My first marathon

Well, I can mark one of my goals off of my list. This past weekend I competed in my first marathon out in Florida at, you guessed it, Walt Disney World. I finished with a time of 4 hours, 34 minutes. I placed 4,665 out of 14,940 runners and I ran the whole time, only stopping once to pee. Not too shabby, huh! I maintained about a 10 minute mile the whole time, the first 3-4 were slower because I was at the back of the pack, trying to fight my way through the crowd. I went out with a horribly strained left quadricep, it hurt so bad the Tues. before I could hardly walk. Ibuprofen has become my new best friend! So I took things easy until the big day. I felt pretty good, a twinge of pain every now and then, nothing I couldn't run through. When my leg killed the most was the first step I took after stopping. Yikes!! Kenny was able to see me at 3 of the mile markers, #4, #13 and #23 and the finish line. There was no way he could have spotted me at the start because for one it was only 5:50 am, dark and there were 14,000 other runners. I was so happy to see a familiar face in the crowd when I did, it really kept me going. Not to mention the Clif shot blocks I was eating for energy. 50mg of caffeine per block! When I crossed the finish line they even said my name. The announcer said, "Susan Gear, from Spanish City". I assumed he meant me. I got a really nice Mickey medal for finishing and Kenny and I spent two days at the parks. It was really weird not being there with the kiddies, but we still had fun. I am kind of hooked on this marathon thing. I am already planning and training for next year when I plan to run the Goofy race. It consists of running a half marathon the first day and then the full marathon the next day. You get three medals for finishing all of them. Anyone want to join me?


The start of the race.


Mile #4

Mile #13, halfway there.

Mile #23


I did it!

The sign behind says, "See you in 2010". I plan on it!

My favorite place on Earth with my favorite person.

Ice cream and the Haunted Mansion

Riding Big Thunder Mountain

Music of choice

Help! I need your suggestions of choice music to run/workout to. Something fun, upbeat, clean! Send me your suggestions before Friday, Jan. 9th.
Thanks!

Livvy, it's your birthday! Happy Birthday Livvy!

Three years old and knows so much! This little girl is already a sassy teenager in a pint size package. I couldn't imagine a day without her, if I try it hurts. She is such a sparkly, funny, intelligent little girl.
Happy Birthday Livvy Lou, I love you!

Didn't know I'd go this far, did you?

AUSTRALIA

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this movie! It might be three hours long, but it is so worth it! Best movie of the year! The little boy in this movie does an amazing job. I recommend everyone see it! 5 stars out of 4. (Seeing Hugh Jackman shirtless gives it that extra star!)

The Polar Express

On Tues last week Livvy, Micah and I accompanied my sister Wendy and her kids, Cody and Kaylee to ride the Polar Express! There is a family compound in Lindon called Stringtown that provides the Polar Express ride to the public for FREE! It was really fun. We started off by waiting in the train terminal watching the movie The Polar Express. When our names were called we boarded the train and took off for the North Pole. After a short ride we arrived at Santa's Workshop and were able to meet the jolly man himself. The kids each took a turn telling Santa what they wanted, for Livvy it was "candy and underwear"! You can see Micah thoroughly enjoyed the experience! Santa gave each of the kids a jingle bell (the first gift of Christmas from the movie), a candy cane, a picture of the Nativity and the story of the candy cane. I was really impressed with this. This family who puts on the Polar Express was not ashamed to share the true meaning of Christmas. In this day and age when the "commercialism" of Christmas is taking over and the story of our Savior is being pushed aside, it was nice to see and hear the story shared to all, even if someone was at risk of being offended. Kudos to Stringtown! We continued our journey on the Polar Express while listening to the song "Mary Did you Know?" and passing the beautiful pictures depicting the Savior's life, painted by Simon Dewey, very touching. It was a really fun morning, even though we had trouble at first finding the spot.

Family Night

I went running tonight and when I got back Kenny had prepared a family fun night activity for us. First, we made muddy buddies. You can see Micah loved the peanut butter & chocolate covered spoon and Livvy looks very excited to shake the bag. We left the dishes (secretly hoping the dish fairy would clean them) and headed downstairs to watch Horton Hears a Who. I definitely ate more than my fair share of the goodies, but it was really fun and relaxing to watch a movie with my family.