26.2

So a little while ago on June 11, Justin, me and my sister Suzanna, ran the Utah Valley Marathon. Found here http://www.utahvalleymarathon.com/. It was an experience all right.

I have ran a marathon before and the hardest thing was feeling ready for it. I felt really ready this time for some reason. Even though I couldn't train as well as I wanted to. But I still felt confident and that we were going to do ok. So here goes.

We had to head to Provo the day before to get our bags and bibs and all that fun stuff. We got a sweet little bag boasting 26.2 and a sticker for the marathon among all the ads for other races and whatever new gadget that will help you run faster. Then we bummed around Provo for a while, waiting to head to our place to sleep for a little bit. We were so thankful for a very kind friend of my sister-in-law's to let us sleep at their house for a bit. We had to get up and be ready by the buses by 3:30 am. Yep. That is awful early. I am often up at that time, but not getting ready to run, so it was different. Once we got up there, it was pretty cold and so we quickly made friends with some people around a fire pit. There were some goofy people. Perhaps the best one was a French guy who came bouncing in and chatting with everyone. Best quote, "AH I got to get my french froggy legs warmed up." hehe. He also was harrassing Suzanna a little bit which was fun to watch.

Then the race started at 6:00 am. It was a very uneventful start, not everyone was lined up and then people just started. Random. But away we went and it got started. The race was really nice in the canyon and had aid stations every two miles, which was amazing! We were doing really well and kicking it, taking the Goo stuff every other aid station. It helped me a lot this time around, I don't think I took full advantage of them last time. So, we were doing really well then around mile 18-19 I started having a weird breathing problem like I couldn't get a deep breath so that slowed me down a little bit. The hardest part was coming out of the canyon around mile 21 and these big long stretches of road and no end in sight. I had a mini breakdown and didn't want to run anymore. I just wanted to sit, but I knew that if I sat I wouldn't make it back up again. Eventually walking hurt more then running so we kept running. It was hard until we saw the finish! We were all psyched about it and then we saw my mom on the side and that was great.

The finish line was in our sights and we started to run faster and get all excited. I was SO happy to see the finish and had the energy to keep it going. In my other marathon, I could barely make it across the finish. We pumped it out and finished strong as they announced our names, so that was fun. Our official time is 5:09:37. It is almost 20 minutes faster than my previous one, but about an hour slower than Justin's. He was a great help and kept me going running even when I didn't want to. I loved training with him and sharing that experience with him. He's my favorite.

Anyways, I was so glad when I finished. That I felt like this little dude. "I feel happy with myself" Just believe in yourself and you can do it.

Sushi party!

Over Memorial day weekend we had a fun time with a sushi party that Justin's sister and boyfriend threw for the family. They are somewhat of sushi connoisseurs, studying the fine art of sushi in Japan. Just kidding they went there to study architecture cause they are cool like that. Since they love it they wanted to share with us and the rest of Justin's family.

Now something to understand is that growing up in my house the only seafood we ever ate was tuna from a can or salmon cooked to perfect. In Justin's house it's a different story they would have shrimp, raw and cooked, crab, oysters and many other fishes of the sea. Justin's mom loves seafood.

I was determined to keep an open mind and to try whatever they asked me to. I started out easy with an inside out roll, in which the rice is on the outside instead of the inside. It started out with rice, avacado, some veggies and cream cheese. I am a sucker for anything with cream cheese. Then they added one with some raw salmon to it. I tried it. I liked it. It looked a little something like this.


Now ours didn't look quite this good but you get the idea.

Next on the list was a tuna roll. I am kicking myself for not remembering the offical name. But basically it had a slice of raw tuna, not the kind from a can, it looked like chicken/salmon mixed. It was a special red tuna. Anyways...they put a little slice of tuna on a pile of rice, you dip it in soy sauce or wasabi sauce and pop it in. It was actually really good. I was expecting a fishy taste in my mouth but I was pleasantly surprised to not have it.

Yum!

We had lots of other yummy veggies there and Justin's mom made Somen. It was something that Justin's dad used to make all the time from his mission to Japan. It has basically Ramen noodles that are straight, thinner and not seasoned. Then you add the noodles that have been chilled to a sauce that is kind of like soy sauce. Then you add scrambled egg bits, ham, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, whatever other veggie you like. Dip and eat. It was was pretty good. I like the cucumbers in the sauce it reminded me of when my mom would put the cucumbers in vinegar, yum.

( okay okay I promise I am almost done.) Then there were the tempered items. Tempered means battered and fried in the wok. Sign me up for that. They started with tempered shrimp and I actually liked it that way. Perhaps the Messengers are starting to get to me. Then Justin's mom was tempering everything else...broccoli, mushrooms, and onions. I kept thinking of the Gilmore Girls episode where they deep fry a turkey and everything else."Deep fried shoe!" Good times good times. It was a lot of fun trying out the different sushi and having fun all together.