Fall Time

Here is the update from the fall! Its been beautiful this year.

I was just telling my parents I don't think I will ever hike as much in the mountains as I did this year. Between all my races, trail training and various day hikes, I have spent my fare share of time in the mountains this year.

Tyrone and I just hiked Mt. Olympus a week or so ago. It was on his bucket list to hike a mountain and we have been talking about doing it for years now. Finally we did it and had a great time. It was a beautiful day for a hike. I love being around Ty, he always inspires and pushes me to be greater. I have experienced some of my most spiritual experiences with Tyrone. He is a great friend, and I love his family. Here we are on top of the world.

This gives you an idea how pretty it was...almost to the top.

We went to St. George for a little get away over conference weekend. Adrianne was running in the marathon and others we knew so we wanted to go see them and the race. We got there right before the first place people were coming in. It was awesome being there so early. I got emotional a few times seeing some of the people coming in because I knew how hard they must have trained and for some reason I just got chocked up. Seeing the first place girl come in was inspiring...it was a cool moment. It was also fun to see some of the really good runners come hobbling in barely making the finish line. It was great to spend time with JD and Adrianne and Shawn and Laura. Its too bad we all didn't live closer to each other. Here is the girl clan.

We stayed at our friends Megan and Sammy Fans family condo while we were there. Charlotte sure strutted that place in style.

We did a lot of canning this fall. Somehow Megan and I caught the canning bug! We loved the farmers markets and ended up canning applesauce, salsa, tomatoes, raspberries, and elderberry syrup. He is a picture of a small sampling.

Halloween was in full throttle this year. Megan and I dressed up twice. We had a fun Halloween season. We went to a few different parties and get togethers.

Megan was the Holy Ghost

I was the Devil.

We were Adam and Eve and rocked the karaoke. (no that isn't a squirrel that ran up Megans crotch...its a leaf)

We made a bloodie brain cake...not bad for the first try.!

The fall weather was great this year. Life if rolling right a long. We are very blessed!

Mud Run

Over Labor Day weekend Megan and I did a mud run with a few friends in our neighborhood. We all had a great time and it was fun hanging out together for the day. It was the man vs mud 5K run near Logan Ut. We decided as a group to be named the "daybreak Mudbloods" and did a hairy potter theme.

We rented a 15 passenger van and partied hard the whole drive up together. It was a beautiful day. Lots of fun and lots of mud. We stopped in Roy at some burger joint Thad couldn't have given a higher recommendation for and I think it delivered.

It was a cool event though and lots of people. We hope to do it next year!

Big #4!!

Well, I thought I would give Josh a break and take a turn on the blog. I want to give a shout out to Savannah who is now 4! Why is it that kids count the days till they get older and parents wish for them to stay young? She is already wanting to be 5 :( We had her party on July 7th (more on that later) and then were in Wyoming on her actual birthday. She loved being the birthday girl and we had fun spoiling her.

Here are some of Savannahs favorites...

1. What is your favorite color? purple & pink
2. What is your favorite toy? coins
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas
4. What is your favorite tv show? Curious George
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac n Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? dresses
7. What is your favorite game? dance party
8. What is your favorite snack? cookies
9. What is your favorite animal? horse
10. What is your favorite song? princess songs
11. What is your favorite book? Curious George books
12. Who is your best friend? Caden, Emma, Bella and all the kids outside
13. What is your favorite cereal? ballie ballies (Trix)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play with all my friends
15. What is your favorite drink? root beer and sprite
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my brown blankie
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? yogurt
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? hot dogs
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? She didn't understand the question. I told her I was a mommy and she said she wanted to be a mommy too.


4 things about Sav at age 4: (by Megan)

1. She just started getting into money and asks how she can earn money daily. We went and got her a piggy bank to start saving!

2. She says "I'm hungry" about 20 times a day! I can't stand it! She usually says it out of boredom or if she has a specific treat in mind that she wants. It is especially annoying when she says it at every single persons house we walk into! This girl loves her food.

3. Savannah is the best big sister ever. It is so fun to see the love between her and Charlotte. Savannah carries her around 50% of the day. She entertains her in her bed when she wakes up, feeds her, plays with her, takes baths with her and shares everything with her. They are becoming best buds.

4. She continues to be a social butterfly. Every day she talks about who she wants to play with and what they are going to do. On the days we are home, 10 am hits and Sav is outside knocking on everyones doors. My favorite is when we have had a jam packed fun day and we'll be eating dinner and Sav will ask, "so what are we going to do today?"

Things from dad...When I think of little miss Savannah Kate.

1. She loves making breakfast with me. Most nights before bed she asks me if tomorrow is church day or if I don't have work tomorrow so we can make pancakes. She loves pancakes.

2. She is a little athlete. I think she is big and strong for her age, but she has good running form and loves to have races. She is a fast little runner. She also came to me asking for me to take her training wheels off when she turned 4. A neighbor boy had just taken his off and she was hell bent about having her's off as well. I said "if I take them off, I am not putting them back on" she was ok with that of coarse. She could do it on her first try and has never looked back. I told her she needs to practice each day starting off on her own, because that was a little tricky but she pretty much has mastered it now.

3. She is moody. What's new, she's a girl! I have been dealing with moody girls my whole life. She is either a happy girl or quite grumpy.

4. She loves walking home from church. Each Sunday if we don't have anything we need to get to really quick sav and I walk home from church.

Lifes Little Secrets

I have a little secret for you....wait come close "realize what you love, and spend your life doing it"

I have been writing a little bit lately. 2 years ago or so I wrote a small autobiography about my life up to that point. It turned out to be about 100 pages. It was a way to tell my story for journal purposes and to give some advice to anyone who ended up reading it similar to what I am writing below. A few weeks ago I wrote this and thought I would post it.

I think one of the many secrets of life’s happiness is to align your time spent in life with the talents, passions and desires of who you are. I always love to see when someone’s in a career which they have spent their life enjoying those activities. As in a girl who grew up dancing, danced through high school and maybe college and now owns a dance studio or teaches dance. Someone who loves the outdoors and now works for a touring company or outdoor sporting company. Maybe someone is very social and is good at talking with people and now is in business or sales promoting products.

My high school choir teacher is a great example of this. He is a guy that followed what he was passionate about. He had natural skills for the arts and made it who he is. Everywhere I seem to look when it comes to the fine arts in Utah he is involved in it. It could be some choir, a hale theater play, the Mormon Tabernacle choir, a high school choir that is preforming at my church and he is the conductor. He got his master’s degree in music at the university of Utah. He’s found a way to make his life’s living in what he loves to do.

I love to see where people are spending their time doing what they love and have found a way to make a living doing it. Spending their time being who they are at the core, and finding a way to utilize their natural talents that they don’t have to work too hard to naturally have. I know it’s not easy, and many of us are not in a career which they would associate as that. But hopefully aspects of our career(I say career, because you spend a majority of your life’s time in your career) have you doing things you naturally enjoy and are good at. If not you should find a career that does.

I watched a clip that one of my friends from my mission put together. It was about complacency. He and a group of guys went around and interview hundreds of people around the country and most felt they put there life’s ladder up against the wrong building. It didn’t seem like the amount of money they had, had any effect on whether they felt this way.

Its obviously easier to be satisfied in your complacency of life if you have money, but money can also dull you into complacency. If your economically well off or poor and you’re not involved in pursuing or doing your natural talents, desires or passions the same frustration and feeling of life dissatisfaction seems to occur.

I think its something you need to strive for. Find a way to utilize the abilities that just come easy to you. You’re god given “gifts”. Do the things you naturally love to do and get rid of the things you don’t really like to do if possible. The happiest people seem to have 5 or 6 things of who they are and they master them. They don’t waste their time on fringe things that don’t align really with who they are. Life and days are too short to waste it on things that are sort of drudgery for you.

The best quarterbacks in the NFL are those that do one thing really well…throw the ball. Tom Brady, Payton & Eli Manning, Drew Brees. They have 3 options…throw to a receiver, hand it off, or throw the ball away. Because they only have 3 options when they snap the ball the decision process is much easier and they avoid mistakes. Maybe that is why Mr. Tebow isn’t an elite NFL quarterback. He has to many options at his disposal when he snaps the ball he makes more mistakes.

We as people typically think the more activities we are involved in the better, we spread ourselves so thin. I beg to think master a few things and spend your time focused on less. Have a few really meaningful relationships rather than have 100 friends that you have shallow friendships with. It seems to me those that know who they are, and do those few things, have a better chance of really enjoying their life. Those who don’t really know who they are, and are all over the place don’t seem to be as grounded and happy.

I think its import to find out who you are and the person you want to be. And then accept that, and excel at it. It brings happiness and joy. We all have god given talents that come really easy to us and others have to work really hard to have the same ability. We are all drawn to certain things. Align your life with those things and you will find satisfaction and maximize the happiness of your life.

Wyoming

My Grandparents have a cabin in Alpine Wyoming that I grew up going to ever year. My family had a family vacation there this past weekend. Its a beautiful place. I always love going there.

The only bummer is it's 5 hours away. We stopped at this park on the way to break it up a bit.

We got there a day before the rest of my family. Megan and I decided to run the snake river together with a tour guide. It was awesome. We both love whitewater rafting.

There was lots of 4 wheeler riding.

Sav had here bday while we were there. She had a party earlier, but we had to have her blow out some candles on her day. We only had some cookies so that had to do. We love that girl!

My dad put together this couples obstacle competition which Megan and I won of coarse. Jenny trying to hit the target, she had a hard time.

We spent a lot of time at the lake that the cabin backs up against. Here is the crew on shore.

We had a little raft and all wished we had a ski boat.

My Mom, Mark and Kedric did a lot of fishing. Both on the river and the lake. They caught a few.

Our family stayed at a hotel for 2 of the nights. The hotel had this huge slide outside of it. Savannah loved it! Its awesome.

The men all golfed on Saturday morning in Star Valley. It's beautiful there. We had a great trip. It was a nice break.   Thanks to my parents for providing a great time and keeping us well feed and entertained!

4th of July Week

The last 2 weeks have been jam packed with visitors, parties and fun! Its been a lot of fun and I thought I would recap 2012 4th of July week.

Adrienne and Maddie came the week before the 4th. Megan and the girls had a great time with them. It was good to see them. They did a lot of fun things including going to the princess festival.

Sav and Caden had a sleep over with my mom at my parents house, while my dad was at camp with the young men. They are the best of buddies.

Megan and the girls went to Megan's Parents cabin for the whole week. Megan's parents and Brent and Lindsay's family were there all week as well. Brent and I came up on the 4th and stayed for the weekend. The girls went to the Oakley parade 4th of July morning and Brent and I golfed in Park City. The girls at the parade.

We swam and kayaked in Hidden Lakes. Joyce got a few leaches on her, which were cool to see. Brent was scared of them. Ashlynn reminded me of how my sister Racquel was when she was 10 years old. It was fun to tease her, just like I thought it was fun to tease my sister when we were little. We had a good time at the lake.

Sav at the pool in Kamas. She even went down the big water slide all by herself.

Savannah surprised us all and rode on a horse. It always helps when you have brave cousins to give a little peer pressure.

We went to the Oakley rodeo. It was great. We all had a fun time there. Sav watching the bulls.

Sav and Danny

Me and the girls.

It was a nice week. Thank you Dean and Joyce for making it a great staycation for us. They always provide us with a lots to do and keep us well fed. We enjoy their company.

Last week we dressed up with Liz and Andy Boyer like cows and went to chick fil a for a free sandwich. We've been busy!

In other news Charlotte decided to start crawling at 1 yrs old. She has been a whole new person. She even discovered the toilet paper roll.

Running!

Well I thought to post some Josh’isms. A few posts of me just writing about what’s on my mind….my two cents so to say. I enjoy writing. I realize I am not that good at it. Megan mocks my grammar on a weekly basis and is quick to point out my writing errors, but I won’t get better without working on it right? So its been one of my goals to write more, hence me taking over the journal.

Running!!

At some point during most races I’ve ever run, I hit a dark patch where I start to question my sanity. I even question my own strength. I question my resolve to finish and even fantasize about riding to the finish line in a comfy stretcher, waving to all the other runners stupid enough to finish on foot.

Interestingly, when I tell people I don’t love to run, many are surprised. It seems that a lot of people think that since I run so much, I must love every moment. Each stride is met with gorgeous vistas, beautiful women and fast cars.

Not really.

Running is hard. Running often hurts. Running makes me tired. But that’s what I love about it.

There’s a certain satisfaction I get from facing down a challenge and conquering it, pushing my body to its limits. I imagine this is the same motivation that spurs adventurists to climb Mount Everest or swim the English Channel. I am not a swimmer and Everest just looks cold and miserable, but I get the motivation

But running? I can do that.

Distance running, in a sense, is a microcosm of life. The start is easy…time fly’s by just as miles fly by at the start of a race. You may hit a couple rough patches as a teen ager as your feet might start to ache in a race a little bit into it. There are times you feel on top of the world and other times you want to curl up and cry. Sometimes you are motivated to work hard and push it and other times you are searching for motivation. There are memories along the way, people you remember, challenges overcome and different triumphs. Its always great to see family and have support and there is a lot of work that goes into both.

Exercising is a physical, daily reminder to me that I am strong enough to do hard things. This reminder gives me confidence to tackle other challenges in my life that may have previously scared me off. I know if I face those obstacles that are making my life uncomfortable, I will come out the other end stronger and more self-assured.

So, I will continue to seek out the hills that make my legs stronger. I will tackle the long runs that shore up my endurance. I will embrace the pain that comes with the weekly track sprint workouts that make me faster. And I will do all of this because it’s the hurt that makes me the runner and person that I am.

Big Cottonwood Canyon

Last weekend we went up into the mountains with some friends for a dinner and some smores. We had a great time, as we always do with these friends. We get together often and always have a blast. Good conversation, great food, a lot of laughs and just a good time. We would get together every week if we could and always look forward to seeing each other.

We had tin foil dinners...



Jack & Sarah



Harry and Everett...Jane missed the picture Reel.



Pete & Bekah




Andy, Liz and Archie



A few weeks back Sarah Roberts posted a blog about Life Friends. I am going to borrow her saying and second her entry about life friends so its on record.

These friends are life friends!! We love them very much. A quick recap for journal sake

Jack Roberts! I met Jack in eight grade band class. Yeah, band class of all places is where our friendship started. We played the freaking trumpet. Jack and I have novels of stories. That guy knows me about as much as Megan does. We were probably suppose to be brothers. I am a much better person in all areas of my life because of Jack. Our friendship has been one steady ride since the eight grade. We will be best bro's forever. Except I just found out this last weekend Sarah's mom deleted my "best man comments" at their wedding dinner from their wedding video! Disgusting...She is lucky she hasn't been struck by lightning yet for doing so! He married Sarah...she is a babe! Grateful our wives get along so well. They have 3 great kids.


Peter! Peter and I are a lot a like. We met in college our freshman year. I don't know how we became life friends, but we have. Something about that freshman year in college cemented our friendship. Even though we became better friends our sophomore year of college after our mission. Pete likes all the things I like. Our wives have helped make our friendship life long as well. Bekah is great and they have a little girl named Dali. We have a lot of fun with them.

Andy is always fun to hang out with. He is really funny. We became friends in 9th grade and were good friends all though high school. He's hard to convince...and I have tried to sell this guy on things since he ran track with us our Junior year and wouldn't be caught dead doing it his senior year. I tried my best with Andy. Liz is the best thing that every happened to Andy and he would most definitely agree. We have some great memories, and could spend all day recapping the glory days.

It will be fun watching our families grow up. Someday I am sure Jack, Pete and I will be grumpy old men on a fishing boat talking about the good old days.



And now the pretty ones!

Squaw Peak 50

Someday if one of my kids want to run a fifty mile race, I can now tell them from experience "You really don't want to do that! But if your hell bent on it....good luck...its a looonnng day! Here was my experience!

My dad and I signed up for the Squaw Peak 50; a 50 mile trail run up, down, and around the mountains above Utah County. The race was Saturday, yesterday I could barely walk and today I am still sore.

Here are the details:

308 runners

223 finished....1st place time 8:19.22 last place time 19:25.11

Distance: 50.74 miles

Elevation Change: 14,000 feet of elevation gain/loss (felt like mostly gain)

Pain Factor: massively massive

First off, This was such a well put together event. I was really impressed. The aid stations were great. We had a dinner the night before with all the runners. The director went through some race history, and details for the next day. It was a nice evening. The first thing I noticed at the dinner was everyone there looked like experienced runners. You didn't have the random person that didn't look like they belonged in a endurance race. For most this was their 3 or 4th ultra marathon. They had those stand up who's it would be there first ultra marathon and there were probably 25 of us or so, the rest had done up to 15 of them. I went home with my dad, we planned our drop bags and I slept at my parents home having to wake up at 3:30 AM the next morning.

Having tossed and turned all night with little sleep we were off for the 5 AM start time at Vivian Park up Provo Canyon. The race starts out down the parkway along the Provo river for basically 2.5 miles. Then you hit the trail.

That first climb went 2500 ft up over the next 4 miles. Then at the top we ran down for like 12 seconds then started up again. This would become the recurring theme for the day. Here’s the elevation profile for the race:



While this was my first ultra endurance running event, it’s clear the race directors for these events take great pleasure in turning the suffering dial up to super gluing your eye lids open. A common practice is to require runners go up and down trails that aren’t really trails. More like routes weed whacked into the steepest face they can find. Granted they did find some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Some of the views were spectacular. I was taken back a few times of how beautiful it was. The mountains with the Utah lake as the back drop was incredible. It was so green as well. I left my phone so I didn't take any pictures, but have some from the last time I ran a portion of this race.

Miles 11 to 21 was really the best portion of the race for me. The scenery was beautiful. We were well into the race at this point and I really enjoyed that time. My dads knees started bothering him at the end of those mile, but I for the most part felt great and we were making good time. I felt pain in my IT band much of the race. Sometimes it was unbearable and other times the pain just went away, but the first 21 miles were pretty good.

My dad and I didn't go into this race to do it fast. It was more for the experience together. We both had IT Band (knee) issues during our training. I wanted to run most all of this with him if possible and our goal really turned into just finishing the race.

I’ve also determined that God doesn’t really like how trail runners destroy their bodies by running ridiculously long and hard in the mountains. How else would you explain these strewn along the course throughout the day:


The hardest portion of the race for me was miles 26.5 to 33. It was hot then...and it was all uphill on a rocky dirt road. At about mile 31 was the first time I started getting frustrated, mad, tired and defeated. I remember cussing at a hill that just never wanted to end and was so steep. I finally got to the top and a guy on a 4 wheeler said "you have half a mile to the aid station and its all down hill". I said "oh my gosh thank you"...I had thought I still had roughly 2 miles to the aid station. The only problem is at the top of that hill my knees hurt so bad I could hardly muster running. I hobbled into that aid station knowing I needed to change my attitude and mind set. The aid station 8 at mile 33 was the cut off time. You had to be there by 2:30. My dad and I arrived at about 1:40. We had run together the whole time to this point.

My dad was worn out as well. I decided to change shirts, put on a new pair of socks, drink a red bull, drink a chocolate milk, eat a banana and lay on my back for 5 mins. We stayed at that aid station for 15-20 mins, which was long, but we both needed it. It really refreshed me and I was ready to rock and roll! I felt good and wanted to push it. This is basically where my dad and I separated, it was around mile 34. I put my head phones on for the first time and started running hard for the next 5 miles. I was motivated. I started passing people and with each person I passed I gained more energy. It was a really good part of the race for me.

Between mile 28 to 40 we’d be climbing up 4,000 feet to the course summit at 9,450 feet. Almost half of the gain would happen between mile 38 and 40 up Bozung Hill.

As I stopped to prep for the Bozung Hill accent (you know, sun salutations, animal sacrifices, etc.), a guy runs up and asks “do you know where this Bozung Hill is?”. Pointing across the way to the monstrosity with people strewn like little ants up and down the face I said “it’s that beast, right there.”

(picture from 2 years ago)

“Son of a BITCH!” he yelled. Then bent over, put his hands on his knees and just shook his head.

Putting that hill at mile 39 is ridiculously cruel I said. “Hell on earth” he replied.

I still felt strong up Bozung Hill. My mom called my dads cell phone as I was hiking up that hill, which I had in my pack. I couldn't believe there was reception, but I answered it and she said "on-line it shows dad didn't make the cut off. I said "I know he did because I was with him until mile 34"...I started thinking maybe he went back to the aid station and called it a day. Luckily that wasn't the case, they had just not recorded that he left that aid station.

Half way up Bozung I asked a guy if he knew what pace we were at. He said "If you keep going as your going you have a chance to break 14 hours maybe" It was like a punch to my gut for some reason. I didn't have a goal for a certain time, but for some reason I had in my mind that we would come in between 12-13 hours. I didn't know to believe him or not. I didn't have a watch on, but we were on pace to finish in 12 hours after 20 miles. It kind of freaked me out and I was now on a mission to go fast. I finally got to aid station 9...mile 40. I was tired, Bozung Hill really took it out of me. I sat down for just a second and my knees just froze up. I knew it was down hill from here, and I didn't know how I was going to make it if my knees won't move...especially on the down hill.

I remember saying a prayer right there. I needed my knees to be healed enough that I could run and not be in complete pain. I thanked god he helped my knees get to that point. I prayed for my dad. I really felt like I would be fine after I finished that prayer, even though I could hardly walk. Shortly after walking a little bit to loosen them up, my legs were fine for the rest of the race. I ran down the entire hill, it was rocky and dicey at spots, but I made it. There was a large hay field you run trough at the bottom of the mountain to the last aid station. I had a runners high right there and I ran through that field as fast as I could. I passed 2 guys and just felt like I was flying. It was amazing! I came into the last aid station with 3 miles left to go feeling good. The guy offered me a tums, which I thought was strange, but thought maybe that would help, so I took 2 of them and downed another red bull and was off.

I few times during the race I got emotional for some reason. Probably because your exhausted, in pain, and loosing your mind. I remember thinking about Megan at the finish line and it would just tear me up. I thought about my dad, and our girls and it chocked me up. I thought at those times I would be crying like a baby when I finished. Needless to say, I wasn't emotional at all. My motivation those last 3 miles was I just want to be done. I was tired of the race and just wanted to be finished. It was great to see my mom, Megan and Savannah. Savannah ran with me for the final 200 meters or so. It was cute and so good to see my family. Jenny and John were there as well and it felt good to see them too.




I was hungry and exhausted afterwards, but solid food just wasn't going down. I ate a few creamy's and a few bottles of chocolate milk. I soaked in the river and waited for my dad to come in. I found out there from the finish line coordinators that he registered at aid station 9 and was probably 40 minutes from finishing. It was great to see him come in.


Here are my toes...they hurt! I think I will lose 5 or 6 of my toe nails.


My finishing time was 13:35.06. My dads was 14:45.00. We are happy to be done. But its been a great experience training and being able to run that with my dad.