PCS Dallas Half Marathon

Half Marathon #5 DONE!  Sunday, December 9th I ran the PCS Dallas Half Marathon.  Shanna came with me again to spectate (do I have the best friend or what?!?).  We left a little after noon Saturday.  I had it all figured out.  Leave at noon.  Drive 3.5 hours.  Check into our hotel around 4, have plenty of time to walk to packet pick up to get my bib and then wander over to the expo.  We left a little after noon.  We stopped in Norman for a quick bite to eat at Jersey Mikes.  We got to our hotel with very little trouble at all.  We waited in line for while and finally got checked in.  We went up to the room, got situated....and I looked at the clock.  5:05.  This is bad.  Packet pick up closes at 5.  There is no race day packet pick up.  The packet is essential.  It has your bib and timing chip.  With out the bib, you don't run.  Period.  It was close, and with one way streets I decided it would be best to walk as fast as we could.  We hustled our bustles.  We found packet pick up and all the doors were closed.  Locked and closed.  I'm near tears.  Beyond stressed out.  There was a man approaching the doors at the same time.  A security guard opens the door and informs us it's closed and we can't go in.  I'm so glad that man was there.  I would have accepted her answer and left.  And not run.  And been sooo mad with myself.  But the guy says, (In a British accent no less) it's okay, we're with the staff.  And breezes on in past her, ushering Shanna and I with him.  Turns out he just needs safety pins for his bib.  I turned to him and say, "Thank you, I want to give you the biggest hug ever right now, but I'll use my self control and keep my hands to myself."  We went to the counter, he got directed to the safety pins and another nice gentleman helped me find my bib and even gave me a race shirt.  He says, "hurry and leave.  My boss won't be happy if she sees me." They were closed down.  There were about 6 volunteers. The shelves were empty. They were packed up.  Gone.  I got SO LUCKY!!!  What is it with me and racing?!?  I miss one start, almost miss another and now am late for bib pick up.  I am NOT a late person!  This is so unlike me!  At least that was our last hiccup.

The race started at 8.  Shanna and I set the alarms on our phones for 6am and I got a 6am wake up call.  And we got up at 6.  I had plenty of time to get ready and walk to the start.  I was in corral A.  You guys.  Corral A is for fast people.  There must've been some mistake...because I'm am NOT one of the "fast" people.  Anyway, I got my watch on and figured out (when I turned it on it was on the multi-sport setting and I had a HARD time figuring it out, but I did!) and I left Shanna at the start and I went to the back of corral A where they had Police Academy Cadets checking bibs to make sure everyone was in the right place and slipped into the back of my corral.  They had pace markers up, which was great, starting with 6:00 minute miles.  That's crazy.  I stayed at the VERY back of my corral where I met some really nice people.  2 people from Sioux Falls among others.  

There was a wreck which delayed the start about 10 minutes, so shortly after 8am, we were off. 

I knew at the beginning of this race that it was going to be a hard run.  It was 70* (which I think is HOT to run in) and 89% humidity.  And I was right.  I knew from mile 1 it was going to be a tough run and it was.  Instead of holding back at the beginning and increasing my pace throughout the run, it was a run and hold on or die trying!  I sweat buckets.  It the humidity was really wearing.  The first part of the race was pretty unattractive, but the second half was great.  The weather even improved as the race went on.  Sometimes I would catch a breeze and the humidity improved as well.  But it wasn't enough.  It was a tough run and really took it out of me but I did it and I didn't walk. 

You can see my clock time, but my official chip time was 2:04:17 I got 2324 place out of 9877, 805 out of 5531 women and 153rd out of 969 women ages 30-34.  Not a PR, but still a great run that I'm proud of because it was WORK and I worked HARD at it for 13.1 miles.

And then Shanna and I went out to eat and to IKEA before heading home.  Kyle said while I was gone, Luke prayed that I would "do good" in my race.  So sweet.  And since I get a medal every 1/2, the kids always think I win.  And really, why would I try to correct them?

Current racing: Not registered for any races until the OKC Memorial Marathon in April.  Considering registering for the Dallas Rock 'N Roll in March.

Current running: Non existent.  I have plantar fasciitis in my left foot so now that there are no races on the horizon I'm trying to rest and stretch.  Hopefully that'll work.  Because I've only missed 1 run, and I'm already going a little crazy.

Lighting of the Commons

Leta really likes horses so I had decided that this year would be perfect to try to get the kids a ride on a horse drawn carriage.  I assumed it would be downtown and I was prepared to faithfully stalk Groupon in hopes of a deal.  Before we made it downtown, I found out from our small group bible study about Oklahoma Christians annual Lighting of the Commons where there are carriage rides, pictures with Santa and an outdoor concert.  And everything was free.  We were in.  We loaded up the kids on a Tuesday night, which was cold enough for heavy coats and hats, but not super cold where it would be TOO cold for the kids and create a problem.  When we arrived the line for carriage lines was long, so Kyle hopped in line right away and held our spots.  I chased the kids around (I'm not sure who had the better gig, Kyle or me) while they looked at Santa (the line was too long to sit on his lap and have a picture) and Max photo bombed a picture-taking session.  We finally headed outside and went to the outdoor concert, missing Accapella (bummer!) but we did get to hear the Summer Singers and New Rein and the kids loved it.  We stayed at the back of the crowd and Leta and Luke danced and Max worked on perfecting his "run away from Mommy" skills.  He's pretty good.  After the concert was over, they just ran up and down the sidewalks in front of the library.  Finally it was our turn, and just in time because when our ride was over, they gave the 15 minute notice. There were MANY who waited in line a long time and didn't get a chance to ride.  We crammed in on one side to allow a mother and daughter to ride with us.

Thanksgiving

I'm behind!  So behind.  And I have been for the last 16 1/2 months, really...Hmmm, what happened 16.5 months ago?  Life with 3 kids is definitely busier!  Anyway.  Thanksgiving was bittersweet in many ways.  This was our year to celebrate Thanksgiving with Kyle's family in Hobbs.  Our last trip to Hobbs, was memorable, but not really in a good way.  We got there, went out to eat, went to bed, Leta threw up in the night, we got up the next morning and came home.  We are needing some Hobbs redemption time!  We had plans to travel there, but then some things came up and we decided it would be easier if everyone came here.  Then more things came up and Hap and Vicki were to come before Thanksgiving and Bridget and Danny after.  Then more things came up (poor H&V got sick) so they stayed home and didn't want us to drive 7.5 hours just to get our kids sick, so we ended up scrapping travel plans.

We ended up in Ponca City (yay for only 1.5 hour drive) for Thanksgiving with my moms side of the family. It was great to see Marjorie and JoAnne, Doug, and Jimmy, plus mom and dad and Pappaw and Grandma Key.  We went and spent some time at the nursing home with Pappaw (he's home now) that afternoon and while it was hard with the 3 littles, it was also great and I thought they did really well.  Luke really stepped up and hugged Pappaw quite a bit and wasn't afraid to talk to him at all.  Leta and Max were scared, but Leta was brave and hugged and kissed Pappaw before we left, completely making my day.

The Ford broke while we were there and wasn't drive-able so Kyle and my dad spent much of Thursday looking under the hood and calling tow trucks etc.  We weren't planning on spending the night and so were weren't prepared to do that so my parents let us borrow their car and we got home right at bedtime.  It was a complete disaster getting it fixed and everything surrounding that situation, but it's done now and we're thankful we broke down AT Pappaw and Grandma Key's HOUSE not along the interstate somewhere with 3 kids! Yikes!

And, like the organized person I am, I got NO photos from the day.  *sigh*