Steamboat...hanging and racing

We spent a long weekend up in Steamboat. I ran the half marathon and Jon ran the 10k with the two kids in the double jogger. We had a bunch of friends up there and our friend Brian also ran with a double jogger and one of Brian's kids alongside. This is my second year running the Steamboat half - last year Shoshi was only four months old so it was no surprise I knocked a good amount of time (13 minutes) off last year's time. I finished in 2:02 - a few minutes slower than Ft. Collins about a month ago but a much more enjoyable race since this time I ran the first half at a little slower effort than the second (which is what you're supposed to do). The second half has a couple of miles of good climbing (over 400 feet according to my garmin) so my actual pace was pretty steady (about 9:18/mile, also according to my garmin). Sometimes after these runs I'm so worn out but this time I felt great...which makes for a much more fun afternoon.

After the race we all hung our for awhile (I always love the post race festivities!) and cheered on some of my friends who ran the full marathon.

Other than the race we did a lot of swimming, a little hike with the kids, hanging with some of friends that were up there and just spending some good family time. We marveled at how much easier traveling with the two kids is compared to next year. We love this weekend (and I love the race) so much we're planning to make it a family tradition.

We had such a fun time but it's always nice to return home. And the best part is that after a month of a fair amount of travel (fun family trips and for work) I look at the calendar and see a few weeks of staying here which gives me a feeling of calm. It's really great for us to see everyone all over the country and while Spencer and Shoshana travel well, there is nothing relaxing of packing and unpacking a family of four and taking these two little guys on the road long distances (and missing work of course has its own issues for Jon and I when we return.) We're ready to enjoy some mellow summertime activities. We joined a club that has a great outdoor pool and I so look forward to hanging there with our kids and our friends and anyone that wants to come visit! (and of course running...the twin cities marathon isn't that far off!).

As I posted last week, we send our good thoughts to the folks in South Dakota who are experiencing terrible flooding. We know that everyone there has spent their time comforting and helping friends who may lose their houses...we're thinking of all of you and hoping for the best.

Here's the whole gang. Lots of racers, kids and strollers!

Here's me coming into the finish with Spencer cheering me on

Spencer did some running along the 10k route. Here's his boo boo from one of his two wipe outs. His buddy Owen also ran sporadically and had a few good wipe outs of his own. We need to get Spencer a new pair of running sneakers!

Cheering on the marathoners. Here we are waiting for my friend Amy who won the marathon for the women.

We stayed in Steamboat Sunday night and had a really fun dinner and then celebratory ice cream!

Shoshi LOVES ice cream. She couldn't eat it fast enough.

After picking up our race packets on Saturday we met up with friends and the kids ran around and rode the alpine slide.

My friend Jeannene joined us at our condo Saturday night for a pre-race pasta dinner

Sunday we took the kids on a really short hike. Here we are a the beginning.

We called Shoshi "weekend at Bernies". She got pretty chill when we put her into this hiking backpack.

Dolly came along on the hike!