Transformations of a Life

The Family Proclamation meets Percy Jackson?

2012-02-12T21:26:00.003-07:00

One of the things that I love about teaching 6th grade, is that I get to learn about all of the ancient civilizations. We talk about Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The best part about it has been learning how the gospel correlates with each of these different civilizations. I have seen how Mesopotamia flourished and fell because of their dealings with Jerusalem. I have also gotten a deeper understanding of why it was so important to find a Roman citizen (Paul) to help spread the gospel after the death of Jesus Christ. I have also seen how Egypt went from being a polytheistic nation (believing in many gods and goddesses) to believing in one true God during one Pharaoh's rule (Joseph's influence?). My newest insight came to me today as I was visiting teaching both of the sisters I teach today.

The title of the Visiting Teaching Message this month is "Guardian of the Hearth." (My thoughts: I have never used the word "hearth" except for when teaching about Greek Mythology, so it piqued my interest.) In 1995, when President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in the general Relief Society meeting, he said the following to the women of the church, "You are the guardians of the hearth, You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God."

First of all, how cool is that to be called a guardian? I really did imagine a warrior princess defending her homeland and her home. Someone that is at the front of the gate, keeping evil out. It was so cool to think that we as women have that role of keeping out evil from our homes and protecting our family.

Now as I had said, the only time I had really used the word hearth, was in Greek mythology, but I know it has to do with the fireplace as well. When I think of a fireplace, I think of good things, I imagine warmth, good memories, family gathered around telling stories. The hearth is to be the symbol of what home is supposed to be like. It is supposed to remind us of good times and warm feelings of love towards one another.

Now, how does Greek mythology play a role into my thinking? One of my favorite juvenile book series is: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is written by Rick Riordan and is so great for my students because it teaches about Greek mythology in a fun action-packed book. In the last book, "The Last Olympian", Percy and his friends are trying to save Mt. Olympus from falling to the Titans and their leader Kronos. As all of the Olympians are out trying to fight the Titans, Percy travels to Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, and finds that one goddess is left behind. It is Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home. She explains that she does not have any great powers and is the least of all of the gods. (Isn't that how the world would like us to think, taking care of the home is the least important of all the jobs?)

She then goes on to tell Percy that it is harder and harder to keep the flames of the fire going because of the weakening of the gods as they are away from their home. Long story short, Percy knows that in the prophecy about him, he will make a decision that will either bring the destruction or victory of the gods. It isn't until Prometheus gives him Pandora's box (if you know the history of Pandora, she was told to never open the box because of what would happen, but curiosity got the best of her, she opened it and all of the bad things such as death, hunger, sickness, fear, etc. came out into the world. The only thing left in the box is hope which means that there is still hope in the world. If she is ever let out of the box by mankind, then that means they have given up hope as well.) and tells him if he changes his mind on fighting the Titans to let hope escape to show they surrender.

Now, back to Hestia and why she is so important. :) As things are getting worse, Percy travels back to Mt. Olympus and finds Hestia still tending the fire, trying to get it to be bigger. As Percy comes closer to the fire he begins to learn Hestia's true role in the world. He sees in the hearth his mother, Paul (step-dad) and him at Thanksgiving dinner, his friends and him around the campfire at Camp Half-Blood, singing songs and roasting marshmallows, Rachel and him driving along the beach in Paul's Prius; all warm, loving, tender memories. Hestia then asks Percy if he is ready to make his decision. He looks at Pandora's box and realizes that hope is pretty useless to him with so many of his friends dead, Olympus is on the verge of falling and he had seen so many cruel things happen by the hands of the gods. In his mind Prometheus whispers Surrender, Otherwise your home will be destroyed. Your precious camp will burn. He looks at Hestia and remembers the images he'd seen in the hearth - friends, family, everyone he cared about. Then he remembered a fellow camper (friend/demi-god) saying: There's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. And then another demi-god, Nico, standing up to his father Hades saying: If Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. He then realizes that if the home is invaded and overtaken, then everything is lost. He gives Pandora's Jar to Hestia as an offering.

She is confused at first and says, "I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"

"You're the last Olympian. [Percy] said. "And the most important."

"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"

"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," [Percy] said. "Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."

The goddess smiled. She took the jar in her hands and it began to glow. The hearth fire burned a little brighter.

"Well done, Percy Jackson," she said. "May the gods bless you."

I hope this makes sense, but Percy realized that home was the most important because that is where you learn to trust and love others. He knew it needed to be kept the strongest in order to win the war. He realized that it was the protection of the home (Mt. Olympus) that would help to keep the evil out. The other gods had "abandoned the home" and left it vulnerable to attack, but because he gave hope to Hestia and called her the most important of the gods, their strength was renewed and hope burned brighter.

Now I know Rick Riordan is not a latter-day saint, but it is so cool to see that even in Children's literature, we can find simple truths of the gospel. The home is what is important and the most crucial to protect from the buffetings of Satan. We are the guardians of the home. We are the ones in control of what is allowed into our homes. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father and he trusts us to bring up the next generation with love, hope, and strivings to do what is right and trust in the Lord. I have a new soft spot for Hestia, the least of the Greek gods, because she is in charge of the most important spot of all: The Home.

Wonderful Year

2011-06-23T15:37:00.002-06:00

I was just looking at my last blog post (which was last July) and just knew I couldn't go a year without writing something. It has been a wonderful year. I finished my 3rd year of teaching 6th grade and it was so much fun. After finally getting everything settled, it seemed that I wasn't so stressed and I could actually relax and enjoy having fun with my students while teaching them. I really do enjoy teaching the subjects in 6th grade. I feel really lucky since I love Ancient Civilizations, Astronomy, Microbiology, Math and the fun books to read for this age. I FINALLY finished the Lightning Thief series and am hoping they won't stop with the first movie, but will finish them all. I loved it and it is fun for my students to read as well since it is what I teach about.

It has been a wonderful year being married to my wonderful husband Ryan. He is everything I could've hoped for and more. He is so wonderful to me and my family. I really appreciated how good he was to go out to California for my cousin Melanie's wedding to her now husband Dan. We also spent some good time with my grandma Pauline and grandpa Walker for their 60th wedding anniversary. He was so sweet to them. I am so glad that he is in my life and will be for ever and ever.

I again, hope to be better at writing and will write more about the past year later.

Great News!

2010-07-08T23:46:00.004-06:00

I should just face it that I am not a great blogger, but I need to post in order to let everyone know how excited I am to be marrying the man of my dreams in 29 days. This joy and happiness that I feel is so incredible and hard to describe, but it was worth the wait. I am marrying Ryan Gammon Peck on August 6th, 2010 in the Oakland, CA Temple. We went on our first date on January 23 which was a set up by my cousin Jason. They are in the MBA program at the UofU. It has been wonderful ever since. I definitely fought it a little bit at first. Those that are close to me will remember that the big deterrent for me at first was his height. (He is 6'1" and I am 5'2" :)

However, height definitely did not matter in the end. It was just so natural our relationship. There are a lot of things that played into why this worked out so well, but on my part I remember thinking that I was going to go into this relationship not hiding anything. I was going to be completely myself and if he liked me, then he liked me, but I was not going to worry about it if he did not. I was ready to find the love of my life and it didn't take too long. I am so grateful for who he is and his dedication to the gospel, his schooling, family, friends, and our relationship. We have set up another blog that I will be better at :) Tracy, my girl, helped me make it the best it could be. Thanks again Tracy. Click on the picture to follow the new blog, so please check it out. I will talk more about how we met and fun things like that on there. This is definitely another transformation in my life and I am loving it. Thank you to all for your love and support.

Blessed

2010-04-09T16:14:00.002-06:00

I am truly blessed to have a great family and wonderful friends. In the past few days I have had some wonderful talks with wonderful people in my life. I am so grateful for the support that they show me and how much they care for me. It is the last part of spring break and I am sad because I need to go back to work, but school is coming to a close and we need to persevere to the end. I have some great examples in my life of those that have continued to press forward, or kampa pa (shempa po - can't write it in swedish lettering) which means "struggle on".
There are some hard workers out there and I have seen how they have been blessed because of their choices. I hope to be like them someday. Thanks to all of those who have supported me throughout the years. I am truly blessed.

What happened to February?

2010-03-02T23:46:00.004-07:00

Okay, so my last post was on the last day of January and I was welcoming February into my life. Where did it go? It is gone. I know it's late and Ryan if you read this, sorry, I had to post before midnight :) but on something I wanted to.

This blog started out to be about my running. As most of you know, I was in a roll over accident in October and have not been running for 5 months. I thought I would just say, I am starting over, slow with the running, but I have a plan to get back into it. I was so sad when I found out I couldn't run the REX LEE RUN this year because I have to take the PRAXIS at 7:30 that morning. There is no way I will be done with the test and be able to run at 9. So sad.

However, that aside, I am beginning slow. Yesterday, I ran for 20 minutes, but it was a 1 minute run, then 3 minute walk, alternating. It was fine since I was just getting back into things. Today, I did pilates, abs, and walked fast for twenty minutes (which ended up being up and down my stairs).

Am I excited? Do I feel great about getting back into running? YES!! An emphatic Yes. Now, I just need to be consistent and listen to my body as I pursue my goals to be back where I was previous to my accident. I also want to finally get my mountain bike and start biking around. Spring is coming and Summer will be here around the corner. I am so excited.

February, I'm sorry I missed you in the blogging world, but it was a good month, lots of good things happened. :)

Musings of the month of January

2010-01-31T23:31:00.002-07:00

I'm not sure what to say about January. It was the first month of the new year. It flew by and I feel like I got a lot accomplished, but then I don't. Do you ever have those feelings? Am I doing significant things that are helping me to move forward? I was talking to a friend tonight and we came to the conclusion that if we recognize what we've done and are thankful for what HAS been accomplished, we can feel more satisfied.

First, I survived another term of school and another round of parent-teacher conferences. Those can always be stressful, but it is over with, for the most part. I still need to round up 3 more students for the meetings, but those should be done before the end of the week.

Second, Benchmarks (reading levels) are done for the 2nd time. A lot of my students were able to move up a few levels. One girl moved up significantly. She moved up 3 levels. I was so proud of her. Her comprehension is amazing. I found out she watches the Discovery Channel a lot. I love that channel. :)

Third, I just finished the training for the Arts program we have been going to this year. The last one was on Friday. That makes me so happy that I am done and get a credit towards my teacher professionalism. That is one more step in the right direction.

Fourth, our FHE program has been significantly heightened by a little more unity among the groups, and some healthy competition. For January, we did ice cream sculptures. A lot of the groups had some great ideas and creations. My group came up with a scene from UP! When I get the pictures, I'll post some. My co-chair and I gave talks, as well as another FHE leader and just an attendee. They were great and I learned a lot about why we have FHE in the first place.

Fifth, I have been working on my ARL. I did not do as well in a class that I was taking online, so I need to do it again, but now I understand how to do an online class. Much harder than I though. I'm sure there are others that would have no problem, but I struggled. Now, I am set up to take the PRAXIS for content knowledge in March, and the PRAXIS PLT in April. Overkill, maybe, but I need it in order to keep up. I am still working on my ESL endorsement as well. So much to do, so little time to do it. :)

Sixth, I have joined a dinner group, which I love. I enjoy spending time with friends over meals and getting a chance to eat someone else's cooking. I cook only once every three weeks (we eat 2 nights out of the week). I think it is fabulous and I love the people I eat with because they are such great conversationalists. I was lucky and took over a friend of mine's position, and now we are losing another friend Kathryn, but should be gaining another one soon.

Now that I look back, I realize that a lot has been accomplished and I feel a sense of satisfaction, but there are still some loose ends that I need to tie up. This is not a problem, since I recognize the need, but I need to understand the path of how I should attack the problems I face. I have a hard time getting the big, ugly projects out of the way. I remember seeing a motivational video about eating your frog. They tell you to eat it right away in the beginning of the day. Then, the rest of the day will be a snap since it gives you the confidence to accomplish hard things. It's about procrastination, since we will usually procrastinate a difficult task and then it drains our energy since it goes on for awhile as uncompleted.

I need to learn to prioritze and EAT MY FROG!!! I have been trying to be much more organized. I just created a six week workout routine for myself in order to get in shape for the REX LEE RUN. (I may not be able to run because of the PRAXIS now, darnit all). However, I'll still follow the plan. Then I have plans for what I'm going to eat and cleaning schedules. I need to delegate. So many people have offered to help me in my classroom. I need to take them up on it.

So, here is to a new month. February, it's going to be awesome. Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year. Maybe I'll make up some new resolutions for Chinese New Year. :) Good-bye January, hello February.

RAGNAR RELAY 2009 - Wasatch Back, Utah

2010-01-11T23:38:00.002-07:00

Here was the race of the year. I had run in this race one time before, but not as an actual participant. It was more as a support. This time I was team captain and I was in charge of a group of 12. There are two vans with six people in each. I had one van be captained by my cousin Shane and his wife Shannon. They filled their van with people they knew. Then I was in charge of the other van and filled that with people I knew or they knew. They people I originally had in my van were Camilla Hodge, a friend and fellow ward member, and Elizabeth Cooper, a friend and companion from the mission field. I still was unable to find the last 3 members of our team until the last possible minute. 2 of them came from Camilla. One was her "cousin" Mark and he brought a friend of his Alyssa. Then my cousin Shane told me he knew a girl that really wanted to run and she was going to call me. Well, she never called and it was 6 am the day of the race. We were supposed to start at 10. Luckily, Paul came through and got work off for two days and came running with us. He was supposed to help by volunteering at one of the stations (I had tried to get him to run before), but it wasn't until I was desperate, he was able to bail us out.
This is a long one, so stay tuned, I'll add more later. :)

Freedom Run 2009 10K

2010-01-09T23:02:00.003-07:00

I have run the Freedom Run the last 3 years. The first time, I ran the 10K, second time, I ran the 5K, but this time I wanted to run the 10K again. I had just run the Bridal Veil Falls 10K just a little over a month ago. My brother had just gone to EFY that week and my mother was in town, so she went to go pick him up so they could watch me run the race. I wasn't quite sure where they would be waiting, but I knew they would be there. I saw them only a little bit into the race. They were waiting for me near the top of the 900 East climb. They were on the corner where the BYU Law Library is and the Creamery on 9th. My brother wasn't really paying attention (lack of sleep from staying up every night at EFY), but my mom saw me right away. I saw them as well, and ran right next to them. My plan was to kiss my hand and place it on my brother's cheek, but the way he turned his head to see where I was, his surprise and the fact that I was running past him made it awkward and it looked like I slapped him. I at least wanted to run under an hour this time, to make up for the last run I was in, but I can't remember my time. If I do, I will post it later on.

Bridal Veil Falls 10K

2010-01-09T18:24:00.004-07:00

This blog originally was about my running career so I need to update you a little bit about the runs I have had since the Rex Lee Run in March. I wasn't planning on running in this 10K, but Paul was signed up, so I decided at the last minute to run it. It was on May 30, 2009I was going to go support him at first, but then I got up early, put on my rumming clothes, and went over to sign up. Since I run pretty regularly, there isn't really a problem with jumping in a race like that. I knew that Paul would beat me because he was really getting ready for it, where I wasn't. There was one place where you turn around so, I saw Paul running on his way back. He came over and gave me a high five. It was a fun run. I wasn't really pushing myself and that's why my time was a little bit over an hour. Paul beat me by 10 minutes, which is totally fine. The breakfast afterwards was good. They had cantaloupe, watermelon, and pancakes. Very good. Then we took some pictures by Paul's new buy, the Isuzu Rodeo, and he went off to work and I went home to sleep. It was a good day. Not my best run, but it felt really great.

School Days become better when. . .

2010-01-05T19:41:00.003-07:00

So, I am still here at school, despite my New Year's resolution to not stay past 5. First, I was supposed to be here until 7 because of an ESL class that I am taking, so Tuesday is the only day I should be here that late. Well, unbeknownst to my colleague and I, we didn't have class, so I thought, "Sweet, I can get a lot of stuff done in my classroom that I put off when I went home for the holidays and closed my classroom door not to return until a day before school resumed."

However, when I got to my classroom, I did other things, such as reading a little bit ahead of my students in "The Tale of Despereaux" (that is legitimate classwork since I need to read it with my students for Guided Reading), emailing my Christmas letter to family and friends that I did not have an address for, and then I got hooked on looking at my friend Erin's blog.

She is one that I can always count on to have some witty post on her blog. Well, the one for today got me hooked. It was a class posted at a school titled "How to Survive a Zombie Invasion." For Real?!? I laughed so hard. Please check out her blog just to see the details of it. Then I saw that she had posted all of her texts for the past year, 2009. I did not know she did this and found some of mine in the smattering of texts. I loved it. I even checked in January of 2009 to see if she had posted her 2008 texts, and she had. I was amused to find the one we still joke about today. I wrote "Hurry, they are eating all my candy." This was because we didn't realize children would actually trick or treat at our door, so I sent her to Allen's and she got whatever was left there.

The point of it is, I spent a long time looking at some of her posts, laughing my head off and just remembering good times. I may have needed that more than getting school work done because it was a long day. Or, I really should've been working instead. Either way, I'm still at school, but soon to be gone. Thanks Erin and thanks to everyone that posts and makes my day a little bit brighter.

Sub for Santa

2010-01-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is a long one, with an awesome ending. . .

I am the ward FHE co-leader in my ward and I have had a lot of fun doing it, but nothing was quite as rewarding as what we did as a ward for the month of December. Each auxillary has a chance to be in charge of Service 2 times a year. FHE has always had December and it is a tradition to do Sub for Santa. This year, my co-chair and I decided to change things up a bit. We still got names of families, but we tried to get it from the group of children that we help to tutor on Tuesday and Thursday nights. So, we went through one of my FHE leaders aunt's wards and she was able to get the names of 6 families that were in need. We thought it would make it more personal since they were families that we were already serving.

Then we also decided to raise some money before hand by doing a Service Auction in our ward. We had people submit different services that could be rendered, such as making dinner for an apartment, giving piano or sports lessons, making a blanket, and of course, there were dates auctioned off as well. :) My favorite was the ice fishing for 4 couples that went for $124. Everyone came together and we bid on each others service. It was a lot of fun. Dan was the auctioneer for awhile and then I got to do it. Going once, going twice, sold. It was kind of fun. Sometimes people would just leave their hands up and I would keep going up, 10,11,12,13. . . until only one person was left. If it was really popular, I would start going in increments of 5's. We weren't sure how much we were going to make. We were just thinking it would be fun to have service done among the ward members and then do service for someone else. We were guessing we would make maybe 300 dollars. We far exceeded that. When we tallied up all the money in the end, we had raised $1,621.00. I was shocked and amazed, but very humbled by the generosity of everyone. That was why we were able to take care of 6 different families.

That is only the beginning of the story. So the auction was held on the 30th of November. Then when we got the names, I had Maria call them (they were all Hispanic families, I can speak Swedish now and all my Spanish went out the window, so I needed help). As she talked to each family, they were very gracious and thankful for the help during this season. We found out that most of them did not have heat, so we took some of the money and Krystel went to buy a blanket for each member in our six families. IKEA is so great!! We were able to get a ton of blankets since they were about $3 a piece. They were the warm fleece blankets as well. Then we divided up the rest of the money among my 5 FHE groups. (I know we had 6 families, but 2 of them there was only one kid in each family so we combined them and gave them to one group). Each group was able to get the clothes and toys each child wanted and needed for Christmas. I was able to shop for most of the clothes in my group with my friend Megan. We had so much fun shopping for our girls. We had 4 girls from the age of 18 months, 5, 10, & 15. It was so fun to do that for them. If anyone had money left over, we were able to give that to them to use with their own discretion. We turned some of the money into gift cards to Wal-Mart. All of the gathering took a long time and it was a lot of work, but finally we had everything wrapped and in my town home by December 22.

However, we did not deliver them until December 23. I had 5 wonderful people that came to help us out that evening. Matt, Vilate, Christina, Maria, & I went to 4 of the 6 families. I should have said that Maria's group took theirs on the 21st, and then Christina & Krystel dropped one of earlier that evening. We knocked on all of their doors to drop off the gifts. Each family was so happy, and so grateful for what we were able to do for them. One lady gave us hugs and candy canes. She had a bare tree before that. Then another family was leaving in a basement and the wife came out to greet us and bring us back to her apartment. She had only been in the country maybe 8 months, and was speaking English very well. She had the cutest little baby girl with big wide eyes. She was so enthralled to see all of us there. Her husband was not there at the time, but as we were leaving, he came and rushed out to greet us and thank us. It really made all of the effort so worth it. These people were so humble and it humbled us to see what life is like for others in need. I really felt blessed to be part of these events.

Thinking that was the end of Sub for Santa, I didn't think about it much until one of my leaders Krystel told me about what happened at Testimony meeting today in her aunt's ward. We didn't really know this, but one of the families in the ward was inactive. Apparently, they decided to come today and bear their testimony. This family had not answered the door when we went to take the presents to them, so we left it on their door step. She said that she went out and saw all of the presents and had no idea where they came from, but she knew that it was someone generous and kind. She said that act of kindness convinced her enough to come back to church to bear her testimony about it. We don't know if it will keep her active, but it gave her a testimony that people are kind and that the church is true. I truly hope that it will keep her coming and I'm sure her ward will do their best to continue helping her feel welcome at church.

What an amazing blessing service can be to not only those you serve, but you as well. Like I said, this project was a lot of work and to be honest I was having a tough time feeling the spirit of service of Christmas. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to be part of this and the many tender mercies I have seen along the way during it. So many generous people, willing to give service and help others out. And that one act of kindness that helped to rekindle a testimony that had been forgotten. People are essentially good and want to do good things. Pay it Forward.

The Year is Dying, Let it Die. . .

2009-12-31T18:49:00.003-07:00

That was just for my sister-in-law Leia. :-)

I need to stop talking about being better with my blog and just do it!! Ha ha ha. Sorry, to all of my friends and family that have been patiently waiting for me to update them on certain things.

First off, this will no longer be just a running blog site, since it really hasn't worked as well as I wanted it to. Or, I have just been lazy. But I will update you on the latest happenings this year in running. Each one needs a blog post on it's own. There are four major running expeditions I've been on (since Rex Lee). I thought there were only two, but I ran the Bridal Veil Falls 10K, Ragnar Relay Race with friends and family, the Provo River Trail 1/2 marathon with my cousin Shauna, and then the failed attempt to run the St. George Marathon. I will explain more later.

Second of all, this will now be a blog about the transformations of my life. This will include transformations of my thinking, relationship status, friendships, family, teaching, and other conducive activities.

Despite what has happened in the last year, I am very optimistic and looking upwards to a brighter and better 2010. Not that 2009 wasn't great. I met some wonderful people, have learned A LOT about myself and who I want to be and how to get there, and have gained a lot of loving support from those around me. I am truly blessed to be in the job, ward, family, and circle of friends that I have. I am looking forward to the journey ahead and ALL of the bumps along the way, Come What May! I'm learning the importance of having Joy in the Journey. It can be tough, but as long as I keep on getting back up on my feet, dusting myself off, and keep going a little bit more, I will eventaually make it.

Here's to the new year!! Come What May and Love It.

REX LEE RACES 2008 & 2009

2009-03-26T17:55:00.002-06:00

So, I forgot to upload the pictures from the Rex Lee race last year, so I will do it along with this years photos. Last year, my family that resides in Utah came out to support me. My sisters Jonelle and Maren, along with my brother and his then girlfriend Leia (now wife), and grandparents waited in the stands for me to cross the finish line. My two little brothers, Trent and Eric, helped out from home by putting together a "pumping" playlist to help keep me motivated. The playlist consisted of:
1. "The Second Coming" by Juelz Santana & Just Blaze
2. "Anna Molly" by Incubus
3. "11h30" by Danger
4. "The Final Countdown" by Europe
5. "Seventeen Years" by Ratatat
6. "Remember the Name (Non-PA Version)" by Fort Minor (Featuring Styles of Beyond)
7. "Headstrong" by Trapt
8. "Rainy Monday" by Shiny Toy Guns

Here are some pictures from 2008:

The playlist was perfect and I used it for the first race completely and ended that one with a time of 28:03.

The second race I used most of it, but added "Stronger" by Kanye West into the mix.

Last year I ran the race by myself (5K) for my uncle Steve Hansen. This year, I ran for Steve again in the 5K and Paul ran the 10K trying to beat my last 10K (which he did, and he would've beat me in the 5K this year as well). It was a lot of fun, I could've pushed myself a little bit more, but all in all, I was only 1 minute slower than I was last year.

These are some fun pictures of Paul & I this year 2009. My time was 29:02, much better than I expected. Paul ran it in 51:04 which reached his goal of beating any of the 10K's I've run previously.

Racing Season

2009-03-23T22:46:00.000-06:00

Its that time of year again and I need to get geared up for races coming up this summer. I need to figure out which ones I want to do now, so I can budget for them. Races can be somewhat expensive, but I enjoy them. If I could get better, then I could start making money off of them. I would really have to push myself, but it is possible. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. The lottery for the St. George will be coming up in April. Maybe I'll make it in this year. :)

Running Partners

2009-03-08T22:54:00.000-06:00

So, I decided I need something else to help me get out and running. I have solicited my sister-in-law to wake up early in the morning to meet me at the local indoor track and run at 6:15 am with me. Tomorrow will be the first of a number of mornings. I can no longer have any excuse. I NEED to push myself. I need to be my own personal trainer, and have a partner that will help me to be more on the ball.

More Dedicated

2009-03-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have not been a very dedicated runner or blogger. I thought that if I had something to write down my pursuits, I would be able to accomplish my goals better. The problem is I never get on here to write! I will be better. I need to get my mile time down. I ran an easy mile last week and it was at about 9:50. After a whole winter of not working out, not horrible, but not great. I have to learn more about blogging and how I can keep track of my goals. I would also like to write down some good health tips that I learn, or how to run better. I thought that I would be better prepared for the Rex Lee run this year, but I don't know. Sixth grade teaching can soak up all of my time. I need to be more efficient there, so that I can pursue other worthy goals. I've even dropped playing the violin. I will be more dedicated from this point on. My roommate is a dedicated blogger, so I'll have her get on my case. I hope this will be a more exciting blog from now on. And it won't be just running, because a true runner has other pursuits and learns how to balance them all.
So as of right now, I am running a 9:50 minute mile. We'll see what happens after I run today. My next race will be the Rex Lee in Provo, UT. I haven't decided on the 5K or the 10K, but I'll know by the end of the day.

Resolutions

2008-11-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

It seems the harder we try to do something, the harder it becomes to accomplish it. I don't know why, but since I started this blog, I had two car accidents (minor hits from behind), but enough to hurt my back so I could not run. Then I ran a 1/2 marathon that I did not prepare for as well as I should have and hurt my ankle for a few weeks. Then I started a new job as a sixth grade teacher and that has fully consumed my time.
I was talking to my dad a couple of weeks ago and he asked how my running was. I answered that I get out maybe once every 2 weeks, if lucky. Otherwise, once a month. Then he reminded me of something I read and related to him a year ago. It doesn't matter how long or how much you run every day, as long as you go out and do it. I remember reading an article that said you should try to run for at least 10 minutes a day, or however much time you can allow. I think the point is, once you get out there, you can determine whether or not you want to continue or stop at the allotted time you gave yourself. So, my new resolution is to not think about it so much, just do it.

At the Beginning

2008-04-09T18:59:00.000-06:00

So, I decided to go to the BYU indoor track last night and time my mile (not pushing it). I came up with a time of 09:05:58 (mm:ss:msms). Definitely not my best. I think I could run a 7 minute mile in high school, but that of course was when I was on the soccer and volleyball team. However, I am not discouraged. I have a ways to go, but I have lots of resources and I am going to start using them more often. For now, I am just going to work on getting into the habit of running consistently. I am going to go running outside today, probably 2 miles. I need to get back into the swing of things gradually, or I will injure myself and damper my progress.

The Transformation of a Runner

2008-04-06T13:59:00.000-06:00

I have been a runner all of my life, but the frequency of training has ranged from very good to very bad. Recently, I was talking to my Uncle Dave at our family's annual Easter Egg hunt about all the running that I had done in the past years.

Rex Lee 5K Run four times (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008)
Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race with some other crazy people (June 2007)
Freedom Run 10K (07/04/07)
Deseret Morning News Marathon (July 24, 2007)
Spanish Fork half-marathon (09/08/07)

At the time I was just happy to complete all of these races, but it has instilled a desire to now work towards better times, better health, and overall a better life as I learn to set goals and reach them. I kind of joked with my uncle that it might be good for me to set up a blog site so that I would have to post my progress and be accountable to write up my runs.

I just ran the Rex Lee 5K for 2008 on March 15th. I wanted to beat my time last year, which I did (2007 - 28:39.53 vs. 2008 28:01), but it wasn't enough. I really want to run a 5K where I can win my division. In order to do that, I need to run a 5K in 20 minutes if not less. That means that I need to get my mile down to a 6 minute mile. I even had my brothers (age 14 & 16) put together a playlist of running songs that would help to motivate me. Even with that I was not able to reach my goal this year. I was really bummed, but I had to remember that I had bronchitis for 2 weeks beforehand and was not allowed to train properly. On the positive side I have next year and lots of other races to run in between to get ready for it.

I now have a goal to run the Boston Marathon someday, which means in order to qualify, I need to run a marathon in 3 hours and 40 minutes. My first marathon was run in 4 hours and 35 minutes. Not bad for a first time runner and very plausible to get my time down. I would also like to run a marathon/race in each state in the USA. I am signing up for at least 2 more marathons in the next year, St. George & the Sedona, AZ marathon (which I will run with my good friend Lachelle, her husband Rob and her father). Within that time I will look for 5K's, 10K's and half-marathons to help me train and keep up my training.

I am going to use this blog to write down my efforts and I hope that my friends and family will use it to give me pointers and encouragement throughout.

"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates." -Elder Thomas S. Monson, Improvement Era, Dec. 1970,

This is only the beginning. . .