Your mom goes to college too

I (Leslie) got a late start training for the Ragnar. I wasn't sure I even wanted to run this year, but I figured training for it was good for my body, so I decided to give it a go.

Running with Katie was fun--it's always nice to have a running partner to help time go by. Our Saturday morning runs were different than Jake's since we didn't have to entertain kids after we ran. We just grabbed them and headed for home.

The first few times it was pretty cold, and we'd grab the crying babies from the boys and carry them down the trail as their crying echoed throughout South Mountain Park. It was fun to warm up with hot chocolate once we got home!

In the end I decided not to run the race.

Even though I was feeling sick on the race weekend I still had a blast. I had my younger sisters, Kara and Kensie, over for a slumber party. The kids went to the babysitting co-op across the street, while my sisters and I ate pizza and Paradise Bakery cookies, and watched one of our very favorite movies... North & South.

Here's the North & South trailer, it is soooo good! (And no, Jake, it's not about the Civil War.)



Ladies, let me know if you ever want to have a girls night and watch it!

Your mom goes to college

We ran our third Ragnar Relay this past weekend. And by "we ran" I mean I ran it. (Leslie wanted to but couldn't.)

Last Fall, our good friends the Winns invited us to run it with them. Although Lel had to back out in the end, we had a great time training together at South Mountain Park. A few times the kids even came along.

We would hike up at sunrise, then Steve and I would watch the kids while Lel and Katie ran. Then they'd take the kids home while we ran. Steve was great at coming up with things for the kids to do.

One time, when the freezing temperature made venturing out to look at cacti seem less than appealing for the kids, we brought up this classic on my iPhone:


Anyway, back to the race, the weather was perfect and my van-mates were a blast.

We saw some great scenery along the way. Here's a panorama I took south of Wickenburg (click to enlarge):


Here's a shot of Four Peaks during our third leg:


The full team:


I always wish I were in better shape by the end of these races, but I think doing a round of P90X last year made a difference this time. My pace for the three legs was 8:20 (5.6 miles), 9:33 (4.7 miles), and 10:23 (8.8 miles). That puts my overall pace at 9:35. I hope to get in better shape so next time I can average more like 8:30.

Thanks to the Winns for letting me run with them!