Fall Sure Does Happen Quickly Around Here

One day it's 85* and sunny... the next it's 65* and cloudy!  Fall has certainly hit Texas this weekend with brisk air, lots of wind, and the winding down of football season.  We're not sure how long the weather is going to stay like this, but while it's here we are enjoying it feel a little more like it should this time of year.  Reading the posts by our Northern friends we feel very happy to only need long sleeves rather than snow parkas... And we're super glad that it's such good running weather.  Jarrod and I are both training for 1/2 marathons and this cooler weather definitely helps out.  Jarrod (lucky duck) got into the Houston 1/2 in January and I will be running an all woman's race in December.

Today we kicked off the start of our fall race season with a 5K supporting the Texas Heart Institute.  It was right by our house so we didn't need to worry about parking and they highly recommended costumes... score!  My goal this race was to beat Jarrod.  After all, I have been running more than he has and I figured a couple who races each other, loves each other... or something like that.  Alas he beat me by 30 seconds, which is pretty good for me seeing as I shaved off about 3 mins from my last race time.  30 seconds... must have been all of those slow people in their bulky costumes who kept cutting me off at the beginning.  Now I'm sure anyone reading this is wondering if we wore costumes... The answer is, kinda.  We were definitely not as good as the One Thing/Two Thing ladies or the tutus galore, but we held our own in terms of Halloween spirit.  Here ya go:

 Jarrod in his skeleton t-shirt... it's the thought that counts here.

















I was a pumpkin as you can see

                                                        Lots of people had my    
                                                        tights...


















A few other fall events to note... Athena is getting much bigger and it seems as if every morning when we open her crate she has grown more!  Mostly around the mid section, but she definitely has gotten taller too which is a good sign in terms of being more on par with Portland.  The only thing that doesn't seem as if it's grown is her head.  We're hoping this catches up soon otherwise we're going to have a very funny looking dog on our hands!  Here's a picture from when we first got her and one from today so you can hopefully see the difference:

Clearly the ears have gotten bigger!

And last but not least, with cold weather comes the end of Cross Country season at school.  This season has really been great and it has been so nice not having to rush off to another sport.  Our girls did very well in every race they ran and at our district wide meet we won 1st place in all three divisions! Granted the competition is sadly nothing to write home about, but they were well deserved wins none the less for all the hard work they put in.  Here's 1 shot (since posting pictures of kids is not really my thing) of my wonderful team! :

I am already looking forward to next season when many of these girls will be seniors!  Crazy to think I will have been with them then for 3 years :)

Happy Fall Everyone!!! Sorry it's a winter wonderland for you Northern folk, but just think, that mean's Christmas is just around the corner!  Jarrod and I will be driving home with the pups for Christmas! But before that we're getting ready for my Turkey Trot 10K, Thanksgiving with the Manzer Parents and my 1/2 Marathon!!