have a good weekend

Finals are over and I am officially over and out for two weeks.

Have a great weekend!

3/4

A few weekends ago, the Weekend Warriors, along with our buddy Trevor, packed up and headed down to St. George to run the St. George Half Marathon.The whole way down, the boys were teasing me about my terrible sense of direction. Which, if you know me, you know that it's completely true- I am the worst. And, well, if there was any smidgen of doubt about it, this weekend sealed the deal. Now I can proudly say there is no question that I am directionally handicapped. 

Saturday morning we woke up to perfect race conditions. We started at the top of Snow Canyon and ran through most of it then finished up at Snow Canyon High School:

 Looks like a pretty straight shot, right? Yes, that's what I thought too.

It was probably one of the best running days I have had. I felt awesome. The first half of the race I was running between 6:30 and 7 min miles. I started about 8 minutes behind everyone else due to the long line I got stuck in for the bathrooms (yes, another "typical Lauren" moment) so between miles four and five, there was really no one in front of me because the lead pack was still pretty far ahead and all of the walkers and joggers were long gone behind me. There was a water stop at mile five but I was feelin good and getting into the groove with my iPod turned up so I just kept going. Lauren Anne Johnson does not need water. As I kept going down the trail, I realized that I was literally alone in this gorgeous canyon. I loved it. After about 15 minutes, however, things started to get a little fishy. I started to wonder, "Did I make a wrong turn?" "Did I miss something?" But I just kept telling myself, "No, the map said that it was a straight line clear down to the high school. Just keep running. You feel great, this is great. Don't panic." Another 10 minutes went by and this running groove of mine came to an abrupt halt. Dead end. No more trail. Now, at this point, you might be feeling a little bad for me. But trust me when I say that this was probably the best moments of the whole race. After I realized that I had actually achieved the ultimate in getting lost, I had a very good laugh. All of a sudden, this was my own race and I didn't mind at all. The fact that I would have taken top five doesn't even phase me... Well, maybe it does a little bit... But I laughed all the way back to the water station that I had blown off SIX miles earlier and found out that I was supposed to have turned around at that point, follow the trail back up, cut out of the canyon, and finish at the high school. After having a good laugh with the girls handing out the water, I went on my way- and laughed the rest of the time. I ended up running 19 miles that day with a time of 2 hours 20 minutes. Sweet.

Moral of the story? Getting lost isn't really that bad. It can challenge you way beyond what you knew you were capable of and show yourself what you are made of. SO... what did this experience do for me? Well, since I did a 3/4 marathon with relatively little training, I figured, why not a full one? Next stop-Ogden Marathon, May 15. Bring it.

Thanks again guys for the great weekend!

falling for you

this bag

headbands

hot chocolate

fall flowers

wrapping up in warm blankets

grey with brown


pears


nerd glasses (turns out I do not have the jaw structure for these. I was probably more let down about this than I should have been.)

Here are a few things I am loving this fall.... (and you thought this was a post about a boy. ha.)

Tut tut

Fall is coming.

The cold weather is here, the leaves are changing, and the rain is falling. As much as I hate to see summer go, it has been nice to have some chilly jacket weather and watch the leaves change. Nothing feels better than rain falling onto bare skin. I could go on and on about how much I love rain on my skin, but I think I'll leave it to Shel Silverstein to sum it up for me. Whenever it rains, I can't help but think of this poem:


Dancin' in the Rain

So what if it drizzles
And dribbles and drips?
I'll splash in the garden,
I'll dance on the roof.
Let it rain on my skin,
It can't get in --
I'm waterproof.

Just peachy.

August is the best month for peaches, and is, consequently, also my birth month. My mom always tells me that when I was born, I was covered in fuzzy hair and with my red head complexion, I looked just like a peach. It seems that we were made for each other and- forgive the pun but- I am just peachy with that.

Summertime is hands down my favorite time of year and I think the fact that peaches are in season definitely has something to do with it. One of my favorite memories is sitting on my front porch eating peaches and cream with family and friends. Summer just doesn't seem quite complete until I have eaten my body weight in those little guys. These past few days I have been treating myself to peaches and milk for lunch and ooooh baby I can't stop thinking about them. Call it love. Call it infatuation. Call it whatever you like. Just let me have my peaches.

Weekend Warriors

Aside from a trip to St. George, Idaho, and Logan my summer '09 traveling log has mainly been filled with a lot of trips up to Kaysville. I trek up there every weekend to put in a few hours at Subway, crossing my fingers that I will have enough money for school, making it all worth it. Ok, so that's partly a lie. Of course I'm hoping I have enough money for school but I definitely don't go up there dragging my feet every weekend. Even though I work long hours while I'm home, it sure it nice just to be there. Every. single. weekend. Seriously. Every time I go home, I fall more in love with everything about it.

Even though I spend a lot of time cooped up at Subway, I have still found time to have an adventure every Saturday morning in the shape of a purple bike named Maya, a pair of turqoise running shoes, and a boy named Mark. It's the perfect combination. Every Saturday morning this wonderful friend of mine gets up at insane hours when one should really be sleeping, hops on his bike (Maurice) and lets me drag him all around Northern Utah on those things. And if that weren't enough, we put the bikes away and put on a few miles on our running shoes. All before nine o'clock in the morning. We make a wonderful pair of Weekend Warriors.

Look who it is...

Yes, really, it's me. I have finally succumbed to the world of the blogs. I sit at my desk at work and read blogs all day so I decided I would take a whack at doing my own.

This blog is meant to be a journal of sorts to document all of the awesome adventures I am scheming up and capture all of the moments I get to truly french kiss life square in the mouth (you should probably know I stole that phrase from a Kenny Chesney song- I'm not clever enough to come up with a sweet phrase like that). And during all this scheming, I hope writing on here will help me improve my writing and fix my language so I stop saying things like, "Is that cool with you?" or "Sweet, I'll shoot you that confirmation" to the Associate Dean of Students at BYU over the phone while I am at work. So, without further ado, "let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."*

*Quote said by Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.