THE GREAT RACE

A few months before she passed away, my sister Ginger ran a 5K in the Great Race with the goal of getting in under 30 minutes. Her time was exactly 29:59:55. Her friend Tiffany said that Ginger had been great about cheering and encouraging everyone else running as well. She thought running in the Great Race this year would be a fitting tribute to her memory. She designed a shirt, and 72 other friends and family of Ginger joined. I was so glad to be able to make it to be there, just for that day. (If anyone has group shots with others, please let me know!)

This is something my brother (Jason Z.) wrote about Ginge, who was 30 years old when she passed away: "Ginge, you ran a great race and you finished at 30 (at least this leg of the race). You didn't let anyone hold you back, but you definitely helped countless others along your way. You broke the tape first in our family and we look forward to seeing you when we cross the line and giving you a huge Ginger-style victory hug on the other side of the finish line. Until then, we know you will be watching us, cheering us on."

This is all our family that either ran or came to support. Derek, Heidi + Don, Jace + Jen and I were able to fly in or drive down to be there. We missed the rest that couldn't make it, but they participated in their own ways. (Double click on the picture and it should show up clearer.)

Walking to the starting line.

"Happiness" was the title of Ginger's last family blog she posted. She added it the night before she passed away.

The back of the shirts simply said "gdc" . . . for Ginger Dee Clinton.

Jace C. ran a half marathon.

Rod, Derek, Jace Z., Dad, Don, Luke, Mark, Carson ?, Tyler?, Trevor, Brady, Jace C.

Before the race: Nat, Heids, Mom, Kate, me, Jen

I have to admit, once I realized that Dad had been ahead of me for a long time, a slight bit of competitiveness came out, and I did push myself a little. I was impressed that he never stopped running, though. I took a lot of walking breaks.
I was 19 weeks along, so I wasn't supposed to really train or push myself. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much better I could breathe down at sea level! My time was 31:09. Not great (quite a few minutes slower than my last one), but better than I expected.

Enjoying all the free food afterwards. Hmmmm, Great Harvest bread!

Nat started the rolling down the grassy hill. We were both itchy for the rest of the day. Monica and I had a good time with some hula hoops too. Have her demonstrate her trick for you sometime.

Rod came in first of all our family. Monica had an injury and couldn't run. (Probably would have beat us all if she could have!) But she stood a little ways away from the finish line to cheer us on and let us know that we could run full speed the rest of the way. That really helped!

Over 70 people ran the race in Ginger's memory. Here are some of them.

A trip home is never complete without dinner at Lalo's--home of the world's best chicken tacos ever! It was great to be with the family the whole day.
Mark, Kate, Monica, Rod

Jason C., Heidi, Don, Dad, Mom
Amber, Jason Z., Jen, Natalie, Trevor, Wendy

Virginia Here We Come!

The weekend before I went to California for the Great Race, Sam went to Virginia. (Yea, people were starting to wonder about us taking trips separately. Believe me, I would have much preferred that we could have both gone to both places together!) Virginia Tech flew him out to check out their grad program. (Yep, he's a smarty.)

Sam stayed with my sister Summer and her family. Ever since Murphy (Summer) and I realized Sam was looking into Virginia Tech (Clint is in med school out there), we've been careful not to get our hopes up too much. Every time Sam would say something leaning towards VT, I'd call her up and tell her the news, but warn her again not to get her hopes up, and I'd try not to get mine up either. How cool would that be if we ended up living in the same town all the way on the other side of the U.S.?

Clint, Lindy, Sum, Paige, Kaden

Sam didn't get any pictures of the campus activities, but he got this great shot of himself with Kaden.

This is Paige's little smiley smirk I've heard so much about that I can't wait to see in person!

Summer called me as soon as Sam was on the plane back to Utah and joked, "I just want you to know, I've prayed about it and fasted about it, and I feel really good about you guys moving out here." :) Turns out, after getting a better view of the program out there, Sam was feeling pretty good about it, but it wasn't until a week later (after we'd been praying and fasting about it for months) when I was in California that he told me on the phone that he wanted to go to Virginia Tech for sure. No need to convince me!

Exhausted

This has been one of Sam's heaviest semesters with 19 credits (three of those credits for being an ASCE student officer--BYU's chapter of a civil engineering association), getting ready to graduate and applying and figuring out what grad school to go to and what he wants to go into, and working 20 hours a week. Plus he's taken a two-day trip for a student leadership conference in San Francisco, a two-day trip to help Beth (his sister) drive and move out here, a three-day trip to Virginia Tech to see what they have to offer, and keeping up with all the usual church and family responsibilities and making time for me (and doing all the laundry, dishes, etc.). This is when I found him asleep while attempting to read one of his books. Isn't he cute?