April iPhone Pictures

April was a very busy month for our family-Kailey's baby shower, my trip to San Francisco, Kaelyn's birth, and much more.  Here are pictures from the rest of our month in April that all get wrapped up in this post :)

Jeff and Finley came to eat supper with us one night.

I ran the LSU Dental Dash 5K with my running buddies, Carrie and Angela. We had lots of fun and even got some new toothbrushes. Haha :)

Angela's daughter, Taylor, is in the pre-dental program at LSU so she was there to help with our registration and hand out goody bags at the end. 

Eli's first treat from the ice cream truck this year. 

Front porch sitting with this cute puppy. 

My new wooden planter my dad built full of my beautiful snapdragons.

My new door hanger that I made for spring. 

I can't even tell you how many of these I made for friends and family. 

2015 St. Jude Marathon/Half-Marathon Weekend

Most of you that read my blog know that I was not always a runner. In fact, this running gig is still very much new to me. I'll never be one to say that "running is my jam", but I do enjoy the challenge it gives me; I definitely enjoy the physical results; and I enjoy the friendships I've made because of running. Back in 2013, my neighbor Angela asked me to start running around the block with her doing a program called Couch 2 10K. That led to Josh challenging both of us to run a half-marathon and the rest is history. I've now run 3 half-marathons (5/3/16 Update: It should be four, but the flu sidelined me from the Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon in New Orleans this year.) My first half-marathon was supposed to be the 2013 St. Jude Half-Marathon in Memphis, TN. That race was going to be the culmination of my year long decision to start running and stick with it. If you remember that was the year of the bad ice storm, and after driving all the way to Memphis, we found out the race had been canceled. I ended up transferring my race registration over to the New Orleans half-marathon and ran my first half there. In 2014, I trained again for the Memphis half-marathon and that year I was able to complete it with Josh running right alongside me. 

When sign-ups for the 2015 Memphis Half-Marathon began in May of 2015, I didn't waste any time and signed up again to run. Josh and I have always signed up to be St. Jude Heroes as part of our running program and that basically means that on top of running the half-marathon, we each pledge to raise $500 for St. Jude Children's Hospital. It's not much, but I'm thankful for the little bit that we're able to contribute (through the generous donations of friends and family) and give back to St. Jude's Hospital. To my surprise this past year, a big group of my running friends decided to sign up for the half-marthon as well. Woo Hoo! (I'm thankful they signed up too because in the middle of training, Josh injured himself and spent several weeks where he couldn't train. I was grateful to have my girls with me) The five of us-me, Angela, Rosalie, Carie, and Brandi-trained together all year long. I'll be the first to say that having the support and commitment of a group of friends definitely helps your training. Those early morning runs ONLY happen because you know there's someone waiting in the middle of the street for you to get your booty out of bed and onto the pavement :) 

The Memphis Half-Marathon weekend finally arrived and we all caravanned to St. Jude for the race. Josh and I finished raising our $500 on the road (Thank you to all the last minute donors!) and we were both able to reach our fundraising commitment goal. It was rewarding to get the email below and know that we were able to help a family going through such a difficult experience. 

If you sign up to be a St. Jude Hero, your name gets put on a car they have at the Runner's Expo. I love seeing this car because it is crammed full with the names of all the people who not only are going to run the race, but raise money for St. Jude's Hospital as well. It's very heart warming to see. Once I found our names (thankfully, they're in ABC order) I snapped a picture of them. 

We picked up our running gear, went to carb load at a nearby restaurant, and then got ready for bed. It was going to be an early morning! 

I had all my gear laid out before going to bed. I was READY TO RUN!

Even though Josh wasn't able to run with me this year, I'm glad he came to support me. This was going to be my first half-marathon without him by my side, but I knew he'd be cheering me on the entire way.

We took a group picture before we headed to the starting line. We were all so nervous!

Rosalie, Brandi, me, Carie, Angela

So many people from all over the country come every year to run this race and it's always amazing to see the huge crowds of people. The organizers of the race usually have 13 corrals so they can do a staggered start (to prevent us from running over each other). Each corral is usually jam packed with people! The five of us stood on the sidelines and kept waiting for a corral with runners about our pace to pass by and then we jumped in.

Just a couple more pictures until race time!

The race was great this year, but I definitely missed my hubby running with me. All of us girls ended up getting separated, but it ended up being okay.  The running app I use was not displaying correctly (probably due to the sheer number of people also using their cell phones) so my time was not nearly what it should have been. It kept telling me I was running a certain pace but it was about a minute behind. Even still, I finished with a decent time and the main part is I finished :) We each got our finisher's medals and waited around at the finish line until every one of us finished. 

3rd half-marathon completed!

Way to go, Angela!

Good job, Brandi!

Carie, you rocked that run!

We're done and we all survived! Love this group of girls!

Another half-marathon in the books :)

The 2015 St. Jude half-marathon was over. We did it and we survived! I can't wait until next year!

5/3/16 Update:

I just signed up last night to run the 2016 St. Jude Half-Marathon again this year. Once again, I've pledged to raise $500 for St. Jude Children's Hospital. If you'd like to be a supporter of St. Jude, click HERE to donate. Your gift helps a family in need at St. Jude where no family ever has to worry about payment to receive treatment for their child. Thanks for you help! 

The Color Run-2014

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early so that I could meet a group of my friends to go run The Color Run. I had been wanting to do the Color Run for about a year, so I was so happy to finally be doing it! We were all coming from different directions, but we made plans to meet up so we could be together during the run and also so everyone could get their gear I had picked up for them. This was a picture I took Friday night before the run. All this color made me feel very happy about my upcoming run! 

We all made it to the meeting spot, put on our matching shirts, donned our Color Run headbands and sunglasses, and put our Color Run tattoos on each other. We were ready to go! We walked to the starting gate and took some pictures while we waited until it was our turn to start. 

This was the rainbow you ran through at the end of the race. 

While we were waiting, I found these nifty little photo tubes where you could stick your face in one end and a friend went to the other end to take the picture. The result ended up looking like you were in a kaleidoscope. Pretty cool effect :)

Me :)

My friend, Josh

We took a few "before" pictures so we could compare them to our "after" pictures at the end. We knew we were going to get very messy! 

The girls before the race.

Kaci, me, Angela, Diane, and Brandi

Me and Diane

Getting closer to the starting line! 

There were so many people participating in the Color Run that they had to do a wave start. They would let so many people go at one time and then they'd wait about 5 minutes or so and let another group go. Once it was our turn, we all took off! Now the Color Run is advertised as a "fun run", meaning you're not timed, and you don't get a medal. In fact, most of the people that do the Color Run walk or walk/run. They tell you it's a 5K, but it's only about 2.7 miles in all. Also, there are TONS of families that participate. I loved seeing all the kids running with the moms and dads. It really is such a fun event for the whole family. I'm actually thinking about taking Eli next year in fact Well, apparently only a few of us in my group knew it was a fun run. Haha! After the first color station, I lost most of my friends. Apparently, they thought there was a prize at the end or something and they took off at top speed...pretty much sprinting! Well, I don't sprint. I mean, I do, but not for a fun run :) I kept chugging along at my go-to speed, which is usually around a 10:00-10:30 min/per mile and stopped to take pictures at some of the Color Stations. Around the pink station, I ran into Angela again and we ran the rest of the way together. We met up with everyone who finished ahead of us at the finish and then waited for the rest of our group to cross the finish line. It was fun, but I didn't get nearly as much color as I had expected to at the color stations. At some of the color stations, you had to wait in line for someone to dump color on you. I didn't really feel like standing around and waiting for someone to dump something on me, so most of the time I just ran through the middle and as a result didn't get much color. That all changed though at the after party, which was, in my opinion, the most fun part of the entire race! 

This was us right after we crossed the finish. See? Not much color on me or Angela..yet!

Once you cross the finish line, volunteers hand you water, a BeKind granola bar (those things are SO GOOD!) and color packets. They have a huge concert for all the runners who have finished the race. About every 10 minutes, they have a huge color release party. They do this big countdown and then everyone at the same time opens their color packet and releases it into the air all over everyone. It's wild, it's crazy, and it's so much fun! Our group participated in two of these color releases and we all got covered! It was definitely the best part of the entire event to me. 

Look at how much fun this is!!

Now THIS is how you should look after participating at the Color Run!

The girls after The Color Run :)

Our entire running group. 

We had a blast together...even if over half of these crazy nuts 

ran like they were in contention for a gold medal :)

We all came home exhausted and very dirty. It took me about 45 minutes to scrub all the color off my body, but I finally looked normal again. Once I washed all my Color Run gear with the Shout Color Catchers they so strategically placed in our running gear packs, I let Eli borrow my headband. He might be running with me next time, so it's time he start training :) Here's hoping my 10:00 min. per mile pace won't be too slow for him :)

The Half-Marathon I Almost Ran

Back in January my friend/neighbor, Angela, asked me if I wanted to start running with her a few times a week to exercise. I quickly let her know that I was not a runner, but I would do my best to keep up. She assured me that at the end of the program Couch to 10K she was going to use,  I would love running. I definitely doubted her, but just a few days after that put my running shoes on and exercised for the first time ever. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I've always been small, but I've learned that small does not mean healthy! I was a small and very unhealthy person. We committed to running 3-4 times a week and followed the program outlined on the app. I started to look forward to my runs with Angela, probably more so for the company, but the benefits of exercising were not lost on me. Inches and pounds had already started to fall off me and I just felt better. I had always had a fast heart rate, but after just a few months of running, my heart rate dropped from about 85 bpm to about 65 bpm. I was amazed!

Around March/April, Josh mentioned that Angela and I should set a goal to run the St. Jude half-marathon in December. We both thought he was completely crazy, but we did exactly as he said and started training. By May, we had worked ourselves up to being able to run 3-4 miles comfortably without stopping. I was thrilled! I knew that summer was going to be ridiculously hot and we wouldn't want to do any long distance runs in the heat, so we decided to just keep up our 3-4 miles until fall arrived. In June, we made our goal official and registered for the St. Jude half-marathon in December. Now we were fully committed to our goal! 

When fall arrived, we knew it was time to step up our training. We found a half-marathon training schedule from running guru, Hal Higdon, and started training. Throughout the week, we'd run 3-4 miles about three times a week and then every weekend we did a long distance run. I went from not being able to run at all to being able to run 5, 6, 7, and 8 miles! I couldn't believe it (and neither could Josh!). He was equally surprised and proud of me. He knew better than anyone how I had never exercised so he couldn't believe the transformation that was taking place. Josh had also signed up for the half-marathon so he was training for the 13.1 mile run as well. One Sunday afternoon, Josh and I ran together on a road that is known for its hills. (The course we were going to run in Memphis was kind of hilly, so this was a good training route for us.) The goal for me was to run 9 miles, but I ended up running 10 miles that day. This was me at the end of my run. I couldn't believe that I was still alive and in one piece! 

After this 10 mile run, I felt great. I was still very nervous about having to run 3.1 more miles, but everyone assured me that if I could run 10, I could run 13.1. We were going to find out. Around this point, we still had 3 weeks before our run the first weekend in December. Angela, Josh, and I ran 10 miles 2 more times after this and then we all called it quits until race day. Poor Angela hurt her knee and foot pretty badly and was having to run through pain every single time. She wasn't giving up though and even bursitis, patella tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis weren't going to keep her from running her half-marathon. 

The Thursday before our race we heard on the news about a major ice storm making it way through Mississippi and Tennessee. We knew it was going to be EXTREMELY COLD but we had trained too long and too hard to let a little thing like being cold stop us. We packed up our gear and made sure we had extra clothes to keep us warm and headed to Memphis. When we got about 15 miles outside of Memphis we noticed that ALL of the trees were covered in ice. Not a good sign, but we were told that no decisions would be made until 5 AM race day. We kept our hopes up and headed to the race expo to get our race bibs, bags, and do our final registration. Everyone there was hopeful that the race was going to continue despite the ice and cold. I was a mix of emotions-excited about running, nervous about not doing well, worried about being too cold, and much more. We got our bibs and packets and headed back to the hotel. We had several friends from college running this same race, so we all made plans to carb load at a local pizzeria that night.

All the trees were covered in ice!

I bought my 13.1 sticker so I could put it on my car as soon as I finished my race :)

While I was getting ready for dinner with our friends, Angela called me and said that she and Doug, her husband, had just seen an announcement on the news saying that the St. Jude race had been canceled. I didn't believe it at first and kept telling her that it had to be false because the race officials had said that no decision would be made until 5:00 am the next morning. I really, really didn't want it to be canceled! Josh pulled up St. Jude's homepage on his phone and sure enough it really was canceled! You don't have any idea how bummed we were. To work towards this goal ALL YEAR long and to not be able to see it to fruition was so disappointing…and let's just be honest, I really was looking forward to taking a break from all my training. 

We didn't know what to do for a few minutes, but then decided to just go ahead and meet our friends anyway. Our weekend certainly didn't go like we planned, but we decided to make the best of it and have a fun weekend getaway. First up was eating pizza like we planned! Yummy! Later that night, we went down to Beale Street in Memphis and found a really cool street musician that was playing and listened to him for about an hour. We ended our night at B.B. Kings listening to more incredible music. Our unplanned Memphis mini-vacation was getting off to a great start! 

They say every cloud has a silver lining and here's ours…through this fundraiser campaign St. Jude was able to raise over 8 million dollars for cancer research! That makes me so happy and proud of all the people who worked hard to support St. Jude and their mission that no family should EVER have to pay for their child to receive treatment. I'm bummed that I didn't get to race, but I'm happy that the little bit of money that we raised and gave to St. Jude is going to help a family in need. Another plus, St. Jude race officials gave every single registrant the option to transfer their registration fee to another St. Jude race later this year. So, that means that my goal to run a half-marathon will be completed in February rather than December like I originally planned. Angela, Josh, and I have already signed up for the Rock-n-Roll marathon in New Orleans. I can't wait to finally be able to put my 13.1 sticker on my car! Fingers crossed that I get to run this one :)