"We'll help you mow, Daddy!"

Just the words Chris wanted to hear from Emma when he came home from work this evening and said he was going to mow the front yard "real quick." They were entertained watching Dad and Camden learned a little life lesson that grass is not very tasty.

Adventures in Eugene

We had such a great time in Eugene over the weekend. Saturday morning we walked around the Saturday Market, a huge farmers market that was full of interesting people and things to buy. Emma loved having her face painted-she chose a ballerina
We found an awesome park right on the river and the kids had a blast playing Saturday afternoon.

Camden crawled all around the outside of Hayward Field

Aimee, Amber, Claire, Emma, Camden, and I enjoyed a little breakfast picnic while waiting to see they guys at mile 6.

26.2 Miles in 4:46:25

Well it is safe to say that everyone was wrong in predicting my time for the marathon this past weekend. The important thing however is that I finished. Luckily we have pictures to share, since I accidently deleted them last night from the camera, only to recover them with a program I found on-line. So how do I write about the race, well it is almost impossible. Emotions and thoughts were all over the place that day, but overall it was a great experience. Chris Warthen and I were ecstatic with our races, but more importantly excited about the friendship that developed during our training period.

I have included pictures of the entire weekend. We left Friday morning for the beautiful city of Eugene, Oregon and spent the next few days taking in the whole atmosphere. The easiest way I could think of to write this blog is to do the 26.2 Highlights and not so great highlights of the weekend in no particular order. You can guess if it was a good or bad thing. Look for more pics of the weekend to follow from Vanessa...

.2 - Someone decided that it is a good idea to break wind on the shuttle bus taking us to the starting line. Seriously, this was so not appropriate or necessary. A mouth full of poopoo is never good for anyone.

26 - Mile 6.3 when Chris and I almost both missed our families waving to us.

25 - The 90 year old man(at least) that ran by both Chris and I...I can only hope that I am able to do what he was doing at that age.

24 - Having my I-pod knocked off by some Jack--- right at the beginning of the race....Sure it was an accident, but did he not see me standing there.

23 - Chris W. ran the last two minutes at a 9.00 pace ensuring his spot below the 5 hour mark.

22 - I had to take a poopoo the last mile of the race. Not good....

21 - The mean lady at the front counter of a certain hotel, who would not allow us to move back our check out time a half hour for showers...

20 - Nacho Libre, The Toilet, and the Pink Pig....Three character that we met along the route.

19 - Chris W. hugging Claire at mile #16. A real power boost to get him through the rest of the race.

18 - Getting to meet Steve Prefontaine's Sister and Kenny Moore(Marathon Olympian and Author)

17 - Finally getting to the #$%^ bridge for the cross over the Willamette River thus making our turnaround for the last 5 miles of the marathon.

16 - Hurting the top of my foot at mile 8 and wondering if I was going to be able to finish.

15 - Breaking my half-marathon mark by 14 minutes.

14 - Our families and friend(Amber Wood) were amazing cheerleaders.

13 - The celebratory beers at the Eugene Beer Factory(I think that is right)...Whatever...That beer was good...

12 - Visiting Hayward Field...

11 - Tracktown Pizzas BBQ Chicken Pizza...Was as great as I remembered it being back in 1995.

10 - Vanessa telling me she was proud of me.

09 - Tim K's inspirational e-mail.

08 - Seeing the 4:15 pacer run by me, and me realizing that 4:30 would be pretty tough.

07 - Getting to mile marker 10 and seeing the name of my running hero Steve Prefontaine. Gave a little boost to my step.

06 - Pancakes and Pasta Dinners...

05 - Woman with a sign that stated push here for POWER....Pushed it twice.

04 - Crossing the Finish Line and not knowing what to do, say or feel...

03 - all the small hills over the last 6 miles that made the large hill at mile 7 look like nothing and feel like nothing.

02 - The volunteers were amazing....Putting your name on the bib was an ingenious idea..
01 - all of the untold stories that you will continue to hear in person over the next how many years.

Enjoy the pics.....

Steve's Sister(as Emma knows her) Kenny Moore and I

Camden and I w/ Steve Display outside Hayward Field

Some Pictures of the Race and a Celebratory Beer!!!

May is here!

Another month is here and gone! It's hard to believe we'll be celebrating Camden's 1st birthday at the end of the month. Chris is in Memphis this week at a training, and the kids and I are looking forward to his homecoming tonight. Tomorrow we're heading down to Eugene for the big marathon weekend. Emma had her second haircut (ever!) on Saturday and she's been telling everyone we see all about it! :)

Fast forward

Emma wanted to feed Camden this afternoon and I immediately thought of this picture that is on our refrigerator taken the day he came home from the hospital. My angels are growing too fast!

A hike on Clear Creek Trail

During Chris's marathon training, he has become a big fan of the trail that goes through our town. A few weeks ago, he had a close encounter with a cow that escaped its farm (are we in Iowa or Washington?!) and Emma has been asking to "go see that cow." We bundled up and went for a little hike after dinner last night. Emma was not pleased to see the cows way up by the barn and thought if she "off roaded" it a bit, she'd have better luck getting their attention. Never mind the creek and barbed wire fence she thought she could cross. ;)

Take your family to work day

Chris has the daunting task of moving a HUGE storage facility his child development programs use for all their "stuff". 20 years worth of "stuff" has been hanging out in The Bunker and now needs to be moved somewhere else. Emma, Camden, and I decided to bring Chris a picnic lunch and help out a bit. I got a workout chucking stuff into the dumpster while Camden and Emma were in heaven playing with all the toys.