26.2!

Today was marathon day!  I joined around 15,000 other runners this morning for a beautiful 26.2 mile run through Denver.  I'm so glad I did it, but I'm also so glad it's over!

Here are a few tidbits ruminating in my head as this long running journey finally comes to an end:

Miles logged from the time training started in June to race day:  502.46
Calories burned from June through race day:  59,115
Weight gained: 10 pounds (not kidding!)
Pairs of running shoes: 3

Most of my runs happened at o'dark thirty in an attempt to reduce the impact on my family.  As a result, I witnessed some of the most beautiful sunrises.  Here are a few favorites:

Favorite quotes during training:

"Mommy, you can run far" --from Jacoby
"Erin, I don't understand the point of running so far for no reason.  There are only two reasons to run: if a thug is chasing you or the police are chasing you!" --from one of my favorite people at work

Why do I run? A question I've asked myself countless times when I'm out by myself at o'dark thirty:

I run away from:  feeling overwhelmed and stuck; fear; impatience; mistakes of the day, week, month, year; sadness

I run toward:  grace; gratitude; wanting to be a better mom/wife; patience; renewal; calm and peace, strength; and a desire to instill in my boys that if they try their best, they can do hard things too

Favorite signs out on the race course today:

"It seemed like a good idea three months ago!"
"Motivational Sign" --held by a sullen teenager of course
"Not much farther to go!" --as we pass mile three

Some unexpected tunes on my phone that came to be mighty helpful for getting the miles logged and across the finish line:
Usher
Guns n Roses
Flo Rida
U2
Bon Jovi
Macklemore

I owe a huge thank you to my family for putting up with the countless hours of training and an often tired mommy.  Justin, whose patience knows no bounds, has graciously endured my emotional roller coaster over the past few weeks after the Boulder Marathon was canceled and lots of things were in flux for awhile.  And my boys, they are the reason that I run, and as I wearily climbed the front steps after my long Saturday runs, they would greet me cheerfully and want to know if I was finished with my run so that we could go to the park and library.

I am a Marathon Mom!

 

Snuggling with my little one on the bus ride to the car...Morgan was eying some rambunctious Broncos fans.  Very busy day in Denver!

 

 Jacoby taking care of my medal on the way home for me

Hooray for 26.2!

Ordinary Days

We are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fall days here in lovely Colorado.  Life is pleasantly uneventful...definitely busy, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Both boys are in the 100-Mile Club this year.  The school hosted a 3.5 mile run/walk a week ago or so, and we saw two bald eagles along the way.

 There is also snow on the Continental Divide now.

 

 Here they are towards the end of 3.5 miles...a tad bit tired but they made it the whole way!  Both boys are up to 15 miles already!

 Our fall porch...we grew four good-sized pumpkins in our garden this year.

 Some wildlife seen outside my window at work

 Lovely fall in Colorado

 Playing soccer with a new friend at the park

 We had parent teacher conferences this week.  Both boys are right where they need to be.  Jacoby's 2nd grade teacher comes back from maternity leave next week, so we're looking forward to getting to know her.  Jacoby went on his first play date all by himself last weekend with his two BFFs from school.  It was a very important day for him...and us two, since it meant a little more letting go with this food allergy business.

 And then there's this boy.  Morgan is trying to decide if he's left-handed or right-handed.  He's also needing a little bit of OT support (from us at home) for some fine motor skills.  He absolutely loves school and is pretty much friends with everyone.  We're so very blessed that both boys are healthy, growing, and loving school.

These are my third pair of running shoes.  Marathon in five days.  I sort of wish these were outfitted with jet packs at this point, but I'm for the most part looking forward to race day.

  This is how most of our days end...the little one in bed early (Kinder is such hard work you know!) and the rest of us relaxing with our books.  Justin is doing well--he's not necessarily less busy, but I think having both boys in full-day school now is helping a lot on the dissertation front.

Catching up...

Whew!  The back to school rush is over and we've settled into a good routine.  Here are some pics of the last few weeks:

 Been married to this guy for 13 years now...seriously, I feel like we were children when we got married every time I look at this picture! And, considering all of the curve balls life has thrown us, I guess we were in a lot of ways.

 For our anniversary we took a drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoyed the animals and fall colors.

 The elk were out bugling

 Morgan loves school but needs naps most weekends to catch up on rest. This is how I found him one Sunday afternoon.

 I've been finding treasures on Craigs List for Project Master Bedroom

 I made a mad dash to Anchorage, AK last week for work.

After appointments in Anchorage, I drove along the Seward Highway to Girdwood.  It was very rainy the entire time I was there, but still so, so pretty.

 I had the best hot chocolate at this little shack in Girdwood.  I think the locals were wondering about the new girl in town tromping around in her Danskos instead of rubber boots. #totallyoutofplace

 This is the beautiful Hotel Alyeska, which will hopefully be the location of our spring board meeting if I'm able to pitch it just right to the powers that be.

 The boys really, really, really want to go to Alaska some day. They sent me off with a list of animals that I had to see "in real life, Mommy".  But alas, none of the real live ones graced me with their presence, so I took pictures of the ones I did see around town.

 This is the largest halibut on record...he's 9 ft long or something like that.

 A moose at the airport

 We had a fall festival at school which kicked off the 100 Mile Club. Both boys have signed up this year.  We love that they love to run!

 Jacoby's long strides serve him well.

The boys are also in swim lessons. Jacoby got to try out his front crawl in the deep end of the pool and did awesome!

Camping at Echo Lake

We spent a very cold weekend camping at Echo Lake.  It's beautiful up at 10,600 feet, but definitely fall weather.  We actually saw snowflakes Friday night when we went to bed!  On a whim, I threw in hand and feet warmers from our ski stuff, and those worked like a charm in our sleeping bags!

We drove up to Mt. Evans...the views are spectacular and the boys loved watching the clouds rush by.

You can park and walk to the actual summit of Mt. Evans, but the wind was blowing so forcefully we weren't sure the boys could stay upright.

 So, they got out of the car to experience the wind and then came right back.  Justin had to hang on to them to keep them from blowing over!

 Jacoby said he couldn't breathe or keep his eyes open!

 We saw a herd of mountain goats.

 We came back down and had a picnic at Echo Lake.  Here are the great minnow catchers.

 It was very chilly and rained off and on all day.  The boys didn't seem to mind.

 We had fun exploring the forest around our campsite.

 And we hiked a bit into the Mt. Evans wilderness area.

Once the rain moved out, the wind started gusting and it got really chilly.

 Thank goodness for our shelter when it was raining!

Boys and their sticks!

This guy doesn't care about the weather...as long as we're camping, he's happy!

Back to School!

It's hard to believe the boys are back in school already!  Jacoby started Monday and Morgan Ethan finally got to go to school today.  They were really excited for school to start.  As I mentioned, we feel so very blessed and grateful for their teachers.  Both have been so warm and receptive to the boys' allergies, medications, etc.  It's going to be a great year!

And with that, here is a photo dump of all the pictures we've taken:

 Our big second grader!

 A photo shoot with a boy just wouldn't be the same without some nonsense and silliness thrown in.

 The brothers

 Mommy and the big son

 Here's one of Jacoby's BFFs...they're not in the same class this year, but they sit together at the peanut-free table and play at recess.  

 First day of school madness

 Morgan missed Jacoby a lot and was very glad to have him home on Monday and Tuesday.

 Daddy and Jacoby

 Our Kindergartner!

 Again with the nonsense...

 Jacoby has been filling Morgan in on all the ins and outs of Kinder

 I can't believe my little one is in school!  Sniff.

 Mommy and the young son

 All the Kinders in line

 And off they go!

Morgan came home and said his teacher, Miss T., is awesome. I think that's a good sign. (: