Just wanted to give a little re-cap of my weekend. It's long, and no pictures are invovled in this post, but I think in the end, you'll thank me for that.
Saturday started out great. We went with some friends to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin festival in...Half Moon Bay. Leah was all dressed and ready to go in her halloween costume (pictures of that to come). Due to miscommunication, some of our friends didn't leave until later and we never met up. Also, the main reason we wanted to go to the festival was to go to a pumpkin patch. Buuuuuut...the pumpkins are all at patches on the 94 leading to the actual festival...not at the festival. This I didn't know...so we walked through downtown Half Moon Bay and perused many overpriced crafts and art with three kids in strollers. Not the place to bring a stroller. There was a costume contest at 10 that we missed...and a parade at noon, but we didn't last that long. Oh well, we'll know better next year. We're skipping the festival and going straight to the pumpkin patches.
After the festival, we drove up highway 1 (beautiful, yes, but i was sleeping along with Leah). We stopped at Baker Beach, just west of the Golden Gate Bridge to get our family pictures taken by the one and only Julia Wade. Visions of the perfect family shot, all members smiling and looking beauitmous with the Golden Gate shimmering in the background were thrown right out the window as Leah decided hitting, slapping, pinching, biting and SCREAMING were all better ideas. At the end of the shoot, we let her crawl on the sand while Ryan and I got some shots taken...she was happy as a clam. I could have strangled her. I didn't, but I could have. Hopefully Julia's newfound photoshopping skills will come in handy??? Again, pictures to come.
After the photo shoot, I was planning to go shopping in the city with Julia and go and get our race packets for the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Yay for the Nike Women's Half Marathon. I hadn't eaten anything all day...or had anything to drink for that matter (not a good idea the day before running 13.1 miles). So, I decided to steal Leah's applesauce (come on, I knew Ryan wasn't going to feed it to her while driving and they were going home!). Then I had some water. I didn't feel so well. I went to the restroom on the beach and then got into Julia's lovely, clean rental car. I didn't feel so well. I let my stomach settle for a few minutes and then off we went. A few minutes out, I really didn't feel so well. So much that I undid my seatbelt, rolled down the window and lost all that sparkling water I had just drank. Lovely. For those of you who know me, you know that I can count on ONE hand the number of times I have thrown up. Food poisoning last year, anethesia when Leah was born...and before that? I was seven. Yes, seven years old. And yet, I did. The good thing about throwing up is that it does make you feel better. And it did...until we got to the parking garage. I got out of the car and I didn't feel so well. I leaned against a post and lost all that applesauce. Lovely.
Poor Julia. She says, "At least I'm one of those people who doesn't want to throw up when watching other people throw up." And then she said, "Do you want a breath mint?"
Um, yes please.
Off we went to the Nike Women's expo. I really was feeling better. And, there was nothing left in my stomach, so I shouldn't throw up again, right? I should have learned from the aforementioned anesthesia incident...I don't need anything in my stomach. We went to H&M and I had to step outside. Luckily, the fresh air calmed my stomach. Then we stopped by Burger King and I got a Sprite (haven't had one of those since China!), and it really did calm my stomach. Then we went to Forever 21...and I had to step outside. Fresh air did the trick again. However, if you know this Forever 21, you know it's three stories high and you can't get out super quickly. So, on the third floor, as we were checking out (with some darling new dresses, coats and necklaces in tow), I needed to step outside. I crouched by the elevators while Julia held my things in line...and things turned out okay. We went to the Nike store...and things were still good. Yay, Sprite! Then we headed home...and I didn't feel so well. I lost the Sprite all over third and mission...or somewhere nearby. ALL of it. My stomach would not stop until it was gone. I think passersby thought I was heavily drinking at 3pm. On our way home Julia got pulled over for talking on her cell phone while driving (against the law in CA), only she wasn't and Officer Garcia could see that by looking at her cell phone call log. When I got home, I lost whatever else was left in my stomach in the kitchen sink. Poor Ryan. He is one of those people who does want to throw up when looking at someone else throw up. He quietly took Leah to the other room. :)
Ryan hadn't eaten all day either, so he went to In'n'Out. I really felt like a shake and I was starving from having had nothing to eat all day. The shake was good...and it settled...and STAYED settled! Then I had half of a baked potato and went to bed.
I got up at 5am to drive to San Francisco and had one of the best running days of my LIFE. I powered up all the hills and felt GREAT (and this course has a lot of hills!). Unfortunately, Kaylynn and I somehow lost Liz and Julia (who were just behind us) a few times...so we pulled off the road to wait for them. The last time we did this only to find that Liz was using the facilities while Julia ran on ahead. We didn't see her and thought she bonked clear back on the course and we were all super worried. After at least 10 minutes, Liz said for us to run on and she would find Julia. I finished the last mile and a half of the race faster than any other part...i seriously was sprinting at the end and had tons of energy! It turns out, Julia did run on and didn't see us waiting on the side of the road, so she finished alone...not knowing we were waiting for her! Oops! Glad everyone is okay and finished well. I'm taking 15 minutes off my official time due to waiting and I feel perfectly fine about it. :) Julia, did you know I came in just 2 minutes after you?? We were close that whole time!! All throughout the race I kept saying, "I might be tired, but I DEFINITELY feel better than yesterday."
What a weekend.
DO go for the academic look.
Do NOT not do your hair (to my credit, this is a just-out-of-the-tub 'do).
Do NOT do a jig in only your mucklucks and a diaper.
Do wear your new orange squeaky shoes EVERYWHERE beginning the second you get out of bed ("Shoes? Shoes?" is the first thing she says every morning).
Do NOT sneeze when you are already sick. 
Do NOT do a jig in only your mucklucks and a diaper.
Do wear your new orange squeaky shoes EVERYWHERE beginning the second you get out of bed ("Shoes? Shoes?" is the first thing she says every morning).
The beautiful picture of my cramped leg ended up being a video instead, so it is no longer. The only thing Julia so graciously omitted in her post was how different the last 6.2 miles were for each of us. She was on wings and was only held back by my cramped legs. I guess we helped each other at different points in the race...which is why I would never run a marathon alone. :) 
I don't have pictures of the actual marathon...but I will soon. Julia and my former neighbor, Sue, had their cameras. In a nutshell, we were bussed to Staten Island at 5:30 am, got there just before 6:30am and we didn't start running until 10:20am. So, for approximately 4 hours, we shivered our rears off. Seriously...I think I expended so much energy just trying to stay warm. That canNOT be good for your muscles just before you run 26.2 miles.
We saw the Empire State Building...
Ground zero...
NBC studios...
Then we went to a hilarious show called Altar Boyz...it's a spoof on boy bands about four catholic altar boys (matthew, mark, luke and juan) and their jewish friend (abraham) who start a boy band. We were rolling. 
On our way out of the show, we saw Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) leaving from his show, Equus, next door. He's the one in the center of the photograph with a hat on. He was so nice and signed tons of autographs before he got into his car. And he's so small!
On our way home, we spent some time in Times Square as the election results started to unfold. So if any of you were watching on television, we were waving to you. :)
Wednesday morning, we caught a bus (through Harlem) back to the airport. I kid you not, people were just going home after a night of celebrating our new president-elect. I think New York likes Obama. I think. 
After the race, I'm going to be a completely nerdy tourist with Julia and Morgan for two days - times square, China town (canal street!), little Italy, MoMa, statue of liberty, rockefeller plaza, ground zero, manhattan temple, statue of liberty, empire state building, wall street, greenwich village, Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, the list goes on...
The favors:
The loot:
Happy Halloween!
the siblings...yup - definitley the shortest...
And an accidental picture that I LOVE...
