DEAR DOG

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT!!!! It is because of you that I will never own a dog!

All I wanna do is train for my marathon in peace, just me and the road and my ipod screaming in my ear. I have had to change my long routes already because of two stupid dogs that chased me for miles and miles, barking at me as if I had violated some dog law.

On Wednesday I had to do an eight mile run. I have done this one several times and always use the same route on main streets. I was just past the five mile point when I had to take a detour into a neighborhood because of construction on the main road that I was supposed to run on. All of a sudden I was caught off guard by this small dog barking at my heels. I don't even know where the stupid thing came from. I did my usual routine when being chased by a dog, I ignored it and tried to keep running. I could tell it wasn't gonna give up, and I looked down at it just in time to hear a growl and see its mouth open with a serious look of "bite" in its eyes. There was no way I was gonna stop running cause that is just against my rules of running! As my right leg swung forward to continue my running, the dog opened even wider and then clamped down on me. I felt teeth hit me but luckily when I looked back down again, it had only managed to grab hold of my pants. I was so ticked off, both because this dumb dog was attacking me and because my run was being interrupted!! Now it was time for my leg to swing backwards and I used that to my advantage. I took a little bit of my stored energy and put it all down in my leg, swinging it back at full speed behind. As my leg struck the dog, it yanked its teeth and became unattached from my pants. It flew back a little bit and then stopped, dropped a chunk of my pants on the asphault and glared at me. I looked back, shocked that it had just tried to bite me and had successfully taken a chunk out of my pants, and glared back with an equally sinister look in my eye.


To this dogs owner: I will not be sad at all if your pet gets run over (or kicked or stepped on), but you might be, so why don't you be a responsible dog owner and chain it up or keep it inside!!

To the dog: You better watch out cause next time I pass you on the road it will not be a pleasant experience!

(This is the damage and the evidence)

Updates

Running Updates:

I am begining to think that I was completely foolish to have gotten myself into this mess. It is getting down-right hard! I don't know why I thought it would be much easier than it is?! Anyway here are my stats:

1. Weeks Training: 9

2. Miles Run: 203.65

3. Hours spent running the streets of Vernal: 33 hours (1,980 minutes)

4. Calories burned: 28,037

5. # of Runs: 35

6. Weight change: It's hard to tell. After my long runs I lose 5 pounds but then I gain it all back by the end of the day (I must be eating like a monster these days....) so overall, still the same

7. Longest run: 16 miles! and I almost died...literally... When I got home I could barely move and I got the cold sweats and felt like I was gonna vomit. Then my lips turned blue and Trisha got really scared. I thought it was cool but still a little concerning. I took a bath to warm up, drank water to rehydrate and ate some food. After a few hours my lips returned to their natural color and I'm still alive. I now need to come up with a plan so that I don't die on my next run, 18 miles, on Monday.

As hard as it is, I am getting so excited the closer I get to my goal. I know that the training is preparing me for race day and it will feel so good to cross the finish line!


Pregnancy Updates:

We are 17 weeks along and things are going really well (from my perspective). We are so excited to have a baby and as each day and week passes, we get even more excited! The baby is around 5 inches long and 5 ounces (says What to Expect When You're Expecting). Trisha is starting to show the begining stages of a baby bump which is good evidence that there really is a baby growin in there. We should find out in the next few weeks what type of baby we are going to have. Trisha wants a girl really bad but has strong feelings that it is a boy. I don't have a preference as to the sex, I just want a healthy baby. We are pretty sure we can feel the baby moving around in there a little bit and we, I mean I, can't wait til it's kicking all over the place.

*This reminds me of a funny story when my sister was pregnant with her first kid and we were walking home from church. We were talking and all of a sudden she dropped to the sidewalk. I guess the baby kicked her sciatic nerve. I laughed my face off and still laugh so hard everytime I think of it!

The joys of being pregnant from a mans perspective.

Church Update:

We have been in this ward in Vernal since we moved here in August and I never once complained that I didn't have a calling. Well, now I got one, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I have been called as a "Primary Worker" which means that I will be team teaching the CTR 6 class with two other guys in the ward. I think its fun cause I get to sit in primary and sing songs and play games and color and do other fun activities. However, I don't think its fun that kids these days have a serious lack of attention spans, they can't stay in their seats, they can't help but blurt out any and every story that pops into their head, they are always thirsty and always need to go to the bathroom. One of the primary boys told me that we need a craft during our lessons and after teaching last week I think he is right, the kids need some serious activity! It is going to be a challenge for me but I think it will be way fun too.

Work Update:

I still love my job! I am seriously troubled however by one particular gentleman who reminds me of the kid on Charlie Brown that carries around his blue blanket and a cloud of stink. Each day, at some point during my work day, I get this terrible smell in my nose that goes directly to my brain and initiates the vomit reflex. I look over and see this man sitting at the blood pressure machine. I go to the back of the pharmacy and only breathe when completely necessary and wait til he is gone. I then proceed to spray 1/2 of a can of Apple Spice and Delight Febreeze in order to mask the very strong aroma of campfire and urine. So my question is really this: Does it really get to a point where you cannot smell yourself? I just don't get it!!

That sums up my thoughts

Celebration

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

From our little baby coming August 2010!!!

Miles

I have reached a "mile"stone in my running. I have run 100 miles so far, 104.73 miles to be exact . It has taken me 35 days, 21 runs, and check it 17.25 hours to get there. I'm looking forward to the next 100 miles which should be done in only 3 weeks! Although I am really exhausted from all the running and look forward to days when it is not my main focus, I am so proud of myself. I am not at all the kind of person that would wake up early for anything, especially to go running at 6:00 am but I have found some inner strength and determination and I have been able to do it everytime I have needed to. I am also proud that not once have I stopped and walked during any of my runs. When my body tells me that I don't wanna or can't run any further, I tell it to shut up and keep on moving one leg at a time. That's how I get through every run, one leg at a time.

Stats Update

Yesterday was the end of my fourth week of training for the marathon and to help myself feel good about it I have tallied up my stats for the first 4 weeks.

Miles run: 76.58
Calories burned: 10,671
Weight change: 0 lbs.

I ran 10 miles yesterday and I feel like this is the start of the real training for me because it is about to get much harder than any running I have ever done. Good news is that I am 4 weeks down! Only 10 more to go!!

Running

It has been a long-time goal of mine to run a marathon and I always told myself that after I was done with school I would do it. I thought that working would allow me a more established schedule and more time to train. This is not true, of course. However, I woke up a few weeks ago determined and excited to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 17, 2009. I found all the information online and put together a training schedule for the next 15 weeks. The next morning was the first day of training. It was at 5:45am and the temperature was -6 degrees outside. I bundled up and went for it. Nothing is gonna stop me from running this race, not even the freezing cold of Vernal! Lots of my training can be done on my days off but I will probably have to wake up and run before work several times a week.

These are pictures that I took of myself this morning at 6:19am after I finished my run. It was wretched cold, but I keep pretty warm. I wear regular socks, soccer socks, two pairs of running pants, a long-sleeve thermal shirt, a hoodie, a rain coat, a winter coat and a beenie with a built in flanel mask! Most of my body remains warm, but some unfortunate parts do not. Usually my eyes water a lot cause its so cold. This causes ice formations in my eyelashes that continue to grow throughout the run. My nostrils and everything inside of them also freeze. My gloves, coat and beenie accumulate ice crystals. And because I run so early in the morning, I have to carry a small flashlight in my hand so that I can make oncoming traffic aware of my presence, if necessary.

The benefit of all of it is that I am going to accomplish an awesome goal of mine, I'm gonna be in shape, I'm gonna learn to get my butt out of bed and I'll have something to look forward to.


The other benefit is that after some of my runs and while I'm getting ready for work, I get to witness these awesome sunrises!

Get ready Salt Lake Marathon! 26.2 miles have nothing on freezing your face off!

Happy New Year 2010

Another awesome Sorenson Family Tradition that started a few years ago because we were all sick of New Year's Parties that never seemed to work out. We now have a family New Years party. This year we started early at 4:00pm so that we could have lots of time to play games and have fun before midnight. My mom always cooks the best prime rib ever and we eat stuffed mushrooms, mountain dew love (I think thats what its called) and lots of other delicious things! After dinner we start the games and the fun doesn't stop until the New Year (ask Trisha, who tried to take a short nap just before midnight, and got ridiculed by not only my siblings but also my nephews who love this tradition just as much as the rest of us). This year our games included guitar hero and some other wii games and a good game of Ticket To Ride that ended just before the new year. As the time gets close to midnight, we bust open the Martinelli's and prepare to make some noise and a big mess to celebrate the new year. We all stand in the family room of my parents house, we grab handfuls of confetti and we count down with the ball in New York. As the countdown hits zero, there is massive amounts of yelling and screaming and jumping and there is a storm of metallic confetti flying everywhere possible!! After that the confetti fights start. I may be to blame for this because I used to like to have confetti fights and my nephews caught on (who knew they would remember such things) and now they gang up on me and they especially like to throw it in my face. I got plastered with confetti!! Next comes our oldest family tradition for the New Year- leaving the house and making obnoxious noise outside so that all of our neighbors know that it's the new year. We used to run around the whole block banging pots and pans when we were teenagers but after we ruined all of my moms pans and got older, it has changed to just making noise in the front yard. Next the kids and the wussies go to bed and the rest of us (usually just the siblings cause the inlaws don't seem to enjoy staying up late like we do). For the die-hards, the party wasn't over until after 3:00am. Despite the fact that Lisel kept telling us that she was so tired she was gonna vomit, she stayed up. The best part of all is trying to find places for all of us to sleep. We were everywhere in my mom and dads house. Shayne was on the couch in the family room that was covered with confetti still, Trisha was on another couch, Lisel and myself were on the floor. It's all worth the fun that we have together as a family!!!

Sitting around the table after dinner (you can see the "new" kitchen in the background)

Guitar hero. Its funny to look at what the people in the background are doing, mostly Matt

Lily holding Clara

Mario Kart was another big hit

All of the Martinellis and soda that we consumed

Shayne, Megan, Lisel, CJ and I played Ticket to Ride. I won!

Makin noise!

We laid on the ground so that we could get a good picture of what the party looks like after midnight. We try to tell my mom that she should get the paper confetti but she just loves this stuff and she cleans it up every year!

We got invited to dinner with two of our good friends from Boston. Esther moved back to Utah a few weeks ago and had us over. Esther was one of Trishas roommates in Boston and a good friend to both of us. We are excited she is in Utah now! She also invited Tristan. Tristan was one of the first people that I met in Boston because we had mutual friends that always had us over for parties. Later she moved in across the driveway from Trisha and we became even better friends. Both of them have had immense impacts on our lives and we are grateful for their friendships. It was great to see you girls! And Thank you to Esthers sister (Amy) for letting us have dinner and chat at your house!

Saturday we went to Lunch with our friends, Jill and Rob, and then we all went to see Sherlock Holmes as well. We don't make it to Salt Lake very often these days, so when we do make it and we get to hang out with our friends we are so happy. Jill has been one of my best friends since we were in the Sound of Music together at Eisenhower Jr back in 1997. I'm glad that even though both of our lives have changed a lot and we've both started families that we are still friends!

On Sunday we headed up to Richmond, Utah (about 20 minutes North of Logan) for the baby blessing of our new niece, Clara. It was such an amazing blessing, given by her dad who is both blessed with an amazing ability with words and a spirit that can touch any heart. Clara is already blessed to have such great parents. We had the chance to eat lunch at their house and hang out with the family for a minute. We also got to tour their house and it is beautiful! We left Richmond early to make our 5 hour journey back to Vernal. Trisha was sick so she slept nearly the entire drive (from Logan until Roosevelt) and I jammed to my music and enjoyed the scenery around me. This time we drove through Morgan, Utah (up Ogden canyon) cause that's where our friend Ester grew up and we wanted to see what it was like. It was small... Actually it was an amazing drive and it was nice to see some different scenery.

Here's to hoping that 2010 is just as great as 2009. Hard to top but it could happen...