Posted by: Mark
When I started this whole running thing, I did not realize the trauma it would cause to my body. After I got out of the shower from my workout this afternoon, I looked down at my feet and to my horror they looked like they belonged on a homeless person. My left foot has a blister on the top of two toes and I have this huge black toe nail on the toe next to the big one that I got the day of the Pear Blossom Race. The right foot is worse. My big toe got blackened a few months ago and the nail has gradually been working its way off. It's kind of hangin' on by a thread and is all nasty looking. Then, there are huge blisters a top the remaining toes all the way down the line. If you did "this little piggy went to market" with my toes, it would look like the pig got robbed, mugged and left for dead along Market Street. That's how bad it is. Oddly, my shoes fit fine and it doesn't hurt when I run. Someone told me to have a toe blackened during a race is normal and the nail I'm losing on the big toe is from my old shoes. Hopefully, the blisters will turn to calluses and this will all blow over so my little piggies can go "wee wee wee" all the way home...
P.S. I have not even mentioned my "butt" issues. I'll save that for another blog.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Pear Blossom 2010
posted by Stacy
PEAR BLOSSOM RUN 2010
So here's the RUNdown on our family's first Pear Blossom Experience.
The 5K:
Here I am REALLY HAPPY about how cold and dark it is outside. I loved waiting for the race to start. It was probably my favorite part. Thanks to my running "buddies" we got there 45 minutes before the race started. Good thing too. Look at that crowd behind me piling up at the starting line.
Here's Sheralyn and Cheyenne getting psyched up for the run.
And finally, it's starting to get light outside. Here's our 5K family of runners...
Incidentally, the Pear Blossom Run just happened to fall on Morgan's birthday. Morgan's family made him this great shirt to run in.
And I know this blog is all about encouraging each other to step out of our comfort zones and get our family (both blood and borrowed) to have fun and move more, but can I just say that if it was my birthday, I wouldn't be getting up at the crack of dawn and running. A warm cozy bed sounds like a perfect way to celebrate a birthday to me. But I guess not to Morgan.
The race is just about to start. Fearless Morgan decides to start in the front of the pack and puts himself right at the starting line. Sheralyn decides to join him while Cheyenne considers it for a moment then smartly realizes this might not be the best idea.
Morgan's actual start time from the gun going off was .01 and Sheralyn's was .00 CRAZY!
and of course Morgan is the first one in our group to come in through the finish line. His time is 25:24. He came in 10th in his age division and 96th out of 1118 runners.
Next came WENDY! Super Mom! She's in the red sweatpants. She was brilliant! She outran her own teenaged daughter. Woot! Woot!
Wendy came in 240th out of 1118 runners. Her time was 29:07. And she came in 14th in her age group out of 77 people. Woot! Woot!
Kari Clark came in next with a time of 30:24 Kari came in 309th out of 1118. That put her 47th out of 195 runners in her age bracket. Way to go Kari!
Here's Sheralyn sprinting past the red carpet at 30:37. Sheralyn was 315th out of 1118 runners. That put her at 27th out of 81 girls her age!
Then Stacy. My time chip was conveniently zipped into my pocket! Duh. A lot of help that did. I came through as the clock read 31 minutes. I didn't look at how many seconds, I was just happy to have 31. That puts me somewhere around 20th out of 77 in my decrepit age bracket (I started with Wendy and Kari with an actual start time of .14 which I think puts me at 20). Whew. (not quite a Woot! Woot! but a Whew!)
Cheyenne came through at 40 minutes dead on according to her chip. 785th out of 1118 runners. 142 out of 195 in her age bracket. With little training, that girl got out there and did it. Way to go Chey!
Happy finishers!
I couldn't resist taking some photos of people we know that we ran into who came out to run.
This is the Jorgensens. They were budget runners. Notice that they paid for one entry and split their number in half. Why didn't Wendy think of that?? Next year I'll split our number and let her run with the chip. That should really improve my time!
Here's the Brumbles, Skillmans, Thomas', and Jorgensens.
Kent Brumble had my FAVORITE running apparel on. I call it "Ode to Les Schwab"...
...He completed his Les Schwab camo colored hat ensemble with a flannel shirt which sported strategically placed ventilation holes. This is proudly old school Ashland-and I loved it! This just goes to show that there are no excuses when it comes to fitness. You don't need expensive outfits or fancy gym equipment. Just get dressed and head out on an open road.
Next up...The 10 Mile Race.
This is where we met up with Cassandra and Sam Groover. Proud new members of our Givin' it a Tri Blog.
The three brave participants get ready to run:
Here's a photo from the newspaper. Mark is the guy in the red and black with a white hat on the very right edge of the photo in the center. Mark ran on that white line as much as he could, he said it was his focal point.
Gramma Bear, always our family's best cheerleader, came down to root Mark on and take some photos.
Do you recognize the back of this person who got their picture posted in the paper's online photo gallery??
G-Bear caught this one of Mark coming towards his big finish:
Mark came in with a time of 1:12 which put him at 162 out of 1580 runners! 16th out of 81 in his age bracket.
Sam came in next with a time of 1:16 which put him at 190 overall! This put him at 39th in his age bracket out of 128.
Then came Cassandra. The only girl in the group BRAVE enough to run the 10-miler. Cassan's time was 1:56. Way to go Cassandra, we're so PROUD of you!
This was a great family day. We had a total blast getting together, getting excited, and keeping fit. Only one thing could have made it better...STEPH!
PEAR BLOSSOM RUN 2010
The 5K:
Here I am REALLY HAPPY about how cold and dark it is outside. I loved waiting for the race to start. It was probably my favorite part. Thanks to my running "buddies" we got there 45 minutes before the race started. Good thing too. Look at that crowd behind me piling up at the starting line.
Here's Sheralyn and Cheyenne getting psyched up for the run.
And finally, it's starting to get light outside. Here's our 5K family of runners...
Morgan, Chey, Sheralyn, Wendy, Stacy, & Kari
Incidentally, the Pear Blossom Run just happened to fall on Morgan's birthday. Morgan's family made him this great shirt to run in.
The race is just about to start. Fearless Morgan decides to start in the front of the pack and puts himself right at the starting line. Sheralyn decides to join him while Cheyenne considers it for a moment then smartly realizes this might not be the best idea.
and of course Morgan is the first one in our group to come in through the finish line. His time is 25:24. He came in 10th in his age division and 96th out of 1118 runners.
Next came WENDY! Super Mom! She's in the red sweatpants. She was brilliant! She outran her own teenaged daughter. Woot! Woot!
Kari Clark came in next with a time of 30:24 Kari came in 309th out of 1118. That put her 47th out of 195 runners in her age bracket. Way to go Kari!
Here's Sheralyn sprinting past the red carpet at 30:37. Sheralyn was 315th out of 1118 runners. That put her at 27th out of 81 girls her age!
Then Stacy. My time chip was conveniently zipped into my pocket! Duh. A lot of help that did. I came through as the clock read 31 minutes. I didn't look at how many seconds, I was just happy to have 31. That puts me somewhere around 20th out of 77 in my decrepit age bracket (I started with Wendy and Kari with an actual start time of .14 which I think puts me at 20). Whew. (not quite a Woot! Woot! but a Whew!)
Cheyenne came through at 40 minutes dead on according to her chip. 785th out of 1118 runners. 142 out of 195 in her age bracket. With little training, that girl got out there and did it. Way to go Chey!
Happy finishers!
I couldn't resist taking some photos of people we know that we ran into who came out to run.
This is the Jorgensens. They were budget runners. Notice that they paid for one entry and split their number in half. Why didn't Wendy think of that?? Next year I'll split our number and let her run with the chip. That should really improve my time!
Here's the Brumbles, Skillmans, Thomas', and Jorgensens.
Kent Brumble had my FAVORITE running apparel on. I call it "Ode to Les Schwab"...
Next up...The 10 Mile Race.
This is where we met up with Cassandra and Sam Groover. Proud new members of our Givin' it a Tri Blog.
The three brave participants get ready to run:
Here's a photo from the newspaper. Mark is the guy in the red and black with a white hat on the very right edge of the photo in the center. Mark ran on that white line as much as he could, he said it was his focal point.
Gramma Bear, always our family's best cheerleader, came down to root Mark on and take some photos.
Do you recognize the back of this person who got their picture posted in the paper's online photo gallery??
G-Bear caught this one of Mark coming towards his big finish:
Sam came in next with a time of 1:16 which put him at 190 overall! This put him at 39th in his age bracket out of 128.
Then came Cassandra. The only girl in the group BRAVE enough to run the 10-miler. Cassan's time was 1:56. Way to go Cassandra, we're so PROUD of you!
This was a great family day. We had a total blast getting together, getting excited, and keeping fit. Only one thing could have made it better...STEPH!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Perfect Storm
posted by a very grouchy Stacy
In just 7 hours I have to get up and run a measly 5K in the Pear Blossom. Doesn't sound too bad right? Wrong. A perfect storm is brewing. There are THREE things that I absolutely hate. Any one, should it happen, can send me into tantrums. Those three things are:
Race day game plans I've considered.
In just 7 hours I have to get up and run a measly 5K in the Pear Blossom. Doesn't sound too bad right? Wrong. A perfect storm is brewing. There are THREE things that I absolutely hate. Any one, should it happen, can send me into tantrums. Those three things are:
- Being Cold
- Early Mornings
- Running
Race day game plans I've considered.
- Smoking while running to be near a source of heat
- Zip-tie-ing my runners chip to another runner and let them do all the work.
- Mistakenly set my alarm for PM and not AM
- Purposely giving my bad knee some blunt-force trama which would require a hospital stay (hospitals give out those nice warm blankets, which sounds better than 34 degrees).
- Run with a ski parka
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