Myrtle Beach Marathon

I finally got a second to put the video clips together and download my pictures from the marathon.

We made it!

It started at 6:30am on Saturday morning, Feb. 19th, and we finished about 4.5 hours later. The first 13 miles, I was feeling great, we were running faster than our planned pace, and I was loving it. Unfortunately, we had to stop 4 times along the race for me to rush into a porta-john, which was unusual. It started getting pretty hot out, 70 degrees and sunny, and I was feeling a little dehydrated. So mile 13 through 18 was a little tougher and we slowed down. From mile 18 to 23, I was feeling great. After mile 23, it was...rough. All the muscles in my legs felt like rocks grinding against my joints, even my arm was cramping up, we were dripping sweat, it was hot, my feet were full of blisters, and I was literally just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. When we hit mile 26, I started crying a little bit, out of both joy and pain, and then Bryce pulled out the camera (again) so I snapped out of it.

Then I saw it. The finish line. The beautiful beautiful finish line. Hallelujah Lord!

We did it! I never in my life thought I would run a marathon. Never wanted to. Didn't even want to want to. Now that I've done it, I know it's possible and it's not intimidating anymore. The day of and the next day, we were walking like penguins, but by Tuesday, we went for a short 3 mile run. Recovery was a lot easier than I expected. Contrary to other people who get obsessed with it, I am not already planning my next marathon race. I would like to do another half marathon though. I could see myself doing another one at some point, but not any time soon. Not only is the training very time consuming, but it gets expensive!

Handwritten cards

There's something so special about getting mail, not email, but real mail that you have to retrieve out of your mailbox. My Nanny has been my most faithful pen pal my entire life. She loves writing cards, and sets all of her supplies out on her kitchen table and can spend hours writing and sending out letters to loved ones. I love writing people cards, only wish that I spent more time doing it.

When I write Nanny letters, because she does not have internet at her house and refuses to learn email, I get pictures printed from what we've been up to lately, and send them to her. She loves getting up to date pictures of the family. She's told me numerous times that I should make cards with photos and sell them. (Don't think I'll ever get into that) But for Christmas this year, I actually took some photos that we've taken over the last year, ones that we really like, and had cards made for Nanny to write people. Here are a few:



I had them done at Kinkos, which was okay, but they had a white border around the picture, so I had to cut it off. It was so hard searching online to get them made because almost all the cards you can make are holiday cards! I just wanted a simple folded photo card. Any suggestions if I end up doing it again?

In 4 days...

I will be lining up

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And taking off

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For my first marathon ever.

In Myrtle Beach.

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I'm still surprised to see old and young side by side running 26.2 miles

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I'm a little nervous. But I'll have my own *handsome* personal trainer, cheerleader, and best friend with me

And it's supposed to be in the high 60s/low 70s and sunny this weekend! So after, you can catch me napping on the beach with my Valentine.

Dragon's Tooth, Red velvet, and puzzles

Amy came to visit this weekend and she went on her first ever hike with us to Dragon's Tooth! (If you don't count the Mountain Lake snow hiking we did a few weeks ago when she came)



The rest of the weekend was spent cooking homemade pizzas, roasted chicken, and red velvet cake in honor of Valentine's Day.

And working on a very difficult puzzle that Bryce and I got for Christmas. I guess you could say I'm getting into puzzling...


Happy Valentine's Day!

White Grass

We just got back from cross country skiing in West Virginia. Have you ever been to White Grass?


It's so fun! It's a funky, relaxed little ski place just a few hours from here. We also went last year. Cross country skiing is very different than downhill, and I'm convinced that anyone can do it. It's like hiking with skis on. The boots are flexible and more comfortable, but let me tell you, it's a work out on the uphill. My thighs and arms are a little sore today.

Throughout the trails, they have cute little shelters with snacks, water, and a wood burning stove to keep warm. We met some new friends who live in DC but are from Poland and Sweden. They let us try some of their fois gras sandwich. I'm glad we didn't find out how it was made until after when Nick told us. Not sure how often we'll be eating fois gras sandwiches.


We stayed a few miles away from White Grass in a house on a hill.


A very icy hill...

AND while we were headed out, it started pouring rain. Then, after grabbing beers at a local brewery, it started snowing huge flakes and we got back to this.
Then this...

No power=good conversation and early bed time. None of us complained. In fact, when the power came back on, we turned all the lights off and just enjoyed the fire.

Now, it's off to laundry, homework, taxes, cleaning, and some superbowl watching. Off to another week of school!