Our First Mud Run

Last weekend, Colin and I participated in the Gladiator Mud Run in Lake Elsinore. It was a 3 mile run with muddy obstacles to tackle. It was really fun. We dressed up in old Murrieta Valley Cross Country uniforms- didn't really matter if those got dirty, there are a million of them and we are trying to get rid of them any way. Colin looked pretty hot in his little outfit if I might add. :-) There were 12 "obstacles" some included jumping over things while others required you to go through mud. We had mixed reviews from veteran runners, but we had a pretty good time and we got nice and dirty... here are some photos.

We are still nice and clean, Renee took a picture of us before we headed out to the race. Thank you so much Renee for taking pictures and for watching our little kid!! He will love you forever because you gave him his first snow cone!!!

Kellen enjoyed playing in the rocks before the race in the little amount of shade we could find... behind the BBQ pork tent!

"It's hot, let's get this race started already!" Kellen was patiently waiting for us to get going.

Cheese! Two minutes to race time!! One last final clean photo... even though we were already sweating a lot.

 You couldn't see much of the race except the end, here we come approaching the last mud pit!!

 Oh yeah, I pass this girl... Colin was right next to me! The mud was kinda warm... gross.

 I'm pretty sure this is where Colin said he was trying to breath and got mud and dirt all over his teeth! Ewee!

Coming down to the finish... I haven't seen any pictures on the website, but this was pretty sweet looking. 

 Yummy, mud all down my arms... or at least part of them. Kinda weird how that happened.

Just finishing the race... yay we made it!! It's hot out here! Where do we go now??

Muddy kisses! And I'm pretty sure his face was nice and sweaty too.

Our first completed muddy race... where do we clean off??

Southern California Half Marathon

So I did it... another half marathon behind me. My first half marathon back in October was MUCH different from this event. This race was located in Irvine and began a little later at 8am. I was familiar with the area, was not running late, and knew where to find an unused bathroom!

The course was very flat, and pretty fast. I had to start out slower than I liked since the crowd was there when I began. This was a good thing because it forced me to start out at a normal pace. My first mile ended up being my slowest mile (and I didn't turn my GPS watch on until .7o miles into the darn race!!) Thankfully there were clocks at each mile. Each runner had a time chip to give them accurate race finish times. I was about 27 seconds behind the clock. I didn't feel like I was going faster than my last race, but each mile was faster than Long Beach. It was hard not to discouraged because people were passing me. Then I hit the second mile at 16:15 and realized that I was running under my goal pace, so from then on I knew I needed to ignore the people around me and just run. Occasionally I would pick up my pace, or "surge" as they call it. And by the last mile I was about 3 minutes ahead of my goal pace.

Then it happened, I took a small swig of water at mile 12 and had an INSTANT cramp. It was awful! I knew I was ahead of my goal time, but did not want to walk or slow down. I pretty much pushed through the last mile trying to breath and get over the cramp. The only hard part about the end of the race, was not knowing how long I had left. When I finally saw the finish line I booked it to the end!

My official results were a time of 1:45.02 (7:47 mile pace). Improving six minutes and forty six seconds over my last race and almost 30 seconds per mile. I was 332nd out of 3,832 runners over all, 54th female, and 14th out of 141 in my age group (24-29 years old, I am 29 now). There are quite a few pictures of me from the race. I wish they weren't so expensive to purchase! http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%18yG&EVENTID=62139&PWD=&BIB=1069

This was a real nice race. I am looking forward to signing up for another half soon. I may also run the Carlsbad 5000 in April and then train over the summer for a marathon.

So, I beat my goal of 1:45... I think my next goal will be under 1:40.

It's My Party!!

Alright, the grand event finally came and went. Kellen turned one last Sunday, and as a first time mommy I think we did a pretty good job. I REFUSED to go overboard and waste money on things he would not remember (tons of decorations, matching plates, napkins etc) it was simple and fun. We ate burgers, had some chips, cake and other yummy desserts and celebrated the baby boys first birthday. Below are some pictures from the event. If you missed it, you missed some pretty great times. Thanks to everyone that came to make his day special.

Home made cake made by mommy. Aunt Cassie let me borrow these little pans that made the three pieces to the cake.
Kellen woke up from his nap just as the festivities were about to begin, perfect timing since he would only get one nap for the day.
Daddy BBQ'd all the burgers, they were yummy.
Jeff and Nolan hung out with Colin outside while he cooked.
John, Tymon and Brittani were in attendance at the festivities.
OK, so he opened one gift a little early. It wasn't wrapped so he was a little ahead of us. Grandpa got him a bike and a helmet. He LOVES it even though he can't reach the pedals yet. We put on the helmet and ride him to the mail box every day. Thanks to Grandpa's handy dandy handle that he attached to the back of it!
Here is the helmet.

Aunt Renee and her friend Mike got Kellen a remote control car!! It is SO cool!

Jeff and Ashley bought him this really cool Caterpillar that talks and sings. He likes to push the buttons and watch the ears light up.
Bill and Jeannine (though unable to attend, we hope Grandpa Knight is doing better) gave him a walker to help him practice walking (still a crawler) and when he has mastered walking he can ride on it instead!

Uncle Tymon and Aunt Brittani (and Baby Olivia) got him a sweat outfit from Old Navy, our favorite store!

Our super cool, (and super normal, YAY) neighbor, Mike, gave Kellen this cool puppy dog toy! It sings and talks and teaches him all about body parts!

Great Grandma and Grandpa McDonough bought him this SUPER CUTE Adidas sweat outfit! And they gave him a savings bond! Kellen loves to save!

Uncle John, Aunt Cassie and Cousin Nolan bought him some golf clubs (plastic :=) and a really soft Mickey Mouse! He likes the clubs, and even likes to share!

Uncle Chad and his friend Julia arrived a little later and brought a new Harley with them!! Kellen tries to scoot around in it and LOVES to be pushed around the living room really fast on it!

OK, so the cake mess begins. He was slightly hesitant at first to touch it, but then once he tasted it, it didn't take long!

MESSY FACE!!

Drinking some milk to wash it down.
Time to get cleaned up! Yikes! He is covered from head to toe!
One last shot before Grandpa put him in the sink.

Here is a short video, the messiest part was not taped... it came later.
Thanks to Aunt Cassie he was sparkly clean in a flash! The poor sink on the other hand needed some additional TLC. There was a ring in the tub once we got him out! All in all a successful first birthday! We had so much fun! Thanks to everyone that came! Those that couldn't attend, you missed out. BUT you have the blog to reminisce!

Women's Christmas Brunch

Every year Grandma Bardsley invites me to her church for their annual Christmas brunch, I call it the "Christmas Kick Off." Grandma Sue attends Mariner's Church in Irvine, it is similar to my church, Sandals, in that it started very humbly and had grown to be known as a pretty amazing church.
The brunch consists of all the ladies in their church getting together with friends and family, eating brunch, singing worship songs and listening to a key-note speaker. This year it was really amazing. The speakers name was Sheila Walsh. An author, speaker, singer and former 700 club co-host. She shared with us her testimony and how God has changed her life and brought her to where she is right. Not only was she funny, and well spoken, she had an amazing singing voice! She has a book called, "Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know." I bought one for my mom for Christmas. We had a great morning of catching up with the ladies and worshiping God. Here are some photos of the festivities. Our tradition is to take photos in front of the Christmas tree after the Brunch is over.

This is a photo of Grandma Sue, Shelley and I by the tree.

This is a photo of the room as you walk in. My camera does not take panoramic photos, there are still more ladies to the left and right of the room. It is quite the event.

The lady to the right is Norma Hanson, Grandma Sue's neighbor. Grandma and Norma have been neighbors for fourty years! They walk together in the mornings to keep fit, they are both in great shape. Jill is Norma's daughter. Jill and Shelley grew up together and Jill attended Westmont College, the school that Colin attended. Jill and her husband Ken met at Westmont and Colin heard so many stories over the years and had visited several times and knew that is where he was supposed to go to college. Jill and Norma are amazing Christian women.
What a day! What an event! What a year!