El Treinta de Septiembre

September was quite the month! A few notable activities?

1. I raced again!
2. I learned how to plan a wedding in essentially one week.
3. TONY AND I GOT MARRIED!!!

Let’s start from the top!

After my first two runs back following my injury, I hopped into a local XTERRA race in Fruita, CO, and gave it a go. Siri allowed me to race under one condition - I had to stop and walk every 5 minutes during the run.

The race was in a beautiful state park in the desert of western Colorado. I camped on my own the night before and got to watch a gorgeous sunset over the swim venue while munching on some Z-bars (dinner of champions? Probably not, I suppose I could have planned that better...).

The race was a blast! I had a good swim, tried super hard to keep up on the bike - though it was apparent that my technical skills leave much to be desired at the moment - and smiled during the entire run. The walking breaks on the run were incredibly frustrating, yet I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear running on the trails twisting in and out of the cliffs surrounding the lake. I ended up as the second elite female and drove four hours back home with some sunburn and a strong desire to race more XTERRA’s in 2018!

Racing is great and I loved every second of it. However, the most incredible part of this month...heck, of the year...actually of my life, was marrying my truest friend who stole my heart, Mr. Tony Baca.

Tony is one of the most optimistic people I have ever met, you almost can't help but smile when you're around him. He is able to make being sidelined by broken knee caps bearable, ordinary tasks magical, and he has the ability to bring out the best in me each and every day. Many people have asked me how "married life" is going. Do you want to know the truth? It gets better every single day. Even with challenges and uncertainty ahead, we remind ourselves that we are a team and we will confront obstacles and chase our dreams al cien juntos. To say that I am the "luckiest girl in the world," would be quite the understatement.

Every time that I imagined walking down the aisle before our wedding day I would tear up with happiness and excitement to marry Tony. Actually walking down the aisle on our wedding day was more wonderful than any imagination, any movie scene, and any of the million Pinterest photos I pinned to my "Wedding Ideas" board. I had the most perfect man standing there waiting for me. I probably would have run down the aisle had my dress not been so long (another face plant this year would not have suited me well!).

The wedding planning was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. The weeks before our wedding went something like this:
Week 1: We decided to get married. I found my dress!
Week 2: We didn’t know how a wedding worked, let alone how to plan a wedding. However, we did have a venue for the ceremony and lots of string lights to decorate with.
Week 3 (week of the wedding): 90% of the planning, 100% of decorating! 
Thankfully, with the help of family and friends, it all came together perfectly and we had a gorgeous backyard wedding reception in Austin, TX. I am so grateful to be a part of, now two, truly incredible families who made our big day a very special one to remember. 

How did we plan a wedding in a week within a tight budget? A post on that will be coming soon!

Until next time, hasta luego amigos!

Un saludo,
Allison Baca ;)

Massive thank you to Preston Glace and Paulo Hernandez for the photos. 
Current photos here are via Preston, check out the rest of the album and his other shots here: http://pgphotography.zenfolio.com/f169072920