Happy Birthday Merica'

What a jam packed July 4th weekend! I kicked the weekend off by running a 10k, the Yankee Doodle Dash, in downtown Everett and crossed the finish line in a little over 53 minutes. In typical "I get really amped at races" mode, I sprinted the first mile and then was dying by mile 4.......still need to work on pacing myself.

My paparazzi was waiting at the finish line.......

and this guy slowed down long enough for a {very sweaty} picture

After the race, we had an early lunch and set up to watch the parade. We waited and waited and waited some more. Grace didn't seem to mind since it gave her plenty of time to work on her roaming skills.....

and running away skills. 

Harrison was happy making friends with our curb neighbors and eating his "orange chips"

I love local parades because you just never know what you're going to see....

acrobatic motorcycle riders...

a group of 44 elderly folks on their scooters....

hipster bike polo....

and lots of fun old cars. I tell ya, something for everyone!!

That evening, we had dinner with our community group and got home just in time for the real festivities {if you could hear me say those last words there would be a hint of sarcasm}. Around dusk it started to sound like a war zone!! Folks around here find great joy in buying HUGE fireworks, from the indian reservations, and having there very own home shows. It was insanity!! Thankfully it didn't bother the kids and, once I popped in my earplugs, I slept like a baby.

On Saturday our sweet friends from law school, Lauren & Andrew, drove up from Seattle to visit. I'm kicking myself for not getting a photo with them but, hopefully, we will see them again soon :) We took them over to Snohomish for dinner and then we grabbed some pie for dessert. Harrison was in such good spirits......I love a happy 2 year old!

We road tripped it to Tacoma, on Sunday, to do some 3 year old birthday celebrating. The weather was beautiful and the kids snoozed.....perfect combo!

So happy to see my sweet friend, Martha {Hey girlfriend!}, and her cute babies. It pains me that they don't live closer because we would hang on the regular.......like live next door so we can have adult beverages and chat about life regular.  Thanks for inviting us to celebrate Bud!

13.1!

Well it's done......I ran my first 1/2 marathon and it was such a great experience. When we signed up for the race, I hoped to finish around 2:15 and my official time was 2:06. {Wahoo!} I really committed to the training schedule and feel like it paid off in the end. Along with training, it was also super helpful that the race was in a beautiful location. I'd never visited Vancouver, BC and it did not disappoint. Jody and I could not get over how nice and helpful everyone was......not to mention the place was SO clean.

We also took advantage of the kindness of Jody's folks and turned our weekend of running into an early anniversary vacation. It's hard to believe, but we haven't spent any time away since Harrison joined our family a year ago. I missed the little dude like crazy, but it was so nice to be able to focus on my husband and spend time with good friends. 

I have to say that the only bad thing about being in Canada was the international roaming. It cost a small fortune to use our phones, so we were forced to organize meet-up locations and use paper maps {so old school}. I also didn't bring my camera, thinking I could just use my phone, so this is the only picture Jody took. Thankfully, one of the other ladies brought hers and will be sharing them shortly. 

Registration for the Lululemon Seawheeze 2013 opens up in January........who's in??

Look at that form!

Running Update

According to the Seawheeze website, I'm 65 short days away from running my first 1/2 marathon.

After yesterday's run, I hit the 130.0 mile mark! 

One Hundred Thirty Miles!!!

Am I bragging?

Why yes I am.

Impressed with myself?

Absolutely.

Make Harrison give me lots of high fives?

Of course.

Think that if I can do it you can to?

Ummm.....yeah

I've never, NEVER, been a runner, but I think that having my organs rearranged during pregnancy has given me super human power {as well as loose stomach skin.....but that's another post} and a strong pain tolerance. 

Happy running folks!

What a week

We tried to buy a house this week.
Key word TRY.
Turns out 22 other people also wanted the same house and the winner brought cash.
We were bummed and it kind of got me in a funk.
Well around here when things are getting us down......we eat ice cream!

One more thing.......I ran 8 miles this morning.

High Five Me!

Let's try this again

Nothing says "Happy 7th Anniversary!" like running a 1/2 marathon....

right???

We've paid our registration, booked our hotel and we'll be heading to Vancouver, BC in August to participate in The Lululemon Sea Wheeze.

Of course, we all know what happened the last time I started training to run a 1/2 marathon. 

Jingle Jog 5k

We went, we ran, we were rewarded......with reindeer antlers

That's Weak

My friends & family in Colorado will laugh at this statement......

its freezing here!!!

The weatherman is calling for a low of 29° tonight and a balmy 31° for my run in the morning.

This picture has nothing to do with the current weather situation but reminds me that, if only for a brief moment, Oregon does have amazing weather. Until those 2 weeks return, I'll deal with what we got.

Terrified!!

I can't believe I'm posting this but.....

I'm training for a 1/2 marathon.

I've always said that I wasn't into long distance running but when you live in "Track Town USA" running is what you do. Honestly, I think I would've been able to safely make it out of Eugene without running in the Marathon but my friend, Lauren, needed a training partner and I needed a distraction......done & done.

I'm planning on doing weekly training updates once the new year rolls around to keep us motivated {Lauren's peeks at my blog every now and then} and chronicle our runs.

Wish me luck!