Canyonlands Half ~ I've been exfoliated!

I did it! I finished the Canyonlands Half Marathon....barely. Let's just say that training in Dallas did expose me to the 40 degree weather, but did not prepare me for 40 degrees with 27 mph winds, steep hills, windy roads, or exfoliation. Yes, exfoliation! Apparently, when you are running through a canyon of red rocks in 27 mph winds you get sandblasted...literally! There was no sun in sight but we had to run in sunglasses to protect our eyes from the dirt.

Our resort was past the starting line so the resort provided us with transportation, which is great but had to happen 2 hours before the race began so that they could get off the road before it was closed. Standing outside in 40 degree weather for 2 hours does not rank high on my things to do list but add 27 mph winds and flying dirt/rocks and I'll go ahead and move that near the bottom of my list. I never thought I would be excited to run 13.1 miles but if it got me moving through this dirt storm I was all for it.

Jan and I had decided to run together because I needed her to pace me and quite frankly Jan is more entertaining than my iPod and I knew she would make the time fly by. At mile 2 I stopped for gatorade and lost Jan! I thought she was behind me so I waited for 5 minutes and she thought I was ahead of her so she was trying to catch up. I didn't see her again until mile 6. We all had on matching shirts but they were a pale pink and I kept seeing other brunettes with pink shirts. I finally decided to look for Jan's hot pink shorts and I saw her at the top of a hill that I was at the bottom of. I sprinted all the way up the hill and finally caught up.

I was so happy to find Jan but when I found her she was not doing well. She had hurt her foot a few days ago and after running 6 miles on it she was convinced it was broken and was unsure if she was going to be able to finish the race. I stayed with her for 2 more miles while she was trying to decide if she was going to the medic or if she would try to finish the race. I mile 8 she told me to go on without her.

I hit the killer hill at mile 9 and was surprised that I felt ok. I kept chugging along until mile 12 and then I...wanted...to...DIE!. It was all I could do to keep moving to finish at 2:31. My goal of 2:20 was shot but I didn't care. I was so worried about Jan, after I found Adam, Kari, and Lee we went straight to the medic tent to look for her. But she wasn't there...she ended up walking the last 6 miles so that she could finish the race! She headed straight for the medic tent and wasn't surprised to find us all there.

My not so big finish:

What you look like after 2 1/2 hours of exfoliation:

Check out Jan's race review and more pics on her blog: Duh! Winning!

Pre-Race Hike

We arrived in Moab this afternoon in time to pick up our race packets for the Canyonlands Half Marathon that Jan, Kari, and I are going to run tomorrow. After packet pick up we decided we had time for a short hike before heading back to the resort to meet Jan and her friends for dinner. Since Kari and Lee had never been to Moab/Arches National Park and we had limited time this weekend for hiking and sight seeing, we wanted to make sure we got to see at least some of the most famous arches. Quickly our short hike turned into a 2 hour hike to see the landscape arch.

Landscape arch:

Balanced Rock:

Navajo Arch:

View from the rock fins on the way to Double O Arch:

After dinner, I started to pack up my gear for the race tomorrow and I suddenly got very nervous about what to wear in 40 degree weather before the race, during the race, what I would need during the race...should I bring water? wear a fuel belt? wear gloves? It is all a bit overwhelming. I don't want to make a mistake that I'll regret tomorrow.

All ready to go...I think!

Happy St. Paddy's from Camp Gooey

Mommy and Daddy are on their way to Moab so I'm hangin out at Camp Gooey waiting for the St. Paddy's day party to begin...

Adam Tris Keller

Adam headed out at 4:30 am this morning to drive to Keller to participate in his first triathlon. Given that he doesn't like to swim and HATES to run, I was somewhat shocked he even wanted to try one, but he did great. He finished 12 minutes faster than his goal of 1:45 with a solid 1:33. I was so proud of him as Maison and I cheered him on as he finished the run that I started crying.

Running for the finish line:

The newest triathlete in the family:

Just for the record, I finished last year at 1:27...hhheeemmm....I'm just saying, if we both do the Caveman...IT IS ON!!! CONGRATS ADAM ON BEING A TRIATHLETE!!!

Answered Prayers...

After 5 very long trying months, Maison was finally given a clean bill of health from the GI specialist at Children's. She can now be weaned off of formula to soy milk and we can start slowly reintroducing foods one at a time. It is exactly like when she was 4 months old where we could add a new food every 3-4 days and see how she reacts. We really appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers through all of this and are so relieved they were answered!

Laissez les bons temps rouler....indeed!

Laissez les bons temps rouler! What else could I possibly say when Adam's birthday and Mardi Gras fall on the same day for the first time EV-A? And what do you do when it's not only a holiday but a birthday? You throw a party. But not just any party. You throw a Mardi Gras themed birthday costume party. Why not, there's nothing else to do on a Tuesday night but play indoor soccer.

The fam in full mardi gras costumes:

The king cake:

Our king cake had TWO babies. My dad and I each got one so I guess we will have to have 2 mardi gras parties or 1 party with 2 king cakes next year!

The decorates:

Present Time:

Fun with the big mask:

Joyeux Anniversaire, Adam! Joyeux Mardi Gras!

Pirate Teeth

pirate teeth [pahy-ruh t teeth] - noun teeth that are discolored purple due to drinking red wine.

I admit I am the queen of pirate teeth. I literally have the most porous teeth ever, so you can imagine my delight when the mouth wash that I have had to use since my gum surgery in January causes purple discoloration. Awesome...pirate teeth without the fun of drinking wine. Just what I wanted.

This morning was my post-post-op appointment for my gum surgery. To my surprise Rookie Amber was not there. Maybe she got fired for lack of skills...not dental skills just skills in general. I discussed my pirate teeth sitch with the doctor and he agreed to clean my teeth for free. Wow, no Amber and a free teeth cleaning. Where was all this luck when I actually went through the surgery?