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Kicking off 2014 in Style



Wow! I am not sure where to start! There have been quite a few changes lately but I promised myself (and Karl) I would make this one short for various reasons. My goal is to post twice a week this year which shouldn't be a problem since it's something I love to do. I just need to go with the flow more and not obsess over each post forever because... who cares? I have about 936 blog posts that I wrote in my head but never got on paper because I knew it would take hours to write. No more of that. If it's in my head, I am going to write it down. However imperfect it is. Isn't that what blogs are for anyway? 

I took some time off from training and blogging. In case you are wondering where I have been... A physical and mental break was much needed. We spent the last two weeks in Provo, Utah where Karl's family and many of our friends live and we love it here! Playing in the mountains and with family is the best! Even if it hasn't snowed since we got here.... 

First item of business was a Jarvis family reunion at a cabin up in the mountains. Four days of awesome fun! Karl is one of 6 kids and there are many cousins for Noah and Max to play with. Love it! 

only about 5 family members are missing... 

There has been some cross training which is my favorite! Especially when it involves a pair of skinny skis and nicely groomed trails. Karl and celebrated 9 years of being married by going to the Sundance Nordic Center and skiing for many hours. Skate skiing, in my opinion, is THE best workout! I just wish I had listened to my parents when they were trying to get us to go with them back in the day. But all my sister and I wanted to do was bomb down the hill and take the lift back up.  So I will save my dream of becoming a professional nordic skier for another life. 


New year's eve morning we went on a fantastic snowshoe adventure up Shingle Mill Canyon. I think that's what it's called but who knows. Too many awesome canyons here. It was a a great way to close out 2013. Clean fresh air, good friends, untouched snow (for part of it), many moose tracks, some big cat tracks, and very nice views. 

Karl and his ladies: Leslie, me, Jen

The next morning - New Year's Day - brought a different sort of adventure: 

100x100 yards of swimming! 

Inspired by the great Hillary Biscay, I did a 10k in the pool last March and loved it! I wanted to do another one up here in Utah where I knew I could find more crazies that would join me! It wasn't quite a 10k because the Provo Recreation Center is short-course yards but once I realized that I would have to swim something like 900 extra yards to make it a 10k, I decided 10,000 yards would actually be plenty!  

the new and lovely pool in Provo

I knew from last year that it sounds worse than it actually is, so I was just excited to get in a good workout on the first day of 2014 and kick off this new year in style! We ended up having about 30 friends total join us for all or part of it which was awesome! 

I recruited my good friend, Carlee, and - just as I had hoped - she kept me honest. There was no letting up! And - unlike last time she swam on my feet - I was loving her company this time! 

Before: 


During: 


After: 


I was determined to swim the last 10x100 on 1:30 but my arms were getting a bit tired, so I convinced Coachie, who was done already, to swim 10 more as a warm down and pace us. He happily obliged and we got it done!


Then I sat in the hot tub, took a 20 minute shower, and ate a lot of food! And was very happy   that the kids had a sleep over with great friends that night so that I could go to bed early play games with Karl and friends that didn't require me to lift my arms... 

Stay tuned because I have a whole bunch of super exciting (for me, at least) news I want to share with you over the next few days! 

Here is to a 
HAPPY, HEALTHY, and in every way AWESOME 2014! 






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