Stetson's Running Camp

I had the privilege of being Stetson Moss's mentor for his senior project. He did a three day running camp for kids in our area. He did a great job, and it was an awesome project!

I've had the opportunity to work with so many great runners, and awesome kids over the years, and I've really missed it the past year. So, this was a fun experience to get back out there and be around fun running kids again. I couldn't have asked for a better way to kick off my last three days! I can't wait to see what great things these kids have ahead of them as they go through their middle school and high school running careers.

Great job Stetson!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! We celebrated Mark after all his church meetings. Bailey got him the running socks he's been wanting for a long time, Sawyer got him a new pre-workout drink to try, and we all got him trekking poles! He's excited to try them! At the RONR he kept saying he needed to get trekking poles. Bailey and I would just look at each other and smile. We have a whole season of hiking and trail running ahead of us, so I'm sure he'll put them to good use. We made him his favorite dinner (hahaha, it's pigs in a blanket and mac n cheese), had brownie sundaes for dessert, and watched a movie.

My kids have always realized how lucky they got in the dad department. He's the best! I've never met someone who is more involved and supports their kids so much. As I'm typing this, he's out on a 2.5 hour training bike ride with Bailey, just so she doesn't have to do it alone. And that's not even unusual. He lives his life doing stuff like that for all of us all the time.

Yay for presents!

And a bigger yay for great dads who know how important it is to be involved in their kid's lives!

RONR

Whahoooo, it was finally race weekend! Walsh Engineering decided to sponsor it's employees and family members to run the River of No Return Endurance Race. So fun! It was quite an adventure training and running the actually race! Ten Walsh people started, and ten finished!

The race was in Challis, so Mark, Bailey, and I went up the day before to camp. After we picked up our packets, we drove to Bayhorse Lake to hike. We found ribbons, so we ended up hiking some of the 108K trail.

Bayhorse Lake

Hiking to loosen up our legs.

Hahaha, she was like an old grandpa sitting there eating saltines and doing her crossword puzzle!

 All of the Walsh people were running the 29K (which ended up being a 30K). That's a great turn out considering how tough this course is!

Bailey, Tricia, Mark

Team Walsh at the starting line!

 Luckily Mark, Bailey, and I had come to Challis a few weeks earlier and did the first part of the course. I'm so glad we knew what to expect. The first 4.5 miles were basically straight up the side of a mountain. Once I realized that, I changed my training a little bit and started power walking big hills once a week. It helped a lot! After the big climb, we had a steep 2 mile downhill, and then the climbing started again. The course was 18.75 miles of either big uphills or big downhills. I'm not sure if there was any flat part on it. It made for some awesome views, but it beat up our legs pretty good!

Half way up the first big climb.

Mark and I have totally opposite strengths when we run. I'm better on the uphills, and he kicks my butt on the downhills. So, we aren't generally together, but we always finish our runs at about the same time.  So, we did see each other a few times on the course, but we never actually ran together. 

This view right here is what saved me! I was so done with climbing. I actually wasn't sure that my body could do much more uphill. Right when I saw this, I knew I had made it to the top, and the rest of the course was pretty much downhill into town. I took a deep breath, took a second to enjoy the view, and that's all I needed to refocus and be able to enjoy the last 6ish miles.

So pretty!

Mark finishing!

Yay!

 Bailey has been training for her half ironman, so she wasn't able to train for this race. She has mostly been biking, swimming, and running shorter distances. The longest run she did was a 10 miler the week before on our camping trip. So we had no idea how she'd do. Well, she ended up kicking some butt! She was the 4th female overall, and first in her age group. She wants to train for it next year and see how she can do. 

Yay Bailey!

I was out there just to enjoy myself, so it was a pleasant surprise when I found out I won the master's division (40 and up). 

Three Walsh employees made it on the podium. Niels also won his age division! Walsh represented really well!

#TEAMWALSH
Kyle, Niels, Joe, Kirt, Lesa, Kurt, Nate, Bailey, Tricia, Mark

Walsh Results:

Niels Mitchell- 3:23 (1st in division)

Bailey Varvel- 3:53 (1st in division)

Nate Seaver- 4:16

Tricia Varvel- 4:23 (1st in masters)

Joe Mitchell- 4:28

 (Would have been a lot faster but he fell really hard, and took a wrong turn. He needs a do-over.)

Mark Varvel- 4:29

(He beat his goal time even with the extra couple miles)

Kirt Marlow- 4:50

Kyle Fransis- 5:05

Kurt Scott- 5:35

Lisa Marlow- 5:51

(She also took a wrong turn)

 #TEAMWALSH

Calamity Camping

Spring camping is hard in Idaho! We had been having great weather, so we planned a camping weekend to Calamity Campground on Palisades Reservoir. We were going to bring our new kayak to try out on the lake and everything. Then the weather took a turn, got really cold, rainy, and snow was expected in the mountains. Mark needed to get away, so he said we were going anyways, even if we just played games and read our books in the trailer the whole weekend. We left the kayak home, and Mark, Bailey, and I went camping! It was our first time in an actual campground. We usually just dry camp. SO MUCH FUN! We got there on Thursday night and set up camp. The campground was beautiful and we could instantly tell we would love the area. After dinner we walked down to the lake and did some exploring. 

Our fun campsite.

Palisades Reservoir.

Skipping rocks.

Aren't they the cutest!?!

 That night we played lots of games in the trailer. In the middle of the night we woke up to big booming thunder storms, which we love!

Endless games in the trailer! These two share a love for dill pickle chips.

 Friday was extremely overcast and a thunder storm was supposed to roll in in the afternoon. We had a hiked planned that we were a little nervous about doing. Bailey has a big fear of lightening. She isn't afraid of many things, but that is one thing that causes a total panic. We decided to hike anyways, and just keep an eye on the sky. So glad we did! We had perfect hiking weather! We hiked the trail leading to the Bear Creek Hot Springs. We knew we wouldn't be able to make it to the hot springs because the water was too high to cross, so we went 5 miles out and then turned around and came back. It was our first time on that trail and we loved it! The valley was beautiful with flowers starting to bloom and an overcast sky. We decided once the mud dries up, it would be a perfect running trail. We can't wait to try it in the fall and make it all the way to the hot springs. 

  

Bear Creek Trail

So pretty!

Hahahaha, this is why the hike took so long!

Bailey loves yellow wildflowers!

I found a four leaf clover! That was the luck we needed to make it back before the storm!

The drive to and from the trailhead was gorgeous. We had a view of the Palisades Reservoir for most of the way.

 We had lunch and then decided to take a drive my friend told me about. We drove along the river looking at big cabins and beautiful scenery. We made it to a fun waterfall along the river just as the rain started. 

The falls!

We love this part of the river! 

Our cute little deer friend. 

Lots more games in the trailer that night because it was cold and stormy. We woke up to snow! It looked like someone had sprinkled powdered  sugar on all the trees. We had a 10 mile trail run to do (our last long run before our race), so we headed up to the Rainy Creek trail. We got a mile up the trail and realized that we couldn't cross the river. Mark made it part way out and it was already above his knees and moving fast. That means it would have come above my waist. There is no way I would have been able to stay on my feet, so we turned around and headed up a different trail. It was great until the snow starting getting deeper and deeper. We finally turned around and just had to do a few miles on the dirt road. We got all of our miles in, and it was quite and adventure.

Our Saturday morning trail run!

Snow!

Bailey made a cute little snowman!

He's such a happy guy!

 We had so much fun and we wanted to stay an extra night, but Mark had early morning church meetings. Boooo! I'm so glad we decided to go because we found a new campsite we like, and a new trail that is awesome!

Malad Scrapbook Retreat!

Twice a year I drive down to Malad for a scrapbook retreat. I LOVE it ever single time! This year was a luau theme, and it was so fun! Lisa does a great job putting it on, and always goes above and beyond. Cute decorations, darling shirts, fun prizes, amazing food, and great ladies. To top it off, I got 43 pages finished! Whahooo, that made a dent!

Our weekend scrapbooking crew!

Me and Kristy getting lots done!

While I was scrapbooking, Noah ran his first 5K and did amazing! I was sad I missed it, but my family went and watched him (crazy signs and noise makers included). I love having him up here for school! My kids have never grown up by cousins, so it's fun for them to get to hang out as young adults. He fits right in with our crazy bunch!

Way to go Noah!

Stay Wear Ambassador

Bailey applied for, and became a Stay Wear ambassador. Stay Wear is a clothing company that promotes staying true to who you are and being who you want to be. Their motto is 

STAY UNIQUE*STAY REAL*STAY YOU

A portion of each order is donated to one of their causes-suicide prevention, anti-bullying, and mental health. The A in STAY is a delta sign to remind people to make positive changes in these areas. The first shirt Bailey bought was a STAY KIND shirt, and her first social media post was about being kind. Love her! She's always about bettering herself and helping the world be a better place.

Stay Kind!