An Early Birthday and our Adoption Race

This past weekend we traveled to Ohio to run in the Cleveland Marathon!  Our original plan was to do the full, but for unforeseen circumstances we had to end up running the half.  I have to admit though, it was SO fun to run a race again!  Even going to packet pick up I told Dan that I missed this.  All the crazy runners testing out different gels and energy drinks and trying on really expensive shoes.  And then getting up at the crack of dawn to try to hydrate and eat before the race.  There is something about it all that I just love.  And Dan and I had so much fun with this race!  We weren't going too fast so we were chatting most of the time and talking to other runners, however most of the runners were pretty serious- they had their headphones in and they were set to go.  However we found a few who would joke around with us :)  And we definitely enjoyed the pace setters- they were probably our favorite.  Dan and I decided a goal one day would be to be the pace setter for the 5.5 hour marathon- they were cracking jokes the whole time and a 12 minutes pace seemed right up our ally.

All joking aside, it was super fun to run the race also for such a great cause- bringing our little kiddo home!  I love that running can unite so many people together for so many different causes.  And it was crazy how in our 30 minute bathroom line before the race we were able to share our story and met two people who had adopted siblings! It was so fun :)  We definitely want to run another race sometime soon- and if this adoption process goes long enough maybe we can do another one for our little boy or girl!  And we've decided that we are going to train only in the spring/ summer/ and fall from now on.  New York winter's were BRUTAL for training!

While we were in town we also decided to celebrate Jake's 3rd birthday a little early as well!  We would have driven back for memorial day, but we've been traveling the past two weekends and we couldn't make another long trip.  So, we bought some Mickey Mouse decorations and a cake, and hung out with our family.  AND, Dan's brother and his wife surprised us all and flew in from Colorado!  So it was so fun having them in town as well :)  What a huge blessing it is when the whole family is together!  It's so rare these days :)

Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!