Georgia Marathon 2014

Last summer I after I ran my first half marathon, people would frequently ask me when I was going to run a full marathon?  I wanted to get better/faster/stronger/have more running experience before I attempted a full marathon.  So I ran more and did two more half marathons and few 10k races. And all the while, I thought about running a full marathon--26.2 miles. In a row. Without stopping.

I talked with friends that had run a full marathon and looked at different training plans. Everyone told me that training for a marathon is like having a part-time job. The training will take up lots of time, there will be many days of not wanting to run ,but you have to. No matter the weather or how busy the schedule/calendar is you have to find the time to run. Gotta get it done, so on race day it is possible to run 26.2 miles.

 

In November I decided to go for it and started looking for training plans and a spring time race.

I wanted a race close to home, so the Georgia Marathon was perfect. There are a million different training schedules for running a marathon and I picked the "beginner schedule" from Coolrunnings.

 

mind

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matter

 

So much of distance running is mental, believing that you are capable of running for hours, knowing that you have done it before and can do it again. The schedule I chose slowly built up and I actually ran 26.2 miles in February and then gradually decreased my long run distances each week.

There were definitely times I questioned my decision to pick a training program that had me run twenty miles or more 7 times before the actual marathon race, but come race day I was thankful I had.

 

 

Last Friday, my little map reader, and I drove to Atlanta to the Expo and picked up my bib number for the race. Rebecca had a great time! The Expo was filled with free samples of food and drinks and she walked away with a backpack full of stuff.

 

I was up bright and early to get ready and drive to Atlanta for the race. I was stressed out about where to park the car. Raphael and I figured out the best spot for me, but of course where I wanted to park was blocked off for the race :)  I did panic for a second, found a different parking lot and followed all the other runners walking to the start line.

(this photo is from the ajc)

The race started and ended at Centennial Olympic Park.

Over 16.000 people ran either a half or a full marathon.

Just a few minutes before the race started.

I wanted to take more pictures, but it is complicated to run and try to snap a photo.

I did stop at here at mile 7 or 8 to take a picture. This is where the runners for the half go left and the full marathon runners went right.

Raphael and the girls came out to cheer me on.

I think this was around mile 15?

Me running!

There were professional photographers taking pictures during the race.

I plan to buy a few pictures, but haven't gotten to it yet.

 

Raphael took them for breakfast in a cute little café after

I ran by.

 The day was forecasted for rain and it tried to rain for

a few minutes, but thankfully there was no serious rain!!

Getting closer!

I felt good during the race.

There were so many hills!!

Hill, after hill, after hill.

 

Mile 22 we ran into Piedmont Park and turned around and then started into Atlanta for the finish line. I was starting to feel tired and I really wanted to walk, but was determined to keep running. Slow running, but I ran. I was hoping for a finish time of 4:40 and knew if I walked, I would not make it.

The finish line!

When I turned the corner and saw the balloons, I was so relieved!

The last few miles took forever and seemed so loooong.

I did it!!

My official time for the race.

Didn't make my goal time, but close.

 

My finisher medal.

 

I am glad I ran the marathon.

Proud I managed to survive the training schedule and run a good race.

Don't think I will be running another marathon anytime soon!!

 

And this just made me laugh.......

 

 

 

 

Over the Weekend

Saturday afternoon we drove into Atlanta because Raphael had tickets for us to see the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.  Rachel was able to bring along her friend Sydney.

Sunday afternoon we went to church for Rebecca's spring choir show.

As always, it is entertaining to see four year olds on stage singing. Rebecca

didn't sing much, but did wiggle around and play with her dress :)

Rebecca had the nicest choir teacher this year- Ms. Debra.

I should have taken a picture, but didn't think too.

On Monday the girls wore some green for St. Patrick's Day.

Rebecca wanted a picture with her headband, but wasn't too

excited to share with her sister.

 

 

Photos from my Phone Friday

We made it to Friday!!

Our calendar has been super busy the past few weeks and I am so thankful when Friday arrives. Friday is our "slow down and take it easy day" of the week.

 

A few pictures......

                Rebecca dressed up for Wacky Wednesday at school.

This was a warm afternoon, so Daniella came over and we went outside.

The girls were being clowns and putting on a circus show for us.

Tuesday we went for haircuts.

After haircuts, Rachel had tennis lessons. First we stopped at Sonic for a quick dinner.

It was spirit night and they had games and hula hoops for the kids to play. 

So happy to see these daffodils blooming in our backyard.

 

This winter has been long and cold.

I am not a cold weather person and I am ready for spring.

I saw this quote on Pinterest and I had to pin it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AWANA Games 2014

This past Saturday, Rachel participated at church in the AWANA games. They have been practicing each Wednesday for a few weeks and finally time for the competition.

It was a busy Saturday morning for us- I had an appointment, Rebecca had her first soccer game and then I had to get Rachel to church for the games. Raphael took Rebecca to soccer and joined us later.

                                                               Tug-of-war!
There were three other churches with teams and the our team was the blue team. The team Rachel was on won the first round and then went onto the finale.

The games lasted about three hours and Rebecca did pretty well. I packed snacks, she cheered on Rachel's team and did play some games on Raphael's phone for a while.

In the finale, the blue team ended up placing second. They lost by one point! Rachel was disappointed, but dealt with it fine. Afterwards, we went out for lunch to celebrate.

Photos from my Phone Friday

It has been a super busy week and I am so thankful it is Friday. Some pictures of our going-ons from the past couple of weeks.

                                                                     We went to the circus!

                                     When we were in Atlanta, we went to our favorite pizza place-
                                                                       Mellow Mushroom.

                                                             Dinner out for my birthday.

                                                                   Snowflake Shadows

                                                         Rebecca started back to soccer.

  Rebecca and I had a "coffee" date at Starbucks.

Silly hat day at school to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday.

 

                                                       

                           

Another Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a normal day around here- girls to school, I went to the gym, errands, after school activities and homework.  I was thankful for a beautiful and sunny day.
After all the snowy days, I am so happy to see spring time arriving.

 

When Raphael came home we did the singing and birthday cake thing.

 

Saturday night, Raphael and I went out for dinner to celebrate. We tried out a new place and ate at Stoney River Restaurant. It was nice to be just the two of us and have a chance to talk.

The nice valet guy snapped our picture.

 

Grateful the Lord blessed me with another year and looking forward to see

what is around the corner!

 

 

 

Wintery Mix 2014 and Other Stuff

So last Monday, the weatherman forecasted another winter storm was heading our way. They were calling it a "wintery mix" of first freezing rain and then snow. The girls had school on Monday and I went to Costco, Target and the grocery store to stock up and get some last minute Valentine's Day supplies.

                Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, it was looking like this---ice on everything.
Wednesday night it finally gave us some decent snow and we went outside to play for awhile.

We walked up to Danielle's house and the girls played together.

We came home and spent a couple of hours building a snow fort.

The sun was out and the snow was melting fast.

 

Rebecca loved the snow.

 

School was cancelled all week and I tried my best to keep the girls busy.

Rebecca was supposed to bring in an object for show- and -tell and be line leader.

She was a little upset to miss out on her day.

Her African violet she planned to take to school for letter V day.

We worked on Valentines for our friends and made sugar cookies.

We played a lot of games, watched several movies and ate way

too much popcorn and candy.

My little Valentines!

The girls opened gifts from us and Nana and Papa.

Raphael went back to work, but school was still cancelled.

I took the girls out to pizza for lunch because we really needed to get

out of the house for a while.

Seems crazy to me,  but it was warm enough on Friday afternoon for Rachel to

go for her weekly tennis lesson.

We had a busy weekend and Rachel was back to school today!

We are praying for no more snow!!