The Jacob & Shayla Bentley Family

Things have been really busy around our house. School has taken up a lot of my time as does keeping up with my two little crazy ones and the house.

As I am sure most of you have already seen on Facebook I have participated in two 5k races in the last month. The first was the Racing with Passion 5k at the State Capitol and the second was the American Heart Association 5k at Sugarhouse park. Both races were amazing experiences and definitely have fueled my desire to keep training and running.

Here are a few pictures from each race:

Amy is the one that inspired me to start training for the Salt Lake Half in the first place. I was really glad to be there with her to do this race and to have a friend that will do these crazy things with me!

The girl that got 1st place in our age group (19-24) took a spot in the top 3 of the women so she was taken out of age group placements. I would've taken 2nd if that wasn't the case but because of it I took 1st. I was soooo shocked when they called my name. My finish time was 26:12.8 (8:26 min/mile). I finished 10th overall for the women.

I even got a cool plaque to remember it by!

Overall I really liked the Racing with Passion 5k. There weren't a ton of people there and the event was incredibly well organized. I will definitely do this race each year!

My cute hubby in his very first 5k! Sugarhouse park is a difficult run with some big hills but he did awesome running at 28:50 (his fastest time running) and I loved being able to cheer him on. I also logged my fastest time running coming in at 24:59.11 (8:02 min/mile). I finished 11th for women and 42nd overall (men and women).

This event was HUGE. They had tents set up everywhere and there were a lot of people there. I think there were probably 200 - 250 who participated in the 5k alone, not to mention that they had a 5k walk, a survivors walk, a kids run, etc. The event seemed to be lacking in some organization and there were a few things that were, in my opinion, unacceptable mistakes. For example, they failed to explain before the race started that you HAD to step on their blue pad or you wouldn't get your time. I saw several people go around the blue pad trying to get ahead of the crowd and I am sure they were pretty upset when they found out they didn't get a recorded time later. The water station also ran out of water bottles. Seriously. I finished 11th for women and by the time Jake finished and we went looking for water they were GONE. Not enough water at an athletic event? NOT cool. 

I think that the race was a good experience but I probably wouldn't do this one again. It was awesome to do one with my husband though. Have I mentioned that he is super awesome? Because he is!

Abrielle and Nathan are doing well and growing fast. Nathan is in pretty bad shape right now with 6 teeth trying to break through at the same time and a horrible head cold on top of that. Please keep him in your prayers as his immune system fights to clear his nose so he can breathe normally again!

Lots of love, Shayla