26.2

First of all I just want to warn everybody that this is going to be one long freaking blog. It is more of a journal entry since I kind of count this as my journal. Last Saturday I lost my running marathon virginity. I ran the Kansas City marathon. It was awesome! I have been training since April with my pal named Amy. In these runs I have learned a lot of wierd things about her that I am sure she would not want me to share, so I wont Amy. Vice versa for her too, so you better keep your mouth shut! Anyways I want to share my experience of running 26.2 miles. My greatest fear of this adventure was that I was going to lose control of my bowels and mess my pants; but this did not happen. I will start from the beginning. The race started at 7 am in downtown Kansas City. We left at about 6:10 am and hit some pretty heavy traffic. Oh and I just wanted to note that Travis volunteered to come early with us because he wanted to see the starting line (how sweet is that?) So we packed him a camping chair, a pillow, a blanket and of course Joanna (his computer). Anyways, by the time we parked, met up with some people and walked half a mile to the starting line (which i'm counting as mileage, so I should rename this blog 26.7) the race had already started. We were about 5 minutes behind! I could see the huge mass of people about 300 yards ahead of me. Amy and I kind of freaked out and just started booking it to catch up; which isn't very smart if you want to keep a constant pace. We were weaving and bobbing through the crowd.(Oh and I have to mention that we had gone to Target earlier that week and bought matching running outfits.) We probably ran the first 3 miles at a 7:15 minute pace. We even got people yelling at us saying "you got 24 more miles to go, you may want to pace it." So. We finally got to where we felt we needed to be and kept a pretty steady pace. My favorite part of the race was mile 6. I was feeling really fresh and we were in a cool part of the city and the water station was Halloween decorated. It was fun. The race was extremely hilly though. I think I started to hit my wall at mile 14 (and that is when my bowels started barking; I felt like my worst fear was going to come true). I was going to stop at the next potty which was at mile 16, but when we got there, the feeling went away and I didn't want to sacrifice my time. I actually hit a high at mile 20. It was wierd because everyone says that you can train for the first 20 miles of a marathon, but the last 6 you are on your own. When I saw the mile marker I got a wierd feeling. It was almost an emotional feeling knowing I was so close to the finish. Well, that feeling lasted about 2 miles. I don't know what genious planned the route, but from mile 22 to 23 there was a ginormous hill. This about did me in. I felt like I was going to die. I made it through the hill, but I did not want to stop at anymore drink stations because I knew that if I stopped running it would be too difficult to start. My wise friend Amy said that it was dumb to skip any drink stations, so I listened to her and walked while I drank (I learned the hard way in the first drink station that you can't run and drink at the same time, red gatorade everywhere!). The last mile was really cool. There were a lot of runners starting to cramp up, some on the side of the road stretching and some people had to start walking. I felt a little adrenaline and booked it to the finish line with Amy. It was such a neat feeling because I saw my Dad on the sidelines cheering for us and he ran to the course and gave me a high five along with my sister Sadie, right before we crossed. Then I saw Trav filming me with the video camera and my mom with her huge camera. Yay! We finished. I had an awesome fan club. It was the coolest feeling!!! Even though we started 5 minutes after the race, we had chips on our shoes that started the official time when we passed the starting line, which made the start to finish time accurate. Our time was 3 hours and 48 minutes.




Highlights of the marathon:
Haunted mile 6 and the drink station
Amy and my matching outfits and getting called twins along the whole race
At mile 14 drink station the guys passing out water were wearing nothing by tighty-whities
Realizing that Kansas city is actually gorgeous
Watching Amy try to eat goo
Meeting random people ie: Zach who tried to run the Chicago marathon 2 weeks earlier and quit because of the intense heat, and the "real" twins that wore matching outfits
People running in costumes: a turtoise and a hair, a nun and a monk, a mohawk man oh and this isn't a costume, but a man ran the whole thing bare foot
Seeing our friend Nancy qualify for Boston being 40 years old
Mile 20 and the last .2 of a mile stretch
The most amazing weather you could ask for
The magic jelly bean that Amy held the whole run in her hand
Seeing my family at the finish line
Running arm in arm with Amy and the announcer announcing that "they must be friends"
All the random people (such as homeless people on the side of the streets) cheering
The free food afterwords and eating whatever I wanted

Lowlights of the marathon:
Being late and having to find a hole in the crowd to pass people
Barking bowels at mile 14
Realizing I paid 50 bucks for this torture
Hills
Goo (gross)
The post race visit to the port-o-potty
Being sore
Making fun of a girl who was wearing a ton of make up and then realizing that she beat us

I think that about sums it up. I think I'm going to retire for awhile but will make a comeback sooner or later. It was a great experience! Thanks to Amy, Nancy and Scott for the great runs! And thanks to my family for being there and supporting. And thanks to my husband for supporting through encouragement (couldn't get his butt out of bed to go on any runs but he was always there for me in spirit).

Who are you?

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're Bella Swan - You are intelligent and kind but not quite sure what you want out of life yet. You have a feeling there's something more out there for you. You're attracted to those who are real and avoid the fake. Sometimes you're a bit accident prone, but your true friends will always be loyal to you and come to your aid when you need it.
Take this quiz!








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TAG!

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I name EVERYTHING! My wedding ring's name is Shirly, Travis's computer's name is Joanna, my alarm clock is named Stan, Travis's cars name is Delores (spanish style), etc.

2. I am obsessed with the E channel. Nothing soothes me more than hearing the latest Hollywood gossip.

3. I have a fetish with veins. I draw blood at work sometimes, so whether I am at church or at the grocery store and can tell if you would be a good stick or not.

4. I wash my hair every 3 to 4 days (if you are lucky)

5. I have very very vivid dreams and sometimes they actually come true. (Runs in the family, thanks Grandma Gladys)

6. I still have a crush on Uncle Jessie

Now I tag Allie, Tracie, Sarah, Lauren, Brandi and Stacie

Trav's Golden Birthday!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TRAV!

My ancient husband turned the big 30 last week! I know what you are thinking, he looks like he is 17. Well he's 30 OK. Don't get him confused with me, I'm no where near 30, he just robbed the cradle, that's all. My family growing up always thought that when you turned the age of the date of your b-day (IE: Trav's b-day is Sept 30Th and he turned 30, mine was when I turned 8 on Feb 8Th) then this is called your golden b-day. Since it was 1) Travis's golden b-day and 2) his 30Th b-day I decided, what the hay, let's throw him a surprise b-day party. If anyone knows me, you will know that I am no good at the cheesy wife things like this, so this was definitely out of my comfort zone. With all the scheming behind Trav's back, stress, money, and insecurity I pulled it off. The party was held at a pavilion at a park near by. The plan was for Travis to go play video games at his friend Jim's house and then Jim would get him to the park by explaining that they were going to the Royals game and meeting everyone at the park. It was a brilliant plan. Trav had no idea, he even searched the house before hand to find his ball glove so he could take it to the game (I was trying really hard not to laugh). I guess with all the planning, the decorating, and the anxiety I was expecting this huge life shattering surprise for Travis, but when he got there, we all hid, jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE" and that was that, pretty melodramatic. We had a great time. We BBQ ed, played games, and ate! The only problem was that the lights forgot to come on at about 8:30, so we partied in the dark for awhile until it was pitch black. Some think that the party ended early because of the lack of light, but in all reality it ended because we are all old and wanted to go to bed. It was a great night, and I want to thank all my friends for helping.

This is Travis's b-day cake, I think all those 3 year olds out there would be very jealous of this treasure chest. My friend Brandi helped me decorate. She was actually the brains behind it. She would tell me what to do and I would do it without questions. It turned out really fun and now I think it would be really fun to take a cake decorating class.

Here is the cake after, how heart breaking!

Don't pass out baby!

On his actual birthday he woke up to a hoard of presents (beautifully wrapped). They were from his parents, my parents and me. His parents and brothers got him some software for his computer, my parents got him a computer bag and some money and I bought him a suit. After all he is 30 now, he should start dressing like it.

What a hotty! I hope you had a good birthday Trav! I love you!

I Heart Fall

I just thought that I would express my recent discovery that I love this time of year. For the following reasons:

a) The crazy hot humid heat is slowly leaving (this is one reason why I just discovered I love Fall, I usually am obsessed with Summer, but after living in Kansas, I rather not always look like I'm dripping wet 24-7)

b) Fall clothes. Nothing is better than jeans and a sweatshirt. You don't have to worry about shaving, or if your legs look fat, or again not worrying about sweating all over those clothes.

c) The moon (not that kind of moon you perv). It just seems like they are huge in the harvest season, last week during the full moon, I swear it was closer than normal, because it was huge and orangey-yellowish. Very cool.

d) The harvest feeling in the air. You can almost just smell it. Pumpkins are in harvest along with all the other fun Fall veggies.

e) The beautiful leaves. I might have to admit that Falls here are prettier than in Utah, OK Utah minus the mountains. There are a million trees everywhere, so during the Fall they all change colors and it is magnificent!

f) The activities. Such as: pumpkin carving (which thanks to Mallie we are becoming experts, no triangle eyes anymore, we are way above that), the fun treats (if anyone has any fun Halloween recipes send them my way), dressing up (sorry Owrin I know you hate it). I can't wait to see what my nieces and nephews will be, and going to pumpkin patches.


I could go on and on but I'll just "leaf" it at that. He he!