blog revival

dear friends and family,

please bear with me as I try to revive the blog!

jess

Brooklyn Half Marathon and Coney Island fun

So, my goal this running season was to try to run a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and a full marathon. I've almost accomplished this, but in reverse order! Less than 2 weeks post NJ marathon (and only 1 week after I could actually walk again!) I had signed up for the Brooklyn Half Marathon with a few my team members from our running club. I was pretty excited about this race because I wanted to see how my time compared to my split time in the NJ marathon. I was pretty sure I could beat it because of how poor the conditions were in NJ and we had a much earlier start time to the Brooklyn race. I was hoping to come in under 2 hours and I did (1:59:14 to be exact!)

The race started in Prospect Park and ended at the Coney Island Boardwalk. Jon met me at the finish line with the boys and then we had a fun-filled Coney Island day with Noah's BFF Eddie K and fam. We had the typical C.I. day: splashing in the water (not actually submerging ourselves cuz it's kinda gross), digging around in the sand (hoping to only find wholesome treasures!), rides at Astroland and pizza, hotdogs, ice cream, and funnel cake on the boardwalk.

the post-race chill

Gabey's sandcastle attempt

Noah and Eddie chasing the waves

hot dogs!

the awesome fishing game where everyone's a winner!

the ever-fearless Noah hitting up as many rides as he could!

Gabey's first taste of funnel cake!

the very pensive Noah on USS Dreamboat!

bumper cars!

Saturdays in the city

One of my favorite summertime activities is heading to Central Park on Saturdays in the summer. We pack a picnic and enjoy some outdoor fun.

This particular day we headed to Sheep's Meadow near 72nd street to play at the wonderful lawn there.

We got some cute shots of the boys too...

And on this Saturday we hit up a few different CPW playgrounds and then finished the day off with ice pops and some soccer fun.

summer fun!

I feel like this photo pretty much sums up our summer so far...

- serious non-stop playground fun

-cute brothers that are having a blast playing together

(this whole sibling thing is finally paying off!)

Jon graduates!

So, Jon finally graduated (for realz this time!). Although, he's technically been a doctor for the last four years... now he's REALLY a doctor. I'm so proud of him and all of his serious hard work. It's been such a long haul through med school and residency and it's been so nice to see all the hard work pay off as he has really enjoyed starting his first attending job.

A few highlights from graduation:

the "this is finally happening" picture

graduation ceremony

the "can you believe we did this?" picture

classmate shot

the "we seriously couldn't be happier" picture

couple shot

the "time to celebrate" picture

Central Park Boathouse

Updates!

It's been way too long, I know! We've had a lot going on this summer and things are finally starting to settle down (just in time for FALL!) Let's see... a few highlights include: Jon graduating residency!, us moving to a new apartment, the first annual Snarr Family Reunion in NH, me running a 10K and half marathon to name a few.

stay tuned for updates...

New Jersey Marathon

So, I ran a marathon! I know I didn't post anything about my plans to run it or any of my training -- most likely because I was worried if I announced it, I might chicken-out and then feel like a failure. So, I just waited until after I actually did it (about a month after to be exact!) to let the blog world know.

Three other friends of mine from church and I registered for the New Jersey Marathon back in January and trained for about 4 months to get ready for it. Originally, I was hoping this would be a great way to keep a rigid work-out routine and stay on track through the winter (which it totally was!) but it turned out to be much more than that. We trained long and hard through some serious winter weather and there were many days when I didn't think I could push my body another inch. Having taken up running just in the last 2 years or so, I had never done something so athletically extreme before. But to have this goal in mind and slowly start to achieve it, long run after long run... it felt so amazing to actually accomplish it.

Leslie, Carol, Heather, me

The actual conditions on the day of the marathon were pretty horrible. It was one of the hottest days of the spring we had up to that point and the race didn't actually start until 9am. It was SO hot by the time we even started! But I tried my best to stay hydrated and actually felt really good through the half-way point. I stayed with the 4:30 pace group up until around mile 18, where I totally hit a wall. Since I had only done one 20-miler through my training, this was definitely the point where things could totally fall apart. But all I kept thinking was that I had trained way too long and way too hard to quit at that point. Jon stayed home with the boys, so they weren't there to cheer me on -- which I could've totally used at that point, but I took a walk-break and kept plugging along. I eventually caught up with on of the girls I had been training with, which was nice for the company. We ended up motivating each other to finish and we crossed the finish line together.

Carol and I coming up on the finish line... finally!

As horrible as the conditions were and as horrible as I felt afterward... it was still such a great feeling of accomplishment. I had a pretty rough recovery. I kinda couldn't walk for like 3 days! But then the 'marathon amnesia' kicked in and I actually started considering doing it again (the whole experience was hauntingly similar to childbirth)!

I'm really glad I did it and I'm also glad it's over! It's been really nice to get back to a more regular workout routine and not be totally exhausted after my weekend long runs. I've been running some other shorter races, which has been really fun and I'm even contemplating a triatholon... so, we'll see!

the t-shirt we bought at the expo...

emphasis on 'kinda'!