Half Marathon?

Who would have thought that my husband or I would ever be prepared to run a half marathon? Not us! But we have been disciplining ourselves with training in preparation for a FULL marathon in October (something we are not nearly ready for!) So when we heard there was going to be a 1st annual half marathon in our home town, we decided to go for it! It actually worked out to our advantage because our marathon training has us scheduled to run a 12 mile run that day, so this was only adding another 1.1 miles. What's 1.1 miles right? Ha! After 12 miles, 1.1 is A LOT!!!

Here are Sam and I "pre-race" time.

The Yakima Half Marathon was a Beast of a race! It was known as "Hot and Hilly" which is the only way to sum it up! Unfortunately, it had a late morning start which only added to the heat problem. And it didn't help that it happened to be the hottest day of the entire summer! There was extreme elevation gain in the first 5 miles, leaving us runners exhausted with 3/4 of the race still to go! And the course follows a very open, tree-less area giving us ZERO shade! It was brutal! And then, a big error on the race set-up, was that there were very few water/aid stations! Fortunately, Sam and I wore our hydration belts. I don't know what I would have done without it!

My goal for a half marathon was 2:15. That was a goal for a "normal" half marathon. From what I am told, this was no "normal" half marathon. So I was beyond pleased with my 2:24 race finish! Actually, I am just pleased that I finished!

A friend of mine ran it and compared it to the Portland Full Marathon. She thinks that the full marathon (which she ran last year) may have been easier than Yakima's 1/2 marathon. I found that very interesting!

Overall, it was a great day! And I get to finish it up today with a 90 minute massage!

Sam also had a good race. He is a bit more hard-core than myself when it comes to running. His goal was to break 2 hours. He came extremely close with a time of 2 hours 1 minute!

Now we get to rest for a day or 2 and then it is back to training for the Marathon!

Ugh! I don't want to think about it!

Happy 4th Birthday Jocelyn!

My second daughter, Jocelyn Hope celebrated her 4th Birthday on July 19th! Here she is as a sweet little newborn:

Her older sister took a liking to her right away! This picture makes me laugh because Genevieve doesn't even look old enough to have a baby sister! Boy did I have my hands full!
Look at the sweet angel she is growing up to be!

We celebrated an early birthday with family and friends. We enjoyed a rainbow cake, home-made cake-pops, and ice cream. We were all on a sugar high! On the day of her birthday, we had a birthday dinner with our immediate family. Jocelyn's dinner request: Hot dogs without a bun, chips, and fruit. So...that's what we had! :)

Jocelyn has become a fearless, fun-loving little girl.

We love you Jocelyn!

My feelings are hurt

My mom put my girls down for naps today while I was at work. I got home while they were still sleeping and my mom left. Each one of them, at different times, CRIED when they woke up, because they didn't want me to be there. They wanted my mom. Nice. Real nice.

How do you explain this one?

My daughters are (or were) in the same swimming lesson class. That is, until the end of the session, my youngest daughter got moved up, and my oldest daughter got held back.
Please tell me it isn't always going to be like this in their lives. I think it is bothering me more than it is her!