(Our First) Wordless Wednesday!!

(Yes, we know it's not Wednesday yet, but by the time you read this, it probably will be.)

My Favorite Medals

After reading Marlene's post, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," I decided to join in on the fun. I LOVE medals! As tacky, cheesy and clunky as they may be, I never get tired of getting them. I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's medals, so thanks to all who have shared.
I keep all my medals in my bedroom at my parent's house, I don't sleep there often, but when i do, i love walking in and seeing all my bling.

I have wood paneling all the way around my room so I hang them on push pins.

When we get thunderstorms they rattle against the wall and wake me up, lol.

If I took them all down, I would be able to put them all back in the exact same spot.

These are my favorite medals. 3 medals x 5 years = still want more :-)

It's fun to see how a medal improves over the years. The 2005 medal was small and no color, the 2010 medal is much fancier!

This is my least favorite. I have very tiny hands (my engagement ring is 3.25) so this medal may look normal-sized in my hand, but I assure you, it's the size of a QUARTER!!!  It's sooooo tiny. Not to be picky here, but I don't like the red, white and blue ribbon on medals. :-P

It's nice to get different things sometimes too. Here is my cowbell from my 50k and my sash from Disney.

I don't pick a race based on the medal, but it is definitely a nice perk. Whenever people ask me if I collect anything, I never know what to say. I want to say I collect running medals, but not sure if that makes sense. Ryan and I always take a smoochy picture with our medals after a race. :-)

What is YOUR favorite medal? Thanks, Marlene, good idea.

Race Report: Skyline Trail Run

Sunday, July 11th, we made the last-minute decision to join our friends in the Skyline Trail Run. This "race" is a hard-core trail run over serious hills/mountains, rocks, roots, and all kinds of terrain. One of our friends had the race t-shirt from last year, and it pictured a stick-figure falling on his head off a mountain. There were points in the race where it was necessary to use your hands to pull yourself up rocks. The race started at the base of the Blue Hills Ski Area, and the final mile is a sprint down a nice, steep ski slope. It was definitely quite an experience and quite a workout. Even Miss Bethany was drenched in sweat, which NEVER happens. It is a 7 mile race (something would normally take us less than an hour on the road), and it took us 2:15 to complete this grueling course. Our friends warned us it would be tough, but nothing they could say could have done justice to this course. Unbelievably, the winner (a serious New England trail runner) won with a time of 1:04. Unreal.

This is a picture taken on the Skyline Trail. Imagine 'running' 7 miles up and down this. Yeah, it's that tough.  

After we finished the race, phew, we were tired and beat! We can't wait for next year! We might even go back sooner and hike it to get in some practice :-p

Do You Recognize This Olympic Athlete??

Yup, it's 5-time Olympian and 12-time medalist Dara Torres!!! (and me)

Help! We Can't Comment on Your Blogs!!

Hi everyone, we are having trouble commenting on your blogs and we need your help to solve it. Well, actually, this has been going on for awhile. We read a lot of blogs, but we cannot comment on half of them!! If someone has their comment box embedded in their post, then we CANNOT comment. If you have a "post a comment" link, which opens up a new window, then we CAN post a comment. Most of the blogs we read have the comment box embedded (where you have to select your profile, URL or user ID or something) so we cannot comment.  We do use Firefox, but have also tried it from Internet Explorer and sometimes we are able to comment but other times we are not. Help! We want to leave comments on your blogs!!
Thanks.
Crazy trail race today...detailed race report coming soon...

Busy 4th of July Race Weekend!

Here's a recap of our busy 4th of July weekend! What a weekend it was, busy and exciting, just the way we like it! 

Saturday, July 3rd, we ran the Mattapoisett Road Race (5 miler). Mattapoisett is Miss Bethany's hometown, so it's a must-run every year for us. It was a little hot out, so neither of us really ran the race we wanted to, but it was still a lot of fun, and we got to see a lot of our running friends. Miss Bethany ended up doing 37:26, about 2 minutes slower than she was hoping for. Ryan ended up with 39:03, about 1.5 minutes slower than he was hoping for. Oh well, we did just run 2 marathons + a 50k in the past 2 months. This was really the first time we were trying to push the pace over a short distance in a long time, so we're not disappointed at all. =)

 Here's the gang of us after the race.

Sunday, July 4th, we ran the Patriots 10km, which finished right at Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play. This race was run by DMSE, who also run the Boston Marathon, so it was VERY organized, and well-put-together. It was SO much fun. Miss Bethany did the race with a friend, Beth. It was her first race ever, and they've been training together since March. Beth did a fabulous job, and really enjoyed herself, and will definitely run more races in the future! GREAT JOB, BETH! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Ryan ran the race solo, and really didn't know how the race would play out, considering he'd put in a solid effort the day before at the Mattapoisett 5 miler. So he started out slow, doing 8:55 min/miles for the first 3 miles, just enjoying the race. However, once we made the turn back towards the stadium, Ryan just got this burst of excitement and started speeding things up. Average pace dropped quite a bit, and unbelievably, once the stadium was in sight, Ryan's last mile was a 6:36, and the last half mile into the stadium, through the tunnel and onto the field was at 5:36 pace. Haha, he just got this crazy burst of adrenaline, running through the tunnel, jumped up and slapped the underside of the inflatable helmet, and sprinted down the field, passing many people. (I'm sure lots of onlookers thought I was a madman.) After the race, Ryan turned around and ran back out on the course to find Bethany and Beth, and then ran back in with them, topping out at 10 miles on the day.

This is similar to the tunnel we ran out of yesterday. So much fun!!! So exciting!!!

Bethany and Beth just after mile 5.

Bethany and Beth heading to the stadium.

Bethany and Beth heading into the tunnel and onto the field!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend!!

My First Virtual Race and a 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

Hi friends, this post is written by Bethany, so "I," means Bethany. :-)

This post is LATE but better late than never! I did my first virtual run back on May 26th, it was hosted by Katye from Long Legs on the Loose. The 3 mile run was in memory of Chelsea King so I couldn't pass up the chance to participate. I did a 1 mile warm up from my apt to the track, ran 3 miles non-stop on the track and then ran 1 mile back home as a cool down. The run was enjoyable, it was VERY hot out that day even though I ran at 8am. I always run with my Garmin when running around this particular track because the distance is a bit off, 3 3/4 laps is 1 mile. It took me awhile to realize the track was off, I thought I was off! I kept getting frustrated wondering why my times were so slow then one day I brought my Garmin along and figured it out.

Stats: 3 Miles, 20:45, 6:54 pace.

Half Marathon Race Recap: 13.1 Marathon "Boston"

 This past Sunday I ran a half marathon with my dear friend Jill. It was her first half and she was AMAZING! She was VERY strong and VERY upbeat! She just kept going and going, never complained once! I was very proud of her and I had a great time! I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids around mile 7. She said yes :-)

Running with Jill was great but he race itself was not. VERY VERY UNORGANIZED!! I have run hundreds of races and I've never seen anything like this before, it was downright bad. This race was advertised as being in Boston but really it was 30 minutes outside of the city in a very rural town (this I already knew...). The course was said to have a few rolling hills but there were a lot of decent hills. Water stops not only ran out of water EARLY ON, but CUPS too. People were drinking straight out of gallons.  Luckily I grabbed a cup at mile 2 and held onto it for the rest of the race. Even before the race was weird...we weren't allowed to make 1 line for ever 3 port-a-potties, we had to make individual lines at each one, which took forever!! I had to climb over a stone wall to get the the start (which resulted in a little blood), we started behind at least 1,000 walkers and the finish line was disorganized too. To get our medals once we finished, we had to walk across a field (way out of the way) and pick one off a table...When it was time to leave we were trapped in the parking lot!! They would not let any cars out until 9:30am, the race started at 6:13. Yes, 6:13, that is not a typo. ANYWAY, I don't want tot be all negative about it so that's enough dissing on 13.1 "Boston."  I got the impression that they were trying to model themselves after Rock N' Roll races but it was nothing like a RNR event. OK, like I said, enough dissing on them...

Does she look good, or what??? (at the finish)

Yay, GO JILL!

Happy 4th to everyone!! We will be racing on Saturday and then doing another race Sunday for fun. Sunday I'll be running a 10k with my friend Beth! It will be her first race ever! I'm so excited for her!! 

** Leave words of encouragement/advice for Beth and I'll make sure she reads the comments!**

Wishing you all a safe and fun holiday weekend!!!!