First 5k: Complete

Pre-race. Apprehensive. Excited. Nervous.

I did it!  While my family and friends never questioned my ability to meet this goal, I had my doubts.

I thought I would probably be walking half of it, throwing myself across the finish line dead last, after the awards were handed out and three quarters of everyone had gone home.

But that's not what happened.

I'm not really sure that I can adequately put into words what this experience has been.  I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.  I feel like reaching the next goal is possible.  

I ran with 3,999 other women/girls today.  All with a goal.  All with a purpose.  All on their own, individual journey.

My Cheering Section

There are so many reasons why I run, but these three miracles are a huge part of it!

Finished!

I started out this race thinking if I can just finish in under an hour I would be happy.  I finished in 39:45.  One of the reasons I was worried is because I have done most of my training on the treadmill, which is a world of a different track than running outside.  I ran outside a handful of times the last two weeks before the race, attempting to adjust my body to outside running.  It didn't go very well for the most part.  It discouraged me more than anything except for maybe one or two days.  I ran around my neighborhood, which also has hills.  The course today was flat except for one hill.  I think that made the difference.

Next up?

The Color Run on May 31st!

I think I might be hooked.  I told Josh as we were getting in the car to come home that I think I just might be a runner for life.  

My post-run, Mother's Day roses - nothing ever smelled so sweet!

I feel like my running posts have hijacked my blog.  Hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled crafting program very soon!  I've been a little busy.  :)

babysitting Elias

Josh and I had the privilege of watching this little guy yesterday. He is such an easy baby and SO cute! Here are some of my favorite pics that we took of him.


The exposure is bad here, but he looks good holding a baby, don't ya think? =)



Being shy!





I love the ones where his overalls are eating him!







Praying before his bottle. =)

it's angie!

I sat down to read the newspaper tonight and who did I see? It's Angie!!

birthday

I am truly blessed to have such great, awesome, and fun co-workers! We went to Chuck E Cheese for my birthday lunch...and had a blast!



I don't think I have any "normal" pictures of these folks. But then, what would be the fun in that?






Then of course, it was time to get serious for game time.





Cliff was victorious!


Josh and I have recently gone on a pretty strict budget, and in so doing we've been forced to get a little creative with our free time. The Canady parents have given us a tent for our birthdays (yes, we have the same birthday, though I am three years older), and so we decided we would not let cold weather or a strict budget prevent us from trying it out!



Makin some s'mores:
The floor was a little hard, but it was fun! =)

thanksgiving in 'pah' part v: alumni game

Why is it that when you are young, you want nothing more than to be older, and it seems that you will never arrive to that point anytime soon? Then when you actually get older, you wonder where the years (and your physical conditioning) have gone so quickly? While home in PA, I had the opportunity to get together with a few girls I went to high school with and attempt a little b-ball action. Fortunately there were a few girls on my team who were conditioned enough to help us keep up with the high school team. We only lost by two points! These pics are not very good at all. The lighting inside the gym wasn't the best for picture taking, but hubby did pretty good with what he had to work with. Here I am before the game. As you can see I am still breathing properly...oh yeah, and the brace is a precaution. I had surgery on my knee a few years ago as a result of some intense Tae-Bo. (I would love to say it's a sports injury - sounds so much tougher, but, yeah. It happened b/c I was kicking the air over my head. Woo-hoo!)



Here I am right before attempting a 3-pointer that didn't go in. In fact, I didn't score the whole game!! Just a tad different from my high school days!



This one is right after there was a tie up with the ball. Apparently my dribbling skills are just as good as they were back in the day...(that's not a good thing)



Two of my awesome fellow graduates of 1998 and their kids. Tracy and Lily and Katie and James. A few years ago I started doing this thing where I shut my eyes anytime a picture is taken...thus the silly look on my face.



So I made a fool of myself running around on the basketball court, but I enjoyed so much getting to spend some time with some great friends that I haven't seen in years! Hopefully this is the start of staying in better touch as I am very bad at that.

a lifeway thanksgiving

Ok, so I didn't quite make it for posting before the end of the week like I said before. Now that I've got my pictures downloaded and edited on my computer, posting blogs won't be such a chore. I won't post them all at once as there are a few I want to show. There are several from Thanksgiving so bear with me as I know we are mere days away from Christmas now! Actually, it's my blog and you chose to read it, so deal with it. Heh heh.

In this picture are most of the people I work with in our Telesales department at LifeWay. I am very thankful for these people! When Josh and I moved here back in April, I had no idea what I was walking into. These are some of the most caring people I've ever met and they truly made me feel at home and like I belong there. God has blessed me beyond what I could have imagined in giving me a job here....and now Josh works here too! He works in a different department, but we are very blessed and thankful to God for how He is providing for us!

Our department is split into two teams, and before we had our meal, there was a contest held to see who could come up with the best version of some sort of Thanksgiving mascot. My team just happens to have a myriad of talent, I must say. When you put that many creative minds in one room, the results are well, rather amazing. My team held our own version of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Our mascot was...drumroll please...the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turkey. Here's a picture, but if you are just dying to see some live footage, click here. Yes, we really are that crazy...but we sure do have fun!
The other team played the song, "Baby Got Back" and changed the words to be relevant to our job...it was so funny! The picture will have to do it justice b/c I couldn't get the video to work for me.

crazy or what

So, in a couple weeks I'm playing in an alumni game with kids 10 years younger than I.....I must be cazy.

workin hard/hardly workin

You know you have an awesome boss when...........she gets you all fake mustaches and doesn't mind, nay, thinks it's funny that you wear them to the sales meeting.