Vernal Temple ... I've been there twice now.

On August 20th ... Wendy and I drove many miles and hours to meet at the Vernal temple. Wendy got there a few minutes before me and called me right away ...

"Um Katy, I think it is closed."

"No way. It can't be."

Well when I had originally planed this trip, I was going to go the Saturday before and I had checked the schedule. However, I decided to push it back a week so I could go to a family reunion and just assumed that it would be still open the next Saturday. But it wasn't!

LET ME IN!!!

Luckily my friend Wendy is awesome and laid back and is the type to make "lemonade out of lemons." So I bought her lunch at the Vernal Cafe Rio ... yes, there is a Cafe Rio in Vernal. The weather was great and we spend a couple hours eating and chatting outside on a blanket that Wendy had in her car. It was a very pleasant day and it wasn't too big of deal to make such a mistake. We actually got to talk a lot more than we would have if we had been able to go in.

The problem was that this meant I had to come back out so I could reach my goal. Some people thought I could count this temple since I made the trip. However, the point was to do an endowment session and actually be able to see inside. And I'm so glad I went back. You all should make this trip. This temple is so great and beautiful. It might be my favorite so far.

So yesterday, my friend Stephanie came with me and we really enjoyed our drive and session. We talked for a bit with a temple worker who gave us a bit of history about the building and the remodel process. This is the only temple that was constructed from an existing building. It was such a great day and we made it back in time for some dumb football game that I'd like to pretend never happened.

Only 3 left ... Manti, St. George and Salt Lake City and I'm going to hit Manti and St. George in the next couple of weeks. This goal has been great. I recommend it to you all!

Cooking for One with Katy - Episode #24

Very yummy Cheesy Chicken Rolls with roasted broccoli on the side. Delish! Thanks Lindsay!

Eric and I are back together ...

and his wife doesn't even mind. She even comes with us and does cardio. Eric and I worked out together for about 3 years and then he quit, got married and moved on.

After I lost all this weight (with absolutely no exercise at all) I sent him a picture of myself and said, "look what happened to me once I quit working out with you." He knows me well enough to know that I was just kidding. Especially since I asked him to start working with me again. 

So we are back together and this time, I'm eating healthy and really taking care of my body. I think Eric is excited cause on Friday he had me run 1 mile at an 8 min/mile pace and I almost puked. And this was  the day after I did legs and I could barely walk. In desperation I exclaimed, "just cause I lost a lot of weight does not mean I'm in shape!" He laughed and then yelled at me to get back on the treadmill. I need this guy cause I not only would I not push myself that hard, I probably wouldn't even get out of bed. 

I did a search on my blog for "trainer" and came up with these great posts:

August 7, 2007 - I pay these people

November 29, 2007 - Some recent thoughts

March 31, 2008 - Personal training in review

July 15, 2008 - LOR Personal trainer reflection

September 21, 2008 - Conversation with my personal trainer

October 20, 2008 - Advanced Client

April 2, 2009 - Gold's Gym analysis

I'm not too cool anymore ...

Sometimes when you're from Provo, you can be too cool for certain things ...

• EFY
• Education Week
• BYU dances
• Student teachers in every class
• hiking to the "Y"

When I think of hiking to the "Y," I think of my mom because she would always answer this question with the same sarcastic answer ...

Hey mom, what are you doing?

Just hiking to the Y

Translation: Isn't it obvious what I'm doing? Why are you asking me such a dumb question?

I can only remember hiking to the Y once growing up when I was a "Merrie Miss." Do they even have those anymore? I found a couple pictures:

Pretty rad hair cut and pretty cool walkman ...

Katy, Jayne, Jessie and Chuck ... who is the girl in the pink?

Dave, Jayne, Chuck, Katy ... who is this other girl in the pink?

Then in 2008 someone convinced me to hike it one day and it really kicked my butt. I had to stop at pretty much every switch back to catch my breath. It was hard.

Then in 2010, I hike the Y with these guys to watch the fireworks. That was fun and the hike wasn't too bad and the weather at night was beautiful.

Then  in 2011, I hiked the Y with these guys , again to watch the fireworks. 

On Labor Day, I told Karen I'd get up at 6 AM and hike it with her. It was great. I got up and back in probably only 45 minutes and was able get up there while the sun was still rising. 

And now I'm not too cool ... I might do this a lot more often.

Almost exactly 6 months ago ...

I had two major ligaments repaired in my knee.

Almost exactly 9 months ago ... I cut out sugar and flour from my diet and lost 70 + lbs.

So this triathlon was kind of a big deal for me. I wanted to beat my previous times in each of the three events and I sorta did ... 

The weight loss was going to make it easier and the knee was going to make it harder. I took an ibuprofen before the race and was able to run. The knee definitely hurt especially because they had us run up and down a bunch of the hills behind the state mental hospital and that was not good for my knee. Running and biking and swimming have been so much easier and enjoyable now that I'm carrying 70+ less on my frame.

These boys (including baby Milo who is behind Van) and their mom came to support me. Although after the bike they were waiting for me to cross the timing mat but I got confused and missed the mat and just hopped the fence so I could go directly to the pool. So they waited and waited for me and never got to see me jump in the pool ... but they did get to see me run out and to the finish line.

I did well on the bike and I really tried to push it. As I was finishing and turning back into the park, I saw a tall man walking along Seven Peaks Drive in a red baseball hat, listening to his ipod. I yelled out at Larry who wasn't even there to cheer me on but just happened to be on his regular morning walk. It was sorta like I was cheering him on. 

Here are my times:

Somehow, even though I missed the mat, they came up with a swim time for me. I did really well on the swim although it was quite annoying because I couldn't really get in a rhythm with the narrow lanes and all the bodies in my way. I literally passed at least 10 people and no one passed me. So although I was slower on the run, I made up some time on the bike and swim and passed quite a few people. 

Here are my other sprint triathlon times ... the 5K on the Telos triathlon is much easier than this one and the bike ride is only 10 miles, not 12 so ...

My favorite part of the race was as I turned on to Slate Canyon Drive and at the top of the hill I looked out as the sun was coming up. I saw dozens of bikers pushing up the hill with the fields of gold behind them. It was beautiful ... I wish I could have taken a picture but I did take a mental picture that I hope never leaves me. I'm so excited for more beauty and fun in my future!