Bison 50-mile Relay Race Recap, Finally!

Several weeks ago I got a seven of my closest running friends together and we ran a 50 mile relay from Topeka to Lawrence! Crazy, I know!

 

The Bison 50 relay is designed to be a solo runner, ultra team (2-5 people), or regular team (6-10 people). It started at Gary Gribbles in Topeka and ended at the Mass Street Pub in Lawrence. I was super pumped because I felt like we had a good chance of placing as an all female team and we would get a medal!

 

Yes, I know the medal should not be the only reason I run but right now it is. I'm okay with it. :)

Sidenote: We didn't get a finishers medal because they changed the finishers prize to be a pint glass! Boo!!

 

There were ten legs of the race each ranging from 3.5 miles to 6.5 miles. Three of us ran two legs.

 

My first leg was leg 3 (4.4 miles) and to say I wasn't ready for it, is an understatement! I was actually in line for the porta potty when my relay partner, Cindy, came running up! Shit!!!! I saw her and just left the line ( I was next of course!) and took off running. She came running up and we made the exchange of the time chip and off I went. I didn't have time to set my Garmin and it was my first time running in full leggings.

 

The leggings kept falling down and making me feel like I had a baggy crotch. I don't think they looked that bad in person but that's how I felt. I kept hiking them up and scrunching them around my legs. About two miles in I decided I really had to go to the bathroom and I couldn't wait. I saw a small Mexican bakery and decided to go in and see if they had a restroom I could use. 

 

I ran in and asked in my best Spanish, "Puedo ir al bano, por favor?" and she pointed to the back for me to go to. I was so thankful that she let me and if I had more time or money I would have been more than happy to buy a delicious looking pastry for me to eat while running. 

 

As I continued my run I realized that I'm really running in the ghetto of Topeka. At one point I was running and looked down to see a gun clip laying on the sidewalk! Yes, a gun clip! Then I looked at the street sign and saw I was in Little Russia. Yikes!

 

I made my way to the exchange point and completely blew past my relay partner. I just wasn't paying attention ran right past her.

 

The rest of the race continued on as planned and we had a blast driving to each exchange point and cheering on our relay runners. There was such a sense of community and everyone cheering for each other, especially the solo runners. About half-way through the race we "adopted" a solo runner who seemed to not have any support system at the race for him. Each leg we saw him and cheered him and were in amazement that he was doing such a good job. He ran 50 miles by himself!

 

My next leg was leg 9 and it was 4.6 miles. By this time it had warmed up and I was able to run in a t-shirt and not long sleeves. The only thing was, this leg was on gravel roads and then Highway 24. The gravel roads were not like the gravel roads I ran at home. This gravel was huge and there was no line of demarcation where cars traveled more and had worn the gravel down. The whole time I had to stare at the road in fear of twisting my ankle if I didn't land right. My body was not ready for this jarring. My legs were killing me and my pace was terrible. I felt like I was letting the whole team down. I walked way more than I wanted to and was feeling sorry for myself. :( 

 

The best part of the race was the end when we all met up and got to finish with our last runner. It was an awesome feeling and to know that it wouldn't have been possible without all of us, it was amazing!

 

We already have plans for next year and we can't wait to get two teams running!

 

Cindy, Joyce, Me, Andrea, Amber, Sherri




Finishers Shirt!

Pool Fun with Friends!

After a crazy busy week we meet up with friends for some Friday pool fun! We had never been to this pool and the first thing I see when we get there, 15 minutes late, is my school's Boys and Girls Club! Say what?! Why were they at the pool all the way across town? Once I get inside I find out it's not just our BGC but the 5th Street Center as well! Great! A thousand more kids in an already crowded pool.

 

I knew they were probably leaving by pool break so I didn't let it ruin the boys' fun and that they did! Wyatt and Braxton played and played and played. They slid down the slides and swam with each other the entire time. They were having so much fun we decided to stay longer and ended up being at the pool for over 3 hours. :)

 

This is such a turn around from last year with Wyatt and not wanting to play in the water. Here's hoping that it continues in this direction.

 



Wyatt and Braxton laughing at each other!

Woosh!

Laying in the sun to dry off!

Wyatt's Fourth Birthday

It's hard to believe it but Wyatt is FOUR! It seems like I was just pushing him out of my vagina yesterday. To relive that story click here.

This year the theme Wyatt chose was Mickey Mouse. I had contacted my friend Kim about making his birthday shirt and all was good. Then something happened. He changed his mind and of course had to have a Cars themed party. Thankfully Kim was a saint and the shirt was changed to be a Cars theme.

Mike of course got put on cake detail and he did an awesome job, like always! To see his previous works of art click here, here, and here.

Yes, this was the best picture of him and the cake!

We had another great birthday at the Train Depot in the park and this time the train was even running! We have been having a party here for four years and this was the first year the train was running. His birthday party was at 10am but we got to celebrate and watch the kids ride the train for free for two hours. Best free entertainment ever!

Wyatt had a great time because his friends from daycare were there and his family. I think this was one of the best birthdays he's had.

Cousins

Friends

Great Gram and Wyatt

Family Portrait

Thank goodness it's all over and we have until next year before we have to think about cakes, decorations, and themes. :)

Birthday Party Success

Today Wyatt attended a birthday party for his friend, Braxton and it was a blast! It was at Gymnastics Plus and they choreographed everything for the kids! Bonus!! They had set up an obstacle course for the kids to complete. After about 45 minutes of the obstacle course they had some free time and then did a treasure hunt in the gym.

This was a big relief sense two weeks before Wyatt was supposed to attend another birthday party and we had to bail on it because of an all-day long temper tantrum.

(He's the one in yellow!)

Diva Dash

Today was race day and to say I was nervous is an understatement! We stayed at my friend Amber's house in Lawrence since it was closer to KC than Wamego. I had a sleepless night and was anxious to get to the race in the morning.

We left her house at 6:45am and headed to Leawood for the race. I brought with me my bag of shredded wheat to eat on the drive and tried to get down at least 20 ounces of water before we got there. Once we arrived and parked we headed to the packet pick up to get our bibs, shirts, and race chips.

It was a pretty chilly morning I was definitely chilled but made sure to bring my thermals and my jacket. As the time got closer to race we headed to the start line. Since the race was so large, 2000 people, they let racers go in waves. Amber and I got into the second wave and waiting anxiously for them to let us go.

Once we got the okay we headed off and started our run. We tried to stay to the outside of the pack while running and after a mile it started to thin out and not be so bunchy. I kept going strong for 2.6 miles and then walked for a brief minute before starting to run again. Amber was an awesome friend to run with. She was coaching me and talking to me along the way. She really pushed me to keep up my pace and I liked that. The last leg of the race she ran ahead. As I crossed the finish line they announced my name and where I was from and it was awesome! :)

I finished with a time of 32.47 minutes. This put me at a 10:47 minute mile. I will take it! Crossing the finish line felt great and I almost felt like crying! Lame, I know! I took off my race chip and then headed to go get my medal.

Amber and I showing off our medals and bibs! They even put our names on them!

Tried to take a picture of the atmosphere but didn't get a great one since we were in line for our results.

My overall stats were: For my age group 30-34 101 out of 265. Overall was 427 out of 1380. Not terrible but definitely not placing.

The swag we got from the race was a cool t-shirt, that I of course picked up the wrong size for, and of course our awesome medals! I think everyone's first 5K should be a race where they get a medal. It's a great motivator! :)

Happy Girl!

Boom Week 6 is done!

Today I got my booty back out and finished up Week 6 in C25K.

I asked my co-worker to come along for the run. I haven't ran with anyone these past six weeks and I wanted to see how I would do. Am I a really slow runner? Is she going to smoke me at City Park?

We ran and talked and it was fun. I don't know if I'll be able to run with a partner again but it was fun to try.

I also go to try out my new gear that I got on Friday. My new (to me) Forerunner 10 is awesome and I love it! A great investment in my running program and worth every penny. :)

I wasn't pleased with my pace but given this was the first time I had ran with a friend I will take it. Now I definitely have to make that number go down. I guess I also need to remember that for the first five minutes I'm walking to warm-up and the final five minutes I'm walking to cool down. So that's not terrible.

After going to school and doing no work that I said I was going to do while here I kept thinking about how close I was earlier to 3.1 miles. I was feeling really good so after I left school I decided to go back to the park and run another mile. Crazy, right? I actually wanted to run and see if I could better my pace and I did!

So that made 3.62 miles for the day. I will say that's not to shabby.

Snowflake Play Dough

My friend Stacie made Wyatt some snowflake play dough and gave it to us last week. He's been pretty involved with his new toys and hasn't had much desire to play with play dough but tonight we broke it out and had some fun. I had forgotten what homemade play dough felt like and it's fabulous! It's so much easier to mold and make stuff with than store bought play dough. The best part of the play dough was speckled with glitter! It was so sparkly and fun. It did leave some glitter on the table but not enough to complain about. It was a lot of fun! I will have to get her recipe and post it on here. Recipe to come!

 

Deanna Rose Farmstead & Fritz's

Today Wyatt and I loaded up and headed to KC for a day of being on the farm with Abraham and Stacie. We had never been there and were very excited to see what it had to offer. The best part is that it was FREE. You don't have to pay any admission during the week and that was enticing as well!

Petting the bucket calf after watching the milking demonstration!

Grinding corn, just like the Indians did. He loved this!

Checking out the teepee.

Laying around with Abraham

Silly boy!!

Telling the goats to go to timeout! Didn't work really well!

Watching the goat eat his shoe string.

Pedal tractors

Still sporting our 4th of July beads from the night before!

After a meltdown we quickly left the farmstead and headed to lunch. We went to Fritz's Railroad Restaurant and it was great!! It is railroad themed and even your food is delivered by a train. We all enjoyed the chance to cool down and fuel up with great food. It was a short day but very fun one with friends!

3rd Birthday Party

Today we had Wyatt's 3rd birthday! And it was a blast!! We had our usual park birthday party but the theme this year was John Deere. Wyatt picked it out, can you tell?! Before his birthday I contacted my friend, Kim, about making him a tractor shirt with a 3 on it. When I got it in the mail it was even better than I could have imagined. She is such a talented and creative person and this is a perfect example of it.

Mike then had to make a tractor cake to go with the theme. When he told me what he was doing I really didn't understand it because he wanted to make it 3-D!! My husband is very talented and every year he amazes me with what he can do with cake. :)

Of course the cake had to fall over literally minutes before we left for the park! But Mike being the resourceful person he is made due with what had happened and people couldn't even tell it wasn't supposed to be that way!

This year was different because we invited Wyatt's class from daycare to join in the festivities. We had 5 kids come from his class and it was so great to see him excited to see them and play with them.

This was another great party and another great year with Wyatt. I know next year will be even better and can't wait to see what theme he will pick out next!