Olympic Moments

I was so sad that I couldn't stay awake and watch the spectacular duo go 1-2 in the All-around Women's Gymnastics. I really fought to stay awake, but ended up having to hear the news the next morning. I watched the replays of the event highlights. Nastia Liukin was phenomenal. I thought she just flew and then landed so soft and perfect. Shawn Johnson as always is just great. I get so scared for her on the beam and then she sticks it! I think Nastia and Shawn's gold silver finish is my new favorite Olympic moment. These two are great and have excellent sportsmanship. I think it is fun to have the rivalry, but it is so great how they support, congratulate, and encourage each other as friends. I am stoked that these two made Olympic history! It was also really exciting to watch the team finals where USA women took silver and men bronze. I love the Olympics. I keep getting sad because I think they are almost over, but then I remember that we still have all the track and field to watch!! Oh yeah, I almost forgot about one of my other favorite Olympic moments. In women's beach volleyball, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are the best. How many straight match wins? Nearly 100! And how many straight set wins? I don't know, but a lot! Awesome. My favorite Olympic moment with these "queens of the beach" was during the match against Belgium. Misty and Kerri were down by two points with Belgium having the set point. USA kicked it up a notch because they ended up winning the set! Belgium lost their chance at that set and at the game because then Misty and Kerri rocked out in the second set for a match win. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are headed straight for the gold!!

Olympic Moments

The time has finally come! I love watching the Olympics and I am addicted. So far my favorite Olympic moment happened last night at the Water Cube. Most of you were probably watching the amazing come back of Team USA during the Mens 4x100M Freestyle Relay. I will explain what happened just in case any of you missed it.

Michael Phelps started out followed by Gale then Jones. When Lezak entered the pool as the anchor, Team USA was behind France by an entire body length. France had been talking smack about Team USA for a couple of days about this race. They were the favorite and looked as if they were going to get their gold until the last 50 meters. Out of no where, Lezak starts gaining on Bernard (France) and flies to the finish just hundredths of a second in front of France! Lezak won it for USA and helped Phelps keep his goal of 8 Gold Medals this Olympics. It was an amazing and unbelievable finish!/? Lezak actually came in with a split of 46.06, the fastest 100M relay split in history! Plus, Team USA smashed the previous world record (held by themselves) by 4 seconds. The new world record is 3:08:24. For the news report and picture click here.

Here is a link of the video footage from that race on You Tube. I would recommend starting to watch the video around 3:25-3:30 then watch for about 30-40 seconds. The entire race is there if you want though.

I didn't want to put it on my blog just in case people start getting in trouble for not having permission to have this stuff;(.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrsBvw21gUQ

You know you are a runner if...

Back in my HS days of Cross Country and Track our team had this fun email we would always talk about. You know you are a Cross Country (CC) runner if... The list was great and filled with things only runners could understand because you actually put your body through it. My friends and I would get such a kick out of this list. We could all relate and we all just loved it.Here are some highlights on 'you know you are CC runner if...':

1) ...your toenails are black.
2) ...your shoes have more miles on them than your car does.
3) ...people say, "You run 3 miles...at once?"
4) ...all your socks are either stained (with dirt and blood) or torn.
5) ...you combine phrases like "10 mile run" and "easy run" in the same breath.
6) ...a meal involves more than 3 servings.
7) ...you spend more on training clothes than school clothes.
8) ...you've been to a golf course in every city, but not to play golf.
9) ...the mile in P.E. becomes your warm-up.
10) ...you wake up every morning in pain.
11) ...Red Bull or Gatorade is your drug of choice.
12) ...you asked to be an extra for Schindler's List II.
13) ...you have trouble benching the bar.
14) ...you can sharpen an ax blade on your calves.
15) ..."Chariots of Fire" is actually entertaining to you.
16) ...Steve Prefontaine's Birthday is more important than yours.
17) ...you find yourself saying, "it's not really a hill..."
18) ...your feet are comparable to rawhide.
19) ...you're running and you don't know why.
20) ...you ran a sub 5 on the P.E. mile run. (maybe this would be more like a sub 6)
21) ...you wore spikes on the P.E. mile run.
22) ...you did a 30 minute warm up for the P.E. mile run.
23) ...you haven't had soda in 6 months.
24) ...your calves are bigger than your biceps.
25) ...your toe nails are falling off.
26) ...you can pronounce those Kenyan names.
27) ...you refer to puke as a bodily function.

This morning I dragged Brandon out of bed at 0530 so we could get started on my 14 mile run before the 101 degree forecast could wake up. The St.George Marathon is now only 2 months away (yikees! I have a ton of miles to get done still). Brandon of course rides his bike and is my mobile water stand because he is wonderful! Thanks a million.

For some reason this run brought floods of memories of HS Cross Country to my mind. Hence, the list of reasons to know you are a runner. Here is a short list of why I know I am still a long distance runner:

1) It took me about 5 miles just to get warmed up so my muscles were loose enough to get my pace into sync.
2) Once I got my form into gear I started to notice the small pain in my foot.
3) After I mentally convinced myself there would be a blood stain on my sock (which there was) then I ignored that pain to concentrate on wiping all the sweat out of my eyes. Keep in mind at 6am (well maybe nearly 7am by now) it was probably not quite 80 degrees out yet but pretty dang close.
4) As the morning progressed more and more runners come out to say their cheers to you and everyone greets each other as you pass by because that is the runner's courtesy.
5) I reach 14 miles and when I am able to come to a complete stop I start to notice how tired just about every single muscle in my body is.
6) I take a hot shower and cringe as the hot water stings the multiple chafing areas around my body. I counted out 5 rashes. (I add to the list that IcyHot and Vaseline can become a runner's best friend.)
7) I ate double what Brandon ate for lunch!

Le Tour de France

I have really gotten into this major event the last few days. Le Tour de France is really interesting to watch and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have found myself following the "yellow jersey" and other race contender stats. For those of you who are not familiar with this historic event, le Tour de France is a cycle race around the entire country of France. It is a 23 day (21 race stages and 2 rest days) tour of over 2,000 miles. The racers are incredible on their bikes. They ride over intense elevations on climb days and gain some crazy speed on sprint days.

I am excited for the final stage when they ride down the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The reason I really admire anyone who competes in the tour is because of how much they have to endure through grueling terrain for 3 weeks. Some days are very rainy and it makes for slippery asphalt. The cyclists have to ride up and down mountains and work through fast turns. Some cyclists even fall off sides of mountains at times and the tour is never complete if you do not see a fall with a domino effect.

In high school, I traveled to France with my french class to prove to ourselves how well we could speak the language:). It was one of my favorite traveling experiences in my life. I remember our bus taking us through some cities in southern France and the roads being blocked off because of the tour. If only I had been as excited about it back then so I could've paid closer attention when I was actually able to see it in person. That would have been when Lance Armstrong was becoming one of the greatest cyclist for the tour and in the world. Oh well, watching it on TV has been fun.

Watching all the athleticism with the Tour de France makes me really look forward to the Olympics...Beijing 8.8.08. The summer Olympics are the best!

Winter is great too...just not as great as summer!

a WeeK OfF frOm WoRk!!

First off, this is a long post...sorry, a lot happened! This past weekend we took a mini road trip to California to visit home and for my brother's wedding open house. We left on Wednesday after work and stayed the night in St.George so on Thursday we could spend all day in Zion National Park. We first hiked Angel's Landing. It is a gorgeous hike and the actual part up to Angel's Landing is crazy cool. In the picture below, you follow the route with the trees to the top. There is a chain along the way for everyone to hold on because it is scary cliff on both sides and you are basically climbing rocks the entire way up. When I first saw what we had to hike up I was kind of scared; my hands were all sweaty and I was shaking. However, I realized it wasn't so bad. When you reach the top you have a beautiful view of the surrounding area and it is fun to say that you made it to the top! Next time I want to run to the top. It would be an extreme workout.

The very top of this is Angel's Landing. Follow the route with the trees.

Here is Brandon on our way to the top.

Scary parts of the climb up, but nice views.

Don't look down!

On our way up to the top we saw some chipmunks and just had to take pictures of the furrballs we have been obsessed with imitating lately. (You all really should watch that clip from Enchanted;)- see a previous post.) Brandon got a really great shot of one of them. None of the others would hold still long enough.

We also had some fun fooling around in the mini caves while hiking up the trail.
After a short rest from Angel's Landing we headed out for the Emerald Pools. I think in the right time of year these pools would be a beautiful site to see, but not in the summer. All the water seemed dried up and there wasn't much to see as far as pools and waterfalls go. We had a good hike anyways and enjoyed what scenery was left.

After our day in Zions, we drove home to California to start helping with the open house. Everyone had assignments and the entire weekend from preparation to clean up went smoothly. We also had fun with family, extended included.

Watching "home run derby" at the baseball fields.

Playing Gumpsh!

There was soooo much food left over, but that was good because it was yummy. Here is everyone hard at work.

My sister, Terri and my mom. It's hot!

My sister, Janet and my cousin, Tracy. Crying onions;(

My mom, my Uncle Kevin and Tracy making yummy food.

Making homemade root beer!

My dad lighting the candles in the backyard.

This week off from work was a blast. Sadly, vacation has to end. Hopefully another one will come soon!

Zzzz!

The bug zapper is my weapon of choice against bugs. This Friday Fave is the coolest gadget around. Brandon bought one in Taiwan while he was on his mission and now we both use it in our house against all those pesty creatures. My parents came to visit a couple weekends ago for the wedding and saw our bug zapper in action. My mom loved it so much that she went out and got one for herself. The bug zappers are cool because they are handy and easy to use. Not to mention, they are very accurate. No more fly swatters and guts everywhere. A bug zapper doesn't miss (the surface area is fairly large) and it electrocutes the bug so you never have to worry about bloody bug guts on your walls! Zzzz!

Enchanted Chipmunk

I love this crazy chipmunk. His high squeaky voice is the funnest thing to imitate. Brandon randomly talks chipmunk and it is so hilarious. You have all probably seen this movie, but here is a short clip of Pip, my favorite part of the movie...