Half Marathon Reports

I feel like I've been quiet for a long time. Here is something I've been doing with my time--lots of running. I've also had a hard time with pictures, so sorry no pictures to show. I am running 3 half marathons this year. The first one I ended up running pretty much solo, but it was a great experience. It was the Pasadena Half in May. The first 10 miles were in the rain and it was a pretty hilly course. However, the long uphill ended in an almost 2 mile downhill for the end of the race. The rain and the nice long downhill at the end left me feeling pretty great at the end of the race. I finished that one in 1:53 and in the top 100 finishers for the women.

Pasadena Stats:
Finish time: 1:53:47 Pace: 8:41/mile 5K: 26:19 ( 8:29)
Overall: 383 out of 2473 10K: 52:44 (8:30)
Women: 99 out of 1418
F 30-34: 14/248



My second race was the SF half marathon that I ran with Ben, Heidi and Les. They all started at the 5:30 start time. I did the second half, so I didn't have to start until 8:15. That was so much better. It was also a pretty good race. I got a little tired and cramped up at the end. It wasn't as much fun as Pasadena, but it was very scenic and there was a lot of support. Here are my stats for that race.

SF 2nd half Stats:
Finish: 1:55:48 Pace: 8:50/mile 1.6m: 14:01 (8:46)
Overall: 1105 out of 4243 6.9m: 59:58 (8:42)
Women: 339 out of 2365
F 30-39: 119 out of 795

Next up: LB half Marathon October 9th!

Amanda's Quilt

Quilt top rescued at estate sale for very minimal price. Sewed an extra strip along side of quilt and hand-quilted it to match the rest of the pattern. Sewed binding to edge of quilt and was able to finish it in time to give Amanda for Christmas. It was already a beautifully hand pieced and hand quilted piece of work, but since it hadn't been finished it was in like-new condition. We already have too many quilts in our house, but I know she would appreciate it.

Kitchen helper

I got Jakey some of his own kitchen utensils and he is proving to be very good at making --and tasting brownies. At first he mixed pretty well, only tasting a little bit.

Then it turned into a crazy batter eating free for all.

Superhero capes

A couple of capes made for a birthday party this weekend. There is only 1 birthday boy, but I thought, what fun is a cape without someone to be your sidekick, so I made one for his sister. They are personalized with their initials.

Velcro closure for easy-on and off. Made from half vintage and half M & L fabric.

Halloween magic

This year Jacob was old enough to enjoy all of the Halloween festivities. He decided to be Spiderman for Halloween more than a month ago, so I was able to get most of his costume secondhand. The only thing we had to buy in the store was the mask. Here he is preparing to dive into Candyland.

He also directed the pumpkin carving this year. He wanted a mad pumpkin and a happy one. This was the mad pumpkin, and it won for scariest pumpkin at our annual Halloween pumpkin carving party.

Cool finds

I haven't been posting many of my finds on my blog, but I have been finding a few really cool items. We have a great little used bookstore near our house and I go there often. I try not to go too much because I find too many great books. However, I was glad I stopped in a few weeks ago because I found these beauties. I have them listed in my shop right now.

This one actually sold a few minutes after I listed it. It is a beautiful fairy tale book with very unique illustrations. I almost couldn't part with it, because I love the style of the illustrations. However, I have a ton of fairy tale books that I don't read, so I thought I would just list it. I hope I don't regret selling this one.

Remember this old toy? I loved my Spirograph. I filled paper after paper with these crazy drawings. They never looked as good as the ones on the demo though. I found a bunch of these at a church rummage sale, but I held back and only bought 1.

Spiderman!

Jakey knew that he wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween months ago. This gave me time to scout out the best costume--which I actually found at his daycare yard sale. When I first got it, he couldn't be parted from it, not even for a quick wash. It was pretty cute. Then, he got out his Spiderman coloring book and wanted to try out all of the poses. He also realized from looking at the Spiderman pictures that he was missing the all important mask, gloves and boots that would make his costume complete. Today, Nate found a mask to go with his costume at a Halloween store, so his costume is complete.