MarathonFoto

My pictures from the marathon were posted on MarathonFoto this morning. I'm thinking that no one looks very attractive when they wake up at 5:30 AM and then run 26.2 miles. This is Joe's favorite picture - and yes, I am giving a thumbs up. That was me pretending that I was feeling okay.

Home again.

Our Vegas trip has concluded and we are back in Pittsburgh. We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to first class for our flight back - Joe has "silver" status for US Airways and was able to take me with him to enjoy the large seats and free drinks!

Here is a picture of the sunset over Lake Las Vegas last night. It was gorgeous!
Also, there will be more Vegas pictures to come! Suzi just needs to email them to me...just a friendly reminder. :)

We did it!

Suzi and I are sore and tired but we ran all of the 26.2 miles to complete the Las Vegas Marathon! Katie finished the half marathon as well! We all started at 6:07 AM to the Viva Las Vegas song and fireworks as we ran 6 miles down the strip and to the suburbs of Vegas. Katie and I were able to run together through the first 5.5 miles until the half and full marathons split.

It was incredibly difficult and while running, I promised myself never to repeat such an agonizing event. In the end it was a great experience but I think I would prefer to just stick to the half marathons from now on.

Airport Taxi

We're in Vegas! I knew it was going to be a little chilly but I was still surprised by the mid-50's weather. I have only been to Vegas in the middle of the scorching summer where the sun is unobstructed and beats down in the desert making it 110 degrees.

Yesterday, Joe and I were up at 5:30 AM and ready to seize the day. Usually we might adjust to the 3 hour time change, but this time the trip is short and it is advantageous to be on an early schedule since the marathon will start at 6:07 AM tomorrow. We met up with Suzi and Jon who had arrived the previous evening and then we started our tour of the course (we want to be mentally prepared). After the 26 mile loop, we picked up our race bags and bib numbers and then enjoyed a Sushi lunch before picking up my Mom at the airport.

After she checked in to her hotel, we toured the strip as we walked from the Monte Carlo to Treasure Island. After dinner, we headed back to the airport to pick up Katie and Joe's parents. With it being 8:30 PM, I was exhausted and was finally happy to get in bed.

To Vegas!

Joe and I are headed off to Vegas tomorrow morning. After many months of training, Suzi and I will finally be running our Marathon on Sunday. Since so much time and effort has gone into this race, we are looking forward to finishing it. The marathon isn't really a race for us (we know we will be far behind the 1st place finisher), it's just a challenge to see if we can run the 26.2 consecutive miles.

Mini Closets

The cubbie holes in our bedroom are finally done! I think it was worth the wait because they look great and will be very functional.

sEWWWage.

Here is another house problem I forgot to complain about:

A week or two ago, our garage started to smell horrible. I thought I had a dead, rotting pigeon on the bottom of my tire - that's how unpleasant the stench was. However, we discovered that the culprit of the putrid odor was the sewage backing up into our garage...ewww, gross.

After further investigation, we found that the plumber had messed up and caused this issue. Therefore, we will continue to have construction going on at our house. Does this kind of thing happen with all new homes? Always a few kinks to be worked out before all is well?