The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Our 13.1

Big news from the Sinkovic household this week...we ran our first half marathon yesterday! It was the longest run James or I had ever done - like 4 or 5 miles longer than the longest run we have ever done, actually. Crazy. Our goal was to keep running the entire time, and we did it! For 2 hours and 33 flipping minutes, we ran our hearts out...and probably some other vital organs too, come to think of it. It was actually really fun, and I would totally be up for doing it again, but not for a couple months probably. (Not until my memory of the bad and the ugly parts have faded a bit).

The Good:

*Being completely pampered by cheering people with cowbells that handed us little Dixie cups of water or PowerAid every two miles or so

*Adorable running-friendly Halloween costumes that everyone except us seemed to be wearing

*Accomplishing one of our major goals for the year

*Hot chocolate after the race. I probably scared the waitress at lunch when my cousin Brady asked politely for some hot chocolate and I shouted involuntarily, "ME TOO!!!" The waitress was probably thinking, "Ok girl, don't get your panties in a bundle. There is plently of hot chocolate to go around." It just sounded so good.

*Knowing that I could do it again

*The warm shower after the race. I have never EVER appreciated warm, clean water more that I appreciated that glorious $1 public rinse with industrial hand soap at the local community pool locker room...I could say more about this, but it probably wouldn't be blog-appropriate. Let me just say that it was a somewhat scarring and very humorous experience.

*Getting home and snuggling up in bed to watch Pride and Prejudice. Even James enjoyed it.

*My AWESOME new shirt! Maybe I am just too easily pleased, but I think just the shirt and all the free stuff in the goodie bag was worth the $55 and 13.1 miles.

The Bad:

*The ravenous hunger that hit me hard at about mile 10. It almost did me in. James and I had to break out a granola bar from his backpack and eat it "on the run," literally. Then they had some really strange wasabi cheese at the end of the race that I think was probably not good on my stomach right after a long run (See "The Ugly" for more details)

*The nasty blood blister on my foot

*Sore hips and knees - I feel old. 

*Finishing one audiobook and having to start another one at about mile 3. It took a solid three miles before I could get into the new audiobook enough to really take my mind off the run.

*The cold
*The feeling that the toenail on my second toe is going to fall off in the next few weeks
*Looking down at my hands somewhere near the last third of the race and totally not recognizing those giant sausage-fingers! Good thing I didn't wear my rings.
*Soggy pants that kept threatening to fall off from so much rain. I must have looked so goofy hiking my pants up every hundred steps or so. 

The Ugly:

*Something dreadful happened to my insides while I was running - I'm sure of it. Either that or I ran with a bout of food poisoning. My stomach (and digestive track - need I say more?!) have not really been the same since about mid-race. And this is a solid 32 hours later! Anyway...

*The violent shivers that started about 10 minutes after I stopped running and lasted for about 2 hours. Ugh...Don't ever want to experience that again.

All in all, it was a phenomenal experience, and I'm really grateful I had my sweet hubby to be my running buddy and stay with me the whole time to cheer me on. He was great. Enjoy the pics!

The pre-race pic. Uncle Jeff, James, me, and cousin Brady. See any difference in our choice of clothing? Yeah, I look like I'm ready to go snow skiing or something...it was pretty chilly.

I like this picture a lot :) Three guys I love. It was good to have all of them there.

The three of us were first-timers and pretty excited to be there. Can you see some of the costumes in the background? 

My view of the race. Not a bad one :)

Yeah baby! Longest run ever!

Ok, I had to put this up because I thought it was so funny. I found probably five of these pictures of the view from inside my pocket...not sure what went wrong there...

Still the longest run ever...

I was finisher #500! Kinda cool...kinda pathetic. Whatever.

Post-race pic. We are still all intact. We should have gotten some pictures of us trying to get up on the trailer...our knees/hips/calves were all pretty stiff.

The reward. Oh yeah. Except I couldn't really eat it until later. Tummy not so happy with me. 

James, on the other hand, had no problems finishing this monster burger.

Food. So exciting! I love this face.

So who's up for the next one in DISNEYLAND?!!!

It's Almost Halloween!!!

I can't believe how close it is to Halloween! Well, this weekend we were especially reminded up in Portland, that Halloween is just around the corner. We had a fun time visiting with Aunt Tricia, Uncle Jeff and the kiddos! It was so nice that we stayed an extra night (Thanks guys!).

Before we hit our awesome weekend in Portland, we went out with Emily's cohort that she takes classes with for dinner one night. It was really fun to get to know some of the people she's studying with and it was also really awesome to find a new yummy Indian food restaurant. 

Food was one of the main happy events of the weekend. One of the dishes, bug jello. I soon found out that it is a traditional dish of the Halloween season. It was super fun to slurp the jello off of the bugs inside. Yum!

We were really excited to be eating...

So the Jensen family makes a meal in a pumpkin each year as one of their traditions. Inside this year's pumpkin was a casserole type dish with ground beef, rice, and some other yummy stuff.

Jello bats... grape flavor... yum...

Dessert... Pumpkin awesomeness is what I call it (I don't remember the real name).

Emily carved a pumpkin with Kirsten. You can see the picture on the counter there of Cinderella's carriage.

The final product... They did a really good job especially for working on it in the wee hours of the night. We took some pictures with candles in them and the lights off, but they didn't turn out too well, so this will just have to suffice.

We played some different board games like checkers and Battleship. Here we were having a pillow fight. So much fun!

We have loved it here in Oregon so far, and I just want to say that it is so beautiful with the leaves changing color. I hope we continue to enjoy it as the rainy season starts to take over. :S

Just beautiful!

I'm glad we got to have so much fun this weekend. It really helps when we have so much with school and work going on during the other times of the week. I hope that you all have an amazing week! More to come on Halloween stuff next week. Much love!

What starts with "A" and rhymes with bottom?!

It is definitely Autumn around here. With a capital "A". Not just fall. Fall is something that happens whether we want it to or not. Autumn is intentional celebration, the spirit of the season, good smells and fun weather, and all that jazz.

THIS is Autumn.

Training for an upcoming race and being so overwhelmed by the beautiful leaves that you end up running with your hands full of them.

I knew that giant law textbook had to be good for something...

 Making fresh apple juice.

James had a Young Men's activity where they picked fresh apples and made them into juice. Such a festive activity!

Eating all the non-festive colored M&Ms so you can decorate with the rest.

Adding canned pumpkin to your grocery cart and making pumpkin spice hot chocolate, and pumpkin french toast, and pumpkin pretty much everything.

General Conference weekend in my jammies and listening to the words of living prophets testify of Christ.

Wearing festive scarves and hats.

Going to a corn maze.

James was convinced that he could just look at this map and then get us through the maze. The highlight of my day was walking into dead end after dead end in that crazy maze.

My man's first corn maze ever! Deprived child...

Feeding the sheep

James got himself in the picture too. Clever.

Being so tempted to sing Christmas songs, but holding out to enjoy the "now".

Pretty Autumn centerpieces.

Watching "You've Got Mail". I don't know why this is on my list, but I have been dying to watch that movie ever since Autumn started...still haven't done it.

Seeing my breath in the morning on the way to school and working on my tan on the way home.

Longing, aching to be with my Sis and best friend, who I believe love Autumn as much as I do.

Taking a hike.

Scoping out the pumpkin selection every time we go to the grocery store.

Harvest decor hunting at second-hand stores to find adorable things like this scarecrow.

Missing the old tree in "Grandma's Park" and climbing it with the cousins.

A strangely strong urge to play football...that really only comes once a year for me.

Soup in bread bowls.

New board games and real quality time with family.

Feeling oddly excited about going to school...because it's Autumn. That's what we do, right?

Cinnamon rolls, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon candles.

And an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for blessings that just keep flowing and flowing.