D's Adventures

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Team Run4TheKids Annual 5K 8-14-21

Our race that was postponed in June due to a little storm that rolled in finally happen! We were so EXCITED! The new strain of COVID has hit and cases are steady climbing so that concerned us, but we went ahead with our date of 8/14/21. This should have been our 8th year but since last year was canceled it was our 7th year of hosting this race. I asked for people to wear mask until they got started and not to gather in huge groups at the finish line. Everyone did a really good job.

As with most races I don't really sleep well the night before. I remembered early that evening that I didn't have safety pins for the bibs! I quickly contacted Renee our timer and she said girl I got you covered. 😍😍 So I went to bed wondering what else I might of forgotten! Our race last year was canceled due to COVID so it seemed like it had been forever since we hosted a race! I tossed and turned and then was WIDE awake at 2am! I knew I had to be up and ready at 4am to go set up so I got up and drank coffee.

Yes, we start at dark thirty setting up to be ready for runners that arrive prior to race time at 7:30am. Here are a few pictures of set up. We had a beautiful sunrise! We had our car lights on shining so we could see to set up.

Soon it was time for the prayer. I asked Krista if she would do the prayer. After the prayer, we had a special treat. Luca a St. Jude patient that has been to our race a few times was there with his family! He was first diagnosed in 2011 when he was barely 2 years old. He has fought hard and had many, many surgeries and treatments. Today he is 4 years CANCER FREE! 🙏💓💓💓 His dad is a musician so I asked him to play the National Anthem. It was so special! He was AWESOME.

Nicholas Playing and I'm holding the flag

So many friends were at the race! It was a great day!!!

Not sure what I'm doing for Mr. D to take a picture.. we are always cutting up. 😁

Miss Coffee Runner - group pic

Nestor, me and Sunshine

Who saw this guy today at our race? Wasn’t he amazing?? He is carrying his ruck pack!! We talked after the race. He is at camp Shelby right now. We discuss the race next year at camp Shelby the Norwegian foot March where soldiers will carry their Ruck packs for 18.6 miles in full gear!! They have a time limit he said to earn their badge. I can’t wait to be there!! I was invited as one of 100 runners to come run with them. It’s going to be amazing!!! They are beast!

PPRF group! LOVE my peer pressure running friends!

Our race shirts!

Awards that Sunshine made! WE are so THANKFUL for her! She's been making our medals for several years now. Ronnie also a team member make the bowls!

We also had another family .. the Hartfield’s who’s children have been on a mission to raise $500. Well they met their goal also and we recognized them.

. There mother said she is trying to show them how important it is to help others. 💙💚💛💜💘

So after the race right b4 awards we had another special treat! Luca's mom had a goal to raise $5,000 for St. Jude and she has met that goal. Part of the deal was that Luca would get to "PIE" his parents if she met her goal.... well here's proof... 😂😁😂😁😍

Luca get's dad first

Then mom

I so enjoyed having them at our race and Praise Jesus that Luca is cancer FREE!

As some of us were about to leave after cleaning up, Nestor mentioned that we hadn't taken a group pic. We grabbed this quick pic, but Ronnie, Be, & Penny had already left so they are not in the pic. I can't thank this group enough!!! I could never host a race on my own. They are ALL a blessing!

Here is Ronnie, Be & Penny before they left to go set up water station at the turn around:

Well until next year!! 💖 Hope to see you at our race! It all goes to St. Jude! over the 8 years of having this team... we've raised over $200,00 for St. Jude! 🙏🙏💕💕💖💖

Queen City Sprint TRI 8-7-21

So last minute, I signed up for a Sprint TRI! Call it peer pressure if you will... Actually a couple months ago I was asked to be an Ambassador for race. This use to be called Sunfish Sprint TRI. The race was recently sold to the Queen City organization and they were asking people who had raced the event before to help them spread the word that the race would go on, but just under a new name. One of my friend was helping organize the race so I couldn't turn him down and told him I'd help. At this point, I really wasn't sure If I'd do the race myself. I've been trying to focus on my running in preparation for the Chicago marathon coming up in October. However, I've been trying to keep a good base in swimming and biking so I won't have to start from scratch next year to get ready for an Ironman.

So at the last minute I decided what the heck. It's only a Sprint... why not. 😁 I knew my neighbor, Dennis was going so I knew I wouldn't be all alone. None of my regular TRI friends are racing right now. It was another early morning of getting up at 4am on Saturday and driving to Meridian for the race. The race takes place at Bonita lake. It's a nice venue, but usually EXTREMELY HOT... especially the run around the lake at the end. There have been years when I thought I was going to die it was so HOT. I was so happy that the temp was not too bad. It actually turned into a great race morning as far as the temp and humidity. I was very happy about that!

It has been so long since I raced a TRI that it almost felt like the first time when I walked into the transition area to set up. I was thinking to myself... I hope I didn't forget something! 😀

Here's me and Dennis in transition... Lordy I need some makeup...and check out those bags under my eyes.. LOL

I took a quick dip in the water to see how it felt. Some years the water has been so hot it felt like you were in a hot tub! This year the water actually felt good.

Thanks to Renee, Dennis' wife for grabbing a few pictures of me. 😍

Soon the race started and we were lined up in number order to begin. I was number 29 so I was starting up front! I was a tad nervous about this since I'm not a fast swimmer and usually I'm in the back. I was worried about swimmers running into me or swimming over me! I stayed way to the outside and no one ever touched me. 😍 I swam nice and easy focusing on long strokes. I really thought I'd have a fairly decent time. However, when I got out and looked down at my watch and it said 17:47 my head just hung low. I was like that was terrible! That's probably also the reason I pushed the wrong button on my watch and didn't realize it. I ran on in and said to myself, just get on the bike and go. Here are a couple pictures of me leaving out on the bike that Renee got.

As soon as I was on the bike just a couple of minutes, my watched beeped. I was like what the heck. But I didn't take time to look at my watch because if you've ever done the race, you know there are HILLS! I knew I needed to stay focused and just ride. I had not put my bike computer on my bike so I had no idea how fast I was going, but I felt good. My watch kept beeping every 2-3 minutes it seemed. I just ignored it and it and kept on riding.

When I came in from the ride and dismounted from the bike, I looked at my watch to see why it had been beeping constantly. Guess what??? It was still on SWIM!! Take a look...

So I swam like 16 miles!! 😱😕

I quickly tried to get my watch back to the right place by pressing lap a couple of times and finally it was on the run segment. So I took off on the run. Here's a picture Renee snapped of me coming in from the run. I don't really like the picture too much because it looks like my legs are total jelly fat flopping.. But you know what... I'm 55 years old and still out there... so embrace those wrinkles... I've earned them. 😄

I went to the timing tent after everyone was finished because they had a machine that was printing everyone's time from their timing system and I wanted to get my times since I screwed up my watch. Here is what I got:

The bike was 17 miles and I did it in 58 minutes so I did have a good bike time..... with me not training on hills recently... 😀 And I finished in under 2 hours. Not a PR for me, but I had hoped to get around 2 hours or less on my time. 💪

I also ran into my cousin Pam at the race. I had no idea she would be there. She had been battling asthma that is brought on by exercise.. I can't think of the name of it. Anyway, she had been struggling with her breathing and not racing. Well, she's BACK! She had a great race! 😍

Here is our cool medal. 1/3 Swim, 17 miles bike and 5K run to complete the Sprint TRI.

I could tell that I had not been racing. Or should I say I had not been doing back to back activities. But overall, I felt good after the race. I was glad I went ahead and did it. I'm always so nervous in an open water swim. This was only 1/3 mile and even though I've done 2.4 miles in open water, I was still so nervous. I kept telling myself... "Let your faith be stronger than your fear". Plus I had so many friends that had texted me that morning saying they were praying for me. 💗💗💗 Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 4:13, Ezra 10:4, Hebrews 12:1

Sunday morning I got up early again and met Penny at 6am to run 16 miles. She kept telling me she couldn't believe I was doing a long run following a race and not complaining... ha We ran nice and easy. It was a great morning and we saw some friends.. but the best part was my Gatorade I stopped and got on like mile 13. The dew point has been terrible lately. Literally by mile 7 I am squishing in my shoes with sweat! Summer time training in South Mississippi is TOUGH!