Family, Adventures, and Gadgets Collide

My hubby (on the right) and his friend are true WARRIORS! This is after they completed the Warrior Dash, a 5k obstacle course and mud run. Way to go boys! Sent from April's iPhone

Please join me as I celebrate the completion of my FIRST half-marathon ! Today was my big race: the Cowtown Half-Marathon! {Read more about my running journeys along the way here .} I achieved my goals that I set out to accomplish: 1) finish the race and 2) run the entire 13.1 miles . And ... I did it! I ran jogged the entire 13.1 miles and finished the race! Woohoo!!! My unofficial time as I crossed the finish line was 2 hours and 37 minutes. I'm told that I can probably knock off at least 10-15 minutes to allow for delay in actual start time. I'll hopefully find out soon what my actual time was; although, I really am just proud to say I finished! {That's me in the light blue jacket. I was SO relieved when I saw my hubby & daughter! My daughter jumped on the course and finished the last quarter mile with me!} {After the race with one of my strongest supporters! She's an amazing friend and an incredible woman!}

Do you watch NBC's Biggest Loser ? It's a family favorite at my house! On Tuesday evenings, I cook dinner (Yes, I said cook! Remember, I'm working on eating at home at least 3 times a week .) and then we set up TV trays in the living room. My husband, daughter, and I all eat dinner off of our TV trays and watch the Biggest Loser together. LoVe this family time! Tonight after we ate dinner, we also completed some chores during the commercial brakes. We My husband rinsed the dishes and my daughter and I loaded the dishwasher. We also folded a load of laundry. Not bad for a family night, eh?!? Oh, and in case you've read my posts about my running adventures, the big date is getting closer! Yikes! Not too sure I'm ready, but we'll find out soon enough.

I have to admit, this weekend has been nice! On Saturday my daughter had a mid-day soccer game. On our way home we picked up lunch from Rosa's Cafe - delicious! Afterwards, the two of us hung out at home: some computer time, satisfying our munchies, and watched the crowning of Miss America. (The hubby was called into work.) Today, we actually had zero soccer games. A typical Sunday afternoon/night for us is usually spent at an indoor soccer arena. My husband and I play on three, yes 3!, co-ed soccer teams. However, today we somehow lucked out without a single game. Ahh! The comfort of my Snuggie, my laptop, and my reclining spot on the couch! But don't worry, I did manage to get a run in today! So I haven't been completely lazy! I met one of my running buddies at the gym and ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It was WAY too cold to run outside!!! Can you believe my half-marathon is only 4 weeks away!??! Woohoo! Well, all good things must come to an end. This is going to ...

"Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don't worry 'bout what you don't know, life's a dance, you learn as you go." (lyrics from John Michael Montgomery) Well I didn't dance today, ... I ran. In fact I ran 9 1/2 miles; most of the time I followed but what can I say? The awesome ladies I ran with today are more experienced runners and I hadn't ran anything over five miles until today. So today was a learning experience for me. I learned that my body can endure a longer run. (We'll see if this holds true over the next few weeks. Remember I'm running a half marathon on February 27th.) I learned that by wearing a good pair of running shoes versus a cute pair, saves the feet from blisters. Not to mention that wearing running shoes a size bigger than your normal shoe size really does help! (Did you know that your feet expand when running?!) I learned that I really need to get at least 2 decent runs (4-6 mi.) in during the week to help my b...

Do you remember reading this post when I turned into the gingerbread man? Well, maybe not quite the gingerbread man, but I was running "as fast as I can" (could). Well let's just say that over the Christmas holidays, the gingerbread man was eaten , whole! *Gasp!* Today I re-baked the gingerbread man and put my running shoes on to get back into my training-for-a-half-marathon. (If you're a regular marathoner or half-marathon runner, please forgive me for veering from my training.) And since I didn't run over the past few weeks, I decided to take this little ball of fur along for the run. Do you think Pepper would get along with the gingerbread man? Let me tell you how the run went, and then you can decide for yourself. Pepper, who is a whopping 10 pound Toy Rat Terrier, gets a litle over-excited when you pull out his leash. It's really quite funny! Once the leash is on, he grabs hold of the leash with his mouth and takes himself for a run through the...

Okay so I'm NOT the gingerbread man! However, I've been invited by a friend to run the Cowtown half marathon in February. That's MORE than 13 miles! I may play indoor soccer and work out a bit here and there, but I am NOT a runner! Not yet anyways, but I did make a commitment to train for the HALF marathon and run it in February. Yes, I am crazy! And the craziness was in full swing this morning when I met a group of friends and ran 5 miles in the frigid, misty weather at 7:45am. Let me repeat that: I got up at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning, met some friends, and ran the entire five (yes, 5) miles in the cold and rainy weather. Have I mentioned before that I really HATE cold weather?!? But I did it! I ran five miles this morning! We'll see how I feel tomorrow! :-) I'll keep you posted on how the training goes. Oh, and check back soon to see the lovely little creation that I made for each of my daughter's outdoor soccer teammates . You'll love it...