Parkinson Family: The Top of Utah Half Marathon

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Top of Utah Half Marathon

I have wanted to do the top of Utah half-marathon for several years now. I've heard it is a really nice run. I usually run about twice a week all year long, but I started training more seriously at the beginning of the summer. One thing I really enjoyed this summer was running at the park. There is a park close to my house with a track around the outside and a playground in the middle. A couple times a week I would take the kids over there and while I ran, they would play! And, I met up with a few friends that would also run there. Perfect! I usually had to push the jogging stroller with one or two of the kids, but occasionally they all played and I was able to just run! It is a really nice setup because I can see the kids the whole time I run and they get to have fun, too.

"Yes... I made it!!" This is me as I'm sprinting
to the finish line. (I couldn't see the camera.)

The top-of-utah half is really nice! Almost the whole thing is down-hill. I also enjoyed running through the blacksmith fork canyon just south of Smithfield. There was a fire there a few weeks before the race and I was worried that it would be cancelled, but I guess the air quality was okay by that time and from what I could see, there wasn't a really large area that was burned.

One crazy thing that happened to me this time was that when I went to plug in my headphones into my iPhone just after I started running, the headphone jack didn't work!! I was thinking, "You mean I have been training for months and now I'm going to run for over 2 hours with no music!!?" I don't know if I am jinxed or something because a similar thing happened to me when I ran the farmington half-marathon. I thought my iPod had been charging all night and apparently someone had unplugged it and I couldn't tell. So, I ran my first half-marathon with no music either. Just my luck, huh? It would've been nicer with the music, but it turned out okay. I was able to just run and listen to nature and left my "run keeper" app on so it would tell me my mileage out loud.

Because the race is downhill, (and maybe a little bit because I'm getting faster, I don't know) I improved my time by 20 min. since my last race, making it 1 hr 59 minutes. (My goal was to come in under 2 hours- wow- I barely did it!). I was happy with how I did and I really wasn't that sore afterward. (I guess I could've pushed it a little harder? Nah!) Now I've got another 2 years to gear up for the next one :)

AUGUST 24th, 2013- TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON

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Parkinson funnies

Nov 2012- Aaron was watching football on TV and Jared came out saying, "I want to go watch grass!"

Dec 2011- Heidi said one morning, "Mom, there's frosting on the house!" (on a cold day when frost was on the house).

June 2, 2011- Driving in the car Kyle said to his sister, "If you don't learn to talk, Jesus will make you talk Spanish." (He explained later that he actually meant sign language. That's how he thought it worked.)

Feb 28, 2011- Kyle said, "I don't like to have babysitters because they are only supposed to take care of babies!" Then we explained that they can take care of bigger kids too.

Dec 15, 2010- Kyle said, "I know how they make egg nog. First they dump in the eggs and mix them around. Then they put in the nog..."

Oct 20, 2010- Kyle said, "Mom, is some cheese blue?" I said it is called blue cheese but isn't really that blue. He said, "Well, then does it taste like blueberries?" I love all the questions he asks about how the world works- He's really trying to figure things out.

Oct 7, 2010- We were driving by Arctic Circle and Kyle said, "Is that the hamburger hut? I like that hut." I am wondering if he was remembering a time when we went to "Pizza Hut".

Aug 12, 2010- We were driving by a farm where there was a big fire burning up the field and Kyle said, "Dad, is that where the indians live?"

Aug 8, 2010- We were driving in the car and Kyle said, "Dad, I think I 'm truck-sick." "You mean car sick?" "No, truck sick- when you're sick in the truck."

Aug 2, 2010- We were headed off to a doctor's appointment for the baby and he was crying. Kyle said, "Mom, I think he's crying because you said he is going to get a shot."

June 28, 2010- The other day at dinner it was Heidi's turn to pray and daddy was helping her. She was just repeating everything word for word when he got to "Please bless it.." and said it 3 times. Finally I had to open my eyes to see what the hold up was. Well, little Heidi was just stuffing spaghetti in her mouth as fast as she could and it was hanging out all over. We all just bust up laughing. I guess she just couldn't wait any longer!

May 19, 2010- On the way home from the hospital after seeing their new baby brother, Erika said, "When I was born mom and dad said that I looked blue." Kyle said, "And when I was born I was pink and red. "

Dec 9,2009- The other day we were eating dinner and Kyle didn't want to eat. He said, "I don't like to eat aliens!" We told him there were no aliens in his dinner. Then, realizing what he was talking about, I said, "You mean onions?" He kept calling onions "aliens" and we got a kick out of it.

Nov 20, 2009- Erika lost another tooth at school today. Kyle said to her, "Erika, when my tooth gets loose and comes out, I'll give mine to you."

Oct 10, 2009- Today Erika said, "Mom, someday when I'm older, I want to get that recipe from you!"

Sept 9, 2009- We couldn't find our puppy anywhere and had driven all over the neighborhood to find him. Finally about 2 hours later Kyle showed up holding him and I said, "Where did you find him?" He said, "In the killer-box". "The what?" "The cooler-box". He had stuck him in a cooler in our backyard and forgotten about it. We were glad he was okay!! I felt terrible and gave him some extra TLC for a little while.

Sept 4, 2009- Erika said tonight, "You know what my favorite thing is about school? It's lunch... and learning... and break!" We said, "Isn't that the whole thing?"

Aug 17,2009- We were camping and had brought all our bikes. As we were leaving camp for a little while, Aaron commented that it might have been wise to bring a chain to lock up our bikes so they wouldn't get stolen. Erika said, "Or, we could have just brought a sign that said, 'DON'T STEAL!'".

July 12, 2009- Today at church Kyle looked at my Young Women's Medallion and said, "Mom, is that you on the necklace?"

July 3, 2009- Kyle had been sleeping down in Erika's room with some friends and came upstairs before we went to bed. He said, "Mom, there was some noise down there. I think it was the tooth fairy, coming to get the loose tooth."