Macklin's Exercise

As a coach, you gotta start them early! 

Justin kidding, really though...

Macklin had just ridden his bike around "Jules Loop" (2.5 miles...for the first time I may add) and ran into the back yard upon getting home. After seeing me do some core/circuit work, Macklin wanted to join in. It was too cute not to turn into a video clip. 

Moab - Fall 2014

the Bangtson family, Chris and Nicole, Mark, the Baker family, the Brandt family, Hailee and Ernest

Another great trip is now a memory from Moab. We try to get to Moab every fall and spring with our good friends. We really enjoy camping, biking, hiking and exploring with friends. Times have changed since having kids - that is for sure. But it doesn't make me want to travel any less. It is very well worth the four hours of driving to get there. Macklin and Macy look forward to it now as well! They know the desert sand means lots of fun playing! 

Bike Adventures

Beautiful Sunsets from the Weed Field Campsite 

Hang Time 

Our Newest Camper - Bradley (about six weeks old)

(pictured here in his homemade baby sleeping bag) 

Trip to Arches with the Bakers 

 

Girls on the Run

We took off for a run early one morning. It was so refreshing to run with women that just enjoy running. No whining, no complaining, no egos - just having fun, enjoying God's creation with good friends. This little run was one of the highlights of my weekend! 

Gypsum Daze 2013

Gypsum Daze started off with a bang this morning with a FANTASTIC showing of my runners! I have been so proud of our team this summer with the huge attendance at our local 5Ks. And, we did not disappoint - It is fun to have the best runners in the town on our team (well, almost all of them). I was honored to win the ladies side (my 4th win in a row for the past two years at the EaGyp races). Last years captains went 1-2 and then a new XC runner took third. Our FURY (workout class) trainer earned a ribbon in his age group too. Can't wait for the season to begin! 

After a quick trip home to shower and grab the kids, we headed back to the parade. Macklin is getting the hang of how to collect candy and what a parade means! 

Then it was off to the Family Fun Zone (all free - go Gypsum!). Macy entered her first bounce house and then had to be rescued by her big brother. 

Macklin waited in line 10 minutes to do this "ride." As soon as I took this pic....he was outta there! Not quite ready, but he at least got in there. 

Snow cones and watermelon make every day better! 

More rides - all free

LeAnn Rhimes was the concert of the night that we caught a bit of! Big names in a little town - that is Gypsum Daze for ya! 

During nap time, I got to have lunch with these beauties to dream about their senior year - what a great day! 

Eagle Flight Days 5k

On Sunday at the Eagle Flight Days 5k, I had a moment that took six years to create. I felt like the culmination of living in the Vail Valley was on display for me in a coaching sense. What happened, you ask. 

I had 18 members of my cross country team at a local 5k!!!!

Two coaches racing, one worker (it was her job or she would have been running too), and then 15 racers all took part in the Flight Days 5k (one did run the 10k, woohoo). I was beyond excited to have this type of turn out. I only had 38 runners on the team last year and, of those, I think only 27 of them are returning. So to have 15 of those returning runners compete in a summer run just because they want to = SUCCESS! Not only did they compete, but they competed well. The course was long and the results did not reflect the hard work that kids are putting in this summer - that was a bummer. But the fact that 14 of my runners made up the top 24 racers overall in the 5k was incredible! I was so proud of each of them. One more fact - we had three tops runners at an elite running camp, one was out of town and another was doing a 24 hour race himself. I am really excited about the running culture that EVXC has established over the past six years. We are set to have a great season this fall. I can't wait for August  12th to come! 

Can't forget my biggest fan! Love this shirt! 

He cheered me on to defend my title in this race from last year. 

GoPro Mountain Games 2013

I am sad to say that the GoPro Mountain Games are now complete. It is literally one of my favorite weekends of the whole summer in the Vail Valley. Even though the Games are four days long, we spent two solid days there and had a blast. We went up on Saturday to catch our buddy in the mountain bike race, see the dock dogs and the bouldering competition. We stayed to have dinner with the Bakers, Bangstons, and friends and the kids had a blast in the water landscaping around Vail Village. Macy didn't want to be outdone, so she climbed on in too! 

Saturday I headed up early to race in the 10k Spring Runoff and had a great race. I got 13th overall for the women and 4th in my age group. I was really happy with my time of 1:04 and my overall performance. I was mentally prepared for 7.5 miles since that was the distance from last year. But they made it closer to an actual 10k at 6.86mi, thus making my 1:37 time from last year (6 weeks post-birth) a bit incomparable. It was great to get out and be competitive since I feel like I am in pretty good shape. My sweet friends Jen and Kari were at the top of a tough 5mile marker hill in the woods and that was a huge encouragement! We headed to breakfast after the race and then waited for Justin and the kids to come up after church. We got to see the slackline finals, the dock dogs again, and then water events (kayaking and raft cross). It was a super day and of course, the kids found the fountains again! 

And, I saw this amazing stroller! A 3-kid Chariot! It was insane! 

Slackline on the left. Kayak 8-Ball on the right (6-ish kayakers come down the river and encounter "8-ball" kayakers along the way that try to hit them...full contact kayaking! Lots of carnage!) 

Track Season

The track season is officially in full swing. We have had two meets now and are excited for what is to come this season. I am again coaching the distance squad (milers and 2 milers). I am working closely with the mid-distance coach (also my xc assistant) to see where our kids could do the most this year. At our meet in Grand Junction this past weekend, we won the boys side and didn't even put in about 100 points worth of kids! The girls have some solid contenders but I am not sure that we will be deep enough to compete with some of our regional powerhouse teams for the league title...but it is still early. We have a lot of kids on both sides that are set to do some really big things this season.  

Here is our team warming up at our first meet at Montrose. We brought about 85 kids and had tons out this weekend with conflicts. I am the "warm up crazy coach" for being particular about what kids wear during warm ups. We sure did look sharp though! Teams were intimated...and they should have been. We won this meet on both the girls and the guys side by a large margin! 

Here I am with two of our 800 runners. We have a rule on the team that if you lose your sweats and Coach Brandt finds them, you owe me ice cream. Now, normally this means a small 99 cent sundae from McDonalds. These boys ran into City Market to get me a full half gallon of ice cream! They definitely made me laugh when they said, "This is for next week too!" Way to think ahead. 

Last week we branched out and I took my crew down into the Glenwood Canyon to hit up an old Jeep trail on the north side of the highway. We did our warm up into the Canyon on this bike trail...we are rebels for sure!