Ben's 1st Birthday Party!

We celebrated Benjamin's 1st birthday on June 27th with family & friends (a bit early because of our camping trip). It was a great evening of celebration! Benjamin had no idea what all the fuss was about...but enjoys his new toys and new found food group...cake!

Seattle Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon

On Saturday I ran 13.1 miles in the Seattle Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon!! I figured why not run it since I was in shape from doing the full marathon 3 wks ago! It was such a fun run...I definitely like the 1/2 marathon distance a lot better than the full! I ran with my TNT friends...which made for another incredible run. The coaches are so great...running along side you & encouraging you all the way. The last coach to run with me was from New York...he was great! He pumped me up for the last hill on the course and before he let me run ahead he said, "you are gonna rock this run for your mom!" Tears definitely welled up in my eyes...I wasn't expecting to hear those words! But what it also did was give me a burst of energy to get to the finish line. (on the back of my TNT shirt it says, "I'm running the distance in honor of my Mom"). So cool!!

It was such fun to have the kiddos (& Marcus) at the finish line too! Jaelyn has been wondering why I have been training so much...so running this race allowed her to see why!

Almost to the finish line...this is when I saw the kids! I had to stop & give 'em a kiss before I ran past them too. My official time: 1:57:26. I'm super pleased with this time...my goal was a sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon & I did it!

Jaelyn made this poster for me...It says "Go Mommy Go!"

Swimming!

It was a beautiful weekend...full of sun & warmth...so we decided to take advantage of it and go swimming!! This was Ben's first time in a pool & he liked it!! Jaelyn is a fish & would stay in the pool until her whole body resembled a raisin!! I loved the fact that the pool was heated & was a salt water pool!! :)

Daddy & his kiddos

Didn't know what to make of it in the beginning!

26.2 miles

My San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon Experience

Phew...26.2 miles...I did it!! I accomplished my goal of running another marathon in my lifetime...but not so sure I'll do it again! (But that's what I said 5 years ago after my first one...and here I ran another one...so you never can say never!) After a 3:30am wake-up call, I was boarding a bus to the start line at 4:30am with all my friends from Team in Training. Yes...quite an early wake-up call...but then again, I wasn't getting much of any sleep because of the jitters! After I gear checked my clean/dry clothes the wait began for the....nope, not the start, but the porta-potties! Basically you get in line...do your thing & get right back in line to go again before the race starts! There was 29,000 people running the marathon & 1/2 marathon...can you imagine the lines for the bathrooms?! Anyway, after my bathroom stop it was off to corral #20 to wait for the gun to go off. It was great to have Marcus right beside me to calm my jitters & have my running buddy from Team in Training right beside me. It probably took us about 30 minutes or so to cross the start line & we were off!! The morning started off cool with June gloom full in effect. Unfortunately the marine layer burned off WAY TO FAST! It was probably 8:15am when the sun was out in all her glory...much to the dismay of us runners!! I felt great running...and it was awesome to see Marcus at miles 4,8, 15, & 21-26.2. We had talked about him running with me at the end...& boy was I glad to see him ~milepost 21. At that point in my run I was hot/hot/hot and sore/sore/sore...and on the verge of feeling sick/sick/sick. :( I probably wasn't the most fun to run with at that point (sorry, babe!) but...he did make the last push a little bit easier! Fiesta island seemed to go FOREVER...the sun was beating down on us...not an ounce of shade to give us relief. It was quite a change to run in that heat...when only a couple weeks ago I was training in long sleeve pants/shorts!! I crossed the finish line 4:39:01...not the time I had hoped for...but I pushed through the sheer pain & feeling like I needed to throw up! UGH.

I can't say enough about Team in Training. What an amazing organization!! I personally raised $4255.30, our team raised over $125,000, and all 4,000 TNT participants for this particular marathon raised 12 million dollars to help find a cure to cancer!! Isn't that just amazing! Starting way back on January 30th I could barely run 20 minutes without stopping...and now I ran 26.2 miles! WOW!!

A BIG thank you to everyone who made a donation to me...hopefully we will find a cure in our lifetime.