Half Marathon!

I did the Crystal Lake 1/2 on 9/14. 13.1 miles of fun! More like 12 miles of fun, 1.1 of DEATH. I ran my hardest though and cut off alot of time from my training pace. And I bested all of my prior 5k times. Yippee!!!

Finish line is in sight! It looks like I'm walking, but instead it's a sprint!

From Half Marathon

Almost there!

From Half Marathon

From Half Marathon

Conquered!

From Half Marathon

Next up....triathlon!

First Day of THIRD Grade!

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From First Day of 2nd Grade

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First Day of Second Grade

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First Day of FIRST Grade

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First Day of Kindergarten

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From First Day of 2nd Grade

Race Day!

I did the first 2 miles in under 22 mins, took a minute water break to wait for friends, and then finished slowly. I really wanted to finish strong and sprint the last 10th, so I slowed way down the last mile. I knew I was near the end when my friends started walking back down the course to finish with me (embarassing but fun). I started sprinting and my friend who'd finished a few mins earlier was sprinting with me and said "come on Sarah you can do it, you can beat me!" So I kicked it into high gear and sprinted HARD. I had my trainer on my left and the pastor of my church on my right and I just nailed it. I told my friend the whole time "I hate you I hate you I hate you"....but felt so good. She has the endurance advantage for long hauls, I have the long legs advantage for short sprints. Fun! There was a ton of people cheering me on all along the way, so that was fun. Fun fun fun!

Here are some pictures.

Me in all black waving at the camera on the first mile. Running with the pastor of my church.

From Race Day

Not sure what I'm doing here, laughing I guess, don't know who the kid is. Not mine.

From Race Day

Not sure why Jeff went for the rear view, but I'm running with my trainer and her 8 year old.

From Race Day

Me with the friends who came back and got me, sprinting to the finish. Don't know the lady in gray, don't even remember seeing her.

From Race Day

Me right after I finished, Em running up to hug me.

From Race Day

Finished!

From Race Day

Professional pix....

From Mettlins

From Mettlins

From Mettlins

From Mettlins

From Mettlins

From Mettlins

Since not everybody is on Facebook.....

Here are some pictures from my birthday "week". It started out with the wonderful surprise of my parents coming in to town, and then my sister, and then finished up wiht a big party at my cousin's house. What a wonderful week, I'll remember it forever.

Friday night was a big pizza and Wii party at my house. Below is Grant (brother-in-law), Ella and Reilly Brandt, my sister, and Emily.

From Birthday 09

My sister never played Wii tennis, but she still managed to hustle Grant:

From Birthday 09

Grant realizing he'd been smoked...

From Birthday 09

Bethany celebrating her win:

From Birthday 09

Here's a picture of my kids and Baby Elle.

From Birthday 09

My Dad and Baby Elle...

From Birthday 09

Saturday morning, we woke up and my personal trainer (my SISTER!) kicked my rear at the gym.

From Birthday 09

Saturday night was the party at the Hoffmans. Emily and her cousin Ellie are fast friends....and, twins?

From Birthday 09

Nah, just cousins....

From Birthday 09

The men of the family at the party...

From Birthday 09

Jeff and Grant (brother in law)

From Birthday 09

Bethany and my cousin Bob...

From Birthday 09

Emily

From Birthday 09

Maicy

From Birthday 09

Lighting the 36 candle birthday cake....

From Birthday 09

From Birthday 09

From Birthday 09

Getting ready to take the giant family portrait.

From Birthday 09