2012 Muddy Monster 5 &15K race--Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The morning was super cold and crisp out. It told everyone in the family to layer because it would be super cold to run outside. I have loved this race in the past because it seems to be a family race. Almost all of my children were in this race and seemed to enjoy it. My oldest son is serving a church mission so he wasn't there and my 3rd son Jared has decided that he didn't want to run so he came along to take pictures and just hang out with the family.

This year the race didn't seem quite as good as in past years. I don't know if it was because there weren't as many sponsors, it was super cold, or if they changed race directors, but all of my children commented how it seemed different this year and I agreed.
Good Points:
It was chip timed so you got accurate results.
You get a shirt: However, the shirts were cotton short sleeve, in the past they were cotton long sleeve and we would have preferred that.
There was food at the end, not as great as last year, but there was food to fill your belly if you felt you needed it.
Print out of your results: There is a machine there where they type in your bib number and you get an instant print out of your results.
Racing Bib for your scrapbook: However, the bibs this year seemed cheap compared to last year.

Bad Points:
In years past this race seemed super kid friendly, pumpkin decorating, face painting, coloring, lots of candy and other things. This year seemed like they didn't have hardly anything for the children. Many people were making comments about this that brought their children.

Having to pay for an upgrade to a technical shirt. Most races around include tech shirts as part of the entry price.
No choice of beverages besides beer and water. There was beer so if you are an adult that wants to drink beer at 11a.m. then great, but if you are an adult that doesn't drink beer, or brought children that really could have used anything except for water, then there wasn't anything.   Last year they had soda and other drinks.

Here are the results if you care to see them.

Below are pictures from the event:

Stephany and I dressed up.

Brenden decided to do the 1 mile race this year instead
of the 5K.  He placed 1st in his age group and 3rd overall
in the 1 mile race.  Way to go Brenden.  Here he is running
in for the finish.

Brenden finishing!

Brenden, Jason, Me, Alyssa and Scott

Jared being silly, Courtney (Dan's girlfriend) and Dan.

Courtney and Daniel.

Jason and Alyssa about to start the 5K

Brenden being silly.

Daniel running the 5K, here he is 1 mile into it.  He was super fast.

Daniel almost at the finish.

Daniel finishing

Jason almost at the finish.

Alyssa sprinting to the finish.

2012 Screaming Pumpkin Quarter Marathon--Peoria, IL

First before anything, this race is worth the drive if you have to make one. We had to drive 2.5 hours and I would do it again to race in a quality race like this. I loved it.  You run through a massive, very old cemetery in Illinois.  The trail through the cemetary is an old paved road with lots of potholes, however the race crew put glow sticks in white bags all along the entire course to show you where broken pieces of road were and where to run.  It was so peaceful to run through this ancient cemetery in the dark.

Good points to the race:
Packet pickup was quick
Race number has chip timing built in
Announcements regularly so you knew when races were starting.
Shirt is awesome and one I'll wear again when running.
Finishing medal for your efforts that is actually really nice.
Food at the end that was really good.
Lots of volunteers.
Well marked course.
Here are the results if you must see them:  The results

Tracy and I before the race.  I really liked this sign.  Didn't realize
at the time there was going to be a larger sign to get pictures with.

Cute blow up Halloween things to get
pictures with.

The big sign.  Here is us before we put our
costumes on.

Us after we put our costumes on.

Lots of cool costumes, these people were
Zombies.

The Tooth Fairy.

Tortoise and Hare.

Snow White and some new dwarf.

Cool costume. I thought and she lit up.

This is the picture I HAD to have that ended up costing me
a HUGE sprained ankle.  I was running with my friend who's last name is Schmidt.
I thought it would be cool to have this picture since this gravestone was
massive.  So I proceeded to run towards it.  There was a ditch FILLED
with leaves and the leaves made the ditch not seem like a ditch.  So I
didn't know there was HUGE hole there.  I stepped wrong, fell about a foot or so, rolled
the left ankle (heard a snap), was sure it was broken, still not confirmed that it is or
is not broken, but just sat there for a few minutes trying to let the shock of
getting hurt and pain go away a little.  Then Tracy said, "Why don't you try
and walk?"  So I got up and tried to walk.  It was very painful, but doable.  We walked for a
while and then I tried to run.  Running actually felt better.  We were able to complete
the race in 1 hour 37 minutes and 1 second.  Pretty good for getting injured at mile
1.33 and then running the other 5.22 to complete the race.

A finishing photo of us.

The shirt, which I really like, however this year they
did women's sizes and those ran small so note to self, if
they do women's sizes again, get two sizes bigger than
usual to be happy.  I usually wear a small and traded for

a large.

The entire finishing medal.

Up close picture of the awesome finishing medal.

2012 Indian Summer Distance Classic 4 & 10 mile race.

October 13th, 2012.  There was a great race along Lake McBride in Solon, Iowa that I did last year and wanted to do again.  This year a few friends joined me.

You can't always have great weather and this was one of those days.  It was about 54 degrees and POURING rain.  It was raining so hard at the beginning of the race that while I was in the car with Alyssa huddled together trying to keep warm I said to her, "Alyssa we don't have to do this race.  Seriously, I don't mind if we just get our shirt and go home."  She said, "Mom we have to earn our shirt."  So off we went.  It rained on us the entire race.  Near the end of the 4 miles the rain started to slow down a little, thank goodness.  I took a few pictures of us drowned rats just to remember the day.

I love this race because it is put on by a great club called the Cedar Valley Running Association (CVRA). They know what they are doing when it comes to putting on a race.

Good things:
Chip timed
Great shirt
run by Lake McBride and that was beautiful.
Cookies at the end.
If you want to see the results AND a video of yourself crossing the finish line if you were in this race then click on this link:  THE LINK

Alyssa crossing the finish line.

Me with Julie and Alyssa post race.  We were wearing
trash bags to help keep us dry.  It kinda helped.

From left to Right:  Alyssa my daughter, Stephany my first running friend who
made me do my first 5K and got me hooked on running.  Me, Lisa F. that I met
at many races.  Julie W. that I met because of the Park to Park race, Tracy S. that I met
because of the Tanger Outlet Race in Williamsburg, Rhoni Jo that I met through running
races.  These are great friends and we are all crazy about running.

A picture of Alyssa's medal she won.

Alyssa with her race medal.  She earned third in her
age group.  

This picture was taken on the way home from the race, coming out of Lake McBride.
Both Alyssa and I thought this view was amazing so I had to have a picture.  Alyssa
took this great picture.

Alyssa and I post race in our fun race shirts that
we both like.

2012 Timber Trek--Amana, Iowa

 Two weeks post marathon was this awesome race called Timber Trek in Amana, Iowa.  Honestly I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it given my leg injury, but since my injury was just a ruptured baker's cyst I knew the worst that could happen to me would be that I could be in pain.  I wrapped my leg super tight with an ace bandage (as instructed by the doctor) and went to the race.  The day was absolutely perfect for weather.  70 degrees and sunny. 
In this race you run through creeks, up and down hills, through sand, dirt, mud, over rocks, broken trees, over broken off cornstalks and then through a few obstacles.  It's a 4.89 mile race and is definitely a challenge to complete.

I mentioned this race to my daughter a week prior and she said, "Mom I want to do this for sure."  I was nervous for her as I knew she hadn't ever ran a race further than 3.1 miles and had never done a muddy obstacle race. 

We all had a lot of fun and I was a ton muddier than last year.  I recommend this race to others, especially if you want to have a good time with a challenge.

This race is chip timed, there is an awesome shirt, the race is in the afternoon so you are at the warmest part of the day and that is nice since it's at the end of September or beginning of October every year.  The best part of the race is the pumpkin bars and fresh home made cookies someone brought!

Here are the results if you want to see how we all placed.  Also below are some pictures to enjoy.

Rhoni Jo, Me, Alyssa and Jason

Me, Jason, Alyssa, Rhoni Jo and Tracy

Rhoni Jo, Tracy and I

Me running to the finish.



Alyssa running to the finish.



Jason all muddy.

Me showing off the backside and how muddy I got.



Me, Rhoni Jo and Tracy showing off our mud.



Our shoes.

Alyssa was happy to have placed 2nd in her age group!!

A picture of the gorgeous trees we were running through.