Example of Hannah's love for running...

Jennie writing...

Today on my and Hannah's run, we ran to Aunt Theresa's house then back to my house for a total of 2.75 miles.  This was one of our tougher runs because it involves hills, hills, and more hills.  Hannah's a tough little runner.  Eventhough she asked if we could walk a little bit when we got to the stop sign, she only took 3 walking steps before she decided she wanted to keep running up the hill.  I think my coaching is rubbing off on Hannah because on the way up our very last LOOOONG hill to my house, Hannah keeps repeating over and over to herself..."I can do it...[breathlessly] I know I can.  Come on [breathing hard]...Almost there.  There's the green dumpster!!  Auntie...am I pushing it up the hill?"  I just love my little runner niece!

Iron Girl 5K - Seattle, Washington

Hannah, Jennie and Suzy-Q flew down to Washington on Thursday night and stayed with my mother in law Linda for the weekend. This was a great first trip to a race for Jennie and Hannah because having a house to stay in made this first trip really nice. Not having to rent a car, stay in a hotel and having a second set of helping hands around was awesome.

Today is Hannah's 7th birthday :) She and Jennie ran the Iron Girl 5K in Seattle, Washington in 31:06 and Hannah got her very first top three finish in her age group :) Hannah's time was fast enough for a 2nd place finish in the 9 and under girls age group!  Hannah was 265 overall out of 1,369 women, so she was faster than 1,000 other people.  The women running around Hannah and Jennie were all surprised that she was such a good little runner.  Several of them said, "Boy I wish I had her energy," or "I wish I could run like her."  When Hannah heard these comments she would say, "Come on Auntie...Let's GO!" and off she went.  Hannah was sooooo excited when they called her name for age groups!  Her prize was a running bracelet that says "Race with Grace," which is very fitting as Hannah's middle name is Grace.

Hannah and Ava were really good fliers and the 3 1/2 hour flight to Seattle was a good "test" flight.  Besides Ava spilling hot coffee on both of them, it went mostly without a hitch.  Jennie told me that she has a few suggestions for their next trip which is to Chicago in October.  We can't wait to see how Hannah does in her next out of state race!

In the box that Hannah bracelet came in, there was a little card that talked about the phrase Race With Grace and I loved it so here it is...Grace, also the name of the symbol used in the Iron Girl logo, is within us all.  It's what makes women heroic, charming and limitless.  Grace is with us in difficult times and happy times, silly times and sad times.  Grace is with us physically, mentally and emotionally.

May you always find Grace in your life and in your next race!!!!

Bonny Sosa Race #1

Well, on the drive in it appeared to be a typical Kincaid kind of day...rainy and windy :( As we were sitting in the car I pulled out my camera to take a picture, only to realize that I had forgotten the memory card in my computer at home, UGH!  Luckily Justin has an Andriod phone with a semi decent camera on it so I was at least able to get a few pictures. 

After getting registered in the main Kincaid chalet we headed down to the race starting area to find that the rain had stopped YAY!!!!!  Of course the course was muddy and full of puddles, but who would want to run a race at Kincaid any other way?  This is the first year that we have run the in the Bonny Sosa series so everything was new to us.  At sign in we received a piece of paper showing the race route in a loopy sort of diagram.  It turns out that the three race leagues had a loop assigned to them.  The munchkin league (red flags) was a 2.5k and the farm league (blue flags) was a 3.8k and the lightning league (yellow flags) was a 4.3k but the trick was the the farm league had to run the farm loop and the munchkin loop, while the lighting league had to run the lightning loop, the farm loop and the munchkin loop. Racers were allowed to run in any order they wanted so long as they completed the appropriate numbers of loops.  The munchkin league ran a total of 2.5k, the farm league ran a total of 6.3k and the lightning league ran a total of 10.6k.

Today's race was a true family event, we had a total of 6 racers.  There were 829 total racers.  Justin (my hubby and Hannah and Owen's daddy), Jennie, Greg (Jennie's husband) and Hannah ran the farm league 6.3k and Shauna and Owen ran the munchkin league 2.5k. Suzy-Q (Jennie's daughter) and I stayed back to cheer them on and take their pics.  The farm and lightning league took off first and our group of 4 ran the farm loop first and the munchkin loop second.  The munchkin league got started one minute after the other leagues and of course they all ran the munchkin loop :)

Shauna and Owen were the first of our group in, in about 19 minutes.  Auntie Shauna said that this was the hilliest course they have ran but that Owen did and awesome job!  While Shauna and Owen went up to the chalet to turn in their time cards I was at the finish line waiting for Greg to come in and boy did he come in fast!  The first two farm league racers came in at 21:03 and 21:04 and Greg was right behind them at 21:28...awesome 3rd place finish.  Jennie and Hannah came in at 37:42 and Justin was right behind then at 37:50.  Being that this was a 6.3k and Hannah's longest race ever and that the course was hilly we figure that this was Hannah's personal best time :)  After doing a little math it looks like Hannah and Jennie maintained a 9:40 mile pace. I am thinking that Hannah may be able to break the 30 minute mark in her upcoming Iron Girl 5k in Seattle on Sunday and maybe, just maybe if things go well, she might be able to place in the top three finishers of her age division which would be a first for her!

Auntie Jennie, Hannah and Suzy-Q all fly out Thursday evening to Washington to get ready for the Iron Girl 5k.  If you see them around wish them good luck!!!

Uncle Greg, Hannah, Auntie Jennie, Owen, Auntie Shauna and Daddy

Hannah and Jennie have been training for the Iron Girl 5K and we are thinking that she might just have a chance at placing in the top 3 of her age group.  Her age group will be 9 and under so it all depends on who is racing that day.  Our best guess is that Hannah may run the race in 31 minutes.  Auntie Jennie has been taking Suzy-Q in her BOB stroller for the runs with Hannah and Jennie is really having to work to keep up with Hannah on the hills :)  I am sad that I won't be in Washington when Hannah runs but I know that she will be in great hands with Grammy and Auntie Jennie.  This will be Jennie (and Suzy-Q of course) and Hannah's first out of state trip together.  It looks like their flight only has 2 first class seats left and no coach seats available so I am crossing my fingers that maybe they can take a bump to another flight and get some Alaska Airlines travel credit for their next out of state trip.

We now have the Princess 5K (Disneyworld) in February and the Pumpkins in the Park 5K (Chicago) booked and Hannah is really looking forward to her upcoming trips!!!!

What a fun race!!!!

The Big Wild Life races were a family event this weekend.  Hannah and Auntie Jennie ran the 5k and Owen and Auntie Shauna ran the 2k.  Alaska's unpredictable weather showed through, when we left the house it was cloudy with a peak of sunshine, when Owen and Shauna ran it was rather warm and 40 minutes later when Hannah and Jennie ran it was chilly!  The pre-race wait was fun because there was a giant T-Rex made of foam and tons of costumed animals walking around.  Owen and Shauna ran their first 2k in about 30 minutes, way to go for their first official run!  Hannah and Jennie ran an amazing 33:25 5k.  This was Hannah's personal best :)  Hannah keeps telling me that she wants to do a 5k in 26 minutes so we will see what the next race holds for us.

I am having a harder time finding races here locally in the upcoming months.  Since we are relatively new to this I don't know if running is mostly a summer sport here or if maybe I am just missing them.

PS - This was Hannah's 3rd 5k race in 8 days!

Fossil 5K

Today was a nasty rainy day to run a race!  This was Hannah's first cross-country 5k and discovered Auntie and Hannah need to do more hill training.  After a potty break in the most disgusting port-a-potty ever, Hannah and Jennie lined up and took off to set her next PR (personal record).  The goal was to beat 36 minutes.  Hannah slipped and fell while running, but jumped up and kept running like a little champ!  At 24 minutes into the race, Hannah and Auntie ran into a bull moose.  They walked behind it for 8 minutes with about 15 other racers before it decided to get off the trail.  A 4 and 6 year old brother and sister were the people to beat for this race.  Hannah finished in 41:32, although she would have finished in 36 minutes had it not been for the moose.  Our next race is the Big Wild Life 5K on August 15th and will keep 36 minutes as the goal.

Seward Sealife Run

Alaska can now be checked off on the map.  Hannah and Auntie Jennie ran in the Seward Sealife 5k on August 7th.  As Hannah and Auntie Jennie were running, Hannah says "I haven't run this far before."  Auntie replies that she ran this far last week with her dad.  Hannah replies "My daddy let me run/walk AND he gave me a piggy back ride!"  Hannah was rather tired for this race as she was sick and did not get to bed till 1am.  Thankfully the race was not until noon the next day.  Hannah thrives on the competition and usually picks a runner near by as the person/people to "beat."  Two ladies were our pacers for this race and we got a picture taken with them at the end.  Hannah took 4 minute off her last 5K time in this race and ended with 39:05.  We are looking forward to the Fossil 5k at Kincaid Park on August 10th.  The goal is to run 36 minutes.