Cross Country 2013

So beginning last track season, I had decided that I was going to have the best cross country season that I had ever had in my life. This was a pretty bold statement to make because I knew that it take so much work and effort on both Jed and I's part in order to make this happen. But we were both determined to make running at BYU something to remember forever. Beginning in the summer I clocked in the most miles I had ever run in order to properly prepare. I was so excited for this season and what it was going to bring. I was named team captain this year for cross country and was ready to lead my team to a great season with the goal of going to nationals on our minds the entire time.

Our first race of the season was the BYU Autumn Classic. I was really nervous for this race because my team and I were about to see how far our hard work during the summer was going to take us. The meet was small but we had great competition that we would see later on in the season, the teams were Weber and Portland. Both of these schools are pretty big competition to us because Portland is in our conference, and Weber is in our region. The race started and I felt so confident, it was much like the feeling I would get when I raced in my earlier years of High School. I was able to come in number one for BYU and fifth overall. Our team beat both Portland and Weber and we kicked off an incredible 2013 season. This was a really run meet because both my side of the family and Jed's side of the family were able to watch. We don't race very much in Utah so this was a great opportunity for them to watch me and my team!

Notre Dame: Our next race was in South Bend Indiana. I had never been there before so that was a really fun trip. Going into the race I wasn't feeling exactly 100% but my team was ready to have the most crucial race of the season. I was third for our team behind my outstanding teammates Natalie Shields and Nicole Nielsen. As a team we were able to take 4th place against some very deep competition. We beat some key schools in order to get points for nationals. Later in the season, the success of this race got us the last bid into to the national meet! This race was seriously so crazy! The turns were so tight and narrow that girls were falling all over the place. My teammate Lindsey Nielsen fell in one of the massive pileups but fortunately Makenna Smith stepped up her game and was able to fill in the number five spot for our team.

Wisconsin: Our next race was in Wisconsin. Our team was trying to beat even more teams to solidify points for nationals. Unfortunately collectively we did not have our best race. I was able to come in number one for BYU again with Natalie right on my shoulder. Unfortunately, we started off a little too slow and had to fight our way back to front and we simply ran out of time. This was the biggest race I had ever been in to that day so it was a great learning experience for the future. Me and my teammates just got caught up in the masses but learned how to race my efficiently next time. 

Conference in Malibu California: Our next race was conference. This was seriously one crazy fast trip. The trip started with our flight being cancelled because the LAX airport had had a shooting. Our flight was finally rescheduled but it meant we had to drive a ways before we got to Malibu. We got in so late but still needed to run the course. We ran it in the dark and had no idea that we were running right next to the ocean until we showed up the next day to race. We were super excited because we got to race in our new white uniforms. The women's team has never had championship uniforms, so it was super fun to race in them! The race went excellent. I had decided that I was going to do everything I could to be all conference. To be all conference you had to be top ten, I was able to place seventh. I was so happy and I felt like I kicked off the start to strong of championship races. Our team was trying to get second but unfortunately we got third to Portland off of a tie. We were really bummed out. But overall the trip was awesome and it was really fun because my brother Rich was there with his team, Gonzaga, so he go to watch and cheer for me. That is always a bonus!

Regionals: Our next race was in Ogden Utah. This was super awesome because again both sides of my family were able to come watch and support! My parents even flew down which was super awesome! In order to qualify for Nationals, your team must place in the top two. Because New Mexico and Colorado are both amazing schools we knew that in order to qualify for nationals we had to get third in order to get a wild card. So how the wild card work is based on the points that you got in the regular season. Every team that makes it to Nationals, that you beat, gives you a point. That is why our Notre Dame race was super important. In that race we beat some really good teams that qualified for Nationals in their region which gave us points to put us in the running for a spot for nationals. Race day was cold and stormy, but it was perfect running weather. My family was strung out along the course which was an incredible feeling. I knew that I had to have the race of my life in order to help my team reach our end goal. I lead the race for the first half. Nobody was wanting to take it, it was becoming a tactical race. Then halfway through the race it picked up and I had to make a decision on if I was going to go with the leaders or not. With 800 meters to go I realized that I was in position to make it to Nationals on my own if I could only out kick two girls in front of me. With Jed and Scott screaming along the homestretch I kicked it in for a ninth place finish and a ticket to nationals. Later that night, my team found out that we were the last ones to make it into the NCAA National meet!!!

The national race was the most incredible race I had ever been to! The race was in Terre Haute Indiana and the temperature was consistently below 15 degrees. Both my parents and Jed's Parents including Hannah flew out to watch the race. They sure were troopers during the cold weather. The first day we were there we had a banquet for all the participants. It was a really fun time where we got to dress up nice and prepare for the amazing experience ahead of us. The next day all the spouses flew in! When you make it to a national meet, BYU pays for your spouse to come and watch. So Jed showed up and the experience got 100 times more amazing! The hotel we stayed at was super fun, it had all you can eat popcorn, a snack bar at night, and all you can drink soda. How cool is that? The day before the race we got to run the course. Unfortunately it was raining so hard that we couldn't run a lot of the course in order to prevent it from getting super muddy, but we got a good feel for what it was like. The night before the race we had an incredible team bonding experience where we sat in a circle and talked about the importance of being here together as a team and how we have grown. I love my team so much and felt so much comfort and trust running with them. The day of the race was by far the coldest day we were there. Luckily it had stopped raining but it brought the cold. It was hard to decide on what to race in because I didn't want to wear too much clothing, but I also didn't want to freeze to death. On top of the cold, the course was so deep in freezing cold mud. It made it so hard to run fast because every step you were pulling your foot out of the ground. This was the fastest race I had ever been in. I wanted to try and be an All American, which is top 40, so I knew that I had to stay with the top group and never stop fighting. I felt like I was sprinting the entire time! Unfortunately this was the only goal I didn't reach this season as I got 86th in the race but 1st for BYU. My coach was happy with my performance because being in the top 100 is still a big deal. This also gives me a goal for next year right? Between my 86th place and 40th place was 46 girls but only about 15 seconds. The race was fast and so large and it prepared me for races and experiences ahead. After the race we tried to warm up and then my family and I wen to Texas Roadhouse. Later that night my parents Jed and I sat in the hotel lobby playing card, drinking root beer, and eating popcorn. It was fun to finally relax. We also made a stop to the famous pie shake place down the street from our hotel! It meant so much to me that my family came all the way to watch me at nationals. It was super neat my in-laws came especially because they are fairly new to this weird running thing I do. This season got me pumped for my last track seasons and cross country next year!

 My feet were so cold and wet that I put my moms gloves on after the race. With my already big feet they looked particularly like gorilla feet. 

Tour de Washington

After a long summer of school, working, running, Andrea and I were excited to get on the road to Washington. We had been planning the trip to Washington for two reasons: First, to visit my brother in Seattle and see his new baby boy, and second, to visit Andrea's family in Spokane. We planned to be in Seattle at the same time as Mom and Dad Harrison along with Hannah, Caleb, and the Hartman's. David and Bridget's new boy Luke would be getting plenty of attention from all of us.

David happened to move into the same ward as Troy's parents in Paulsbo (just across the sound from Seattle) so Emily and Troy arranged for us to stay in his parent's fifth wheel in order to avoid spending money at a hotel for the week. Unfortunately, while preparing the fifth-wheel for our stay, Troy's dad fell from the top of the trailer and suffered a severe head injury. Troy and Emily left for Seattle the night before they had planned to leave so they could visit him while in the hospital. Thanks to good doctors and priesthood blessings he was able to have an incredible recovery.

After a long drive through Utah, Idaho, and Oregon, accompanied by Harry Potter 7 on Andrea's ipod, we finally made it to Seattle. Having never been to the Seattle area before, it was fun for me to see amazing sights like the Cascades, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the Olympic Mountains on our way up the peninsula to Paulsbo. We reached David's place and spent a bit of time visiting but because we got in so late we couldn't stay for too long. After staying the night at the Hartman's, Andrea and I decided to explore the area while getting in her miles for the day. I definitely didn't run as far as she did but it was fun to run along the beaches and blackberry bushes. It was so beautiful and green!

We spent the first day in downtown Seattle. We rode the ferry across and found David at his work. He has the coolest job in the world. He was hired on by The Portico Group where he designs exhibits and habitats for zoos and aquariums. He gave us a tour of the place which basically just reminded me of our childhood - several posters and pictures of animal exhibits were on display with piles of materials used for those displays lying around. David was able to leave work early and we rode the monorail to the Space Needle and surrounding areas. One entertaining stop was the large fountain near the Space Needle. We sat and watched children running to touch the middle before being blasted by the water. Caleb challenged Andrea to a race to the center and in no time their shoes were off and they were racing down the hill. The wet surface near the middle was a bit slicker than it seemed and in an attempt to avoid one of the small outer fountains, Andrea slipped and skinned up one side of her body pretty good. We did our best to patch her up with what we had but she bled pretty good the rest of the day.

We then made it down to Pikes Place where we enjoyed flying fish, music, and amazing displays of all sorts of items for sale. We made our way back down toward the Sound where we got a bit of fish and chips from Ivar's. It was a delicious meal but with hundreds of seagulls stalking our food overhead, we had to scarf it down quickly. After dropping mom off at the ferry (she was going back to Paulsbo to help Bridget with baby Luke) we made our way over to Safeco field to watch the one and only Mariners. Andrea had bought a Mariner's hat for me while we were dating so this was the perfect opportunity to sport my gear. We had bleacher seats in the outfields but it was the first time I had been in an MLB stadium for years so it was still fun to be there. After getting situated, we made our way over to the first aid station so we could get Andrea patched up decently. I guess they take their first aid care seriously because even though we explained that it had happened outside the park, they still made us sign all sorts of injury reports. It was amazing to them that we were husband and wife. They couldn't wrap their head around the fact that two children such as ourselves were old enough to get married. Well, I suppose in order to confirm our age even more we decided to go off and buy ourselves some alcohol. Actually, what we meant to purchase were two beer brats which apparently are "cooked" in a vat of beer for less time than it takes to pay for them. I just kept reassuring Andrea that we were fine and that the alcohol cooked out - although, Andrea felt great the rest of the night :)

A nice photo bomb by my dad

It was a fantastic evening of baseball and even though the Mariners lost, they finished off the night with a firework show which we watched while walking toward the ferry. It was a fun but long day in Seattle and we were dead tired when we got back.

The next day, we spent a relaxing morning in downtown Paulsbo. The main road was full of small Scandinavian shops (apparently the town was founded by Norwegians). Our first stop was early in the morning at Sluys bakery which boasted some of the best donuts around. Andrea and I tried a variety of breakfast pastries, including a maple bar, a viking cup (a cinnamon roll with icing in the middle), and a coconut crumb donut, and we can attest that they were fantastic. We walked along the pier with the Hartmans and after finishing our donuts we did as any good Harrison would do and went exploring. We turned over rocks on the beach to see how many crabs would go scuttling out from under their cover. Under one rock we found a mudskipper-like fish who was guarding her eggs which were just beginning to hatch. Andrea and I had just finished watching the BBC series "Life" and I admit that that little mother fish tugged at our heart strings and we quickly ended our rock explorations so that we didn't disturb anything else. Darn Life! They make even bugs look human!

We then visited a local aquarium which wasn't anything huge and spectacular but it was free and really fun. They had all sorts of local sea life on display and an area where you could hold different kinds of starfish. After the aquarium, we went back to David and Bridgets where we picked blackberries, played with Luke and had a delicious dinner (with blackberry desert of course).

The next day was Sunday and was very relaxing. We attended David's ward and had a fantastic day at church. Later on, David and Bridget took us on a small walk along the coast in a beautiful area of the peninsula.

Monday morning we left Paulsbo and took the ferry across to Seattle. It was a straight shot to the freeway from the ferry but driving through Seattle in a manual car is quite a joke. After burning half a tank of gas trying to keep from rolling several blocks back down to the ferry, we made it onto the freeway toward Spokane. In addition to Andrea's parents, her brother Rich and his wife Shara lived there so it was fun to be there with all of them. We spent the week doing all sorts of fun activities. After having lived in apartments for so long it was fun for us to help Doug with some yard work. We mowed the lawn, stacked firewood, and helped in the garden. I also got to try out Doug's squirrel gun which he is particularly proud of. One day we borrowed canoes from a friend of the Nelson's and floated down the Little Spokane river with Doug, Edie, Rich, Shara and little Nora. It was a beautiful day and we got close and personal with an amazing amount of wildlife including deer, moose, beavers, herons, osprey and fish. Doug and Edie entertained the group by paddling into an overhanging tree while Edie helplessly yelled out, "Stop!" but it was too late. As the current took them through the branches, all they could do was fall backward into the canoe in order to miss the tangle of branches. Andrea and I still cannot forget the hilarious image.

One of the days in Spokane was spent with Rich and Shara at Silverwood. After stopping by the store to pack some sandwiches for lunch, we headed for Idaho. This year, Silverwood put in a new ride called Spin Cycle which is a huge pendulum that swings back and forth until you go all the way around. I'm talking huge! In addition to the swinging action, the head also rotated around so that there was no way of knowing which way was up or down. I've been on plenty of amusement park rides but that was the only one that got me legitimately disoriented. It was definitely a one time a day deal for us. Besides a few broken rides, it was a great day. We sat in line for one of the wood roller coasters for some time while they tried to fix it. We found entertainment in a poor kid who got his arm stuck in the railing of the waiting line and seeing several people grease him up with sunblock to pull him out. Aftershock is still one of my favorite rides there. We went on it several times because the line was so short. After a few quick runs on panic plunge, we had had our fill of roller coasters and made our way home.

One afternoon was spent at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane. I finally was able to ride the famous merry go round there with Andrea. The rest of the week was filled with family, food, endless popcorn and games. We played several rounds of one of my now favorites, Hand and Foot. Andrea and I also finally invested in a pair of tablets. Yes, we are now modern! For years of making fun of them I've finally seen their value and we have loved having them ever since.

We had an amazing time on both sides of the state and are grateful for all of the family we were able to spend time with. Best wishes to David, Bridget, Luke, Doug, Edie, Rich, Shara, and Nora and we hope to see you all again up there soon.

Harry Potter Party!

On July 31st 2013, Jed and I had the privilege of attending Harry Potter's birthday, hosted by Mary Jane Lund. It was such a fun party filled with an intense game of quidditch , but for real we were all extremely tired out of breath and sweaty by the end of the game, a Harry Potter trivia game, and an array of snacks straight for Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. There was butterbeer, chocolate frogs, licorice wands, fizzy wizbees, lemon drops, and many more treats that are found at hogwarts. Each guest got a homemade wand so you felt very official. Basically, it was a Harry Potter nerds dream come true and since Jed and I both fit in the category we were very happy people! Each person invited was assigned a character to dress up as. I was assigned to be Professor Trelawny which was pretty funny. Jed was chosen to be Lord Voldemort. It was pretty hilarious trying to come up with costumes for these two characters, especially Jed's. Because Voldemort has a really pale face, at first we thought it might be a good idea to put a white nylon over Jed's head with red slits for eyes. Immediately we realized that this was far more creepier than Voldemort ever looked so we decided to have Jed wear a nylon on his head like a bald cap. Overall we thought we did a pretty good job at dressing up!

Voldemort and Professor Trelawny

Our first attempt of Voldemort...

"Camping" in the Uintas--in the rain

So Jed and I both had Wednesday off this last week and decided it would be so much fun to go camping. Since we both didn't have to work until late on Thursday, we had plenty of time to go somewhere fun enjoy the evening, and even stay a while on Thursday. We decided to go camping at Moosehorn Lake in the Uintas. Jed had been there last year with my brother's and dad and was excited to take me. The weather had been patchy all week but when Wednesday arrived all looked clear and we were ready to go. We went up with our good friends and my teammate Maren and Wes Fassmann.
The drive up was going well until we finally made it into the Uintas National Park. Sheets and sheets of rain were coming down so hard it was almost impossible to drive. We got hopeful that the storm had passed our campsite and it would be wet, but not raining. When we arrived at the perfect campsite right next to the lake it was hardly drizzling so we set up camp and built a fire for dinner. Right when we got everything done the rain came, and it came hard.  Covering our fire with large boards and logs to save it, we all rain into the car were we tried to stay dry. After about and hour in a half we changed locations and sat and played games in our tent. Our tents were super dry and I was super impressed because it was raining so hard. After a total of three hours, we finally caved in and decided the rain was too much, and even if we made it through the night, the morning would be miserable. We packed up our drenched tent, to find out that it was sitting on top of a massive puddle, and ate our half cooked but still good food. Naturally when it was time to go the rain stopped, but we had had enough. We ended up fishing for a bit before we left but all in all our camping trip was a failure, but a "fun" failure. We want to go back so badly because the area was so beautiful!

View from our tents!

Waiting in the car was not fun!

Family Fun During the 4th

So the next couple of blog post will be kind of out of order as we try to keep up with current events while still catching up on old news!

The week of the 4th of a July was a blast! We were able to spend a lot of time with family from both the Nelson side and the Harrison side. My parents were in town so we had lots of Nelson family bbq's in order to make the most of the their time here in Utah. The week started off with Jed not having to work all week ,which was AWESOME, and me only having to work the first couple of days of the week. On Tuesday the 2nd we went up to my sister Christine's house for an extended Nelson family dinner. It was a fun time to see some of my cousins, my aunt and uncle, and my parents. The next day my parents came up to Provo to visit us. It was fun having them down here. I took them to my work where the got to try some real shaved ice and then they took us to Goodwood. Goodwood is a bbq pit type restaurant. The four of us got this family style dinner where there were four different meats and three sides. At first I thought it wasn't going to be enough food but I learned quickly how wrong I was.
On the Fourth of July I had to work in the morning so we missed out on some of the festivities of Provo. We are excited to celebrate the 4th here some other year because Provo sure knows how to party. Our apartment is right next to the parade route and people started camping out one to two days in advance! Later that evening we headed to Scott and Karolyn's house for a nacho bar (we were all sick of bbq food at this point), a family game of basketball, and homemade frosty's provided by Cami. Our festivities didn't end there as we headed to the firework show in Holladay where Cami and Ethan live. We were right next to where the were blasting them off which made for one fantastic firework show! A couple times we got nervous at how close they got to us. We definitely had a blast and this was one of the best shows I have ever been to!

That Friday my family decided to go on hike at twin lakes up the little cottonwood canyon in Salt Lake. We were planning on a small two mile hike because we had all ages with us but the hike ended up being four miles. At one point we were trying decide if we should turn around as it climbed up a steep slope and it was not shaded. Fortunately we decided to keep going because it ended up being an amazing hike. The area was so beautiful and the final lake was amazing. Though we were exhausted at the end, Jed carried Kelsey on the way down, it was so worth it.

Right after the hike, we said goodbye to my parents and family and headed to Brigham City for more festivities. Brooklyn was getting baptized, and Jed and I had the opportunity to attend. It was such a neat experience. We had a great time playing games, and watching movies with Hannah, Caleb and the Hartman's. Towards the end of our visit Andrea and her kids came over from Colorado and it was great to see them.

After church with Jed's family, we raced back to Christine's house because Rich and Shara were visiting and we haven't seen them in a year. All my siblings, except Carolyn :( , got to be together and we enjoyed a dessert party and "Sunday Sports" of a calm game of ultimate Frisbee. To clarify this, when we were all younger every Sunday we would go in the backyard to play a nice game of bocce ball or croquet. By the end of the night it usually turned into something much more intense and irreverent for a Sunday and my mom would get so mad. In defense of our actions, we would plead "but it's just Sunday sports" somehow justifying our actions. So in honor of "Sunday Sports" we played a "clean" backyard version of ultimate Frisbee.

It was a really fun holiday week and loved being able to see so much family in such a short time!