Trip to Michigan

We visited Michigan last weekend so we could celebrate Sharon's birthday and Brandon could go salmon fishing. He had a great time with his dad and brother and the girls relaxed, visited the splash park with the kids and had pizza and the cutest little cupcakes for Sharon's birthday. Christina and Cale ate with us too and loved getting to see them--miss watching little Cale grow up! He's a little Troy!

The girls love sleeping together in the basement although they both ended up sleeping with one of us. And they love seeing Poppa and Momma. Ava was following Poppa around all weekend. Sophia is still a little mommy's girl. She loves to give hugs and affection out. That is def. her love language. Ava's is quality time. Anytime we spend alone time together she is so happy and just brilliant. Momma and Poppa cooked a great dinner on Saturday--we had brisket, potato casserole, fried green tomatoes and corn on the cob. MMm!

We used Yelp on our iphones to search for food around Sylvania, Ohio and found Sahara on our way up. It was the best gyro I have ever had. All of the money went into the food-not decor! I had a greek salad because my stomach was so upset from being sick.

The morning we left I met Jess at Glacier Ridge at 6:30 am for a run. I got there early and got about 2 miles in at a great pace of 8:58. I ate a banana with chocolate GU while meeting Jess because I couldn't keep food in and the ran. But, I started feeling really sick, like the great Cap City half marathon of 2011. I bonked. I had almost zero food in my stomach, dizzy, and it was 80-plus degrees at 6:45 am. So frustrating having limits to what you can do while you are sick. Funny thing is I had just told Jess that running should be fun! Def. take a sick day when you are not feeling great. Or just run short and easy.

I swam in Michigan in a pond that had little fish nipping my leg. That was an experience. : ) I just looked at the water after the little fish bite and said, "Fish, you aren't going to keep me from practicing."

This morning I got a great, great run in early. I woke up at 5:30 am and ran 7 miles at 9:17 pace. And I had my first ever negative split for that long of a distance (running end part faster than beginning). I stopped for three water breaks and a chocolate GU.

On mile two, I ran up this hill overlooking fields in Marysville and watched some of the sunrise. What a beautiful way to start the day.