Beavers Bend

Friday Michael flew in from a work trip and we headed out on a family trip to meet up with the Anderson's.  We had this planned for a few months and it was nice knowing on his recent travels that a few days off and some family time was coming up. We spent the night in Durant as Beth and I had been training for a 5K race for that Saturday morning.

It was freezing race morning! But the race went well and we were happy with our time.

We showered off and headed to her parent's cabin in Beaver's Bend. 

It was a relaxing time away- as far as "relaxing" gets with a 3 year old and an almost 6 month old. Haha! Isabella didn't feel well for the first day there, and was really congested the whole time. Lately its seemed like as soon as she gets better, then something else pops up.

Here are some photos from the trip:

The cabin- it was so nice! I'd never been this far into south east Oklahoma. It was really pretty with tons of trees, and the river and lake at the state park were gorgeous!

We rode the train in the state park. Izzy still loves trains.

We saw deer on our train ride!

Great sunset from the back porch! 

Campfire s'mores in the backyard

Meet our friends the Anderson's and our daughter who insisted on being in their picture... :)

Cooking "smashmallows"

My dainty little girl 

Pure joy

I love a baby in a sink bath!

Yummy breakfasts and Isabella showing Milo how to dip your bacon in syrup...

Blanket forts 

Swinging on our balcony on our last morning 

She rarely sleeps in the car anymore, and we had to drive through nap time on the way home. I was really glad she fell asleep. We had about an hour and 15 minutes when both kids were asleep while we drove!! We were able to have uninterrupted conversation!

We had a great time. We didn't get the best sleep between our two kids waking up for various reasons. Michael got to read a whole book. We made risotto that was delicious!  We watched crazy documentaries about "Killer Whales" and "When fish attack". It was fun to visit a new place and make some memories.  

The finish line

The Memorial Marathon was a few days ago and I've had some time to reflect and soak in all that it was. While I haven't kept up with my new years resolution of putting up the clothes I wear every day, I did complete the goal of running a half marathon.

 It started with a super early morning. Heather came to pick me up and we headed downtown. We waited in the corral about 30 minutes before the line started moving up to the starting line.

 It was very exciting with the sun rising, and being surrounded by thousands of people. The first three miles were great. I was thinking "if I feel like this the whole time, this will be easy!" My sister and cousin Hayli were around mile 1.5. It was exciting to see them. There are so many people that volunteer, play music, and people that come out to encourage and cheer that make the atmosphere of the race really fun. Miles 3-6 were a little harder, but not bad. Miles 7-8 got much harder, but I knew my friend Beth was waiting around 8 so I pushed on. From there until mile 13.1 I had a really hard time. It began to rain, which was actually nice with as hot as I was. We had planned to run from mile 10-13.1 without stopping but I had to keep stopping to walk. With the humidity I felt like I couldn't breathe, which is important while running. It definitely came a mental thing at the end. I knew I could finish, but my mind was getting filled with how tired I was and ready to stop. Finally we turned a corner, and eventually the finish line came into view.

 We made it across the finish line, through the corral, and to the carl's junior burgers waiting at the end!! Hooray!

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie A league of their own, oddly enough. Dottie says to Jimmy, "It just got too hard". And he says, "Its supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."

And I've found that's true with some of the hard things in life I've done. All of the work, effort, struggle, sacrifice is worth it in the end.  I'm grateful to Michael for supporting me for the hours it took to train for the race, to Beth, Hayli, and my sister for being there along the race course and cheering me on- it meant the WORLD to me, and for Heather for partnering with me over the last couple of months to train and run the race;  Your positivity, perseverance, and encouragement helped make this goal actually happen for me! 

My quads were incredibly sore Monday and today, but getting better. I'm looking forward to doing some short runs soon.

 Its been about a year now that I have been running consistently again. Toward the end of last year, my cousin and I were joking about running a half marathon. Joking, because both of us were a little scared to commit to it. But the joking turned into a commitment, and many months later it is race day eve. To our great disappointment Hayli got injured during our training and had to stop running. I fell off the wagon for a while after that, but picked it back up and joined up with Heather for long runs. The long runs alone are tough, so I am so grateful that we have been able to run together.

 The memorial flags were put up along the course I run a couple of weeks ago, and spurred me on toward race day.

 Tonight I cooked up my good friend Beth's delicious spaghetti recipe for a "carb load" dinner.

 There are many reasons why I run and why I chose this commitment, but that's for another day.

I've got all my stuff laid out for my 5AM wake up call...nothing else to do now at this point but try to rest, even though I'm feeling very nervous/excited/not tired!

Spring

Happy Spring! It is hard to believe it is April first. We have been enjoying some Easter festivities and all things Spring! The memorial marathon is exactly four weeks away from today! My training is slowly coming along. I ran 7.5 miles this morning...and my body feels like I rode a horse for a few hours. Hopefully that goes away soon!

10. Run a 5K

I checked running a 5 K off the list this weekend. I had been preparing for several months for this run, and it was fun to have worked for something and enjoy it. The weather was great, and there were thousands of people there!

Here we are coming down the last hill toward the finish line! It was fun to see Michael and Isabella standing at the finish line! Now to train for a 10K!

A mile a day in December

As AM mentioned in her last post, we're trying to run a mile a day in December (not including Sundays). This is a very manageable distance that is a good starting place for our marathon relay training that will begin in January. Plus it only takes 30 minutes at most if you include warm up and cool down.

We'll see how good we are at keeping it up on a daily basis this month with all of the holiday rush about to be upon us.

I started this morning by getting up early (5:20 AM!!!), was on the treadmill by 5:40, and back home by 6:15. I'm typically not a morning person so I'll be interested to see if I can keep up the early morning route.

What have we been doing?

The last two weeks we have been home have been absolutely crazy busy! One more week of craziness with VBS next week at church every night after work, and keeping my nephews one night. After that I plan to do some organizing, sitting around, watch a movie, and catch up with my friends and my unread magazines. So what have we been doing?


Michael began coaching a little league team for a boy we go to church with. They have one practice and one game a week. I snagged this picture of Michael getting his breakfast on his way to his game last Saturday. So far they are 0-2.


We went out with some of our "longest standing" (as Michael says) friends for dinner the other night at the Cheesecake factory. I had never tried their strawberry shortcake dessert and it is one of Amy's favorites so we tried it out. It was great as all of their food is. Amy is due with their first baby in one week! I was so glad we were able to catch up with them before they become parents. Can't wait to meet Kaitlyn!


Last Saturday night we ran in the Downtown Dash 5 K race. Here we are together.


Amy, Heather, and Me pre-race


I went to Stillwater last weekend, had lunch with some MFT girls and went to a baby shower for a friend from grad school. It was really great to see those girls! I miss them so much!


I went to lunch one Friday at Nonna's with Amy and Heather. We had this AH-Mazing dessert!


Oh...and did I mention we moved in the last two weeks. We moved to manage one of the apartments shown in the back of this picture. We will be renting our house over the next year and then we will make some decisions about renting our house, selling our house, area we want to live in, etc. Things are mostly unpacked at our apartment, and things at our house are in disarray as we need to put some things in storage and donate some things.

WHEW!! I am ready to go to bed before 11, be home before 9, and find my watches!! :)

Memorial Marathon

Michael and I ran in the memorial marathon this past weekend. I left the camera at home, so no pictures. We ran on the same relay team this year. Michael ran the 12K leg and I ran one of the 5K legs. They had predicted 80% chance of rain and slight chance of hail for that day. Luckily there was no rain or hail! Michael trained really hard for his leg and I was really proud of him. Here are some quotes from him:

"The wind was brutal around the lake"

"My favorite part was the Carl's Jr cheeseburgers"
"It was a really cool experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year"

They really have people standing at the finish line handing out cheeseburgers! I had never eaten a burger from Carl's Jr until the memorial marathon last year- and not one again until this year. Of all places to eat a cheeseburger!
I cried several times about the many inspirational people we saw- men in full military gear with backpacks on completing the marathon, a woman a prosthetic leg pushing someone else, people in wheelchairs... it is always amazing to me to see what people can do with their bodies and how many people come together to remember people that lost their lives in the tragedy of the bombing.

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

We ran on relay teams this morning in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.


Me looking out the window at 5:27 AM, looking at the rain, and thinking really...this sounded like an OK idea at the time...


Of course Michael was his wonderful chipper self.


The signs showing us where to go


Michael leaving me at my relay station to drive to pick me up at the next relay station. Good thing I got that water resistant jacket because it was raining and freeeezing!!


Me crossing the finish of my relay leg. Although I only did a 5K, I had not been doing the training Michael had and did 13 minute miles- which is super slow. But I did not throw up or die, and I was able to finish (those were my goals, I tried to keep it simple!)


Michael high-fiving his teamates. Note John d. on the left, poised and ready to give pounds.


Us afterward squinting into the sun.

Although it was early and freezing, the being a part of the race was a great experience. In my leg of the race I saw a man wheeling himself in a wheel chair, watching him was so emotional for me I had to look away because I was about to start crying. Running up the hills was difficult enough for me and I can't imagine the strength it would take to do in a wheel chair. Throughout the race I was amazed by the strength I saw in people. Michael did awesome on his leg and I am "real proud" as Grandma Hartman would say!

Michael's addition to this post:

I'm disappointed to announce that the white, wicking running shirt I ran in today did not lend itself well to sweat bunnies or chickens. Oh well... maybe next time.

I am pleased to note that my relay team came in 17th out of 224 teams in our category (Coed-Open). Our team mile pace time was 8 minutes and 46 seconds and mine was 9 minutes and 16 seconds. It took me 57 minutes and 30 seconds (new personal best) to finish my 10K leg, which was the last leg of the race. Lest you think I'm bragging, In the picture above, the guy in all black that I'm high-fiving ran his 10K in 39 minutes (that's about a 6 minute 20 second pace)... STUD-MUFFIN!!!

In my opinion, the last leg was by far the best leg to run because 1) you get to cross the finish line and 2) people are cheering you on like you've been running the whole marathon, which is kind of fun.

Despite some moderate to severe (no bleeding) nip chaffing and a little bit of soreness in my inner thighs, I actually feel pretty good right now twelve hours after the run. Now that I've run two 10K's I will say that I definitely prefer running them in the afternoon versus the early morning. There's just something unholy about getting up at 5:00 a.m. to go running.

All in all, today was a good day. The Redbud was fun, but I really enjoyed today's experience of running with AM and all the other thousands of people that participated a lot more. I think we decided today that we will try to run a half-marathon this fall. Let us know if you'd like to join us. There's one in San Antonio in mid-November that might be fun.

Best part of the run? Someone handed me a Powerade and cheeseburger right after I finished running which I proceeded to devour completely in about 50 seconds. What a great post-run meal! If only I could run as fast as I eat.