10K

Who knew that I would love running this much? I certainly never did until I started training for the 1/2 marathon & now I can't quit running LOL

I did my first 10K on Sat at Unionville High School, it was a fundraiser for their soccer team and they did an outstanding job. They had spotters at every road to tell us where we needed to go and then there were kids riding bicycles checking on everyone.

I was so thrilled with my official time being 70 minutes 36 seconds. I had told Michael the week before that I really wanted to finish in that time but would still be ok if it was a little over, never really believing that I could finish in 70 minutes, because that's an average of 11 minutes per mile. I knew I could keep that pace for about 3 miles because I do that twice a week at the park but wasn't sure I could for the entire 6.2 miles.

I had asked Dawn to come with me so I was excited when she said she would. Her daugher Hanna decided she would do the 5K which I think is awesome since she's only 9. She was so excited when she got 2nd place in her age division and got the medal to prove it :)

When we got there we saw Melissa who had been training with me at the park and it was funny that Levi knew her too. I was so proud that Michael & Levi went with me to cheer me on :) Michael originally wanted to meet up with me about half way but his friend Jeff was there so he ended up talking to him the entire time which was fine because he was waiting for me at the finish line.

Ride to Panama City Beach, FL

We had planned this trip for several months & was so excited when the day finally arrived. We loaded the bag on the back of the bike and left out at 5:30 on Thursday morning. We met up with Pat Robertson, Brian Patterson & Shorty Mangrum at Laws Hill Store. We all rode to Fayetteville to meet up with Timmy & Gayla at Hardee's. It appeared there was some rain coming so we all made sure we had on our rain gear except for Timmy since he had given his to Gayla.

We never imagined we would be riding for 486 miles in the pouring down rain & it taking us 12 hours to get there LOL All we could do was laugh about it though & everyone was really good sports about it. We arrived at some part in AL & Timmy decided he would go into the next Wal-Mart & get him a rain suit. When we stopped he was soaking wet from head to toe lol He grabbed some pants, went into Wal-Mart, got a shirt, towel & rain suit. He changed clothes and we headed back out again.

I don't have any pics of the ride down but here's the first one that we took when we first got there, you can tell we look tired lol

There were already a ton of bikes there when we arrived so it was neat looking at some of them but honestly we could have had just as much fun without the bike rally.

We decided to go to Hammer Head Fred's to eat supper.

Tim & Gayla

us :)

Pat, he was missing his Rhonda

This little man was too funny. He is 74 yrs ago & we all thought he was in his 60's.

After supper we rode up and down the strip just a bit & then we took a walk on the beach, it was so nice & peaceful. I took my shoes off & started rolling up my jeans and they all said really I'm not doing that but within a few seconds they all did lol

Friday morning we got up and got something to eat then rode to the Verizon store since my phone wouldn't work, they wouldn't allow me to get a phone without paying full price so I was without it all weekend. We then came back to where all the vendor booths were and strolled through several of them. We decided we would eat lunch at Margaritaville and goodness those nachos

We had some when we went to Vegas & these were just as good, Timmy & Gayla ended up getting some too and it actually kept us full for the rest of the day.

We then rode with Brian, Cindy & Pat to the other vendor area

Brian & Cindy

Pat

All colors, shapes & sizes of bikes

This handsome guy was standing outside Dick's Last Resort Restarant

Once we got back to the hotel we decided we would hang out in the hot tub for a while & then it was time for bed. I don't think there was a night we went to bed before midnight & we were up at 5:15 every morning so it was a fun filled mini vacation.

Michael & I watched the sun rise & it was breath taking.

Timmy loved going through this tunnel, it took us from one side of the road to the other but I think he loved the echo from his bike lol

My love :)

We found a really nice lady to take our pic and yes we were the only 2 people on the beach that had on jean & boots but hey we were bikers for the weekend :)

Gorgeous puffy white clouds, one of the reason Michael & I love riding so much, you get the full view of God's creations!

Since it was raining we got both of these pics on the way home, yes Michael was kind enough to turn around and go back toward FL just so I could take this pic lol

We left Panama City Beach, FL and headed up to Newnan, GA to visit with some friends Allen & Teresa Beiriger and oh my goodness we had so much fun!

We got way better service at the Beiriger Hotel than we could even begin to imagine! She had all kinds of food waiting on us and the spread was way more than we could all eat. We laughed so much and really could have stayed there another night because we had so much fun. It's definitely a trip we will make again.

After Thursday's rain we couldn't have ask for better weather and we were all blessed to arrive back home safely.

13.1 Music City Marathon

It was a very exciting day for me on Saturday, especially since this was my very first marathon ever. We stayed the night at the Embassy Suites on Friday night. It was late when we got there so once we parked & checked in we immediately tried to find somewhere to eat. We decided on Amerigos it was within walking distance of our hotel. We've never ate there before but both really enjoyed it.

Sat am we had the alarm set for 5:45 but I was awake around 5:00 because not only was I excited but I was anxious for the day. We were supposed to meet a crew at 6:45 at the Parthenon but goodness when we got there it was so many people there was no way I was going to find my people LOL I ended up calling Brenda & thankfully they were headed our way so we ended up getting a group pic.

Before heading out the door of the hotel

looking at over 30,000 people that were fixing to take off

Standing in the crowd of people that were waiting for our time to start

I was supposed to be in corral #14 but decided that I would jump in so I could go ahead & get started. It was the most incredible, wonderful & amazing day! I started at 7:17 am and once our corral took off it was so emotional. I took about the first 2 miles and just soaked it all in.

I thought the water stations were a mile apart so by the time I go to the 4th water station I was thinking I was way behind with my time. While going through a neighborhood I see mile marker 6 so I ask a young lady if this was really the 6th mile & she looked at me like I had lost my mind & said yes. I was like YES I've made it further than I thought LOL

I tried to text Michael every time I saw a mile marker so he would know how far I had gotten little did I know that he was trying to find the best spot to meet up with me to take a pic :) I didn't hear my phone ring but as soon as I saw he tried calling me I returned his call. He wanted to know how far I had made it & I said I just past mile marker 9, he said well look for me because I'm between 9 & 10. I kept looking and was so happy to see him standing way away from me. I held up my hand to wave & he waved back so I knew then I would get my "your doing great & keep it up" hug from him :)

He followed me for a while & took several pics but then said he had to hurry back to the hotel so he could take a shuttle to the finish line to wait on me :) I got to mile marker 10 and had to take a potty break not even thinking that it would mess with my time lol There were several camera people at mile 11 but then I never saw another marker sign so I had no idea how much further I had until I got to the bridge that we use to get to the Titans games then the run was on because I knew the home front was just minutes ahead.

The spectators are truly amazing everyone standing  on the sides of the road with signs, cow bells, drums, screaming & hollering "keep it up", "You are doing great" it really just keep the stamina going & know that you have people that don't even know you cheering you on. I seriously think everyone needs to experience this at least once.

Seeing the 13 mile marker was one of the greatest feelings that I've ever felt because it was just a feeling of satisfaction and knowing that while I'm 40 yrs old that I finally did something I've wanted to do for several years now. It was wonderful to know that all the training I did paid off because I wasn't nearly as tired or sore as I thought I might be :)

Just crossed the finish line & didn't even think about the medal because I wanted to see Michael :) I had to go back through & get it though, it's gorgeous & something I will always cherish!

Without Dave I would have never even been involved in a 1/2 marathon but with his encouragment I decided I could do it.

Here are my results :) Pretty thrilled that I finished in less than 3 hrs :)

St. Jude Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Marathon

– Half Marathon Results

April 28, 2012

Participant Detail

Finished In:

02:53:55

14850

Angela Newman

LEWISBURG, TN

Age: 40 | Gender: F

5 Km 35:11

10 Km 1:14:55

Pace 13:16

Chip Time 02:53:55

         

Donation for Christy's fund raiser

I was excited when Christy ask me to help with a donation for her fundraiser for Sixty Feet.  The pics aren't real great because I used the camera from work but I think you will get the idea :) There were 4 plain cupcakes with assorted "sprinkles", 4 sugar cookies with various colors of icing & the cupcake pan, the sprinkles fit nicely into a baby food jar & I covered the lid with fabric and that wonderful stuff called Mod Podge. I hope the little girl that gets these enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them :)

Camping on Spring Break

The boys & Michael decided that spring break would be a great time to go camping at Fall Creek Falls, granted we tent camp so I just kept thinking about how cold it was going to be. I have to admit that even though I got cold on Thursday night, Friday & Saturday nights were wonderful.

We had a great time hiking, riding bikes, paddle boating with lots & lots of family time. We love our boys so much and we realize that while Levi is 17 and Triston is almost 15 there aren't going to be many more times that just the 4 of us are able to go on vacations.

We met a couple from Brentwood that were really nice, a guy named Frank was a couple of sites down from us and then we had "talk to himself guy" right beside us.

Triston was wonderful following me on his bike for 8 miles so I could still get my run in while we were there. Honestly when I finished I felt really good even though it was all up & down hills. It made me feel really good when Triston said "Mom, there is NO way that I could have ran like you did." Michael rode the bike a couple times around but didn't want to hurt himself so he stopped. It was a great opportunity for Levi to get some papers done for school that were due on Monday.

Friday went did some hiking then we went to the inn for all you can eat seafood buffet. They wouldn't allow me to get a veggie bar this time around though which kind of made me sick because there's no way I ate $21.95 worth of food but whatever, the veggies were still good.

Sat there were lots more people that filled up the campground so we rode around & looked at campers, hopefully there is one in our near future :) We did more hiking & paddle boats which included a race with Triston & I winning :) That night we went back up to the inn to listen to some story telling and some blue grass music, it was ok we'd preferred the music over the story telling.

We took our own fire wood but Levi took it upon himself to scavenge more for us :)

The boys tents all set up & they both did their own.

Michael finishing up our tent. I'm so proud of how he did,it had only been a week since his surgery.

Our "kitchen" area

Our "home" was at Section B #71

We did lots of sitting around the fire

The big falls had more coming out of it than it normally does.

Love these guys :)

Levi was all about posing for pics :) there are several of him doing just that.

Levi's first attempt at chopping wood, he did a great job. I forgot to take a pic of Triston chopping his though :(

The Cascade Falls were running full blast too and that water was so cold.

Michael took pics of Triston & me in the other paddle boat so I really need to get those from him.

The boys did a great job watching after Michael while we were hiking and also at the campsite, trying to keep him from picking up anything heavy. We had a great time but I was glad to be back in my bed Sunday night :)