Breakfast with Santa

Our adorable friend Shelby

This is our "sweet" Avery

I wish our daughter was a happy child!

Let the Christmas Party Season Begin!

The Rock N Roll is under our belts!

We are back from San Antonio (I'm a week late getting this posted!) and along with the other 2 Half Marathons I have done, it will rank as one of the highlights of my life. It was all it was cracked up to be and I was definitely not disappointed.We got in San Antonio on Friday evening and went to the Alamdome to pick up our race packets. They included our race bibs, our time chip which attaches to your shoe, a bag full of goodies and advertisements, and instructions for the race morning. We had fun walking around the expo and stopping at all the booths that are set up to cater to runners. There was tons to see and to buy - all the latest and coolest running gadgets and gear.

This is us - on the left my friend Angie from Abernathy, Stephanie from Plainview, me, Lela from Cotton Center, and on the right is Talana, a friend of Angie's from Dallas.

Race morning at 6:00 a.m.

We walked from our hotel to this shuttle pick up. There was no parking at the start line - and 25,000 people to transport there. We were kind of worried when we saw the lines, and the traffic jams as we rode on the bus. Lots of roads were shut down for the race course, so getting this many people to the starting location was an enormous feat! Me and Steph - Alamodome in background

At the race start - they had us assigned to a corral, based on our projected finish time. Each corral had 1000 people in it, and they staggered the start - 1.5 minutes between each corral start.


I was so pumped up and excited - some of the others were really nervous - I guess the more of these you run, the more you feel the excitement and are able to enjoy the experience rather than being nervous. It was a cold 38 degrees at start, and turned out to be PERFECT running weather. The morning couldn't have been better.



Aaaah, and then it was over. I beat my last time by almost 3 minutes, which really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to do too well, but that day was a great running day and I had all the energy in the world. I think the crowd and all the bands along the way got me movin' bigtime! The experience of a race like this makes it worth all the training.

Congrats to Steph and Lela on their first Half Marathon!





Exhaustion takes over. Angie ran FAST!

My brother-in-law Israel was at the race, running the FULL MARATHON - 26.2 MILES! I got to see him finish, along wi th his buddy. This is Israel's 11th marathon. He is quite the runner.



Me and Iz

It was such a great weekend - lots of time to relax and just be away without any responsibilities. We shopped, ate, watched chick-flicks, laughed, sat in the hottub, and ran! This is our last night - at the Riverwalk eating mexican food. The 2 other ladies you see in this picture are from Lubbock and Hale Center and are friends of some of the girls in our group. These 2 ladies walked the full marathon.

I look forward to another race, and hopefully I can recruit some of you who are reading this! If you have any interest at all - let me know!

Looking forward to another finish!

This weekend I am looking forward to a great time together with some girlfriends, and finishing another Half Marathon. Several of us are going to run in the San Antonio Rock-N-Roll 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning. The race course will be lined with bands each mile, which should help keep us going! The route goes along most of the tourist attractions of San Antonio, and ends at the Alamodome. The event is sold out, and if I remember correctly, I think there are about 35,000 participants.

Running is a passion that comes and goes in my life. I think I must have a value for discipline, and running is one expression of that value. My first Half Marathon was in Africa about 7 years ago, along the Nile River in Jinja Uganda. I ran along with 2 other teammates in a race organized by a professional runner from South Africa. It was an incredible experience.

The next race was did not happen for another 6 years, and was this past Febuary in Dallas. It was called the Texas Half and was a great experience, running with my good friends Jara & Angie Carver. They are doing this upcoming race again too, along with some new folks we've roped in.

Here are some shots from the Texas Half

I'll let you know how it goes in San Antonio!

We are Proud to Announce...

the arrival of our new niece, Anna Kate Wells. This is the first cousin on either side that has been born since Avery was born, so we are all very excited! Anna Kate is adorable!

Election

First of all, let me say that if you read this website from Nov. 5th called A United House, you will be encouraged about the coming years and our nation, and the church in America.

Avery was rooting for McCain and Palin, and Wednesday morning when she woke up and I told her Obama had won, she looked at the TV that had the map of the red/blue states. She said, "But mom, there are more reds than blues, so why does Obama win??" Have you ever tried explaining the Electoral College to a barely-5-year-old??

Anyway, Avery brought this paper home from church last night, and I thought it was adorable. It says John McCain and Avery.

Happy Halloween!!

Hope yours was as fun as ours. First we went with some friends to a downtown Trick-or-Treating event where the businesses opened their doors to the kids, but by the time we got there, most of the stores were out of candy! So we went to some houses and got some good treats, and then on to Plainview Christian Academy's Fall Festival. There were lots of games and treats and we had a super time. Happy Halloween from one cute cheetah!