Super-Fun Weekend

Last weekend I went to Austin with Graham and Allison. We flew, of course, because that's the way we roll.

We had to stop over in Dallas of course, because that's the way SWA rolls... [PS: to the cute doctor on the plane who looks like Jonathan Silverman, you should definitely call me. You need someone around to keep you from buying another pair of turquoise cowboy boots.]

My fantastic sister Sara picked us up from the airport {thanks again Sara for letting us invade ya'lls house!} and Saturday morning we got up early to pick up our race packets.

Also, I bought a new pair of running shoes. I'm hopeful they will make me faster, because I am certain that they were made out of the same material that they also use on speed boat decks.

After that we headed downtown for some lunch on Sixth Street, and as we meandered across the street for some Jamba Juice, we noticed a "Pro-Life" parade coming our way. Normally, this is no big deal, but we had my 8-year-old niece with us and I wanted to make sure she wasn't exposed to anything she shouldn't be at such a young age. After trying to explain abortion to her on her terms (she asked what they were marching for) she responded with "Is my smoothie ready yet?" Obviously, she's not quite ready to become a political activist. Towards the end of the parade, there were some graphic posters of fetuses, so this is me trying to distract Paige.

Some other fun stuff we did pre-half marathon: Ate Amy's Ice Cream at the Arboretum and hung out on some stone cows. Yes, that's 8 girls we got on one cow and yes, you should never try to vault over a stone cow. Not a good idea...

I also enjoyed my brother-in-law's (Frank) delicious cooking, watched American Idol with my sister and had fun hanging out my beautiful/handsome niece and nephew. Colton is almost crawling!! Right now he just kind of rocks back and forth on his hands and knees, but I'm sure it will happen any day!

So, I guess you're probably thinking, "Get to it already! Did you guys actually run? Did you win?" Well, yes, we ran. And yes we won, in the sense that we finished and we ran the whole time, and those were our goals. We definitely had fun, but it was different then the first time we ran. It was still cold, but by Mile 3 it had warmed up and I could feel my fingers again. This is us at about mile 9, the knee pain had definitely kicked in, but this is me faking it for the camera!

We finished in 2 hours, 26 minutes. Not a record-setting time by any stretch of the imagination, however we did finish almost 10 minutes faster than last year and there were definitely more hills this year!

And as you can see, Graham finished ahead of us, about 30 minutes faster than us. And he didn't start training until November or December. He's good, real good.

So, it's finally done. But I'm looking forward to next year, another run! One thing I've learned: don't take more than a week off of running! You lose it sooo quickly. And you know what? If I can run 13.1 miles at a snail's pace, anyone can!