3 (or maybe 4) Exciting Things

So I am beginning to think that only me, Crazy Uncle, and maybe Brenda actually enjoy blogging. Just an encouragement to everyone else in the WEBNET, I love reading your posts!

There are three things that I am excited about this month. First, I got upgraded to a new laptop at work. It is super awesome! It is soooo fast. I highly recommend that anyone using a Dell Latitude D610 upgrade immediately to a D630! I can't believe the difference.

Second, I am participating in Join the Journey. It is a web-based program to read through the new testament in one year. It is a chapter a day 5 days a week. An email is sent to you daily with a link to the chapter and a devotional on the chapter. I am really enjoying it so far. The link is below. http://fbcd.jointhejourney.com/ .

Third, Justin and I are starting a Connecting Point class at a new church. After completing the class, we will have the opportunity to become partners and join in the mission of the church to worship, grow, and serve. We are really excited about this!

Okay, maybe 4 things...the summer season of Team in Training starts February 9th. Our kickoff is Sunday (so I guess this is technically something I am excited about for February not January, so back to my original 3). I had a great season this year...finishing my first marathon and raising $2,800! So I can't wait to get started again. I am not fundraising this season or training so hard so I will have more time to help out the new participants.

And one thing for you to look forward to...expect a new blog template soon. I know the suspense will kill you :)

I just ran 26.2 miles!

I would hate to keep my readers waiting. So here it is...the marathon run down. We (me, Justin, Mommy, and Daddy) got up at 5:30 in order to leave the house by 6:00. We got off on time and stopped by Starbucks for coffee...well, I didn't have coffee but some others wanted the caffeine. We drove downtown to the start and were pleasantly surprised that the traffic wasn't bad at all. We parked near the start line and walked around a little getting the lay of the land and finding my corral. Around 7:00, we decided I better head to the porta-potty line. The line wasn't too bad and I had plenty of company to wait with. After that, we headed for the corral. Daddy, Mommy, and Justin waited outside the corral with me until about 10 minutes before the start. They headed for the start line at that point to see me off and I got into the corral. I was pretty nervous at that point trying not to think about how far I had to go.

After the gun sounded, it took about 4 minutes for me to cross the start line. I saw my crew and headed out! The first few miles were fun and I didn't even wear my mp3. My knee was doing okay but after every walk break, a pain would shoot up my leg. I kept praying that the pain would go away...and sometimes when the pain wasn't very bad...I just prayed it wouldn't get worse. About mile 5, I stopped for my first bathroom break. Only 3 people in line in front of me, not bad. About mile 10, I stopped to use the porta-potty again. Not really because I needed to but because there was no line. As I kept running, I would find out that none of the porta-potty's would have lines. What a relief since I tend to make quite a few pit stops. I was really excited to get to 13.1 miles! Nothing like the relief of being half way done! Then at mile 15, I saw the whole crew up ahead. Grandmom, Granddad, Randy, Kathy, Carey, Mommy, Daddy, and Justin had all come out to cheer me on. It was great to look forward to seeing them all through the race. It kind of gave me a goal...if I can just get to mile 15. After that, I was feeling tired and decided it was time to put my music in both ears and try to pretend I was somewhere else doing something else. That worked for awhile and I didn't get too exhausted until about mile 20. At that point, it was a mental battle. I kept telling myself that I just had to get to the next mile marker. Then I could re-evaluate how I was feeling and decide if I needed to walk. I had decided before the race to enjoy myself as much as possible and if I needed to walk to the end that was okay. But each mile came and I would think I could do just one more mile.

About mile 24...I got it in my mind that I couldn't walk now not after coming that far! So I ran until the end. I'll admit that a few tears escaped in there somewhere. Everything in me just wanted to be done so bad! A little less than half a mile from the finish, my coach saw me and started running with me until the finish line. It was great to have him run me in just when I thought I could run no more. I told him when he started running with me that this was really hard. He laughed at me and said "Did no one tell you that?" Plus Mommy, Daddy, and Justin were near the finish line to cheer me through.

It was an amazing experience to cross the finish line and see the clock and know that I had just run 26.2 miles! After I crossed the finish line, they put the medal around my neck and I navigated slowly to meet the family. Once you stop running, your body wants to collapse! But I made it out and we even walked all the way to the car. Once we got back to the Grandparents house, everyone was waiting for me (Randy, Kathy, Carey, Grandparents). They made a big deal out of it which was very cool. Then I took a quick dip in the pool. Yep, you heard that right. I got in the pool to substitute for an ice bath which is supposed to help with soreness. Then I was pretty much pooped for the rest of the day.

I will write more about the weekend and the TNT events we went to later. I figure this post is long enough. Here are some pictures at the marathon!

Me at the starting line.

Justin's view of the start of the race.

Me waiving as I am about to cross the finish line!

The starting line. Just to give you an idea of how many people were running. There were 6,400 finishers in the full and 20,200 in the half.

Rock 'N' Roll Here I Come

The countdown is 3 days! I am so excited. We are leaving tomorrow for Phoenix. Then the marathon is on Sunday! I have been seeing a sports chiropractor for my knee and it is feeling better. Of course, I also have been tapering so I haven't been running as much either. So I am not sure which is helping more but either way I am feeling better. The weather is supposed to be almost perfect. 40 at the start with a high of 69. I am hoping I finish before it hits 69 though.

You can track me or just see my results after the race if you are interested. The race starts at 7:40 Phoenix time and I expect it to take me at least 5 hours. The link below will lead you to the marathon home page. Then click on live results. My race number is 10384. It will show splits as I cross the 10K, half marathon, 21 mile mark, and finish line just 60 seconds after I pass. Then of course the final results will be posted on the same website by Sunday evening.

http://www.rnraz.com/home.html

I will post again after the race with all the details.

We had a wonderful holiday season! It will finally be over tonight after the office holiday party. The party is tonight at the Adam's Mark downtown. I got a new dress this year since it is cocktail attire. I actually already wore it on New Year's Eve but I am going to put a little different spin on it with heels and such. We had a really fun New Year's Eve party. A bunch of our friends came over and we celebrated together complete with sparklers. Other than that I have been preparing for my marathon! I am getting nervous but excited at the same time. I got new shoes for Christmas and have done 2 long runs in them so they should be perfectly broken in. I also got some race shorts that have pockets to hold all my stuff (mp3, gu, etc..). Enjoy the pictures!

Walker and his piggy bank on Christmas. He was serious about getting those quarters in.

Uncle Justin and Sophie June.

Sophie June and Grandmummy June.

Before the New Year's Eve Party.

At the party.

Lindsay and me before the party.

Sparklers!