We didn't die!

Though at times, I thought I might have, I survived the 13.1 miles.

Autumn, Maddie and I successfully completed the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half Marathon on Saturday and let me tell you, 2 mile ascents are rough! Actually, overall very hilly terrain is no easy feat. But aside from that, the course was beautiful! It passed by crystal clear rivers, adorable cottages and through the woods on trails. I would highly recommend the race for anyone who might be thinking about a half in their future.

In an unfortunate twist of fate, I was visited with the little flu bug on Friday which nearly brought me to tears because I had been training for sooo long! Luckily, come Saturday morning, I was feeling well enough to run, but definitely not at 100%. Even if I added 12 minutes to my last time, I'm extremely happy because, well, I didn't even know if I'd be able to race!

Autumn had a similar story. She came down with a bad case of the flu earlier in the week, but pushed through the pain like a rock star.

Maddie, in general, is just a bad ass and rocked the race.

Now I am going to take a little hiatus from running. Start up yoga again and throw in a little hip hop class or two. I think mixing it up a bit will be refreshing.

Maddie, Erika and Autumn

{good job ladies; we did it again!}

Is here a party?

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for my absolute favorite festival of the year:

Leavenworth Oktoberfest!

(I'm sure there will be several more posts about it.

I like to obsessively talk about it.)

This year marks the 5th annual trip east of the mountains and in true former-sorority-member fashion, what did we decide to do? Make a t-shirt to commemorate the momentous occasion.

For a little context, last year our favorite Oktoberfest band, Die Hockfellner, was trying to excite the crowd between songs and would shout in their adorable German accents: "Is here a party?" and the such. We couldn't get enough of it. Hence, our decision to create a shirt that proudly displays the fabulous phrase. This is the masterpiece design that Kotis put together for us. Isn't it amazing?! I know, you're jealous... with good reason.

Last year, Maddie and I decided to surprise everyone with these lovely costumes. We were super sneaky and no one had any idea what their "Special Leavenworth Surprise" would be... We were superstars that weekend; random people, left and right, asked to get their picture with us.