The Run That Never Happened

Just after our marathon, the girls and I came up with a list of fun runs around town that we wanted to do together. The Turkey Trot Relay was one (the weekend before Thanksgiving) and the Christmas Run (weekend before Christmas) was another.

The Turkey Trot Relay was fun.  It was the first weekend it snowed, and we had a great time running through the fluffy white cold stuff.

The Christmas Run was scheduled for today.  I've been excited about it for weeks, and looking forward to dressing up with my girls.  Unfortunately though, this happened....

I've needed to get two teeth pulled for awhile (I need to create space in my mouth for the rest of the teeth to grow in right) but have been putting it off.  One of them started bothering me during the marathon, and has been continually hurting more and more.  I got tired of it, and made a rash decision to schedule the surgery for yesterday.  I didn't think about what that meant for my weekend.  When I asked the doctor if I could still run today his answer was, "oh hell no!"

So instead I came down and took a few pictures of the girls, enjoyed the sights and sounds of the holiday spirit, and got my tshirt that I paid $30 for (race fees), and had my picture taken with Santa and the girls.  How cute are our tu-tus that Fawn made, btw?!

Well, the run didn't happen for me today, but I'm looking forward to next year's Christmas Run, and many others for that matter.

Merry Christmas week everyone!

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

What I woke up to this morning...

I am so thankful for God's blessings and love. I have a wonderful and supportive family, an abundance of great friends, and 5 jobs that I love. This has been a fantastic year filled with new and exciting experiences, and I can't wait to see what I can accomplish before next Thanksgiving with God's help.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May you all witness God's blessings with open hearts and open minds in the coming year.

Headshots.... of me!

Friend and fellow photographer, Joncee May, and I decided to trade a headshot session. I needed some shots for different reasons, and was excited (and nervous!) to experience the other side of the camera. We had a good time walking around downtown with the snow/rain coming down and being silly.

Here are the pictures Joncee got for me...

Baby Girl Turns 2!

Nike Women's Marathon!!

This post is a long-time coming...
Are you ready for this?!

I FINISHED MY MARATHON!!!!

Woo Hoo! Oh yeah! Uh-huh!

What a great feeling it is to have accomplished this feat!  And you know what??  I've signed up for 2 more since!  Hahaha!  But more on that later. 

For now, I will recap my first marathon, and the wonderful weekend surrounding it...

 There are so many pictures, and honestly I don't have the time to give this post the proper dedication it deserves, but I like to think the pictures speak for themselves.  My plan is to continually update this post as I find the time.  I don't want to forget the amazingness of my first marathon. 
But for now, here are the highlights:

- time with family and friends
- Ghirardelli  chocolate
- Golden Gate glory
- Airport terminals with Starbucks and giant pretzels
- Public transit
- hidden bathrooms
- Nike Women's Expo
- Matching shirts made last minute
- rain, rain and more RAIN
- Tiffany's and firemen
- Boudin soup bowls
- Inspiration EVERYWHERE
-Bananas
- Survivors
- Run, walk, run... repeat
- TEAM
- Perseverance 26.2

The Inspiration Dinner, the night before the race, was just that - inspiring.

 Filled with coaches, mentors and honored patients, the hallways leading

to the dinner were filled with cheers, shouts, cowbells and clapping hands.

It was AMAZING.  

I wasn't in the best mood when I entered the hall

(for a few reasons not worth mentioning)

but once I heard the cheers and saw the mass of people, I was instantly cheered up.

This whole TEAM thing is so worth it.

4:30 comes early at anytime of the year, but during marathon training it becomes pretty standard.

Crazy right?  Yeah.

4:30 was the meet up time for the early starters (a.k.a walk/runners)

and we were almost awake at this point :)

It seemed so special to have this early start option.  It was neat to have our Coach (Brad, right)

and Captain (Byron, left) run with us the first 6 miles.

 

It makes my heart so happy to know this money is being put to such amazing good use!

Yummy pizza our first night in town.

Danielle ran about 50 yards with me at mile 16 and just kept snapping pics.

It was pretty awesome, but can you tell by my face that smiling for a photo

isn't exactly what I want to be doing at that moment?
lol!

Danielle and I spent all day Saturday (day before the race) seeing the city.

We had a great time!

All the participants names were listed on the Nike Town wall.  So cool!

Jayme, Tricia and I had shirts made up that said "I am running the Nike Woman's Marathon" on the front

and "26.2 GO TEAM" on the back.

We wore them all day Friday and had many compliments about them.

This was the best damn bagel I've ever had!

The bagel was soggy with rain and only plain, but I was a happy camper with it in my belly!

After 26.2 miles I was STARVING.  

Puffy, swollen "Shrek fingers"

Mmmm!!!  Boudin's sourdough bread.

O. M. G!