Kansas City/ Half Marathon

Since I was going to be running in a half marathon in Kansas City, we decided to make it a mini-vacation for our family.  Our kids didn't have school on a Friday this last month so we left early that morning.  After arriving and picking up my race packet (Hayden's too - he ran the 5K!) we were able to visit the Lego Discovery Center.  Our kids loved this place!  My girls even want Lego's now for Christmas this year.




After a few hours here, we were ready to leave.  We visited the Hallmark Visitor's Center before checking into our hotel to get settled.  For dinner we met some people from our branch, who were also there for the race, at Buca Di Beppo's for dinner.  We'd never been here before so didn't know what to expect.  Yumm!  I loved it, so delicious.  Each family ordered some pasta dishes so we could carb-load before the race.

Early the next morning Dave dropped Hayden and I off at the start point.  Boy was it freezing!  It was barely 30 degrees as we met our group for some pics.  There were 4 people from our branch doing the full marathon, 5 (including me) doing the half, and 5 doing the 5K.  I have only ran one other race ever - the Deseret News 10K with my sister Jill.  That was over 5 years ago.  So I was a little nervous - especially since I had only ever ran 11 miles during our training.  But I couldn't believe the energy at the starting line.  It was amazing!  We were all excited and packed so tightly I didn't feel the cold.  I ended up running the entire race with my two good friends who I'd trained with: Jessica and Kathleen.  I was glad we could stay together because they helped me so much towards the end when I was running out of steam.  Crossing that finish line was the best feeling!  I felt invincible and just amazed at what I did.  After some pics with my friends, I just wanted to go to our hotel to take a hot shower.  After warming up during our run I started freezing once I finished the race.

Me, Kathleen, and Jessica

After showering, Dave and I took our kids to Jack Stack's BBQ for lunch.  Our boys now call this their favorite restaurant.  We all loved the wonderful BBQ there.  We then headed to the WWI museum.  We enjoyed going up into the tower and seeing the beautiful city of Kansas City.  We also enjoyed the exhibits.  Our boys liked all the guns!

That night for dinner we went to the T-Rex Cafe.  It was like the Rain Forest Cafe but dinosaur themed.  It had really good food and we had a great time there with our friends, the Cobia's.  We headed home the next morning in time for church.