KC ½ Marathon…completed!

I headed to KC bright and early Thursday morning to run in my 2nd half marathon! The atmosphere for this run was different...I was running for fun and with many of my friends, My parents would get to see me enjoying my new hobby, and I was going to get to see the city I grew up in, on foot!

Friday I had the opportunity to have lunch with my old co-workers. I went up to school to visit them during their (extremely brief) lunch break. It was really nice to see everyone…I miss them! In preparation for the big ½ marathon, my mom made a wonderful pasta dinner, so we (the runners...Amy, Mark, and I ) could “carb-up”. We had plenty of spaghetti, lasagna, cheese bread, and salad…yum! We had a great turn out with my cousin Mark, his wife Carrie, their son Carter, grandma, Amy, Paul, and my friend Megan and her sister Jana…great time!

Mark, Carrie, and Carter

Mom preparing our carb dinner.

The Big Day started out wet and freezing. Due to my parents and brother-in-law volunteering along the race course, we were dropped off and transported by Megan and George. Once we arrived at the race, and navigated through some heavy traffic, the rain had stopped. We made our way towards the pace group running a 10:15 mile. Our group consisted of Megan, Jana, and Me (all running the ½), Erin, and my sister’s friend Sara (running the 1st leg of the marathon relay). We were off! The 1st 3 miles flew by and our group was able to stay together. As we approached the 2nd leg of the relay we said good-bye to Erin and Sara and were joined by my sister and best friend Becky! Besides the cold weather the run was off to a great start. Becky and Amy stayed with us until shortly after mile 7 when we parted ways. At this point my attention was drawn to a throbbing pain in my knee and ankle. I pushed myself and continued running. We paced well and finished with our goal time. The following are my stats:

Time: 2:14:09
Pace: 10:15
2,549/4,487 Overall
341/664 Age
1,217/2,717 Females

After the race I met up with family and friends. We ate, talked, and hung around in the cold weather!
With the exception on my leg and ankle continuing to hurt the rest of the day through Sunday I had a fun weekend. It may have taken many years of convincing and hearing about their other runs, but it was finally nice to be able to run with my friends!

I was able to capture a few good pictures along the way…yes, I carried my camera with me!

Union Station

Plaza

Nelson Atkins Museum

Me Finishing!!! (Should have put my gloves back on)

Amy and I

Me, Becky, Erin, Megan, Jana

Bravo Mark!!! Mark placed 48th in the 1/2

Paul, Mom, Amy

Marathon relay group: Becky, Erin, Jason, Rozella, Justin

Fun even with a loss

When we moved out here I thought I would be giving up watching K-State football (this being ok since we aren’t doing so well)……but……we were fortunate to attend the K-State vs. UCLA game played at the Rose Bowl! Our weekend started off with dinner and festivities at Adam’s place in Huntington Beach. Mike and Emily, Mason and Katie, Bjorn, Jon, and Paul were all able to come in town for the game (the boys are Jared’s frat brothers)!

The party continued at our place Saturday before leaving for the stadium. It was hot, crowded, but Fun! We hosted the ol’ K-State crew, as well as, some of Jared’s optometry classmates. To save parking hassle and money we rented a conversion van to take ourselves to the game…I drove (little girl behind the wheel of a VERY large van… empowering).

Once at the tailgate we ate (thanks to Adam for the wonderful food), talked, and partied! It was amazing the number of K-Staters we saw from back in our days! To sum it up….we lost the game, but made some decent plays. It was a great weekend and wonderful to get together with old friends! (I missed my girls though!)

Emily, Katie, Lisa, and Me

"The Boys" Mason, Paul, Bjorn, Adam, Jared, Jon, and Mike

Boys being a totem pole.....?

Boys laughing at themselves :-)

KSU cookies...delicious!

SCCO girls: Julia, Kristen, Kat, and Rachel

Mike, Katie, and Lisa

Jared, Mason, and Bjorn

Emily, Paul, and Jon

"The Van"

Everyone in "The Van"

Jay! (My boss from So Long Saloon in Manhattan)

And he doubts himself

Friday night Jared and I attended SCCO's Scholarship Ceremony. Jared had written several essays in hopes of receiving a scholarship. The award presentations are made in order of year (1st years first, 2nd are second... you get it) with a mix of scholarships being given out at the end.

So.......we sat through 1st year scholarships. At the start of 2nd year awards, we both listened carefully for Jared's name......no name. We sat through 3rd and 4th year scholarships. Finally, we were on the last list of awards being given...

Then we were on the VERY last scholarship being awarded that evening! Here is a sample of what Jared was whispering in my ear at this point:
"did the invitation envelope have my name on it!?"
"did they make a mistake by inviting me?!"
"I didn't get a scholarship? - they better give me a coupon or something!"

...then we heard his name! He received a scholarship for his grades! He has the 3rd highest GPA in his class!!!! Yeah Jared! To say the least, Jared was shocked (but I wasn't)!


Jared- I am so very proud of you! You worked hard, did your best, and it payed off! Way to go!

Jared, Dr. Alexander (President of SCCO) and the 3rd year recipient

Jared and Chad

Jared, Kat, and Julia

Jared and I

I’m Addicted

Since I have been home from our KC trip and ½ marathon run I have continued my training. I have been running with a group of girls who have been training for a ½ that takes place this upcoming weekend. I was originally going to run this race too, but didn’t get registered in time. This worked out because that weekend is going to be extremely busy….K-State Game! Due to missing out on this race and to the fact that I was in training mode I signed up for the Kansas City ½ Marathon! Thanks to my loving husband and my parents I get to fly home in October to run! I am so excited for this race….getting to run where I grew up and see all the fun sights of the city = the perfect run! With this round of training I have added in intervals and hills. This is a good thing because the KC course will be tough (much hillier than I’m used to). Can’t wait!

My new running toy!

Who Knew?!

Who knew I could sew? These are a few of my recent creations.

My first projects were given to my nephew Solomon. I made a rag blanket out of fleece with matching burp rags. These were fun to make!


With the help of my friend, Erin (a lot of one on one guidance), I created a purse! The inside is beautifully lined with a pocket!

In a small effort to go green I have started making cloth napkins. I have only created a few, but plan on expanding our collection :-) Using interfacing (I know...sewing lingo!) I made 2 place mats. With the scraps from the napkins I made coasters. On two of the coasters I tried my hand at applique!

K-StateFootball

Its that time of year! I am excited! We have less than 3 weeks until friends and family arrive and we all attend th K-State v. UCLA game at the Rose Bowl!

No Rest..off to Mammoth

The weekend after we returned from our KC trip - and the weekend before school started - Jared and I went to Mammoth, CA (elevation 7,500-8,000) with our friends Melissa and Brian. They (their family) have a home up in Mammoth. We went on a picnic, hung out, and went camping in the Sierra mountains. While camping we met up with some of Brian's friends who were hiking the JMT (John Muir Trail). They were on "day 6" of a 22 day, 215 mile hike....crazy! We had a great time and look forward to possibly going back during ski season!

Mules carrying supplies to the camp ground.

Devil's Post Pile

Top of Devil's Postpile.

Rainbow Falls...can you see the rainbow?

Jared taking a dip in the freezing water!