Emily - 3 years old (plus 4 months!)

I'm a little late, but I finally had Emily's 3 year pictures taken! Tripp's sister took them for us at Sahuaro Ranch Park and I am thrilled with how they turned out!

My First Half Marathon - The Girlfriends' Half Vancouver, WA

I can't believe it's over.

5 months of training, lots of self doubt and hot weather have led me to this event.

And now it's over. Just like a wedding that you prepare for, sometimes a year in advance! Then just like that, it's done.

I flew to Vancouver, WA (where we lived from 2002-2007) for this sacred event. I was blessed to spend some time with my closest girlfriend, Meredith. She and I didn't run together, she is much faster than I and she had something to prove. She had to "stick it" to the Eugene Women's Half! Which she did, by the way!

The night before the race we had a carb packed dinner of spaghetti at Mere's house. Here is a picture of some of us girlfriends who would be running the next morning:

After a good night's sleep, we were up and ready to go, albeit with nervous tummies!

I was taken aback by this gorgeous view from Mere's front yard before we left for the race. It was a gorgeous morning (although a little chilly at 40 degrees!)

Here we are in downtown Vancouver before the race started

Right after the picture above was taken, my camera got dropped and broken. As I was fiddling with it, Mere hands me my sunglasses that were broken in 3 pieces from someone stepping on them. I was thinking, "REALLY?" I did not need these mental distractions moments before the race began! But I threw away my sunglasses and Mere took my broken camera back to the car and I tried to refocus.

I put all that out of my mind and started praying.

Then it was time to line up.

I got my iPod ready, turned on my Garmin (which my sweet friend Sarah let me borrow and now I'm sure I can never run without one again!) and we took off! I kept up with Meredith for about a quarter mile then realized I needed to watch my pace so that I didn't peter out. But it was hard! I felt like a horse out of the gate! I left my iPod off for the first couple miles because I just wanted to listen to the cheerleaders on the sidelines and hear the pounding of running feet all around me.

It was so amazing to be running with all these women. Lots of women had running buddies and even though I kind of wished I had one too, it was symbolic that I didn't. I trained for this whole race, all 5 months, all by myself (no one else is crazy enough to train for a race in Phoenix in the summer!). Tripp did a 7.5 mile run with me while we were up north at our friends' cabin and I loved having him by my side, encouraging me. But I really didn't mind running it without a partner.

The course was beautiful and fall is my favorite season in Vancouver. The leaves and colors are unreal. The air was crisp. The fog rising up off the Columbia River was spectacular. I felt so good!

Shortly after mile 2 there was a water station and then I saw her. Cathy. My mom's best friend. She drove all the way down from Gig Harbor, WA (over 2 hours of driving), to see me run this race. That meant so much to me. So we hugged for a split second and then I was off again!

We continued along and wound through a pretty park where all the aspens were towering above us and leaves were falling. There was a turnaround right about there and I was thinking of my mom. I looked up at the beautiful trees, just enjoying my surroundings. As I was looking up, this single solitary leaf fluttered down and almost landed on me. I got emotional and thought that it was almost like my mom dropped it from heaven to let me know she was watching me.

The course headed back the way we had come so I was able to see Cathy again, she had a cup of water for me. At this point I think we are about 7 miles in. I couldn't believe how good I was feeling. In my training I would hit the wall somewhere around mile 6. But I couldn't believe how fast this run was flying by.

And even though I wasn't able to hand off my camera to Cory at mile 2 so he could snap some pics of me, a few friends captured some great pictures of us! I love how we are all smiles!

Here is Meredith around mile 8

Here I come! I was waving to our friend Eryn's mom while her husband snapped these pictures with Eryn's professional camera

At this point I had not yet stopped to walk. But right after the pictures above were taken, the course took us up and over a highway. It got a little steep and since I was 8 miles in, the hill got the best of me. I walked for about 30 seconds just to get to the top then picked up the pace.

The rest of the race was a blur. I remember there being another hill that I fully planned on walking up, but once I was on it, I didn't feel like I needed to. Just as I was passing a woman, she stopped to walk and I said to her, "come on! You can do it!" And she said, "Okay, here I go". I hope that my words encouraged her! I know it would've helped me!

We ran through Ft. Vancouver then there was one more long hill that once again, got the best of me. I could've done it had it not been at the end of the race. So I walked for about 30 seconds again.

The next thing I knew, the end was near! I turned off my iPod so I could hear. People were cheering, even for those they didn't know. Since our names were printed on our bibs, people could cheer for us by name. It was awesome.

With just a quarter of a mile to go, I spotted my friend Sarah! I was so happy to see her! It meant so much to have 2 people there just for me, since Tripp and the kids were home in Phoenix.

And here I come, several hundred yards from the finish line, still smiling!

I love this picture. Mere pointed out how the rays of sun are like God smiling down on us

I see the finish line. I'm hurting.

I think I can, I think I can...

There I go! I love this picture! FINISH!

Mere was there to greet me with a "Mere-hug" (not unlike a "bear-hug")

I was a little emotional just after crossing the finish line

Here's a better picture with my face more composed :-)

Cory and Meredith

I can't even explain how awesome it feels to accomplish something I never dreamed I could do. When I first agreed to do this half, I got to where I was running 4 miles and almost dying. I came home from a run and said to Tripp, "I don't think I can do this. I'm going to tell Meredith I'm out". He said to me, with disgust with all the encouragement he could muster, "are you quitting already??" Well, nobody calls me a quitter! So I pressed on. I also discovered something about myself. I don't like feeling like a failure. So whenever I feel like I won't be able to do something, I just stop doing it. Then I won't fail. I see this behavior in Ryan also. Whenever something gets hard, he doesn't want to do it. So I had to do this race to prove to myself and to set an example to my kids, that you can do anything you want with a little effort.

It feels SO GOOD to check this off the list of things I did that I never thought I could.

To wrap up our Half Marathon festivities, Cathy took Mere and I to lunch at Beaches and had our names added to their chalk board!

I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again next year!

10.3 miles

My very first half marathon is just 2 weeks away.

Last weekend, we were up at Lew & Elaine's cabin and I ran 9 miles. There is a loop I do around their neighborhood that is 1.7 miles. I did 5 laps which was 8.5 miles and finished up the last half mile by running to the end of the street. It was awesome. The weather was perfect and what was even better was that my sweet family, all 4 of them, waited out front of the cabin for me with cheering and water with each lap that I ran. I loved it! And I finished it in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

I had to do 9 miles again in the middle of the week, to gear up for 10 this weekend. It wasn't bad, but I didn't do as well I had done (time wise) up at the cabin this time. It took considerably longer, but I had the dog for part of it so that may be why.

Anyway, I've always thought, through this whole training process, that once I get to 10 miles, I will feel like I can do the half. No problem.

So today I did it (and then some - 10.3 to be exact!). But I tell you what, the last 2 miles were tough. As I made it to my "finish line", I kept thinking, "how will I be able to add 3 more miles come race time?" My lungs felt great. I was breathing just fine. It was my feet and the muscles in my legs that couldn't go on.

I drug myself home. Exhausted, but proud of the accomplishment. Here is what I looked like after 10.3, don't be fooled by the smile, I just can't help but smile when there is a camera on me :-)

Check out that awesome back sweat!

It was muggy out there this morning. I don't know the temp when I left, but it was probably 80 degrees already. It was 84 by the time I got home. Thank goodness for our pool! Can you believe on October 3rd we can still jump in the pool (in fact, the boys are out there swimming as I type this!). It is supposed to cool down this week, I pray this is accurate info from our ever loving weather people!

This coming week, my training looks like this:

Tuesday 10/5: 2 easy miles

Wednesday 10/6: 8 tempo miles (pray that this will actually happen, it's a busy day)

Friday 10/8: 2 easy miles

Saturday 10/9: long run - 11 miles

Monday 10/11: 2 easy miles

Wednesday 10/13: 5 tempo miles

Sunday 10/17: HALF MARATHON (more prayers would be appreciated on this day!)