Pumpkins and Spice

Between making pumpkin pie and carving pumpkins we are feeling the fall spirit! The Sonntag family and I had fun carving pumpkins the other night. It was fun to see all the different faces on each one. My pumpkin (happy jack) is pictured above. :)

Colorado Beauty

I am truly living in one of the most beautiful states in the US right now! After pulling an all nighter and packing till 2:30am (with some help from a friend), I said goodbye to home and started off on a new adventure! My bag ended up weighing 49lbs. - not including my 20lbs carryon and laptop. It was hard leaving when your dad is getting all tearie-eyed before you leave. The flight was good, even though I looked like an Eskimo wearing all my winter gear around the airport. That was only because those were my heaviest items and didn't fit in my luggage bag - but were necessary. My aunt, Carol, and three cousins picked me up at the Denver airport. It was a two hour drive and on the way back we drove through the rugged desert, snowy mountains, and rainy hills. The elevation in Eagle, CO, (which is where I am living), is 6600 feet. There is nothing like waking up and seeing the sunrise over the mountains. I feel so blessed right now. Not sure if I'll move back to MN. Right now I am living with my aunt and uncle with their three kids as the adopted older sister. This is a new adventure and I am super excited! I'm also looking forward to when all my dear MN friends come and visit. I love and miss you all!

Twin Cities Marathon

This was my second and last marathon this year. I woke up at 6am after a night of no sleep at my sisters loud dorm room. My adrenaline was already rushing and I got ready, put some mascara on (because I wanted to look pretty if I died), and headed off in the cold. I didn't eat anything, which was probably stupid. There were over 11,500 people at the starting line. Suddenly we were off running through the streets of downtown Minneapolis next to the dome. My mom was running it as well, but we both have different paces and thus I lost her at mile 1. While I was running I listened to some amazing music on my ipod. However, there was also many bands that played along the run. There were so many people cheering on the runners along the race. A friend of mine was able to take my long t-shirt from later when I finally warmed up. The whole time running I was thinking: "Why the heck am I running this again?!?!" I laughed at the person holding the sign saying "YOU'RE ALL CRAZY!!!"
I kept chanting, "I hate running, I hate running, etc..." I hit the wall at mile 18 and looked down at my shoes and nearly blacked out - my right foot had blood soaking through the shoe! Okay, well I guess that's why my foot hurt a lot. Just keep running I told myself. I was ready to quit at mile 23 and no longer cared about beating my last time. Suddenly I see my good friend Lizzy, who encouraged and ran with me the last 2 miles. It was a glorious sight when the capitol was in view!
After sprinting the last hundred yards, I completed my goal and finished at 4 hours and 30 mins. My mom wasn't too far behind and finished at 4 hours and 47 mins. I was dead afterwards and hungry! People asked me, "So why did you run 26.2 miles again?" Well, because I could! You also have to be a little crazy. One of the things that keeps me running is having a passion, (not for running), but something that keeps a person running till there feet bleed.
No one ever tells you about the pain after the race. My feet were shot. I wrapped them in horse vetrap and then my mom soaked them in salt water, coconut oil, and iodine. Yeah, I admit it might have been easier to just chop off the foot. (It sounded like that anyways.) After limping around like a 70yr old for several days, I think I'll survive. NEVER AGAIN! This was my second and last marathon!