Halloween Half Marathon!!

This weekend I was able to accomplish a goal!  I ran a half Marathon! I have always been a really active person, and I have gone through phases where I run a lot, but usually I'm doing some sort of team sport that keeps me busy and in shape...Lately though, I have been running a lot, mainly because I knew that I was going to do this 1/2 marathon, but the more I have been running, the more I have grown to love it! 

Here is the conclusion I have come to: Before you get in shape, running isn't typically enjoyable. I would not have enjoyed that one BIT, wereI not in shape. But as soon as running becomes fun because you I was totally inspired to see people my parent's age, running over 13 miles! All I can say is good for them!! I hope that's me one day. There were 7 other girls, and 7 guys from our ward that also did it, even though most of us ended up splitting up. I finished with a time of 1 hr and 42 minutes. I just wanted to do it under 2 hours....in training for it I never really pushed myself too hard, but when I was actually doing it, it was another story. I think it's just part of my competitive nature that wouldn't allow me to do anything but my best, and I'm happy with how it turned out! Overall it was a great race just because I feel like the time went so fast! The costumes and the course made this race great :) 

We had the best costumes, because we were cavewomen with legit SPEARS (we hid them in the trees before the start of the race after concluding it would be pretty dangerous to run with them in hand for 13.1 miles...) 

This is waiting in line for the bus to take us up to Sundance at 6 am! 

The best part of the race was the course! The miles went quick because you were able to enjoy such gorgeous scenery! 

Getting ready to get on the bus with everyone, bright and early! 

A few of us posing by the lovely hearse display after we finished

Yay! I did it, and I loved it!!!! 

A Time to Prepare

This was a talk in Conference that really inspired me to try harder to make better use of my time. It was given by Ian S. Arden. It is called "A Time to Prepare." It really is incredible! Here are some bits and pieces... But you can read the whole talk HERE. 

Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may, be bought at any store for any price. Yet when time is wisely used, its value is immeasurable. On any given day we are all allocated, without cost, the same number of minutes and hours to use, and we soon learn, as the familiar hymn so carefully teaches, “Time flies on wings of lightning; we cannot call it back” (“Improve the Shining Moments,” Hymns,no. 226). What time we have we must use wisely. President Brigham Young said, “We are all indebted to God for the ability to use time to advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of [its] disposition” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 286).

With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another. We are well taught about priorities by the Master Teacher when He declared in His Sermon on the Mount, “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33, footnote a; from Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 6:38). (See also Dallin H. Oaks, “Focus and Priorities,” Liahona,July 2001, 99–102; Ensign, May 2001, 82–84.)

The poor use of time is a close cousin of idleness. As we follow the command to “cease to be idle” (D&C 88:124), we must be sure that being busy also equates to being productive. For example, it is wonderful to have the means of instant communication quite literally at our fingertips, but let us be sure that we do not become compulsive fingertip communicators. I sense that some are trapped in a new time-consuming addiction—one that enslaves us to be constantly checking and sending social messages and thus giving the false impression of being busy and productive.

There is much that is good with our easy access to communication and information. I have found it helpful to access research articles, conference talks, and ancestral records, and to receive e-mails, Facebook reminders, tweets, and texts. As good as these things are, we cannot allow them to push to one side those things of greatest importance. How sad it would be if the phone and computer, with all their sophistication, drowned out the simplicity of sincere prayer to a loving Father in Heaven. Let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text.

Electronic games and cyber acquaintances are no lasting substitute for real friends who can give an encouraging hug, who can pray for us and seek after our best interest. How grateful I have been to see quorum, class, and Relief Society members rally to the support of one another. On such occasions I have better understood what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints” (Ephesians 2:19).

I know our greatest happiness comes as we tune in to the Lord (see Alma 37:37) and to those things which bring a lasting reward, rather than mindlessly tuning in to countless hours of status updates, Internet farming, and catapulting angry birds at concrete walls. I urge each of us to take those things which rob us of precious time and determine to be their master, rather than allowing them through their addictive nature to be the master of us.