Race for Literacy Half Marathon

I decided that I wanted to try to run another half marathon before my full marathon in March.  Running has all of a sudden become so easy for me (not sure if it's the cooler weather or the paleo eating habits that I have adapted to).  The very first half marathon that I did was last April.  It was the Dismal Swamp Stomp in Chesapeake and I finished in 2hours 25 minutes and spent the afternoon throwing up.  The second half marathon I ran was this past August in Virginia Beach.  I finished in 2 hours and 21 minutes and still felt awful after I was finished running.  Third third half marathon that I ran was in Suffolk and it was called The Race for Literacy.  I am pleased and very excited to announce that I finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes!!!  I could not believe how much faster I had gotten.  The best part was that after I finished running I could talk normally and I was not really exhausted at all.  I also expected to be sore a day or two after the race, however I never got sore!  I was back at Body Pump the following Monday and back to running/training for the marathon on Tuesday.  It was a huge boost for me and makes me even more excited to tackle a full marathon!

Speaking of the Shamrock Marathon....it is only 3 months away!!  I have been training for a month now.  This past Sunday I ran my furthest distance (14 miles)  Next Sunday is 16 miles and then the following Sunday is 18 miles.  It seems almost impossible, but I am so determined!

Thank you so much for all the encouragement that many of you have given me.....it helps more than you know!

Thanksgiving

I am way behind on the blogs!!  I hate blogging with no pictures, however, I am always that person who has the camera at every event....I just never remember to take pictures!

Anyway, Jonathan and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!  The night before Thanksgiving was spent with me cooking and getting the house cleaned for my family to come over for brunch on Thanksgiving morning.  Jonathan spent the night before Thanksgiving putting together the turkey fryer.  He was in charge of the turkey this year for his family's get together!

On Thanksgiving morning, I woke up at 5 am to do my morning run.  I had a race the following saturday, so I just did an easy 5 miles.  After I got home and showered, I began setting out and cooking all the food for the brunch.  The menu included chocolate covered strawberries, muffins, pancakes, bacon egg and cheese casserole, cinnamon rolls, and pilgrim hat cookies!  The food was delicious (special thanks to Laura for making the pancakes....I have no mastered that skill yet!!)  My parents, sister, aunt, uncle, and 3 cousins came over as well to celebrate with us.  It was a great time!!

After the brunch, I had to clean up real quick (again, thanks Laura!) and make some homemade macaroni and cheese for Jonathan's family lunch.  So, after stuffing my face that morning with breakfast, it was off to eat some more lunch!  We ate with Jonathan's family around 1:00.  Jonathan's turkey was AMAZING!!  I must admit I was a little nervous about him frying a turkey after we watched all of the you tube videos of turkey fryer fires!  He did a great job with it though, and he will be frying another turkey and a chicken for Christmas dinner!  The food at the Wetherington's was great and the fellowship was great as well!

Jonathan and I came home after a couple hours and took a short nap.  That night we went to the movies and saw Four Christmases (I highly recommend it by the way!)  Holidays are always so exhausting and they always seem to end so quick.  

We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving........and a somewhat relaxing Black Friday!