See Steve. Be inspired by STEVE.

I had an interesting shuttle ride down this past weekend. A young man that was being transferred from a drug treatment facility up north to one in St. George ended up riding by me. I was surprised when he asked me about a book I was reading, a rather unknown Egyptian novel, and that he knew a lot about it. He was very articulate and we talked about the book book he was reading, Rough Stone Rolling (one of my all time favorites), and had some very interesting theological discussions. Kinda crazy. Then my mom picks me up and sends me into K-Mart where I’m promptly asked by a woman lying on the ground on aisle 14 to help her up. She was looking at a price on the bottom shelf and now cant get back up. I looked around for someone to help me, but as is common for K-mart, it looked like the rapture had taken place and were the lone people left behind. I pretty much threw out my back hoisting this older, heavier woman up. But I got her up and she was able to continue her K-mart shopping. Weird day. It seems like when one weird thing happens, it dominoes into a day of bizzareness… ANYWAY

Snow Canyon Half Marathon: BRRRRRRR. That’s about all I can say. You should NOT wear short shorts to a race that begins in snow. It will in fact make you slower, not faster. Running tights are they way to go, sure they’re not really flattering on anyone (except those rare exceptions * cough * anna *cough* *cough*)… So yeah, between turning into a Popsicle and vomiting up diet coke and a granola bar (the breakfast of Olympians), not a good first few miles. 

When I got down to the last mile and saw someone on the sidelines wearing camo pants, I was like “Hey, someone has camo pants like my dad! What are the odds? (I thought my Dad was at work).” When I got closer I saw it was my Dad! I tried to run as fast as humanly possible for someone of my abilities in order to impress him and make up for my years of athletic failure in front of him (soccer, cross country, three legged races). Ha. The whole family came out and cheered us on. It was quite nice. 

After the race Anna and I went back to mile 8 where she had ditched her fleece jacket. There was this lady hobbling along wearing a bib number, looking like she was going to cry (She was at mile 8 and well over two hours, and its freezing and windy!). Anna offered to drive her to the finish line, and she gladly accepted. I need to start having people drive me to the finish line; I think it would improve my times and make racing more fun. Just an idea.

There are two criteria in the book of Lauren as to what makes a good race: 

Criterion One: Cool Shirts (You know, so you can wear it around the gym and then people are like “Hey did you run that race?” And then you’re like “Hey, yeah, I totally did!”).

 Criterion Two: Good Post Race Treats (Because really the only thing that motivates me to exercise is FOOD. I wish I was joking. I spent all 13 miles thinking of cookies).

Snow Canyon 1/2= Hideous Shirts and Frozen Yogurt at the finish of 40 degree run? Double Fail. But Anna and I both beat our previous ½ Marathon Times, so its cool.

All race pictures are courtesy of Kiersty. She, Eli, and her hedgehog came down. They are always fun to play with and Eli adds nearly a foot to the median height in our household when present.

After the race, Anna and I accompanied my Mom to SUPER SATURDAY where we learned the invaluable skills associated with creating cake pops. We decided we needed to try our hand at this first world ridiculosity. So we did.

I know I’ve mentioned Steve before. He is a spin teacher in St. George with a cult following. And I am part of the cult. It is particularly hilarious because he magically appears at every race that Anna and I joke about him at. We laughed that he probably ran the STG Marathon and then ran back to help others. Low and behold, the newspaper Marathon special comes out. Front page picture: Sexy Spin Man Steve helping an injured runner across the finish line, while still managing to finish in 3:08. Today I’m looking through the Snow Canyon ½ Marathon official pictures, there is Steve. In the very front of the start line. I have no doubt he completed some meritorious act here as well and will use it to inspire his next spin class. 
He is not a mere mortal.

 HE IS STEVE.