Victory in the Fall

As a lot of you know, yesterday I ran the Grand Rapids Marathon for the second time. It turned out to be a really nice day after the forecast predicted rain and 20 mph winds. I had the best cheering section on the course: Ruth, Mom, Dad, Karlie, Mom Blaxton, and Dad Blaxton. Here is are some the highlights (and lowlights) of the race:

Miles 1-5 -- My friend Nate ran the first 5 miles with me on his way to doing the half marathon. It was great to have someone to talk to for at least a portion of the race.

Miles 10-12 -- This part of the race was in Millennium park, which is absolutely beautiful in the fall.

Mile 15 -- I panicked a little bit at this point in the race. I was starting to feel bad and compounded that with thinking "I still have 11 miles to go." After another 10 minutes, things got better and I found a good rhythm again.

Mile 17-18 -- I got to see my cheering section twice during this section of the race as it was an out and back portion. It was so nice having them out there to keep me going!

Mile 21 -- My feet started hurting terribly at this point, a problem that I ran into while doing long runs during my training. I tried to just gut it out and they actually started feel better by mile 23. It was also at this point that I got passed by a guy in basketball shorts, which Ruth keeps reminding me about.

Mile 25-Finish -- This was the best part of the race, I felt pretty good considering I had been running for over 2.5 hours. I got seventh place overall with a time of 2 hours, 44 minutes, 16 seconds. After the race, Karlie had to put my pants on for me which was quite amusing.

Overall, it was an awesome race. I was hoping to run a bit faster and maybe have a chance at winning but I just didn't have it. This is only my second marathon so I am not disappointed, I can only get better.

Finisher Medal


The man with his arms raised in the maple leaf is titled "Victory in the Fall"

It is the logo for the GR Marathon


Awesome shirt thanks to Mom & Dad Blaxton

Sorry, there are no action shots because no brought their camera as it was supposed to rain the whole time.

I am enjoying a day off from work today to recover. Ruth and I are quite the pair now that my legs basically don't work and she is 8 months pregnant. Let's just say we aren't quite as mobile as we used to be.

I am hoping to run the Chicago or Detroit marathon next fall, so I will be training again before you know it. Thanks again to all of my great cheerleaders and thanks to everyone else for your prayers!

A yummy snack

When we were in Amarillo this July, we had the honor of sampling Julia's homemade hummus.  We love hummus, but it's so sinkin' expensive that we usually only got it when it was on sale.  So, inspired by Julia, we attempted to make some ourselves.

This was the first batch that we made and I have to say, once we figured out that Tahini and Turmeric are two very different things, it turned out pretty good!  The night we made this, Chris ate close to the whole bowl and woke up tasting hummus and smelling a little like it, too.  

Since our first batch, we've pretty much gotten the recipe down and we've found that the blender does a better job producing the desired consistency than the food processor.  It's fun to make and much more cost efficient.  Soon we're going to try making some spinach, artichoke hummus...we'll see how it goes! 

Yay, Fall!!

Fall is seriously the best season, in my opinion.  The sports in the fall are fantastic, the weather is beautiful and refreshing, the food and drinks that are abundant during this time of year are delicious.  Plus, in Michigan (especially northern Michigan), we get to watch the trees transform into breathtaking colors before our eyes.

Emily and I went adventuring around Aquinas' campus the other day to take some pictures of these great fall colors.  Our timing wasn't the best and we'll probably have to schedule another outing in a week or so when more of the leaves have turned, but we did get a few good shots.

Combine romping around taking these pictures with my best friend, and Chris bringing home some pumpkin cinnamon/sugar doughnuts from the apple orchard, and that makes for a pretty dang good week :)  And to top it off, Chris is running the Grand Rapids Marathon on Sunday!  He's been training so well and he's in fantastic shape.  We're so excited to see how the race goes!  Say a prayer for him at about 8:00 on Sunday morning and maybe he can bring home a little hardware! 

Nuggetta Has a Name

The decision has been made!  We're naming our little lady Brenna Jean.  Brenna - a small tweak from Brennan, a Blaxton family name and my dad's middle name.  Jean - after Chris' mom.  I'm feeling very at peace with the decision.  We were tossing some other names back and forth for quite some time and nothing seemed exactly right, but then we came back to Brenna and we're convinced that this will be the perfect name for her.

She continues to grow and squirm more and more every day!  While writing this post I'm trying to catch her moving on video to post.  Of course every time I grab the camera she stops moving.

We've moved to doctors appointments every two weeks now instead of four.  At my last visit they did the glucose test and apparently mine is on the "high end of normal".  They say I don't need to come in for further testing for gestational diabetes, but I need to start avoiding carbohydrates and sugary foods.  Every time I want some pretzels or a different salty/carb snack I think about how much I don't want to deliver a 9lb baby and it usually works to diminish my craving.

We also started our baby classes this week.  Last night was the breast feeding class and the next three weeks will be the labor/delivery class.  We learned a lot of really cool things about the benefits and the whole process of breast feeding last night!  Chris was talking about how surprisingly interested he was in all the information and concluded that he wants to become a lactation consultant.  He was obviously joking, but I'm glad he's so interested and supportive :)

The nesting instinct has started to kick in for me and I've taken on a new project to satisfy my urge to get ready for Brenna.  A couple weeks ago I picked out fabric and a pattern to make all the bedding for her crib!  I'm confident that following a pattern consisting of mostly rectangles will be easier to follow than a dress pattern.  My friend Emily came with me to the store to help pick out the fabric (with Chris' permission) and it's a good thing she did because I would have been there for literally HOURS if I had gone alone.  Here is a picture of what we chose...

I'm really excited to get started on it and see how it turns out!

Well, that's all I have for now with Baby Brenna updates!  Now we just have to wait it out until we get to meet her!

Sugar and spice and all things nice

That's right, baby Leikert is A GIRL!!  We had the ultrasound this morning and it was so cool to see our little girl!  The tech. said that she was measuring a few days further along than we originally thought.  She weighs 14 ounces and we got to see her heart, brain, arms, legs, stomach, bladder, kidneys, spine, and face.  Here are some of the pictures...

The little arrow at the top right of the picture shows that she's a she!

Her head is on the right and body on the left.  The bubble is the umbilical cord.

And her sweet little face! 

She was throwing punches throughout the ultrasound so I know she's my kind of girl!  Get ready Colette, your best friend is on her way! 

Baby Leikert

So, as promised, I'm doing a baby update post!  Nothing too exciting to share (like ultrasounds photos or the sex), but after getting a number of posts of FB and a few emails I broke down and took a picture of my baby bump.  This picture was taken last Friday when I was 17 weeks and 5 days.  I'm now 18 week and 2 days and I feel  bigger than I look in the picture.  It feels like I get bigger each day and it also seems like something else aches every day (this scares me a little because I'm still in the 2nd trimester and that's when pregnant ladies are supposed to be the most comfortable...I can't wait to see what all hurts when I'm 8 months along!).  The first 12 weeks or so were pretty rough as far as nausea and morning sickness goes, but after that things got a lot better.  I lost about 7 pounds during the first trimester and I'm now 3 pounds heavier than where I started and the doctor seemed pleased with this progression.  I'm eating fairly normally now.  I have to eat smaller portions more frequently because I seem to get full quickly, then hungry again shortly after.  Aside from my feet/ankles swelling and hurting and my hips/back aching, I'm feeling really good.

We had a pretty huge milestone on Father's Day - I felt our little nugget move!  I'm sure that I had felt it before, but didn't realize what it was.  On Sunday night, though, we were watching a movie and I was still enough and aware enough to know what I was feeling.  It was really awesome for me - I just can't wait until Chris can feel it, too. Since Sunday, I've felt the little guy or gal squirming every day at least once.

Our baby is now about 5-5 1/2 inches from crown to rump (I love the measurement terms :)) and weighs a little over 5 ounces.  Chris and I love reading about the development each week!  On July 7th I'm scheduled to receive my first ultrasound and we are planning to find out the sex of our baby and if there really is only one in there :).  I'm sure there will be a post about that once we know!  I'm still crossing my fingers for twins, if not this time, then sometime down the road.  You all know me and how I love deals...I see twins as not only awesome, but a bargain - two babies and only one pregnancy!

That's all for now.  We'll keep everyone updated after the 7th!  Until then, Chris is running a race on Saturday and studying his booty off.  I'm getting settled into my new job at Gazelle and really enjoying it.  Oh, and we moved.  That was made possible by our fantastic families who did most of the grunt work while I pointed and made the food.  Our new place is so much better than the last...maybe that will be the next post...

Mackinac...or is it Mackinaw?

This past weekend Mom and Dad Blaxton, Tim, Jessica (Tim's wonderful girlfriend), and the two of us went to Mackinac Island for a day trip.  Chris and I were SO excited to go and it couldn't have been a better day!  The weather was perfect, 72 degrees and sunny, there were not too may tourists yet, and of course, great company!

We were a little worried when first pulled into the harbor to board the ferry...Mayflies were EVERYWHRE!  Every single car in the lot looked like this white one so we all made sure to breathe through our noses (at least most of us...Chris usually has some trouble with that).

After lunch on the island, we rented bikes - 4 singles and 1 tandem - and rotated throughout our ride.  Chris and I were the first on the tandem.  It's still up for debate as to the reason I didn't particularly enjoy riding on the back...either Chris really IS that bad a steering a bike, or I just couldn't handle not being in control :)  

We stopped and skipped some stones.  Who do you think has the best form?

Mackinac Island Public School Class of 2011 had six graduates.  Six.

Tim and Jessica were next on the tandem.  I have to say, as much as I didn't like Chris being in control of the steering, at least we didn't crash like Tim and Jessica!  I'm laughing right now just thinking about Tim on the back, "Whoa, whoa!  I'm not doing ANYTHING!"

Eventually they got the hang of it and smoked us all.

Mom and Dad were pros at the tandem.

I couldn't leave a post about Mackinac Island without some chocolate...

It was such a wonderful day!  We are so blessed to be able to spend time like this with our families.  Plus, it was a much more relaxed visit for Jessica compared to last summer during the wedding craziness!

Stay tuned for a baby update :)