Lovely October

This year has just flown by!! I can't believe it's October, as I'm typing this. And, finally, some lovely, cool fall weather to accompany it! Still, it seems weird that in another 2 months will be Christmas and the start of a whole new year - and a soon-to-be 2-year-old!!!!! I am actually reeling as I realize that Poppy is 20 months old now. There is no way that she can be that old, right?? Her favorite words of late: "Show", "No, no, no, no, no", "Night-night".
As you can see from the pictures below, I had the fabulous opportunity to participate in a 10K today with my sister, Alison. To give you a brief history of my abilities as a jogger, well, there isn't really one. I've never loved running very much, or felt I was very good at it. For example, as a missionary, I found that you could either get stuck with a companion who loved running and insisted on waking up at 5:30 to go (and since you can't leave your companion, you get dragged along, willingly or not), or you'd get a companion that was vehemently against running. I wasn't really either, but I had both types of companions. At one point in the mission, I was part of a music touring group called "The Musical Witnesses of Christ", and was able to visit several cities in the mission with a choir of about 14 missionaries doing concerts. It was awesome. We all lived at the mission president's home for about a month during this time, and there were a few days where I begrudgingly went jogging, because all 3 of the other sisters were going, so really I had no choice. I wish I could say I was awesome, but I'd be lying. I was the one at the back of the pack that the mission president felt obligated to run alongside, speaking words of encouragement. "We just have to make it to that lamp post up there", he would say. I was wise to this trick.
Needless to say, being able to do a 10K is something I'm pretty proud of, because in all honesty I have never been able to train this much to even go 3 miles at a time, let alone over 6! I'm pretty happy. Thankfully, Alison kept me motivated at the end, reminding me of the free bagels at the finish line, and telling me to keep my head down on the hills. I was pretty excited about the part of the race that weaves through the beautiful gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Turns out that was the worst part, for a couple of reasons. First of all, because the paths are not very wide. The race organizers decided that the 10K-ers and the 6K-ers would meet up halfway through and run together. Doesn't work well on narrow paths with a couple thousand women. Secondly, if you've ever been to the gardens there, you may remember that the beginning of the path spirals downhill for a good while until you get into the small valley of flower beds and gardens. Fun going down, not so fun going up. The best part of a race? The part where the volunteers (in this case, cub scouts) hand out water cups, and you get to drink up and toss them because no one cares that you're just throwing trash on the ground. Be gone with you, Cup! Alison and I did the race in approximately 1:08 (though I can't be sure, since we were toward the back when the pack started going). I wasn't too excited about that, since I thought for sure that we could run it in less than an hour - and hey, we didn't stop once! - but according to some other ladies who had pedometers and iPhone apps tracking the distance, turns out we did around 7.15 miles!! No wonder I was dying at the end! Good thing I had Captain Alison to push me along. My mom pointed out to Alison and me that her best 10K time was 48 minutes. Thanks for that, Mom. Looks like we have more work to do!

While I may look like I'm doing jazz hands, I assure you that I am not.

Finally, the end is in sight!

The Victors

Waiting patiently for Mummy

Still waiting patiently...

Our pretty girl - almost 20 months old!

Usually, when you ask for a kiss, she'll plant one right on you. But the other half of the time, she will push your face away and say "No!" Can't blame her, I guess.