Sister Time

I was so excited to see my sister it felt like forever since i'd last seen her.  That has to be the worst part about them living 3 hours away.  Some days I'd love to just be able to grab lunch together.  It's also difficult because I know how busy they are when they get to come home and as much as I'd love to kidnap her and make her spend the whole weekend with me I just can't.  When we realized the NCAA National Championships for gymnastics were in Birmingham we knew we had to fit it in if possible.  Alabama was competing in the evening session of Friday so we decided we would go.  I was so excited because we got to go together and cheer on our school.  Plus we both love gymnastics.

We sprung the 4 extra dollars for the lower level seats.  We were right behind the media tables and beam.  It was a little bit of sensory overload trying to watch 4 events at once.   UCLA was on beam first rotation and I thought one of the team managers looked familiar.  I figured out it was Jordyn Wieber from the 2012 Olympic team.  So that exciting.   Alabama tied Florida and advanced to the finals on Saturday night.  We weren't able to go though because of family obligations.  (They came in fourth).
After we left the gymnastics meet we went to the see light tunnel in Birmingham.  Pretty cool.
We decided to have a slumber party at mom and dad's because the second part of sister time included running a 5K race in Gardendale Saturday morning.   It was supporting two local charities and we knew several people running it.  We were excited. 

Here we are before we left.

I had not really trained for this.  Like at all.  I'd been running a little for some cardio but not 3 miles.  I knew it was going to be tough.  I only had two goals.  1.) Not finish last.  2.) Finish under 40 minutes.  I realize that 40 minutes is a really slow 5K but I knew that was going to be pushing myself but still obtainable. 

I'm happy to report I met both goals.  When we rounded the corner I say 36.xx on the clock and realized we were faster than I thought. I realized I could finish in under 38 minutes I kicked it up a notch. 

 I love these next two pictures that were taken at the finish.

My sister is way more fun than I am.  She was posing and smiling.

Then she says I jumped in front of her right at the finish to beat her.  I know she doesn't believe me but that was not the case at all.  I really wanted to finish under 38 minutes and they clock read like 37.57 so I was trying to finish. They also told us to stay in line so one of us had to be first. I really did feel bad because she could have finished a lot faster.  I probably wouldn't have finished if it hadn't been for her.

Our sweet friend Anna.  She finished way faster than us and was cheering us on at the finish.  That was one good thing about finishing later, there were a lot more people to cheer you on. 

I went to pick this crazy haired boy up at my parents house then headed home to get ready for the start of our Easter festivities.
I was so excited to get to spend so much time with my sister.  I'm hoping to get to Atlanta more this summer to visit her.  She has been a huge encouragement to me lately and I try not to take for granted all the fun ways we have to communicate.  We talk often but nothing beats face to face laughter and a hug.   Easter post coming up.