Congrats to Tristan! He received a scholastic award for first grade! He didn’t get perfect attendance, because he has cool parents who believe that some things are more important than school — especially public school.
Today was the first time I’ve used vacation leave at the new job. Why? First grade field day!
Last weekend, Tristan and I ran the Al Toll 5K. It is on one of the largest inclines around. You pretty much run 1.55 miles uphill and then turn around and run back. I beat my time from last year by about 30 seconds, and Tristan took his 5K time (out of 2) down to 31 minutes. He won second place in his age group and was all smiles.
After running the Walt Disney World Half-Marathon and Marathon (literally 6 days after), I ran the Museum of Aviation Half-Marathon on Robins Air Force Base. I’ve always wanted to run this race, but every year it is days after the Disney race. This year, I decided I was going to do it. I initially thought about doing the full marathon because two marathons in one week would get me into a club called “Marathon Maniacs”. I later decided on just doing the half.
The Museum of Aviation race is the closest long race to my house. It’s literally 15 minutes away. The course leaves the museum, circles the flight line, and returns to the museum. I’ve lived minutes from Robins Air Force Base for my entire life, but aside from a few air shows, I had never been out on the flight line. That made this race a must for me.
I was doing extremely well, considering the races that I ran the previous weekend until about half way through. I was on track to score a sub-2-hour half-marathon but my legs started to KILL me. I’ve never felt pain like that during a race. Needless to say I slowed down. I came in at 2:19, which is my third best half-marathon. I’ve decided that I’ll break two hours in March at the Publix Georgia Half Marathon, or I’ll die trying.
The highlight of the race, by far was watching the F-15 perform touch-and-gos on the runway, which was only 100 yards or so from the race course. At times, I thought I could even feel the heat from the engine burn. You don’t get that close to the action at an air show! It was, by far, the coolest thing I’ve ever ran past during a race.
While I was running the race, Tristan ran his first 5K and did pretty well. My apologies for the lack of pictures. We forgot the camera!
Three years ago on Christmas, when Tristan was 4 and Mackenzie was just 18 months old, Santa brought them a shiny new red mustang.
Flash forward a few years. Now, Mackenzie is the 4-year-old and Tristan has outgrown the Power-wheels.
I’m actually amazed the battery has lasted this long!
Six more days until Christmas. I only have to work 3 of them, which I think is going to become 2.5. Yesterday my sister came down from Athens and we visited with her and her family. It’s my niece Elinor’s first Christmas. I gave Jennifer a DVD of all of the videos that I mentioned here. After I give my dad a copy, they will be on YouTube and available right here on this blog. This afternoon, we visited with Kimberlie’s family. All of the kids had a good time, and if these early holiday get-togethers are any indication, my kids will make out like bandits this year.
We’ve been to “The Fish Store” at least 5 times this season. I don’t really care for hunting, camping, or fishing (we stay in hotels and buy food at grocery stores) so we don’t go there often. We do, however, take the kids and let them get the free crafts and Santa photos.
Thanks Bass Pro Shops, even though I can’t find one thing in your store that I would ever buy!
I took these photos a week or so after Halloween (yes, we put our tree up that early!). I intended to get Christmas cards done, but I procrastinated and now I don’t really care about Christmas cards anymore. Lucky for you, my blog readers, because now I’m posting them here. Enjoy!
Enjoy your virtual Christmas card photo from our family to yours!
This weekend, we took the kids to the local skating rink. Both had been once before for a birthday party. Here are a few pictures:
On Saturday morning, I woke up early in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon. I thought we were going to some town in the middle of nowhere, but Fort Oglethorpe is actually a surburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee and was pretty well-populated.
The Chickamauga Battlefield is the nation’s oldest military park and the site of the second most significant battle of the civil war (after Gettysburg). While running the 13.1 miles though the beautiful park, it seems that these monuments are just randomly scattered about, but each one represents a historical site or moment.
The race was one of the best races that I have run so far, both in the organizational and logistical aspects of the event as well as my performance. The race is small compared to other endurance events. The field is limited to 1500 runners in both events. The weather was perfect and the amenities were plentiful. I cut almost 8 minutes off of my best half-marathon time. Although the race is considered by Runner’s World magazine to be the best marathon for families, my family stayed at the hotel just in case I didn’t finish by check-out time.
Next year, I hope to run the full-marathon.
After finishing the race, I returned to the hotel to celebrate Tristan’s 7th birthday. I can’t believe I have a seven year old!
To celebrate his birthday on the road, we stopped at Discover Mills mall near Atlanta and met up with my sister and her family. We played mini-golf and let Tristan crawl around in a hamster ball in a pool. That seems silly, so I’ve included the video below:
For the first time in a very long time, I forgot to take my camera on the trip. That’s why this post is mostly text. After leaving the mall, we shopped for a while, treated Tristan to a birthday dinner, and headed home where the rest was welcome.
My Latest Run
