She makes families 0ut 0f everything- these are m0mmy daddy n baby breads!

Catching up!

Sorry that I haven't been on here in a while. I wanted to let you guys know that I actually went back and filled in details of several of the mobile posts, especially the race details. I still owe you the last two weeksand they will include, among other stories:

• Delaney states what she wants for breakfast and Christmas
• Leaves won't leave us (or our neighbors )alone
• My opinion on the Twilight movie

AND

• as you have all been waiting for, our latest Christmas/Family pictures from Michelle Wasden Photography!

@ twilight!

Aquarium!

Having a son who is obsessed with all things ocean makes one very aware of aquariums, where ever we travel. We went to Fort Fisher Aquarium and really enjoyed it! I am glad we had planned an indoor activity because it was POURING rain ALL day!

Run and finish!

I asked my hubby and ALi to have Gibson draw an interpretation of what I was doing during the race- so here is his drawing! Every event has a trophy on top to show I won, and of course there is a lobster, angel and angler fish in my swim! I LOVE the big smile and the "action legs" on my run too! Beleive it or not, my bike does look alot like that! I will treasure this ALWAYS!

The run started with TWO big hills, bridges! By the aid station at mile 2, I was feeling pretty good, thanking the volunteers, chatting every once and while with a runner. At mile 5, I called my family again and let them know things were going well. By mile 6, I was having bad lower back cramps. By Mile 8, I was really hurting and thankful for the port-johns at the aid sations. I walked and shuffled for most of miles 8 through 11, and finally, ran for the last 2 miles including the dizzying run over the draw bridge. I crossed feeling victorious and LOVED getting that medal placed on my neck! I checked the time and saw that I was well under my goal!

I looked around, called Ali and Derick and found out they were stuck in traffic and missed the big finish. Later, I found out that my mother in law was wandering around close to when I finished. We finally got all together, I got pizza, got the kiddos hot dogs and fries and then we got stuck in an incredibly long morass of a line for a water taxi. But all and all, it was a great!

70.3 miles. 1.2 swim. 56 bike. 13.1 bike. Just over 7 hours (7 hours, 1 minute, 32 seconds). Malissa is a Half Ironman!

Swim, Bike

(I am adding info to this weeks later!) Here are some photos of the race. The first photo is the training that I did earlier in the week, where the current swept me away and Ali, who was watching to make sure I didn't drown, went berserk thinking I was drowning. She was scream, yelling and swearing at me until I got out of the water! She can be brought to tears weeks later by just mentioning it and made me work out a signalling system in case there was ever distress again!

The day of the race was kinda like a dream fueled on pure adrenaline! I ran to T1 at about 6:30 and took my time setting up and sharing my bike pump and stuff. Then I got to go back to the house and just chill, and about a half hour before start, I leisurely walked over (less than a block away!) with Ali for swim start. It was fun being able to hang with the kiddos and eat and rest and just be still. We could also see the swimmers from the Full Ironman distance from our deck!

Swim start was exhilarating! There were over 450 people, and four waves. It was chilly, and people were all different levels of nerves. One poor girl had obviously just been bawling her eyes out. I was jabbery (big surprise) and excited. After all the blah-blah, they started up the music and it was Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and it was absolutely perfect for the feeling of the race! (so that explains my new ringback tone...) The Swim was much easier than expected because the current worked with you, and helped you bob along. and yes, there were two jellyfish bobbing with me at one point! The thing that frustrated me and made my time slower was sighting- instead of swimming a straight line, I zig-zagged and that costs you.

Finally an emergency boat told me specifically to go toward the middle so the current would help me more. The water was cold, but iIdidn't think about it much until I got out and three women in front of me crumpled. They were wrapped in reflective blankets and walked around to get over the hypothermia! We had help whipping off our wetsuits, and then we had a quarter mile run to transition. Ali was there screaming her head off and taking pictures! it was great to see her, but I wanted to get on that bike!

However, I am not totally thrilled with this picture because I look like a dog with a fire hydrant! 56 miles of smooth sailing! the two drawbridges were strange to go over, but there were very few hills, and YES there were at least three sets of hunters, and two packs of dogs!!! I was very annoyed that I ran over and shredded a water bootle that I HOPE someone dropped on accident, and my personal favorite, someone dropped their hand tire pump that I just flew over. my average speed was 18 miles an hour for the most part and up to 24 at times. I was eating gels, bars and cubes like crazy and lots of water and Heed! Getting off of the bike was strange because someone grabbed my bike, someone grabbed my helmet and they escorted me to the T2!