Rex Lee Run with the Family

this was my fifth year running in the Rex Lee Run 5k. the run is sponsored by an on campus cancer research group, in honor of a former president of BYU who was president when i started college. this year, i got members of my family to run too. we don't really have a connection to cancer, but the Rex Lee Run has all kinds of runners of all ages and abilities. no one will look at you funny if you're not a record breaking runner. supporting a good cause is probably a big reason for the mix of runners. i always seem to run in to a few people who have since left Utah Valley, but make it back for the race.

The race results have been posted, but i'll try and make things easier for you all. i've collected a few of the stats for you, so you won't have to go and dig for all of the info. but i'm sure that at least some of you might like to check your age group just to see your name posted online.

Laura observed that the race day weather was the best she's seen for the rexleerun. one of the years Laura and i ran the race included a little bit of rain, a wet finish line and too much wind. this year, the race was on a great day; just cool enough to run and plenty of sun. with nine of us showing up for the race (Jonah is the ninth and should get SOME credit for his good behaviour on race day), six of the eight runners posted their BEST TIME EVER. (this is one of the great characteristics of your first official race - a guaranteed personal record.)

Jonah was the first to cross the finish line with Justin quickly in tow. Justin posted an excellent time of 34:30.72, which included time to feed Jonah some snacks on they way up the opening hill in the race. apparently the Ochre training program and long legs both combined for a great time. even if Justin hadn't had a stroller, 34:30 is a great time for a first time 5k.

next in line to cross the finish line were the Peterson's, Laura and i coming in just after the 40minute mark. the Peterson's definitely have plenty to be proud of. Rebecca and i were running well together for the whole race, only walking occasionally. "¿can we run to the light?... the next corner?" etc. was always followed by a response of "that's not far" from Rebecca. Laura made a great effort to catch up to Rebecca and i just before the mile 2 marker and we were all right together as we finished the last legs of the race.

the race ends with one lap on the outdoor track to the finish line. i looked back to see what i could do to spur Rebecca on to the finish and caught quite a sight. Katie and holly were catching up with Laura, Rebecca and i and by the look on their faces they were quite pleased with their extraordinary accomplishment. i wasn't expecting to see them so close behind, and i think that Holly and Katie knew they were about to pull off their own victories. Katie was smiling as she whipped around the corner and past everyone and across the finish line. i was sure that i could still see the smile on her face from the back of her head, as her little legs sped in a whir across the finish line. holly, Rebecca and i with Laura in step behind were soon to follow Katie's lead. apparently holly and Katie are quite the team to contend with. Katie definitely had a spark inside her for the whole race and she and holly kept making little deals with each other to the tune of "let's run past 5 more cones" or "run to the next corner" which combined for a great time for both.

not far behind at the 43min mark came mom and pop. adding to the great scores so far, mom came in at 43:14.41 AND in SECOND PLACE in her age group. the first place for the women 60 to 69 came in close to 39:30 and i think that mom has intentions to keep training to see if she can change that silver to gold next year. hopefully we can get at least as many people out for next year's race.

here are the official results.

Name	Time	Overall Place	Men/Women	Age Group
Justin	34:30.7	1168/1548	516/593	112th
Rebecca	40:08.5	1391/1548	830/954	13th
Dave	40:09.7	1392/1548	562/593	30th
Holly	40:09.8	1393/1548	831/954	35th
Katie	40:09.9	1394/1548	832/954	14th
Laura	40:16.4	1399/1548	837/954	36th
Joan	43:14.4	1453/1548	881/954	*!* 2nd *!*
Weldon	43:14.7	1454/1548	573/593	4th

if you're a little confused how rebecca and i beat katie and holly in our times, it's because of the electronic race timers. there's an electronic marker at the beginning of the race that registers the computer chip strapped to your ankle which is followed by corresponding markers at the end of the race. katie and holly crossed the finish line first, but they also crossed the starting line before rebecca and i, giving the difference of a few seconds added to their time.

you can go to http://rexleerun.byu.edu/ to look at the race results for yourself.

Beware the Longboard: i damaged my wife

i thought she was doing so well. Laura was so good to put up with following me around on my longboard. Lesson 1 wasn't a catastrophe. Lesson 2 was quite good. Laura was comfortable enough that she let me buy a 2nd longboard for my birthday so that i wouldn't have to ride my little skateboard around as i tried to teach her. i had such high hopes for Lesson 3.

i got my first skate board in 1995, and used it to ride around Provo for a number of years. then i got a long board in 2004 and rode EVERYWHERE: lots of days to work, on all kinds of errands, and just for fun. i'm not a real down-hiller, but i've made my runs down the Provo Canyon Trail. i was sure that i was going to get Laura to learn to ride.

we bought my new longboard on the morning of St. Patrick's Day, and Laur and i were out and about by mid-day. Laura was doing quite well. we lived only a few blocks from a slight hill; most of the neighborhoods surrounding our house are flat and flatter. i thought that the hill would give Laura some confidence in her balance and her skills. she was looking like she was getting comfortable with riding.

we pedalled our way to the bottom of this incline, and then i went a few houses up from the level. a little bit of a hill should let Laura know how it feels to coast for a while and she'll get to see how it feels to move with the board. then i decided that one or two houses higher might give her more of that feeling, and then a couple more. finally, i was sure i had picked the best way to end the day with a large boost of confidence for Laura.

Laura was so brave. she didn't question me. she believed i knew what i was up to.

we had barely started and apparently it was too long since i was a beginning boarder. Laura felt like she was going too fast and froze in her stance on the board. the board moved with her static lean and she was heading into the curb. Laura decided to run off the board.

running off of your board is a perfectly good safety measure when longboarding. knowing how to do so can save your skin when you miss seeing a rock or other small obstacle in your path. the technique doesn't work so well when you're already leaning your upper body too far in front of your hips. Nor does it work so well when you're wearing sandals. i know that Laur was wearing Chacos which are more athletic in nature than most sandals, but i let her get away with wearing Chacos. (i thought that if i made her change shoes before we left, she might decide that the commitment to boarding was too much for her that Saturday.)

i heard Laura blurt out her distress, and i looked over to see her running and trying to catch her feet up with her shoulders. Laura said she was just trying to make it to the side of the road and on to the lawn of a house for a softer landing. a poor shoe choice combined with a change in the terrain ended Laura's efforts. the downhill slope of the road changed into a slight uphill as Laura reached the entrance of a driveway. this angle slowed her feet down even more and Laura was full on falling forward.

Laura said that as she prepared to go down that she knew she would break a wrist if she put out her arms, so she crossed her arms in front of her for a roll. unfortunately, she landed hard on her right forearm to start that roll. i heard the air just squeeze out of her lungs. i had seen nearly the whole thing and was absolutely sick about it.

i had let Laura down. i went one block too far, with her in the wrong shoes, and she had trusted that i knew what i was doing. when i got to Laura, her forearm was a ginormous bruise, even though the skin wasn't even broken. i felt like garbage.


Laura didn't even let herself cry. we walked the few blocks back to our house. i had a longboard under each arm. Laura was hurting and i couldn't stop feeling sick about it.

i think Laura's going to be okay. she is the first to admit that she bruises like a peach, and those bruises love to linger. i feel bad because i'm pretty sure that i've lost Laura as a longboarding partner. most of all, i feel really bad because i wasn't watching out for Laura like i should. i felt like i had completely let her down. we didn't get married for me to just neglect her safety. horrible.


i won't ever not feel bad about this mistake. (yeah, there was a double negative there, somewhere, but it should make sense.)

this last picture is a couple of days after the accident, when the blood that was in the big bruise has had a chance to settle into the rest of Laura's forearm.