Night Run

When Sherry and I get together (which isn't nearly enough) we love to go on a run together. We had to figure out a time to fit in a run in a very packed weekend but we did it. While the party was still going Saturday night Sherry told me it was time to go....I had just eaten A LOT of very delicious food and it didn't sit well the first 4 miles but I didn't end up puking which was good. I wasn't planning on running at night since I always run in the morning I packed an all black running outfit (not the smartest decision since it was dark for more than half of our run). Cody told us about a good 8 mile loop and it was quite an adventure - towards the end we were on a very busy highway in the pitch black with no shoulder running as fast as we could single file (well as fast as I could I know Sherry can run faster than that). We had on full makeup, jewelry and I had a blinged out bobby pin in my hair. It was a classic run. I loved it!!

TOU Marathon

I did it. I ran my first marathon.

I never really wanted to run one before then for some reason the awesome girls I run with decided it was time to check it off the list. So we all decided to go for it. There is no way I would have taken on a challenge like this alone. We've trained and trained and then trained some more. The official kick off the marathon training program was the beginning of June. There have been lots of aches and pains and a few injuries along the way. I have been so lucky that I managed to stay injury free. My back and hip have been doing better the past few months than they have for the last few years.

Then a few weeks before the race I was talking to Sherry on the phone and told her which weekend the race was and it happened to fall on the same day as the BYU game Brandon was coming in town for so she decided to come run with me. I was so excited when she told me and then completely beside myself when she said she was going to pace with me and help me through the race.

So Friday afternoon we headed up north. We met Sherry at the Wal-Mart in Brigham City then had dinner in Brigham City before heading over to Logan. We picked up our packets and shirts and got checked into our hotel. I didn't sleep too good but that's to be expected before such a big event. At 4:30 the alarm went off and then it was really time to go. We got ready, took pictures and headed for the bus. We got to the start about 10 minutes before the gun went off. We were in the lines for the porta potties until right before and were only at the starting line for about a minute before the gun went off. There wasn't time to stress or worry it was just time to start.

Gretchen, Me, Leigh Anne and Traci
The night before the race.

Gretchen, Leigh Anne, Traci and I
5:15 AM on our way to the bus

The course went down the canyon on a nice gradual hill for the first 14 miles, then wound through some farm town for the next 6 then did some crazy back and forth business through the town and neighborhoods for the last 6 miles. I felt pretty good the first half of the race and then hit a major wall right around mile 20. Sherry talked me through it and distracted me for another 2 miles then I just had to go numb to make it through the last 4 miles. I was totally talking to myself (I thought it was to myself but Sherry said she could hear me...oops). I just kept telling myself "you can do this" .... "you're almost there" ..... "one foot in front of the other" ..... "it's 4 miles - you can run 4 miles" stuff like that. The end was so hard for me because I hurt and my garmin said it was 26 miles already and I couldn't see the finish line, then it said 26.1 and then 26.2 and I still couldn't see the finish. I was starting to freak out a little then we made one final turn and I saw it about 50 meters away. At the end my garmin said 26.53 :)

Running to the finish line

I finished in 4:02:32. I couldn't believe it. I was done. Finally done. That was all I cared about was being done and seeing my best friends in the world cross that finish line. I was so happy when I saw each of them cross the line that I cheered and cried at the same time.

It was so great to have my mom and Todd cheering for me at the end. And they brought the supplies for an ice bath. Todd brought our tiny blow up pool (which has a palm tree top for shade), ice and bottles of water to fill it. It was 90% ice and the coldest ice bath I have ever taken. I only made it 3 minutes before I thought I was going to die but my legs felt a little better afterwards so it was worth it.

James, Hans, Abe and Todd

I can't believe how amazing it was having Sherry there to support me and run with me. I wore my fuel belt so that I would drink plenty of water (to avoid cramping) and she would take the flasks for me and then run ahead to fill them up for me so that I wouldn't have to stop. At one point (mile 18) I needed water in both flasks and thought there was an aid station just ahead so she took them and ran ahead then I realized the water wasn't until mile 19 so she ran ahead to that aid station filled them up and actually ran back to meet me. All I could say was "you've got to be kidding me" there was no way I was going to take one extra step and she ran an extra half mile for me. It was nice having her talk me through my pains and knowing that she really understood what I was feeling. I can't even explain how grateful I am for what she did for me. It was truly amazing having her run with me every step of the way. At one point she said "just imagine a rope tying you to me and me pulling you along" and she really did pull me along. My whole life I have admired and looked up to her. I couldn't ask for a better sister and she was there for me through one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Check out Sherry's sweet trash bag.

There is no way I would have dreamt of doing something so big without such amazing friends and such an amazing sister. I love them all so much and it's amazing to me how much a relationship grows when there are miles and miles of road, tears, sweat, pain, and the joy of accomplishment involved.

Flashback Friday - Cross Country

My freshman year of High School I ran cross country. Not because I loved running only because Sherry ran. Looking back I had potential but once Sherry graduated running didn't excite me anymore. Tomorrow I'm running my first marathon and Sherry will be there with me. She said she is actually going to run with me. We've never run together in a race....I'm always behind her. I have a feeling that tomorrow might be her hardest marathon yet (and she's run Boston twice) because she'll be running for at least 4 hours if she stays with me. Even if she decides I'm too slow for her having her at the starting line and cheering me on at the end is all I need. I'm so nervous for tomorrow. But I shouldn't be because I have awesome running partners to support me and my big sister will be there with me.

Flashback Friday - Roadtrip

Sherry in the back of the Cav

This was on our way back to BYU after being home for the summer. Sherry, Steve and I all went back with all our stuff and as you can see there was NO room left in the car. The best part was that when we brought our stuff out my dad was not happy with how much stuff we were bringing and in order to get it all to fit in the car he had to shove our shoes in all the small crevices in the trunk. I remember how mad Sherry and I were that he was doing that - hilarious now.

Another funny thing is that the Cavalier had no A/C so we had to ride with the windows down. As you can see this made for great hair and improvised hair accessories.

That awesome luggage was my high school graduation present. I still have some of the set. :)

Flashback Friday - sisters

Sherry and I

Don't we look cute in our matching outfits playing so nicely together? I think we had that dresser until about 10 years ago.

The Boston Marathon

What an incredible experience I had being part of something so big. There are about 27,000 runners together and way more spectators and the energy was insane.

Sherry and Jennifer (her running partner) left the hotel around 6:00 with a fellow runner who was staying at our hotel. Sherry went up to him in the lobby and asked him how he was getting to the race and he said he was driving and the next thing you know the girls have a ride to the race and he even took us to the subway station that day so we could head to church. The funny part is that he thought we were picking up on him. LOL.

The race starts at 10:00 am so I left the hotel around 8:00 so I could get situated by the finish line. I thought I would be bored so I brought my book but it was so exciting the whole time. As soon as the race started they were showing it up on a jumbo tron right by our seats. I was tracking the girls via the web on my phone so I knew the whole time where they were, what their pace was and when to expect them to come in.

It was like being at the Olympics when the elite athletes starting coming in. The women's race was the closest race they have ever had at the Boston Marathon.

At the 30K mark Sherry and Jennifer weren't together anymore. Sherry was a few minutes behind then the site kept crashing so I couldn't see where she was for the 35K and 40K mark. Then I heard the announcer say Jennifer's name over the loud speaker so I knew she was in right at 3:30. She got her PR and did exactly what she wanted - it was awesome. Then I started to worry about where Sherry was. I saw her come in a few minutes later (3:38) and I could tell she wasn't feeling great. But I also knew it would be almost impossible to find her in the sea of runners all covered in the same foil blanket. The announcer said Team Hoyt would be coming in soon and I really wanted to see them cross the finish line so I was hanging out for a few more minutes and then I just knew I had to go find Sherry so I left and started walking down to the buses where the runners picked up their stuff. Somehow I found Sherry getting dressed and she came over to where I was and climbed over the barricade and wanted something warm to drink because she was still so cold. So we went into Starbucks and I bought 2 hot chocolates. Then on our way out her legs got completely stiff and she started to pass out so I grabbed a guy next to us and had him carry her back to the main area to get a medic. We got her in a wheelchair and took her to the Medical Tent. I wasn't supposed to be in there, but it was obvious I wasn't letting her out of my sight so they let me go in with her. The medical volunteers were amazing. They took great care of her. They said she was dehydrated and gave her a full IV bag before they would let her out. While she had the drip in she told me to go find Jennifer. Which stressed me out because I really didn't want to leave her. Jennifer didn't have a phone but she borrowed one and got a hold of her husband who called Sherry's phone and got a hold of me and he told me where she was and I told him where we were. Then we crossed paths so she wasn't where I went to find her but we finally met up back at the medical tent. Where they wouldn't let me back in. Finally Sherry came out and looked 100 times better so we headed back to the hotel. It was such an emotional day but all was well.

I am completely amazed at what incredible athletes were there. I am so inspired by what they did. I have always looked up to Sherry and now I do even more. It was so fun to be there with her and so fun to get to know her friends and to get to be a part of the Boston Marathon.

Dick Hoyt


Sherry and Jennifer with their numbers

The volunteers getting all the post race stuff ready

The crowd on Boylston St.

After the race

On our way home from the race.
Sherry came out of the medical tent with her foil warming blanket tied around her head to keep the body heat in. It was hilarious so we had to take a picture.

Flashback Friday

In honor of the big race this weekend I'm flashing back to some of the races that have motivated me the most.

Pacific Crest Half-Marathon 2007

Sherry and I
Somehow I let Sherry talk me into doing this race. To date this is the furthest I've ever run (13.1 miles). The race was beautiful and fun and I felt great the entire race. When I had about 1/4 mile left I heard Sherry cheering me on and then she jumped in and helped me pick it up for my finish. I love this picture of us together. Sherry is my idol so having this picture of us together is very motivational for me. The race was in Sunriver Oregon which was so much fun. The day of the race I wanted to just lay on the couch crashed but instead Sherry made us all get on beach cruiser bikes and go to the pool, and into town and all over the place. We rode those crazy bikes everywhere. We didn't want to take the whole family so just Tayson and I went. We rode there with my mom and home with David and Kami. It was the craziest road trip. Tayson was hilarious. He wanted his pillow out of the trunk on the way home and kept telling me to climb back to get it and that he would watch for police. Then he said he was just going to look at the mountains. Until finally he fell asleep. It was such a fun trip - I want to go back and do that race again sometime - maybe next year.

Spudman 2001

Sherry, Heidi and I
This was the first competitive event I did since high school. Sherry talked Heidi and I into signing up for the race and then Heidi and I trained our hearts out. We did the race on our brand new mountain bikes (what was I thinking). When we told Brandon we were doing the race he asked what our goal was and we both said that we just didn't want to be last. He got such a kick out of that and said he was really going to laugh when we were trying to out race each other to the finish line so we wouldn't be last. We were both smack dab in the middle .... no where near last!

Now off to make more memories in Moab with my awesome workout buddies.

Happy Birthday Sherry

Today is my big sisters birthday. I have posted so many times about her because so much of who I am is from being her younger (but not smaller) sister. I have SO many great childhood memories of Sherry.

**This picture is of my Grandma Giboney with Sherry and I when I was a brand new baby**

Here are a few of my all time favorites:

Christmas Presents: When Sherry and I were in high school (her senior year my sophomore year) we decided to buy each other presents. In our family we draw names and only get 1 sibling a present (there are just way too many of us to buy for everyone) but we decided on our own to get each other something. Sherry kept talking about how excited she was to share the present she was buying me and led me to believe that she was buying me a sweet new jean mini skirt. I was STOKED! So I spent a big chunk of my babysitting money at Dillard's and bought her a Liz Claiborne wallet. Christmas morning came and we opened our presents. Sherry loved her wallet and when I opened my present to my utter surprise it was NOT the sweet mini I was hoping for but the Dirty Dancing cassette tape.

Money: One time we were riding home and I was on the back of the banana seat bike with her when I spotted a $20 bill on the side of the road. Sherry came to a VERY fast stop and we skidded out on the cinder (little black very sharp rocks instead of salt for snowy roads that took forever to wash away in the spring). I went flying off the bike and scraped up my knees and face pretty good. Sherry kept the $20 since she was "older" and I think she still owes me $10!

Sherry is my idol!!! If you know her you know that she truly is AMAZING and can do EVERYTHING. I am so grateful for the influence she has been in my life and continues to be even though we live way too far apart.


My First Triathlon with Sherry and Heidi.
I never would have done anything this crazy without Sherry.



Sherry and I finishing my first half-marathon. Once again something I NEVER would have done without her influence. (btw...she had been finished a long time and came back to cheer me on and run me in the last 400 meters)

St. George Marathon

This weekend I went to St. George with my parents, Timmy and Sophie to watch Sherry run in the St. George marathon. We left mid-morning Friday and got there around 3:00 PM. Sophie was great and we didn't have to stop once.

Sherry was AWESOME!!! It's really no wonder why she's my idol. She has been nursing a hip injury the past few weeks so my mom went into full doctor mode and worked on her forever Friday night after dinner. The race was cold and rainy so I didn't take very many pictures. Sherry said it was perfect running weather, but not the best for spectators. Rain or shine we were there to cheer her on! Her goal was to finish in 3:45 to qualify for Boston next year and she told us she was going to run with the 3:40 or 3:30 pacers. We showed up at about 3:15 to be there on time - good thing too because she came cruising in fast at 3:26!!!


Here she is coming in very strong. Look at her knees that's how you can tell she's feeling good - no shuffle!



My mom and dad worked hard to get an ice bath at the finish of the race. My mom borrowed a kiddie pool then my dad got some bags of ice on the way to the race. In order to fill it with water my dad was taking a big trash bag and filling it with water from the drinking fountain - talk about dedication.
Even in the freezing cold Sherry sat down in her ice bath, all wrapped up with a warm cup of peppermint tea. People looked at her like she was CRAZY! But it worked so well, she wasn't even limping the rest of the day. We would see people who did the race and you could pick them out so easily because of the "shuffle" but Sherry was walking so normal. I'm not sure if I would be able to sit in an ice bath though.



Timmy, Danny and Ethan - the cheerleaders!


We are hoping to do it next year - Sherry, Danny and I (not running together of course, I could never keep up with those two). Hopefully we can get in.

Wanna join us?

Flashback Friday

This is a picture of Sherry and I in 1973. I absolutely LOVE the difference in our hair at 2 years apart. I cannot believe how bald I was. I am so glad that both of my girls have hair.

Sherry and I are pretty much the same age difference as Claire and Sophie. I won't say it was always easy, especially since I was the younger of the two. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love having a sister so close in age, we have so many great memories together. I hope that Sophie can look up to Claire for inspiration the same way I have always had Sherry. She sets the bar high and is absolutely amazing. I owe so much to you Sherry - thanks for always being the best at everything you did!!!

Stuart Falls

This week has been a blast with Sherry and her kids here. We have gone on fun outings everyday. We went to Thanksgiving point to the Farm, to the pool yesterday and decided to hike to Stuart Falls today. The last time I did that hike was probably about 10 years ago with a BYU ward. Boy was I mistaken when I described it as a short and very easy hike.

Sherry, my mom, my dad and I took the following kids Sophie (4 weeks), Roman (3 months), Claire (2), Luke (almost 4), Audrey (almost 5), Tayson (almost 6), Bruce (8) and Emma (10). As you can see the adults were very outnumbered. We started out with Sherry carrying Roman in a front wrap and Emma carried Sophie up to the top in the front wrap. I had Claire on my back in a hiking pack and the other kids were walking. It's 2 miles each way and the path wasn't very wide and was covered with lots of rocks and tree stumps. Needless to say, Audrey and Luke took several falls and were covered in dirt and not happy campers. Sherry ended up carrying Audrey and Roman most of the way down. I forced Luke to walk down since I had Sophie in the wrap on the way down and my awesome dad carried Claire on his shoulders part of the way up and all the way down.

I guess I was in better shape 10 years ago and had no idea how hard it is for little kids to hike! Good thing Sherry and my parents are patient and extremly tough!


Emma and Sophie


Sherry and Roman


Audrey - look at her dirty little face


Most of the hikers taking a quick break at the top.

Flashback Friday

Senior year 1990. Need I say more? I've put in all three outfit changes too just for even more laughs.


The serious look with sweet MC Hammer pants and nice big hair.


Check out the bracelets, swatch watch, shoulder pads, crazy earrings, and the sweet CTR ring on my pinkie finger (yep the green one)and it's not pictured but I had on sweet acid wash Guess Jeans with the zippers at the bottom.


And of course the dressy picture. The best part about this picture is that once again I'm wearing hand-me-downs as you can see from Sherry's senior picture below. The best part is that at my Grandpa Schultz's house he had both of our dressy pictures hanging up side by side.


Sherry's senior picture 1988.

Flashback Friday

My 5th Grade school picture.

Talk about a perm gone bad! I obviously didn't know how to fix my hair and my mom stopped trying to fix my hair for me at this point in life. I do remember that I wanted to pull my hair back so I could show off my brand new pierced ears. I have horrible teeth and tons of freckles too.

But the best part of this picture is the fact that I am wearing hand-me downs. I wore them my entire life being the second girl and exactly 2 years apart made the situation perfect. Here is proof that I have on hand-me-downs....Sherry's 6th grade school picture.

Flashback Friday

I was looking through old pictures last night for something to post today and there are so many great ones....I can't wait to just keep posting embarrassing pictures and stories about myself.


Kathy, Sherry, Amy

This picture is of me, my sister Sherry and my cousin Amy. When we lived in California we lived by Amy so we got to play with her a lot. Unfortunately, I was always the tag along with the "big girls" and could only play if they let me. This particular day they were playing dress up. Notice their sweet outfits and jewelry, I'm sure they had high heels on too. In order for me to play with them I had to wear my black leotard and a red bandanna and I was the slave to the princesses (Sherry and Amy of course). Obviously I didn't mind back then the fact that I didn't get to wear the "fancy" clothes as long as I had someone to play with. I'm guessing that I'm about 5 in this picture so it would have been around 1977.

Flashback Friday

I really miss running (and it will be at least 4-5 months before I can run again) so I thought I would do a flashback on the good old high school running days. I ran cross country my freshman and sophmore year then stopped to pursue my dancing career my junior and senior year....ha ha. I never thought I was very good since I was only 5th runner on our team in 1 big meet (Sectionals my sophmore year...and yippee I took 10th place). We had an amazing team and even won state my sophmore year, but I was the 7th runner so my place didn't even count. Oh well I still got to bask in the glory with the awesome girls I ran with. The funny part looking back is that I ran around a 6:00 min/mile and even beat that on a few of the faster courses...what would I give for that now!!!


Freshman Year.
I painted my nails just for this picture and the wind was blowing very hard that's why my hair is extra crazy on top.


Sophmore Year.
A few funny things about this picture - why am I holding my earring? Notice I am still missing some of my permanent teeth - it took braces for the last 2 to come in.


My sister Sherry. My running inspiration then and now. She is one fast runner. I tried to race her after her last baby was born I thought I could beat her since Tayson was a year old and Audrey was only 2 weeks old...but I still couldn't beat her. Oh well I still love running with Sherry!