PF Chang's Half Marathon & Rohan's 3rd 1st Birthday Party!

I really think we look forward to slowing down when the work week hits!  This last week was crazy busy, but as usual, really fun.  Thursday, Heather & John took Rohan for the night and we met up with Sasha for a nice Indian meal at Delhi Palace.  We were boring as usual and headed back to home and relaxed without Rohan.  It's always weird to try and find our pre-Rohan groove.  Friday we met up with family at the PF Chang's Marathon Expo.  Mara's Mother, Holly, and Cousins, Cari & Krista flew in to run with us.  The expo was fun, and had a lot of good freebies so we loaded up on Gu, Clif Bars, and misc. other expo shwag.  Mara and I found an amazing deal and got $300 worth of running shoes for $100 at the RoadRunner booth ($130 & $170 Retail prices).  They had a "Worn Once" sale and we had been drooling over 2 pairs of expensive Saucony shoes that were both for sale for $50 each.  We can't wait to start running in them and see how they compare to our $40 Sauconys (ever the experimentalists).  Friday we hung out with the family for a bit, then headed to the Caldwell's where our friend Kara was staying while she was in town for the race.  It was great to see her again and catch up, since the last time was our wedding!
Saturday was Rohan's birthday party at Heather & John's.  He was a perfect kid the whole time, and surely didn't disappoint with the cake eating.  The Justin.tv broadcast worked out really well for whomever was available to join in and feel a little closer to Rohan.  I heard even cousin Sam got to sing Happy Birthday to Rohan with everyone...:)  You can watch some of the broadcast archives at the Channel: http://www.justin.tv/s/li/I4yWkqo/syring.  Just use Rohan's middle name for a password.  It was a great way to relax a little before raceday, as well as carb-load on cake & pasta...:)
The day of the race we met up with the family. John & Mara's Uncle Ed shuttled everyone and did a My Two Dad's daycare for Rohan.  They also lept around the course and we got to see Rohan at miles 3 & 7 (just missed them at mile 12).  The race was cold to start, but gorgeous after the sun came through the clouds.  Everyone had a great race, and we all felt awesome the next day.  Mara and I felt so good that we are committing to doing the full marathon next year!  There are photos below and more to come (as we get family pics sent to us).  A cool feature is you can watch everyone cross the finish line which is pretty fun.  Everyone looked great as they crossed!  You can search a last name or bib number HERE.  Mara and I finished in 2:15, which we felt great about.  It's a personal record for us both (our last 1/2 marathon was 2:37).  We are looking forward to training for the Dallas TX 1/2 Marathon which we'll run, but not in TX.  Travel & registration gets expensive!  We'll do the 12 week program and have a good, relaxing run on race day without the expense.
Monday I picked up Mara's Mom from Heather's and we met up with Mara for lunch, and then met up with Sasha at AZR.  Holly was a natural rock climber!  She did 5 climbs, topping out on each of them, and even did a 5.6 route!  We were really glad she gave it a try, and maybe Dan can set up a climbing wall on the side of the calf barn or something for her...:P.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend!  We got to slow down a tad once we started back at work & the hospital.  Maybe we'll find some time to get up to Flagstaff, AZ and catch some skiing or sledding sometime before all the snow is gone.


Fun With Balloon Static: