London's Run

About mid-December, Kristen and her family were down visiting, and she told me she was training for the half-marathon for London's Run on January 30th. When she asked me to do it with her, I just laughed. I'd never run more than 5 miles at a time at that point. I don't know what came over me that next week, but I decided I was going to do it. I had 3 weeks to get ready (should have been about 3 months). I think I experienced almost every setback I could (blisters, side cramps, knee pain, back pain, etc). The furthest I ran before the race was 10 miles, so I was really, really nervous about the 13.1 miles. I could NOT sleep at all the night before. Amazingly enough, I finished it without walking. I wasn't very fast at all, but it felt so good to finish something that I NEVER thought I could and had never even considered. Anyway thanks for the push Kris. I would never have done it without you!

There are some more photos at this site that I'm too cheap to actually buy. :)
http://sportshots.exposuremanager.com/p/1000am-1030am_lr_2010/1027_20100130102715_1731_63_2_4

New Years in the Snow

We spent New Years Eve and Day sledding with our good friends, The Brooks. There was a ton of snow, and we found a really good hill for sledding. The only problem was that if you got going too fast, you'd end up in the middle of the street (which happened to me more than once). We ate tons of yummy food, played in the snow, warmed up with hot chocolate, played games, watched movies...you know, all the good stuff. Good times were had by all.

Riggs got his head stuck in the railing, which was no surprise at all.

Crew had had enough with the snow and was taking it easy watching movies.

The kids spent one evening jumping from the top bunk to a bed below. A few fell off the bed; some hit their heads on the ceiling, but this activity never lost its appeal.

Family Photos

It's always an exhausting experience to get everyone ready for family pictures and begging everyone to smile for the camera, but it's always worth it in the end (except when I'm pregnant--nothing's worth that) :)