The Final Stretch

Hello All!
Time has flown by since I last posted. Here's what we've been up to:
1. We took a trip down to Kanab, UT with Jessie and Brian Strike in the middle of February. We escaped colder weather in SLC to enjoy hiking through slot canyons in Southern Utah. We hiked through the longest slot canyon in the world as well as several shorter ones. We also saw horseshoe bend in Arizona which is a hairpin turn in the Colorado River. We stopped in snow-covered Bryce Canyon National Park on our way home. That park is beautiful in every season!
2. Ben VanWyk drove out to SLC for a long (but actually quite short considering the LONG drive) weekend. We had amazing weather that weekend--mid 70's and sunny! I took him on a trail run to experience what Utah mountains are like :). We also joined Todd for a track practice at Olympus High school, hiked in Millcreek Canyon, toured temple square, picnicked in the park, and played lots of board and card games. It was a great weekend!
3. Coaching has been going well for Todd. His athletes keep getting faster and faster--and also more committed. The team has had two outdoor meets so far, only one of which was scored. Both the girls and boys teams finished second out of three schools.
4. I ran a 5k at the end of March. I've been wanting to get some speed back after marathon training, so Todd worked with me to set up a training plan. I really wanted to break 20:00, but ended up running a 20:01. Considering that the roads we were running on were covered in ice (out of the blue snow storm...) and I was sliding around, I guess it wasn't too bad :). I won my age group and was the 7th woman overall.
5. We've been watching A LOT of basketball. All of my brackets are terrible this year, but Todd has one that is doing really well (probably because he has MI winning it all). GO BLUE!
6. We spent Easter with our small group (which is actually quite large) from church. We had a potluck lunch at Liberty Park. It was a beautiful day so we stayed for most of the afternoon playing bean bags, spike ball, soccer, and other yard games.
7. Todd is currently on spring break. We had planned a trip down to Capital Reef National Park, but Todd ended up coming down with the flu. When he returns to school Monday, he will be teaching in the NEW Olympus High School building. His new classroom has a view of Mount Olympus. Currently, he has no desk, computer, smartboard, or projector in his classroom...so he is not sure how teaching will go Monday!
8. I am in the final stretch with school. Yesterday I made a list of all the things that need to get done before graduation. It is quite a list, but nice to finally see an end to the seemingly never-ended to-do list! I took my comprehensive exam for my focused area of study this past week, which is the last step before defending my project (which will happen on April 15). Spring football is in full swing, so I am once again spending a couple nights a week working with "high needs" athletes at training table meals. Since beginning weekly team nutrition talks with the football team and getting the coaching staff to also promote the importance of nutrition, there has been a tremendous change in how the athletes approach eating. I am SO BUSY at meals now since athletes who aren't required to check in with me would like advice or answers to their questions. It's incredibly rewarding to see our hard work pay off! I also lectured in my first college class last month! I gave a 80 minute "intro to sport nutrition" lecture in an undergraduate nutrition class. I was intimidated, but was glad to have (a rather large) group of interested students who were eager to learn.
9. I have my first interview next week! I am interviewing with Lifetime Fitness, a gym/resort in South Jordan, UT. The company is hiring registered dietitians at all of their locations. The dietitian will provide nutrition counseling services to club members and employees, as well as teach weight management classes. My interview is next Tuesday morning.
10. We have been making a lot of plans for our West Coast trip in June/July! Kyle and Kristen have booked their tickets and will be with us in Salt Lake City on the 4th of June and will fly out of Portland on the 30th of June. We have booked hotels in Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Francisco. We have made plans to stay with our college friend Brian Odegaard in Los Angeles, with Todd's aunt and uncle, Kim and David, in near Sacramento, and meet up with Jessie and Brian Strike near Mount Rainer National Park. We've started to look into hikes that we'd like to do in each of the 11 national parks we will be visiting. We can't wait!

Ben and Todd at the end of the Pipeline Trail in Millcreek Canyon

Ben and I

Easter at Liberty Park. Amanda, Hannah & Baby Gillian, and Landon.

Tuna & Todd (almost everyone in our small group has a dog!)

Andrew, Landon, Clint, and Jordan playing Spike ball. 

The girls--Jenna, Heidi, Jessie, Amanda, and I

I have a bunch of pictures from my Internship with University Athletics--I thought I'd share some to give you a glipse into what I've been up to. 

Teaching a Volleyball Cooking Class

Morning nutrition talk with the soccer team

Check out the author! ;)

Helping an athlete with nutrition choices at a training table meal

More training table

Making post-workout nutrition recommendations

Working at the smoothie bar

Nutrition talk with the football team