Family Foto

I DID IT!

Wow, oh, wow!

I cannot tell you how the emotions were running through me, or even what I felt, if anything. Maybe I was in denial which is why I didn't feel. I don't know.

What I do know is that I SANG a SOLO in front of my ward for the Christmas program this morning. It was short. I had a microphone (never have liked my voice amplified like that) and it was still ok. When it was over, when I was done singing by myself, I got very HOT! It was noticeable to me. I bet I turned the same color as my shirt (red). I was amazed that I had done it. I was totally pleasantly surprised. I can't tell you how I did, because I don't remember hearing myself sing. Funny,that!

Would I do it again?


Yes, yes I would. I don't know if you know this about me, but i love to sing. I had forgotten that for a few years, and now with the voice and piano lessons, I have put in the time to learn to sound good and so yes. Yes, I would do it.

The sad part about this singing thing, is that now both my choirs are done until May and January. I don't have any voice or piano lessons until then either, so there is no purpose, nothing pushing me to sing. I will just have to do it because I love it.

RUNNING

I ran the Nutcracker 5K race yesterday. I know it isn't far 3.1 miles. And I am working on getting faster. My runs are just so SLOW. I guess mom is right, I am not a runner, not for distance anyway. It is depressing to have to work hard for 2 years and not get any faster. I can go forever at a snails pace.
43.08
that was my time for 3.1 miles. Anyone know how fast that is per mile?
Well, my first mile was 15 minutes on the dot. The second mile was 12:30ish. First mile was uphill, and the second mile was downhill. The third mile was flat and uphill. What ever time is left is how long it took to do the third mile. What is that 15+ min/mile. Terrible.
I know my trainer will say I did a good job and way to go.
So now you know you too can do a race. Do the triathlon with me. I may swim and bike better, but for sure you will pass me on the run.

I have done something

Something scary, something fun.



I sang a solo.

It is scary just admitting that out loud, so to speak.


It is a very small solo for our ward Christmas program. Honestly, I love singing and I know I do it all the time, even in front of people, but NEVER when it mattered. This time was only a practice, and it was scary. I have a post nasal drip cough that is messing with my voice, but I did ok. Choir members and the conductor were surprised, pleasantly.

I guess the voice lessons are paying off.

Musings of THANKSGIVING 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!
I know it is a little late, but not too much.
I had such a great time with my in-laws. They are a fun group of people to be with. Quinn and Anjuli are cute. (I have a picture, I can prove it-later) I have missed Quinn. He is so good with kids, I will wait patiently for him to be a daddy.


Chad rode the horse. I have proof-another picture to be added later. I didn't know he did that. He was gentle with it, patient, and guided it out the gate.
He is a good young man, with a good heart.
Eugene and Brooke are so energetic, which is a good thing considering all they have to do. 3 handsome and busy boys plus school plus work, plus church. I get tired just hearing all they do. It is a good thing they are young.



David and Lucia are very calming to me. They have a good life and a sweet love. It is fun to watch them come together when one has been dealing with one child and the other has the other problem, they get it settled and meet together with a gentle touch, and a look in their eyes that shows how much they appreciate each other. They are good parents, and good examples to me of patience.


Joe and Angela lived with us, so this family visit with them, while great and wonderful and full of love, was not one that opened my eyes to their relationship. I miss them. I don't tell them that though. that would show a soft spot on me.



I am sad there were 2 families missing. Charlene and Jake, we thought of them in Australia. Did they have Thanksgiving? We need them to come back as soon as possible. We need to know our cousins. Shanon and Teresa were also missing. They are expecting their 5th in May? That is a long travel when pregnant. Many thought were with them throughout the day.

Mom and Dad Norris have a wonderful posterity. A family full of love and respect for each other. They have done a good job showing their children how to love and care for those around them. I am blessed to have been offered a place in their home, family and life. I am a better person because i get to see their interactions with their kids and learn from it. I also get to Feel their love of God and their faith in Jesus Christ. It permeates all they do.

Feel Free to join me!

Any of you who read this blog obviously know i do triathlons.

I invite you to be a triathlete with me.

I am preparing for the BOISE 70.3 Half Ironman. YEP, that is my big race for the 2009 season.
It is June 13th
in Boise
starting at 2pm

Come join me, won't you? You, too, could feel like this!Finisher!!!

Family Pictures

Here we are. All 5 of us. Casually playing in the park. I 'met' a woman, by reading her blog and looking at her pictures. I love them, so I asked if she did photos. She didn't agree to right away, but aparently enough people had asked her the same thing, so she decided to get a new camera, a more professional camera, and then did these photos free of charge, for the experience. I think she does a great job capturing the personality of the kids and our family.

Reflections now that Soccer is Over

Shae


We had the final banquet on Tuesday.
I miss soccer, but am glad to have that time back with my family.
I love my goalkeepers. They worked so hard to improve their skills and learn the game.
I am proud of all the girls. This was our last season in 5A and we play other teams that have college recruits, and compete at the state tournament every year. That is not the level of play we have in Spanish Fork and the surrounding area. We still are teaching basic skills to varsity players. Well that translates into lots of goals scored against us and our only wins are in pre-season, when we get to choose teams that may be competitive. They are usually pretty good games and we start the season feeling good about our chances.
I am grateful to our team members for not quitting. They came to practice and worked hard everyday. They kept their spirits up when every game was a beating. They worked even harder and NEVER gave up.
We did have a good time one practice. The sprinklers came on. That won't deter any goalkeeper. That makes it that much more fun.

Running up the score/padding stats

When I was in soccer in High school, we were top three in the state. Those were good times.
I was looking over my yearbook at some of the scores we had against the weaker teams. I am sad to say they were within one or two goals of double digits, and a few were over that mark. I don't know why we did it, other than we could, and passing around the other team does get a bit boring after a while. Yes, we did move people around and get the subs a lot more experience.
Looking back to those days from my more mature age and greater experiences in life gives me moment to reflect.
Why do i feel the need to do this? Well, I coach the local high school girls soccer team now. We are the bottom. The "Clover Park" of my high school days. We practice hard and work to improve the skills of the players, but they are no match for girls who play competitive soccer year round. So I am now on the other side of the 10-nil score. It is HARD. It is hard to keep going when you know EVERY game the victories are to keep them from scoring for longer than 25 min. or to string 4 passes together, or to just be first to the ball. We have to look at the game differently than the other coaches. We can't look at the scoreboard for our victories. We pass that along to the girls, they need to know what they are doing is still an improvement.
Here's to looking to next year in 4A.

The Utah Half Ironman report

Sunday, August 17, 2008

half Ironman report

Ok, folks, here it is, and I know why it took so long to start writing about it. I believe myself to be an exceptional athlete. Strong, powerful, graceful? (no) quick, fast. And triathlon really has nothing to do with those gifts. I am slow in triathlon.
So, Yes, I did finish the Utah half Ironman. It was hard. I wanted to quit many times, and probably would have if it weren't for friends along the way. For some reason, in my mind, it is really no big deal that i did it. It didn't give me any sense of accomplishment, or grand 'ah ha' moment, and i couldn't understand why (cuz i really was expecting one or both of those moments). So I have been pondering. I figured it out on Friday, and ran it past Dwain. He disagrees with me, so I will run it past you.
See, I have been training really long and hard for this 'race'. I would wake up early and get in time on a run or bike, then have a workout scheduled for the evening, usually a swim. There were lots of "2-a days". about 4 hours a day working out. and I did the workouts, almost all of them. I missed quite a few swim workouts, because they are the hardest to schedule and that is my best event of the 3.
Now here is where you will want to pay attention. I know that even though I did what I did, y'all could do it too, and do so much better than me. Yes, you could. I know most of you don't want to, and that is fine. But IF you decided, "Hey, Anita did it. I want to do one, too." then you could, and you would be great. I am certain if you spent the time training and working with a group of fun people to prepare for your race, you would do better than I did.
Do you know I haven't even checked my times, yet?
OK, I am back. I just checked my times.
Here they are.

Place

Number

Name

Home Town

Class

Swim

min/100yd

T1

Bike

mph

T2

Run

min/mi

Total Time

Back

Penalties

224

Anita NORRIS

Athena

00:57:41.100

00:05:27.8

00:04:58.100

03:27:43.100

16.2

00:07:36.900

03:30:29.400

00:16:04.1

08:00:51.7

+00:00:00.000

They said the swim was long. GPS isn't what it used to be. so we swam 200 yds longer than the 1.2 miles. and that is an exceedingly slow time for me /100 yds. I did stand up a couple times to adjust equipment. (yes the lake was that low in the harbor.) I was so anxious/nervous/terrified of this race distance that I had to just enjoy the morning, and think about the swim only during the swim, and the bike only during the bike. that helped, but still i knew there was a run. See, even now i can't just look at one aspect of the race. I enjoyed the swim. It was a beautiful morning. I watched the sun come up over the mountains and it was really stunning. We had 2 laps to do, and I was enjoying it. I even had enough gas in the tank at the end of the swim to push hard to the buoy to get out passing some men in the process. (they started 5 minutes ahead of the women)
Transition. I took my time. i don't know why. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for the bike ride. I loaded up my shirt pocket, and away I went. But I left my odwalla bar there. that was my actual food for the bike, and I put it down to pick something else up and left it there. The bad part of that was I need food in my stomach to take the gel packs, otherwise I get crampy in the tummy, and need to find a bathroom. I did the gel pack anyway, and it turned out to be ok. I don't know why, I don't care why, it was good to not have to find a bathroom on the course. My goal for the bike was to ride the 56 miles in less than 3:30. I did it. It is a nice ride. Flat and fast, not for me of course, I am not fast for 56 miles, but I am consistent and I do finish. The ride took us out to West Mountain, past pastures and hayfields and cows. It is a nice morning ride. I had to think about that, and not the run. With about 15 miles to go, I started to feel my leg cramp. It wasn't bad, just the beginning stages telling me I needed more electrolytes. With 8 miles to go my coach rode up to me. I told her my dilemma and she promptly handed me electrolytes. She is great. She was being bike support for her athletes who were doing this event. She rode with me for about 5 of the 8 miles and kept me going, not allowing me to slow down. I told her I was hungry, and NEEDED food, she said she would take care of it at transition. She is just a little bit sneaky about motivation.
Let me elaborate. About 3 weeks before this race I had a 3.5 hour bike ride for a workout. It nearly wiped the floor with me. i was exhausted. I couldn't imagine trying to run after being on a bike that long. I called Keena and talked with her. I was so emotional and tense until we agreed that I would just do the swim and bike and work on the run for next year. Or since the run had parts to it, I could just do one part, and then hand them my timing chip and be done.
So I am chowing down in transition on any fruit I can get, and I see my friend Sherry come in and go. I commented to Keena that we were supposed to walk together and eat skittles. I guess that got her attention that I was still standing there eating and drinking, and she kicked me in the butt and told me to get out of transition and onto the course. So I did. I took my cold water and some pretzels, and WALKED. It took 3 miles of walking before I could sustain a jog.
Then I didn't want to go any farther, but there was Keena as i was coming back past transition and she got more food and water and electrolytes for me and persuaded me to keep going. that motivation lasted to the next aid station when i heard my Jill-friend call my name. She was willing to walk with me. so I kept going.
Then we saw Sherry. She was jogging toward us, coming back from the mile out and mile back. I was only a quarter mile out, but turned around and walked with her. So I missed about a mile and a half of the 13.1 miles. (yes I told the race director)
Jill headed to the finish line when i still had 6 miles to go. Erica joined sherry and I and we walked on. Erica is training for a marathon and she was great company as that 6 miles didn't seem like too long, until I started on the path. 3 miles out and 3 miles back. We walked, we talked and we even jogged every now and then. Sherry took off about a mile and a half into the 3 miles out. So it was Erica and me. She cheered on those who were coming back, telling them they were awesome and to keep going. She is amazing. After the turnaround at the 3 miles out point, Keena came up on her bike and challenged us to get my butt moving to finish before the time ran out. Run 3 and walk 1 I think is what she said. But we jogged 6 then I sat in the river. Then we did it again. Jogged 6 and sat in the river for 30 seconds. It felt sooooo good.
we jogged and walked, with more jogging than I thought was possible. Erica and Jill and Keena get all the credit for getting me to the finish line. Thank you.
I made it there almost a full minute after the 8 hour cutoff time.
Sad, but true. they still gave me the medal for finishing, and I will PROUDLY display it somewhere knowing that you can do it, too.

Testing, One, Two, Three!

there are so many great things I have seen on other blogs, I want to try them here.