The end of November is always such a peaceful time. The beginning of the holidays, wrapping up Thanksgiving. The weather is warm and everyone is still fresh in school. I Love this time of year. The fall colors are just beautiful. Charley had her Mary Poppins play and sadly Bergen was sick the night of her performance so Charley brought her home flowers anyway. It was really sweet. She wrote her a note too. Sisters are the best!
I did it again!!! I am so excited to say that I ran another sub 3 hour marathon. This one was a close call and I finished at 2:59:46 but I made it!! I ran the Revel Big Bear in San Bernardino California and I had such a great time with my friend Sharra and sister Sarah and her friends who also ran it! Sharra and I got an airbnb tougher and were able to do meals and hang out together. We met Sarah at the expo and her and her friends actually stayed with my the first night before Sharra got to our place. The night before the race, I had my chicken and rice dinner which I think is the best meal to have before a race.. not to heavy but still lots of carbs with the rice! The morning of we woke up at 3am!!! ate some breakfast, I mixed my pre-mix and we drove to the busses in town. I parted ways with Sharra since she was running the half and then I took a bus to the top of the marathon start. I tried to stay warm in some throw away clothes since the top was about 40 degrees! I stretched and warmed up before the race started. Right before it started I made my way to the top of the line and started with the first people. This was a good idea because I was one of the faster ones and could get a good speed right at the beginning. One thing a guy at the expo said was that there are lots of rolling hills and to not get discouraged if you are going slow at the beginning (where most of them are) and to just take it slow and you will make up your speed in the end. I am so glad I took his advice and I really just kept it steady up those hills at the beginning and knew I could make up for it at the end. The whole race I felt really strong! Up until mile 22 I really felt great and like I had the race. After mile 22 it's all mental. Your body is starting to slow down and your mind just has to keep telling your body to keep going. I was out of the canyon so the scenery wasn't very pretty and I just had to keep pushing it and tell my legs to not stop. I knew if I stopped at a water station I wouldn't be able to start. My legs were starting to hurt and cramp but I kept my mind going and kept telling myself this is what I had trained for and that I could do it. I kept a steady pace the last 4 miles and rounded the corner for the finish just in time to finish at 2:59!! I didn't realize I was that close to not making it until I crossed the finish line and I was even more proud of myself for pushing it on those hard miles at the end when I just wanted to give up! It was such a great day for a race and I was so happy at the end! I called Spencer and the girls and just cried and told them how well I did!! I had to sit down right away because I felt light headed but I got some water and a cold washcloth and just sat for a big. My legs were SHOT and I could barely walk for over 2 weeks after this race. The downhill really messes up your quads but I was so happy with my time and how I ran the race!!
We spent Thanksgiving at the Parker's bakehouse and it was a fun day! We originally were going to have PierrLand and her girls at our house but they couldn't last minute so we met up with the Parker's and Campbell's. We made some yummy food and just hung out with them. It's nice because our girls' age match up and they are very easy to get along with. We love hanging out with their family. Tyreek came to our house for Thanksgiving again and got to spend it with us at the Parker's too. The day after Thanksgiving we always go into the city, so that is what we did and we dropped Tyreek off back at home. We went to the Lego store, saw the tree and ate some good food!
