Halloween Hanging

I love Halloween (although with no kids we don't get terribly involved with it - apart from the candy of course!) I did make this hanging thing though. It started with some Teresa Collins paper I bought at Inspiration Unlimited that was on sale for just 25 cents a sheet - and for this hanging I only used the 1 sheet. The paper was pre-printed with all the circle accents so all I had to do was punch them out and ink round the edges. As for the pumpkins, bats and spiders I cut them using my Silhouette machine. Once everything was cut out and ready to go I simply stuck the shapes back to back on some green/white twist twine and screwed the tiniest of hooks in the ceiling to hang it. Love it! (and I might have to do a variation of the same thing for all the seasons now I have a hook in my ceiling!)

My 1/2 Marathon debut!

Still on a high that I did it! And in a time I was super pleased with. Back when I first thought about it I figured that I just 'wanted to finish it', then 2.5hours would be acceptable. During training I figured a 10 min/mile pace was reasonable so a time of 2hrs 11mins would be pretty sweet. My SECRET hope was that I would actually run in my 10km race average pace of past which was a 6min/km which would give my a finish time of 2hrs 6 mins. So Whoopee!! Beat that! Seriously thrilled with my first 1/2 Marathon time. And yes, I fully intend to say 'first'. Honestly I loved it, and yes - I see more 1/2 Marathons in my future.

Things I remember.....

• Saying to Chris in the car on the way downtown that I didn't want it to start off raining - I didn't care if it started raining once we'd set off but not for the start
• As we turned the corner into City Park we heard the gun go off for the full marathon - meaning it was 1/2 hour till my start
• In 30 minutes I had to go pee twice and whilst waiting in the (mammoth) queue the second time it started POURING
• that running in the rain is sweet......it means that no-one knows that your nose is running and you're dribbling :-)

I felt strong and steady throughout. The course was super flat which makes it easy to pace but I didn't overly push it since I wasn't sure what to expect - just got into my rhythm and went. Chris kept popping up in various spots to cheer me on and take photos :-) Never quite sure where it was going to be but kept me eager to see him. Miles 5-7 were along the lakeshore and it reminds me how blessed and happy I am to be living in such a beautiful place (rain and all!) At around mile 5.5 Chris's boss shouted out and cheered me on - quite unexpected! At mile 6 we passed the turning in for the finish of the 10km (and to think that's what I'd originally signed up to do!). The second half I zoned out a bit. My Nike+ device stuttered then stopped recording my time and distance so I had to reset (disappointing as I no longer had a total distance or pace being tracked for posterity) My right knee was complaining at me by mile 10 (in a subtle way which I was happy to mostly ignore). I saw Chris one final time at around mile 11 and then I knew it was the final stretch to the finish line. A short blast back along the beach to turn in for the finish. I knew the clock time was somewhere in the 2hr 6mins (knowing that I could knock a bit off for my actual chipped time). I even managed a sprint to the line! Though when the guy just handed me my finishers medal rather than placing it over my head it was probably a good thing as I was quite likely to throw up over him (always get a really nauseous feeling after even just a short sprint!). Even though I'd looked up to see the time I'd read it without 'reading' it so wasn't exactly sure what I'd ended on - just knew it was 2hrs 6mins-something.

End stats;
Clock time - 2.06.42
Chip time - 2.04.39 which gave me an average pace of 5:55/km

Happy with that!

(and for the record, no this does not mean a full marathon is next. I seriously admire the committment and training required for that. Just training for the 1/2 gave me an insight into that much...but I will never say never.....;-)

Smiley Faces!

Finally Saturday was the day! After months of waiting we got the call first thing in the morning to say the weather was co-operating! And that was the understatement - it was a beautiful autumn morning - we really couldn't have asked for any better! The Hot Air Balloon trip with Okanagan Ballooning was a gift from my Mum & Dad for Christmas so a somewhat belated celebration! But oh so worth the wait!

You couldn't help but be happy when you look up and see the great big smiley face!!

I expected it to have been cold and we were ready to wrap up to the elements but there's no chance of that with a bloomin' great furnace blasting over your head. I'm sure I could smell singed hair! But as John the balloon pilot reminded us - fire is our friend!

I also think I imagined a less than dignified bouncy landing. As if....we just plopped down right next to the Air Traffic Control Tower at the airport - much to the excitement of the traffic controllers and us both! (and after we were all unloaded we got a special visit up to the top of the tower for a little looksie!)

And polished off the outing with a glass of local bubbly, pastries and fresh strawberries.

Thank you M&D - a fabulous gift we thoroughly enjoyed!