All-American

Well, it was a long trip to Arkansas. We had a lot of fun, but we're glad to be back home.

Rich raced Friday night, and he placed 10th. He ran a time of 8:50.08. He put a lot into semifinals, and he didn't have much time to recover before the finals. He ran a really good race and put everything that he had into it. His 10th place finish means he received all-American honors, which has been one of his collegiate running goals. He is excited about the next track season because he will be one of the top returning steeplechasers.

Rich's teammate, Kyle, won the race with his new PR of 8:29 and became BYU's newest national champion. That was really exciting, although I have to admit I wasn't paying that much attention to Kyle during the race because I was focusing on Rich. It was a strong finish for BYU!

In two weeks, Rich will be running at USA Nationals in Eugene, Oregon. He's really excited for this because he's going to run as fast as he can in the prelims and try for a new PR. He and Kyle will both be there, so it will be fun for them! We're excited to see how things go!

This picture is from the prelims. Rich saved it on his computer as "nicehurdle." I thought that was funny.

Race Time Change

There has been another rain delay, so my race is going to be a little later tonight. It will be at 7:45 PM CT if you want to watch it!

Good News from Arkansas

It was a wet day here in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at the NCAA Track and Field Nationals, but it was well worth it. Rich had an amazing race in the semifinals of the steeplechase, after a rather long wait.

The steeplechase was originially supposed to start at 8:30 PM, but there was a long rain delay. First there was rain, then thunder, then lightning, and finally a tornado sighting (not near us, but near enough to move everyone inside). Eventually, after a three-hour wait, the meet resumed. Rich's race didn't take place until 11:30 PM.

There were two heats of the steeplechase. Rich ran in the second one. He needed to be in the top 5 of his heat to qualify for the finals, or have one of the top 4 times overall after the top 5 of each heat (sorry if that's confusing). Rich knew he could qualify for finals somehow, but he didn't know just how well he would do. 

He was around 5th and 6th place for most of the race. Then, he started to pick it up in the last few laps. He pulled into first, backed off a little, then pulled back again around the last lap and a half. He stayed up there and finished first in his heat, with a new PR of 8:41.85, about 3 seconds ahead of the guy behind him. This means that he is advancing onto finals on Friday, and he has also qualified for USA Nationals in a couple of weeks (which is where you try out for the world team). Way to go, Nelly!

Rich's mom and I were yelling so loud for him, and I probably looked a little ridiculous with how excited I was. But I don't care! I was so nervous, and he was running so fast! The home stretch was amazing. Rich turned to look at his mom and me and gave us a thumbs up! I started to cry when he crossed the finish line. He was so nervous for this race, and it all paid off!

Rich's teammate Kyle won the first heat of the steeplechase, so BYU definitely stood out in this race! It will be a good race at finals with Rich and Kyle running together.

If anyone wants to watch the finals, they take place at 6:40 PM CT. They will be broadcast on the CBS College Sports Channel and online, too. This website has a link to the video feed if you can't get the race on TV:

http://www.ncaa.com/loc/ncaa-c-otrack-loc.html

Hopefully there won't be a three-hour delay this time.

Nationals

Rich and I are really excited for Nationals this week! We leave tomorrow and will be traveling pretty much all day to get to Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas and the 2009 NCAA Track and Field Nationals.

The semifinals of the steeplechase will take place on Wednesday at 8:15 PM (central time). We're going to be cheering for Rich to have a second race, the finals, on Friday at 6:40 PM. The Friday race is going to be broadcast on CBS College Sports, but no one really has that channel. We've heard a rumor that the race is going to be on ESPN360.com as well, but that may not be true. Hopefully if you want to watch it, you'll be able to find some way!

Rich is going to have quite a bit of family support at this race, which is great. I am flying to Arkansas with Rich and the rest of the team. Grandma Nelson and Aunt Marj live about half an hour away in Rogers, Arkansas, so they're going to be there. Rich's mom is also flying out on Tuesday and staying with Grandma Nelson, so she'll be able to be there, too. If Rich makes it to finals, then his dad is going to come down for the race on Friday. Rich will have a pretty good cheering section, and we're excited to see some family! This is going to be a pretty fun week for the Provo Nelsons!

Pictures from Regionals

Running.

Home stretch.

Victory.

Celebration.

Tired.

1st Place.

We're Going to Nationals!

This is going to be a pretty short post, but I just wanted to share some really exciting news:

Rich won his race at regionals today, which means he is going to nationals in two weeks! (Oh yeah, I get to go, too!) He ran a time of 8:47.98, his personal best. I don't know much about the race, except that both of us were crazy nervous for it. This is so exciting for us! We will hopefully fill you in with some more details soon.

Rock Band

We gave in. We got a Playstation 2 and Rock Band. We found a good deal on them, so now we have a new guitar and drum set gracing our apartment. We just started our first family band, at least Rock Band band. I wonder how long until our neighbors tell us that our band is too loud.

Conference Championships

Last weekend (May 14-16), Rich raced in the Mountain West Conference Championships in beautiful (well, maybe to someone...) Laramie, Wyoming. The best part, for me at least, was that I got to see the race! This was my first time seeing Rich race his race, the steeplechase. It was a long process for me to get there, but things really worked out well. I am so thankful to our family for all that they did in the long process to help me see it! To Pops Nelson for getting me to Denver. To the Kidds for letting me stay with them in Denver and then driving me up to Laramie for the race. To the Topeka Nelsons for taking me from Laramie to Salt Lake. And finally to my brother Skyler for the ride from Salt Lake to Provo. A long process, like I said, truly a family affair, and all well worth it!

Rich ran really well in the race, despite windy Wyoming conditions. He placed 2nd and got a pretty good time. Because of this, he was named to the 1st team, All-Conference. Another really cool part about the race was that BYU runners placed 1st (Kyle Perry), 2nd (Rich), and 3rd (Reagan Frey) in the race, sweeping the medals. The BYU men's team easily won the conference championship title.

Up next for Rich are Regional Chamionships in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend. Rich's parents and sisters Cami and Carolyn are going to be able to see that race, so he'll have more family support. Hopefully, Rich will make it to Nationals at this meet, which I get to go to if Rich makes it. I'll be cheering hard for him from Provo!

It's Become an Addiction

Rich and I borrowed our friend's copy of 24, Season 1. Bad idea. Of course we're addicted. We watched an entire disc yesterday (only possible because both of us are on our summer break and now have the time to do things like this). But now we're stuck. Disc 4 is missing from our friend's copy, and we can't watch anymore until we somehow get our hands those episodes (12 PM to 4 PM). If you can help us, please let us know. We have to finish now that we've started! 

Our Newest Addition

Finally, Rich and I have a TV stand. If you have been a visitor to our apartment between January and April, I am sure that you noticed our TV sitting on the floor, with the speakers next to it and messy wires and cords showing from behind. It's not how we wanted it, but we had no choice. In all of Utah we could not find a TV stand that we liked (or could afford). We seriously looked for four months, and all of our options were either too expensive or falling apart (we diligently, and perhaps desperately, searched the DI). We did not think one of our hardest decisions in the first year of our marriage would be choosing a TV stand.

Well, we got lucky. About a week ago, Rich was looking online to see what he could find. He came across a promising candidate and phoned the owner. Lo and behold, the owner was moving to Oregon that day and needed to get rid of his TV stand ASAP. He volunteered to drive Rich to his apartment to look at it because the car was with me. Rich felt a little guilty for having this guy that he's never met pick him up, so he sort of felt he had to say yes to the stand. We got lucky that it was a pretty good one. It even matches our bedroom set.

So, we got a TV stand. Which means even better news - our TV is not on the floor anymore! No more messy cords showing. No more moving the coffee table out of the way to see the bottom of the screen. This is the life. Our apartment looks a little more civilized. Four months of searching finally paid off.

(Yes, that is Seinfeld on our TV screen. A gift to us from the Easter Bunny.)