Rock n' Roll Half Marathon

i finished my first half marathon!  i almost thought that i wasn't going to be able to run (even though i had already paid) because the night before we were looking at the race information closer and it said that you had to have picked up your race packet at the expo which was the day before.  it said "no exceptions" and that i wouldn't be able to pick it up the day of.  we decided to try anyways since we already paid and luckily i was able to get my number and tracker. it made me more stressed out the night before though.    

there were thousands of people running the half marathon (around 19,000 and around 5000 for the marathon) and they put you into "corrals" according to your estimated finish time.  i put 2 hours for my finish time but for some reason they put me in corral 2 (out of 28) with people who would finish in 1:38!  as a result of this i was being passed up the whole time. that was a little discouraging but i was mainly aiming at finishing.  the race started at city hall in phoenix and ended at the cardinals stadium at asu.  they blocked off the streets where we ran and it was a really fun course.  there were bands playing every mile or less and it really got my adrenaline going every time i would hear one play.  they had cheer teams in between the bands and water stations to keep you hydrated.  it was really exciting!  

i ended up finishing a little less than my estimated time at 1:55 for the 13.1 miles.  i was pretty exhausted after but since i had been training and working up to it i didn't feel that bad.  immediately after they gave me a little finishers medal and free food.  i loaded up on as much food as i could for me and jason because i wanted to get my moneys worth :).  they then had a post race concert- vertical horizon.  i remember them from the 90's and they had a few good songs that i knew.  it was nice sitting in the grass relaxing and listening to them play.   

jason's brother brendan ran the full marathon and this about his fourth.  he actually qualified to run in the boston marathon which is really impressive.  i plan on running a marathon someday- hopefully in the next few years!  it will take a lot more training but it is something that i want to do.  after finishing the half i feel it is more accesible.      

before the race

 nearing the finish line

 me & brendan

 vertical horizon



same old city with a different name...

last weekend jason and i went on our own little photoshoot.  we wanted to find some interesting old buildings or even better an abandoned old building and these spots were the best we could find.  we plan on going again and finding more cool places. we would have kept looking but it turned into quite the scary venture when gigi got attacked by three dogs.  we let her wander around while we were taking pictures and it seemed pretty safe cause we could see her and she couldn't go far.  next thing we knew we look over and couldn't see her.  we ran over to where she was at and she had squeezed underneath a locked fence with barbed wire at the top and three dogs were staring her down.  i then heard growling and there was a brawl with our little white pooch in the middle.  it was the scariest thing ever and i thought they were going to tear her to bits with us being helpless on the other side of the fence.  we started banging on the fence and yelling and luckily the dogs looked up and stopped.  gigi ran over to a hole in the fence and we quickly grabbed her out.  she managed to escaped with two bite marks and nothing major.  she has been pretty sore this past week and has been eating up all the attention shes been getting.  i think she has been playing it up because she's tired of being ignored over the puppy. :)  i am so happy that she was able to escape that with just some cuts and bruises.  despite that little incident we had a fun time on our adventure.   

i hate how most of these are of me.. next time i'll try to get some of just jason. it would be nice to have a personal photographer to take along with us :)

tarley meets...

mom

 gigi

 aubrey

 caden

 lexie

 derek & grant

 loretta

 mason

 catherine

 madi

 brindy

 cole

 michelle

 bo

 jude



meet tarley

our new baby shih tzu!! we bought her at the beginning of december but were not able to take her home until new years eve.  the lady told us originally that we could take her home Christmas eve, but she wasn't ready so we had to wait an extra week.  we could hardly wait to take her home and so we visited her every week.  it was a long wait for us and we are so excited to have her home now!  she is such a perfect little puppy and so adorable!! i'll apologize in advance because i know she is going to consume this blog.  she is so freaking cute it's really hard not to show her off!

first meeting (2 weeks)

                                        second meeting (3 weeks)

                                         third meeting (4 weeks)

 fourth meeting (5 weeks)

                                          fifth meeting (6 weeks)

                                         final meeting (7 weeks)- home!!

                                          we love her so so so much!!