Montana - Part 3

A few pictures from Glacier National Park....it was breathtaking!

Montana - Part 2

Montana Part 2 shall consist of pictures from the Missoula Half Marathon.

Mike graciously 'volunteered' to get up super early (somewhere around the time of 4:45ish if I remember correctly) and drive us to the start line....and then quickly learn his way around the course to find the perfect places to snap some in action photos.

This was us right before we got in the formation at the start line. The sun was just starting to come up and it was just beautiful. And you might notice that we're in North Face jackets...Nat gave me one as a gift and they were perfect since it was chilly that morning.

After reading about 1000 blogs on review of half marathons and marathons, I decided that I wanted to be one of those people who run with a camera. So I bought an ifitness belt and stored lots of goodies in it for the race. I got the double pouch belt so i put the camera in one pouch and some sharkies and a gu in the other.


This was my first attempt at taking pictures while running. Nat is a little blurry but you can see by the smile on my face I was having the time of my life. It was such an amazing feeling to set a goal with your best friend and then 7 months later...after training separately on opposite sides of the country to be in the moment and realizing...I'M RUNNING A HALF MARATHON! I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling from that morning.


This was one of the many shots that Mike captured during our race. After the race Mike told me he could always spot us because my hair was swinging from side to side....I guess you can see what he was talking about in this picture.




This picture was around mile 9 or 10....we were starting to get tired and put in our ear phones to pump us up and keep us moving.

The finish line was amazing! There were people everywhere, cheering and clapping. And as you were approaching the finish line they were announcing your name. At the very end Nat and I kicked it up a notch and ended up finishing strong. Mike, Josh and Madalyn greeted us at the finish line with huge smiles. It was perfect.

Our official time was 2:52:14...and I'm proud of that. We really just wanted to finish and to say that we'd finished it in under 3 hours. We definitely left some room for improvement for the next one.

I can officially mark the half marathon off my bucket list! :)

Montana - Part 1

Last Friday we headed down to the Atlanta airport bright and early to catch our flight to Montana. We had been planning this trip since January so we were very excited that July was finally here. After sitting behind Grandpa poopy-pants the entire 4 stinky hours (some old man farted every 5 minutes...literally), we finally made it to Salt Lake City for a quick layover. Then it was onto a smaller plane which took us up to Kalispell.

I had the great idea to pack my running stuff in a carry on...that way if they lost our baggage I'd at least have my running gear for the half marathon. Well, Delta didn't seem to find it a priority to find a spot for my carry on and took it from us and made us check it. I just knew my running shoes were going to end up in Honolulu (which is where that plane was headed after Salt Lake City). Sure enough, when we got to Kalispell my carry on bag was no where to be found....I was in a slight panic. All I could think about was the horrible blisters I was going to have from buying new running shoes. As it would turn out, my carry on made it on the next flight from Salt Lake to Kalispell. All that worrying for nothing....

Anyways, Friday afternoon we picked up lunch from Quickee's, a delicious little sandwich shop in Whitefish. After lunch Natalie showed us around her cute little town and then we headed up to Big Mountain where we went on the lifts to the top of the mountain. I guess I should mention that I typically am not afraid of heights...although being on that ski lift made me VERY nervous. At one point Mike raised the bar about 1/2 an inch and I couldn't think straight I was so scared. I think I might have cried a tear or two. Of course, he laughed at me and I made him promise not to tell anyone. After that I had the death grip to the bar, just in case my oh so funny husband was shooting for another good laugh. Once we got to the top we stood in awe of the beauty. It was just beautiful.

Saturday morning we all piled into the car and headed down to Missoula. It was a 3 hour car ride but we were in good company AND the scenary was just beautiful as well. We got out to take pictures a few times.

Once we got to Missoula, we checked into our hotel and then ventured over to the expo to pick up our race numbers. It was a disaster. The line to get it clogged and they ran out of women's half marathon shirts. I had to sign up for them to send me my shirt via mail...I hope I get it.

Part 2 - coming soon.