Races and Backhoes

I ran the Little Rock half Marathon Sunday morning. It was a chilly 26 degrees at race time, but nice and sunny. We had to hurry to get this picture before the race. The cycles were getting ready to start, so the pic isn't great but I got it. Kev is such a great sport. He didn't complain at all about standing outside in frigid temperatures. Once the race started he walked back to the car. His only job was to meet me around mile 6 to take any clothes that I had shed and then again at the finish line to take pictures. I bought the professional ones from the St. Jude Half, but good god they cost a small fortune and they don't even send you a picture just the download.

Anyways. Once I started moving I started warming up. By mile one I had taken off my ear warmer and by mile 3 I had shed my jacket. My hands and wrists got a little chilly later but not enough to want my jacket. I bought some arm warmers and think they will be perfect for these kind of situations. As you can see, I crossed the finish line in my sports bra. I know, it's not the most attractive site but I don't care. I had been running for over two hours and I was HOT!! The heat was making my poison ivy itch. 

I finished in 2:22 a new PR for me!! And I've told you how I "train", so I was really proud of myself. I ran the first 3 miles in under 30 minutes and was able to keep my time under 11 minutes a mile until the last two. I kept wanting to stop and walk those last two miles. My foot was hurting and I could barely lift it up or feel it, but I really wanted to finish under 2:30 since I had already done so well.

Afterwards, we went to eat and help dad at the land. Well Kev helped dad. I tried to stay away from the fire and any thing that may have looked like poison ivy.

Now that all the trees are down you can really see the amazing views. The view of the horse pasture and it's rolling hills is just a pretty as the lake.

Dad instructing Kev on how to use the backhoe.

Dad would knock down a few trees with the backhoe, cut them up, and move them to the enormous wood pile or should I say wood piles. Sometime once we get moved in we are going to have to rent a log splitter for the weekend and split them all. 

Pile #1

Pile #2 Pile 

#3 is the one we stacked last weekend.

Now to dig out the ridge and level it out.