Livin' on Marathon Time

Isn't that tree just so stinkin' cool?!?! After I finished the half marathon this year I had plenty of time (around two hours) to myself while I waited for Riley to finish with his relay team. I wandered (well, maybe more like waddled) over to the bombing memorial and just stared in awe. The people. The survivor tree. The beautiful blue sky. Here I go getting ahead of myself.....reeeeeeeeeeewinding now......

Our trip to OKC for the Memorial Marathon started late last Friday afternoon. We managed to convince our favorite guy to take off early which put us in OKC right around dinner time. Naturally we ate at Chili's (Riley's one and only choice) and then had a short drive down the road to our hotel. Less than ten minutes after checking in we realized that we were in the center of a nasty hail storm. Being on the top floor meant that we could hear ALL of the hard pounding as the hail assaulted the roof. With each "bang" I cringed as I imagined what it was doing to my car. Eeeek. Not pretty, friends. Not pretty. Something else that wasn't pretty? Hal's sudden and very painful rash that popped up after her shower.....

After a little cold washcloth therapy and some hugs and kisses she was all better and ready for some snuggle time with mommy and daddy in bed....

She helped me unfold the crib she would be sleeping in that night and thought it was funny to be in a baby bed again. A lot of goo goo's and ga ga's coming from her crib and even a "mommy, change my diaper." Um, no. Diapers were so last year! ;) We all slept very well considering our past experiences in hotel rooms with the three of us together.Come Saturday morning there were lots of squeals and jumps and pleas to hurry up and go to the trampoline park. I was almost as excited as Hal was. We had one stop to make on the way to Edmond. Daddy needed some new running shoes so we stopped at Dick's to pick out a spiffy pair. Hal helped. And by helped I mean she ran away from me and I lost her for three terrifying minutes. I found her at the checkout talking to the worker behind the counter. She was holding a football. Lovely.

"Dad, I hope you've got this handled because I have places to go."

Our trip to the trampoline park was almost nixed after witnessing a few too many meltdowns during the fifteen minutes that we were shopping for shoes. Buuuuuuuuut....she had a pretty quick turnaround after a good warning. I'd been planning to take her to Elevation for several weeks now and knew that she would LOVE LOVE LOVE it. And she did. Oh yeah. LOVED it. 

Jumping right into the mix

Getting her faceplant on while trying to be like the big kids

Riley and I bought passes too but didn't end up jumping. We stood back and enjoyed every second of watching her jump, jump, jump around. After she got her feet wet at the kid's trampoline we sprinted over to the giant foam pit for some fun....

"Are you sure I won't disappear in there?"

She had no hesitations once it was our turn to go....

This picture looks like she's screaming but she was actually squealing....

After a couple of jumps we spent the rest of our time at the kid's jumping area where Hal hung around with the bigger kids atop one of the walls....

Elevation Trampoline Park gets an A+ from this momma. Hal was so bummed to leave. Just for a reference, bummed equals crying for fifteen minutes in the car in a puddle of tears and snot with uncontrollable sobs in between coughing spells from all of the crying. I guess she'd give it an A+ as well. ;) By the time we made it to our next stop we were good to go before walking in to meet my hilarious/dear/long-lost/sweet friend Laura. We had a bit of an active lunch, I guess you could say. Lots of musical chairs and sharing of food. I knew it wouldn't be a lunch with Laura without her teaching Hal a few silly tricks. Hal's favorite was a funny goat-like noise that she made over and over and over.....

In the middle of her goat-ing

Laura was a gem and picked up my race packet for me while she was at the race expo the day prior. We didn't think we'd be going to the expo but ended up needing to pick up Riley's relay race packet so that is where we headed after lunch. We attempted to get a picture under the balloon arch that Hal quickly became obsessed with but it turned out that posing under the balloons was far from what she had in mind.....

Riley spoiled himself some more while I chased Hal around to make sure she wasn't mowing anyone down with her stroller that she insisted on pushing. A quick nap was necessary at that point so she snoozed in the car on the way to our next stop. Build a Bear was waiting for us. Oh yes. The magical first Build a Bear experience was EVERYTHING I dreamed it would be....AND MORE. I really think they give the employees there a major dose of happy pills when they clock in for work. Happy, happy, happy was the theme. So much happy that I found my face sore when we left from giggling and smiling so much. Hallie seemed to be in awe of her surroundings at first but jumped right in after I told her that she could pick out any animal she wanted.....

She very quickly selected a pink bear body. Big shocker! ;) She handed it to the sweet girl working at the "stuffing station" and listened carefully to every instruction she was given. She hopped, closed her eyes and made a wish, spun in circles and gave her bear's heart a kiss before placing it inside.....

Being a good listener....how do I get this to translate to home??!?!

She watched with wonder as her bear came to life and headed over to the bath area once "Kitty" was all sewn up. Can we say "adorable"??? She scrubbed and scrubbed that bear and then blew its fur dry....

Next came the majorly fun part: DRESSUP!!!!

It took my pink princess lovin' girly girl approximately half a millisecond to pick out a shiny pink tutu princess outfit for Kitty. The girl knows what she likes!

How do I explain how much joy I got out of something so simple? I feel really silly saying how much fun I had watching her make a silly little bear. It was the wonder in her sparkly little eyes....or perhaps the curious expression on her face....or the way she knew that she was in a place full of nothin' but girly fun!

They boxed up her new bear and sent her on her way. She was one proud momma of her Kitty. As parents we felt like total rockstars....oh yeah, we totally knocked it out of the park that day. Jumping in a huge foam pit? Check. Building a bear? Check. Ohhhhhh but wait. Not so fast my friends. Silly us, we hadn't scheduled in ten escalator rides so it turned out that rockstars we were NOT. After letting her go up and down the "escowater" only two times we carried her out crying her eyes out. Kids are the world's biggest mystery....

"Bear schmear!"

We hurried back to the hotel to attempt a second little nappy poo for our less than thrilled escalator queen. She perked up big time once we got back in our room. It may have had something to do with her yummy leftovers she found in the fridge from her dinner the night before. That kept her occupied while Riley and I got out race gear ready for our big Sunday morning....

Hal tried out her new bear beauty supplies on Riley's head. He got a quick blowdry of his hair...er, I mean scalp....

"Trust me...I know what I'm doing here"

Hal scoped out my nice neat pile of race gear and felt that she needed to try it on for size.....

"Think this will work momma?"

I was a tad bit sad to say goodbye to my munchkin right before Lisa and Dara came to pick her up. We'd had a fantastically fun day together.....

I can't convey just how grateful we were for Lisa and Dara's trip to OKC that day which allowed them to take Hal back to Enid with them. It sure saved us a lot more driving time and gave us the opportunity to meet our friends for pre-race dinner that night. The girls met us at the hotel and Hal jumped right in their arms and had no qualms about saying "sayonara" to us. She spent the evening playing in the backyard at their house and I hear she stayed up pretty late partying. That girl!!

The signature face

We met Lacy, Gregg, Kim and BJ at Texas Roadhouse that night for a fun dinner. Just love , love, love our friends!!! We gave them their race packets and Lacy handed out the relay team shirts she had made. Miss Creative did a fantastic job! Team Answered Prayers was all ready to hit the marathon route!

Sunday morning was sort of a blur until we got to downtown. 4:00 a.m. was a bit brutal. We met Gregg and Lacy that morning and took a shuttle to the starting line from our hotel. Our friend Sarah just happened to be on the same shuttle which was fantastic to have someone to head to the starting line with since everyone on the relay was staying put at the bus station to take their buses to their relay exchange points. I found my spot in the 8:30 minute/mile pace group and anxiously waited for the horn to blow. After showing up nine seconds before the race started last year it was a nice change to be present for the opening ceremonies. Inspiring and motivating to say the least. We all stood shoulder to shoulder (literally) so stretching was out of the question. My nerves were starting to get to me which was sort of obnoxious considering I'd had a talk with myself about the race being fun and relaxed. And then I remembered that I don't really know what fun and relaxed is when it comes to races. The adrenaline was pumping and off we went! My third half-marathon was underway! My goal was to finish around 1:55....mainly just wanted to finish under two hours. I stayed on pace for 1:55 for the first 9 miles. That was when I hit a wall. My pace slowed down quite a bit and I kept having to talk myself out of stopping to walk. I kept thinking thoughts such as "wouldn't it have been a smart idea to lose those 20 pounds before the race like you kept talking about?" and things like "are there any kleenex stations along the course because my allergies are KILLING me!?" and "These shoes are awful. Thanks a lot Nike." As you can see the positivity was flowin'. I was clearly looking for some extra motivation when all of a sudden I spotted a sign that read "Run for those who can't." That was all I needed. I kicked it in and finished as fast as my short legs would carry me. I crossed the line at 1:58. It was a pretty sweet feeling.....

.....albeit short-lived because I immediately made a beeline to the massage tent after congratulating and taking pictures with some of my Woodward runner friends......

This girl is amazing!

These girls rocked the half.....

Marisa, Sarah, Me and Karen

Sarah with her hubby and little

The massage was beyond words wonderful and was a great way to waste some time while I waited to see the relay team cross the finish line. I wandered around, stopping for some stretching when my muscles started to scream at me. The memorial was a peaceful serene place to spend a bit of time on my way to the bus station.....

I met up with Answered Prayers and walked with them to the spot near the finish line where they were going to join BJ at the end of his leg and cross together. I love this idea and thought it was an awesome way to finish......

The tracksters grabbed some burgers at the finish line after finishing at 4:07. Great relay guys!!!

I simply LOVED doing another race together. I think they are growing on him!!

The Moore's kept us company on the bus ride back to the hotel....

Riley was super excited about his time (although he isn't sure exactly what it was because he put the timer on his wrist instead of his ankle) and even ran an extra three mile leg just for good measure! The dude is deceivingly fast!! I told him he may as well have ran the half! I was pleased at punch when I checked the official results later that morning.....

We stopped for a reward meal at BJs after changing at the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing lunch before we left town. Hal was awaitin' on us and this is what she was up to......

Sunnin'

Nappin'

Mean Muggin'

Dara, David, Lisa and Aunt B were all sitting in the garage with Hal when we pulled up since it was such a gorgeous day outside. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention above.....PERFECT raceday weather! Couldn't have been better! So back to the story....Hal got a grand report despite waking up at the crack of dawn. The story goes that she had a blast and was as sweet at could be. But you'd never know that looking at this picture which perfectly depicts what went on after we showed up......

The girl's got games. And she plays 'em well. She desperately needed a nap and fortunately she took one in the car. I would've loved to sit and stay awhile but home was calling our names...well mainly my bed...and the bottle of Tylenol in the cabinet. Once again my angels in Enid reminded me just how awesome they are and I'm forever in debt for all of the help they've given us with Hallie Grace. 

Another half in the books and another lost toenail. But hey, I'll take it. I can't explain that feeling of completing a race. It's like nothing else. And Riley is about to find out in June when we run the half marathon here in Woodward. While he's been busy training I've been busy doing some "calorie replacement" from the race that was now nearly two weeks ago. You can see the priorities are straight. ;) Five more weeks until we are both livin' on marathon time!