Team 5K in 50 States

Team 5K in 50 States: Hannah and Auntie Jennie

Running Buddies: Auntie Shauna, Owen (brother), Dad (Justin), and Uncle Greg.

Cheerleaders: Mom (Nicole), Grandma, Grandpa, Ava (AKA Suzy-Q, cousin), Baby Kaelyn (cousin), Grammy Farr, and Grandpa Tom.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Shamrock Scramble

Hannah and I ran in the Shamrock Scramble held at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage on Saturday, March 19th.  When I woke up and looked at the temperature, it was a cold COLD 10 degrees!  We were both grumbling about how cold it was, but we were still ready to race.  By the time the race started at 10am, it warmed up to 17/18 degrees which felt surprisingly better :) 

Pre race goofing around

The sun was shining and we could even feel a bit of warmth from it...yay for spring!!!!  Everyone waited inside until the very last minute, and the race people had to tell everyone it was time to head to the start line.  We walked out as a group, had a brief introduction to the course, and we were off!
Grandma, Suzy-Q and Owen hanging out inside waiting for Hannah and Jennie to come back :)

This race reminded us of the Jingle Bell 5K we did back in December as we were running on a lot of snow.  Hannah and I were huffing and puffing just 10 minutes after beginning our run.  When we reached the 2 mile mark, I realized the race had been shortened due poor trail conditions and now was not a 5K!  We crossed the finish line in 25:15 and the race ended up being 2.16 miles, not bad for a snow-covered trail.  Hannah was the only kiddo running this race and many people cheered her on as we ran.  We are looking forward to running the UAA Spring Break Up run on April 9th!
Coming into the finish line

Way to go Team 5K in 50 States

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Truffle Shuffle 5K - Overland Park, Kansas

Hannah, Ava, and I arrived in St. Louis on Thursday after spending a week in Disney World.  I repacked for our trip to Kansas the next day.  We set out at 10am on Friday for the 4 1/2 hour drive to Overbrook, Kansas.  Quite the undertaking with a 7 year old and a 1 year old :)  We ended up driving through a midwest thunder and lightning storm for 1 1/2 hours.  It was raining so hard that we had to yell to each other in the car just to communicate! We could even hear the thunder over the rain while driving down the interstate.  This was Hannah's first time seeing lightning.

We went to the new American Girl store in Kansas before going to pick up our bibs.  The ladies at the American Girl store gave Hannah a cool poster, calendar, and magazine.  They loved hearing her talk about running her races.  I think Hannah wants to visit all of the American Girl Doll Stores...good thing we plan on running in all 50 states. 

The race coordinator was distributing bibs and was so excited that we had chosen the Truffle Shuffle as our Kansas race.  It is always fun to share our 5K in 50 state mission with the people we meet at each race!
Saturday, the morning of our race was a blustery 22 degrees.  We also had cold midwest winds blowing through.  Hannah and I geared up in every layer we brought and prayed it was going to be enough. Having just come from running in Florida, the 22 degree weather seemed really cold.  Our black and pink tutus sure got us a lot of attention!  Everyone was asking us how many states we have done and where we are from.  The people at this race were so friendly.  We trecked out into the cold at 8:30am, and off we went.

The race photographer got some awesome action shots of us while we were running.  There was a little girl wearing blue and pink who was our pace setter for a while.  Hannah would pass her, then she would pass us.  We passed her and stayed in front a little past the second mile.  The last quarter mile was tough as our faces and legs were getting numb and cold.
Hannah and I crossed the finish line in 32:33 while the DJ (named BJ) announced us crossing the finish line!  We were glad to be done and go inside to thaw out.  More people came to talk to us after the race and to tell Hannah good job in the race.  The race coordinators gave both Hannah and I a gift certificate for Road ID.  We had a lot of fun at this race and are so glad we picked it to be our Kansas race.
Hannah was in a large age group for this race, females ages 15 & under.  Her time was good enough to place 2nd!!  She was so excited.  Below is a picture of her with her 2nd place certificate.  Thank you Truffle Shuffle for a fun-filled race!

Beauty and the Beast 5K - Orlando, Florida

We all had to be up at 4am to catch the bus going to the race at 5am.  Having only recently arrived in Florida and having to adjust to the 4 hour time difference we all wanted to stay in bed that early in the morning!  Our race started at 7am outside of Epcot and the temperature was about 70 degrees.  Besides the humidity, it was a nice morning for a run.  This was the first race Auntie Jennie has run with the gps watch she got for Christmas.  It was really nice to be able to tell how far we had run, as well as keep track of our mile pace. 

This race had Disney Princesses posted along the race course cheering us on.  We saw Pocahontas, Jasmine, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle, & Cinderella.  Hannah was excited to see all the Princesses, but she was most excited when we ran past a squirrel!  Gotta love Hannah :)  Everyone loved our Pink & Black Tutus (A special thank you to Krazykidlets for making our tutus).  Hannah kicked it into high gear for the last quarter mile of our run for a personal best 5k time of 28:32!!
Hannah and Jennie were not the only racers of the day, nor was the 5K the only race Hannah ran that day!  Owen ran the 200 meter race, Ava had her first offical race - the diaper derby - and Hannah ran both the 400 meter AND the Mickey Mile all in the same day.  It was a bit crazy and hectic getting from one race to another but all in all the whole thing was an amazing experience :)

Disney World Trip

Grandma, Grandpa, Hannah, Owen, Auntie Jennie, & Ava spent the last week in Disney World.  The highlight of our whole trip was seeing the Space Shuttle launch while we were on the plane getting ready to land!!!!  We were lucky enough to be above the cloud cover when we saw the space shuttle.  Although we did not take the picture below, this is what our view looked like. What an AMAZING once in a lifetime experience :)

We visited Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom for 2 days, Typhoon Lagoon water park for 2 days, and Epcot. We also went to the Spirit of Aloha Show at the Polynesian Resort. Hannah's favorite ride at Magic Kindom was Space Mountian (she went on it twice). Owen went on Space Mountain the first time and decided fast roller coasters were not for him. Hannah loved Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Train. Ava went on many rides too with her favorite being "Its a Small World."

We spent two days at Typhoon Lagoon and both Hannah and Owen suffered the wrath of the concrete sandpaper pool bottom.  Owen got 1 skinned elbow, and Hannah got 2 skinned knees and elbows.  After a week of sun and fun Grandma, Grandpa, and Owen headed back to Alaska while Hannah, Ava, and Auntie Jennie flew to St. Louis for our next race.