Recessed can lights

Physical Therapy and pumpkin pie for Dad's birthday

I went to Physical Therapy for the first time last week. The therapist was concerned about my lack of flexibility and told me that before we could work on strengthening the muscles around my left knee, we'd have to start with flexibility. He gave me a big white foam roller and prescribed a whole regimen of stretches for me to do multiple times per day. After a week of diligently doing the stretches, I felt a bit better, but still pretty tight.

At our second visit, he recommended some additional stretches but added a few strengthening exercises. Here are a couple photos I had him take of me to serve as reference when I'm at home trying to remember the proper position.

Seated stretch

Simple stair-stepper, made out of an old phone book

Mom sent me a picture this week that really had me puzzled. I've included it below. There were a couple colorful sections, and written on one was, "Mark was here... July 15th, 2001. Exactly one week before my 16th birthday!"

I vaguely remembered having written this, but couldn't remember where it was. Turns out, it was written on the carpet pad in my parents' downstairs bedroom at their house in Provo. We had to replace the carpet pad down there all those years ago when they had been having some moisture problems. She sent me this picture because she had begun a remodel of the room, which is the room where our boys always sleep while in Provo.

Carpet pad

Well, Thursday was Dad's 71st birthday. In usual fashion, we had pumpkin pie for dessert. It's a tradition that I hope we always do. Emmie got in on the action this year and enjoyed her pie. Luke, as always, polished his off in no time and was asking for more. Logan, however, was somewhat hesitant and merely picked at his pie a little bit. Not a huge pumpkin pie fan.

I wonder what Dad would think of my family and our life. We were just barely starting out in Texas when he passed away. I hadn't even found a great place to get a chocolate shake yet! Luke was a little (big) pipsqueak, just seven months old when Dad passed away. We've come a long way and lived a lot of life since May 2009. We sure do miss him, but we talk about him often, and I think the kids will have a sense of his closeness even though they never really knew him.
 

Emmie enjoying some birthday pie

This slice is for you, Dad!

Logan, being a good sport about it.

Luke with a face that says, "Where'd my pie go!?!"

msh

FHE, Valerie's, bikes at the lake!

Ahh, it's been a nice relief to be done with the marathon. Time to turn my attention and efforts to other things. Having the stress of long distance runs off my shoulders makes me feel so much lighter! Now I can focus on getting my knee healthy and running for pleasure and to stay in shape rather than to train for a 26 mile run!

Another beautiful week here in the Northwest! On Monday evening, we met up with the Lenzes and Shattucks at the part to do a combined Family Home Evening lesson. We discussed the Jaredites and how the Lord prepared a way for them to travel across the ocean in the barges without windows. For our activity, we painted smooth stones with glow-in-the-dark paint. It was fun, and of course, a little bit messy when letting the littles do the painting.

FHE at the park

Painting the stones!

This weekend saw more soccer action. It was picture day for the boys, so we all went together at the same time and tried to keep the boys from getting their shorts and shirts dirty before getting their pictures. Logan was really cute and did a nice job smiling for the camera. I should post a picture of the actual prints once I have them in hand. For now, though, here's a pic I snapped of them before game time.

A couple of handsome Holdaway soccer players!

After their games, we decided to celebrate a little as a family and go to breakfast. We had heard that Breakfast at Valerie's over by I-205 was supposed to be really good. Well, if the wait time and number of people on the sign-yourself-in waiting list was any indication, it was going to be a good experience! We sat in the waiting area for probably 30-45 minutes (for breakfast!) before getting called back. There were some auto classified magazines along with this cool Concours d'Elegance poster on the wall. It totally reminded me of Dad and made me want to find a good car show to visit with the boys.

Concours d'Elegance (French for Competition of Elegance)

By the time we sat down, ordered, and then finally got our food, the kids had been sufficiently nutso and wild that we had all switched seats at least once, it seemed. Suzanna and I were a little batty, as you can tell from the pictures below.

Starting to get a little silly while waiting for our food!

I eventually moved to the other side of the table to separate the two funny boys.

What a bunch of colorful shirts!

All the soccer playing and food eating wore us out. Both boys passed out in the car while we drove across the bridge to Jantzen Beach in Portland to pay a quick trip to Children's Place.

Logan with his blanket over his face to block the sun.

Luke catching a cat nap as well.

Later on that day, I told Luke to get his shoes on and get his bike ready so we could go on a little bike ride. He's done so well at riding a bike that I figured he'd do pretty well on the very tame trail by Lacamas Lake. We loaded up and headed down. I told him that we'd ride a mile or two up the trail but to keep in mind that however far we rode up the trail, we'd have to ride back down to the car. I was pleasantly surprised at how enthusiastic and excited he was as he kept on riding til we had gone over three miles up the trail, turning into a total ride of over six miles! That's a long way for a little dude.

Map of Lacamas Lake. We rode along the south west side of the long, skinny lake

Luke on the trail by Lacamas Lake

Part way through the ride Luke yelled to me, "Hey Dad! This is actually really fun! We should do this every morning!" Haha, I had a good laugh out of that and hoped in my heart that he would have a good attitude about it in the future and maybe want to do this often (though probably not every morning!).

Taking a short break for a drink from the water bottle

Here are a few more pictures from the ride.

He wanted to be sure I got a good photo of the scorpion on the side of his helmet

A beautiful day for a ride!

An action shot!

I captured a few videos along the way as well. Some of them came out sideways (probably because I was holding my phone portrait rather than landscape), but at least one of them came out pretty nicely. Here's a link to that video, which is hosted on Vimeo.

msh

Beautiful northwest, ice cream with Logan, survived the marathon

After such an eventful week last week, I wasn't sure how this week could compare. Well, with the obvious exception of my first MARATHON that happened on Saturday, that is! You can read about it and see pictures here.

The weather in September in the Pacific Northwest is incredibly beautiful! I love where we live. The huge evergreen trees that surround us are always so pretty. When the wind picks up, I can hear it rushing in the trees across the street and it sounds a little like rushing water. I got a couple pictures this week of him getting on the bus, and you can see how beautiful the big trees are in the background.

Luke getting on the bus on a beautiful September morning!

Logan and I went out this week to do some errands. We stopped by Fred Meyer and checked out some coffee tables, as we continue to brainstorm about home renovations and how the furniture will all be arranged. We stopped at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream cones as well! Tasty treat with a fun kid.

Logan acting as a point of reference for the size of this coffee table

Enjoying a little lick of Dad's ice cream cone!

Showing off that cute grin, minus one tooth, of course.

Awkward selfie

This was a big week for our family back in Utah, as Jordan few to Peru to enter the Lima MTC as his mission began. He'll be in the MTC for approximately six weeks before flying to Iquitos which is near (in?) the Amazon, bordering Brazil.

Mom sent me this picture of Jordan and herself just outside the gates near the Salt Lake Temple from their trip there. She told me it was such a nice experience to be in the temple with him and get to have that sacred time together there. I'm confident he will be an effective missionary and have some really wonderful experiences as he learns Spanish and prepares to teach the people there.

Mom and Jordan at the Salt Lake Temple

On Saturday after the marathon, we met up with David and Sara (and Lauren) to go try a cool floating burger joint off of Airport Way in NE Portland. It's called "The Deck" and is seasonal, as the owners float it back up the river during the winter months.

When we met up with them near the Shell station by WA-14, we were shocked to see them step out of their car fully decked out in formal attire. Sara had her prom dress on and David was dressed in a suit and tie, complete with the coat. We were a little surprised and a lot confused, as they were the ones that had told us the dress code was "casual." After some confused looks and questions, they laughed and explained it was a last-minute decision to play a joke on us, as they had their formals in the car or near the car from some other thing that had been going on.

Holdaways and Lenzes at the Deck

A little post-marathon selfie

Close-up detail of my race shirt, another trophy!

On Sunday evening we had the sister missionaries over again. Sister Rasmussen (my "cousin") often brings her ukulele. She demonstrated a cool technique that adds a little percussion to a regular strumming pattern. I think it's called "chunking," but it's something that I hope to learn to do once I get a ukulele and get going on my 30x30 goal of learning to play.

For future reference, Lanikai is a good ukulele brand apparently

msh

Hagg Hybrid Marathon!

The biggest thing on my mind this past week was whether I'd be able to complete my first marathon at the Hagg Hybrid around Henry Hagg Lake in Oregon. The knee trouble I had been having kept me down and out of regular training for the last couple weeks leading up to race day, and I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to go or not.

On Wednesday of this week, I had nearly made up my mind to not even bother showing up at the race. However, after thinking it through a bit, I figured I ought to give it a shot so I wouldn't always ask myself, "What if?" about whether I would have been able to actually finish the race.

Here's how it all went down! I'm borrowing from an email account I wrote for a fellow runner in Provo:

I mostly rested those last two weeks before the race, running only twice (five and nine miles). The pain was present both times running, and I was feeling very pessimistic about my chances of finishing the race. I stretched, rolled on a foam roller and even had a massage targeted at those affected areas (at your suggestion), but felt like I wouldn't be ready for the race. At one point, I decided that I wouldn't do the run for fear of permanently injuring myself. But within a short time of making that decision, I went back on it and decided to give it a try so I wouldn't be able to ask myself "what if?" from choosing to sit it out.

The day of the race (Saturday) I got up early, had a quick breakfast of a bagel, a banana, and some milk, and I got in the car to make the 75-minute journey to the race location. I felt okay, and I had been specifically praying that my leg would hold up and I wouldn't have major complications, but that I'd be at peace with whatever the outcome.

Henry Hagg Lake

Hagg Hybrid Sign

8:00 a.m. arrived and the race began. The first half of the race was on asphalt with rolling hills, surrounding a beautiful lake in Western Oregon (Henry Hagg Lake). The first mile or two felt a bit rusty and labored. This was probably due to having done so much resting in the final weeks leading up to the race. But by mile three, I felt invigorated, calm, and ready to run. My spirits continued to rise as I reached the mid-point of the race where the road transitions to trail and I hadn't felt any significant discomfort or pain in my right IT band area. I was on track with my pace as well.

Driving across the bridge before the race. I ran over this bridge twice during the race.

The second half of the race was extremely challenging. The dirt trail was very technical, with roots, rocks, and low-hanging branches all around. The dirt was very hard packed and was covered with deep ruts left by mountain bikers from the rainy season when the trails were muddy. Now that it's been dry and hot for a couple months, the trail was nearly hard as rock! My ankles took a beating, as they would occasionally roll on the uneven terrain. The rolling hills continued, and many of these hills were much steeper and difficult to navigate.

When the hills were steep, I had to slow down to a "hike" rather than a jog, but up until mile 14 or so, I hadn't broken my pace. With more than half the race finished, I was very optimistic about my chances, and my heart was full of gratitude that I had made it this far without pain. However, the steep hills and difficult going made me worried that the uneven strides and frequent starting/stopping would aggravate my injury.

My bib was lucky number 13!

My pace slowed down significantly, the temperature continued to rise (it was in the 90s on Saturday, which is unusual for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest), and the distance between aid stations seemed too great. I didn't have a handheld water bottle or Camelbak with me, so I was left to struggle through a couple of very challenging legs between aid stations.

At mile 18, I passed the point of my longest training run but felt like my energy was still good. My phone battery had started running low a mile or two before, so I stopped listening to podcasts and wouldn't have a chance at that point to turn on music to try to keep me motivated.

By mile 20, I felt like I was in a desert. My energy was low, my legs and feet were very sore with every stride, it had been a mile since the last aid station and was another 1.5 miles until the next. I was out in the open now, exposed to the noon-time sun, and my left knee had shooting pain with nearly every stride. Somehow I pushed through and made it to that next aid station where I was able to refuel with water, Gu, Gu Brew and some fresh oranges. They tasted so good! While I was there, a car pulled up and a couple of volunteers jumped out. They had a plate with some grilled cheeseburgers, intended for the volunteers manning the aid station. Seeing those burgers and knowing that I was only a little over four miles from the end gave me the motivation, and a few minutes later I felt the fuel from the recent stop kicking in.

Amazingly, even though I expected them to be extremely challenging, the last few miles weren't the hardest. My phone finally died at 24.4 miles, and shortly thereafter I tripped over an exposed rock and crashed off the side of the trail into some scraggly bushes with those sticker things in them that ended up all over my clothes. It was startling to be suddenly on the ground. I spilled both of the small cups of water I had brought with me from the final aid station!

I pulled myself up, brushed off the dirt and stickers as best as I could, and kept going. Finally, the white tents near the finish line came into sight and I climbed the last hill into the parking lot near the boat launch where the race began and ended. I crossed through the finish line, overcome physically and emotionally, and I gladly accepted the black finisher's mug they had for me there. Never has a small piece of ceramic represented so much work and effort! My time wasn't fast (5 hours and a few seconds), but I had done it!

The Finish line. A glorious sight!

A beautiful day for a run!

My trophy mug!

2014 Finisher!

And I chalk it all up to divine intervention through an answered prayer and a miracle!

After it was all over and I had enjoyed a tasty grilled cheeseburger and a cold drink, I hobbled to my car and got my fresh, dry clothes. I walked down to the dock and to the edge of the water, where I stepped into the water on the really muddy shore. My feet sunk into the mud up to my ankles, and I was careful not to go very far into the water for fear of not having the strength to easily get myself unstuck. I splashed water on my upper body and cooled down a bit before walking back to the restrooms to change into the clean clothes and head home.

The shore of Henry Hagg lake

By the time I got out of my car back at home, I felt nearly paralyzed with stiffness! But I was home and had completed the most difficult physical challenge I've ever had!

I don't know whether I'll let marathon running become my new life passion and hobby. I doubt it, but I may decide at some point to try a second one. If I pick a nice level road course, I'll surely get a PR and maybe have a bit less harrowing experience. :)

But I feel great! Three days removed, my muscles are still very sore, but I'm mobile and able to get up and down stairs much better now than on Sunday when I woke up!

msh