BCS Half Marathon

I have now officially run a half marathon and am proud to say that I STILL have no desire to run a full marathon!

Michelle flew in from California (and it just so happens that it was the same weekend as Caitlin's birthday!) and my friend Carter flew in from Chicago to run the Bryan/College Station Half Marathon. Our friend Mandy ran it last year and wanted all of us to try to do this together. Unfortunately, Mandy was hurt and couldn't run it but she and Melissa made us signs and cheered for us on the sidelines which was great!

So, after a horrible sprained ankle for me, a move for both of us and not as much training time as either of us had hoped for I think we did very well! We finished the race in 3:02:59, that's including a 10 minute port-o-potty stop at mile 5 1/2(because there were none before this and the line at the start of the race was a mile long...) Michelle did her best at the begining of the race, I did my best in the middle and the last 2 miles killed us both! And we both feel like the last 0.1 mile stretch was way too long to be just a tenth of a mile! But we did it and we crossed at the same time! It was so great to have someone to run it with who dealt with how slow I run and could keep me going in the beginning and I could return the favor in the middle and who didn't get frustrated at the end! I love my sister very much and I'm so glad we did this together. And it was awesome that Carter came and met us at the 13 mile marker and ran to the end with us again! 

So on to training for next year where we will hopefully have a recovered Mandy who can run, Melissa is going to run, Michelle and I will be back to beat our time from this year and hopefully Carter will come back too! And maybe we'll grab a couple more friends to come to town for this race that supports a great charity!

Michelle, Carter and Me about an hour before the start of the race

The front of the shirts we had made...with Mark in the background (by the way, Mark woke up the morning of the race and decided to run it...and he did!)

The back of the shirts we had made...we thought it was genius!

Happy 4th Birthday Caitlin!!

Cait turned 4 today...where has the time gone? Here are a few pictures and I'll add more text later!

Fours years seems like a long time but it feels like it was yesterday that we brought a 5lb Caitlin home from the hospital...where, really, has the time gone? She has grown up so fast and is such a beautiful little girl, inside and out.

She has so many new favorite things like Dora the Explorer and Doc McStuffins. She loves to play pretend and sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what show she's pretending to be in because she likes to jump from one to the other in a split second! She is learning how to play with her little sister and will sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when she starts to cry to calm her down and make her smile again! She loves when family comes to visit and loves to go the the gym with Mommy and Daddy!

I can't wait to see what in store for this next year of her life. She has learned so much this last year! She speaks very well but is still learning how to talk on the phone! She knows how to write her letters but doesn't really like to right now. She get overly excited when she sees a school bus because she wants to ride on it when she "grows bigger!" She misses her friends from preschool and still asks about them often. When asked what something's name is she always says "Sarah" who was her best friend. Makes me kind of sad when I have to tell her that Sarah and Landon won't go to the same school as her because she gets sad. She has made a few friends here and loves when we get to meet with them!

I love her with all my heart and I'm so excited that we got picked to be her family! She makes me smile everyday and I love her fun-loving, sweet, innocent personality!

Happy Birthday Caitlin Amanda!

She got donuts for breakfast, the one with the sprinkles!

Aunt Michelle came to visit too!

Caitlin dancing, such a big girl!