Have a free weekend? Come to Susan's Run!

I am so excited to get to attend the Second Annual Susan's Run! We plan on doing the one mile family walk/run with Jolee and if she is up for it, Jolee will run in the Kid's Dash. Susan's Run supports the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation, which is the foundation we did our half marathon for last summer. Anyone who can get to Tempe this weekend for the event is encouraged to come! I can't wait!!! 

More info:

Susan’s Run, 2011

Susan loved running from her earliest years, through grade school, high school and for 4 years at the University of Arizona, she continued running throughout her life.

Following the overwhelming success of the inaugural Susan’s Run, we’re pleased to announce the Second Annual Susan’s Run to be held onSaturday, February 19, 2011 at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, Arizona.  This event will feature 10K and 5K distance events, with a 1 mile family walk/run.  For very young participants, a Kid’s Dash is also scheduled.

online registration : Online Registration

Mail-in/walk up form: Mail-in/walk-up form

to visit the website, click Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation.

For more about Susan, go to Justin and Susan 

Still kicking

Yes, I am still alive. I know I haven't posted in forever, but I blame my princess on that. She loves to be wherever I am at and "help" with whatever I am doing and after 3 or 4 posts that I had started were deleted, I gave up for a while. As she is asleep right now, I have a few minutes to write, before I am going to go crash. I am finally working part time and I am LOVING it. It is one of the best things to happen since Jolee was born. I love getting to spend more time with Jolee. Life is so much better when I get to be home more. Working full time nights was starting to drag me down and I was losing far to much of Jolee's childhood for me to be happy. I am trying to make the most of each day that I am home. We have done quite a few zoo trips. Our day usually starts off with breakfast. Then I turn the radio or a CD on and we dance. Jolee is a great dancer! I want to put her in ballet when she is a few years older. Jolee loves to blow bubbles, but I have to hold the bottle or she will dump it everywhere. She is actually pretty good at blowing bubbles. She likes to build towers with blocks or legos and then knock them over. We are working on learning more sign language and talking more. She knows how to sign: food, water, milk, cracker, more, again, hungry, cuddle, dog, peach, color, thank-you, please. Jolee says: mama, dada, hi, bye, more, cracker, hungry, dog, baby, peach, apple, keys, puppies. She probably says and signs a few more words, but I can't really think tonight. She also is working on learning animal sounds. She woofs like a dog, quacks like a duck, moos like a cow, meows like a cat, and opens her mouth like a fish (it is hilarious). She knows how to use keys to unlock locks and open drawers. She likes to climb and do anything dangerous. She loves getting the mail. Lately she has been getting in a lot of trouble for trying to run rampant in the grocery store and for trying to run and hide in the parking lot. NOT good. She is going through another growth spurt and has been super snuggly, so I have been slacking on housework and spending more and more time just holding and cuddling her. She loves to cuddle. We are again trying dairy products with her and she is finally able to tolerate them! She is really enjoying yogurt. She still has mostly soy, but dairy is officially been added to her diet. It is going to be so much easier to cook without having to check ingredients all the time. Randy continues to enjoy teaching in Nogales and we are planning on him continuing to teach in Nogales for at least 3 more years, but possibly much much longer. With Randy having to drive an hour and 15 minutes each direction, it is getting to be more and more pricey with raising gas prices and Jolee and I are missing having him home. With all of this, we are starting the process of looking for a home in the Rio Rico area. I always said that I wasn't going to move again until we move to Idaho, I guess I was always wrong. I am still running (just ran 4 miles tonight). I ran a 5K a few weeks ago and I will be running a 12K in December and another 1/2 marathon in January. I am having the pleasure of helping one of my very good friends train also. It has been a blast to run with her and help her "learn" to run. I miss having Randy with me, but it is much easier to run with someone closer to my height and not have to try to keep up with Randy. We continue to be doing well and we are excited and a bit terrified at the thought of a new home and the changes that go along with it (having to find a new babysitter, YIKES!). Love you all, Sarah

Oh, I almost forgot, Jolee is working on potty training (yes, I know it is early, but we are using cloth diapers and I am very motivated to help her learn to use the potty). She is starting to both sign and say potty. She loves to say peepee and poopies. She is getting better and better at telling us when she needs to go potty and she running to the bathroom. When I was over at a friend's house visiting teaching, Jolee had a piece of toilet paper and proceeded to wipe her fully dressed bum. I think I will have to start working on teaching her that the potty is a private place. I think I am up for a lot of embarassment in the next few months.

Updates

It seems that we have dropped off the face of the earth. Life has been quite busy with me finishing up school and job hunting. I have done it, that is finished school. Still working the job hunting. I graduated on the seventh of May. Sarah and I spent about a week in Pine enjoying some much needed R and R. It was quite nice to do absolutely nothing. The Monday before we came home we decided to go for a walk/run. We ran as long as we could, being quite hilly we did not run as far as we had planned, then we walked. We went and walked around Camp Lamia and then walked down town and looked through the few stores that were opened on a Monday. We were surprised at how many stores were only opened Tuesday through Saturday. Our final stop was at The Honey Stand. They had so many different types of honey and jams. They had many different flavors of honey and whipped honey. They also had different types of "butters", pumpkin, apple, and even rhubarb strawberry. After trying the different flavors of honey we walked back to the cabin. After driving our most of our route, we decided that we had walked/ran about six miles. We returned to The Honey Stand and bought a pecan honey, pumpkin butter, apple butter, and a peach whipped honey. So far we have tried everything but the apple b utter and have enjoyed them all.

We are continuing to train for our half marathon. We have not been able to follow the training program as closely as we should, but we are able to get at least two runs in a week, one short and one long. Yesterday we ran nine miles in two hours. If we are able to keep that pace when we run thirteen miles we will be able to complete our marathon in about three hours. YEA!! It is getting rather hot here in Arizona so we are having to run either at first sun or at the end of the day as the sun is going down. We have discovered a bike/walking path that leads into downtown tucson and have been using that for our runs. It is more enjoyable to run along that than along the busy streets of Tucson. I am sure that we will eventually be making the complete run into downtown Tucson before our marathon.

Running Along

The past few weeks have been really busy. I have been working (as usual), Randy has been doing his last half of student teaching (graduation is in 6 weeks), we drove to and from Idaho, Jolee has been teething (all four front top teeth at the same time), oh, and we have been running.  I first realized that we are making the transformation into runners when we were in Idaho. We ran 3 of the 4 days we were there. The first day, about a mile into the run, I am wondering why I am starting to get short of breath. My muscles felt fine, but I felt like I couldn't get enough air. We realized that the area we were running in was more than double the elevation of Tucson. Oh my, oh my, does elevation make a huge difference for a runner. When we got home I was quick to look up the elevation for Seattle (about 2000 feet lower than Tucson). I am assuming that lower elevation will be easier to run in, any runners out there know if I am right or not? (please, oh please say that I am). The second day was during a snow storm.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but it is starting to snow. I can't believe Randy wore shorts, crazy guy. It was one of the hardest runs ever! Harder than our first couple of runs even. I think I might have cried a little. I know I whined. We could only do about 2 1/2 miles, there was no way I was going to be able to run 3. I now have a little more of an understanding of what Rachel (our Lemonade Maker team member) is having to train in. Rachel, you are one tough cookie! The stinging snow and freezing wind just about did me in.  The third day was the easiest. First of all, no snow. Second, Sandy, my sister-in-law, drove us 3 miles away and dropped us off so that we couldn't cheat and run less than our scheduled amount. Third, it was a beautiful day. Part of our run was past Napolean Dynamite's house (from the movie). Unfortunately I wasn't in the mood to carry a camera, so no pictures. It looks a lot different now than it did in the movie (no llama, etc.).  We did take pictures at Preston High, Napolean's and Randy's high school. Back to the run. As we were running, a dog was in the road (maybe 4 or 5 cars drove by for all 3 miles). I thought the dog would attack us because we were going by its house, but the opposite happened. The dog thought that we were chasing it and ran away every time we got close. So we ended up "chasing" it for about a mile, before it got off of the road and ran behind a house to hide. Another part of the run was up a very steep hill. We didn't realize how steep until we tried to climb it. It was difficult to even walk up it. I guess it is good training for Seattle.

Jolee snuggled with GrammS while Mom and Dad ran.

I am so glad that we are back in Tucson and training here. Idaho was 2 weeks ago. Last week was our first 4 mile run. For about 2-3 weeks, the couch to half training program has been having us run 3 mile runs. Sneaky. The 4th mile is so much easier than the 2nd and 3rd mile. I actually have been able to sprint the last 1/4th of a mile. From 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 miles is the hardest time for me. Once I get into the groove though, it is like I am flying.  I have learned to love to run!

We just got back from our first 5 mile run. Wow, I am just amazed at the progress that we have made since we first really started training in January. We did the run without walking at all! We are still slow with an average of 12-13 minute mile, but our distance is really improving. Today's run was really pleasant. We left just before dusk and so we got to enjoy the sunset (so beautiful) and we watched the moon come up. My favorite part was the smell of orange blossoms perfuming the air. We are really becoming runners, which I honestly thought was near impossible.

Ok here it goes

I have been needing to tell this story for some time now. I just haven't been able to really come up with the words that I want to use, so I have been putting it off. First off, Randy and I are training to run our first half marathon (13.1miles) on June 26th. Second, we are running with my second cousin, and a personal hero, Anna Mortensen. She has undertaken the goal of 50 marathons in 50 states. Her reason for running is to earn money for the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation. This foundation was set up in memory of my late cousin Susan who passed away at the age of 25 from colon cancer. Her death was beyond shocking and heart breaking to me. Even though it has been over a year, I still think of her often. Here is a brief description of Susan's foundation... "In memory of Susan and as an extension of her loving nature, those who love her have formed the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation, dedicated to the support of young adult cancer patients and their families. All funds that are donated to this non-profit foundation will be granted to organizations to be used specifically to provide support, education and respite care for this unique group." More information can be found at http://www.susanmturley.org/. Third, as we are running and training, we are working to raise money for this foundation. Our goal is to raise $1000 through donations to support our half marathon. Donations can be made starting Feb 1st at http://anna-marathon50.blogspot.com/. If you choose to donate, please put in the comments that it is for Randy and Sarah's run. All proceeds to benefit young cancer patients and their families. Fourth, the run we are running is the Seattle Rock n Roll marathon. So if anyone is planning on being in Seattle on the 26th of June, we would love to have your support. Fifth, my cousin is looking for at least 2 more runners for our team to run the full ot half marathon and to help raise funds for Susan's Foundation. Let us know if you are willing and want to join us.

We will be posting updates for our training both here and at Anna's blog (http://anna-marathon50.blogspot.com/). For more information on the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon, please go to http://seattle.competitor.com/

Additionally, the first event for the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation will be held at the end of March.

Susan's Run

5k, 1 mile fun run, Kids Dash
Saturday, March 27, 2010 8am
Kiwanis Park- Tempe, Arizona

The entry form for this race can be found here http://www.susanmturley.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/1st-Annual-Susans-Run-Entry-Form.pdf. You ca also register online through following the links on the foundations website. If I have the day off of work, Randy and I are going to be running the 5K.

Any support of any amount would be apprecitated! We will have a running total of the funds we have raised. Thank-you and lots of love!

Running (sort of)

I have been really focused on trying to improve my health and such. As a part of health improvement, I have been walking with Lindy and Lisa weekly. Before the walk, I get to the park early and I run. Today was one of the hardest runs. I haven't run for two weeks (I slacked last week and didn't do my run) and my body did not want to make it around the track. I thought I was going to fall over and die (after only half a lap). But, horray for me, I finished the lap. Although it may not seem like a lot to you, it was so hard not to give up. Mind over matter. So I am taking a verbal victory lap. Hip-hip-horray! Okay, now I going to go plop down and rest. Oh, after the run, Lisa and I walked at a good pace (thanks for keeping me going Lisa) for about an hour. If anyone wants to join us, you are welcome. My day off next week is Wednesday the 28th. We usually start walking anywhere from 6:30am (cooler) to 8am and we are done between 7:45am and 10am. Let me know if you want to join and we can choose a time. As for now, it is chow time.