St. George Marathon

posted by Mark

Crossing the Finish Line!

 With my Metal...

Forget the Medalion, this is the prize that
they should have awarded the runners with:

Pear Blossom 2011

Finished as #125 in the Pear Blossom 10 mile run this year (1596 total runners) with a chip time of 1:11.  Last year I finished as #136 so it was an improvement.

Boston--Just in Case

Stacy and I visited the beautiful city of Boston this January.  Not really peek tourist season.  We had the place all to ourselves.  While I was there we went to the official Boston Marathon Finish Line.  I've wanted to qualify for and run Boston since I started my affair with running not too long ago.

So, just in case I never make it, Stacy took this photo of me at the finish line. 

She said she could photoshop the snow out and put me in running shorts if I never make it to the real race. 

The Brand New Extreme Runner (BNER)

          I Chloe Skillman am proud to announce that i started running down my driveway today, that is about .2 miles, and i did three laps which is .6 miles long. When I started running down the driveway i started feeling like i was free at last! When I got back to the front door i felt like that was nothing, so i ran back to the end of the driveway and back. I felt much better and tired then ran upstairs to ask my dad how long was the driveway and after he told me he asked why, and i said that i had ran to the end of the driveway and i wanted to know how long it was. Then he gave  a great big high five and said "YA" meaning that's my girl and that he doesn't feel left out anymore in running. He also told me that i was the first one in the family to start running because of him.(except for my mom) so those of you who are out there running, know that I am running because of you so thank you so much for inspiring me. I am very proud of myself and you guys who are out there who run. Also the Biggest loser season is back on so if you want to you can watch that because that show inspires you to put on your shoes and run, including me!

                                           The new member of this club  

                                                                            -Chloe Skillman

Cascades Lake Relay

Posted by Mark

Did the Cascades Lake Relay.

Dino Tri-in It Again

This was the race that started the blog.

I Felt like I had another Triathlon in me so we made it a family adventure and packed the car full of kids and headed back to Vernal Utah for another Dino Tri.  We really packed the car full of kids too!  We brought along our cousins Bryce, Sheralyn, and Tanner along with our own kids--we were packed so full there wasn't a spare inch of room left in our giant Excursion.

It was a fun trip down and everyone was excited to come and cheer me on for the race.  That always seems to help, having your family there is a big boost.  Stephanie and my niece Cailey and nephew Camden drove out and met us, along with my oldest daughter Cheyenne.

Last year I took 2nd place in my age division and when we went to sign in for the race the day before, my wife Stacy noticed that the first place guy had never signed up for this years race.  She was convinced, along with my sister-in-law Steph, that I had a pretty great shot at taking the leading spot on the podium for my age division this time around.  However, just before we left the sign-in, a very fit and muscled guy walked in and signed up for the race.  Stacy couldn't help but peek at his age.  He was 48.  She came back shaking her head and reported that I should be happy with second cause it looked like that guy was gonna beat all his competitors.

They were giving out free buzz cuts to anyone signed up for the race.  I didn't really need one but my Nephew Bryce, who'd been sporting an ugly mullet/Mohawk from football season, certain was in need of a haircut.  I convinced them to cut his instead of mine...

There was really no line for the hair cuts so we got a little carried away.  My nephew Camden got inspired by his older cousin Bryce and decided he'd like to get a cut too.

Only Camden went from a nice haircut to a mohawk.  We just switched out one bad hair day for another.  But all in the name of fun!

Race day was perfect and I got on the bus to the next morning to head to the starting line.

Midway through the race, while on the bike course, I rounded a bend and a crowd of kids all cheering me on.  It was my family!  They all made me posters and rooted me on.  I found out later that Bryce was especially excited to catch a glimpse of me and walked to the bend so that he could be the first person to see me round the corner.

They waited for me at the bike/run station where I parked my bike and set off for the run.

Taking off for the third leg of the Tri...

On the final leg of the run, all the kids were waiting on the track for me to make my grand entry into the school's track stadium where the finish line was.  Bryce cheered and waved and when I finally reached him he said,  

"Come on Uncle Mark, let's sprint the last 100 meters!" 

...I was so tired by this time that if I had had the energy I would have told my well intended nephew I didn't even think I had the strength to even make it to the finish line.  But I was too tired to ask him to carry me the rest of the way there.  So Bryce and I, side by side, with the little kids following close behind, slowly all ran across the finish line.

And as predicted by my wife, the buff guy beat me out for first.  But I'm proud to say I hung on to my second place title a second year in a row!  Woot! Woot!

And here I am doing the victory dance of a true athlete.  It's called 'The Power Nap'!

A Woot! Woot! by Mail

The Pear Blossom run has come and gone but the effects are still lingering.  Mark found this awesome postcard in the mailbox today...