Stuff that happens to me Chapter ???

Don't let the picture fool you. I just had the most random day of non-stop traveling chaos!--so much to the point that I HAVE to share it with everyone for the sake of the memory. I used to write posts called "stuff that happens to me" This story is one of those.

Back story:
About a month ago, I had a friend ask me if I would be interested in driving down to St. George with her for a race. I figured a 5K would be good for me, plus she wanted someone to go with her, so I agreed. I put it on my calendar, registered for the race, and was looking forward to it.

Two days ago, she decided her car was too old to drive that far, so she asked if I would drive my car instead. For the first time in my life, I said, "No" to something/someone. I haven't slept in days, I'm stressed to the max with work right now, I've been traveling and busy non-stop for weeks and did I mention I haven't slept in days? I already struggle with Utah drivers as it is and dealing with holiday traffic- my fatigue was unsafe. I simply didn't want to do it. I don't let others drive my car, so that wasn't an option either.

So to make a long chaotic story short, instead of driving down for the race, I suggested that we fly. After all, I get cheap plane tickets and could get one for her as well. It would cost the same as gas. It would just be a matter of playing the stand-by game. We went back & forth the past two days trying to figure things out and last night finally decided we would just rent a car from SLC and still drive.

TODAY's Events-
My uncle called this morning and told me the 3pm flight out of SLC was pretty open. We should try that first, and then if we didn't make it on, we could just rent a car from the airport. I called the friend, left the suggestion on her voicemail and then I had to go and run an activity at work.
Let's just say the texts back & forth all morning hadn't been friendly. She was annoyed with my inability to make up my mind and I was annoyed with the plan being changed in the first place. I didn't have time to talk about it anymore, so I told her to make the decision because I was tired of thinking about it. (I'm serious when I say I haven't slept in days)

When I got back from the activity, I had a text telling me she had found someone else to take her. What the?! yeah. She figured I was going to bail on her so she made plans without me. (Obviously she still doesn't know me well enough yet to know that when I say I'm going to do something- I'm gonna do it!). So I was pretty hurt, but luckily this is the kind of friend that I can be honest with and tell her I'm mad when I'm mad and we can still be friends (I think).

So we decided I would just finish work at Noon and then hop on the 3pm flight and meet them in St. George. She was still totally invited to join me in flight, but not wanting to deal with airport security, etc she still opted for the long route (Which, as a frequent flyer, that made NO sense to me) but whatever. We're all different. So this is what my day looked like today:

I got off work at 12:45pm instead of Noon. I had to attend an end-of-year luncheon with the 2 teachers from work. One of them had invited the other 2 of us to her home for lunch. I had no idea her home was in South Sandy. I left work, went home and literally THREW stuff in a bag (luckily I still hadn't unpacked from my last weekend's trip to California) and headed to Sandy. I arrived at the 1pm luncheon at 1:45pm. To be honest-I never should have gone. I shoveled the food down, said thank you and left her house at 2pm. Remember, the flight left at 3pm. By some miracle, I got to the airport at 2:25pm. I don't speed, so I have no idea how that happened besides the I-215 belt route was amazingly empty. I parked my car in the economy lot and jumped on the shuttle to the terminal. I noticed that if I was parked there less than 1 hour, I wouldn't have to pay. Not a bad deal for a standby passenger. It took 10 minutes to ride the stupid bus and after asking an agent if it was too late for me to check-in (thinking of the 30 minute check-in requirement) She assured me that with just a carry on bag, I was fine. So I checked in at 2:35. There was NO ONE in the security line and I zoomed over to the E terminal for the flight to St. George. I couldn't believe I had made it with that much time to spare. Seats start to be given to standby passengers usually 10 minutes before departure. It was 2:40 when I sat down within earshot of the gate agent. People were just barely starting to board and since the plane only holds 30 people in the first place-it didn't take long to board everyone. Suddenly I could see the agent was getting kinda nervous about something. There was a man standing there with his small suitcase and the agent told him it was too late for him to board. Because the plane is so small, all luggage is checked plane-side and stored below. They stop allowing people to board 10 minutes before take off so they can have the luggage compartment shut. (I'd never heard of this before and wondered how this would effect standby passengers). I waited patiently, as always, and then the gate agent shut the door and the "BOARDING ALL ZONES" sign changed to "CLOSED." I asked if any standbys had been assigned seats and he said, "Yes, all of them. Are you Tiffanie?" WWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTT?! I just smiled to myself (already knowing what he was going to say next). He said he had called my name and then went ahead and gave my seat away. So pretty much in those 5 minutes between when I officially checked in, to when I got to the gate, he had called my name AND given my seat away, even though people were barely lined up to board when I got there at 2:40pm??? Whatever. I just said thank you and walked away politely-and even more exhausted. I figured I'd head back to my car and go home for a bit before trying again for the 4:55pm flight.

So I took the shuttle back to the parking lot. I got off the bus, walked over to my car excited to see I was going to beat the clock without having to pay since it was still under 60 minutes. I even had about 10 minutes to spare. That's when I reached for my keys and realized I had already taken them out of my purse and had placed them down on the bus seat next to me, as I was gathering my bags. The bus had already pulled away, but by golly I went running after it!!! No luck. It was gone. I went to the nearest stop and sat down about to cry thinking, "Seriously? Can today get any crazier?" The next bus came by, radioed the previous bus' driver and sure enough-someone had turned in my keys found on the seat. I was told she'd be circling around again so I could just wait at the stop for her. Five buses and 20 minutes later, my keys were back in my hand. But by then, I was already paying for a day's worth of long term parking, so I just got back on the bus to go back to the terminal for the 4:55 flight instead. The bus driver said, "Weren't you going to your car?" I felt so stupid when I had to say, "I WAS, but now I'm actually heading back to the terminal again." While on the bus, I went to take my parking ticket out, curious about the time and guess what... I couldn't find it. SHOCKER. I knew exactly where I had put it, because after writing the parking spot # on it, I specifically remember thinking "Don't put it there-you'll never remember it's there." But then responding with, "Yes you will." Well... it wasn't there. I just shook my head and tried to remind myself of Elder Wirthlin, "Tiff-Come what may and love it."

So I went to check in on the kiosk for a new boarding pass and it wouldn't recognize my pass #. Ummm since when? So I went to the counter to check-in and it was the same lady from before. She recognzied me right away and said, "You were able to check in last time, weren't you?" Again, I felt stupid, not knowing how to explain what had happened, because to be honest I still didn't understand it myself. She checked me in for the 4:55pm flight and said "Well it's too bad things didn't work out for you on the 3pm flight. The 4:55pm flight is oversold, but you never know so good luck." It was 3:45pm. I took a potty stop and figured I'd use my time to search my purse for my missing ticket. So there I was in a chair with ALL of the items of my purse dumped on the floor. I went through everything-twice- and it was NOT there. Whatever. I decided I'd just deal with it when it actually came time to pay. I pulled out my Delta pass card, to see if maybe the magnetic strip was getting worn and that's when I found the parking ticket-in the card section of my wallet..NOT AT ALL where I had put it. Did I mention I haven't slept much lately? I got to the gate at 4pm and called my sister-in-law, Amy, who just got back from India. It's nice to be able to just call her up again and chat! OK so again, I sat within ear shot of the gate agent and just waited. I watched and listened every time they would make an announcement. The only annoucement they ever made was for us to change boarding gates from E85 to E79. So I moved along with everyone else. It was getting closer to time, and to be honest- I had never NOT wanted to get on a flight so mch in all my life. I just wanted to go home and sleep and secretly I was hoping I could do my good deed for the day and just offer my seat to the standby passenger below me in seniority. Well, I never heard them say ANYTHING about standbys so I figured they really were oversold. The gate agent called the names of 2 people who appeared to be standbys and were traveling together. He gave them seat assignments and they went through the door. He shut the boarding door behind them, which is pretty much the signal for flight "CLOSED." He started typing on his computer and suddenly went RUSHING back out the door toward the two girls and brought them back. My first thought was, "Oh no. I bet he gave one of them my seat by mistake and now has to split them up and send me due to the seniority issue." I decided if that was the case, I would just give up my seat so they could stay together. Well, that wasn't the case. I have no idea what was going on, but the 2 girls were told they could go ahead and board after all. Ok? I still just stood there. By now it was 5:05pm. Weird. Still not a word about standbys. Hmmm? Well the agent was typing and started working on his next flight. The St. George flight was gone, so I just made my way back to my car. No major drama on the actual exit this time. I came home, actually somewhat relieved to have a weekend to rest. At 6:20pm my uncle called me and said, "Hey I just saw that you landed. I'll be there in about 5 minutes to pick you up." My response was "HUH?! Landed? I'm not on the plane." He said, "The computer says you got on. In fact it says you were sitting in seat 8A."

What in the world? So basically if anything had happened to that plane...I would have been on the dead list when in reality I was sitting at my house eating ice cream. Wow- how comforting. It's obvious that for whatever reason-I'm not supposed to be in St. George this weekend!

So back to my story...

about how age doesn't matter...

Ok, so here it is:

It is ridiculous how long it has taken me to write this. So you got the background story about Debbie, so now off we go to California!!! I'll mostly just explain through pictures.

This was me, anxiously waiting for our ride to the airport outside my house here in SLC. (I was excited and eager to go!)

We flew into the Orange County airport Friday afternoon. I know this is sterotyping, but how could I not laugh seeing this as soon as we walked outside the airport?

Greg picked us up and we headed off to meet up with Laura at her work carnival. Laura was pretty much my best friend on my mission. We once figured out that we were in the mission together for 14 months. For 9 of those 14 months we were either companions, in the same zone or lived together. Needless to say, I love her a lot! Some of my greatest mission memories are from times spent with Hermana Redford!

Greg and Laura dated for a solid amount of time before they got married in 2007, so I've known Greg for awhile now. He's hilarious! Things get pretty crazy when he and I are in the same room. Laura often just ends up shaking her head at the two of us and our random energy.

So Greg & Laura have been married for 2 years already, and I hadn't seen them since their wedding! (Which was just weird, considering I used to visit them about every 4-6 months). It was great to be with them again.

We spent that first evening spray painting kids' hair at Laura's work carnival, then hurried over to her sister, Katie's birthday party where I, of course, performed my crazy birthday dance for the Redford family. (Good thing they've known me for so many years-I have no shame).

Day 2- Saturday: We were excited to go to Newport Beach. It was HOT outside! Laura borrowed her Mom's convertible and we felt pretty cool driving through the OC with the top down!

Once we got closer to the beach, however, we realized the marine layer was causing a serious chill and it was NOT WARM! In fact, we stuck around for less than an hour because we were all freezing. None of us even got close to the water. We mostly hid under towels to keep warm and finally left. We went to the neighborhood pool by Laura's parents' house back "inland" instead. It was fun to bask in the sunshine for a few hours and then end the evening by initiating Debbie with her first In N Out experience. Always a treat!

Day 3: We went to church in the morning, and then strolled through the streets of downtown L.A. (Hollywood walk of fame) in the afternoon.

Day 4: DISNEYLAND!!!!

It was, of course, Debbie's first time, which made it even more magical!

I pretty much resort to acting like a small child whenever I am at Disneyland because I love it THAT much! The ride operators always look at me funny because I always make sure to inform them that "Hey... I'm so excited!" I guess I've been right all along "AGE DOESN'T MATTER!"

Age doesn't matter-part 2

In the months after my 4 days in England, Debbie and I remained friends. We sent packages back & forth to each other with American or English goodies and we stayed in touch through email and instant messenger. Within a few months, Jazz had started dating someone (his now wife, Rohaise) and before too long, my friendship and communication with Debbie was closer and more frequent than with her brother.
*FLASHBACK*
A year later, Debbie came to visit Utah in July 2007. She came to attend BYU's Young Ambassadors camp for a week in Provo. Once that ended, Debbie and I hit the open road together...well the open air was more like it. We flew to Kansas City and stayed with my family for a couple of days. We took her to her first major league baseball game at Royals stadium, providing her with quite the "All American" experience (hot dog and all!)
We visited the local church history sites in the Missouri area.

Then went to Nauvoo, IL with my parents to see the Nauvoo pageant.

From Kansas City, our next stop was supposed to be Palmyra, NY to meet up with my brother, Kevin, who had already arrived there on a flight. The standby game, however, didn't work out so well for Debbie and me that time. We spent an entire day in the Kansas City airport trying to get out, and it just wasn't happening. So long story short, Kevin ended up touring the sites in upstate New York alone (sad), while Debbie and I changed our plans and headed straight to New York City instead. We stayed with a friend of mine from BYU and made our way around NYC, doing all of the normal touristy things.(Empire State building, Central park, Broadway, etc)

Eventually we went to see a Broadway musical (our main purpose for going to NYC). We saw "The Drowsy Chaperone." We both agreed it was witty and well written, but as far as Broadway MUSICALs go-we rated it as just "ok."

Deb returned to England directly from NYC. We stayed friends throughout the whole year (thanks to facebook), and in the fall of 2008 Debbie moved to Provo to attend BYU as a freshman!

Throughout this past school year, I'd make frequent stops to Deb's place in Provo (Sometimes we had tickets to see a show together, but usually I'd pop in for the most random and unplanned reasons). Bottom lne-we have always remained great friends! When people see us together, no one would ever know we're 10 years different in age. I'm not sure which of us is credited for acting older or younger than we are, but I'd say we meet well in the middle and ALWAYS have fun together. (and so far, our actual ages STILL haven't mattered).

Well, being the traveling team that we are, it has been my goal to be the one to "show Deb America." So for her 19th birthday back in December, I told her I wanted to be the one to take her to Disneyland for her first time. We were both excited, but the timing for both of us to go didn't work out until May. The month of May finally arrived and away we went!

Just FYI-Age doesn't matter-part 1!

I have a friend named Debbie. "Flashing back...Part 4" will be all about my adventure with her to California, however, before I write part 4, it is probably important for you to know the following story as background, since everyone always asks how Debbie and I know each other. (and even if you don't think it's important- I want to tell it anyway...

Debbie is from England, the Manchester area to be exact. Her brother, Jared (AKA "Jazz") and I served our missions together in Madrid, Spain.

*BACKGROUND STORY*
I was a brand new missionary (GREENIE as I like to call 'em) in the small little village of Alcazar de San Juan. It was October of 2001. My trainer was Hermana Meryhew. Elder Moss and Elder Lemmon were the Elders there with us at the time. It was good times to say the least! Yes, it was just the four of us in this incredibly small pueblo out in the middle of no where in La Mancha. The Elders were also the zone leaders (FANTASTIC zone leaders!), So I was spoiled to be "born" into an amazing district of exemplar missionaries. As a greenie, I was ridiculously crazy, naive and excited and the three of them (all being relatively "old" missionaries) got a big kick out of my energy, innocence and insanity. To me- they always were my original mission "family" and my heart broke when one by one, each of them finished their missions and went home within my first 6 months. We did well to stay in touch with each other and they were great "parents" to support me throughout my time in Spain.

Alyssa (Meryhew) obviously holds the title of my mission "Mom," (since she was my trainer), but I always had a hard time deciding which Elder to call my "Dad" since, as zone leaders, neither was the official district leader of the 4 of us (or at least not that I knew of). Well, Alyssa made my decision-making very easy for me when about half way through my mission I received a tape from her, telling me that she and Elder Lemmon (Nate) had started dating out in Provo. AAAhhhh! I screamed for probably an hour straight, but in reality it wasn't a HUGE shock, since we all had been such good friends all along. The main surprise was mostly because no one saw it coming. They were truly "just friends" on the mission. We all were! I was there and I can swear there was no funny business going on! In fact, one day we were walking down the street, and in talking about Elder Lemmon's energy, Alyssa had said to me, "He'll be a great Dad, but wow do I feel sorry for his wife!" So long story short-Nate Lemmon & Alyssa Meryhew were married in December 2003. (This is a recent picture of them...NOT an engagement photo from back then)


March 2006- Nate & Alyssa were planning their return trip to Spain. They decided to stop in England on the way and visit Elder Moss. Knowing I have flight benefits through family, Alyssa called me and asked if I wanted to join them in England later that week. HOT DOG! I was on a plane 4 days later, to meet them all in London. My plane landed first, Elder Moss (Jared/Jazz) picked me up and we drove around the city for an hour or so until Nate & Alyssa's plane landed. The "family" was back together again, over 5 years later!

We were in England for 4 days:
Day 1- We arrived, took an open bus tour around London, ate real fish & chips and went to a football (soccer) match in Charlton.

Day 2-We went to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Alyssa & Nate wandered the city while Jazz took me to a matinee of the musical "Fame."

That evening we all headed off for a Young Single Adults conference. (Nate & Alyssa loved laughing at Jazz and me at the YSA conference, for the fact that we still had to play the games that come with being single).
Day 3-We watched Jazz's YSA football match in the morning, headed off to tour Warwick Castle, stopped in the rain at Stratford-Upon-Avon (see picture of Shakespeare's birthplace)

and arrived at the Moss Family's house in Congleton, Cheshire, England that evening.

THAT is when I met 16 yr old Debbie.

Jazz had always told me he could see his little sister and I becoming great friends, mostly because of our mutual love of musical theatre. I never expected, however, to actually become great friends with her. How would that ever happen? First of all-she lived in England and secondly, she's 10 years younger than me.

Day 4- We attended church, had some time with the family, Jazz's BFF came over and they threw out the idea for all of us to go on a "Sunday stroll." We agreed and this is where they took us:

Our "stroll" ended up taking us to the top of this rock mound and it was a gorgeous HIKE! The rocks, however, were completely slimy and I had successfully slipped, fallen and pretty much bathed myself in moss and mud by the time we were finished. Everyone was thoroughly entertained. During this "Sunday stroll" is when Deb and I had lots of time to chat, laugh, get super dirty, and become great friends-just as Jazz always suspected.

Flashing back...part 3

So I just realized that part 3, actually happily combines parts 1 & 2 of my "Flashing Back" saga. I hope you've been keeping up.

A couple of weeks after the passing of Matt's Mom, I received an email at work from the county's Healthy Lifestyles program. It listed a whole bunch of upcoming fitness events throughout Utah. One in particular caught my eye. The Susan G. Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure happening Mother's Day weekend. I DEFINITELY wanted to participate!

I thought it would be cool to put a team together with some of my friends, in memory of Matt & Heather's Mom. Surprisingly, most of the people I know who usually participate in these events, showed very little interest were not the ones to respond to the offer. My simple idea for a handful of us to run together soon turned into an amazing out pour of reunion, love and support for Matt & Heather. It was overwhelming!

I told Heather's husband about my "secret plan," mentioning to him I didn't want Heather & Matt to know, however, I would need someone's help to contact extended family members about donating to the team goal of raising $500. He was shocked and super excited about the whole idea, and knowing she would want to be a part of it- he convinced me to tell Heather. Of course, as soon as she found out, she booked a plane ticket from her home in Texas to be here in Salt Lake City with us that weekend. With Heather's help, I was able to contact their Mom's siblings scattered throughout Utah & Idaho, as well as many of her friends from the school district where she had worked for many years and retired just last year back home in Olathe, Kansas. Other than reaching the $500 donation goal, our real #1 goal, was to keep the whole thing a secret from Matt, and somehow get him to join us in Salt Lake City that weekend. It was Heather's job to get him there, and it was everyone else's job to keep it a surprise for him.

Heather mentioned to Matt that she wanted to be with him for their first Mother's Day without their Mom. He offered to just fly to Texas for that weekend, but she mentioned she wanted to "get away" and requested Salt Lake City as the destination. Having just been in Utah weeks previously for the burial, Matt was not particularly interested in returning to the Wasatch front any time soon. Because of his hesitation, Heather cracked a little bit and told him, "Matt, you're not allowed to ask any questions, but we need to be in Salt Lake that weekend." His first reaction was, "Does this have something to do with Tiffanie?" Heather reminded him that that was a question, and told him to just book the plane ticket and be excited.

Because Matt has known me pretty much our whole lives, he knew to just go with it and not ruin my fun. (He told Heather I probably had tickets for us all to see the musical "Wicked" or something).

"Or something" was right. Little did Matt know what was coming, but Heather and I were EXCITED!!! I picked them both up from the airport late Friday night and when we got back to my house, we broke the news to Matt by having him open a box. Inside the box was his Race for the Cure t-shirt, bib number, "In memory" card, and a list of 95people who had donated to his Mom's team. As a team, we successfully raised over $2600, with 27 people actually participating with "Team Barbara Ellett Family & Friends" on race day. It was AWESOME! The whole experience of the day was extremely moving. I highly recommend participating in it to everyone! Here are some pictures from the day:
Heather pinning my "In Memory" card on, as we waited for TRAX to take us downtown

Matt & Heather:

The rest of the team:


17 of the 27 people there for our team:

These guys were hilarious! They were all roommates and had come up with this "cheerleader" idea one night in their apartment. Apparently they planned to travel around the country to all of the local "Race for the Cures" to support from the sidelines. Their booty says "Chonis for ChiChis" (which basically means: "Undies for boobies")

This was just a small part of the survivors parade. It was incredibly emotional to watch the survivors (wearing pink) march in according to their amount of years they've been in remission.


The survivors all gathered together, "Amazing Grace" was performed from the grand stand, a moment of silence was had for all of those who have passed away, and about 40 white doves were released from amidst the survivors in memory of them. (Yes-There WAS a dove reserved in their Mom's memory) It was really cool!


Many people on the team were friends of ours who had grown up with the Ellett family in Kansas, however, there were also many of my local friends who were total strangers to them. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of time, energy, donation and support so many of you showed for people you didn't even know! Thank you!

I worked with Brittney's Mom for years at the MTC. Britt is pretty much my surrogate "little sister" here in Utah. I've known her since she was 8 yrs old.


I work with Tammy & Kelly here in Salt Lake City


Emily & I worked together at Heritage in Provo, and Valoree & Amy are in my ward here in SLC.


It was definitely a Mother's Day weekend never to be forgotten!

Flashing back... part 2

Sorry for the delay. I know we're flashing back to March at this point, but it's just now getting to where I actually don't mind writing about it.

On the morning of Sunday March 29th, my lifelong best friend, Matt, lost his Mother, Barbara Ellett.
Matt had done a beautiful job with the set-up/decorations for the viewing. Because his Dad had passed away in 2002, Matt already knew how his Mom wanted things for a viewing. (Not to mention she had been in the stake relief society presidency for 10 years, 7 of which she was the president until just a couple of years ago.) It was something she had often done for others, and was really good at it too! I'm sure she would have been proud of Matt's work. It was good to see Matt & his sister, Heather. I was amazed as I would watch them. Matt was awesome. He graciuosly greeted everyone with hugs, a smile, laughter and expressions of sincere gratitude for them being a part of his Mom's life.



Thursday was the actual funeral. It was amazing! I was honored to be invited as a "family member" to participate in the family prayer and sit with the family during the service. Matt only has the one older sister, and only a couple of aunts and uncles made it out to Kansas, so it was really special to be able to "join the family" for the day. I'm grateful Matt and I were able to share that experience together. Matt spoke, paying a beautiful tribute to his Mom and the whole thing was just perfect.

After the funeral, we had a luncheon at the Linebacks house. (Who had been Matt & his Mom's hometeacher for many years). With over 100 pictures taken throughout everything, this is the only one I'm actually in. (Matt and I are talking to his aunt & uncle at the luncheon). Matt and I got a good laugh at my "absence" from the camera, and call this one PROOF that I really was there.


I was supposed to fly back out to Salt Lake that afternoon, but Matt asked me if it'd be possible for me to stay another day and help him around the house with some things. What a blessing to fly standby-of course, I stayed to help.

Friday, we spent the whole day at the house getting flower arrangements organized to be dried, running errands, and all kinds of ins & outs that go along with a funeral. It was a perspective I've never experienced before (and hope to not have to see for a VERY VERY long time!). But it was still a day full of lots of laughter, and teasing to go with it. (it wouldn't be Matt & Tiffanie if he didn't give me a hard time about SOMETHING). I love that guy!

Saturday, Matt & Heather headed to Utah, I stayed in Kansas an extra day to spend some time with my parents, and then flew back to Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon, immediately driving to Logan, UT that evening to attend the next day's burial.

Monday- We had a short service at the funeral home, then headed to the cemetery, where Matt spoke one more time, we sang a hymn and then dedicated the grave. The whole day was beautiful! The weather was PERFECT as well! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.



We had another luncheon afterwards, and it was so fun for Matt and me to have Bishop Crockett there with us. (He was our Bishop back when we were youth in the Olathe 3rd ward).

I really love the headstone, especially where it has Matt & Heather as their "children forever."



The whole week (and week/months after) have been a bittersweet reminder to me of the beauty and precious nature of life, family and love. I am grateful for having Matt in my life since we were 7 yrs old and for our friendship through the good, the bad, the happy and sad.

Flashing back... in 4 parts

In an effort to catch you up on my life since March, I figured I'd get to crackin' on writing some blog posts. I agree. It's been awhile. So here we go:

Part 1: "I should have known!"

As many of you, my friends and readers, know, I have a sticker chart of goals for 2009. One of those goals was to finish a half marathon. I started conditioning myself back in December and officially started my 12 week training in February, to join my oldest brother, James and run the Parkway River half marathon in Sacramento, California on May 2nd.

I stayed super dedicated to my training. I never missed a day and some days I actually did two workouts due to my responsibilities at work keeping me so actively busy. I felt great! I even had a mini sticker chart for my training schedule. (For some reason stickers really motivate me). I bought new shoes with James while I was in CA for my birthday in February and purchased some running attire with his assistance as well.

I've always hated running, but because I was so consistant about doing it, it wasn't as painful as usual, until one day my knee started hurting. Well, it wasn't exactly my knee actually. It was more the inner area just to the medial side of my knee. I ignored it. I actually continued to ignore it for 6 weeks and well into March, assuming I was just a wuss.

I went on vacation for a few days in March and decided to let my body rest during that time instead of running, cycling, swimming, etc. When I got back home and back to the gym, I was in worse pain than ever before! Rest shouldn't cause pain, so I knew something wasn't right.


I went to a sports medicine doctor who bent my leg in every which way and I felt stupid when nothing hurt. At one point he ran his finger along my knee cap and I about jumped off the table. The Xrays showed my knee cap was shifted to the left and with me working it so much, it was wearing down the cartilage and essentially was becoming bone rubbing bone. Gross! and ouch! I was told no running for 6 weeks, no half marathon on May 2nd and I needed to start physical therapy at least twice a week.

So that's exactly what I did. Let it be known that I was sad sad sad, which totally surprised me. My spirits were kicked down and I was beyond bummed to have been so excited about doing this race and then BAM! I was out. It was discouraging to even go to the gym anymore because I was so limited in what I could do.

So I started seeing the physical therapist twice a week. What a team! They totally kicked my butt! They worked and strengthened pretty much every muscle in my legs and I was exhausted after every 2 hour + appointment.
After about 3 weeks, though, Ryan (click on the previous link if you're wondering who Ryan is)...Ryan was super confused as to why I was still having so much pain. He did a re-evaluation and quickly concluded the original pain was never actually my knee. Yes, the knee cap was shifted, but that was not actually causing me pain. That was just simply how my body has been my whole life-the cartilage was fine. It was my pes anserinus tendons that were causing me all the pain. My what? yeah. I had the same reaction. All I know is that it meant I'd be in physical therapy for 3 more weeks, only this time, focusing on the ACTUAL area of pain. RYAN and his team at Hand & Orthopedic are awesome! I highly recommend them!

So on Friday May 1st (The day before my should have been half marathon). Ryan told me I was allowed to try running again, meaning that after 6 weeks of physical therapy, I had officially graduated.

So I've returned to the gym and running outside, but only sometimes. The half marathon desire quickly went away, and I'd love to get it back, but I just have this feeling my body was not built to be a runner. "I should have known."