Okay, first order of business. Best news? Caroline is fine! Her blood work came back completely normal, including her iron and her hemoglobin. Taking her to have blood drawn was the worst experience of my parenting career: she has rolling veins (like her momma) and so they had a lot of trouble finding them. This meant multiple pokes with the needle, digging around in her arm with it, and finally having to go to the other arm, only to get one vial of blood. She screamed, sobbed, cried, got all sweaty, and fought me the whole time. It was awful!
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| Poor sweet girl. Breaks my heart. |
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| Puffy eyes and bandaged arms. |
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| She slept so good after this! |
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| Bruise! |
We are thankful for the great news and so very relieved that we don't have to do any further testing.
In other news, Gigi flew in on Friday to watch the kids (thank you!! It was such a blessing to have her here!) so that Justin and I could head down to Monterey. I signed up for the 9-Miler race of the Big Sur International Marathon. I've been running a lot lately, and I was super pumped to try out my new skills on the world-renowed course.
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| We hit up the Expo to get my bib and T-shirt. Super cool. |
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| A great excuse to carbo-load ;) |
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We met up with the Strangs, who I have known since I was really little. It
was so great to see them!! Even if I was slightly intimidated, because they ALL
ran the full marathon! |
Justin and I got up bright and early (well, maybe not bright) on Sunday morning to get to Marathon Village which had been set up in the Carmel Highlands. It was amazing. Tons of runners stretching, grabbing bagels and gatorade and coffee, and being super chatty and nice to each other.
Finally they called us to the starting line. We actually started at the official finish line, ran south down Route 1 through Point Lobos State Reserve, and then looped back up Route 1 to the finish. So at the end, I was running alongside marathoners who had started earlier and were finishing crazy fast, in like 2 1/2 hours. They were passing all of us slowpokes like we were moving in butter!
Anyway, here I am ready to go:
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| Start time! |
We started with the 5K'ers in a big pack:
After about a mile we ran off the road onto this beachside trail - SO COOL.
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| These houses = AMAZING. Loved looking at them all. |
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| On the trail. |
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| Everyone was in awe of the scenery. This is what we paid $85 for!! Worth every penny. |
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| Everyone taking pictures! |
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After our little trail detour, we hit the road again. This is me
going the opposite way of the marathon road marker signs- each
was specially decorated or had a little "slogan." This one was a weird wizard ;) |
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| Back out on the water for a minute on Route 1... |
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| It got a little foggy, but I still had to lose my one outer layer (I had 3 layers on!) |
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| More photos. |
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They had a guy set up to take pictures for people with their phones
at the Mile 5 turnaround at the tip of Point Lobos. So cool. |
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| Our mile markers. Not quite as exciting as the marathon, but they were still cool :) |
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| And finally at the finish! DONE! |
I was actually sad when my race was over. I felt amazing the whole time - no pain (other than a little blister) and I felt like I could run 5 more miles at least. It was so beautiful, the energy was so amazing, and it was so much fun! I loved every minute.
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Here are my "unofficial" splits from my phone. Obviously I stopped
for fun stuff (hydration, taking pictures, or using the port-o-potties) at miles
number 3 and 6! Ha. |
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| When we got home, I took Jack to the pool to rest my tired little legs! |
It felt so good, and I was so proud of myself. I know I'm slow in comparison to a lot of people - but it's okay. I'm already jonesing for my next race. I guess I'm an addict now. (Or maybe, I'm an addicted to finally losing weight!)
I am so impressed/inspired with your race! It looks like it was an amazing course and you did so well! You are looking great and your kids are adorable as ever. Love the pictures of Caroline letting her hair fly in the wind, so cute. :)
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