Company, California, & Competition

Hello Friends & Family!

We are enjoying warmer weather in Salt Lake City, although the beginning of this week is going to be a bit colder. Tulips are blooming outside our front window & I planted an herb garden on our patio last week. After 2 1/2 years in Utah, I know to thoroughly enjoy this time of year before we are consistently experiencing temperatures over 95 starting in June.

Todd raced in the Leprechaun Lope 5K on March 15th. He placed 3rd overall. Lots of the high school athletes that we coached came out to cheer him on despite chilly weather. Following Calvin tradition, Todd sported a mustache for the race.

Some of the Olympus High School track team

Todd and I embraced the last bit of winter by tubing at Soldier Hollow. I'm not sure you could have even called it "winter"--the snow was man-made and the temperatures were above 60. Despite having to work pretty hard to get from the top of the hill to the bottom without stopping on the slushy snow, we had a great time.

Jeff & Lindsey Lombardo and Ben & Alivia Plankis came out to Salt Lake City for a long weekend. The Lombardos ran a 50K race on Antelope Island on Saturday morning (what an accomplishment!!). We were unable to watch their race since we were coaching an a track meet that morning, but we enjoyed hanging out the remainder of the weekend. We went on a hike, played some yard games, went out for Thai food, and enjoyed catching up!

High School friends reunited

We've enjoyed watching our good friends Mark & Jenna Moffatt's beautiful baby girl grow up! When we babysat her most recently, she was moving around and pulling herself up on everything. She's a happy, curious little girl!

Harper & Todd

We spent Todd's Spring Break in California. We filled the week with lots of sunshine, sleep, running, and relaxing. We spent a night at Death Valley National Park on our way to Newport Beach. 

The weather was warm!

Artist's Palette. All of the coloring on the rock is from mineral deposits caused by volcanoes.

At the Devil's Golf Course. Todd was tasted the crystalline salt formations to see if they tasted salty!

Badwater Basin--lowest point in the Western Hemisphere

We arrived at our resort at Newport Beach just in time to catch the end of the Michigan vs. Kentucky game. We watched the sad ending of the game while we waited for our room to be ready. Based on a recommendation from one of our high school athletes, we ate at Mama D's for dinner. The restaurant has won an award for "best spoil you service", and we found that to be true.

We spent Monday at Corona del Mar, a beach near our resort. It was a quiet, beautiful beach. I braved the water for a while, but it was cold!

Inspiration Point

Little Corona del Mar

We grilled for dinner and ate on our deck

We spent Tuesday walking around Balboa island. We houses were beautiful! We ended the day on the Newport Peninsula with a delicious seafood dinner.

Balboa Island

Trying a Frozen Banana - a local special

The highlight of the trip for Todd - taking the car ferry from Balboa Island to the Newport Peninsula for only $3

Dinner at Newport Landing

We started Wednesday morning with a nice walk down to Crystal Cove State Park for breakfast at the Beachcomber Cafe. The Crystal Cove area was originally a vacation location for a group of families in the 1920's. The land has become a state park, but the cottages original to the 1920's remain. It was a neat place to explore. Since Wednesday was a cooler day, we stayed at the resort and enjoyed the pool and hot tub.

Crystal Cove State Park

Breakfast at the Beachcomber Cafe

Thursday was spent in Laguna Beach. We got lunch at a place I had been with my mom and Uncle Bruce 11 or so years ago, and then we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day.

Lunch at Wahoo's Fish Tacos

Laguna Beach

I did my last long run for the Boston Marathon on Friday. It was nice to run in a new location! Todd joined me for the first 4 miles, then took the ferry to my half-way point (the end of the Newport peninsula--10 miles) and then took the ferry back to run the last 4 miles with me. What a great guy! We drove up to Huntington Beach for the rest of the day. We ended the day with shakes from Ruby's Shake Shack and watched the sunset from Ruby's deck.

Street performer at Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach

We were able meet Uncle Mike, Aunt Elaine, & kids for breakfast yesterday. They were in Salt Lake City for the morning before driving down to Southern Utah for Spring Break. It was nice to catch up with them!

We've been staying busy (in a good way) with coaching. Many of our athletes competing well at an invitation yesterday. It is so rewarding to see their hard work pay off!

Now we are looking forward to the Boston Marathon. I can't believe it is only 8 days away! After 5 months of training, I'm more than ready to race! My training has gone better than I could have hoped for, so I'm ready to see what I can do. We're really excited to see Holly and Matt! We'll be flying in to Philadelphia and staying with them in New Jersey for a couple days before driving up to Boston together on Saturday. I'm so thankful that I'll have family to support me!