Shamrock Half Marathon

a group of us that trained together during the winter tnt season, along with chris, ran the shamrock half marathon in virginia beach on march 16th. it was a great race...the weather was a bit cold and windy...but i still ran my best half marathon time yet (2:04:31). it was chris' first half marathon and quite possibly his last. he wasn't feeling so fabulous after running 13.1 miles....but at least he made it. i'm proud of him. :) directly after the race we hung out in the tent on the beach to listen to live music, eat stew, and of course drink beer! every runner received 4 free beer tickets...and then they just came around later and started handing them out to anyone....we had plenty of beer! not sure that's a good thing after running that many miles. it was a great weekend...see pics below. i'll be running my next half marathon in raleigh on april 5th...i don't think chris will be joining me.


right before the race...7 am-ish...laurie, delane, me, chris, jon, wil, meg.


the start...we're way in the back!


me.


me again...almost to the finish.


yay.


chris...on the home stretch.


i think he hurts...


yay...he made it!

the statue on the home stretch.

waiting to figure out what chris wants to do...go back to the hotel or drink beer in the tent...

asking him...do you want to go back to the hotel...or drink beer in the tent. it was a close call...as you can see he doesn't look too well...poor thing.

beer wins!

beer makes the pain go away.

me & meg.

wil, meg, chris.

meg on our way back to the hotels...

don't fret my pet...

that's what my mom said to me when i was worried about getting interviews for the genetic counseling programs. she's so weird ;) i think she got it from her sister, my pretty aunt gail (which isn't implying that i have an ugly aunt gail...just emphasizing the fact that i have pretty aunts...really just an all around beautiful family...i'm not being conceited, it's just the truth...haha!)...ok, anyway, what i'm getting at is that i shouldn't have been fretting. it's not march yet, but i heard from uncg yesterday...and have an interview scheduled for march 29th. woohoo!

and so, i'm back to waiting for word from the last 3 schools...

it's mai tai thursday at the beach...

;)

a step closer to #1...

i've finished all applications to school...and i've been waiting...very patiently. i ran into a few problems with gre scores and transcripts and paper applications (yeah, that's right...i applied somewhere that supposedly only had a paper application...that's another story...)...but it has all been straightened out. or at least i think everything's straightened out...

i received an email from uncg about a month ago stating that they have received all of my application materials and will be contacting me in early march...letting me know whether or not they would like to interview me. their interview dates are march 28, march 29, april 4, april 5. and so i wait.

i figured since uncg had the earliest application deadline, i wouldn't hear from any of the other schools until early march either. however, i have already heard from both uw-madison and wayne state. i'll be interviewing at wayne state on march 21...and wisconsin april 7-8. (yay!) chris is excited that i could potentially be a badger...i believe he has already found me a place to live there...lol.

in other news...
dad's doing well...although he's not really moving around much yet...

mom's addicted to freecell. haha.

chris had to leave on a spontaneous trip to "the beach." i got an email from him today...he's doing well. they went out on a friends boat today...apparently it was margarita tuesday at the bar on the sand bar just off the shore. they're planning to go fishing tomorrow for trophy marlin...but of course that all depends on the weather. ;)

my boyfriend's a pilot.

lol.

i've completed #100 on the list.

christian came home from "the beach" on friday...he was supposed to get home on thursday but then there was bad weather and they had to have some certain amount of rest time or something...blah blah blah...anyway, he finally made it home safely friday morning. yay! :)

he then rented a plane from burlington...and we flew down to florida to visit his friend tom (& tom's family). it was a nice weekend...cold, but relaxing. here are some pictures from the trip.

our plane.

the controls.

the view of the runway.

view from the front window.

view above the clouds.

another view.

and another view.

me.

and yet another view.

me and the pilot.

we had to stop for gas.

it was self-serve.

the view on our way home.

cows (and snow) in north carolina.

the runway in burlington...on our way home.

short video of our first take-off.

101 Update from 2007...

so, just wanted to give an update on my list...

#20...visit the u.p. as i'm sure you figured out...i visited the u.p. always a good time...and will be visiting again in august 2008 for sarah's wedding.

#51...went snowshoeing with the family while in the u.p....as i'm sure you could figure out from the previous post.

#64...put together the large santa puzzle that my parents have...again, you could have figured that out...not sure why it's on the list...but it was fun. :P

#75...visited my grandparents. it was great seeing my grandma s and my grandma & grandpa mc...i don't think i had seen them in over a year. and will hopefully be seeing them again in september 2008 for joshua & elisha's wedding.

#77...part of it anyway. i visited with my high school friends michelle, chrissy, and kristin over the Christmas holidays. it's always great to get together!

and many more to go...

brother & sister go to the u.p.

brother and i decided to drive up to the UP (that's the upper peninsula of michigan for anyone that's not familiar with michigan) for Christmas instead of flying...because my parents live in the middle of nowhere and therefore flights are not only outrageously expensive but after we would land we would have to drive about 3 hours. anyway, it saved us money...but really, i don't think i'll do it again...at least not in the winter time. we left friday afternoon and drove all night...arriving at my parents around 9 am saturday morning.

it was a somewhat relaxing week...if you met my nephew you'd understand why i say somewhat. he's the cutest kid...and i'm not just saying that because he's my nephew...he really is the cutest! haha. but he's 4...and therefore has the energy of a 4 year old. it was a great visit...got to see the parents, grandma & grandpa mc (they're usually in florida for the winter...so it was great to see them!), grandma s (didn't get to see her last Christmas...she's doing fabulous), aunts, uncles, cousins, and a few high school friends. there was a ton of food (literally, there was probably a ton..or maybe more), drinks, games, snowshoeing, a puzzle, lots of laughs, and a little computer 101. an all around good time. :)

this is the rental car...a dodge caliber. it was nice.

me on the drive up...it was freezing..brother has to drive with the window cracked...and once we hit michigan i wore my sunglasses...the roads didn't look as icy with the glasses...no, i wasn't driving.

the mackinac bridge. it's really not fun to drive over in the winter. i'm such a wimp!

that puzzle i was talking about putting together. it was one of my 101 things to do...

the puzzle. it's harder than it looks. seriously.

tristan.

christmas eve...after going to church. brother, sis-in-law, me, nephew, brother.

courtney, brandon, elisha, joshua...after christmas.

running from grandma. hiding in the closet.

hugs.

tristan and aunt courtney...singing about transformers. yeah, i don't get it either.

then we took a trip out to see the log cabin that my dad built (all by himself!)...it was beautiful!

snowshoeing. brandon, mom, becky, tristan, courtney, nicholas.

brandon taking calls while out in the wilderness.

the cabin.

the view from the loft.

i met up with some of my good friends from high school...michelle, chrissy, and kristin. we had breakfast at big boy (because the choices are limited...very limited!)...and then headed over to michelle's to meet her son carter. what a cutie.

chrissy, courtney, michelle, kristin.

brandon and i decided to look through some old pictures...and try out the new scanner/printer/copier that we bought my parents...

me & my brothers...now i know why i eat so much...i started young.

how cute am i?! :P

first day of school picture...although i don't think i was old enough to go, probably just wanted to be in the picture...

a short clip of our drive home through michigan. it's beautiful...for a moment...then you realize everything is just gray.

tristan liked to sing in front of the camera...he sang a few christmas songs a couple times, but mostly he just made up his own stuff. he's going to be a star. ;)

chris' 30th birthday was dec. 26th...since he's off saving the world...we sang him happy birthday on video.

i was trying to get tristan to sing happy birthday.

kiawah marathon pictures...

ok, so i finally got some more kiawah marathon pictures...from my friend (& teammate) laura. enjoy :)


jeff, laura, courtney, meg, nancy, shannon - after the pasta party friday night.


group shot on race morning. (i'm 4726)


delane, meg, & i getting ready...


meg & i before the race.


the back of my shirt.


as you may know, the course was 2 loops...i like how they marked the turn around.


laura & shannon after the race.


silly husbands (laura's & shannon's husbands).


our hotel.


beautiful.


somewhere on the island...i didn't actually see it...i searched all weekend...but apparently laura's husband spotted him.