A fun weekend of family time

The older I get, the more I realize just how much I absolutely relish in the time I get to spend with my family. Don't get me wrong, we quarrel and get angry at one another, and my family is just as weird and crazy as the next, but I love them and they are mine :)

Maybe it's because it's not too often that we are all together at the same time & place, so when it happens, it's a guaranteed time of laughter, tears, and endless jokes. This weekend was nothing short of that.

Me and my sweet Mischa

Friday night we all met up and Sis and Justin's house in Fort Collins. We lounged in the back yard for a couple hours having a few drinks and playing with the dogs before my sister's big night of graduating from Colorado State University. We were so proud watching her walk and receive her bachelors degree in Human Development and Family Studies. We didn't leave campus until about 10pm, but I insisted that we go out to celebrate her big night. We agreed to 'just have a beer' and go home as we were all feeling pretty tired. But the waitress came over with a tray full of shots that the owner was passing out to all the graduates (gotta love college towns). Well, the waitress also didn't want my sister to take a shot alone, so somehow I ended up with one in front of me.... The next thing I know, a couple rounds of shots later, Dad, Sis, Justin and I were walking down College Ave. to another bar where we met our cousin Jonathan to keep the "celebration" going. Needless to say, it was a rough wake up on Saturday morning. If I think I'm too old for stuff like this, my poor dad is definitely too old :) haha. We lazed around and hydrated, as I realized, it probably wasn't such a good idea to drink so much 2 nights before a half marathon....

So proud of you, Sis!!

my sis and future brother-in-law :)

Oh hey, cutie!!

Sunday morning, bright and early 5am wake up call. May 19th was the Colfax Marathon & Half Marathon. This was a big deal for me for a few reasons.

• The Colfax Half was my very first race I ever ran 3 years ago. It was that day in 2010 where I caught the running fever and kept at it, pushing myself to physical exhaustion that I never thought I'd ever experience and love.
• This was a goal of mine to be the race of the year that I hoped to break not only my own personal time record, but do it by running it under 2 hours.
• This was the first of all of my races that my family would be at to watch me finish.

I ran this course with waves of nostalgia, recalling my steps on this course 3 years ago and I couldn't believe what I allowed my friend Leigha to convince me to do...  Sunday's race was such a vast difference from the first time I ran. I was scared, I had no idea what to expect, no idea who I thought I was,  no idea if my little legs would even cross the finish line or if I would have to be picked up by a rescue truck; to this year when I ran with such confidence. I've done this before...I can do this, my body is strong, and I know what I'm doing :) Since that day I have completed 8 (official) half marathons, 1 marathon, and various other distance running events. And this time, my family was all there to see me cross the finish line and get my medal. It was truly one of the happiest days. I didn't break my sub 2 hour goal, but I did break my personal best time, with an official 2:04:47. It didn't happen Sunday, but I know one day I'll get there :)

such a perfect CO morning to run Colfax

What made me the happiest though, was just knowing how lucky I am to be surrounded with all the support and love from such an  amazing family. I'm so blessed with such a weird little family :)