One Fine Day

Since I'm pretty thoughtful, I'll give you the short version...

Short version:

I ran my second KC marathon, my time was 3 hours and 37 minutes and 6 seconds

My mom and dad came and ran the half. Sid's time was 2 hours 18 minutes, Tam's time was 2 hours and 5 minutes

No one pooped their pants so all in all it was a success!

Since I choose to blog rather than to journal I must give a long version so my progeny can share all my joy...

Long version:

May 09: My friend Angela mentions that she wants to run the KC half marathon... I think about it.

June 09: Still thinking about it.

July 09: I fall into peer pressure because my running soul mate, Amy is doing the full marathon. I hesitantly agree to do the full marathon with her.

July 09: I go to Utah and eat lots of food... but kind of start running.

August 09: I run a couple of long runs with my mom. I pressure her into running the half marathon in Kansas City.

September 09: I finally get back from Utah, a little fatter, but with a couple long runs under my belt. I meet up with my old running pal Amy. She always makes the long runs magical.

Late September 09: My mom talks my dad into running the half marathon with her. That gives him about 4 weeks to train. Sid is nuts.

October 09: I have a minor anxiety attack because its October and I haven't trained half as much as I did for my first one. What did I get myself into?

The week of the marathon: Amy and I go shopping for matching running outfits, we find a killer deal, it has to have green in it. I buy one for my mom too. My Dad didn't want any of our nonsense so will wear his own outfit during the race. His loss.

The day after my anxiety attack: I run my last run before the big day, about 4 1/2 miles and feel wonderful!

October 16Th 09: Sid and Tam arrive and we have a pasta party with Angela and Matt and Amy and Hyrum. Its almost like Christmas Eve. We are a little nervous but mostly excited and very jolly!

October 17Th 09, 5:30 am: We are up and going. It is pouring rain.

That same day, about 6:30 am: I talk to Amy on the phone, she is on her way to the race. She will call when she gets there and we will meet up.

7:00 am:Avery is bundled up really nice and tight. She doesn't know what the heck is going on. Travis has the camera all ready to go. We are at the starting line. It has stopped raining. The race is starting, still no word from Amy. I have called her about 9 times. Starting to freak out a little.

7:15 am: The race has been going for about ten minutes. Sid decided to go ahead and start, but Tam is sticking around with me so see if we can find Amy. Our time doesn't start until we go past the starting line, we have magical chips in our shoes.

7:16 am: I give up on Amy, we start the race. The 5K, half and full all start together so I run with Mom for a little bit. I feel kind of bad because I am super ornery realizing that I have to run 26 miles without a friend or an Ipod. Due to my anger, I am running really fast and my mom tells me to go on. I linger for awhile, but then decide to go ahead.

The first 5 miles: I find Sid and we run for a second together, then he tells me to go ahead. My anger is still outweighing my ability to pace myself. I'm frantically looking at everyone to see if I can find my friend. No luck! But I do find Sarah, she is running the half. We run for a second together, then I go ahead.

Mile 5-10: I'm starting to cool off. I'm not mad anymore. I keep wondering if Amy is OK. My eyes are more clear and I start to look around and enjoy myself. I notice the fun bands playing, the conversation going on, the atmosphere is amazing! I am feeling so good! The marathon and half marathoners break at this point. My dad said when he hit this point (about mile 8) he heard someone from the full marathon say, "good luck halfers, we will miss you." I kind of did miss running with the huge crowd. Also, there are a lot of guys just off the road taking pees. Kind of funny. At some point, Travis tries to find me, but he gets boxed in since the streets are blocked off, so he stays put. I would have loved to see him and Avery during the race.

Mile 10-15: Still feeling good, except when I get to mile 14. What is it with this mile? I struggled two years ago at mile 14. I eat some nasty goo and hit a second wind at about mile 15 1/2. I kind of want to make friends with some of the other runners, but can't seem to get out of my shell, so I just continue to listen to every one's conversations.

Mile 15-20: I can't believe how awesome I feel! The scenery is amazing. Beautiful leaves everywhere!

Mile 20-25: I'm starting to really feel it in my quads. I feel bad for them. There is a burning inferno going on, and they might blow. I don't slow down, I just want to finish. What shmoe planned this marathon, mile 22-24 is uphill! S.O.B!

Mile 25-26.2: I can hear the crowd up ahead. People are cheering me on and saying that I'm looking good. One supporter said that I had a good face on me, which meant that I had the eye of the tiger going on. There is this guy running next to me that keeps shouting for joy because we are so close... I think I muttered a couple "yahoo's" and "hooray's" as well. The finish line is about 100 yards ahead and I look over and can see my family and friends. I feel a little emotional, but hold it in.

After the finish line: I finally cross the finish line! They wrap an astro blanket around me and give me a medal and another shirt. All of a sudden I am freezing! My family comes and meets me. I give them all hugs. Travis and Avery are the best! What an awesome feeling!!! Oh and then Amy shows her mug. She had finished about ten minutes before. Her story? She was calling me a million times as well, we were in the parking garage, so probably didn't get service. Sad! Oh well, since I started after her, our times were less than a minute apart. What did I tell ya, we are running soul mates and we both qualified for Boston! Sid and Tam did awesome! My mom almost made it under two hours! And Sid had run about 4 times and averaged about ten minute miles! They are crazy!

After the race: We are all freezing, so we leave. We get home and Sid runs (not literally) to five guys and we indulge on huge bacon cheeseburgers and fries! Our bodies love us!

That night: We get a babysitter and go see a movie. After the movie, Travis has to carry me to the car. My body is not functioning. I swear I wasn't this soar two years ago. Must be getting old! Why aren't my parents limping, they are old?

Best part of the race: Hearing people cheer me on. I know it sounds dumb, but its almost as if people put aside their differences and hatred and the world is peaceful. Everyone is kind and helpful. Oh and also, having zero bowel issues!

Worst part: Mile 14 and not having Amy with me. We purposely didn't talk for two weeks so we would have lots of material during the run!

Travis gets the MVP award for a) getting up early and staying the WHOLE time b) watching Avery the whole time and c) having a great attitude. Thanks for being the best husband ever!

I think that pretty much says it all. I'm probably going to retire for awhile, but I think I'm like Brett Favre, I don't think I can stay away for too long.

Before the race:

During

After

Its her party and she'll cry if she wants to...

...And crying she did

October 24Th has been a date in my head that I have been anticipating for a long time. Avery's first birthday! Cute presents- check, hello kitty decorations- check, a dog and cat themed celebration- check, grandparents- check, a beautiful dog cake made by my mom- check. Let's see, what are we missing? ... ... hmmmm... .... oh a healthy baby girl.

She has hardly been sick her whole life besides the little runny nose here and there, but of course, on her first birthday the little pooper had a fever, a rash, a major sore throat and no energy! I felt so bad for her. You could just tell she felt horrible, I mean, she actually let us hold her for more than 7 seconds.

I didn't have a very good contingency plan, so I ended up calling the few people we invited to come over and I cancelled the festivities. We took Avery to the local urgent care. She had a pretty high fever and we just wanted to make sure it wasn't strep or an ear infection. It turned out to be just a viral thing. They gave her a good dose of ibuprofen and when we got home she was acting a little bit like herself. This was our window to do a small celebration. We acted quickly and grabbed the presents and she just kind of stared at them and ran to her old toy. Man, we could have just wrapped that thing up! Its funny how the parents are so into the kids first birthday, and the kid could care less. She will never remember this day. Its sort of like the baby's room blog I mentioned last year. The baby doesn't care about its room, its all about the parents. That is the same thing about their first birthday. I had all these expectations of her delving into her cake and all of us laughing and having the best memories, but we couldn't even get her to eat Ritz crackers, let alone cake!

The most important thing is that she is feeling a little better today. Not quite 70% yet but better.

I can't believe we have a one year old! Every day still feels new with her. We have decided we will keep this one. She is a feisty little girl, and I'm sure we will have lots of battles in the future, but when she stares you in the eyes with her mouth wide open in anticipation of a kiss (she gives open mouth ones), it makes everything so worth it!

Here are some pictures in the small window we had when she felt well (thank you drugs!)

Here is the cake and cup cakes. We stressed a lot over these guys, but they turned out. Too bad we have about 25 cupcakes laying around. Anyone want one?

Oh and TC, Avery loves the mechanical doggy you sent her. I'm praying they will have a long relationship and she won't want a real one! Thanks to my parents for being there. It was their 30th wedding anniversary and Avery stole their thunder! We had a lot of fun (I have a ton of blogging to catch up on!). And thanks to those who thought of Avery!

This is her first dolly. She likes to make out with it.

Oh and PS have I mentioned that Avery is walking? Well she is!

Fall rocks!

Except when it already feels like winter. TC, I don't want any "its 85 degrees here in Phoenix" comments. I swear, it was 75 degrees a week ago, and it has been in the 40's this week; however, I still love the fall. I love the smells of Fall, the post Summer feeling, the colors, the wardrobe, and the festivities.

We have done a couple of fun Fall things...

We of course had to go on our annual Louisburg Cider Mill adventure with the Oman's. We double checked the hours of operation last year... see this post.

We got their famous apple cider doughnuts, some more apple cider pancake mix and some other little gadgets. I know this is totally disgusting, but I do have to mention, that last year, Sarah brought me some of those apple cider doughnuts about 6 hours before I delivered Avery and I ended up throwing them up and I promise it was the most delightful vomit I've ever experienced! Usually after you throw something up, you don't even want to ever look at it again, but not the apple cider doughnuts. They were as appetizing as ever!

We had another rookie this year.

Avery loved the scenery. I think she also loved Evie.

We can't get enough of this place! It makes me want to move and live in the country, but my parents would really never come to visit me... he he a little inside joke for Sid and Tam.

A couple of weeks later I took Avery to Deana Rose with a couple of my friends. Deana Rose is a cute farm for little kids. They have a petting zoo, a bunch of different playgrounds and a pumpkin patch.

I think I liked it more than Avery.

No really, she loved it. It was so fun to see how excited she would get to see the animals... oh and to see these animals playing with each other

There were little baby goats and they had bottles of milk that they would let us feed them with. I swear those goats were starving because they were ravenous. They were trotting over kids, nipping each other and doing everything they could to get the milk. Avery was brave, I think she thought she was a goat.

We had fun, I think we will go back soon!

Ok, so a couple of days ago, Travis took Avery fishing at the local pond with some friends. I think he mostly just had to protect our daughter from jumping into the pond. Good thing he could lure her in with ritz crackers!

I hope Fall will want to stay just a little bit longer. Its always in a hurry to leave! Sure wish Winter wouldn't wear its welcome.

Birthday Boy

Trav's birthday was last Wednesday! Woo hoo!

He was in Philadelphia for most of the day, but he flew home around 8:30 PM. I picked him up from the airport just in time to go and engorge on this.

Its a "Five Guys" burger and so worth the extra inner thigh fat.

Then we came back to our place and added more to the chunkiness with homemade hot cocoa and these cinnamon rolls

And we enjoyed them with these people

It was lots of fun!

I have to thank Brandi for basically doing it all. I was going to be lazy and just make Rhodes cinnamon rolls, but she dragged me to her house and we baked. It was really fun! Thanks again for all of your help. You are a good friend!

Now its the part of the annual birthday post where I go off about how old Trav is and how he robbed the cradle yadda yadda yadda... but I'll spare you and just tell you why I like Travis:

He always watches Avery when I need to go someplace without any complaints... I kind of think he wants me to leave sometimes because those two have lots of fun together

When he tries to be funny, he isn't, but when he just randomly says something, or does something wacky, it cracks me up. I get tears

He usually tells me he loves me everyday, and is always the first one to say it

He is addicted to cuddling... he's the girl in the relationship

He is a sucker for any kind of action, science fiction movie. All you have to do to get his money is have some sort of action hero in a story

The man cannot do two things at one time. Seriously, its comical. He will take 30 seconds to answer one simple question when the TV is on

When its time to leave, he will spend an extra 30 minutes saying bye to each and every person there

He will never cheat on me because when he likes one thing, he sticks with it. For example, he has a million pairs of shorts, but only wears the same ones every day

He can do everything. He not only is very smart, but he is amazing at the piano, can hold a tune, can play the guitar, and is athletic

He is all boy

He loves me unconditionally, which is huge when you have to put up with some of the things I put down

Hope you had a great birthday Trav. I sure do love you!