Fresh Start

Okay okay, I had a bit of a bad week. Maybe I was just in shock with all of the
free time that I had that I used it without thinking...
Welp, it is SPRING (ignore the snow outside)...today is the beginning of a fresh start.

On a lighter note... me and Pister ran (with lots of breaks...) the Y yesterday! It was snowing and when we got to the top, you literally couldn't even see Provo because of the cloud cover. After about five minutes, there was a little light and it shined right on Utah Lake! So so so beautiful!

And some even better news... I bought these bad boys today. I may or may not have bought them to boost my popularity with the kids at Sports Camps this summer...

Vintage?

Vintage: "representing the high quality of a past time"

I am still trying to decide on a word to describe Boston. All of the others I could think of are boring and cliche: historical, rich, quaint, clean...I really have no idea.
It was like walking through a small town and then randomly seeing skyscrapers if you remember to look up.

We did ALOT in the three days we had to sightsee...the Freedom Trail, Walden Pond, North Bridge, pedicures, Duck Tour, shopping, Mr. Bartley's Burgers, Pinkberry, Bunker Hill Monument, the oh so beautiful campuses of Harvard and MIT (marry me?), and anything else I forgot to mention you can see in the pictures:)



"The Shot Heard Around the World"- Lexington and Concord


The site of Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond


LDS Boston Temple


Along the Freedom Trail


Duck Tours!


Mr. Bartley's!


Bunker Hill Monument

Meet Mary

She is the greatest. I started working at the MTC in January and I can honestly say she was an answer to my prayers.
Every day I work she always goes to the supervisor and asks if I can work with her. It is kind of the running joke because "Salad Backup" (the job that Mary does everyday as well) is not the most coveted of positions. It is in its own little section of the kitchen and doesn't really get lots of interaction.

I have come to find that Mary makes me laugh more than anyone. She sings Phantom of the Opera, she puts salad on her shirt if I get some on mine, she talks about her "Prince Charming", she makes funny faces ALL the time, and even if you look the slightest bit down, she will make you tell her every detail of your life until she can fix it. Oh yeah, and she gives the best hugs.

Yesterday I got to take Mary to the airport and because of her, I was reminded of how awesome life is. We sang Taylor Swift, held up signs to passing cars, and even brought out the old "MASH" game.
P.S. Daniel Radcliffe...if you're reading this-we're getting married this summer.

Anyways, I will be back later with a post about Boston :)

Chapter 2: Go Yale!

I think I must have heard this at least three dozen times as I was running (look at my shirt above). Apparently BYU isn't quite as popular back east. But I have to admit, as much as I love the Y, it felt good to think that people thought I could actually get into Yale:) And, I did get lots of "Go Jimmers" with the occassional "Go BYU".

Now moving on to the blood, sweat, and tears...

1. Pre-race: Ahtlete's Village

Basically all the runners get to hang out for two to three hours before and eat bagels, load up on Gatorade priming gear, and chomp on Power Bars; oh yeah, and go to the bathroom 5,000 times in the 1 million port-a-potties. I was lucky enough to to run into my friend Krista! And at one point I got on a random bus because I was so cold...best decision ever. I got to meet some locals and thus began my obsession with Bostonians. They are the kindest, friendliest, most legit people.

2. Starting line

Oh my goodness. When I first started the race I could barely run a ten minute mile pace because you are packed in like sardines and just mesmerized with the thousands of spectators. I thought to myself..."This has got to die down, right?...We'll all spread out I'm sure..." I was wrong.

3. Mile Ten

By mile ten I took out my iPod and gave up on all aspirations of getting a good time. Not to say I was upset about this, it was actually a really easy decision. The best advice I had heard was to enjoy the spectators and slap as many hands as you could. I think by this point I was up to about 500:)

4. Mile Nineteen

By this point I had a pretty good feel for the course, but I was gearing up for the dreaded Heartbreak Hill that was apparently on its way at mile 20.5...so I HAD to stop and get some lemonade from the five year old on the side of the road, right? He was just too cute.


Can you see me? I'm the short one on the far right...right on Heartbreak.

5. Mile Twenty-Two

I turned to a friendly-looking runner to my left and asked, "Was that really Heartbreak?" Indeed, it was. To all you Utah runners: Boston hills have nothing on us.

6. Mile Twenty-Three

Okay, maybe I got a little over confident. Here came the infamous "Wall"...I was dumb and displayed my lack of experience; I got caught up in the crowd and forgot to take my Shot Bloks...now I was going to have to pay.

7. Mile Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five

Bathroom breaks. Time killers.

8. Finish Line

27,000 runners = no room to sit or stretch at the end. They corraled us through for thirty minutes getting us water, food, medals, and our gear. Many fell down and were wheel-chaired on the side. We all decided that the best option probably would have been to fake it so we could get on one of those. Next time :)

9. Finally!

After standing for thirty minutes and walking ten blocks to get to my family, I saw them in the crowd. Pictures and food took up the next two hours and finally we headed back to the hotel for some pool and sleeeeeeeeep :)



It went by way too fast...which means I have to go back, right?

Oh yeah, coffee ice cream all around...

Chapter 1: Getting there.

The experience started off the day before when we flew out of SLC and landed in Chicago for our expected hour layover. That hour layover turned into a 5-hour layover, putting us in at 12:30 am the night before the race. We were just grateful it wasn't cancelled!

We found plenty of things to entertain ourselves with at the Midway Airport...



Coolest filter EVER.



My mom-what a happy camper:)



And the best pre-race meal...Red Mango and popcorn, yum.

After the flight, consisting of me sleeping on my mom's lap, we landed and had fun on the way out taking pictures on Boston Airport's rocking chairs- sweet, right?- and attempted films of our excitement.
When we rounded the corner, we ran into a few people we knew...



My family flew in to surprise me for the race! I was so shocked...poor guys even had to drive down from New York when their layover was extended just so they could make it on time. It was so awesome having them there!

We finally made it to our hotel around 1:45 am and set out alarms for 6:00 am.

Still to come:
-Boston Marathon
-Exploring the city!

Call me crazy.

Dear running,


Love,
Cheryl


Translation: I am giving up Diet Coke for Spring Term. Wish me luck. And to all those who see me on a regular basis: make me stick to it.

Soon to come: Boston and week with the fam!

Life's lookin' up!

Is this really happening to me?
I am running the Boston Marathon in 3 days. I have a few questions.

1) How did I get here? Figuratively and literally. Time flies.
2) How did I get so lucky?
3) How am I going to survive these next three days?
Four finals and 26.2 miles. Hope my mom remembers the Go Girls:)

I promise to take lots of pictures...see you in a week...but until then...GOOD LUCK WITH FINALS and shout out to Caden on his marathon tomorrow! Rock it!

And just to put some smiles on your faces...I have found my life motto:

I'm an addict

Endorphin addiction: it is a serious problem. With the lack of endorphins, carbo loading weight gain, and finals within the next few days, I would stay as far away as possible if I were you.

"How will you know if you are effectively loading? If you are keeping a record of your daily weight, you will notice a 2-5 or more pound weight gain over the 3 day period. As the CHO is stored, water is also stored in the muscle leading to the weight gain. This water storage may make your legs feel sluggish during your few miles of easy runs, but it may well come in handy during the marathon as a source of sweat etc. You may also feel sleepy, cranky or tired due to the blood sugar and insulin responses to all the carbohydrate. During the race however, you should feel superpowered and ready to go."

Lets hope it all pays off.

P.S. Other than hungryrunnergirl, I have a new inspiration. Meet Miles. I wish we were friends.
He runs a sub four minute mile. Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Optimism

...is the key to life for sure.

Things I am looking forward to this week:

-extended hours at the library

-less work than usual

-my family coming to town



-quick trip to the Nike outlet



-healthy eating followed by weekend carb load



-BOSTON (okay okay its technically next week...but it
is within the 7 day realm :)

Quality time

With myself:)
Ever have one of those days where all of your goals are shot to hell?
Me too.
No one is going to talk me into leaving my apartment the rest of the night. Conference talks and Pride and Prejudice are on the agenda.

C2S let me off early so I decided to stroll around the shops, do some grocery shopping, and go on a much needed drive around a new neighborhood in Lindon. I can't decide if being alone is a good thing or a bad thing.
Sometimes it gets you thinking too much.
Sometimes it gets you to think.

Favorite conference quote of the week:

"Each is to fast and pray, study and seek, start and stop and start again until he or she is confident that for this conference, at this time, his or hers is the topic the Lord wishes that speaker to present regardless of personal wishes or private preferences. Every man and woman you have heard during the past 10 hours of general conference has tried to be true to that prompting. Each has wept, worried, and earnestly sought the Lord’s direction to guide his or her thoughts and expression. And just as Brigham Young saw an angel standing over this place, so do I see angels standing in it."

-Jeffrey R. Holland