Ironman St George - May 5, 2012

A friend reminded me that he's still waiting for my recap of the longest, hardest race I've ever done. So weeks later, here it is. I'll tell you right now it will be long, because that's how I do things - long and slow.

There are good times to race an Ironman, and there are less-than-ideal times to race an Ironman. When I signed up for the race back in December of last year, I had no way of knowing that this wasn't the best time for me to be racing - and it was all because of work. Personally, I LOVE early season long-course races because they kick you into gear much earlier than most folks. True it makes for some very cold, dark, and wet runs and rides, but all things considered, what else would you be doing in those early months?

No, the race timing problem wasn't personal, it was strictly a work thing -- as in "here, get this huge project done yesterday, and it's for the board meeting coming up right around the corner". So in addition to facing up to the unknown of a grueling day coming, I also had piles of work stress to wear me down physically and mentally. As an example, the week of the race, I worked a cool 42 hours ... Monday thru Wednesday. Yep, that's a bit stressful.

Fortunately for me, Ironman races force you to check in two days before a race, so that meant a Thursday morning trip to St George with my buddy, Dane. While this caused stress with my being gone from work for two days rather than just one, it was much needed because as soon as we started rolling down I-15 the stress started bleeding off. We were rocking Dane's minivan, so we were quite comfortable despite the blow to our image.

We got down to St George, got settled in my Aunt and Uncle's condo, which they had generously made completely available to us, and we were off to check in. It felt awesome to get my wristband, have my chip register with my actual name, and then receive the athlete gifts, which included an unexpected SWEET Ironman backpack! Very happy. We also wanted to check out the IM Village while we were down there. I've been to Ironman Villages before -- most notably in Kona for the World Championships one year -- so I had a certain notion of what I expected it to be like. I thought we'd spend hours perusing the aisles and aisles of killer gear, schwag, and Ironman-related cool stuff. It wasn't quite what I expected - I think it took us 10 minutes to see everything we wanted to see. But no worries - we got registered, and we were still rocking the minivan.

In the backs of our minds, I think every athlete down there was keeping tabs on the weather the days leading up to the race. The forecast kept getting better with each successive day, and we were all stoked to see predictions for a warm but not hot day, and very little wind. Nice.

I worked a few hours Thursday afternoon, which I think my boss appreciated, and it turned out to be a good thing for me too. My cousin's husband hooked me up with a conference room and Internet connection at his law offices, and it was actually quite relaxing to be in a cool office getting good things done - all the while resting up. The icing on the cake was the bossman's assurance at the end of our couple-hour-long conference call/working session that he probably didn't need me to work the next day, Friday. So at that point it started to feel like I was actually going to enjoy this whole experience without having to stress anymore about work. Double nice.

We went for a relaxing short run in the late afternoon sun, and saw some race friends, including the Iron Cowboy - a friend of mine who's attempting to break the world record for number of full Ironman races in one year. It was nice to stretch our legs, enjoy the sunshine, and start committing ourselves to race day.

Any triathlon is super gear-intensive, and it's always quite a process to arrange things for transitions into just the right piles, bags, and order of operations. Dane and I had talked ad nauseum about our transition, nutrition, and racing strategies, but it was still a real challenge to make sure I got everything in the right order and place. We had five different bags that would all be available to us at different locations and times along the race course. You would be surprised how hard it is to make sure everything you've planned for is in the right bag.

We had to check in our T1 (swim to run transition) and T2 (run to bike transition) bags, as well as our bikes, on Friday. We did a light clean & lube on the bikes Friday morning, then it was off to Sand Hollow Reservoir to check the bikes and T1 bags, and to throw on our wetsuits and hit the water for an easy swim. I'd been expecting the water to be very cold, but it was a pleasant 65ish degrees, and we were both very happy to get out there and swim a bit to get a feel for it. A light/moderate wind was kicking up some small chop and I was struggling a bit with swallowing water when I was aimed directly into the oncoming waves (again, they were quite small). I finally got to the point where I was ok with the not-smooth water, and this would prove very valuable for the next day. All in all we were feeling downright great as we prepared for the next morning.

One thing that significantly lightened up our day was an unexpected sight we saw on our way to check in our run bags. There was a bike rider on the side of the road as we drove by, and we were commenting on the fold-up bike she was riding. Just as we moved past her, I realized she had a race number on the seat post, and Dane pointed out that she had aerobars and a water bottle cage. Incredulously we looked at each other and then busted out a gut laugh so great it left tears streaming down my face. We doubled back to get a picture - some things are too good not to share. No disrespect meant to the lady on the bike, but come on...

Friday evening we went to the pre-race dinner and ate lots of pasta, salad, and fruit. Very tasty, and great company as we sat by my buddy J-Brown, his cute girlfriend (who we saw the next morning in her wetsuit, waiting for the race to start, having just signed up late the night before... studly!), and our buddy Josh who we swam with on many mornings this spring. The program was fine, but in the end the A/C was cranked so high we couldn't wait to get out of there and get warm. My incredulous highlight though was three guys who all lost well over 100 lbs training for Ironman - sheesh.

Angela and Dane's wife joined us on Friday, as well as my brother Dave and his family. It was great to have supporters there, and they were all really good about making sure we did things we wanted/needed, rather than have to entertain. Everyone was really absorbed by the energy and atmosphere of the race, so it was fun to talk a lot about what the next day would bring. I slept well that night.

We had no problems or delays on Saturday morning as we got ready for the race, ate our food, grabbed our remaining bags, and headed downtown to get on a bus. I was happy to see my cousin as a bus volunteer - seemed like a good sign to see family almost first thing. It was dark the whole ride up to the lake, but that was nothing new as that's how it's been for all the marathons I've done. I sat by a guy from Wisconsin who seemed pretty nervous and chatty, while surprisingly I was feeling very calm. At that point, it's all about the race, the rest of the day, and finishing what I started. The bus feels like the point of no return.

We get to the lake, immediately find the porto-lets, and get rid of some nervous energy. Then it's prep time. I always like talking to the people who write numbers and my age group on my arms and calf, although one thing I hate is seeing the age number keep climbing each year - oh well. The next hour is spent tinkering with bike and gear, lubing up my neck to avoid the "wetsuit kiss", taking a few pics, talking to fellow athletes, and then finally putting on my wetsuit, booties, cap, and goggles. Oh my gosh, it's time...

We are herded down the chute towards the water and I start to see familiar faces - loved seeing Angela excited to be there and to support me. I also loved the playing of the national anthem, and then it was "in the water as fast as you can". The water felt great, it was calm, warm(ish), and Dane and I made a point of looking back at the crowds watching - an awesome sight! We looked at each other and exclaimed how excited we were to be there doing the race (that would change about 20 minutes later...). See the picture below - the calm before the storm as we waited for the cannon!

I wasn't very smart about my starting position as we waited for the cannon to go off - we found ourselves right in the middle and drifting toward the front where all the serious swimmers like to hang out. I was just in the process of moving back a bit when the cannon boomed, and we were off. The course is a modified rectangle with roughly 1,000 meters out along the shoreline, then left turn for about 300 meters, another left for a long straight (roughly 1.5 miles?), and then a final left turn around the island and head for the boat ramp.

The first leg was fun because of all the people. There was constantly someone banging me or cutting me off, but I was super calm and enjoying it all, feeling strong and happy. I knew when we made the turn things would open up and I'd have less contact, so I was looking forward to that. About ten minutes in, I started feeling myself going up and down with swells in the water while I was swimming. I had the thought, "I wonder why boats are driving close enough to the swimmers to generate these swells..." I didn't think too much about it and just kept swimming. And then I made the first left turn...

I realized, to my horror, that the swells we were experiencing weren't from boats, but were from a ferocious wind whipping the water into furious whitecaps with spray bullets flying off the breaking waves. I'm not sure I've ever been in water that rough, and certainly not had to swim any distance in those conditions. I also remember the sun shining off the spray, creating a sort of frantic haze of flying water and bright flashes. I could not believe what was going on - it made Friday's slightly choppy swim seem like lying still in a perfectly calm bathtub.

The short leg was a blur of trying to get breaths between waves coming perpendicular to our swim path, trying to find the next turn buoy, and wondering how the !#$!@ I was going to survive - especially after the next turn when I would be swimming straight into the teeth of the nastiness. Finally, the red turn buoy appeared, and thus began the hardest straight swim of my life.

There were many times in which I truly wondered how I was ever going to get out of the water alive. I prayed a lot, waged an internal battle with myself to try and keep mentally strong and avert panic, and tried to keep my head above the waves. The waves were high enough that you couldn't really swim over many of them, and they weren't rhythmic - meaning that you might duck under a huge way and come up thinking you were going to be able breathe in the trough, but there might be another big one right on the heels of the first - so there was no obvious pattern to the waves. Also, it was very tough to see - there were no buoys in sight, and fortunately we had the island to use as a marker, although it looked awfully far away, and was bobbing in and out of sight as well. Finally, I felt very alone. I don't remember seeing many swimmers at all - I think we were blown all over the lake, and it was very disconcerting knowing that if I cramped up and went under, there was a good chance nobody would see me.

The prayers helped, and I realized I was in good swim shape because even with fighting into the waves, I still felt relatively strong throughout. I never thought of giving up, and in fact, for the majority of the time I was able to remain pretty calm. The turning point for me was a stark realization that 1) they couldn't rescue 1,500 swimmers even if they wanted to, 2) even the rescue boats and longboards I passed looked like they were in trouble, so don't count on those, and 3) the only way out of the water was to put my head down and swim hard to get home. Period. No other options. So I did.

When I finally reached the island -- which seemed to take a LONG time -- my head was cold from spending lots of time underwater ducking waves. I had opted for one cap instead of two because of the previous day's enjoyable swim, but at this point I was wishing for more warmth. I suddenly realized there was a smaller stone outcropping right in my swim path, and there were swimmers standing on it. I stood up for a second to get my bearings and catch my breath, and then when I plunged back in I was confident that I could finish, having already done that leg before and knowing I was mostly there. After making the final turn, I actually had to fight to stay on course just to get to the boat ramp, constantly correcting my course as the waves continued to pour over me and push me sideways. And then, there was dirt under my feet.

I think I was kind of dazed when I stumbled out of the water - very tired, overwhelmed that I was safe, and surprised that I finished faster than I thought I was going (1:40ish). I was hugely happy to hear my name being bellowed by my Uncle Mike, who would stick with supporting me throughout the whole day and seemingly lift me up at all the right moments along the course. I also saw Angela, who looked relieved and happy to see me.

The strippers ripped my wetsuit off, I did a quick inventory of my vitals in the changing tent, and then I was off. I realized once I got on the bike that I was still a little shaky, with "sea legs" and some shivering still going on. Fortunately, the road out of T1 isn't too challenging and I was able to get my bearings pretty quickly. The  wind though was gusting mightily, and I knew we were in for a long, long bike day based on the wind's direction. I hoped for some pockets of respite, but I knew it was going to be hard.

The next few hours were filled with wind rushing into my face, roaring through my ears, and holding back my momentum. Frustratingly, I got little benefit from downhills or even flats, where my normally strong biking would help me gain valuable time, rest, and momentum. I basically got no rest on the bike. I also pretty much never got off of my small chainring (easier gears) and out of the easiest gears for the first few hours because of the wind.

You can imagine the feeling of relief when I hit the downhill portion of the first loop, which also happened to coincide with getting the wind at my back -- finally! I felt unleashed, and I rode like it (probably foolishly). I felt like I could make up some time on the downhill as I can descend quite fast, and I hit the gas full throttle for the next 20 miles. Most of the road was newly paved, very clean, and free of potholes or cracks. In other words, I actually got quite a bit of rest as I bombed down from Veyo to Red Cliffs because I could go stretches with my head actually resting on my handlebars (not recommended at 50+ mph). My watch died halfway through the first descending portion, so I don't know what my max speed really was, but it did read 51.9 mph before it died - my guess is I probably hit 54 or 55 at some point along the two loops.

Turning back into the wind to start the second loop was hard. I expected to see Angela and Dane's wife, Stacey, but I missed them even though they told me later I smiled at them as I went by... Delirium setting in? Probably not, but definitely consumed by the daunting task of the next 45 miles of pain. Either way, I didn't get the mental lift from seeing them. Bummer.

Second loop was more of the same, with the small benefit of the wind having slightly calmed - probably only 20-25 mph instead of 40 mph. Still hard. Going up past Gunlock dam I finally caught up with Dane, who'd been out of the water about 20 minutes ahead of me and was riding well. We rode together for a while, then when we hit the really steep hill I slowed down significantly -- I think I was a little dehydrated and under-nourished. I thought I'd catch him quickly again, but after climbing The Wall a little later, I hit the proverbial wall hard, and started eating and drinking everything in sight to try and recover. Fortunately I was able to get right, and I caught up to Dane again right as we were making the weird little under-road turn around to take us back into town at the end of the 2nd loop. It was great to know we'd finish the bike together and could run together, at least for a while.


Throughout the bike ordeal, there were times when I'd think of someone important to me, and I'd start to get emotional. I think that came with how hard I was working and how invested I was in trying to finish this hard day, but I sometimes get vulnerable to emotion when I know these family and friends care enough to be pulling for me. This hit me particularly hard when we were coming into town, just before the run transition, and there was my brother Dave, screaming and pumping his fist for me. Man, I about lost it then, and I still get a little teary-eyed just thinking of it now...

I remember two feelings as we parked our bikes and went into the change tent: tiredness, and relief. I remember feeling so good that we were off the bikes and out of the wind, and also confident that we could quite easily finish what we had left. We had 7 hours to run/walk a marathon. No worries. What I had thought would be the hardest part - the marathon - turned out to be the most enjoyable. It was relatively stress free because all we needed to do was beat midnight and that was definitely doable, and the triple loop within the city turned out to be right up my alley -- I loved the fact that there were always spectators cheering, you got to see a lot of fellow competitors at varying stages of the loops, and I always knew what was ahead of me.

It was so great to see so many family and friends. Of course I saw Angela a bunch; I also saw Uncle Mike & Becky a few more times - always so encouraging and praising; my other aunt and uncle, Merilee & Denny, were working at one of the aid stations and it was so fun to see them; and I was running up the only real uphill on my second loop and what do you know but my other brother, Spencer, was running down looking for me. Man was I happy to have him run with me (yep, against the rules, but who cares at that point...). Dane had taken off and I was by myself, which I don't mind, but to have Spenny there was my was super awesome. I also ran into fun friends: Russ Nelson, Sunny Jo Mama Lawrence (missed the swim cutoff and flatted twice ... rough day for her but trooper out cheering runners on), Nelson & Hilary Davis, and probably more that I can't remember (sorry!).

I loved the aid stations they had every mile. My favorites were the warm chicken broth, potato chips, and coke. I'd also eat fruit too, but I loved the salt in the chips and broth. Problem was though, after a while, my stomach had just had enough, and I developed hiccups that didn't go away for about 3 hours while I ran. It actually got to the point where I was nauseated and hurting from hiccuping -- glamorous, huh? So Dane hit a bad stretch and I caught up to him, and we spent the last couple of miles mostly walking, sort of running, chatting with Spencer and JBrown, and enjoying the thought that in a few minutes Mike Riley was going to say, "John Richards, you are an Ironman!"

And at 10:37 pm, he did. So great to be done, so great to bask in all the kind support, so great to be able to stop moving. It wasn't a fast time, and for about 0.5 seconds I felt bad about it. But to a person, everyone who competed and finished that day was so ecstatic to have completed "the hardest Ironman ever", that no-one was worried about goal times or how fast something happened that day. There were many times throughout the day that I wanted to quit -- mostly in the water and on the bike -- but the harder the day became, the more determined I was to finish. The more I went through, the more of a tragedy it would've been to stop and make everything that went before worthless. So yeah, I was slow. But I'm darn proud of finishing.

On another note, I didn't realize until I saw this finishing picture that Dane slowed down to let me cross first. I was SO upset about this - we finished together in my mind, whether he let me cross first or not. As you can see, I was too busy celebrating to notice. What a bum.

I asked Spencer to get his buddy in the med tent to hook me up with an IV, even though I was feeling pretty good, for quick recovery. The nurse went right through the vein in my left arm, which resulted in a painful bruise for a few days, but I'll tell you what, I felt far better after that race than I expected, and I slept great because I got rehydrated and stabilized without having to drink gallons before going to bed.

Before I finish I have to give a huge thanks to Angela and the kids. It wasn't easy for them to have me training so much, especially on Saturdays. They were patient and supportive throughout the whole process. Never once did I feel pushback about my goals. I love them so much and am so grateful that they helped me complete this. Without them I couldn't have done it. And yes, Ang and the kids occupied most of my emotional thoughts...

So there you have it. If you've stuck with it this long, then you too deserve to be called an Ironman. Thanks for indulging me. I love that I did that -- it was hard, hard, hard. But that made it all the more rewarding. So what's next...?

Awesome weekend

Highlights of the weekend:

-- took Brig camping with the scouts, which included lots of junk food, lots of shirtless boys, and not too much sleep, but a happy Dad and Son
-- more quality time with my favorite shovel, wheelbarrow, and dirt mound, which isn't so much of a mound anymore :-)
-- date night with Angela and a couple friends - the Bajio salad was so-so, but Snow White and the Huntsman was way better than I thought it would be
-- church was great - nice to just feel happy to be there, grateful for all the good people, and happy for the Spirit you feel
-- hanging with the whole fam on a lazy Sunday afternoon

Landscaping Love

Many of you may be familiar with our seemingly endless landscaping saga. Without rehashing the travails, we've kicked into get-it-done mode, and we're actually making some good progress. We're going to finish this bad boy if it's the last thing we do.

We've wanted to be able to use the yard for things like hosting friends, having BBQ's, and just generally hanging out/playing outside. The big side yard has already been the site of numerous neighborhood baseball games, so that's great. It's the back that's been the headache.

Well now, thanks to an awesome assist by my brother-in-law, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We're very close to wrapping up the sprinkling system, after which we'll get the rest of the sod laid, and then we are substantially complete. Can't wait! Not only will it make the yard more usable and functional, it will also greatly reduce the amount of dust tracked into the house anytime someone comes in.

Highlights of the work completed so far are the trampoline getting buried in the ground - and the guy who did it for us did a masterful job. We also got the fire pit finished, and that's been a definite plus as we've enjoyed sitting out late at night and talking by the fire, as well as having friends over for roasted marshmallows and fireside chats. To make that easier, we also got a good deal on some of those benches where you can fold the back over to create a picnic table - great to have nice, usable, comfortable sitting and eating places.

Finally, I have to mention the satisfaction I've felt as I work hard out in the yard. Sure I can't completely do all the work out there because it's not really my expertise, but I now feel a ton of equity in the work that I have done.

#hashtag @tweet Post Share Pin Check-in ...

Things have changed in the world over the last few years. I looked at my daughters and their friends hanging out the other day and almost all of them were simultaneously on their phones. Some would complain that technology is making people less social, and ruining our interpersonal skills. Maybe. But I will tell you this: social media is allowing us to vastly broaden our reach at the same time.

When I first joined Facebook, it was at the urging of a good friend, Amy Baugh, who I wouldn't consider ultra tech savvy. She was talking about how it had helped her reconnect with lots of high school and mission friends - that sounded appealing to me, so I took the leap. At the time, Facebook was battling My Space for supremacy (yeah, if you haven't heard of My Space, you can tell who won... also, Facebook's multi, multi billion $ IPO is today...), and I was afraid the notion of joining a social network was a bit "high school". Whatever, I can play in all different spaces ;-). So I did it, and my experience has been exactly like Amy's -- reconnect with lots of high school friends, mission buddies, and many more. I don't spend tons of time there, but I usually enjoy catching up with people's lives using that network.

I also still remember the first time I heard of Twitter. We lived in the heart of the Bay Area, which helps for hearing about new stuff, and which is also prone to earthquakes. We had a particularly noticeable earthquake one evening, which means we actually felt it, and another close friend, Michael Tanne, told me later he immediately jumped on Twitter to check if all his friends had felt it and were ok. What is this Twitter of which you speak? I thought it was weird that his first thought was to jump onto his social network - like I said, things have changed. So I joined up, and evolved from blogging pretty frequently to banging out 140 character quick hitters. I kinda liked the change.

And there's so much more. Now everything links together. Facebook and Twitter feed each other, while Instagram (photo sharing), Pinterest (idea sharing), Foursquare (location sharing), Flipboard (news sharing), not to mention fitness apps (Strava, MapMyRide, Nike+, etc.), note taking apps (Evernote, etc.), and much more all feed directly into both Facebook and Twitter. It's an amazing world where we can share as much of our lives as we want to.

Word to the wise though - don't take a questionable picture of your wife and post it against her will. Just sayin'...

So bad, and yet so good

Every other Friday or so the team from work goes out to lunch together to get out of the office and get some good grub. We're spoiled because work brings in quite a few lunches and dinners throughout the week, so if we're only going out every once in a while it seems ok to go big or go home.

The undisputed favorite:

The somewhat disputed other favorite, although you may need a pick-me-up in the afternoon:

Where we went today:

...which is why I feel so dirty.

The latest

Now that I've most likely lost all my loyal followers and readers due to inactivity and laziness (or lack of blogging time), I thought I'd resurrect the blogging effort and at least periodically add a few notes about things our family is doing, thoughts that rattle through this head of mine, happenings at work, play and school, and updates in general.

The last four months has been a bit crazy. Crazy means different things to each member in our family, but collectively we've had a fun little ride the last few months. For me, the big thing has been training for, and competing in, Ironman St. George. The last four months have included swimming 67 miles, biking 1,132 miles, and running 381 miles -- almost always very early in the morning, and almost always in the cold. And then to top it off, race day on May 5 consisted of a freak windstorm of 40 mph winds that made it a long, challenging, but ultimately very rewarding day. So all that, added to an already very busy work schedule, plus YM commitments - not to mention all the family stuff going on - have made for a faster pace than we usually have.

Things at Domo have been awesome. It seems like there are never any dull moments. I really enjoy the people I work with, and there's such a cool energy about the company and where we're going that it continues to be a killer place to work. And I think it's just going to get better as we launch our products and grow like we think we can.

So now to the important stuff - what's the family been up to? Micah and Kennan have dance four nights a week, not to mention tumbling and cheer for Micah as she made the JV team for next year, and Kennan made the Jr High cheer team for next year as well. Morgan has been in a local Scera Theater play about Pinocchio, and that's been really fun but like other plays the kids have been in, seems to take up a lot of time and energy. She loves it and has already auditioned and gotten a part in the next one, which I can't remember what it is off the top of my head. She also swims 3-4 times a week. Brig is constantly playing with his neighborhood buddies or his cousin, Spencer, and he's making full use of the new trampoline we just sunk into the ground in our slowly-progressing back yard. He also played soccer this year and he and Spencer were by far the best players on the best team (city league, so that's not saying much...). He's looking forward to baseball starting this weekend, and was particularly excited when he and I went down and bought him a new mitt that feels like a real glove and not a kid's toy. He's a sweet kid who still loves his mom to death. Ang hurt her foot a while back so has put her running/training on hold for a while. I know this grates on her, but it's the right thing to do. Beyond that, she's constantly shuttling kids around, and rarely gets much time to herself - which is why I'm always happy when she gets a girls night or something fun. I think everyone's looking forward to the fast-approaching summer vacation!

Mom and Dad, who have been serving for the Church in Chile this past year, got reassigned to be in the Europe Area Presidency based in Frankfurt, Germany. They're VERY excited for the change, and we're also really happy for them, and hoping we can make it out to visit while they're there. It'll also be fun to have them home in July.

It's only 3 1/2 hours? Let's go...

We had a fun weekend trip down to St George this last weekend, with a few fun highlights. The purpose of the trip was for Angela and me to run a 5k as part of the St George Runner's Series, which guarantees you entry into October's St George Marathon if you run two other smaller races down there throughout the course of the year. The plan was for me to take my bike and go for a long training ride after the race, but it was not to be. Rain all day and ferocious winds derailed my well-laid plans, and I was not too happy about it. But, the 5k was pretty fun. It's a shorter distance than we're used to running, and believe it or not, it's a lot different from the way we train and race. I would actually rather run a longer race because with a 5k you're basically red-lining for 3 miles. I was completely out of breath with about a quarter mile to go and I really thought I might pass out just trying to keep up with Angela. In the end, we finished close together and were happy to find out that she took 2nd in her age group while I took 3rd in mine. Nice to get a plaque...

We were pretty cold after the race, and we had told the kids to be ready to hot-tub and swim in the heated pool when we got home. We figured even if it was raining we'd be fine with the warm water. Problem was, what looked like the hot tub from outside the pool area was actually just a small, round kiddie pool. The water was lukewarm, but with the sharp wind and rain drops coming down, it wasn't as thrilling as we had hoped for. Ang, Micah, and Kennan lasted all of 30 seconds, but Morgan and Brig wanted to keep swimming so I took one for the team and stayed in with them for about 20 minutes. Cold!

A highlight of the afternoon was going and visiting Grandma Gurr. We were a little worried because we'd heard reports that her mental health is slipping, so we were pleasantly surprised when she seemed happy and healthy, and fine for a visit. We talked for about 45 minutes, and we all enjoyed it, particularly Morgan who said a few times throughout the day how glad she was we got to see Grandma and visit with her.

Also really neat was running into some old friends who we'd known in our California ward, Ben and Maryanne Maher - he was my Elder's Quorum secretary for a while before they moved to St George. We hadn't seen them in probably 6 or 7 years, and we randomly ran into them at the race. It was really fun to catch up.

Apparently we missed torrential rain in Provo all day Saturday (yep, it's late January and it wasn't cold enough to snow...), so I can't complain too loudly about the inclement weather down south. Good thing is that the resorts probably got dumped on, so the previously horrible skiing should now improve drastically.