Weekend visit to Minnesota

I had a glorious weekend in Minnesota seeing family, friends, and celebrating Jordan's first birthday! Happy birthday, bud! I also got to meet my newest nephew, Tysen for the first time. It was so nice to finally meet you!! He's lucky he got to witness what a Herrmann family birthday party will be like. I hope he is fully prepared for the festivities in 9 months.


Jordan spending time with his auntie (that's me!)

Jordan and mommy Mindee. He sure loves his mommy!

Abby sure was a trooper this weekend with all the kiddies, people, noise, and chaos. What a good girl!

Jordan showing us his Elvis moves and notice the peace sign? I just noticed that!

YAY, Jordan! You are SO BIG now that you are 1!

Herrmann family clan. We are missing one person, however, Michael!

Ryan and little Tysen. He is so darn cute, and by cute, I am referring to Tysen. :) It was so nice to meet you lil buddy!

So many birthday toys for a big boy!

I am taking a picture of my bro who is taking a picture of me!

Gramma and Ryder. He is a spitting image of Ryan.

Jordan, I know you are a big boy, but you need to shave!

Sky view of Mt Hood from my seat on the plane.

I have the greatest family and the greatest friends ever. Thanks, mom and dad for hosting everything and for the wonderful weekend! Can't wait to visit again!

Wine Country in the fall

On Saturday we decided to have a Meggan and Michael's day of fun by heading to Dundee, OR to taste some delicious wine.

These are the brightest burning bushes I have ever seen!

Random picture of fall colors.

Here is a close up look of some delicious juicy goodness getting ready to be made into wine.

Grapes!

Here is a forklift with crates of grapes.

Us at the Domaine Serene Winery in Dundee, OR

Barrels of various wines

Someone's 1 today!

Happy first birthday to my little nephew, Jordan. Can't wait to celebrate next week!

Miss you, buddy!

6 months of dedication and hard work all comes down to October 5, 2008, 7:00 am...

...until 10:47 am, when I finished my first marathon.

My time was 3 hours, 47 minutes, and 5 seconds, 7 min and 5 sec shy of qualifying for the Boston marathon. Not bad for a first timer!

It took 6 months of training for me to accomplish this goal, the longest, most physically demanding thing I have committed to. Now that I know what to expect, I think I will aim for that Boston qualifying goal at the NYC marathon next year!


Check out my stats compared to all runners, in comparison to the female runners, females in my age category, AND what percentage of men finished AFTER me! http://www.runpix.info/por08/42/finord.php?LastName=5414&lan=&aset=0 Very interesting!



Dad and mom calling to wish me luck minutes before the start of the race. Like my cheapo Target gloves? A fellow running friend filled me in on buying the $1.50 gloves (2 pairs for $1.50)and discarding when you don't need them-what a brilliant idea!


Please can we start this already? I'm ready!

And.....run! Me and 9,000+ others striving for similar goals, to conquer the most difficult race of all running races, 26.2 miles. We were packed in like sardines!

Still running and I must be having fun at this point, I am smiling!

Big doggie, little doggie.

Here I am crossing the finish line. I am wearing the white top, blue shorts and red hat. My name was announced when crossing. The real time finish was 3:47:34, my chip time is 3:47:05, which means, I crossed over the start 29 seconds after the race started. I was in the second wave of runners. It was the happiest moment ever when I crossed the finish line, WHOOP!

Did you know....the Portland marathon is one of the top 10 greenest races? It is tops due to its use in solar power, all finishers receive a seedling to plant, all aid stations are located to hose connections, and volunteers use bikes instead of cars on the course. Of the top 10 races, Oregon had 3 races in the top rankings! The Portland Marathon, a Portland tri-athalon, and the Eugene marathon. Way to be ahead of the earth friendly game, Oregon! http://www.portlandmarathon.org/