The Richmond Marathon

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On January 13, 2011 I weighed 225 pounds and decided to make a few changes in my life to regain control of my health before something bad occurred. I cut back on my calories by reducing portion size and began exercising regularly. As a result, I lost just over 50 pounds by November 12, 2011 and now weigh approximately 173 pounds. On November 12, 2011 I ran the Richmond Marathon. In preparation for the marathon, I ran 142 times, which took approximately 138 hours and burned about 120,000 calories, while completing 796 training miles. Here is what I looked like before I started training:


I finished the marathon in 4:11:27, which was good for 1654th place (out of 3787 runners). My splits were 10k - 58:22; Half Marathon - 2:04:35; and 20 Miles - 3:10:06. Here are the "after" photos and some additional details concerning my run:





How 'bout them Gators!

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Driver Education

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Its never too early to teach racing!









Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - two views

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During our trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC last month, the girls had the opportunity to hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. They had decidedly different opinions of the bug:

Abby:

Evie:

Abby's First Swim Meet

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Abby's first swim meet was a success. Her team, the Friendly Frogs beat the Hamilton Lakes Hornets 752.5 to 516.5. It was the first of 5 dual meets scheduled for this summer. Abby won her heat in freestyle (finishing 8th overall) and she finished 10th in backstroke. You can watch the freestyle race below.

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Evie provided the entertainment between races:

Abby's Gymnastics - Tumble Bee's Big Show

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Abby did great at her end-of-year gymnastics show. I thought she did best on bars because the dismount was perfect, but she did great in her other events too. Unfortunately, Evie was not well-behaved.

Bars:

Balance Beam:

The Trampoline Routine:



The Floor Exercise:

Vault:

Ms. Brittany, the coach!

Abby and Gymnastics Coach

Abby's 2011 Karate Tournament

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After having recently been promoted to orange belt, Abby participated in Mike Carr's 2011 Karate Tournament. The Tournament started with a specular demonstration of one of the instructors chopping two pieces of wood in half that were on fire!



Karate Tournament 2011 (Abby)

She started a little slow with grappling - Julie says she does better against the boys than against the girls in grappling. As you can see, it was a close match, but she lost:



Next up was sword fighting. She was upset about her loss in grappling and took it out on the other girls. Here is her first round fight:


A victory in round one resulted in a second round fight:

A victory in the second fight resulted in a third:

A victory in her third fight resulted in a trip to the FINALS:

Abby finished in second. As you can see in this photo, the girl who beat Abby was older and bigger:
Karate Tournament 2011 (Abby)

The tournament concluded with some Randori. Abby lost her first fight but, as you can see, it was close.


All in all, the tournament was a success and we had a great time. As you can see from her giant smile, Abby enjoyed herself. This is what she had to say when she was done: