Turkey Day in Texas

This Thanksgiving, Josh and I drove down to Texas to see my family. It is my brother's Freshman year at Texas A&M and he is in the Corps of Cadets. They do marching and yelling at the football games (I know this is simplistic, Wes, but bear with me as I am an idiot with it all). Our first stop was at the Texas A&M campus to see Wesley "step out" and then get harrassed by upper classmen, then march onto the footbal field for the Texas A&M vs University of Texas game. This is a huge rivalry game and we were very fortunate to get tickets. We met my mom and sister, and my Aunt Angie and cousin Hunter. We had seats in the nosebleed section, but honestly they weren't bad! The only problem I had was not knowing a darn thing about football! So I was slightly bored with the game. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Mom cooked a traditional dinner with all the works and I ate it up like it was my last meal! It was such a nice visit, the only thing that would make it complete was having Dad there. Luckily he will be home from Iraq around December 10th. While I won't see him at Christmas, it comforts my heart to know he'll be home with family. Until the next post, here are pics from the Turkey Day Weekend:

Really don't know what to say about the above pic: someone brought mustaches and told me to put it on.  So I did.  This doesn't mean that if they all jumped off a cliff I would follow, but this seemed harmless!

More pics to come once I get them from Mom...

Do 2 halves make a whole?

Yes, in normal circumstances, 2 halves make a whole. But, I have now run 2 half-marathons and I can say that they do not make a full marathon! (and I don't know if they ever will!) My most recent race took place in Clarksville, TN, this past Saturday. My best friend, Lindsy, and her running partner, Courtney joined me on this race. My goal for this race was to finish in less than two hours. I truly thought I could do it, given that the temperature was nearly perfect and I didn't think that the course would be too hilly. Weeelllllllll, the course was pretty much ALL hills! (refer to a previous blog posting during my triathlon training to get a true sense of how I feel about hills: I HATE THEM) AND the weather was beautiful, but it was oh-so-windy. We had a headwind for at least 75% of the race...can we say wind chapped??? Needless to say, conditions weren't perfect for me to make my goal of less than 2 hours. BUT, I shaved nearly 5 minutes off my first half marathon time so I guess this is good! The thing is, I couldn't have pushed any harder. Thank you Linds for running with me and for pushing me hard to the end. I know we didn't make our goal, but there is always next year! Speed work, here I come! Unfortunately, poor Courtney became sick early in the race. She is such a champ, though, and FINISHED the race, and finished it in an awesome time of 2:25!
Mine and Lindsy's time: 2:05:26

Also, we ran with some new running buds of mine from Benton: Ann and Cheryl. They are two hilarious running sisters, and ran with Linds and I the entire race. It was lots of fun!

Here are some pics (the ones from the event say "Proof" all over them!):

The Start of the Race

Trying to be Charlie's Angels while Running

Finally Finished!

Lindsy, Kennedy (future runner), and me

YAY Courtney made it! She looks great but felt bad.

Best Friends, cleaned up and ready for a fun night out and a pitcher of margaritas! YUM!

A Fine Fall Day

October of 2009 has been one of the wettest months on record here in Kentucky. This has really put a damper (hahaha) on harvesting the crops. Now, I am no farmer and I know nothing about the profession, but I do know that when the ground is saturated and/or flooded it is nearly impossible for farmers to do their job. Just as soon as the month changed to November, the rains stopped and the farmers could get back to their crops. On November 1st, Josh drove me out to Hickman, KY, to see the farmers hard at work, rushing to clear the fields. It was quite a sight to see: nearly every field was adorned with farm equipment. The crop of choice this year: soybeans. The water you see in the pictures is due to flooding, and is not a river or lake.