Retro-Blogging

I'm slowly trying to catch up on some of the events of the summer that I've missed completely. Be patient with me and read on!

For now:
The Speedy Spaniard!

Every 24th of July, Travis's family (as many as they can gather to participate) run the "Speedy Spaniard," a 10K race that takes place through the Spanish Fork "river bottoms." The first year I ran it with them was right after Kate's first birthday, and afterward they have a drawing, in which I won the grand prize! It was a pool party at the Spanish Fork water park, which we finally redeemed this summer for Kate's 3rd birthday (yes 2 years later).

This year, I was able to actually finish the race again (is it still a race if you're not necessarily trying to beat anyone?) - and I have to say running 6.2 miles is a big accomplishment for me, since I've never been a runner, and I don't run more than 3 miles at a time since I have been running. I like to think that running is harder for me than it is for most other people. Probably because I have flat feet. Yes, that must be it. Oh and also I really really love to eat. I think that might have a little bit to do with it.

So we arrived at 6:00 a.m. (so pretty much in the middle of the night) at the park where the race starts, and for summer it was certainly not warm. Travis and I started the race together (we lost Christina, Charlotte & Aaron somewhere in the starting line-up), and I quaintly imagined that he might stick with me for maybe the first mile or two to keep me company so early in the morning or make me feel as if I was doing well, or at least make sure I didn't trip and fall or something. Nope. The starting gun went off and he was off like a shot, leaving me (quite literally) in the dust. But I trotted on by myself, and so many people passed me throughout the race that I kept looking behind me thinking that surely I had to be the very last person.

Here's Travis.

Eventually I ran into Charlotte (okay, NO I didn't catch up to her - she was passing me) around mile 3, and at the same time, we saw Tim standing on the sidelines taking pictures. So he was able to catch both of us together. Yep, we are dorks.

Christina rounding the last corner to the finish line

And of course Aaron, who kicked everyone's trash. Notice how it's STILL DARK as he's coming up to the finish line!

Anyway, I finished the race in under an hour. Last time my time was around 1:05, so any improvement made me feel proud! Travis was kind enough to at least wait for me at the finish line. Um, and two words.... free... popsicles.

Four of the runners representing the Lundell family (we don't know where Christina went)
Tim (our Fan) was disappointed that they weren't handing out giant foam fingers.

We stayed for the drawing, of course (let me just clarify that it's a RANDOM drawing of all entrants' names - when I've said in the past that I "won" something in a race, people sometimes think it was like a prize for being fast. I assure you it was not like that.) - and I walked away with $50 this time!!! Not too shabby. This race keeps paying for itself!
The remainder of our Pioneer Day was spent making the 8-hour drive to my grandma's house in Colorado, so we could fly out of Colorado Springs the next morning. (Although Brooklyn required frequent stops for eating, bathing in gas station restroom sinks after eating, and/or running around, so it worked out to be much longer.) We learned that a brilliant thing to do is to run 6.2 miles in the morning and then sit perfectly still in tight quarters for the next 8-10 hours. Ouch.