~50 before 50~

This fall my best friend and I will both turn 25. As this milestone broaches the horizon we find ourselves wanting to have a little fun. So many people have bucket lists and life accomplishment goals. Neither of us have ever sat down and actually made such a list for ourselves. While browsing through some of these lists we found ourselves inspired to join in the fad. We have been discussing how we are turning '50' since we are both going to be 25. Combined we should have as much common sense, knowledge, wisdom, & experience as any 1 of our parents. I seriously doubt that we do, but it sounds good in theory. Why not make a list of 50 things to accomplish before we turn 50 to celebrate our 5 decades of life?! 

We sat down with a pen and paper and began brainstorming. The beauty and intrigue of many bucket lists is that they are random acts that don't correlate what so ever. One might have 'get dread locks' next to 'graduate from law school.' You can't get much farther apart than that and yet there's someone out there wanting to actually do both. Therein lies the fun! 

Our list is not quite finished but we have already crossed 3 items off as of today. The first Item we decided to conquer is to run a marathon (or part of one). Those of you who know us very well will find this surprising. We are NOT runners and don't have any desire or drive to ever be so. We have some great friends who are actual athletes who we admire from our couches while eating cupcakes and cheering them on! That is the perspective this is coming from.

#1~ RUN A MARATHON

Lots of people run 1/2 marathons or 13.1 miles. I get a gold star for the day b/c I knew that number without googling it (thanks to Candy)! Kaitlin gets a gold star b/c she knew the distance of a mile off the top of her head! Between the 2 of us we did some math and decided to run 1/6000th of a marathon. This equaled 23.1 feet. As the pictures following document our endeavor I will explain all we went through to accomplish such a feat. Please hold your applause until the end!

 Marking out the course...

 I knew it was important to stretch before this trek. I was more than a little excited to be running a marathon even if it was just part of one!

 Kaitlin also took the stretching very seriously. She happened to wear the perfect shirt for the event as well! I <3 BACON

                                                    My warrior face! Ready....Set....GO!

 Off and running! I had to take a break at the 1/2 way point and re-hydrate. I was so glad I brought water along.

              Digging deep to re-motivate myself for the 2nd half!                          Almost there!!!!

                                                             Crossing the finish line!!!!

Kaitlin's warrior face. She was quite serious about this event!

So dedicated even before crossing the start line!!!!

Not sure if she's shouting 'I can do this!' or 'BACON'

                     Taking a rest 1/2 way.                                                     Sprinting to the end

                                

Goal Complete!!!!

 So Thirsty...but EXCITED!

Here are some Race Day photos taken throughout our run...

The race course from start to finish (23.1ft)

 There were even marks along the way to help us know how far we had gone and had left.

 The BACONATOR 6000th of a Marathon!!!!

 We thought we should take a snapshot of our race day footwear! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#2~ MARSHMALLOW BITE CONTEST

We decided that we should try to check off a couple more items on our list and our Marshmallow Bite Contest sounded like a fun one. I've always been curious how many marshmallows I could stuff in my mouth. Today was the day to find out! Kaity was happy to go along with this crazy idea and even participate!

Suited up for showtime

Adjusting her bib before she starts. She also ditched her glasses as she expected some tears from pain(or laughing)

Let the stuffing begin

This was the end of her dominating the mallows. She managed to get 40 in her mouth before laughing so hard she had to quit!

 Centering myself before I begin.

                                                                        In they go...

My cheeks were SO FULL!!!

It was so hard to laugh and keep them all in!

FOCUS!! The last shot before I lost it! 

Totals: Henrietta the Hippo:40 ~ Gertie the Goliath: 60 

We decided to make use of our marshmallows...

Yummy rice crispy treats...

Kaity was pretty excited to give Eric a huge one out of the batch! 

This picture shows true cousinly love!

(Don't worry we didn't really use the marshmallows from our competition. Just the rest of the bag!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#3~ PET A ROO! 

Lots of people put certain animals on their list. For instance, pet a panda, which we actually saw on some one's bucket list.

We thought it would be cool to pet a kangaroo so we also added that to our list.

We found this little guy in his natural habitat.

Kaitlin was quite intrigued and excited to see an animal from down under...so close!

 So Soft!

The little critter jumped on my shoulder and gave me quite a scare!

As I reflect on this day of achievements I wonder if my cheeks will ever return to normal. I have laughed so hard and had so many tears streaming down my face! I would say it was a successful day overall and I hope my muscles will recover in the next few days. I never thought I'd run a marathon, be able to stuff 60 mallows in my mouth, or pet a ROO again! To experience all 3 of these with my very favorite friend is even more remarkable. Thanks for the adventure K.Jill. I love you more than I could ever show and am so very thankful that we still have 47 more adventures to complete together!

If any of you are still reading this and have some ideas as to what to add to our 'list' please let us know! We have about 35 and need MORE ASAP! (ps. you must be a loyal friend b/c you are still reading this)...THANKS!

<3 Gertie the Goliath & Henrietta the Hippo~