4!

Somebody {with a mouthful of candy!} turned 4 last week! So, in honor, we celebrated with a Transformers party in Josh's basement!

Gage and his friends enjoyed a first course party meal of PIZZA!

Then a 2nd course of CAKE!

I think Gage loved having us all sing "Happy Birthday" to him!

I think he also loved his cake!

And so did little sister {who gave me a kiss right after this picture was taken...} :)

What's better to wash down cake {& ice cream!} than CANDY!

It could explain why they were all so hyper! Maybe?

They did sit still long enough for Gage to open his presents though.

...some of which not only entertained the youngest, but also the older generations :)

Doesn't that look fun? Too bad it was missing some pieces and has to be exchanged!

I think Gage had a blast at his party! It must be fun being 4! It's not quite as much fun turning 23.... :)

Happy Birthday, Gage!

Things I loved about Thanksgiving...

If I made a list of everything I was thankful for, it would take forever. So I'll just write about what I loved about Thanksgiving Day, because it was still a lot.

First, of course, starting off the day by running 5 miles.

Eating so much turkey that everyone fell asleep. Dang tryptophan.

Even cute little Kosmo.

Going for a walk in the cold.

with the Kosmo..

and silly Josh.

Watching Gage and Morgan {who didn't seem to mind the cold nearly as much as the rest of us} get excited about picking pretty fall leaves.

Appreciating the little things.

Mandy's beautiful Christmas decorations.

Taking Josh's family pictures.

Mandy and Joe's was a little harder to capture, thanks to two bassett hounds who were over the picture taking after about 5 seconds.

and a cute little two year old who liked to walk in the way :)

But we finally got a good one!

And, of course, the LEFTOVERS! {not pictured because they are already almost gone!} but many thanks to my beautiful mom for also cooking lots of delicious food {including a DELICIOUS "halloween cake"} and sharing it!

So much to be thankful for. Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Fast Freddie's 5 Miler!

I was nervous about Fast Freddie's, but it was a different kind of nervous than the nervousness I felt before my last race {which also happened to be my first race}. Before that race I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect, I didn't think I could run the whole thing, and I was an inexperienced runner in general {I'd only been running for 3 weeks at the time}.

Not that I'm an expert now, but I feel like I have grown a lot as a runner in the 7.5 weeks since my first 5k. The difference between now and then is that now I believe in myself more. During the 5k I didn't think I could run the whole 3.1 miles. The most I had ever run before that was 2.5 miles and since I didn't believe that I could do it, I took a walk break once I got to 2.5 miles. Granted, it was only a couple seconds, but it was a mental thing.. It wasn't like I needed the break. I could have done without it if I had told myself I could, but I didn't believe I could do it, so I didn't.

Before this race, the most I had ever run was 4.1 miles... but this time I knew if I could do 4.1 that I could do 5.... and I did. I didn't allow myself to give up or stop. I actually felt awesome the whole time and I really had so much fun!

At the starting point of the race I talked to two girls - one of whom I recognized from high school which was neat. It was nice to talk to them because we were all shooting for the same goal - under an hour and just to not come in last. :) Unfortunately, shortly after the gun went off I didn't see them again.

The hardest part was around the half way point. At 2.5 you go into a park and they had a water stop. I took a cup of water even though I didn't need it... I never drink while I run and drinking it while running kind of made my stomach hurt. Plus the wind going into the park was pretty strong, which did not make running up the small hill any fun. BUT - I didn't give up! I may have been going a lot slower, but goshdarnit, I kept running!

Once I got to mile 3, I knew Josh was probably finished so I knew if I could just get through one more mile I would get to see him.

He finished with a time of 32:59.. which is about 10 minutes faster than he ran it in last year!!! Fun fact of the day: Fast Freddie's 2008 was Josh's first race ever!

Just as I suspected, right around mile 4 I met up with Josh. I was ready for it to be over, but I still felt great.. even though that last half mile seemed to go on forevvverrrr....

Turning the last corner was a great feeling! And I finished in less than an hour {55:12}, which was my goal :) 2nd fun fact of the day: I think this picture makes it look like I skipped to the finish line. I didn't, but I was pretty darn happy to get there :)

Jen & Elise were there too! Go team LAC!!! Love my gym family! :)

3rd fun fact of the day: We got Starbucks after the race {which tasted like the BEST Starbucks I have ever had} and Josh thought he took his bib number off and left it there. We found out he didn't when Sheri called and said they knew nothing about it.. but we thought it would have been funny. It ended up being under the seat in the truck, which isn't nearly as funny.

Over all, I LOVED Fast Freddie's. It was so much fun, even more than I thought it would be, and I think finishing it made me feel like a "real" runner... whatever that means!

Afterwards, we were in a serious calorie deficit... but only for about 2 hours and then it was time for THANKSGIVING DINNER! :-D

More on that coming soon...

Stats:
Fast Freddie's 5 Miler
November 26, 2009
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 55:12 / 11:00 pace

On Thanksgiving morning...

I ran 5 whole miles!!!!!
Without stopping.
And I loved it.
Like, for real.
LOVED :)

I have so much to write about and so many pictures to post, and most importantly, so much to be thankful for :) I will write about it all soon... but it may be after my big test on Tuesday... but I'm done with school {for the semester} on Thursday, so it'll at least be by then.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! :)

One More Mile

If anyone needs running clothes, I highly recommend One More Mile Running Apparel! Their clothes are super cute, funny, AND good quality! {this is also where I got my penguin running shirt!!}

Anyway, I ordered my new running shirt last Thursday, they shipped it on Friday, and it got here today! Not only was it super fast shipping... look how it came in the mail:

It was like a present! And it's not even my birthday!! Or Christmas. How exciting!!! Ribbons make my day :)

On that note, the Thanksgiving 5 mile race is TOO SOON. I am so slow since I hurt my knee - don't know why, but I am! ugh. It's kind of discouraging. Josh took me running hobbling along on the race course this weekend {he ran it, I basically crawled it}.. so at least now I kind of know what to expect. EXCEPT? It's supposed to SNOW. And guess what else? I am totally inexperienced with running in any type of weather that is below 49 degrees. And I've only run in the rain once. Snow? Never. So... Thursday morning will be interesting... lots of totally new experiences:

• 5 miles, which I've never done all at once {no, this weekend doesn't count. I walked a lot and took like a 32 minute potty break at the park...}
• cold weather....brrr
• SNOW
• still have a semi-bad knee
• don't even have cold weather running clothes!

I ran my first 5K without ever having actually ran 3 miles...and even though it went fine, after that I told myself I wanted to be totally prepared for any other race I do. Oh well. Maybe being un-prepared will be my "race day thing"? Ok, not as long as I can help it {note to self: no more knee injuries, please.}

But maybe I'll surprise myself. Maybe it will be the best thing ever.

Maybe. Maybe not. My goal is just to finish the dang thing in less than an hour. I am 99.999% sure I can do that :)

Either way, it'll be fun and at least it'll help burn off about 500 calories before I consume 4,000 at Thanksgiving dinner!!!

This post was not sponsored by One More Mile, however if they would like to send me free stuff I would be all for it! :)

nervous nervous nervous

I have finally...after 2 weeks off... been able to run a little bit since I hurt my knee. On Monday I walked/jogged a half mile, then ran a mile, then walked/jogged another half mile {for a total of 2 miles for you math geniuses..}
Today I walked/jogged a half mile, then ran 2 miles, then walked/jogged another half mile. It was slower than normal, and still a tad bit uncomfortable, but I am just glad I can get back out there and do it now without feeling like my knee cap is going to explode!

I am hoping to be able to work up to 5 miles by next week so I can do the Thanksgiving 5 Miler. The most I've ever run so far is 4.12 miles {the day I hurt myself, ahem} so I hope I can do it! I know I can always walk some if I have to... but what's the fun in that? :)

We'll see how it goes!

Also, I really like this tech shirt and I am thinking about buying it for myself as a race gift. I think it's awesome... Slow is the new fast.... and I'm totally rockin' the slow :)

Saturday.

Was a great day! :)

First, my mom and I went up to North Vernon to meet up with my Aunt Kathy, Merideth {my cousin's wife} and her mom, Judy, to go to Stream Cliff Farm. It was such a neat little family farm with the best lemonade EVER! They made us a delicious 3-course lunch of salad with blueberry dressing, porkchops, a rice pilaf, and baby carrots and peas, polished off with an apple cake for dessert. Then they gave us the recipes and taught us how to make it all! They also showed us how to make beautiful holiday centerpieces from things around the house, different bath soaps, and lavendar cookies.

We also stopped into the winery and did a little wine tasting and Aunt Kathy bought mom and I our own bottles of wine! She's the best :) And my mom has already drank her entire bottle... no, just kidding ;-)

It was a wonderful day with family...loved it!

Then I came home to the best surprise ever...Josh came home from Malaysia a day early and surprised me! :) He had e-mailed me and said there was going to be a surprise at his house for me, so I started to wonder... but then I was like, "No, really, how do you plan a surprise trip ALL the way from Malaysia?!" so I wasn't sure... but, sure enough, he was there! :)

SO FUN. & such a good day :)