Let the Races Begin

November 2-4th, 2012

Louisville, Kentucky

Lauren drove over to St. Louis to scratch off city 27: Louisville, KY.  Amanda came on this trip and invited her friend Claire to join.  What a great girls weekend away.

Saturday we decided we were going to the horse races.  I woke up early to get a quick run in before we headed to the mall to waste a hour.  Around 12 we headed for Churchhill Downs.  When we arrived we bought $3 tickets to the horse races.  There was going to be a total of 10 races Saturday and we didn't want to miss a single race.  When we arrived we were just wondering around trying to figure out where to go.  I stopped a man named Bob that ended up being a pretty big deal around there.  He ended up taking us all over the place.  He took us down to the Paddock where we met trainers, owners, jockey's, and horses of course!  We headed to the winner circle and just walked all over the place like we knew what was going on.  Before the end of the day we were in the box suites!  What a great day.  I didn't win any money, but I can sure pick a horse for someone else to win.  When I bet, some how I never won.

Saturday night we headed to a fun night in Bardstown.  That next morning we headed to Lynn's restaurant where anything weird is accepted before heading to Louisville Slugger museum. 

27 was a success! 

Football, Football, and Basketball

October 26-28th, 2012

Mahomet/Champaign, IL  Weekend 2

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Rachel's new house, but didn't get to experience Ty's flag football game or Illinois's game, so another visit was in store.  I love how close they now live because if you are keeping track this was 3 times in the past month that I got to see the little guys.

Saturday morning Rachel and I got up to run before heading over to a cold flag football game.  Ty had an outstanding game and even scored a touchdown!  Little coach Andrews (Beya) did a great job of calling the plays in.  I was so surprised he kept focused on the game the entire time!

That afternoon we went to the Illinois game and got to sit in the suite.  They had some great food in the suite and I ate and ate and ate.  It was a good thing we ran that morning because I stopped counting the plate full of chips and guacamole. For dessert we had strawberries in orange juice.  Right when I couldn't imagine anymore Rachel made a great spaghetti dinner.  That evening we headed to a basketball game before calling it a night.

Lots of sports and lots of fun! 

St. Louis Rock & Roll Weekend

October 19-21st, 2012

I don't seem to just go run for the fun of it.  I have to work at running and in order to inspire me to keep it up I always sign up for a race and then wonder the whole time why I did that.

This year I have decided to do my first Rock & Roll Half Marathon only if someone would come and watch.  Rachel, Ty, and Brady jumped on the opportunity for a party in St. Louis and away the training went.  Somehow I train so well and then race day is a different story.  This year I was very surprised that I kept to all my training, the weather was outstanding, and it was a great run on race day!  With all of these factors I had my personal best at 2 hours 11 minutes.

The Andrews came in on Thursday night so the boys were anxious for me to finally get off work on Friday.  We did our regular "party" stops with frozen yogurt before the boys found the Wii.  Mario Cart was a hit.  Saturday we headed to the expo by metro. It was about a four hour afternoon that should of taken less than 2 hours.  It was one of those items that Brady always asks to do, so it was a must.

After the big race we stocked up on some great snacks before heading to Forest Park to paddle boat.  This was a much better idea before running 13.1 miles. 

Thanks Andrews for coming and supporting my big race!  Love you guys!