Massive Baby Update

Alright, so I have been slacking on the baby updates lately. I'll blame it on my pregnant brain, or busy-ness, or general sleepiness. We are all the way to 36 weeks now. It's hard to believe how fast the time is flying by. My OB appointments have been going pretty well. Tater's heart rates have been in the 140-150's at each appointment and is measuring right on track for my due date. The only big concern at this point is I've been having alot of swelling in my legs and feet. Yes, cankles are sexy! The doc says it's ok as long as my blood pressure and protein stay good, but I'm supposed to be putting my feet up more (take note Dennis!)I have been a very lucky girl and had 3 baby showers thrown for me. The first one was given by my sisters. They did a soup and salad lunch and there was a lot of people! They really outdid themselves and threw a great shower.Isn't this cake so cute? It was very tasty too!Everyone was very generous with the gifts. We hardly have to get anything because everyone gave us so much great baby stuff!My second shower was given by the girls at work. I got alot of books, diapers, and a pack n play. We had so much good food and had a great time.Of course there was another cute cake involved. I felt really bad cutting into the baby.
The last shower was thrown by my Buffalo friends. Again, lots of good food (everyone is making sure I'm eating well!) They really decorated up Kristin's house and everything was so cute.A fun part of the night was playing Baby Pictionary. This was Jodi's rendition of an epidural. All the pictures were pretty funny I must say...Preparations are underway on the home front too. We're getting everything put together and ready for when baby arrives. Molly is not quite sure about all this baby stuff being around. We are putting it in place and letting her sniff around and get used to it...hopefully then she won't be as traumatized.I have most of the clothes and blankets washed now. I figure this is the cleanest they will ever be right?
The nursery is almost done. I know everyone is anxiously awaiting those pictures. Hopefully it will be finished this weekend and we'll get some pictures up. In the meantime, we'll all start counting down the weeks instead of months. Yay!

Buffalo 1/2 Marathon

Today was the Buffalo Marathon. Back in the cold winter months, I had decided I was going to run the full marathon, but quickly the winter months kicked my butt and my training dwindled. I then decided to run the 1/2 Marathon, which is only 13.1 miles.  My younger cousin, Trisha, had told me early in the year that she was going to run the 1/2 marathon. So I told her that I would run along side of her since this would her first 1/2 marathon. I have two 1/2 marathons and one full marathon under my belt, so I figured I could help her along with her run. 

Well, in the last month or so, life got in the way of my running. Between work and preparing for Tator Tot, running was taking a back seat. I was lucky if I was running 10 miles a week. So there would be no way I would be ready to run the Buffalo 1/2 Marathon now. This past week I had decided that I would only run the last 6-7 miles with Trisha as moral support. That all changed again. When Trisha and Michelle arrived in Buffalo yesterday (Saturday afternoon, we headed downtown to the Marathon Expo to get Trisha's running packet and check out the course since it changed from last year due to construction season in Buffalo. 

As I walked into the Expo, I decided that I was still going to run the 1/2 Marathon. As I was signing up, I was thinking to myself that I was crazy and would probably hurt myself since I had hardly been running. Oh well, no guts, no glory, right?

I finished the race with no real problems, running the entire race without a walk break. Trisha did very well for her first long distance road race. She kept the pace consistent the entire race, which helped me run a smart race as well. Michelle followed us on a bike and was our personal cheerleader and photographer. Thanks for being there Michelle!

I was very pleased with my time of 2:09:57...only 10 minutes slower than last year (1:59:50),

which I trained for. That seems a little messed up, doesn't it?

Our results are the following out of 2054 finishers (Complete results can be found here):

Overall                          Gun Time      Group Place        Pace    Chip Time   

1223 Trisha Sullivan   2:12:01          118/220             10:05     2:09:57

1224 Dennis Hall        2:12:02          188/118             10:05     2:09:57

Here are some action shots from the race:

Before the race

First few miles...still smiling

Dennis starting to fall off the pace around the 11th mile.

Trisha at mile 12.

Dennis at mile 12...trying to catch Trisha.

Trisha with about 1/2 mile to go and still going strong.

Dennis still trying to catch Trisha as he begins to sprint with about 1/2 mile to go.

We did it!  

Nice job on your first 1/2 marathon finish Trish!

 Rochester is next in a few months!