The Allens

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Randomness

So I have a bunch of pictures that are a bit random but want to get documented so this is going to be a long post about everything and yet nothing at the same time :)

So the kids had their last soccer game and did AWESOME. Finally by the end of the season, Ridge got more aggressive and started going for the ball and making some good kicks. Cambree also scored a goal for her last game. I have to say I really enjoyed watching them play. We'll have to see if they feel the same about playing when it comes time to decide again next year.

Curtis being Curtis....

Brielle got moved to a big girl bed about 2 weeks ago. She took to it great except that now she just wants to play all night. So we've moved Brecklynn to the guest room for naps and night time for hte time being. Weird to see Brielle in a big girl bed....

This was just one of those days. Ridge dumped his bowl of cereal everywhere, so while I was cleaning it up and Ridge was taking a shower, Brielle decided to jump in with him baby doll and all.

One of my sweet preschool kids, brought me a bouquet of flowers one day. Totally made my day.

This is how Ridge fell asleep on his way down to the valley one day.

Cambree got bumped up to Advanced class in gymnastics. She's doing awesome. Has her back walk over and is working on her front and back handspring. Well on her first day in advance class, she did this to her head. Some how while practicing her knee found her forehead. She was quite proud of it.

Brecklynn with her weird nightly routine. Singing, talking to herself, and playing with the light outside her door....weird child.

Curtis had to document how our showers go....clothes EVERYWHERE

At the last soccer game, Brielle discovered dirt. She showered herself with it. We were kind of glad it was the last game for this reason :)

This dog wandered into Allen Pump. Curtis has always sworn we would never get a dog. But this dog was the exception. He thought it was the coolest dog ever. Luckily the owner came and claimed it.

Brielle cuddled with Cambree in the car and Cambree LOVED it!

This is a face of many that Brielle makes ALL THE TIME, but we've had the hardest time capturing it on camera. So here it is...

Here's Curtis with our good friend Jason. They're both sporting the good ol' ugly stretchy pants and ipads.

One of Brielle's latest 'spots'

Thanksgiving Party

Well we had yet another couple days of preschool parties. This time for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. So here's the pictures from the past 2 days.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

1/2 Marathon

This past weekend, I participated in my first 1/2 marathon. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I have been training for the last couple of months. This has always been something I've wanted to do. Why I don't really know because I've never been a runner, but I guess I always wanted to say I ran a marathon. Training was so hard and painful as I suffered from shin splints early on and knee issues as the race got closer. But with the help from Curtis and support from my Uncle Mark, I was able to not only complete my training, but complete my ultimate goal.

The days leading up to the actual race, I was very anxious. Why I don't know because I had done all the training I could do. My stomach was in knots and I couldn't stop thinking about it. That Friday we went down early to get our race packets for everyone and get to my parents to get rested.

Friday night, I couldn't sleep. I was thinking of everything that could go wrong. It was also raining outside and due to be one of the coldest days we'd seen for a long time. (Of course). I finally fell asleep around 2 and had to get up at 4:30 to get ready and get to the race. A huge group of us travelled together which made things a little better. Me and my Uncle Mark were doing the 1/2 and my Aunt Angie, Aunt Lorene, brother Jaymon, cousins Carter, Cameron, Olivia and Rebecca did the 5k. We got the race just before we had to start. Standing and waiting for it to start was surreal. I was freezing and my heart was racing.

Once we started, I felt pretty good. My Uncle Mark made sure I was ok and went on his way. (He's faster than me ). So tried to get my good pace and not go too fast. Very quickly after starting I realized me GPS was not working. I ran well over 1 mile and my voice over finally came on and said something like time was 12 minutes, distance .5 miles and pace was 25 minute mile. So the ENTIRE race, I was without my time or pace which for me was crucial.

Since it had rained the night before, the ground was super wet and kept slipping in the soft mud. It was on a canal bank and there were several areas that bottle necked so we all had to go single file. Even with all my runs previous to this point, I felt very out of shape. Every mile felt like 10 and I kept hitting 'the wall' where I wanted to give up, over and over again. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

At the very end, my Aunt Lorene and cousin Rebecca came out about .5 from the finish. By this point I was truly done. I was ready to quit despite how close I was. They ran with me. My Aunt Lorene kept talking to me and saying how awesome it was that I had done it. This was so empowering. My were completely numb by this point. I was so weak. The last 100 yards were the hardest by far. I saw my family and I so badly wanted to look excited and smile but I couldn't. I saw Curtis. I then saw the finish line and my Uncle Mark standing there waiting. It was so neat having so much family all along the way waiting for me. At the end, my body just kind of shut down. I was so tired. I found some stairs and literally fell on to them. It was the weirdest feeling to be so weak. But I had finished. It was a neat feeling knowing I had just run 13 miles. Turns out later we found out we actually ran 13.5 miles not the normal 13.1 for a 1/2. My time was 2:15. My goal was 2:00 so I missed it but that's ok. I finished.

I am so glad I did it and can say I did it. Not sure if I'll do it again yet or not but I do want to keep running. It is all a mind game and a game I want to continually beat. Thanks to my wonderful husband for pushing me to train and being such a huge cheerleader for me. Thanks to my Uncle Mark for constantly answering my millions of questions and concerns about the race and for pushing me to actually sign up for the race. Thanks to all my family for all their support.

Here's my before and after.