Happy Birthday Claire!!!

We celebrated Claire's birthday twice. These are from her actual birthday. The kids really enjoyed watching her dig in!!!!!


























We celebrated with the extended family the following weekend. A shot of the presents and cake.























Claire refused to stand on her own before this and has really gotten with it now that she has something to push!!!












Girly cake for a Girly Girl!!!

I ran the Roots N Blues N Bbq Festival half marathon this last weekend with my good friends Jane and Kari. I had a lot of pre-race jitters!!! All I could think about was if I had trained well enough. I had been training for twelve weeks, but still wondered if I really had 13.1 miles in me.






I hit my first wall at 6.5 miles and Jane
chanted "right, left, right, left. . . " along with me. At almost every mile marker we passed, Jane pointed out that that was the best time I had ever run that distance. I felt on top of the world until the massive hill in the eleventh mile. I ran up it; though not very fast!!! The thirteenth mile was my slowest ever, but I gave it all that I had!!!! I left everything out there and sprinted to the finish for a time of 2:16:15.








After some great bbq we posed for a picture next to the finish line. Every muscle in my body was exhausted but I was so pleased with myself and grateful for the opportunity to be able to culminate my road to health and weight loss with such great friends. Jane could have run this much faster, could have slept in every Saturday, could have focused on her own fitness goals, but instead, she chose to be my support and companion through the entire training process. For that I will always be grateful!!!! Kari has been such a cheerleader for me as I've lost weight and pursued running. Thanks so much to the both of YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!