Last week recap

It has been a busy, but fun week. First of all, the musical Rio participates in the pit opened last Wednesday after a few months of long practice. It's called "The Will Rogers Follies". The high school Rio goes to is well-known for their high quality performing arts department. They were the winners of last year’s Utah High School Tony Award for Best Musical in the State. Marcus and I went to see it on the opening night with my mother-in-law, and James went on Saturday night. They did a great job, and the lead actors were excellent. 

相変わらず忙しい毎日です。先週は、リオの高校のミュージカルがありました。2ヶ月ほど毎日練習に明け暮れていたのでやっと公演が始まりほっとしました。リオはミュージカルの出演しているのではなく、ミュージカルの音楽を生演奏するバンドのフルート奏者として参加。この高校は昨年ユタ州で優勝するほどのミュージカルがすばらしいことで有名なのですが、さすがに高校生とは思えないほどの出来でした。写真やビデオ撮影は禁止なのでお見せできないのが残念です。

Last Friday, Rio and I went to the concert, but Marcus was unable to come because he was not feeling well. Rio and Marcus volunteered to be coat check clerks to receive free tickets for the concert, but since Marcus was unable to go, I helped Rio with her job. Due to the cold and wet weather, there were so many people checking in their coats, umbrellas, and hats. We were so busy. It was worth it though because the concert was so magical, and beautiful. They performed Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss, Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte and La Valse, Saint-Saens' Concerto No.2 in G minor for Piano and Orchestra, then the last piece was Ravel's Boléro. I've never heard Boléro live, and I was so glad that I was able to hear it because it was so much better! I wish James and Marcus were there with us.

On Thursday, Marcus and I were also able to go to Abravanel Hall to observe Utah Symphony's rehearsal. They had the most anticipated concert of the season coming up over the weekend. It was featuring Hilary Hahn. We were lucky enough to go to the concert last year and were able to sit on the very front row to watch her perform, but this year we were unable to buy the tickets for the concert itself, so I made an arrangement for Marcus and myself to see the rehearsal of the concert. It was opened for the selected school tour and some of the Youth Guild members, which Marcus and Rio were. It was very interesting to see how the symphony practices, and how the conductor, Thierry Fischer guides the symphony to perfect their performance. Hilary Hahn performed beautifully, and we really enjoyed listening to her play the Korngold concerto. 

忙しい中、リオとユタシンフォニーのコンサートに出かけたり、マーカスとユタシンフォニーのオープンリハーサルの見学にも出かけました。コンサートではラベルのボレロを聴くことが出来て大満足。リハーサルはヒラリーハーンの演奏も。

Here's the YouTube of the first movement of Korngold's concerto. Marcus thinks this piece reminds him of the original Star Trek theme song. Well, Korngold was a famous movie composer, so it kind of makes sense...



Saturday was another busy day. Marcus has been busy every Saturday with his soccer. The regular season is over, but now the futsal training and game have started. It never ends, I guess... :)

I decided to run the Freeze Your Cookies Off 5K. I've started running in June as I mentioned before, and now I'm running about 20-25 miles per week. I truly enjoy running. I don't particularly like to enter races, but this race was giving out the gourmet cookies at the finish line, and also some of the proceeds support Choice Humanitarian.
I told my family that they didn't have to come, but James and Marcus came to support me. I didn't expect to see them, but I was so happy when I saw them when I was running. Especially when I was huffing and puffing going uphill. :)

先週の土曜日は5キロレースに参加しました。6月には知り始めて以来、今では毎週20－25マイル（32キロから40キロ）ほど走っています。自分で勝手に好きで走ってるから、見に来なくても良いよ～と言ったのに、ジェームズとマーカスが駆けつけてきてくれました。坂道で疲れて歩いていたらジェームズとマーカスの姿が見えて、「あ、歩いてたらだめよね。（苦笑）」と思って頑張りましたよ。やっぱり2人が応援してくれて嬉しかったです。

James took some pictures of me running.

I ended up with my PR (27 mins 05 seconds), and I was #44 of 138 overall, #15 of 65 female, and #2 of my age group. It's not too bad for the second 5K, don't you think?
I'm planning to do a half marathon next spring. It will be fun!

結果は、自己記録の27分5秒。138人中44位、女性65人中15位、年齢層では2位でした。
来春にはハーフマラソンに参加しようかな、と楽しみにしています。