13.1

Sunday was the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Months and months ago Nathan and I had signed up to run the 1/2. Well, we didn't run the whole thing but at least we finished it and got our pretty medals. In training, we only worked up to 5 1/2 miles. Then my back would freak out. So, we decided to just run the first 5-6 miles and finished the race with walking and jogging.

Our morning started very early. We had our outfits picked out. In fact, a major cold front blew in so we woke up to 35 degrees outside. Nathan didn't have the appropriate clothing so I did what any caring wife would do, I went shopping for him on Saturday while he worked all day. I spent about $500 between Target (sorry, Daniel) and Academy. Don't worry, we're getting most of our money back when I return all the things he didn't wear. Basically, I shopped so he would have an "at home" dressing room session . We didn't know the weather was going to change so drastically otherwise earlier in the week he could have shopped for himself.

The bands were a lot of fun and they really kept you going. Every mile we'd mute our i-pods and listen to the band and run while we clapped our hands to the beat above our heads in the air.
At mile 9.6 our friends Bethany and Joy were there to cheer us on. It was great to see them. They made a sign and switched out names for all of our friends participating. We had to stop and give them a hug.

We had a 12 min mile up until mile 6. Then, we slooooooooowed down. We finished at 3:28. Next time we plan to train for a full 12 weeks and follow a good training schedule. I would like to do another 1/2 marathon in the near future and I'd also like to work toward a new personal best. The time to beat for me is 2:48 (Houston 2007).

It was a fun day, overall. I'll sum it up with my most memorable moments...
5. Seeing Randy Beamer, news anchor for WOAI Channel 4. He was right in line with us to hop on the shuttle
4. Running through the beautiful King William District.
3. Passing the Alamo. It was really neat being in a mob of people all participating in this huge event.
2. The B-A-G-E-L-S after the race. Gosh, either I was delirious and starving or it was the best thing I've ever eaten. EVER!
1. Doing this with Nathan.

Backyard BBQ

Sunday we had a little BBQ to celebrate Joy's birthday. She had her 2 girlfriends from high school in town, Nicki and Cayla. We had a nice evening just hanging out with friends! Happy Birthday, Friend!!

Here's the littlest party goer...

3 Years!

Yesterday Nathan and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary and it really was the perfect day! We both were off from work. I had a hair cut at 8:30 and Nathan slept in. When I got home we watched a little TV...naturally, there was a ton of election results coverage. I definitely wanted to see a little of The View since they are all so opinionated on this "Hot Topic". I loved what Elizabeth said and I can relate to her on this...."I may not have been the first to stand behind Obama but now I will jump in that line and support our president because that is what as an American I believe we should do". Well said!

I digress. Back to our anniversary.

We had brunch at The Gunther House and it was delightful! Nathan had pancakes and I had a waffle. We shared an order of biscuits and gravy. Mmmm! Everything is good with gravy. After we ate we drove out to Vanderpool TX to go to Lost Maples. It was a nice drive. About 2 hours. The weather was so nice.

Here's a picture of the start of the East Trail. It's just under 5 miles and gets very, very steep. You'll see in a minute. Since it was a Wednesday the crowds weren't bad at all. The colors were magnificent. The park rangers even said that this year is looking to be "the best in a long time" so if you can, plan an outing to Lost Maples soon and go DURING the week.
Here we are at the top of Lost Maples. It's quite a climb. I've been out a few times and the East Trail is my favorite. I think it's easier to take this trail clockwise (it makes a big circle). If you have ever had knee surgery, like me, you'll want to go clockwise too. The left side of this trail is as steep as the right (duh) but the left is mostly small rocks on a steep climb. Hello, can you say WIPEOUT???? Yes, I tend to end up hurt and on the floor when doing outdoor activities. I didn't this trip, thank goodness!
The right side of this trail has more stair like steps which make it easy coming down. Going up is easy for knee challenged people. It's the coming down part that gets tricky and the stairs help.
Nathan is doing an "Olan Mills" pose that I put him in....Once we finished our hike we got back in the car and headed back home. We had dinner reservations at The Melting Pot. Nathan had requested one of their tables in the area they call "Lovers Lane". It's a tucked away hallway with 3 little private booths for couples. After hiking all day we were starving!!Here's our little table for two. It's a half booth and the table is connected to the wall so there's a lot of privacy. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and The Big Night Out.
Mmmm!
A 4 course meal starting with cheese fondu, next a cobb saldad followed by the main course Lobster, Filet Mignon, Shrimp, Chicken, Pork, Tortellini and finally, we chose to end our feast with their Turtle Chocolate fondu.

Here's how I felt at the end of the night...

Happy Anniversary to my best friend! You sure do make life a whole lot of fun.

Trick Or Treat

Treat! Halloween is so much fun! I love to see all the people in their cute costumes. I saw a couple of doctors, swamp man, spiderman, punk girl, Buzz Lightyear, pumkins, and many more. Tige and Sara brought Faith over in her cute Buzz costume...
Since this is the last day of October, I better catch you up to speed on some other things I've been doing....
RUNNING- Well, I have been running but I've been even worse in my training for this race as I was for 07's Houston 1/2 marathon. Since late August I've been having major lower back issues. I saw a new chiropractor and he told me I have some disc problems and I probably shouldn't be running. I've listened a little but not 100%. Last Saturday I did about 5 1/2 miles and I spent most of Sunday with a heating pad and ice packs. It sucks! My goal is to just finish the race in the max time they give you. I start having numbness around mile 5 and then have to walk. The tightness is intense. I have a friend that is running the full with a leg fracture. She's stubborn too. What's weird is if I skip a day (or 2) and don't run at all the pain is really bad. If I run 3 miles each evening, I feel great.

SPURS- A friend from church that has season tickets stopped by the other day and gave me 2 tickets ROW 10 (WOW). Nathan was working so I asked Becki. We ran into Kyle, Kristy and Bethany (friends from work). It was a fun night even though they lost.
LIGHT THE NIGHT-A fundraiser/walk for Leukemia/Lymphoma Society
Last Saturday I went to walk in honor of Amy! It was a great night downtown. It's a 2 mile walk starting at Hemisfair Park and goes through the Tower, Inst of Txn Culture and LaVillita. After the walk all of Amy's family and friends went to Casa Rio for dinner.

Becki's kids- Kaden and Kate ready for the festivities....

The beautiful Amy and her daughter Addison

One More Thing...

Tonight, Nathans folks and Daniel came over for dinner. We grilled steaks outside and since it was perfect weather we decided to eat outdoors. Before Larry and Sylvia got to our house, Daniel got a phone call and was outside walking up and down our sidewalk. While strolling, he saw something sad and unusual.

I'll give you a hint but I bet you'll never guess what Daniel saw.....
HINT:
Yes, the picture above is of Pooh stuck in the door at Rabbit's house. Well, here's what was stuck at our house...
Not sure how this happened but this frog somehow wedged its upper body through the water cut off valve cover and didn't get the rest of his body through. He's been there for a while because.....well this is gross but his eyes were....um...gone. Also, most of his insides were dried up. I told you it was gross! Poor little frog.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Saturday was Amy's birthday. We celebrated by going to Austin Friday night to see Tapestry, a 7 person Tap Dancing group. Remember, Amy owns a dance studio and I love her as a friend. That's why I went. :) I was pleasently surprised! The show was very entertaining especially after 2 margarita's from Matt's. Also, I had Jo sitting next to me imitating the dancers "jazz arms". It's so funny to me. I don't know why. Margarita's or not- the show was really great. This tap company incorporates video clips from old movies with Shirley Temple, Fred Astere, Gene Kelly and many other great stars from the past. They also had a jazz trio and they were phenominal. A pianist (Berklee), a bass player and a drummer. After the show we went to 6th street for dessert at Katz's. Holy Cow. All you need to know is "BROWNIE BOAT". Nothing else matters.

We spent the night in Austin that night. Me, Amy, her mom, her sister, Jo and Becki. If I get pictures I'll post later. I didn't have my camera on me that night.

Saturday we came back home and stopped at the outlet malls. White House/ Black Market had great sales. I went to Lacey's birthday party in the afternoon at Clay Casa. Her 9th birthday was on Wednesday. Happy Birthday, sweet Lacey! After her fun party, I went back to Amy's for dinner. It was a great weekend.

Amy is doing alright. She's in the middle of chemo/ radiation right now to treat the lymphoma in her brain. We're praying for God to heal her again. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

STARS 2008

This weekend was Concordia's Stars Women's Retreat. It's the Lutheran version of the ACTS retreat the Catholic church does. We had a wonderful weekend. I went on this retreat in 2006 and for the past two years I've been serving on the team. I've made so many great new friendships thanks to this retreat. Women of all ages and stages in their lives come together and serve God and one another. I'm so thankful to be a part of this. It was beautiful and so meaningful as always.
We got back to San Antonio Sunday morning for 11 o'clock church. It was a difficult day. After being on a "spiritual high" for 3 days we had to come back to a sobering truth. A very sweet and popular 16 year old boy in our congregation died earlier in the week and his funeral was on Sunday at 3. The sanctuary was packed. Students from Reagan and Johnson came by the hundreds, literally. Ian Fincke passed away last Sunday the 5th from a severe skateboarding accident. His father gave the eulogy and did an outstanding job! I can't imagine the pain you feel when you have to give your own son's eulogy. Ian was the kid that everyone loved. He was full of life and called everyone "friend". He served at VBS for many years and was known as a kid magnet. Prayers for the Fincke family and for all the high school friends of Ian that are mourning this great loss. It was nice to hear so many of his friends say that they'd see him in heaven one day.