Find Your Happiness

Last Saturday, I ran my first 5k with Hubby! We ran the Color Me Rad when they came to Columbia, SC. The idea is you start with clean, white clothing and they throw (both dry and wet) colored corn starch on you as you run. Dean actually left me after a little over half a mile because my slow  pace was hurting his knees. He finished his run then met me at the finished line (10ish minutes later), where we crossed it together. The beauty of this 5k is it isn't time! Their rule is you just have to finish before the sun sets :) I was supposed to run a similar one with my sister last July ( The Color Run ) but our Indiana trip was cancelled because I was in the process of losing Elijah Damaris . We and another married couple friends actually ran this for Elijah and Ruth James  and hope to do run for them every year.

The past couple of weeks (especially the weekends) have been quite full. But definitely one of the highlights is my husband running the Augusta Half Marathon yesterday. Unfortunately (fortunately, maybe?), Dean finished sooner than we anticipated so Nathaniel and I didn't see him at the finish line! Dean finished at the top half of his age group and 300-something out of 1100+ runners. I don't have the exact specifics but I hope to update this once he comes home from work today. And then we went to grab greasy, fattening burgers for lunch afterwards, which seems to be becoming a marathon tradition. When Dean ran the Big Sur International Marathon last May, we went to Phat Burger in Monterey, CA. I am not a burger fan but I could eat their Mushroom-Swiss burger every week.  The boys fighting over chocolate milk Linking up to:   Mellow Yellow Monday Smiling Sally: Blue Monday Communal Global: Tuesdays Around the World

After the 1 Mile Bulldog run , we stayed and partook of the activities. Nathaniel played golf. Although, he treated it more like hockey.   He also watched the recruits do their pull-ups. And of course, he had to show them how it's really done!   There was also face painting but since Nathaniel has uber sensitive skin, we opted to have it done on his hand just in case. He is obsessed with "py-er" (spider) right now so we thought this would be appropriate. There was also a military dog demonstration show but I was too busy clinging tight to my toddler to take pictures. All in all, it was a great day and Nathaniel took an especially long nap that afternoon and slept really well that evening :)

This past Saturday, Nathaniel ran his first run! He ran the 1-mile Kids Run at the USMC Bulldog Run event. As you can tell with the photos below, he was so excited to get started! We had to remind him several times to stay behind the starting line while we listened to the instructions but he was just ready to go, go, go! Nathaniel really enjoyed the run. He loved the wind blowing through his hair, running faster than the other kids and "chasing"/catching up with the ones in front of him. I think my husband just found a marathon-buddy :) But he eventually got tired (especially after going up-hill) near the turn-around point and Dean had to carry him the rest of the way through. But Nathaniel was such a motivator! He kept cheering his Daddy to run/jog. We did put him down near the finish line so he could finish the race himself. And of course, running a mile can be exhausting and makes you ravenous...