book review: Eat & Run

It's been a while since I've done a book review but this book was too good not to share.  Eat & Run shares some of Scott Jurek's most challenging ultra marathon races, his journey to running, his journey to healthy eating, and everything in between.  If you don't know already, an ultra marathon is any running race with a distance greater than a marathon (26.2 miles), but are often 50 miles, 100 miles, or more.

Scott mentions that most good marathon runners "hit a wall" during a race, or after it, but ultra runners hit wall after wall after wall and still continue to run.  These walls are often mental.  Scott wanted to challenge his body as far to the edge of physical/emotional limit without going over the edge and won many ultra marathon races.  An astounding fact is that he is Vegan, so he had to find ways to get plenty of protein in his diet without meat and eggs.  Each chapter shares a Vegan recipe he would eat before, during, or after his races.

Scott also mentions a woman who ran the Wasatch Back ultra marathon 8 weeks after having a baby, nursed her baby at every water station, and finished the race with a new women's record.  Crazy!

I don't plan on being an ultra marathon runner, or even become Vegan, but this book fascinated me and inspired me to run harder and realize that what I eat affects my runs.  Over that last several weeks I have had a goal to run a certain number of miles each week.  I started out at 4 miles accumulative by the end of the week and now I'm at 13 miles and use an app called Run Keeper to keep track of my miles/pace.  With a triathlon and turkey trot next month and plans to do a half marathon in February it's great to see progress!

September snapshots

This month Avery and Andrew went on their first daddy-daughter camp out, Zara continuously made new funny faces, Elliot started climbing in the tree again, and I have been working on making meal plans, and sticking to them!  We look forward to all the great weather and activities October has to offer us.

up, up and away

Avery's favorite thing to do on a playground, hands down, is swinging on a swing.  Right now we're working on teaching her how to swing by herself.  Maybe some of that teaching rubbed off.  The weather has cooled down so much the last week or two and we are so grateful to be able to play at parks again!

While park hopping we discovered how much Zara loves to swing too.  It started with a little push from Avery and now she can swing for 30 minutes fully content.

It sure beats throwing sand in her hair!

August Snapshots

Three weeks late but here are my August photos.  Summer and swimming seem like a long time ago and we are looking forward to the holidays.  I'm feeling out of element here but I hope to be back soon!

school and a couple videos

^ ^ Grandpa returned from a camping trip! ^ ^

Thought I'd stop in and keep things current on this little blog.  Time has really been zipping by for us lately.  Just the usual: Elliot in school, Avery pre-school, Zara showing us more every day how funny and active she is. Teddy is doing much better!  Home and healthy.  Many prayers have been answered.  I made a little video from a visit in the hospital.  His cheeks have grown since then.  Same with Maggie.  Love being so close to my family.

auntie marilyn

 On Monday I got a new nephew and niece.  Chris and Kristy gave birth to their third child, Theodore, and Nora and Garrett gave birth to their first child, Maggie.  It was a day filled with wonder and miracles.

^ ^ 1// my parent's at the hospital 2//a note my dad wrote to my mom 3// my dad holding Maggie ^ ^

Since Monday I have taken about 200+ pictures of Maggie, but Theodore is in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and he and his family needs our prayers.  Our hope and prayers is that doctors will find out what is causing is sicknesses and heal him so he can come home.

We're also praying for no long-term health problems.  This has been a long week for the Stapleys and as tests are being taken and they live day-to-day we can only hope for some normality sooner than later.  All of this makes me even more grateful for my family's good health.

Martin wedding | part 2

Julie and Jame's wedding reception was at the Wright house and it was perfect.  My kids ran around and got to know the place very well while I played the role of Matron of Honor and Andrew enjoyed the orange frappe.  Well, he would have if I didn't keep eating all of his.

^ ^ Prettiest color scheme. ^ ^

 ^ ^ She was hot, ok! ;) ^ ^

 ^ ^  Lookin' good, Honey! ^ ^

 

I hope all of Julie's and Jame's dreams came true because they deserve it.

Martin wedding Part 1
professional pics and video here.