Seattle Rock & Role Marathon

Well I'm back from my trip to Seattle and running the marathon. I must say what a great time I had and well worth all the pain I'm in now. I left Thursday afternoon to catch my flight from Omaha, to Denver, then on to Seattle. All the flights went great with no problems, just the way I like it, and Sean was there to pick me up and take me to their house. I was very excited and very nervous for all of this. The very sad thing is that Sandi, who was supposed to run it too, got injured and was unable to run it with me. So it wasn't as exciting as it could've been. Friday we went to the Expo and picked up our running packets with our race numbers and our shirts. Then we looked at all the booths with everything for runners and then some. Lots of free samples though. That's always fun. We didn't want to walk around to much, didn't want to over do the leg muscles, so we headed home, and just hung out and looked through all of our stuff and just talked. We went to dinner that night. I had pasta and chicken breast. Nothing very heavy and went to bed early. Or at least I tried. I layed all of my stuff out and pinned my number to my shirt, and made sure I had everything. Was worried about a lot of things. Didn't want to forget anything. My nerves were getting the better of me, so I tried not to think about it and went to bed. Took me a while to get to sleep. I also had two dreams about the marathon. One before I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom and one after. Both very very weird.

The starting line

Early the next morning I got up and got ready to go. Sandi was driving me and her friend Lisa to the starting point. I was so excited and nervous, my stomach was in knots and I could hardly eat anything. Sandi was trying to get me to eat a power bar, and it wasn't settling very well. I did manage to get down a banana, and some Gatorade. The starting line was packed with people all waiting to start the run.

The first 10 miles went by pretty easy. It was kind of crowded because they had the half marathon runners and the full together for the first 10, then split, the full went over the Washington bridge. This is the picture of that. As you can see there are people going two different directions. We had to run across the bridge then do a u-turn and go back. It was a bit chilly on that bridge and windy. But hey, I'm used to the wind. I finished the next 10 miles and my legs were really getting tired. At every water station I would take a couple of drinks of citromax or gatoraid or whatever they had then follow it with some water. I used three of my Cliff shots, and one pack of Gu. I had my phone with me and was getting encouraging texts from Sandi, and Bret, and also Amber, and Annette, along the way. It really helped to know that so many were cheering for me! At mile 24 my legs started shaking and I thought I'd better walk a bit. Didn't want to fall down or something. I did walk most of that mile, and also most of mile 25. When I hit mile 26 I got a second wind. Or maybe I should say a 3rd or 4th wind. I picked it up and ran down this ramp around the corner and saw the finish line. What a beautiful sight!!!! My legs were killing me and I just wanted to be done! I saw Sandi and Sean and Savannah and Sydney and Spencer all standing there with a big sign cheering me on!!! As I crossed the finish line I hear the announcer say "And here comes Tammie!" That was cool. I went on and got my metal and found the fruit stand, had a slice of orange and a cold bottle of water, and found Sandi and Sean. Sandi said my time was 5:25. I had improved on my last time by 45 minutes. I didn't really have a time goal, I just wanted to do better than my first marathon. Which I did, so I'm very happy. We took a bunch of pictures and listened to the band play. I really just wanted to go home and take a shower. I was very sweaty and smelly. Nothing like a cold shower to take the pain away! I was so happy to have that over. Since January I'd been training and stressing and planning and worrying about this marathon and I'm so glad to have it behind me. Now I can just go running for the fun of it. Which is what I really like to do. On the way home we stopped at Subway, Sandi and her family hadn't eaten lunch yet. All I wanted was some cold chocolate milk! It was the best I'd ever tasted!

About a month before all of this, I told Sandi that for my after the marathon meal I wanted Fish and Chips. I new being in Seattle that they would be excellent. Sean took us to Dukes, which had the best fish and chips I'd ever tasted! Sean never lets me down! Finished the evening by going to Toy Story in 3D. I really shouldn't have sat still for so long. I was very sore and stiff when it was time to get up again! Great movie though!! Went to bed that night feeling very good about myself and happy. I could just relax and sleep. I'll have more pictures of the finish when I get them from Sandi...... stay tuned!

Summer so far......

Okay, It's the first few weeks into summer and we're just getting started with the adventures!
Keaton in his shades showing me his blue Jolly Rancher candy in his mouth. Lovely picture, I know.
Amber is at that point where she doesn't like her picture taken unless her hair and make up are just perfect. Here we are waiting for her appointment at the Orthodontist. Which we found out that she needs her wisdom teeth taken out. So on the way home, she was complaining to our Heavenly maker as to why we needed wisdom teeth! She gave him an ear full. So needless to say, Amber's summer isn't going well for her so far. I made her appointment for July 7th, so she'll be good before we leave on vacation.

Rascal has had some fun this summer and has been the cause of some ruckus! About a week ago, Amber was out doing the chores and let the dogs out to get their daily run in. While Amber was in the dog kennel filling the dogs food bowls, she heard the goats making a pretty loud BAAAA! So she goes running out there, and finds Rascal inside the goat pen, attacking our littlest goat, Pippin. She gets in there and pulls the dog off the goat, screaming her head off at Rascal. She drags him out of the pen, and lucky for him the goats were okay. Pippin was covered in dog slobber, and a little shaken, but okay. Might I point out that when we first got the goats we figured we'd have a problem with Rascal, and also Cody. So we put a shock collar on them and let them out and the first thing they did was jump the fence and go for the goats. Well they both got nailed! Cody went running back to the kennel, and Rascal who's collar was on high, yelped really loud and went running in the opposite direction. Then ran over to Bret, layed at his feet and said, "Please don't do that again sir!" So we figured he'd learned, but apparently he has a short memory. Amber came running into the house saying "CAN I SHOOT RASCAL!" Then proceeded to tell me the whole story. I was very grateful none of the goats were hurt. And when Bret got home from work that evening we had some more training with the shock collar. Also with this wonderful dog, I was in the living room reading and the other kids were out doing the chores. It had been a good half hour since they went out. Keaton was still in the house, and playing up stairs. I heard him go downstairs, and start playing and a few minutes later he comes up and says, "Mom can u come here, I want to show you something." I figured he wanted to show me something he had built, so I go walking down there and look around the corner to the spare bedroom and Keaton points and says, "LOOK, Rascal!" The kids had left the garage door open and the door to the house from the garage and he had gotten inside. He was wet and smelly from being in the pond, and the screen from the window was on the floor ripped to shreds, and he had clawed the window and the windowsill to death. My lamp lay in two pieces on the floor, and their was muddy foot prints all over the carpet. So right now this dog is on my black list!

We are really enjoying our goats. They love to run and jump on things. They love the table and the kids play set. I forgot what good climbers they are.

Pippin is our little male that got to know Rascal a little more than he wanted. But he's okay.

Bret's been busy with all his land, and getting it ready for the fall hunting season. Amber even got to help plant some corn.

I've been getting ready as well trying to be a great and mighty hunter with my bow. This was my best group yet! I know they aren't in the center but the main idea is to be consistent with your shot. You want them to be in a tight group like this.

But we're all doing great. We've got a lot of things coming up in the next few weeks. Amber has Youth conference, in Nauvoo next week. Ben is going to a Pheasant Forever Camp for a few days next week. I get to fly to Seattle as well to visit Sandi and Sean, and run the marathon with her. I'm very excited! And we have our family vacation to look forward to in July. Can't wait to see everyone then!!!

I took Amber to girls camp at the beginning of the week. So I was in a house full of boys. This is what I had to deal with. While Amber's away the boys will play.

It was a hot and rainy week. Did my running as best I could. It gets very hard when the temps are high and we have 100% humidity. The body doesn't cool down very well and I don't want to pass out on the highway for some old farmer to find, and have him take me to the ER where Bret will just shake his head and say "I told you so." But I'm doing the best I can. My race is in 2 weeks and I'll be glad to have it over with. Running is starting to feel like a chore instead of something I like to do for fun. So when it's over it'll go back to being fun. Can't wait to see Sandi and her family though, should be soooo fun!



Took the boys to the pool a few times and we were so excited to be there. Summer is a fun time! I hope we have a long one. The thought of winter just sends nasty chills down my spine.

Keaton's 5th birthday

So we had Keaton's 5th birthday today! We all drove to Des Moines to visit Jennie and Kevin. They just had a new baby girl, and John and Marilyn flew in and Sheri was there with her little new baby. So we had a lot of wonderful things to celebrate! This is the only picture I got, because my camera that I did bring, was dead. But it was a lot of fun. We got there in the morning, the kids were so excited to see their cousins. They headed outside to the sandbox and trampoline. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect. Marilyn made cinnamon roles, which are always yummy, and we had some delicious salads and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and chicken legs. The men took the kids to the park for a while in the afternoon so us women could take care and enjoy the babies, and visit with out to many interruptions. We had the birthday party for Keaton after dinner. He opened his presents, and he got a few movies, play doe, a game boy, a fire truck, a skate board, which he got from his Aunt Sheri, two swords, a new Wii game, and hot wheels cars from his brothers. I brought a cake and a fruit pizza, which we all ate, and then Sheri took off to go home to Omaha. We stayed a little longer and had a Wii tournament. So much fun! I really like being with all the family. Everyone gets along so well and enjoys being with each other. All the kids get along well too, and that is very nice. It was just a fun day. I'm so glad we have some family out here close. It would be kinda lonely if we didn't.

We got home around 11, it was late but well worth it.