Ogden Marathon

Valery, Dan, and Kyle all ready to start our 26.2 mile journey in the deluge. 

WE FINISHED---Friends of friends, Connie, Heather, Kyle, & Valery.

I am blessed to have many great friends. We started the race together. Kyle, Dan, and Patrick cheered me on when I finished.

RRR

Saturday, May 11th I ran the Moab REDROCK Relay with a good friend's team "THE BETTER HALF." The Other Half was a van of their husbands. It was a 63 mile relay adventure!

This section of the race I run up the Moab half marathon course that I ran down just a few weeks before. It wasn't too steep until I got near the end. It was beautiful and started getting warm. I ran an average 10:27 min/mile for 7.21miles.

In 2 miles I gained 700 feet. Jogged/walked an average 14.02 min/miles for 2.21 miles. It was rough. More miles would've been nice but the race organizers have to put the exchanges where they can park cars and place porta-potties. 

Wasatch Back Relay: Team e-LEMON-ators

Tonight my Wasatch Back Relay team got together to pick our "legs."
This year I get to cruise down the dusty Avon Pass, climb East Canyon, and enjoy a stroll through Heber City. I would like to do this relay 12 times and do each of the legs. This is my third year...9 more to go;)

Ogden Marathon in 4 weeks

Am I ready for 26.2 miles? I am following my training schedule but the colder, rainy days are making it harder to run. The "dreadmill" is not my friend.

(Ogden Marathon race map and my pace goal- faster would be nice but my last marathon I did it in 5:07 so I would be thrilled with 4:45.)

My good friend, Alicia, ran 14 miles with me yesterday. We started up Little Cottonwood Cyn. and ran in the snow, rain, and mist down the canyon, Wasatch Blvd., to Draper, and back on 700 East. We did it and got our miles in. Alicia is training for a half marathon so she definitely is putting in more miles than she needs to but I am sure thankful! This coming weekend I will be in Fruita, CO visiting my sister and I'll get a shuttle up the Colorado National Monument again. I do enjoying running in a variety of locations. Gives me something more to look at and enjoy;)

Second Moab Half

At least I am consistent...I kept a 10 min mile average and finished 2:15:06 (36min faster than my 2010 Moab half)

Best friends ever! Thanks Amy (sis), Alicia, Marc, Ben, and Frunners for making this event a party!

My sister ran with her friends Darcy and Megan. They are fast! Amy's finish time: 1:52:04

Create something that will make the world AWESOME

Get the whole world to DANCE!

My school has adopted the program Leader in Me by Stephen Covey. The teachers attended training and now we are beginning to teach the first habit: BE PROACTIVE in class. I shared this clip today to get the students thinking about the things they can do to make the world a better place. It all starts within.

Ski day @ Powderhorn

Today was a perfect day to ride. Great weather, good snow, and excellent company. Kaison keeps up...or should I say...we keep up with him.

Books Read in 2012

*Sarah’s Key by: Tatiana de Rosnay

Into the Wild by: Jon Krakauer

The Laundry News by: Andrew Clements

*Crossed (Matched #2) by: Ally Condie

We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes by: Patrick Jennings

The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3) by: James Dashner

The Report Card by: Andrew Clements

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven #4) by: Brandon Mull

Price Caspian: The Return to Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia #4) by: C.S. Lewis

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4) by: Rick Riordan

The Non Cyclist’s Guide to the Century and other Road Races by: Dawn Dais

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5) by: Rick Riordan

One Crazy Summer by: Rita Williams-Garcia

The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by: Rick Riordan

*Insurgent (Divergent #1) by: Veronica Roth

The School Story by: Andrew Clements

Lost and Found by: Andrew Clements

Keys to the Demon Prison (Fablehaven #5) by: Brandon Mull

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by: Stephen R. Covey

A World Without Heroes (Beyonders #1) by: Brandon Mull

The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time by: Stephen R. Covey

The Diamond of Darkhold (Book of Ember #4) by: Jeanne DuPrau

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by: Gary D. Schmidt

Cruise in 3 weeks

This picture was Bing.com's wallpaper today and got me excited...

I'm going on my first cruise in 3 weeks. Yahoo! Cheers to good weather, good health, and lots of fun in the sun!!!

CrossFit

I started CrossFit Sandy on December 11th. No huge results YET but sore muscles. Do I like it...yes! I like that my workout is organized, there's multiple people there to help me if I don't know what I'm doing (which is frequent because I'm new), and I push myself harder than at the gym because of the peer pressure and accountability. We share our reps, weight lifted, and time finished. 

Each day at CrossFit there's a warmup, strength, and WOD (workout of the day).

The picture above shows the WOD:

10 shoulder presses

15 toes to bar

20 double unders (my 6th grade jump rope skills helped me today)

There were so many people at today's workout we didn't do a strength. The WOD was:

5 pull ups

10 push ups (lift hand at bottom)

15 squats (no weights)

repeat for 15 minutes

Gines Family

My family and I haven't taken a professional picture in ten years or longer. During Thanksgiving Amy made these pictures happen. Not professional but pretty darn good.

Love you familia!!!

Best sister ever - love you Amy!

Advent Sunday 2012

Cook Family Tradition
Share Christmas stories, musical talents, and tasty treats