Getting Fit in the New Year

You know how everybody goes out in January and gets a gym membership because of that New Year's Resolution thing? Well maybe that phenomenon can account for the not one, but TWO distance races our family participated in this January.

The first race was the P.F. Chang's Half Marathon from Downtown Phoenix to Tempe. We entered with our dear friend Sandye and ran for the cause Chances for Children.

It was a beautiful 80 degrees, which is not so beautiful when you're running in the sun for more than a dozen miles with infrequent water stations. Bridgette met us at the end, but she did not seem impressed with our accomplishment. Grandma Tobler watched Bridgette during the race, and taunted us with frequent cell phone calls. "You're only how far? Go faster!"

The best part of training for this race was running with Bridgette. We missed many of our training runs because of Bridgette's sleeping schedule, but just about every weekend we went on one long run with our darling girl. She was always absolutely delightful hanging out in her stroller as we pushed her along.

The second race was a half marathon for Maren and 10K for Kevin at Schenpf Farms in Queen Creek. We literally ran through the farm fields, past cows and cotton! Kevin and I had respectable times, but my cousin Alice - who goaded us into participating in this event - blew us away with a 1:54 finish in the half!! Way to go!