The Marathon!

Well, today I started and finished my first marathon. It was rough, but I completed it. I was aiming to not walk and make it in 4 hours. While I did walk about a mile (part of which were for the drink stations) and stop to help a girl that fell down about three quarters of a mile before the finish, I still managed to complete the marathon in under 4 hours (a finishing time of 3:57:49). I am proud of myself because it was a tough course. There is a killer hill that runs from mile 6.5 to mile 7.7. The only thing that got me up the hill was that I saw Kaylee up at that top! I stopped and gave her a kiss...and it made it all better! ;-) I finished 15th for the women (out of 103) and I am proud of that! Mike and I kicked butt! :-)

Ahh the world of VAQ 129! and other stuff

Well, Clay found out today that he will not be going to the June boat. The May boat was cancelled and all of the guys that would have been on the May boat are being pushed back to the June boat, subsequently pushing Clay back to the next boat (in August). He is a little saddened by this. He was really looking forward to getting to fly more and get to the boat. He hasn't flow since last week and now that the other guys have been pushed back, he will probably continue to move extremely slow. Who knows when his next flight will be. Such is the life in VAQ 129.

My work has cut back on my hours. Things are slow...we will see where I end up with this job and how things play out in the next few months. I may be unemployed or working very few hours in the next months...who knows. Hopefully, things will pick up. It's unfortunate that such a good company (for the local community and to it's employees) is facing tough times because of the tough economy.

The marathon is Sunday! Crazy to think about. I am a little (read a LOT) nervous. I am trying to not think about it. It's just another run. I just really don't want to walk and I REALLY want to do it in 4 hours. The course is insanely hilly though (insanely!!!!) and it may prove to be a limiting factor on my ability to tough it out. We will see! :-)

Other than this...not too much going on. Kaylee is getting big and trying soo hard to talk. Her vocab is growing (though it takes a lot to understand her). She says yes, no, wow, eat, mom, dad, woof, milk, and a few others that I can't think of at the moment. If you really listen, she can say some colors: red, blue, green. She also points to her head and says head, ears, eyes. If you ask her where her ears are, she points to her head (same for eyes and nose and lips). :-) We're working on it lol. She's just so fun and I am amazed by how our love for her grows soo much everyday! She's absolutely beautiful. :-)

I got an iPhone!

Well, I have been patiently waiting for the special day when AT&T finally would give me a discount on a new iPhone....today was that special day! I really wanted a white one, but they didn't have any. At first, the plan was for me to get Clay's old iPhone and him get a new one...but I thought that was a little unfair and I didn't want a handme done phone lol. So, Clay settled and will get his bigger spaced iPhone in November when his special date comes around and I got to get my new iPhone all to myself! I even got a special purple/pink cover! ;-) Sooooo excited!

22 mile run yesterday morning

Well, Mike and I ran (walked .75 of it because I just couldn't hang any more) 22 miles yesterday morning. It was tough. I definitely slowed down A LOT during the last portion of the run. It makes me a little worried about the marathon....but I will finish the marathon (even if it kills me!!!). My original goal was to simply run the whole thing and then I got a little ambitious and pushed my goal up to 4:30 and running the whole thing...then I got really ambitious and decided Mike and I could do it in 4:00. Hmmm....I am not sooo sure about that any more! I definitely think the 4:30 is still capable but I am not naive and I know it will be difficult. Hopefully, the adrenaline of the race will get me through the last portion of the race. HOPEFULLY. Otherwise...I just might die! ;-)

Greunke Happenings

Well, it's less than a month away until the big marathon day! Crazy to think about. I have run 19 miles so far. We're going to try for 22 next weekend. It's tough, I am not going to lie. I had hopes of doing the marathon in 4 hours, but I am starting to really rethink that goal. A 4 hour marathon time means a 9:09 average pace. That's not exactly tough, but the hills on this marathon will be the death of me! It's a really tough marathon course (much much much much tougher than my half-marathon course which was flat). I have run 16, 18, and 19 now and I tend to hit a huge wall around mile 15. I don't stop and I usually stay at pace (though yesterdays run we slowed down immensely) but I just don't know if I can keep it up for another 7 miles! That's crazy. So, this next weekend's run will be a good testament to what I can do since we'll be getting in the 20's. It's purely a mental thing, that's for sure. So, I have decided that this is my first and last marathon! After a half - marathon, you feel good. After 19 miles, your body feels like it's going to callapse and your bladder feels like it's been tortured! I think from now on out, I'll stick with the half-marathons!

Clay's sister, Erin, should be coming to visit us soon! I am excited about that. She came back in November for work and she has to revisit to the cite she worked at in November, so we get to see her again! I am excited. It should be fun. Hopefully, it'll be nice, sunny, and warm when she comes.

Clay's mom is coming sometime this summer. I am also excited about that. She hasn't seen Kaylee since December so it'll be nice to have Kaylee see Grammy again. :-)

Clay should start to fly any day, hopefully, since he is slated for the June boat. Hopefully.

That's about all that we have going on right now. Nothing too exciting!

San Fran tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow Kaylee and I are boarding a plane to San Fran to meet Siobhan, Emily and some other Lemoore girls to celebrate Siobhan's b-day and run a 10K together. I am so excited. :-)

Our new front yard!

Some before pictures of the yard:




Some beautiful after pictures: