Park City

This is the house in Park City, that my mom grew up in. I have never been inside of it. Whenever we are in Park City we have to at least do a drive by. The stories my mom tells about Park City back in the day make me want to travel back in time. I wish I could go back in time. I would meet my Grandpa, watch my mom learn to ski and sled down Main street. I would watch her sitting on the granite counter-top of the bank while her father counted money. I'm pretty sure I would find Nana pulling gingersnap cookies or cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

The house is now the High West Distillery. It looks like I will finally get to enter the place where so many of my mom's memories were made. My mom visited a couple of weeks ago and got a full tour from the owner. I'm hoping to get a tour of my own soon.

P.S. Mary blogged about the house a few months back when it was still under renovation.

SOLITUDE /sol-i-tood/

I went snowboarding for the first time this season with my brother Jeff, on Saturday. There were 14-18' of freshly fallen snow. The powder was literally up to my knees. I didn't get out last season and I forgot how much I love skiing/snowboarding. There is nothing better than the quiet and solitude one can find on the slopes. I love riding the lifts and hearing a slight wind as the snowflakes gently fall down. I forgot to take my camera...otherwise I would have some sweet pictures to share. It was an awesome day and one I hope to repeat soon.

Keep Calm and Carry On

A few months ago I was at my friend Melissa's and I noticed a red postcard. In bold type the postcard said "Keep Calm and Carry On." I was very intrigued and initially thought that the saying on the card may be a church saying. Melissa gave me the full story.


The phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On" was originally created for use on motivational posters produced in England in 1939 (aka WWII). For some reason or another the posters were never used. In 2000 the posters were discovered in an attic. A bookstore hung one of the posters up in their window and the phrase quickly caught on. It has become even more popular with the recent economic downturn.

I have loved this phrase since I saw it. 'Keep Calm and Carry On" has become my mantra for 2010. I was down in Phoenix last weekend. I returned to run the PF Chang Rock n Roll Half Marathon. My mantra for the weekend was "Keep Calm, Carry On, and Rock on."

It was one rocking weekend. I flew in Friday night. On Saturday I hung out at my Jeff's. Jeff is just starting a huge addition on his house. It will double his square footage. In the picture below I am enjoying the sun (rather than the smog of Salt Lake) and reading a book. We picked up our race packets and JB from the airport.

JB loves food. He had researched a couple of awesome restaurants. On Saturday night we went to La Piazza del Forno in Glendale. It turns out their was a street fair going on. There were huge hot air ballons in the streets and all sorts of vendors lined up.


This place was amazing. We ordered the lasagna, and the Italian Stallion and Mediterranean pizzas. All of the dishes were cooked in a wood burning pizza oven. Each pizza took just 4 minutes to cook. Seriously this place compared to my favorite pizza place in Pisa, Italy. I will definately visit the next time I am in Phoenix.

Originally just Jeff and I had planned to run the race. JB had decided to make the trip the week before so he hadn't registered. JB was a little bumbed to just be sitting on the sidelines. The night before the race we ran into one of Jeff's neighbors. She had stopped training and decided not to race. She was gracious enough to give JB her number. Which meant we all got to run the next day.

I have been training hard for the last 12 weeks. I have been following the Hal Higdon racing schedule and lifting weights. I was feeling very well prepared. Let's just say JB and Jeff were not quite as prepared (aka not at all prepared). We drove to the finish line and boarded a school bus that drove us to the start line. Well not quite the start line. The bus stopped and people started hopping off. Jeff and I hopped off and then the doors closed and the bus drove away with JB still on it. We ran after the bus for a couple of blocks but it did not stop. We ended up walking at least a mile to the start line where we met up with JB again.

My goal for this race was to not stop running and to beat my Salt Lake Half Marathon time. I also wanted to look like I was enjoying the race. My official time was 1:52:45, which happens to be just 34 seconds faster than my Salt Lake time. I didn't stop running even though I wanted to so many times. I think I also looked like I was enjoying the race.

Here are a few of my other stats:

164 / 2224 Division Place
890 / 13490 Gender Place
2817 / 21462 Overall place
26:42 5 K time
1:25:12 10 mile time

Jeff stayed right behind me for the first 5 miles. His offical time was around 2 hours and 9 minutes. His racing chip apparently malfunctioned so we are not quite sure. He beat his time last year by six minutes. He also hurt a lot less than last year. I think all his trips up Camelback Mountain had paid off.

JB finished at around 2 hours and 48 minutes. Very impressive for not training at all. Jeff and I were happy to be at the finish line waiting for him. JB was very happy to be finished.






We celebrated running the race by doing a little roofing. We would not ordinarily have celebrated this way but a big storm was set to come in the next day. We were quite a sight up there on the roof. I wasn't too sore but JB and Jeff were a mess.

That night we drove to Gilbert to go to Joe's BBQ. The sunset was beautiful. I could seriously live in Arizona all winter.



I flew back to Salt Lake on Monday. We stopped at Carolina's on the way to the airport. I have to agree that their tortillas are the best. The were think and delicious. I filled my suitcase with them.

Mileage

I feel in love with running this past year. It feel out of love with me for a short time but we have made amends. Here is my mileage for 2009.

January: 71.35 miles
February: 91.6 miles
March: 109.1 miles
April: 48.2 miles
May: 23.1 miles
June: 41.45 miles
July: 30.7 miles
August: 25.2 miles
September: 31.64 miles
October: 42.1 miles
November: 50.2 miles
December: 85.2 miles

2009 TOTAL: 649.84 miles

I'm starting to think that a marathon is a possibility. I'm considering the Logan Marathon in August, but I am open to other suggestions.

Odds and Ends

I haven't blogged for weeks. The holidays were a little crazy, and my internet was down. I know lame excuses, but they are my lame excuses and I'm sticking to them. I've decided to catch up so here are a few details on my latest adventures.

RED ROCK

My friend Anna was visiting from Oregon a couple of weeks ago. Our little High School group got together for lunch. It was great to catch up with Anna, Allie, and Amy. Seriously I have thought about changing my name to Angie, Ashley, or Anastasia so that I could fit in a little more. I guess I could go by Anne but that is a little to close to Anna. For now I will stick with Suzanne, but I am open to suggestions.

MAPLE SYRUP DAY

Emily and I celebrated Maple Syrup Day a couple of weeks ago. We decided to do maple syrup shots. Emily did not love it as much as I did. We personally believe that Buddy the Elf started maple syrup day.

BAY LEAF CAFÉ

I met Amy and Dallin downtown for lunch a couple days before Christmas. We ate at the Bay Leaf Café, which is a fairly new addition to Main Street. I loved the atmosphere and the menu. Best of all, the drinks came in Mason jars.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve traditions were in full force at the Richards’ household this year. We went to the neighborhood sing-a-long, which is less of a sing-a-long these days and more of a bell concert. Don’t get me wrong, I love bells but 1-2 bell songs is enough. JB made homemade pizza for us following the program.

Then my nieces and nephews unwrapped their pajamas. Here they all are together. They are now ages 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Mary has been very crafty this year. She made me the beanie that I am modeling. I LOVE IT!

SNOWSHOEING

I went snowshoeing for the second time ever the day after Christmas. The first time I went snowshoeing was several years ago. I went on a first date, which was also a blind date and also a double date. The other girl was a wimp so we only made it the length of one football field before we turned around. This time my snowshoeing companions were not wimps so we made it a lot further. It was majestic.

FESTIVUS

We celebrated Festivus a week late. We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Over dinner we aired our grievances with each other. Anne had actually aired hers a few days earlier. Here is the list she provided for me.

Things you do that annoy me:

Use that voice

Don’t ask for help

Read over my shoulder

Correct my grammar

Choose TV over me

Pick your nose

Brag about yourself

Wake up early

Count calories

Leave clothes in the washer

Count my carbs

Read the tabloids

Talk like a baby

Drive like a grandma

Sing off-key

Interrupt

Slurp your soup

Sweat

Snap your gum

Say “like” excessively

State the obvious

Degrade the waiitstaff

Take the last piece

Buy the wrong brand

Screen my calls

Blast your music

Eavesdrop

Forget to use a coaster

Talk with your mouth full

Call me “dude”

Pretend I’m not here

Look at me like that

Act like your parents

Party too much

Refuse to relax

Hog the covers

Eat off my plate

Work out

Snoop around

Use “was like” as a verb

Take on too much

Slam the door

Burp at the table

Talk Trash

Back-seat drive

Talk in your sleep

Wear too much makeup

Forget to flush

In response to this list I told Anne that there is nothing I don’t like about her. I’m happy to have flatmates that have a good sense of humor. (FYI: I am only guilty of 2-3 of these things).

For dessert we had tapioca with beans in it. It really looked like fish eggs and mouse poop, Emily and Anne finished theirs, I couldn’t get past the texture.

We also had the feats of strength when we returned home. I wrestled Anne down to the couch , she didn’t put up much of a fight mostly because she was confused. She got me back later that night by having a little too much fun with the camera I left out. Let's just say that she took 20-30 pictures all containing special messages for me. I should have saved the pictures for a post but I wasn't thinking.

NEW YEAR'S

My breakfast on New Year's Day consisted of a 2-3 peanut butter bars and 1 chocolate cherry cookie. I followed it up with an 11 mile run and car wash all before 11 AM.

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a good year. That actually reminds me of the song "I have a feeling that tonight's going to be a good night." A couple of months ago I was hanging out with Max and Ben and out of nowhere Max started singing that song. Off the topic sort of but a fun little anecdote.

Well that is the end of my rambling and odds and ends. Until next time...