church | Living My Full Life

Hello and happy Resurrection Sunday! I hope everyone is having a great day today.

Yesterday I ran my fifth half marathon. Woo hoo!

Just A Short Run is one of the Pittsburgh area’s largest races, with about 2,500 participants each year running distances including the 5k, an 8.1 mile, half marathon, and 30K.

It’s time for me to confess: I originally signed up for the 30K, but dropped down the the half marathon a few days before the race because I was under trained. For the past two weeks, I’ve cut my mileage in half, and haven’t done any long runs. I felt bad at first, but I realized that life is all about knowing your limits!

My mom, sister, and I all headed to a park about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh for the race in the chilly 30 degree weather. Guess who I got to meet up with!

I finally got to meet Nikki from Life After Swimming. She’s so awesome and I totally wish she still lived in Pennsylvania!

Nikki even stayed after her 5k walk to cheer me on while I ran.

Thanks Nikki 😀

Race Results:

Time: 1:43:08 Pace: 7:52 Place: 2nd in 20-24 age group

I checked my watch, and it said I ran 13.5 miles, so that would be a 7:38 pace. Not too shabby! It’s not my fastest time (1:39:22) or my slowest time (1:46:16), so I’m pretty happy with how I did considering my fitness level (<— low.. haha), the weather, and the course. Honestly, I just feel happy any time I get a chance to run.

Hannah ran the 5k and rocked it! Her time was 25:26 (8:12 pace) and she was third in her age group.

After the race, I spent pretty much the rest of the day on the couch. Hannah, Jimmy, and I made deviled eggs. I honestly never had deviled eggs until yesterday. For some reason, I was craving them so badly, yet I had never ate them before. Can you crave something that you’ve never had before?!

For dinner, my mom and I made a delicious slow cooker meal that I can’t wait to share with you all. It will have to wait until my next post because going to force myself to do homework and then I’m heading back to church. Have a great evening!

What did you do this weekend?

Here’s my family’s new kitten, Felix! He’s now 10-weeks-old.

My mom and Hannah made a deal a few weeks ago: If Hannah could run a 5k within 24 minutes, our family could get a kitten. Hannah ran a 24:50 in a (freezing cold) 5k last weekend and we literally got Felix that night. No local shelters or humane societies had kittens, but we found one for free on Craigslist.

Felix is honestly one of the most relaxed kittens I have ever met. He’s already blending in very well with our two dogs and other cat, Lily.

Other random updates:

I’ve been making some care packages lately!

All of the the above goodies went into a care package for Jimmy. He was away for the whole week last week at a job site about three hours from his house. Because he’s a welder, he often has to work outside. I knew it was going to be freezing, so I packed him some hand warmers!

This care package and card is for a special friend who is spending some time dealing with something in Florida. I really miss her!

Other randomness:

I found my old grips from gymnastics! Grips are what a gymnast wears on their hands when they perform routines on the bars; they basically protect the skin on one’s hands from ripping open.

A few posts back, I mentioned rejoining gymnastics. I’m looking to sign up for my old gym’s new adult class that begins in March. The only problem is that not enough people have signed up for the class yet. If enough people don’t sign up, they won’t run the class. Hopefully people will sign up soon because the class is supposed to start a week from tomorrow!

Alright, that’s enough randomness for today. I’m off to get ready for church.

What are you doing today?