up our tickets, no problem.

Oh wait...yes...wait, and wait, and wait. We waited and extra 20 minutes to pick up those prepaid tickets. 

Finally! We were at the race. But Rinar and Nordel had been out there for one and a half hours.  The course s only 12 miles long.  So Brooke, Heather, and I walked and walked and walked.  

Could not find them anywhere.  Heather had to leave to go back to work.  

I watched these people go over this wall. I thought I should get a picture of something.  You know...$20 (plus fees) and all.

After Heather left, Brooke and I walked to the end of the course and watched these people go over this wall.  We sat on a comfortable piece of dirt and gravel for about 10-15 minutes.

Then my phone rang.  "Hi, I am calling for Rinar. He is at the finish line. They just finished the race."

Hmmm....how did I feel about this; totally and completely pissed, angry, sad, disappointed and absolutely furious at Tough Mudder, the biggest rip off on planet earth.  It may be fun for the participants but  it sucks if you want to watch.  I actually cried at the finish line, I was so upset.  

Worse. Race. On. The. Planet. Do not go as a spectator unless you want to be totally ripped off by avaricious, money-grubbing scoundrels.

But at least the dirt tasted good. 

There you go...Rinar is a Tough Mudder. Congratulations.

There was actually a tattoo parlor at the finish line. I should have gotten a tattoo saying, "You thought the Tough Mudder was tough, try trying to watch it."

Kokopelli Triathlon

Several months ago Rinar set a lofty goal, an Olympic triathlon. This means that you have to swim 1.5k, bike 33k, and then run a 10k. I thought he was completely insane and I didn't know if he would be able to pull it off. I mean, he works half of the week in Albuquerque and travels to other places as well for his job. How would he be able to get all of the training done?

But sure enough, every morning he was up at 5am doing something, whether it was biking, running or swimming. Many times we would run together after the kids were asleep, doing numerous laps around our little neighborhood.

Another motivation for him was that his brother Lyf decided to do it with him and his friend Rich from work. Rich's wife Johanna also does triathlons and she is pretty fast and was going to compete in the Kokopelli as well. I think Rinar was most worried about getting beat by Johanna. He just didn't want to get beat by her!

It was a beautiful morning at Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah.

They were ready to go. Bring it on! The hay was in the barn and he was ready to roll.

Lyf was in the older age group, so his group started 10 minutes after Rinar's group.

Rinar came out of the water really fast. I was surprised. I think he was in the top 15 overall. He was looking good.

Angie and I were wondering when Lyf would come out of the water. It took a while!

There is Rinar coming back from his 20+ mile bike leg.

Rinar had good transitions so he was back out on the road for his run quickly. Then I later saw Johanna making her way on foot. Her group started 20 minutes after Rinar's group, so I wasn't sure if he was ahead of her. We guessed that he was.

She looked really good and she always had a smile on her face. Johanna did it with style.

After getting disoriented on his swim (he probably swam and extra 1/2 mile because he went the wrong way a lot), Lyf did a solid bike and then got going on his run.

Here comes Rinar for his big finish. He was really hurting by this point and had to walk some. But he was still able to finish strong. Did I mention that the last 1/2 mile is mostly uphill? Yuck, huh? But they were not deterred.

That is one proud mama!

A true triathlete.
I was pretty proud of him too. His time was really good.

2 Hours 33 Minutes and 2 Seconds

Here he is with Rich and Johanna...and yes, he beat them both. What a relief. Johanna just barely beat her husband. Rich is amazing. I can't believe he even did a triathlon. He has major hip problems and I think he even had one of his hips replaced. He is either amazing or completely crazy.
And then Lyf made it to the end. 3 hours and 9 minutes. He would have been under 3 hours if he had had a more focused swim, for sure. But it was still a solid time, and he didn't come in last!

Angie is explaining to Lyf what his wayward swim looked like from dry land.

The end!

Rinar's Half Marathon

Rinar ran the Painter's Half Marathon in St. George last Saturday, the 17th. He did a great job and was able to break the 2 hour mark, with a time of 1:57:02. This is him before the race with Eli. It was really cold. I was going to stay and watch him start, but Eli had other ideas.

I came back a little later and saw him pass the 3-mile mark.

Here he is at mile 12. He was not as happy at this point in the race. I ran the next 3/4 mile with him and helped him along. I think he was very happy to be done.

His Mom and brother Lyf came to cheer him on. Lyf brought his entire family. It was a lot of fun to have them all there.