The Fall Fifty!

 

Before I get in to what the bulk of the weekend entailed I want to share two pictures. This first is of my favorite new snack food, roasted kale. I saw the recipe on one of the blogs I follow and thought what the heck, so 20 min in the oven with a little olive oil and salt and voila, healthy "chips". I love them!

 

 

 My second photo is of Jackson practicing his letters and numbers. He concentrates so hard when he's doing them that he kind of loses track of how he's sitting. He has actually fallen off the chair before while pradticing. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

 

 

Ok, now for the weekend... This past weekend was the Door County Fall 50! A co-worker and I decided last February (or so) that we wanted to register a team from work to complete the 50-mile relay. Who knew those 6 months would fly by so fast! But, ready or not, our 5 person team began the relay at 8 am Saturday morning at the tip of the Door County Peninsula, finishing in Sturgeon Bay. The scenery was breathtaking! We followed the Bay of Green Bay most of the way and had amazing weather!!! Door County never seems to disappoint. 

 

As many of you know, I'm not someone who runs for time or competition which is why I typically don't sign up for races. Races are serious, with serious runners going after PRs and trophies. For me, that takes the fun out of running. The Fall 50 is more about comradery and fun. Here are some of the fun and creative relay team names we encountered (their were costumes and decorated cars to go with them):

I Thought This Was A 5K!

4 Rigs And A Rack

We’ve Got The Runs

Running Fast and Breaking Wind

My Other Car Is A Saucony

Thong Distance Streaking

Worst Pace Scenario

Did We Shave Our Legs For This?

 

Our team name was "Chasing Zebras". Next year we're coming up with outfits to commemorate our name. I had such an awesome time and love the fact that I work with some of the most intelligent and fun colleagues out there!

 

Our Support Crew: Chris is still recovering from pneumonia and another coworker had to drop out do to a training injury so her and her husband and Chris were our support crew. I liked looking forward to their encouragement and cheers at every relay point. THANK YOU!

 

And a HUGE thank you to Chris who, despite his pneumonia, ran about 3/4 of a KILLER half-mile hill I had at the end of my first leg (6.3 miles). I had ran that leg at a break neck pace and when I had to end with that hill the gas tank read zero and my quads screamed "NO!". Chris' support helped me get through it, unfortunatly he paid dearly with some monumental coughing fits for hours afterwards. Now that exemplifies "For better or for worse"!

 

So, to sum it up, we had an awesome time and Chris and I had an amazing weekend away in Door County. It was great to get home and see Jackson though, we missed him dearly. A BIG THANK YOU to my parents for watching Jackson all weekend. He had a great time! 

 

 

Jackson spent part of his Saturday golfing with Grandpa. He LOVES to golf (driving the cart has just a little something to do with that).

 

 

 

 

 This was near the end of my first leg (6.3 mi). This photo was taken immediatly before the .5 mile hill that ended my first leg. It SUCKED! 

 

 

Chris capturing me at one of the relay points. At this point life was good, I was done with my two legs of the relay.

 

Our support crew!!!

They were there to rescue us with pecan rolls and coffee. Now that's support!

 

The end! We all ran behind Erika as she crosses the finish line and wraps up the 50 miles.

 

 

The Chasing Zebras Team

 

The next morning I displayed a weary smile and my medal on the balcony of our hotel room.

(I think there was a mistake in our reservations because we had a full kitchen, dining room, family room, fireplace, jacuzzi in master suite, balcony and a full bathroom besides!)