Holy cow, is it Halloween today, or what? The weather in the UP couldn't be more Halloween-y. It's kind of cold and super windy, so all the dry, dead leaves are whirling around on the ground.

SO, today I went to the Pasty Corner on the way home from the grocery store for a little treat. I had two dollars in my wallet, so I figured I could get a few pasty nuggets (35 cents a pop- what a deal!). So, I went in and asked the guy if they had pasty nuggets today (you have to ask if they have EVERYTHING besides regular pasties before you order because they run out of everything) and he checked and said they had about nine left. I said I'd take five and ran out to my car to get some change to cover the rest of my bill. When I came back in, he handed me the bag which seemed very full and heavy for five pasty nuggets. When I got in the car, I checked and he had given me all the rest of the nine pasty nuggets and only charged me for five! What a great day!

I haven't been sleeping very well the past couple of days--- I think it might be because I haven't gotten back into a workout routine since the marathon and my body hates me. Needless to say, I'm really sleepy today, so I think Kyle and I, maybe Colby, are going to stay home and carve pumpkins, eat mini-fall-Reese's peanut butter cups and caramel apple slices, and watch The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown tonight. What a great Halloween.

Today is a beautiful fall day in the UP- finally! It's cold, but it's really sunny and pretty outside. The leaves are all pretty much gone.

I have been fortunate enough to have nice, indoor, sit-down jobs at camp for the past two days. For parts of yesterday and today I have been sitting in Kyle's office cutting up old t-shirts and towels for rags. While doing this, I have been listening to pandora.com. For those who don't know, pandora is a music website where you can enter an artist that you like and then the website creates a playlist, or "station" for you that plays songs that have similar qualities to your favorite artist. It is fantastic! Yesterday I put in Van Morrison and have been listening to James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, Joe Cocker, Dave Matthews, Otis Redding, Ray LaMontagne, The Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, CCR, The Band (and obviously, Van Morrison)... basically all of my favorite music!

Yay for Biggest Loser tonight! That Tracey is Cuh-razy!!!

I finished!!!
My official time was 5:42, a little slower than I had hoped, but I'm still really happy with it! I finished over a full hour faster than the last time I ran the Chicago Marathon! Guess I'll have to run another one to hit that 5:30 time!

I had some really great help along the way- I'm not sure I could have made it without them! First, I ran into Alicia and Krista at like mile 6, which was so fun and a major pick-me-up. Then, my Aunt Marilyn picked me up at mile 13 and ran to 17 with me, where my cousin Michelle picked me up and ran with me to 24, where we met up with my Aunt Marilyn again and my Dad. The four of us ran together just about to the finish line- it was so much fun!

I also had some really great cheerers! Thanks Wendy, Tristan, Skylar, Lynn, Gladdy, Leslie, Patti, Katie, Ben, Mom, Bill, Megan, and Scott! And everyone else cheering at home!

Here are pictures from mile 11:

Some of my superfans, Skylar and Tristan!

I was SO EXCITED to finally see someone I knew!

Look how reflective I am!

My Uncle Joe was at mile 25 and took some pictures of me and my crew- here we are!

From left: me (in pink), Dad (in black),
Aunt Marilyn (grey hoodie, black pants), and Michelle (white hat)

At the finish! Dad told me to "empty the tank" and I sure did!

More superfans- Katie and Ben

Again with the crew

My sweet medal!

I came home from the race, took a 15 minute ice bath, ate a Beach Club from Jimmy John's, and fell asleep for three hours. I woke up feeling super-nauseous, so I took another bath (warm this time, thank goodness!) and watched tv with Lynn. All of a sudden, the nausea went away and I was STARVING! I had Gladdy bring me back a beef from Jay's and ate the whole thing in probably two minutes. Then, I ate an entire bowl of soup and a king-sized Twix ice cream bar and went to sleep for another 10 hours... but not before taking this picture!

Brixton, Mei, me, Olivia, Grayden, and Skylar
(points of interest: Skylar's sweet volunteer jacket,
my cool Chicago t-shirt, and Mei holding my massage stick)

My prayers went okay. The race was much more mentally demanding than I expected and there were many times that miles went by before I remembered to pray for each thing, I made up for them when I remembered, until I met up with Aunt Marilyn at mile 13. I spent so much time talking with my family and they were so good at distracting me from my pain and stomach problems that the prayers fell by the wayside. I definitely finished praying for them today while I was working, though, don't worry!

Tomorrow morning I will be heading down to Chicago for the marathon. I am so excited for fun with Abby, coffee and chicken chili with Megan, going to the expo with my dad, and, obviously, the race!

This year I lost 30 lbs., became a real runner, stuck to a training program for this race for 10 months, found the job of my dreams, and realized that the best place and time to talk to God is while running. I am so excited to celebrate all of these things on Sunday and to spend about five and a half hours or so thinking about what will be next. I would really like to run the Disneyworld Marathon, run the NYC Marathon, and improve my 5k time.

I decided to take the 26.2 miles of my run and pray for one thing/person at each mile marker. I have about half of the slots filled. You would think it would be more than easy to think of AT LEAST 26 (.2) things to pray about, but it has not been for me. I am hoping to be inspired over the next few days to fill the slots. If anyone who would like to join me in praying for Covenant Point at mile 4 (which will probably be around 9:00 am), I think that would be really neat.

I was also inspired by John Bingham to come up with three goals for my race. They are as follows:
1. Pray for 26 (.2) things
2. Start out slow and finish strong
3. Be a do-er (to recognize opportunities God gives me to love and care for people and DO THEM!)

If you're interested in receiving texts or emails when I cross a few mile markers or if you want to run a few with me, call me, email me, or leave a comment!

Random post-camp pictures.

Stroms visiting

Berry picking with Skylar and Olivia

This girl is so crazy!


Kyle made me try waterskiing and insisted that I would love it.
I did not love it.
I hated it.

He still loves it.

One weekend Kyle, Colby, and I went hiking. We are clearly not good at taking pictures. We have three from that trip and I am the only one in all of them.

Reading The Red Tent. Loved it!

The next weekend, Erin came to visit. Again, no pictures of Erin or Colby. Sorry, guys!
We got delicious lunch at this restaurant and ate it by Lake Superior. Then we went to Starbucks, of course. We walked around downtown Marquette, got ice cream, ate at the Vierling, and drove home.

I love this picture of Kyle.

It reminds me of this picture.


At the park where we ate lunch, while we were leaving, Colby was walking ahead of us kind of strutting and reciting some movie line. This kid on the playground right next to Colby, who couldn't have been more than 7 years old, said, "Okay, seriously, you think you're like the coolest person ever." We DIED!

Below are some pictures from our vacation to Chicago several weeks ago. As usual, Kyle and I were not so good at taking pictures. And again, we spent an entire weekend with Nikki and Ryan without taking any pictures. We just have too much fun together to stop and take out our cameras, I guess.

On Tuesday, Kyle and I biked to Roscoe Village and read at my favorite Starbuck's. Here I am looking deliriously happy. Afterwards we went to Red Robin (Yum!) and Tre Kronor (for dessert. and Joe. and Kassi.) with Megan and Scott.

On Wednesday, Kyle, Lynn, and I biked to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. It was awesome- one of my favorite things we did this week!

On the way home, we stopped at Sweet Mandy B's (Yum again!) for some treats.

Later that night (I think) the boys helped Lynn make sugar cookies for the other boys (Caleb and Jackson).




On Thursday I did my 20 mile marathon training run. It was pretty fun. We found a really nice route that took me through Old Irving Park, past Lane, through Roscoe Village, and along the lake. The last couple of miles were brutal. I could barely pick up my legs to get them over the curb- if it wasn't for Kyle, I'm not sure I would have finished!

Ah, Starbuck's. I wanted to stop, but I kept on runnin!

Just a few buildings down, Lynn and Colby DID stop for breakfast at Kitsch'n- yum yum!

When I made it back to the Mecher's I sat in a bathtub of ice for 20 minutes, ate an entire beach club from Jimmy John's and took as 1 1/2 nap. All of those steps saved my life, I believe, and I will definitely implement them on marathon day... in just EIGHT DAYS! AHHHHHHHHH!

The rest of our vacation was really great. That weekend we drove to Nikki and Ryan's in South Bend and then drove to Cedar Point. Kyle was SO EXCITED for this part of our vacation. We went on our first roller coaster, the Millenium Force, Kyle put his arms in the air, and just over the first drop, his right shoulder popped out for the fourth time. I hated the coaster and was holding on for dear life the whole time, so I didn't notice anything was wrong until the ride was over. Poor Kyle rode the whole roller coaster like that! We ended up having to go to the emergency room and once we survived the kooky EMS people at Cedar Point, the ER in Sandusky did a great job of getting that arm back in quickly and Kyle seems to be recovering really well.

At some point, we celebrated my sister, Katie's EIGHTH birthday! Holy cow! I can't believe she's EIGHT! She got her ears pierced for her birthday and was so cute about getting tons of earrings for her birthday. I love my Katie and Ben!

I also stopped and visited Grandma Mary and spent some time with Aunt Marylin and Uncle Ken- so fun! Aunt Marylin changed my life by introducing me to "0 point" yogurts and "1 point" Hostess snack cakes on that visit!

The final stop for our vacation was at the hospital to see our new nephew, Emmett!

He's so precious. And Courtney looked fabulous! I hope I look that good after I have babies!