live.survive.thrive.

I think I'm finally to the point that I can call myself a "REAL RUNNER"  I've been running with my  good friend Connie for the last few months and she has whipped me into shape. I went from barely making it to 3 miles to running 7....uphill....and ENJOYING IT! 

seeing a hill and thinking "I can totally run up that"-CHECK

running so much I have blisters on top of blisters- CHECK

bleeding in your shoe from above mentioned blisters popping-CHECK

running too much too soon causing injury-CHECK

The last one not so excited about. About 3 weeks ago I was running and after 5 miles my leg started to hurt {BAD} I had to limp home the last mile.  I had earned myself a nasty shin splint and HOLY COW it hurts! Bring on the ice and ibuprofen! I was really worried cause I had already signed up for a 5k and I could barely walk let alone run! So I rested my leg best I could (meaning no running but I still had to work 12 hour days) and prayed really hard.  

This last Saturday was THE BIG DAY, it was the AF CANYON 5k to raise money to support/help fight cancer. All the money raised would help those who couldn't afford to pay for cancer treatments.

My hot athletic trainer :) taped my leg before the race 

Nick had a special blue running bib that said

SURVIVOR I was so proud

See that hill? Ya, we totally conquered it!

This was what I had been training for:

It was a grueling mile #2

It was the downhill that killed me, my leg started to hurt. I pushed through the pain as best I could but the last 200 yards it was getting to be too much and I had to slow down.

We finished with a time of 29:13 our best time yet! Not bad considering I was running on a injured leg (and did you see that hill?!) Nick was the first cancer survivor to cross the finish line!

We had some AWESOME and SUPER CUTE support to cheer us on at the finish line (2 of Nick's nephews). Nick's uncle ran the half marathon and came in 2nd place for his age group

WAY TO GO UNCLE KELLY!

Kelly told us that before the half started they shared stories from cancer survivors and they told Nick Whiting's story! (I had submitted his story when I was registering us for the race)

As soon as we finished and stopped running my leg was KILLING ME and I could barely walk again. Thank goodness for ibuprofen! I'm resting up and praying it will recover, I really want to run on the 4th of July. I was hoping to run the 10k but I don't think my leg will let me so I might just do the 5k. 

Sometimes when we are faced with some of our most difficult trails, the Lord sends angels to lift us up, give us hope, a sympathetic ear that will listen and a shoulder to cry on, someone to help us realize that we're not alone.  Recently, several of those angels in the forms of good friends and family have come into my life.  This morning I came back from my day at the temple and in an effort to try to stay awake I just happen to check my facebook and saw that one of my new friends shared a link to this article:

 http://www.ldsliving.com/story/64783-infertility-when-children-dont-come-easily

Sometimes it's hard for me to say what I'm thinking or share what I'm feeling, and I get the feeling that a lot of my fertile family and friends don't know what to say to me. It's the GIANT baby elephant in the room.  Fertile or infertile, married or single- read it and educate yourself, 15% of couples struggle with infertility. 

Class of 2011

2 weeks ago Nick's youngest sister Lacee graduated from American Heritage High School (it's a private school in AF- right across the street from the MntTimp Temple)  It was a nice ceremony, they even had Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak.  It was a little long (for only having 25 kids graduate, it was still 2 hours!) but ALL graduations are long I guess and that's what you do for family. We are so proud of Lacee and super excited for what lies ahead for her- REAL LIFE! :)