26.2, Turkey, and a lot of Rangers Baseball

Yet again, I let my blog go unattended for awhile. The last couple of times I've posted I it was the beginning of October and I was just getting back from a series of trips (with the last one being to meet with my Company of New Pastors group in Southern California). I got back to Arlington just in time for the start of the Playoffs. Sadly, the World Series didn't end quite the way I wanted it to. But, it was a great series. I have a ton of pictures from throughout October I could post, but I will just share this one...



it's the pictures from the night the Rangers clinched the ALDS. It was an amazing night to be at Rangers Stadium!

Besides going to baseball games, there have been some pretty cool FPCA functions in the last month or so. We had our annual Trunk or Treat. And you would be very proud of me, I talked to a clown (though it helped a ton that i knew who was behind the clown make-up).



We also had our second annual Pumpkin Bowl (a youth v. adults flag football game), which is always a really good time, and a highlight for me.



I must say though that I am not a fan of the tradition of getting a gatorade bath at the end of the game!



A highlight of this year for me was getting a chance to run a marathon. I had signed up for it months ago, but was skeptical that I would be able to do it because of a stress fracture in my foot (the stress fracture was diagnosed in Sept during my marathon training). Thankfully, my foot healed just in time. And while I hadn't been able to put in as much training as I would have been able to do without the injury, I was still excited to try the race.

It was in San Antonio, and I was doing it with my friend Jennifer (and my friend Michelle was running the half).



We also ran it with 23,000 of our friends....



The course is pretty fun - this is Jennifer running past the Alamo.



Running 26.2 miles was a challenge, and I could definitely tell I hadn't been able to train as much this fall as I would have liked to. And I definitely developed a new appreciation for the half marathon. I can honestly say now that I love running 13.1 miles now. But, all that said, it was a great experience, it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I did it.









I came back from San Antonio with two big things to look forward to: our annual Disciple Now youth retreat and Thanksgiving. Disciple Now is an in-town youth retreat, and it was a blast! I am so thankful for the youth and adults I get to work with at FPCA.



And then, I got to leave late Tuesday evening of Thanksgiving week to fly back to NC. I am only here a few short days, but it's just nice to be in NC, to see the fall colors, and to enjoy catching up with a few people.



It has become a holiday tradition for my mom and I to do the Ridgewood Turkey Trot, so that was a blessing to walk that this morning. We put on our 2011 Turkey Trot t-shirts and our Team Draffin sweatshirts and head out the door early.



We ran into a few friends at the Turkey Trot, who it was SO good to see!



And then we waited around until it was our turn to go!







After a good walk, it was time for a family Thanksgiving dinner (which as you can see is a very serious time!).



It's been a great visit so far, and I am looking forward to another day here in NC!

Here, there, and everywhere

Usually summer is my busy travel time, but for some reason, I have been traveling a fair amount this fall as well.

My first fall trip (and I was so excited to have to pack sweaters knowing it was still in the 100s in Texas) was to Minnesota. This trip was to be a part of the Fellowship Gathering that was taking place in Minneapolis. Seven of the twelve elders, and all three of the pastors from FPC Arlington made the trip to Minnesota to be a part the Gathering.

It was a wonderful time of learning and worship. I loved connecting with old friends from across the country and meeting tons of new people.

Everything wrapped up on Friday night, but several of us didn't fly out till Saturday morning. We were able to take a shuttle for free to the Mall of America. We surprisingly didn't do any shopping, but we had a blast riding the roller coasters and eating a delicious meals.

It's amazing how much fun it was after two days of meetings to just relax, enjoy the fun of roller coasters, and just shoot the breeze over dinner.

While I have been in town, I have tried to make it to as many JH/HS football games at possible. The FPCA youth group is filled with people who play in the band and play football. I love that part of my job involves going to see these talented students play!

And of course, my fall has involved running. I have so excited by the cooler fall temperatures!

I had two smaller races over Labor Day Weekend. The first was a 5 miler on that Saturday.

The second was a 5k on Memorial Day. The best part of that race, was that I got to run with Harry Cordellos! Harry, completely legally blind, has run 154 marathons, including one sub 2:50! He is now 73 years old, and ran the 5k on Memorial Day (along with one of his friends who is also blind).

I was just in awe of these two men (photographed below):

Nick ran with me, and we both managed to place in our age groups:

I only had to work a couple of days that following week before it was time to leave for Charleston, South Carolina for the Francis Marion Dirt Dash!

On occasion, I will just do a search of various races (I want to do a half marathon in all 50 states) throughout the country. I want to find out which states have races during which seasons, etc. One day as I was searching, one race jumped of the page at me, the FRANCIS MARION DIRT DASH! It was a half-marathon to be held at Francis Marion National Park.

If you don't understand why this is so exciting for me, you have to know that Francis Marion was my grandfather's name (who tragically passed away in 1964).

- my dad's name is Richard Marion and mine is Sophie Marian

- my grandfather went by Marion, and I did to, well till about age 24 (and I still do in some circles).

I really, really wanted to run in a park where the name of the park was also the name of my grandfather. Everything began to fall into place when my parents said they would drive down to Charleston and meet me for 3 days. I invited both Nick and Michelle to join us for the trip. Michelle couldn't come, but Nick had some vacation days left, so he came with us.

And we just had an absolute blast! We played on the beach, rented bikes, took a horse/buggy tour of Downtown Charleston, and went to take a Tour of Fort Sumter. Oh, and we ate lots of great food.

Daddy and I at Ft. Sumter:

Nick and I on the boat ride back:

Nick and I, early in the morning, waiting to catch a shuttle to the race site:

Madre finishing strong on the 5k!

And then my mom went to play while she waited for us to finish running. She even made friends. And there is no better friend than this man, er, pig....

Nick finishing the half

Sophie on the last kick of the half

With my padre after the race

and mi madre

Guess what, la madre won her age group, again. Yep, she's a beast!

The 6 fingers represent that I have run halves in 6 states. 44 to go.

We got prizes for having come from the farthest away.

I couldn't leave the park without getting pictures in from of the Francis Marion signs. I would have just been wrong.

I landed on Saturday, worked Sunday, and then left Monday morning for Atlanta for a quick Youth Conference Ministries meeting. No pictures from that trip, it was mostly business as we work to make Fun in the Son Padre 2012 the best ever!

This is just a small glimpse of the amazing worship we have during The Well (our Sunday night youth group time(

These next two pictures are just fun...I'll give you the task of figuring out where we were and why there are goats on the porch.

My first weekend back in TX, I had two races. The first was the hugely attended Tour de Fleur! We had talked Kyle P. into attending - this would be his first ever athletic event.

The great part of the Tour de Fleur is ALL the FOOD afterwards. There are sooooo many vendors out after the race, you can't possibly even try and sample them all. It's ridiculous. We also picked up samples of bubbles, which we had a good time playing with....

The FPCA guys:

Funny story, Kyle not only finished his first athletic event ever, he dominated it. At a 3,000+ person event he won his age group. He ran a 50 minute 10k. That's impressive.

That evening I had the "Run in the Dark 5k," this time with a different (and shorter) crew.

You have to love races when there is a Chick-fil-A cow!

The post race shot! Everyone raced well!

The sad news is that I haven't run since that race. I went to the doctor two days later and found out my foot injury was indeed a stress fracture, and that I would be in a boot for 2-3 weeks. The boot just came off today. Hopefully I will be able to start some light jogging relatively soon.