Dallas Marathon

After my first marathon in New Orleans (Feb 2016) I swore I would NEVER do that again. So, here I am proving no one (including me) should ever tell me I can't do something or I will prove them wrong. This time I had trained more, but this time there were hills so of course I was worried. I also remembered the pain, the blood, and the trauma of the first.

The start line was a bit crowded.

Honestly I can't even see the start line here and I wasn't at the back of the pack

My personal cheering squad!

About to cross the finish line!

It went much better than I expected. I got a new personal record by a good amount. I was still able to move at the end. I never felt like screaming out in pain. I did scream out in frustration when a hill that wasn't on the elevation map appeared in the last few miles. I believe my exact words were, "This is a stupid sport!" I saw the photographer near the finish line and decided to go for a jump. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to land it so I just hoped for a good photo. I LOVE this photo.

My kids also requested I stop running. I was spending too much time training and not enough time with them. Here I am a year later (remember the blog is a year in the past) and I'm still not running. I did find another challenge to keep me busy. I'll tell you more about that later. :)

Dallas Vacation

I was planning to run in the Dallas Marathon and thanks to a last minute home emergency, we ended up with a free hotel room near the starting line! Here are the photos from the day before the race.

Awesome decorations

View from our room - the starting line was 2 blocks away in that direction so they could see me when I lined up to start while still staying warm.

Inflatable Run, part 1

Sweet Daughter requested a 5K for her 7th birthday. We signed up for an inflatable race because who doesn't love inflatables?

 BRRR - It's cold at the start.

 

Running through the giant balls - they had volunteers throwing the balls up and moving them around as everyone went through.

Climbing up a giant slide!

Come back tomorrow for more pictures of our fun.

Wordless Wednesday

Mother/Son bonding

(bike ride/run to the beach to play in the sand)

Showdown 5K Results

Some people take great race photos every single time. I am not one of those people. However, Sweet Daughter always gets the magical floating in air pictures.

Floating over the finish line

Floating around a corner

Cupcakes at the end!!

With her hard earned spinner medal. 

(Did I mention it was cold?)

Showdown 5K

Sweet Daughter was working toward her first spinner medal for running. She had to complete 3 races in a race series that included up to 4 runs. Showdown was her 3rd run!

Before the race, excited to get started (and cold)

Yes she seriously looks like she just skips through the course

So, how did she do? Come back tomorrow!

I won a race! (kinda)

I have been running for awhile now, but I'm slow. It doesn't bother me that I'm slow. I'm impressed I am out there at all, however it is nice to finish before they start cleaning up. :)

This race I was doing well. I could tell my pace was better than I was expecting. As I came around the last corner a friend came out to run me in. At the finish line I see my family as well as other friends cheering me on. (Make friends with the people who run races and time races, etc - they are always the best at cheering!) I made a mad dash for the finish line. 

For the first, and only, time I placed in the top 3 in my age division. That means a second medal! This was given to me by a good friend which makes it even better. I wasn't even listening for my name, but was so thrilled to get this.

For those who are wondering how this is possible, it was a small race and there were only three people in my age division. Still I WON!

Vacation Running

Marathon training doesn't pause for vacation. I managed three runs on board. One on a treadmill overlooking the ocean. The other two on deck running around and around and around (it's a tiny track).

After a run 

In port, in the rain, still running 

The after run smile

More from the Fairview 5K

Did I mention they gave free race photos?

She's flying! 

She's skipping 

She really does make this look too easy 

Fairview 5K

Sweet Daughter loves running so here we are doing another 5K. The race gave free photos but they are out of order.

About to cross the finish line! 

Hey look, I finished also 

 They gave us cupcakes, bananas, chocolate milk, and water then we posed for a photo.

 

She knows how to spot a photographer on the race course! 

 She always looks right at them to make sure they don't miss her, haha.

UCan Half Marathon

First the photos are out of order and right now I'm feeling too lazy to fix them. It's a half marathon, it's not like the order is hugely important.

So apparently you are supposed to rest after running your first marathon. I didn't. 3 weeks after my first marathon I ran a half marathon and it was difficult. I walked a great deal of it. Then 3 weeks later I had won a free entry into another half marathon. Not wanting to waste a free entry, I kept going. This wasn't a great idea. I was hurting so much. I honestly wasn't sure I would even finish this race. My pace was awful, I felt miserable, and did I mention the pain?

During the race I had been texting my friends Jessica who had run her first 10K. She waited for me to finish, but knew I was struggling. She came out to meet me and ran me in. You have no idea how much this helped. Here we are together with my kids cheering in the bottom of the photo. 

Family photo after the race (Did you notice the lack of people around and the sponsors cleaning up their stuff? I was slow.) 

Early in the course (see there are other people around) 

They waited longer than expected... oops 

Finally crossing the finish line

Fairview 5K

One of the local race companies offers a series of medals and Sweet Daughter had her eye on the spinning medal for running 3 of their races in the same year. She did the New Year's Day race and now it was time to run Fairview.

Before the race 

We are in matching blue shirts as we run across the start. That is Grandma holding the yellow sign. 

Sweet Son didn't want to run, but loved giving high fives as people ran into the finish. 

Here we are running into the finish!

Paddy Dash (part 2)

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about the Paddy Dash race.

Grandma came to cheer

Family photo!

Chocolate milk from the Nestle Bunny

Then they jumped for almost an hour. 

After finishing the 5k. 

The 5k he was too tired to run...

Paddy Dash (part 1)

Someone agrees to sign up for a race, but then doesn't want to actually go...

The 4 of us running together

He was done running fairly early on

She made a friend and they kept racing, then walking together and talking, then racing, etc.

A strong finish!

(There is no photo of Sweet Son's finish as he was hiding behind Daddy. Daddy's photo isn't the best so I'm being kind and not publishing it.)

Come back tomorrow to see what they did after the race.

Wordless Wednesday

Another weekend, another race

Perot Museum, Dallas 4

Kids need to move and the Perot Museum has an entire area just for understanding the science behind sports.

Here they are racing some of the fastest runners in the world!

The video runners are long gone, but look at how cute these two are!

The blur on the right is Sweet Daughter and she clearly won this time.

You can also check your form doing various other activities. Here Sweet Daughter is throwing a football. Then you use a computer terminal to break down your throw versus a professional.

Sweet Son went for shooting a hockey puck.