My Hard Core Life

I feel like I've done more awesome things in the last 3 weeks than i did all summer. And it's time to blog about it, even though I have a million other things that I need to do.

Lets go over the events of my life since school started.

1. School started

2. I found a job! MTC Cafeteria baby

3. I went on a camping trip with a few awesome Jerusalem friends

4. More school

5. I had an awesome Jerusalem Reunion at the Muhesltein's (my New Testament teacher)

6. I went on an awesome hike up Mount Timpanogos to see the sunrise

7. More school

8. I ran the Red Rock Relay!!!!!

9. And now I am very behind in school.

Let me elaborate on said activities.

3. Camping Trip

The weekend before school started, a few of my Jerusalem friends and I decided to go out into the mountains. So Faith, Nathanael, and I joined Austen and some of his friends on a nice little weekend trip into the Uinta's. Austen and his friends mostly just fished, but Faith Nathanael and I had a wonderful time hiking around all the beautiful lakes in the area. 

Also, Faith and I made awesome Foil Dinners, and I made homemade rolls, and we brought up freshly made strawberry freezer jam. Needless to say, the boys loved us. 

Also, Nathanael brought up a monster tent. The biggest tent I have ever seen, slept in by me and Faith on one side and Nathanael on the other (don't worry, there was a separation barrier). 

The view from our campsite

Monster tent. Dwarfing all others.

Butterfly Lake

Austen Fishing

Me and Faith!

5 and 6. Jerusalem Reunion and Timp Hike

The next weekend, we all had a wonderful reunion at the Muhelstein's house in Pleasant Grove. They had been home from Israel, for about 2 weeks. It was a dream come true. So many people were able to make it! There was so much love going around. So many hugs. So many people with significant others. So much food. It was good. 

To finish off the night, Faith, Nathanael, and some other friends and I met up with my brother Matt and a million of his friends to embark on the annual beginning-of -the-school-year sunrise Timpanogos hike! It was great. I was hoping that I'd be in good enough shape so the beastly 14 mile hike wouldn't get the best of me. And I was! Well, mostly. 

We began at 1:11 a.m. and my friends and I ended up separating from Matt's large group. I led the way up, hoping that I wouldn't lead my friends astray, since those switchbacks can get confusing in the dark. But we successfully made it all the way up, traversing through a field of snow/ice, and making the final climb to the shack, just in time for a beautiful sunrise! Only 7 of the 18 of us made it to the top. Booyah!

Matt and I on the top!

View of the saddle. Gorgeous!

8. RED ROCK RELAY!!

Oh man, guys. This is honestly one of my favorite things to do. This was my second year doing the relay and I just absolutely love it. Here's how it goes: 

187 miles

Brian Head Ski Resort to Zion National Park

12 people on each team

2 vans, 6 runners in each

3 legs per runner

Team Tortoise!!!

My brothers and I were in the the second van, the Sun Van and we ROCKED it! Well, I was proud of how I did at least. I ran the last leg of the second van, which was a 5.4 miler down out of the mountains to Cedar City. I did pretty good. I ran it in 47 min, which is under a 10 minute mile, so I was happy. 

Then our van drove over to Enterprise, UT (it's ok if you've never heard of it) and stayed at our teammate's in-laws house. They were so nice! They made us dinner and let us sleep there for a few hours, and then it was our turn to run again. But this time, it was night. Very late, or early, depending on how you look at it. I was the last runner for our van again, a whopping 7 miles between 4 and 5 a.m. and to my pleasant surprise, i did quite well. I ran it in an hour, and it felt great! There's something about running at night, when you can see anything but what the headlight shows in front of you and the faint outline of trees or mountains in the distance. And we were in the middle of nowhere. There's something very liberating about running in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.....try it sometime.

Well we took off to Washington, UT (it's ok if you've never heard of it) and fell asleep in some gym facility that they provided for us, while the other van finished their last run. That meant that we were up, to finish the relay in the hot sun of southern Utah. yay. 

The last leg is always the worst. The courses are all long and difficult, and hot, and they basically push your body to its very limit. About three miles into my five mile run, i hit a wall. My exhausted body was telling me that it didn't want to run anymore. My aching legs were telling me that they didn't want to move anymore. My heaving lungs were telling me they didn't want to heave anymore. And my side ache was telling me to walk.

So I did. 

And it was the sweetest relief I could ask for. But then I still had to run. I still had another 2 miles to go. And let me tell you, they were the longest 2 miles of my life. 

But hey, I am alive and well, and i finished that awful 5 mile run to hand the stick to my brother who had to do some 6. something run up a longer hill than I had.....so....I'll stop complaining.

But our team was awesome. And i ran a total of 17.4 miles. Yay me! 

The Monster 15 seater.

It rained.

Ready to Run!

Matt going for the hand-off.

Now I have to do a lot of homework.