mama in high heels: Rock N' Roll Baby!!!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks back Jon and I and our friends took off to run the Rock N Roll marathon/half marathon. I was so excited about this race. Normally the marathons we do are much smaller, but I just get so energized by all the people. Also, it was Jenn. S and Angela L.'s first half marathons, and I was super excited for the both of them.

Jon and Doug took the front. They were so funny. While all of us girls gabbed in the back, they played the truck game.

The 2 Jenn's.

Me and Ang. L.

I have to say though sitting in the back of the van made Jenn S a little queasy and at times I really could have joined her. Made me feel sorry for my kiddos having to sit back there. When we got to Sav., Jenn and I hopped up front. I wasn't sure what was going to make her more sick -being in the back of the van OR my driving. . . hee!hee!

I know it is hard to tell from this picture, but see the bridge. There are masses upon masses of cars on it - can you see it? CRAZY, I tell you.

Here we are checking in!

Jon and Chuck.

They had all sorts of fun stuff for us to play with. Here we are impersonating Elvis. Look at my hunka-hunka burnin' love.

Here are Doug and Ang. . . the king and queen of Rock N' Roll :)

Doug's face CRACKS me up in this picture. Man, was he really into it, or what?

The girls!!!!

Next, we saw a booth where we got to be rock stars. Oh this was so fun and we laughed oh.so.hard.

Waiting on Jenn. B to get her rock star gear on.

Pose 1. . .

Pose 2. Y'all, I'm telling you. . . so!much!fun!

Next, it was the guys' turn. Sad thing is, Doug looks like a natural.

Jon looks soooo unnatural. . . that's what makes this so funny to me.

The crew minus Pastor D and Ang H. They were at Carrabbas getting us all a table. They had been camping there all week, so went earlier in the week to get their race packets.

We all had dinner at Carrabas and if I wouldn't have been freezing my hiney off, I might've remembered to take a picture. We opted for sitting outside because we were so hungry and then had to drive an hour to John and Judy's to sleep. Oh well, despite being cold, we kept telling ourselves we were making memories.

Poor Ms Judi and Mr. John. I echo what my Jon said, "Man, I hope when we get their age, we are as much fun as they are." Then he chimed in, "Shoot, we're not that much fun now." Seriously, this is a wonderful couple who really invest their lives into people our age (married with children). We were so hoping to have more time with them, but we literally got there and got in the bed. It was 10:00 p.m., and we had to be up at 3:00 a.m.

We were trying to be quiet the next morning when leaving, and as we were about to pull out of their driveway, they both jump out from behind a tree. See how fun they are?

This girl right here normally doesn't even get into the bed until 3:00 a.m., much less wake up at that time. I was proud of her.

Ang is bright eyed and bushy tail. She's an early riser like me.

Not so sure about Doug???

We met up with the rest of the crew. Even my break wind friend was there who I ran with when I trained for my first marathon. That's before I knew most of these crazy runners. Notice what's in the background. Any runner knows WHY we were standing in front of the port a potties. Gotta go before you get to running or otherwise you're in trouble - hee!hee!

It was so freezing cold. I was glad for an excuse to snuggle up with my sweet husband. Seriously, we would just walk like this. Body heat really did keep us warm.

We all separated and went to our different corrals. Here are Ang H, Chuck, and I.

Start line.

I was feeling really good, so I needed to maneuver through the crowds and I had a great pace for like 20 miles. I was at 3 hours 1 minute at the 20-mile mark. I met back up with Chuck and Ang at mile 18. But I started cramping pretty bad and I was hitting a wall. I've done it before so I know the feeling. Chuck took off with Ang's and I's coaxing. However, I was losing steam and losing it FAST. Ang kept trying to stay back with me. I told her to go. After my prodding she did go. About mile 22 is when everything was really getting bad. The only way I know to describe what was happening to me is, have you ever been watching and movie and trying really hard not to fall asleep, but just could not fight your body. I was falling asleep while running. I wanted to walk. however, it hurt my hips to walk. My eyes kept closing. I would keep trying to wake myself up. I got very disoriented and even thought at times, "I could just go curl up on the side of the road and take a nap. Then I'd feel better." It took me 1 hour and 17 minutes to finish the last 6.2 miles with a final time of 4 hours 17 minutes. This was terrible. However, honestly, I'm really just glad I made it. My "spell" really scared me, and I think that is my last marathon.

But, here's my favorite part of the whole race. I've crossed the finish line amongst hundreds of people. I spot Jon's face in the crowd making his way towards me. He points to himself and mouths to me I.LOVE.YOU. I just collapsed into his arms and started crying. It was such an incredibly preciously sweet moment. Man, I do love my husband so.very.much. We just stood there. Jon really wanted me to go to the Medic. At first I resisted, but then I gave him so he wouldn't worry. We went to the Medic and they made me lay on a cot and put salt under my tongue. Also, Jon had to hold my legs up. I could literally feel my face getting hot. When I got home, both Melissa and Jon looked up what had happened to me. I think we all came to the same conclusion of dehydration. However, when I later found out a man died at the marathon, I really do think it's over for me. I think I'm going back to the days of 5K, 10K, and will now be a half marathoner. After all, I had a GREAT time at the half mark of this race 1 hour 53 minutes. I think I'm going to start focusing on speed now. I can still run with Ang. H. and Becky and will go up to 15 miles, but I think 6 marathons is enough for this girl.

Also, life is so busy now. . . The Lord has been laying on my heart about laying something down, letting go of something. Training takes so much time and energy out of you, so I really think that is what I'm laying down.

I'm so incredibly blessed to have wonderful friends to share common interests with. I'm also super blessed to have an amazing husband to do this thing called "life" with. He really is such a special gift.