Race Day- This is the 3rd weekend of Nate's 4 back to back half marathons.
We got up and headed to the start which was at Hiland High school. I dressed in 7 layers and I had hand warmers in my coat pocket, and in my shoes. I was not going to freeze. :)
Here's Nate ready to run.
Nate's doing some stretching.
There was only about 500 people that participated in this run. Nate is talking to a few runners. The lady he's talking to....Katrina befriended him on facebook a few days before when he was talking on the race page. She's pretty nice. She has a goal to run a half marathon in every state. She lives in Virginia not too far from us and that's cool.
And they are off. Here's Nate. I missed him as he ran by me because some lady decided to come stand right in front of my view. Ummm.....I really can't stand people who are unaware of their surroundings.
This view.......I decided to walk to do some window shopping across the way. :)
My first stop......Troyer's Country Market.
Lots of jams and jellies.
Nate had a few freebie coupons in his runners packet so I took it with me so I could try to redeem some of them. I decided to try the Old Fashioned Traffic Jam. It's strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries and peaches. Sounds great and I can't wait to try it on a whole grain English muffin. :)
I walked around the store. There were a few people in there. Some were doing the same thing I was and redeeming their free jam.
I took some random pictures......Here's some bulk items.
Maple icing....so tempting. I love maple anything.
The bakery had lots of cookies. There was only one package of Amish buttermilk cookies left. Nate LOVES these cookies so I decided to get them as a surprise for him.
Lots of local honey.
Whipped honey? Sound yummy.
Turkey broth
You can't really tell from the picture but these are really BIG honey crisp apples.
As I was leaving the store I saw a buggy parked in the buggy parking lot.
So cute!
I walked down the hill to some other stores.
I stopped at a little gazebo area with benches and busted out the cookies. :)
I ate one cookie and it was very good.
I was pretty warm in my layers. So glad I decided to wear a bunch of clothes and thank goodness Kristen gave me some hand warmers. She found them in the dollar spot at Target. YAY!
Here's some buggies.
Amish farm
I walked around inside and down every isle. There is a lot of stuff in here. I didn't see anything that I had to have but it killed a lot of time walking around.
I then went next door to the Berlin Craft Mall.
A young Amish girl offered me some homemade fudge. I said "sure, just a little sliver" and she smiled and gave me a little. She also told me about the deal they were having on the fudge if I decided to buy some and I said "thank you".
There was so many cool things in this store. A section with a ton of cookie cutters. This picture doesn't even show them all. There's a whole other wall of cookie cutters.
Beautiful paintings
Handmade Amish Dolls. I thought about getting one for my niece but not sure if she'd like the doll.
Amish handmade baskets
Potpourri....and barrels full of it. This one really smelled like Christmas cookies and there were little cookie shaped pieces in the mix.
I walked back over to the school area. I went to the car for a snack and for a water break. Then I went back up to the cheering area watching runners go by.
I walked down to an area where I could meet Nate when he came through.
He was tired and said this was the hardest half marathon he's done yet.
You can't see him but I promise he's running up the big hill.
Here's Nate coming around the bend.
Go Nate, Go!
Almost....
Nate crossing the finish at 3 hours and 6 seconds.
Nate is exhausted. He did it! He got his medal!!
Nice medal made by Wendell August.
We went into the school so Nate could get his snacks. Here he is with his block of cheese and his medal.
Nate got an orange, apple, chocolate chip cookie, and some chips.
Every runner got a bowl of hot Amish noodles but when Nate had finished they were waiting for more noodles to finish cooking. Finally the noodles were ready and Nate went up and got his noodles.
Here's Nate with his noodles and a big smile on his face.
Nate getting ready to dig in.
Here's Nate's cheese block, medal and noodles. I'd say the Amish really know how to treat their runners. haha :)
We got back to Nate's Aunts so he could rest and shower. His Aunt and Uncle were eating lunch. They had put out some Thanksgiving leftovers and Nate and I both grabbed a plate and had lunch. Nate then took a shower and Aunt Leah and I decided to go out and pick up Nate's race freebies.
We went to Walnut Creek Cheese and picked up a free jar of apple butter bbq sauce, and Wendell August for a free Amish Christmas Ornament.
Here's all the freebies. :)
After Nate relaxed a bit we decided to go to his cousins (Aunt Leah's son) who lives with his wife, son and soon baby girl in Nate's Grandma's house. They have renovated the house and have done such a wonderful job on it. The kitchen alone is just amazing.
We left there after about an hour or so and went to get wine. We drove through downtown Sugarcreek. We passed the Amish livestock auction.
We also passed one of my favorite quilt shops. (Swiss Village Quilts)
We got to Breitenbach Wines so Nate could get some. He likes the dessert wines from there. They have so many different types and this place is always busy when we go.
Corks
They also sell some Guggisberg cheese for those who might have forgotten to buy some.
We then headed back to Walnut Creek to go visit with Grandma again. We saw an Amish buggy drive through a covered bridge.
Grandma was eating supper. A bowl of honey nut cheerios. She said it's her favorite thing to eat for supper.
We then headed to the craft room and helped Grandma with a puzzle she was working on.
She's so cute. We love her so much.
We had to leave at 6 to go up the street for family dinner with Nate's cousins, and Aunt & Uncle. We were determined to finish this puzzle with Grandma and we did. She was so happy. :)
We said our goodbyes and promised Grandma we would be back sometime next year. Hopefully, in the Spring.
We got to Der Dutchman and found the family. We had to wait a few minutes for our table since it was really busy.
We had a great dinner and lovely conversations catching up with everyone.
Here's the menu. I ordered the salad bar and a bowl of chili. It was good.
I also got a bottle of some PB spread to bring home. This was on the table at dinner and I put some on a spoon to try it and loved it. haha
Nate did a lot of running this day and I did a lot of walking. We def slept like little babies. :)
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