Texas Memories

As I mentioned in my last post Mark and I spent the week (including Thanksgiving) in the big ol state of Texas!

Here are some pictures of some of my favorite memories from our trip...

My cousin Tim and my Aunt Beth practicing their mother/son dance on the deck of the house we stayed at. I had the opportunity to sing the song for this dance for them while my other cousins played the guitar. Practicing the song while they practiced their dance is a precious memory that I'll cherish forever.

Tim and his bride Leah were married at a beautiful historic villa in the "Hill Country" of Texas near Austin. This picture shows nothing of the beauty of the place, but unfortunately its the only picture Mark and I got that day.

We stayed in Austin the day after the wedding... our favorite stop? Dickies BBQ... which originated in Texas.

We got to take a tour of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium 2 days before the game. The tour ended on the field where they encouraged you to play on it as much as you want. Mark was in his element. What Cowboy fan wouldn't want to catch footballs in their end zone?

Of course... what Redskin fan wouldn't want the
chance to rub some bad "juju" all over that
same end zone??? :)

One thing we can agree on... we both enjoy watching the NFL. He's a lucky man, yeah???

The Dallas Steak House that was a must on our "to-do" list. We ate there after the stadium tour.
 We are red meat lovers thats for sure!

Our other Dallas food "to-do"... try the local fast food. Okay, that wasn't really on our to do but we were sort of in a rush to eat before we took the above tour so Whataburger made it on to our food destination list. But we don't have Whataburger in Virginia so we counted it as a win. :)

Fuzzy Photo :( BUT! I was so excited to go inside of an American Girl Doll store! I loved American Girls growing up and they still have a special place in my heart.
I had never been inside the store so this was my little girls dream come true!

On Wednesday we spent a little more time with our family. My cousin Kelleigh and her husband and sweet baby Brileigh! They are leaving the country, today actually, to continue their missionary journey. They won't be back for 18 months so we were happy to spend a little more time with them! They took us to some favorite local places in their little town of Tyler, Texas.
Stanley's BBQ! So good people were lined up outside of the door to get some on their lunch break!

We visited the Tyler Zoo! (I love Zoo's!) Brileigh Ray wasn't quite as impressed as I was, and she especially didn't like the funky smells, but she DID cheer up when she saw the elephants behind us. We bonded over our love of elephants. :)

Our last local spot of the day... Orange Leaf! The Texas version of Skinny Dip. LOVED IT!

And of course.... GAME DAY!
We enjoyed a great game. People around us were very good natured and we enjoyed some fun football rivalry joking between all the Redskins and Cowboy fans around us. The Redskins won (woohoo!) much to Mark's disappointment, but it was definitely worth the memories that we made.

While our Texas trip may not have been the most financially frugal/wise decision we've made since being married, we feel it was 100% worth it. We made some excellent, lifelong memories of our first Thanksgiving together.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mark and I are breaking all Thanksgiving Tradition this year by spending our first major holiday as husband and wife at the Redskins vs. Cowboys football game in Dallas, Texas.

We are grateful we had the opportunity to stay in Texas after my cousin Tim's wedding in order to see this game. I'm a Redskins fan and Mark is a huge Cowboys fan! Seeing a game in this stadium is one if his dreams!

We know we are blessed whether we had this opportunity or not but we are very Thankful to have the privilege of seeing dreams realized.

We don't plan on making a habit out of missing out on our families or the delicious food they'll be consuming today but we are pretty excited to be doing something that is just "us" for Thanksgiving!

We hope you are celebrating Thanksgiving with ones you love and are praising God for His blessings because as Americans we can all find plenty to be Thankful for, even if its just being Grateful for who our God is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well Balanced Wednesdays

Today Erin and I discussed our character of the week, Miriam, in our Wednesday bible study.

Miriam would prove to be one of the great women among the people of God, but she had to learn to trust and follow God according to His ways and not hers.

Miriam is well remembered for her role in watching her baby brother Moses as he drifted in the reeds until Pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the water. We know how she bravely offered to find a nurse maid for baby Moses without regards to what consequences she might face for speaking up. But later on, after the Isrealites left Egypt, she had a moment of rebellion against Moses that led to public shame and punishment.

Miriam is referred to as a prophetess and a leader of the people of Isreal during their time in the desert, Micah 6:4 says she was sent by God to be a leader in the same sense as Moses and Aaron were sent, but at the same time not the same as Moses. Miriam's fall is found in Number 11 and 12 when she begins to be concerned with Moses marrying a foreigner and also when he chooses elders to help him lead. Up until that time the leadership had been primarily Moses, Aaron and Miriam and once Moses chose the elders it became a fundamental shift in the leadership of Isreal, Miriam (and Aaron) were basically by passed in favor of these elders and it didn't set well with her. She became haughty in spirit and she exclaimed that God had spoken to her the same way he had spoken to Moses and so she and Aaron spoke out against him.

I love how God immediately addresses the situation by calling the three siblings into the tent. As a father would say to his three children who were in a squabble "get in here you three!". He reminded Miriam and Aaron that even though they were prophets and He spoke to them in visions/dreams... He spoke face to face with Moses and Moses was the leader. Because of Miriam's rebellion God struck her with leprosy, and despite Moses prayer for healing, God still let her suffer for 7 days outside of the camp until she repented and could then be restored to fellowship.

The amazing thing about this is that no one remembers that Miriam. Despite her rebellion and her public humiliation of being put out of the camp, everyone remembers the brave young girl who helped save her baby brother from the Nile. Where am I going with this??? I'm just saying that Miriam is remembered more for her honor then her shame. Even in her human frailty, where jealousy and power got the best of her, she is still a God-given example of how to follow God. If some one as Godly as Miriam (she was a prophetess after all) can be caught up in power and criticism of her leaders so can we. If we don't watch closely over our own hearts, we can easily fall into the same traps. Often our criticism of other people (even if they are correct) are motivated by an incorrect attitude of the heart. But if Miriam can come to repentance, healing and restoration of fellowship, then so can we.

Miriam also gives plenty of life lessons in learning to submit to authority, but I've written plenty. :)

We did a light Pilates today - for my sake - that just focuses on back and lower extremity flexibility. My post marathon body appreciated the stretching thats for sure! I'm hoping to start a little bit more vigorous exercise plan for Wednesdays the week after Thanksgiving to help battle some of those extra holiday pounds I'm sure I'll add.

Post - Marathon: My 26.2 Mile Journey

26.2

My Marathon Journey

Two days ago I accomplished something that I would've called you crazy for even suggesting 5 years ago. I finished a full blown 26.2 mile marathon. 

This whole process started in college in 2009 when I was surrounded by insanely fit people who loved to run. I had always loved and played sports, especially soccer which required large amounts of running, but I had never really run just to run. My mom was runner though, in fact she ran a marathon in 1998. She had always inspired me and deep down inside I had always wanted to run a marathon - I just didn't think I would ever actually do it. That is until that one day in class when someone told me they were signing up for the Rock n Roll half marathon that summer. Suddenly it hit me that I was actually capable of running one if I really tried... so I did. I finished my first momentous race, 13.1 miles, in September of 2009. That race ignited a fire in me, a love not only for running but for the excitement of race day and the thrill of accomplishment. Still, I was pretty sure running a full marathon was a long way off, if I ever did one. Since then I've finished 4 half marathons and several small races, which compared to many runners is not that significant, but to me it felt pretty good. I was beginning to feel like a pretty accomplished runner, until my best friend Robyn began dreaming about doing a full marathon. Before I knew it Robyn, another friend and mentor Sydney, and myself were signed up for the OBX Marathon on Veterans Day weekend.

This past summer I spent many early mornings with Robyn and Sydney training for this race. We spent hours out on the streets and trails before and after the sun came up running (and sometimes walking) our little hearts out in preparation for our big day. As we spent the night before our race with family and friends (Robyn's parents, the Websters, graciously offered us their beach house which happened to be right along the race course and made us a delicious pasta dinner the night before!) laying out our clothes and making our playlists, I could barely contain my excitement. I had no idea how the next day would unfold, it was almost as if I had never run a race before.

As we stood in the starting coral the next morning I realized that this was a much smaller race than I expected in terms of how many people were running it and I began to worry that I would be coming in dead last. We patiently listened to the National Anthem and then before we knew it we were off. The first 6 miles flew by. Even though I was running a slow pace I'd never felt 6 miles go by as fast as those ones did. Maybe it was the fun of it all. People were cheering from in front of their homes and the other race participants were very friendly and encouraging. Robyn and I sang out loud to our ipods and probably entertained quite a few people that first leg of the race. We easily made it to mile 7 where her parents house was. Mark and her parents were outside waiting for us, they took pictures as we ran past and handed us our water bottles for the rest of the race. 

Shortly after we followed the course into the woods and it wasn't until after the race that we realized just how hard that portion ended up being. The course took us up and down several little hills and through winding paths of dirt, mulch and sand. This was a surprise to us because we had been told the course was mostly flat. By the time we made it back out on the street we had reached the half way point. 13.1 miles. We were still feeling pretty good, and didn't realize the beating that our bodies had just taken in those woods. Mark and the Websters were there to cheer us on again as we passed the half way point. The course then took us out on the main road where Sydney's family, my family and more friends were lined up to cheer us on. I felt so blessed to have so many people supporting us in our journey.

At mile 18 Robyn and I decided to walk. Many people around us had begun to fall into their walk/run strategies, just trying to conquer this race in chunks. We did the same until mile 19 when we decided to just walk for a whole mile until we got to mile 20 and then see how we felt. As we approached the 20 mile marker my family was there again cheering us on. As I saw my mom up ahead and then looked down at my watch I started to tear up have a mini melt down. My mom had finished her marathon in under 5 hours and she had always challenged me to do the same. As I got closer to her I knew that dream wasn't going to become a reality. It had already been  over 4 hours and I still had 6 more miles to go. (Which meant at least another hour.) I was feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by the emotions of it all. My mom hugged me close (in all my sweat and smelliness) and assured me that this process was about finishing, not about time. And that I just needed to focus on finishing strong

 

I pulled myself together and continued on, slightly embarrassed that I had fallen apart so easily in front of so many people, and walked with Robyn until mile 21. Robyn told me at that point that she was going to have to finish the race walking and she urged me go on. I struggled with leaving her. I had always imagined us crossing the finish line together and I had assured her I wouldn't leave her if she needed to walk, but she selflessly encouraged me to finish out the race with whatever energy I had left. 

So I did. I ran the last 5 miles. I ran my heart out. I even ran up the monstrous bridge that I thought would be the death of me. After I passed mile 25 I could feel my lungs starting to burn, I felt like I was gasping for air. My feet felt raw in my shoes and they screamed at me with every step. As fast so those first 6 miles went by, I couldn't believe how long this last mile seemed to be taking. As I rounded the corner towards the home stretch, my mom was there once again. My ever present cheerleader. She jumped onto the course with me when she saw me running (last time she saw me I had been walking) and ran along side me. I told her I couldn't breathe and she told me I was almost there. 

She ran with me until we got to the 26 mile marker, as we turned another corner I could see the finish line - friends, family and my husband lining the way. My mom stepped off of the course and told me it was all mine. She told me to own those last .2 miles and so I did. I felt energized as the announcer called my name and waved and smiled as I crossed the finish line. Instantly - despite the grueling 5 hours and 53 minutes that I had spent on the course - I knew I wanted to do another one. The thrill of accomplishment and pushing my body to do what feels impossible is like a drug to me. I love the feeling. 

I was able to see Robyn cross the finish line shortly after. And about 55 minutes later went back to run the last half mile with Sydney to get her to the finish line. Bowing out of course at the last .2 miles to let her own her finish line like my mom did for me. 

We celebrated together after the finish. Reveling in our achievement and thanking those around us for their love and encouragement along the way. It is impossible to describe how perfect it was to have those we loved there to cheer us on and support us in our crazy venture. 

Words can't describe how perfect it was that my mom was there for me for my first full marathon. She was there in all of the perfect places, when I needed her the most, to push me forward. I will never forget her presence, her words to me on this day, and this whole experience as long as I live. 

There were so many days this past summer during our training when we felt like we would never be able to finish a marathon. But now, there will be a life time of knowing that we have.

I am now in post marathon recovery mode. Bandaids cover my blistered feet, I have a toe nail or 2 that are hanging on by a thread, my muscles are sore to the touch and I'm walking with a slight waddle...

...but I'm already planning my next race. I'm thinking a triathlon maybe??? : )

(Having a sister who is an aspiring photographer comes in handy when wanting to capture major life events... Thanks Mallory for the awesome pictures!)

Pre - Marathon

This is my goal.

I have been training for the last 6 months and tomorrow its time to put it all out there.

7:20 am tomorrow morning I will be standing anxiously in a crowd, hundreds of people surrounding me, and most likely squeezing the hand of the two beautiful women who have decided to take this journey with me as we wait nervously for the gun to go off.

Today I am putting into practice my pre-race routine that I have been strategically planning. Making sure I am eating the right types of food, drinking the appropriate amounts of water, and keeping my muscles warm and limber. I have done 1/2 marathons before but a full is completely different ball game and I am trying to stay calm and focused. 

My awesome husband is helping me stay pumped up and focused by blasting my race playlist through the house as we pack for our trip down to the Outer Banks. He has been incredibly supportive of me during this training, even though I've missed several opportunities for sleeping in with him during our first summer together because I got up early for a long run, or waited an extra hour for dinner so I could squeeze in a run after work before it got too dark. I couldn't have done it without him.

*Deep Breath*

26.2 miles. Here I come. 

Well Balanced Wednesday

I totally bailed on my sister last Wednesday when we were supposed to do our bible study and work out because I was desperate to get one last long run in before my race this weekend. But we got back on track today!

We continued our study on the Women of the Bible with Sarah. Even though she had mistakes and failures along her journey, she demonstrated enviable faith. She followed her husband out of her home country...knowing only that God had spoken to her husband and not even having a bible to refer to. After her initial disbelief, she did come to believe God that she would conceive and acted on that faith. I liked how this study pointed out that the conception of Isaac was not an immaculate conception... Abraham and Sarah, in their old age, had to act to conceive a child. I guess now that I'm married I have a better understanding of how that might have gone down ; ) and can only wonder if part of the reason for naming their son with a name meaning "laughter" was because of the laughter that might have ensued as two elderly lovers worked to conceive a child.

On a more serious note... Sarah made it into the New Testament hall of fame as a leader of the faith along side her husband in Hebrews 11. Even though she lied on two different accounts about her husband, took things into her own hands by encouraging Abraham to produce an heir through her servant, treated her servant harshly when her own idea became a reality and then laughed at God when His messengers told her she would conceive a child. All of this and yet God still considered her to be faithful. It is good to know that God doesn't discount us when we mess up, and He continues to be faithful to us as we learn to trust and follow Him.

We did some Pilates Hip and Thigh toning today for our work out. We might have accidentally picked too much of an advanced video so we pretty much spent the whole time laughing at ourselves as we failed miserably to do it right. Oh well. Maybe I should just count today as another ab work out from all of the laughing???

Voted.

Voted.

Today was my second presidential election and my sister Mallory's first presidential election. My parents have always made us very aware of our government and the effects it has on us and future generations. We have learned to appreciate the weight of having the privilege to vote. 

I am thankful that no matter the outcome of this election, my God is sovereign. That even though nations may fall and leaders will come and go, His kingdom will never end. He is established on his throne and He can never be over thrown. 

I am proud to be an American citizen. I am thankful for the opportunity and the privilege I have to exercise my right to vote.

 But I am humbled and filled with joy that God has made me a citizen of heaven.

Something that was done for me once and for all. A citizenship in a kingdom that will never change and not something I have to worry about every 4 years.