Sarah Runs a Marathon!!

I have never had a desire to run a full marathon... until about 7 months ago. I ran a half marathon in 2004 and felt like that was plenty far for anyone to run. Since then I've had a knee surgery and 3 kids so really never planned to do more than that. In March at our Hansen Family Reunion I was talking with my brother and sister-in law about the marathon they were training for in May. I was planning on doing the Hartford half marathon, but this got me excited to do more. I kept thinking about it and decided to train for the full and if anything happened I could always do the half. Training went really well and I was surprised at how well my body handled the intensity of the long runs. I've learned that if you put the miles in, you can go the distance. It also helps to have some good music like The Eye of the Tiger to keep you pushing. Since we traveled in September I was able to run on part of the capitol trail in VA and then got to train in the Catskill mountains. Now those are some real hills!

This was also a personal goal because of the difficulty of recovering from a twin pregnancy. Because I was so big I have muscle separation which, in my case, is permanent without surgery to correct it. It has been difficult to avoid looking pregnant when my tummy makes it look like I am. I decided that this was a great goal for many reasons, one being to do all I could to look 'normal' again. My stomach still bulges, not as much, but I am not bothered when people ask when I'm due. I feel great and worked hard to accomplish my goal.

The race was great and there were about 8,000 runners for the full and half marathons combined. The weather was great, cool and breezy. I found someone that was running a good pace, similar to mine and we stuck together from about mile 3 to 22. Then Mark met up with me and we ran the rest together. I did better than I had predicted finishing in 4 hours and 17 minutes. I don't know if I'll do a full marathon again, but it was quite the experience. 

The starting line... we're off

This is at Bushnell Park downtown Hartford where we finished.

Happy, but barely able to walk!

My inspiration and personal coach

Trip to VA and NY

In September G and G Hansen came for a few weeks to tour some of the East coast with us. We spent a week in Williamsburg, VA and then headed up north to the Catskill mountains in NY. We had a great time seeing the sites, and the girls loved all the extra attention from grandma and grandpa. I'll tell more with the pictures. The first few are just  fun ones :)

Abigail is our shoe lover, no matter the size.

Elena all cuddled up with a blanket and all the clean clothes.

These girls can climb anywhere faster than you can believe. I guess it's no wonder since their mom was climbing the basketball stand at 3. Luckily Adriana doesn't know about that yet!

The old Jamestown settlement, seeing the Indian way of life.

Adriana loved the ships of the settlers.

Elena - "Wow, can we live here?"

Trying on the armor

Our first time in a real tree boat.

If we ever took A & E out of the stroller they were off and didn't look back.

The battle of Yorktown site. This is we really won the Revolution.

Downtown Williamsburg, public display

Abigail enjoying anything she can dip.

Lots of love from Elena...

and Abigail

Abigail finding more shoes.

Statue of Pocahontas in Jamestown

Stopping in Gettysburg, PA.

The battlefield, where so many gave their lives.

Elena

Abigail

Adriana enjoyed her first horse ride in the Catskill mountains.

A born natural... especially with the flip flops.

We went swimming a lot and the girls did a great job!

Enjoying the music at the Woodstock Museum.

Outside where the actual Woodstock happened.

This is about where the stage would have been and the grass filled with 500,000 people!

Time to say good-bye

One last trip to the park.

Elena

Adriana

Abigail