Another 13.1 In the Books!

Last Saturday was the PERFECT running weather.  It was, by far, the most fun run I've ever done and I owe most of that to the lovely cool weather and my running buddy Laura.  When I ran this same course two years ago I was all by myself...literally there was hardly ever any other runners around me.  It was much smaller that year and it was very lonely.  In addition, they had billed the course as "flat"...and it has a few monster hills...after the turnaround (so...nice downhill going out...not so nice uphill coming back).
This year I was prepared (as I could be) for the hills, plus I had Laura along with me to randomly chat with (neither of us was up for chatting the whole 13.1 miles, but it was nice to have some conversation every now and then).  Laura also helped me mentally and physically not let myself slow down towards the end.  When I'm by myself I have a tendency to start to "lag", but with Laura along side me it kept me going at a good pace.  This all meant we had a great race and finished 10 minutes faster than I did 2 years ago (I'm still amazed by that!). 
While I've been a little sore the last couple of days, I think overall I've recovered quite well.  I'm not planning another 1/2 marathon any time soon, it is just too time consuming with a toddler around to do all the long training runs.  But, in a town like Austin you can find a 5K or 10K almost every weekend, so I'll be trying to run some shorter races, which are much more manageable :).

Saturday afternoon we got to attend Brie's first fall fest at her daycare.  She did great and loved running around in her monkey costume.  I'm quite sad that I have to leave town on Wednesday and will miss her first trick-or-treating experience.  She LOVES carrying around her purple pumpkin bucket and even says "Ti-Ti" (trick-or-treat).  It will be up to my awesome friends and Justin to take some good pictures for me :).  Unfortunately on Saturday I left my camera in the car, so I didn't get any pictures at the fall fest.  Bummer.  So, you're just stuck with my two race pictures :).

 

Before the race...we look kind of crazy-eyed...I think it was the crazy iPhone flash

Erin, Rebecca, Me, Stevi and Laura

Yay!  13.1 Done!  

 

Ready. "Fast. Easy. Fun. Run 13.1."

Ready or not, my second 1/2 marathon begins in 2 1/2 hours.  Yikes!  But, I think I'm ready.  While I had a blip in my training this time, having to take off four weeks for a very badly sprained ankle, I've spent the last 7 weeks training as hard as possible (it is so much harder to train with a 1-year-old in the house!) and while I may not (OK, definitely will not) be the fastest gal out there...I will have fun!
The quote above: "Fast. Easy. Fun. Run 13.1" is from a shirt from one of the many races Austin has each year.  I see multiple people wearing it each time I go to a local loop to run.  It always makes me chuckle because, well...I don't run it fast.  I don't think I would say it's "easy".  But, in the end, it is pretty fun.
Wish me luck...I'll have my groovy socks on (my good friend and author Erin MacPherson bought them for the girls in our group that are all running today!). 

Trooper

Who would guess this little munchkin endured four shots just a few hours before this photo was taken?

What?  Shots?  Psshhhh...

Our little lady had a nice little growth spurt since her one year appointment...except her head...it's still very, very small (but full of smart brains!).  Here are her official 15 month stats:

Weight: 21.1lb (25-50%)

Height: 31 in (50-75%) (She grew 1.75 in in 3 months...wow!)

Head: 43.5 cm (Under 5%)

As you can see, she took her shots very well, didn't even bother taking a nap this afternoon, and just went on with her normal routine of trying to climb everything in sight :).  We sure do love this little monkey!

Pumpkin Festival Fun!

Today we took Brie to experience her first pumpkin patch...in shorts and short-sleeves.  Not precisely how I remember pumpkin patches/apple orchards growing up...but that's what we get for living in Texas I guess :). 
Even though she won't remember it, she did seem to really enjoy herself.  It was a pretty farm (it's actually a Christmas tree farm...I was trying to picture going out to this place to cut down our very own tree...but without cold weather and/or snow I couldn't quite do it).  There lots of animals, a hay bale maze, hay ride, train ride, pumpkins, and lots of other fun stuff.  I think our favorite part was watching a sheep dog demonstration, very cool!  We tried to get some really cute "pumpkin patch" photos...but Brie was much more interested in playing with the pumpkins (or "balls" as she called them) than posing for pictures.  Oh well, maybe next year we can convince her to sit still for a few seconds :).  Here are a few shots from our fun day--hopefully we can make it a tradition to go to this place!

 Looking at the dogs...oh wait, those are goats...

 Best pic I could get on the hay stack with pumpkins :)

 And best pic we could get with the height sign...this one-year-old does NOT want to stand still!

 Brie's favorite part?  The swings of course!

 Another picture ma?  I want to go play with the pumpkins!

I think this was the best smile all day...who would have thought?

Beach Trip and Other Random Stuff

Oops.  Seems like school started and I've let blogging go to the wayside.  So, here's a little recap of what we Halvorsens have been up to :).

A couple weekends ago we went on our third annual beach trip with our community group from church.  We've been friends with most of these people over six years now, and we love them and their children dearly.  Two years ago we started a tradition of going to Port Aransas after Labor Day (when it's still BEAUTIFUL in Texas, but rates are cheap (yay!)).  That year we had 10 adults and five kids on the trip, and we were kid-less.  Fun times. 

 Justin and I--2010 Beach Trip

Last year we sky-rocketed to 12 adults (2 of whom were pregnant) and nine kids...and Brie was only 8 weeks old when we went.  Needless to say I spent most of my time in the condo, but it was still fun. 

Beach Trip 2011--Awww...Brie was so little!

This year we had 13 adults and 13 kids...everyone in the whole group (except one who had to work) was able to attend...it was AWESOME.  The kids in our group are so great and pretty much everyone has at least someone close to their age to play with.  Brie is lucky and has four other kiddos all pretty much the same age as her.

Beach Trip 2012--My how times have changed :)

I really do think this year was my most favorite beach trip of them all.  Watching Brie really experience the ocean for the first time, laugh at the waves, and dig into the sand was just awesome.  The beach trip is only going to get more and more fun :)!

In other random news, I've been keeping busy training for my second 1/2 marathon.  Most of the girls in my community group are doing the same 1/2 marathon that I tackled two years ago, so I thought, why not?  It's definitely MUCH harder this time, trying to figure out when to train, taking Brie with me in the jogging stroller sometimes, and just in general having to get my cardio fitness back up to a better level.  When I ran two years ago, I'd NEVER run more than a mile, but I was at the gym at least 5-6 days a week and was very fit.  This time, while I can say I have run a 1/2 marathon before, I don't get to the gym 5-6 days a week (shocking, right?) and I'm just not as fit as I was pre-Brie.  But, I'm pushing through, and despite an ankle sprain that knocked me out for almost a month and threatened to derail me, I'm on track to complete the 1/2 marathon on Oct. 27th.  Wish me luck.  :)

And, just for fun, here are some fun things Brie's been doing recently:

• Takes her socks and/or shoes and tries to put them on her feet (OK, not even always her own socks and shoes...really, anyone's socks and shoes...).  While doing this she says "Shhhhhhh" for shoes.  Cute.  Totally cute.
• Climbs.  Everything.  No really.  EVERYTHING.  Her toys, her stroller, the bakers rack, chairs.  Apparently one of her parents was also like this as a toddler.  I have no idea who.
• Thinks "no" is the funniest word ever.  (Which is really great considering her love of climbing everything in sight.)
• Loves to pull all the books off her bookshelf and then sit and "read".  She even appears to "read" left to right and makes sure her books are the right side up.  I love seeing her develop pre-reading skills!
• Is saying and/or signing lots of words, including "more", "please", "milk", "water", "bird", "dog", "bye-bye" and "da da" (she actually says "da da" to Justin..."mama" to me...not so much...bummer...

And here's a couple recent pictures of our little climber:

 Sierra, despite her faults, has turned out to be the best.dog.ever :)

 Did I mention she likes to climb?  Including into and out of her toy box...

"Reading"