Photos With Santa!!! {Leah Robinson Photography}

Welcome New Fans!!

Welcome new fans and readers!!  I have been writing this blog since 2008.  I've tried to manage two blogs I don't know how many times and I always FAIL to keep up with both.  So this blog is here to stay and I will be updating at LEAST once a week!  Why do you care???  Well I love giveaways.....so I'm gonna have them ALL THE TIME!!  Leave a comment today on this post and you'll have a chance to win =)  

Slightly busy........

I know, I know....I'm majorly slacking on blogging!!!  I have reasons I promise!! Most importantly...something I've been training for for months, my first ever half marathon!  Done, finished, checked off my bucket list!

I did the Indy Womens Half Marathon and I didn't die HA HA! Well close....but not quite LOL The race was on Saturday, September 3rd, 2011. We drove up to Indy the day before. I rode with one of my best friends who also happened to be running in the same race. We had her family & a friend, and also my oldest daughter, Hunter. When we first arrived we actually went to the wrong hotel.....close names, but not the same same =) So we carried our luggage and walked to the other hotel which was a couple blocks away. Got there and got settled into our rooms.  Our room number.....

Yes, which meant we were on the 13th floor....didn't know hotels even had the 13th floor because of the whole "unlucky" thing....but ours did, and we were on it =)  lol

It was the same hotel that was hosting the registration for the race, so all we had to do is head downstairs and register =)

So here is the board we had to find our names on.....a lot of women there!
 

Shortly after we registered, we were all STARVING...so we went piled in a cab, drove.....and ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory YUMMY!!  Makes me hungry just thinking about it =)  I believe I had the Chicken Parmigiana, delicious!  

 After that we headed back and pretty much headed to bed.  I was so tired and knew that I needed the rest!

I think I slept pretty good considering.  I remember waking up around 2am to pee, which caused a chain reaction and 2 other girls also got up to pee HA HA.  

Woke up when my alarm went off and started to get ready.  Once all of us runners were dressed we headed downstairs to find where the starting line was going to be.  There were several ladies already out there.  The lines to the porta potties were LONG lol  My nerves started to kick in a bit as I looked around and saw all the women.  Women of all shapes and sizes!!  Most with smiles on their faces, some with nervousness griming through.  Some ladies were stretching, others adjusting their GPS watches or iPods.  We were READY!!  

So the countdown began and we were off!!!  Of course there were so many women at the starting line that we walked for what seemed like 5 minutes until we got to the actual start line.  Then I started to jog.  I felt pretty good!  The weather was about 70 degrees at that time I believe.  About mile 3 or so I saw my family, my mom, Hunter, Alli, Stella, Joe, my MIL Cheryl, Joe's Aunt Kim, and my step-dad Bob (I think that's everyone).  My girls had a BIG sign that read, "Run Mommy"!  So cute =)  I ran till about mile 4 and then stopped for some water.  I still felt great.  Jogged another 5 miles and was still feeling good.  

(Photo copyright Marathon Foto)

Then the next couple miles I felt the heat get HOTTER!!  We began running on a strip of road that had no buildings blocking the sun and the heat reflected off the hot pavement right onto my body.  I felt like I was in a sauna.  I could not wait for the next water stop.  After that it felt like each mile took longer than the previous 9!  I would jog then walk, jog then walk.  I remember seeing the 12 mile marker which meant only 1 mile to go, there was a BIG table of water and I just stood there and drank 2 cups LOL  As I tossed my cup down I looked up and saw Joe (the hubs) standing there waiting to walk with me the rest of the way.  He must have knew by the time that I was struggling so he walked all the way from the finish line to meet me.  He told me how proud he was of me and that I was ALMOST THERE!  I can't remember much more, just that I was extremely dehydrated and kept asking him how much further.  He said, "two blocks"!  So we went two blocks and I couldn't see the finish line anywhere in site....and he looked at me and said, "just two more blocks!"  HA HA  What a stinker!  

Eventually I made it it and crossed the finish line and let me tell you....that moment went right up with the best moments of my life!!!  No words can truly explain unless you have done it =)  

The next hour or so is fuzzy, I do remember them giving me a rose, medal, and a few other things as I crossed the finish line.  I remember seeing my family and my girls and everyone had the biggest smiles across their faces.  I was soooooo thirsty.  I was begging my family for a Gatorade, which for some reason (not to mention there were over 1,000 runners) we could not find one LOL So Cheryl found me a vitamin water and I gulped it down. 

   I was slowly coming off of the "high" from the finish and feeling horrible.  I can't really describe the feeling except that I just didn't feel right.  So I told the fam that we needed to head back to the hotel ASAP.  They said it was about 2 blocks away and we'd have to walk.  So we headed that way.  I remember it felt like an hour had gone by and Joe said it was only a couple minutes we had been walking.  I know I was really mean to everyone, even my kids.  I made Alli Jo cry just because I yelled so loud.....I just wasn't myself at all.  On the way a gentleman walked by me and asked if I had finished and I proudly said YES!  Then not knowing I was right next to the hotel entrance I told them I needed to sit down.  I leaned on the building for a minute then collapsed and started to vomit.  It was all of the Vitamin water I believe LOL  People were walking by just staring, I'm sure I looked beautiful HA HA  But I eventually made it up and walked to the elevator and up to my room.  After laying down for a good hour or so, I felt good enough to head across the road to eat at Arby's with the fam =)  They were all glad to see my back to myself and proud of what I accomplished! 

We gathered up our stuff from the hotel and headed home....what an AMAZING weekend!!  I sort of think of it as labor, you forget all the negative and only remember the positive and you will most definitely do it again!