All done

This last weekend, I ran the much anticipated half marathon.  I was lucky enough that I got to train with and run it with two of my dear friends.  Both had never run long distances before and both did incredible.  My friend Chip rocked it, coming in a full 20+ minutes before me and HayLee was just about 15 minutes behind.  Both girls ran the entire thing - didn't walk at all.  I am so proud of them! 

Because it was my birthday the day of the race, Mike and HayLee decided that I needed to be spruced up a bit.  They bought me a tiara, a sash, and a huge mylar balloon to be tied to my waist as I ran. I decided to let the balloon go before the race started because I didn't want to annoy the people running behind me - plus, I didn't want any wind resistance ;)

The advantage of wearing the tiara and sash was that the onlookers all cheered me on AND wished me Happy Birthday!  I had to stop twice to use the potty - one of the disadvantages of drinking a lot of powerade before the race and eating a rather large carb loaded meal the night before.  I think this added to my time, but no matter.  It had to be done.  It was awesome coming into the final stretch and seeing family cheering for me.  My sister-in-law was holding out Sam so I could see him as I ran toward the finish line.  Everyone was screaming and cheering and Sam lost it, the poor little guy didn't like that at all.  I finished the race in 2 hours and 43 minutes.  My first half that I ran 4 years ago was completed in 2 hours and 19 minutes, so I slowed down quite a bit for this one, but I'm still really proud of myself for completing it and running the entire thing.

The morning before the race, Sam decided to give me an early birthday present.  He started crawling!  He's still a little uncoordinated, but has improved dramatically over the past three days.  This morning I put him down and he crawled right over to the stairs - almost like it was his plan to tackle those suckers the moment he became mobile.  We'll have to block those off for sure until he's big enough to safely climb up and down.  He's also getting his first two teeth, which is resulting in a sad little guy who doesn't understand why he's feeling so crummy.  I'm excited to see some teeth in that sweet little grin of his.

I'm going to give myself a little break for a few days before I jump into training mode for my Sprint Triathlon at the end of June.

Mike and I got the chance to see Leeann and Clay.  I love this family so much and it's so incredible to see how much Clay has grown!  I loved just sitting and chatting with him.  He's a super smart and talented kid.  He loved seeing Sam and wanted to hold him and make him smile.  I loved it.

 Here I am in my tiara and sash.  As I crossed the finish line, the announcer complimented me on my tiara over the sound system - nice :)

 Here we are - 3 of the 4 Brady Trucking running crew.  Chip had to leave before the picture.  Her dad's company sponsored us, allowing us to run in the race.  Thanks Brady Trucking!



 

Sam got to hang out outside on Sunday because it was such a nice day.  He wasn't really a huge fan of the grass, so he stuck to his blanket.   

On another note,  I am going to be trying an experiment over the next few weeks.  It's project "Save Mike and Trish some money, please".  This week I am only going to buy from "Sale" items from the weekly ad for our grocery store.  I'm going to see how much we save.  Then next week, I am going to try my hand at couponing and compare that.  I really would love to start saving money on our grocery bill and I want to find the best way to do it.  I'll update on the success/failure of the endeavor.