the white house at the right time

Cayden ran and won his first half marathon despite getting to bed at 1 am (drive in movie night)!   Respectively they came in 7th and 8th place overall with minimal training. It was a trail run in the Herriman foothills - Herriman Hold'em Half. Along side the runners were several groups of marines and other military personnel that completed the course with their full packs in honor of those that committed suicide from PTSD.  It was very moving to see this group as part of the runners. Randy said it was fun to see Cayden transition from being coached and paced by him to Cayden ultimately setting the pace. Estimating is a tricky thing and this time I totally missed. I assumed with trail run, little sleep, little training, and a first time experience it would take them around 1:45 to 2 hours. So I zipped home to do some work, and when I came back to capture finish photos they were already done and snacking on grapes and chocolate creamsicles.

First, I'd like to thank ASI/Marathon. While I muse over which photos to purchase, I'll borrow your photos for this post. Michele and I coming across the finish with lots of other people. Randy coming across the finish line. Solo. Alone in the pack. Notice the smile. He is a happy runner. 2nd marathon this month for him! O.k. so at least this pic shows that it takes some effort on his part to clip along at about 7 min. a mile. I admit when I saw this I thought, "Whoah cheeka you look strained. Hurt?" Actually, Michele and I were pretty regular and easy going the whole race, we talked about our kids, famlies, friends, and goals. Luckily the effort to run a half is less than half the effort for a full.

Which turned out so much faster than we both thought! Not only was it not raining, blessed be , but it was overcast and pleasantly cool, perfect for running, until the afternoon when the sun burst out and blue skies reigned for the rest of the day. Randy ran his personal best marathon time 3:06:56 which earned him a little recognition in the Seattle Times Sunday sports edition as an "overall leader". Pretty awesome! Knowing a little about how much time and training it takes, I am so impressed. So are the kids. But definitely not overly surprised. He is a pretty amazing athlete, aside from being a pretty amazing husband. pretty amazing teacher. pretty amazing husband. pretty amazing honest guy.

Ringing the bell sending off the next runner in my first relay race. Suzanne, Tracy, Makay , Michele, Moi, Bianca. All of them great runners. I was asked by these ladies to join in on a 50 mile relay race from Mt. Rainier to Ruston Parkway (on the Puget Sound). I think people think I can run because Randy is such an awesome running machine, and a great compliment, though I am only slow and steady. I am just getting back into running and have socially been a little quiet lately. So I decided having some girl time and a new experience would be good as long as they weren't counting on me for a fast time. As it happened, Randy also had a marthon the same morning. The Green River Marathon, which he took nice and easy since he is battling a pulled hamstring and is trying to be careful before his next upcoming marathon in 3 weeks. 50 miles later, the finish! In between here and there. More in between here and there. Ruston Parkway. Beautiful. Sunny. Paved :). This was my part of the ...

"The Little Kids" after we finished. #3, #5, #4 #1 and #2 where are you? Just before we got going! Walt and Ang . Hip surgery and restrictive diet = no energy; way to go! Way before we finished, getting headed out the door. Dad at the finish. Our #1 supporter (who hates crowds) has marked his spot and waited and waited at the finish line several times since 2006. THANK YOU! The dynamic duo. You know your sisters when you live states apart, but still show up in bascially the same outfit. Black pants. Purple shirts.

Scheduling for 6 is hard. But really it is more than that. It is the work schedules, the kid's school schedules, and the flights, and the budget, and. and. and. And it is just plain hard for all of us to get together. But we did it again. Girls Weekend 2010. It was a very full weekend. We started off by watching Nikki's Mrs. Arizona pageant dvd and practicing interview questions. We were "cheerleaders for married women" for a bit and then our after midnight humor took hold and we cracked stupid, funny jokes, which are really only funny to us. We ended up hatching a business plan based on Ms. Divorce pageant. I am officially copyrighting the rites to this money making idea now! Divorce attorney's for judges, most photogenic replaced by most divorces, most alimony, etc. Tiff was the expert contestant. Funny girl she is! We visited Grandma Frye. She told us to no one knows how lonely it is to be alone, until you are. She really misses Grandpa. Woke up to see the su...