Portland Marathon, baby!

The first weekend of October brought about a much anticipated trip to Portland!  We were going out to run the marathon (my first since April 2013!!) and visit with one of my roomies from college, Beth and her family! We were also taking a very independent 15, almost 16 month old on a long plane trip, so needless to say this trip brought about a variety of emotions!

All I can say is it was THE BEST weekend away!  Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with the boys, alleviating that stress for us, and Gemma was a perfect little angel for the trip.  I mean, she had her little moments trying to express her frustration being cooped up in a stroller or my arms and forced to sleep on the plane, but she really did fantastic and it was such a great trip.  I had so much fun seeing Beth in her home and hanging out with Laney and Ben.  It's trips like this that make me wish all my good college friends still lived in the same town!  We would have a blast with our kiddos and families and I'm beyond grateful for the friendships.

Marathon morning!!!  We had to wake sweet Gemma to get out of the house and on to Max in time to get to the start.  She was a champ.  As were Christian and Beth for joining me in this continued craziness that is my running :)  Beth and Gemma bonded over the race, as Christian kindly jumped in to run 3 miles with me at mile 20.  Again, huge blessings for me on both accounts!

The race was really tough.  Emotionally and physically.  I hit my wall for both around mile 9, which is SUPER early...like the earliest I've ever hit it in a marathon.  I kept on til about mile 15 when the 3:40 group passed me, at which point I just stopped.  I was contemplating alcohol and pot (obviously kidding - long story ;) ) but pressed on and figured out a new game plan for my last 11 miles.  My half time was a 1:44, so I was cruising (I mean double that - a 3:28?  killer time), but made it through and ended up with a 3:48:46.  I'm overall pleased and just so happy to be done.  First marathon in 2 1/2 years, so felt nice to get back in the saddle, so to speak.  After the race, we ended up climbing lots and lots of stairs (see below pics) post dinner.  You know, cause running 26.2 wasn't good enough for the day, hahaha.

LOVE this pic!  Love this girl.  Fun times!!

The next day we headed just a few miles out of Portland and were in the beautiful mountains!  We headed to Multnomah Falls, and they were just gorgeous.  Gemma did pretty darn good for being out and about all day long.  And the days before too.  Fun to be with just her and be able to sightsee a little bit.  Dean also took off work, so that was awesome, as we were all able to go out while Ben and Laney were in school.

Gemma might have been ready to take a nap in a crib, or roam free, either/or at that point, lol.  And below is Dean planting my gift from the Portland marathon - a free tree seedling!  Can't wait to get pics of this little guy growing :)  We ended our time on a double date as Beth's sister came out to watch the kids.  We had a yummy dinner and checked out VooDoo donuts.  Great way to end a great mini vacation!

Apparently Portland airport just got new carpet (eerily close to the old carpet) and there was an outrage about it!  So much so that they were selling memorabilia for the old carpet, lol.  Awesome.