Visit from Grandpa Jack and Denver Marathon

This weekend we had a nice visit from Grandpa Jack. We were very thankful he made the long drive out to Colorado to visit all of us. Grandpa Jack arrived on Friday afternoon and left Monday morning so we were able to spend some great time with him. Ava had lots of fun sharing her bunk beds, coloring, going for a bike ride on the High Line Canal, and playing outside a bunch with Grandpa Jack. This picture cracks me up that Ava and Dylan are both squinting so bad from the sun and Ava even has sun glasses on. Here we all are enjoying the very, sunny warm weather we had this weekend. We spent lots of time outside enjoying the sun.

I thought this was a funny picture of Ava and me trying to help Dylan make it up a very small hill. You'd think by our efforts of pushing him that it was some grand hill but it wasn't. I think his wheels were just stuck on the lumpy grass.

On Sunday I ran in the Denver Marathon and finished 5th overall for the women out of 2500 racers and 1st in my age group with a time of 3:07. The day started out at 52 degrees with a little chill in the air and quickly warmed up to 83 degrees so it was a little warm for runners, but great weather for spectators (you can't tell from this picture, but there was a good amount of spectating this year).

I'm happy with my race but I was also pretty bummed because I just struggled a lot with my breathing because I had been battling the Swine Flu the week before. It's hard when I think I could have ran faster as I had been running faster splits in my long training runs, but I have to remind myself that I was only about 90% better from being sick. Yep, Dylan and I were confirmed with the Swine Flu the weekend before my big race so I was bummed, but glad I was able to finish even if the medic tent had to give me oxygen after I crossed the finish line. I had goose bumps from head to toe so they wheeled me into the medic tent. My oxygen levels were low from coughing during the race. I REALLY dislike running pictures (nothing attractive about running pictures), but if you look close you can see my red hanky that stayed with me the whole race for my runny nose.

My family was amazing during the race and I saw them soooo many times during the race which was really fun and encouraging for me. I'm not sure how they made it around the city so fast to cheer me on, but I was VERY thankful for all the cheering from Simon, Ava, Dylan, Grandpa Jack, my Dad and Mom, Karen, Thomas and Liz too. Thanks so much for your support. You guys were awesome! Looks like I'm just going to have to run another marathon in the next year to reach my goal time.

P.S. If you follow our blog you may wonder how Dylan and I had the Swine Flu again, since we thought the whole family had it in Lake Powell, but we must have had something else just as miserable or worse on our vacation. The pediatrician confirmed that Dylan had the Swine Flu after we brought him in with a 104 temperature and then I got sick a few days after staying home with Dylan. Simon never got sick and we're thinking Ava may have had it before Dylan but just a mild case but we're not really sure.