Vacation and Marathon Recap!

The girls st fisherman's wharf

We started out our trip with a 12 hour drive to Monterey California on Friday morning. The kids did great on the drive and it seemed to go by really fast. On Saturday my friend Lindy and I went for a short run around the town of Salinas and then we headed to Monterey to go to the race expo. It was fun going to a race expo with Sharon and Lindy this is only the second one I have ever been too. I ended up buying a white Big Sur shirt and a new pouch that fits on my water pack. Sharon, Lindy and I at the race expo

On Saturday night we ate at the California Pizza Kitchen so I could get pasta before the race and then we went back to our hotel so the kids could play in the pool while I tried to get everything ready for the race in the morning.

Going to the pool
I woke up at 3:45 am to get ready for the marathon and we left at 4:00 am in order to meet Sharon and get on our bus that would take us to the starting point of the Marathon. I sat next to Sharon on the bus and we talked for awhile and played with her watch until it started to make me car sick. I started to get really nervous, but when the race started I felt better.
The Marathon was great the weather was perfect, the view was great and it was really fun to run the whole thing with friends. Every few miles there was some kind of musical entertainment and they had really funny mile marker signs. I really liked the drums at mile 10 (they where right before hurricane point) and of course I loved the grand piano player that was around mile 13. Overall I thought the race was pretty difficult for me, but worth it. My knee hurt the majority of the time for some reason and the hills were hard for me, which was not good because I felt like the whole race was hills. The last mile I really wanted to walk but I never did, which turned out to be a good thing, because when I finished the race and tried to walk I was hard to move. Lindy and I finished together in 4 hours 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

Lindy and I after the race

After the Marathon I really did not feel well, but after I sat down for a little while I started to feel better, so we headed to the Monterey Aquarium for the rest of the afternoon. The kids had a blast looking at turtles, penguins, starfish, seahorses, and much much more. We ended the day with pizza, ice cream, an ice bath for me and then everyone headed to the pool for the night. It was a perfect day.

The aquarium

Going to the park

On Monday we took the kids to a fun park and then we went on the 17 mile drive around pebble beach. We stopped at a beach along the drive to let the kids play and to have lunch and a seagull flew by and snatched my sandwich right out of my hand (it was pretty funny). We finished the night by walking around cannery row, eating dinner, and hanging out with friends in the pool.

Our family at the beach

On Tuesday we packed up and drove to Disneyland and then we spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday walking around Disneyland riding rides, watching shows and just having fun. It was a great family trip that I would love to do again sometime.

Our group at Disneyland