If You're Going To St. George...

Going to St. George? You should! Here's what I loved this year:
1. SNOW CANYON: Sand dunes are awesome! (but not on windy days...my kids cried after about 15 minutes) Bring your buckets and shovels and stay in designated areas.

Peculiar sand men and sand angels

Messy sand baby.

The BEST part about Snow Canyon were the petrified dunes. It was a hike of hundreds of little nature-made stairs that the kids could not get enough of. I loved it because there were no steep cliffs, but still fantastic views! The "kid-friendly" hikes were closed at this time of year, but they were described as easy and beautiful. If not for the wind, we would have spent a whole day here. Think: picnic, hikes, dunes, star gazing at night.

2. The river and splash pad at the City Offices. My kids thought this was great and there was plenty of shade, table, chairs and grassy areas for football. (and if you are my husband, clocking children in the back with the football. He has great aim! ;)

Stop by the 1950's style candy shop across the street when you're finished in the water! Orange cream shaved ice!

3. Visit the St. George Temple. They have gorgeous grounds and a fantastic visitors center. Awesome missionaries, too! They were so nice to the kids.

4. CRAVE and Nielson's Frozen Custard!
Can't leave without a raspberry concrete from Nielson's. CAN. NOT.

We found a cute little self-serve frozen yogurt shop called CRAVE. 30 cents an ounce sounds inexpensive until you fill your WHOLE cup with 5 different flavors of ice cream and PILE on the toppings. Worth the smiles, though!

5. Catch giant lizards! (and let them go)
There were lizards (and snakes, apparently) right on our back porch constantly! The kids loved to try to catch them.

There was so much more to love!

• Virgin River Trail - walked and run 2x daily by our family!
• Local parks for kick ball and basketball
• Pirate Island Pizza (WAY overpriced, but still fun)
• Glow in the dark miniature golf with Beatles music playing in the background. Proud moment for us when our kids are singing along!
• Hurricane Half marathon! NEXT YEAR AGAIN...maybe.
• Can't do St. George without lots of swimming. Our favorite was the Washington County rec. center. AWESOME indoor water playground!

We loved it and didn't want to leave!
Can we live there?
(but then I remember it gets to be 34389327953 degrees in the summer, so never mind..

Hurricane Half Marathon 2010

Here I am!

It's been a fun and exciting Spring so far. Actually, a lot of events that I wish I had blogged about. But, we'll start here with the last two weeks because that's what is on my mind.

We planned a trip to St. George for the week of my birthday. Being a person that does not exercise unless I have something to train for the amazing athlete that I am, I decided to sign up for a half-marathon on my birthday. Luckily my sister, Heidi, agreed to train with me.

The whole week before, I was a bucket of nerves. I felt like I couldn't fully enjoy "vacation" food because of the upcoming event (which isn't such a bad thing), and two days before the race I started getting sick with a sore throat. Eric bought me a jamba juice type thing and a shot of wheat grass. WHO drinks that stuff!? I felt like I had just swallowed a handful of grass.

The night before the race, Eric gave me a blessing and I said a long prayer. It might sound strange to care that I was able to perform well in the race, but it was SO important to me. I had something to prove and it was a long time coming. Remember back in 2008, when I did all of the training for the race and then had a little road bump? Well, this race was my time to shine. And after the blessing and a prayer, I felt confident that I was not the only one who wanted me to do well. Nothing like a little faith building exercise right before a race!

So, the race started bright and early on Saturday, April 24th and I was tired after no sleep from nerves and the sore throat. I was still so nervous that I forgot my ipod and other things that I planned on having. But, really, there is an energy before a race starts. If you've ever done a race, you'll know what I'm talking about. There is a huge group of people, sizing each other up, getting ready to go for the same goal. I like it!

Of course when I'm sizing people up, I realize that some of the guys running this race have legs as long as my whole body, and I'm saying to myself, "Please don't come in LAST place!"

The race started up a hill, but my sister and I were feeling awesome! The weather was beautiful and the sun was just starting to rise over the reservoir we were running around. I was just taking it all in. Seeing the red rocks of the St. George area, the water, the sunrise; and then I saw a guy peeing and I thought, "Hmm, already at mile 2?" People have warned me that during longer races, people will just do their business on the side of the road but it's still wierd to see.

Then, mile 5 started and all I saw was "UP". It was a major hill and mentally I shut down. It ended up being a mile long and it psyched me out. I could not get in the groove after that. People all around us were walking and in my mind I kept asking when I could walk. Heidi motivated me the best she could with lures of fetticine alfredo and whatever I wanted to do after the race. I was just so tired.

Really, though, the thing that kept me going was knowing that my husband was there at the finish line. I knew that he didn't care what my time was. Only I cared. I knew he'd be proud and I also knew that my kids needed to see me finish strong, even though I felt far from strong. The whole last 3 miles I was chanting to myself, "Don't stop running, don't stop running."

I could see the finish line and I could see my family. Heidi and I sprinted to the finish line for a time of 2:27. Not even close to the time I trained for, but it's a place to start for me.

Here we are getting ready to sprint to the end!

(ignore the creepy smiley guy behind Heidi...strange)

I FINISHED!

And here's what I learned from training to the race:

• I am capable of doing whatever it is that I set my mind to
• The only limits that I have are the ones I set on myself
• I am NOT the slowest runner!
• I am strong
  
• A marathon is possible for me.
  

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So, I did race the next week. JUST a 10K, though.
Much better time. 62 minutes. 10 minute miles. NOT 11, like my half marathon.

What I learned from the 10K? 6.2 miles is a MUCH better distance!