Race Reports for 6/9 and Encouragement/Kudos!

[Maherae]

Yes, folks..it has happened...we have only events on Saturday!! Everyone enjoy their training/rest day, bur root for our WISH warriors that will be out there!

Saturday, 9th

cdn_gal_eeyore (Leana) Footstock 10K in Cochrane, Alberta
Sir Bouncealot (Andrew) & DW DJBounce (Darcey) Race for the Cure 5K in Moline, Illinois

Have fun, be safe, run well!!

GO! WISH TEAM GO! ​

 

[DianeL]

Go WISH!!!!!

Hope the weather is fine, the courses speedy and that everyone has a great time and gets excellent PRs

Best of luck!!!!

 

[Kristi1357]

Go WISHers!

 

[Optimator]

Good Luck everyone! Hoping for nice T-shirts and fine post-race food!

 

[nucpharm29]

GO WISH GO!!!

 

[scoolover]

Good luck everyone. I may have a 5K Sunday but after working two 16 hour shifts with 5 hours sleep, I may also skip it. Besides, it is called the "up against the wall 5K". Sounds scarry. :trembling knees:
Scott

 

[solotraveler]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!!!!

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Go Leana!!!

Go Andrew!!!

Go Darcey!!!

 

[wtpclc]

Go WISHers!!!

 

[msblrobs]

GO WISH TEAM GO!!!
Best of luck to Leana, Andrew & Darcey this weekend !!

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Good luck to our racers this weekend!

9 - cdn_gal_eeyore (Leana) Footstock 10K in Cochrane, Alberta
9 - monte (Monica) 31st annual Run the Rockies 1/2 marathon
9 - Sir Bouncealot (Andrew) & DW DJBounce (Darcey) Race for the Cure 5K in Moline, Illinois

 

[Sir Bouncealot]

Let's Go Team WISH!!!

 

[kareneast]

GOOD LUCK WISH TEAM!!!!
​

 

[chimera]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

 

[Big Vic]

Good luck team!!

 

[Sir Bouncealot]

Waking up this morning and seeing the rays of sunlight filter through the blinds, I knew this was going to be a beautiful day. Went downstairs for a pre-race breakfast and check the local weather (49 deg F). Pretty chilly for a June morning in Iowa. DW came down and called her Mom and her sister getting the info on where to meet and when. Got our race clothes together, numbers on, chips tied in place, and iPods loaded and ready for the rockin'.
Met up with her Mom and Sis, headed across the river to Moline, Il and find a parking spot. Got to the starting area and heard the announcement that the race start was delayed for 15min due to an accident on the I-74 bridge (one of the bridges connecting the Iowa and Illinois Quad Cities). There were a lot of Pink shirts around signifying Breast Cancer survivors, and even more Pink signs on shirts commemorating those in remembrance. I saw a mother and her two daughters in matching tanks, on the back said Mom, and her daughters read "We" and "Can". I saw a big guy (about the size of Big Vic) with a shirt that said "Real Men Wear Pink", I was not about to argue that point. The emotion was that of celebration and awareness, as well as comraderie, we were all here together, for this reason. I found out after the race that all proceeds from our local 5K went to mammograms for those women that cannot afford one otherwise, as well as community education. My $22 was very well spent. The race started and I began walking with my crew (DW, MiL, SiL), looking for the mat to start my chip, passing the starting line, I still did not see one, so I started running. I weaved through other racers as I was getting my pace up to where I felt fast enough, but still comfortable to keep it up for 3.1 miles. There were lines and lines of volunteers, cheering sections, people holding up signs of freinds, family, loved ones for whom this race signifies a lasting memorial. My iPod kicking out my most favorite, most motivating, most rockin'getyourbloodpumpingandlegswhipping songs I had on my playlist. I ran past the turn off for the 1 mile fun runners and continued on with my other 5kers. It was a pretty flat course and by that time it had warmed up, with a full sun in the sky, no clouds at all...a pretty magnificent day. I'm sure the glare off of my bright neon yellow WISH shirt could be seen from the heavens. Eventually I saw the last turn into the finishing area and kicked it up to use the last of what I left in the tank and crossed over the chip mat hearing the beeping sounds of success over my iPod. I could har the announcer calling out names as I went over to have my chip removed and grab a water and banana while I waited for my crew. There was a volunteer with head shaved for a mother going through chemo who lost her own hair, she told me I did a great job, I told her she did an even better one. Eventually my crew finished and we walked out of the finishers area and headed back to our cars to head home. I am glad I was able to change my schedule at work to be able to comete in this race as it meant a lot to more than just me. $22 was a small price to pay in comparison to the price others here today have had to endure.

Thank you for joining me for this new chapter in the journal of my quest to become a Marathoner. At least it was a short one, my finishing time was 28:09 for a 9:05/mile pace.
Congrats in advance to Leana and Monica in their own races today, I know they did great...they had the courage to start.

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Andrew - Excellent race report. Congratulations to you and your family for completing the race. It is great to hear that it was such a positive experience for you!

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Well, I just got back from my 10K race out in Cochrane this morning. Cochrane is about 15 min north of Calgary. According to my training plan today was supposed to be an 8 mile run, so I drove out a bit early to get the additional 1.8 miles in. I ran that in 19:17 (10:43/mi). I then drove out to the start of the race.

They had quite a few events going on today - a full and half marathon, a 10K and a 5K. Tomorrow they are having a kids tri and an adult du as well. The marathoners started off at 8 am, then all the 10K folks started lining up for our 8:20 start.

The race started off on the road, and the one and only hill was in the first mile for us to climb.

Only one side of the road was shut down for us, and unfortunately some drivers were impatient and didn't understand the need to slow down as they were driving past us. Luckily we made it off the roads pretty quickly and were on to Cochrane's red shale pathway that runs all along the Bow River. It was absolutely beautiful out, sunny, but not too hot. The 10K course overlapped a bit with the full and half marathoners which was pretty neat. There were also great spectators and volunteers out there. I really appreciated all of their cheering! We did an out and back on the pathway, and as you can see on the way back it started to thin out quite a bit.

When I realized we were close to the finish line I kicked it into overdrive for what I could muster for a last sprint. I passed a couple of people, but all of a sudden....whoosh....past me....flew the 4th place half marathon finisher. Holy smokes he was fast!!! I'm not sure of the official results yet, but I recorded 1:05:39 for a 10:36/mi average pace. I shaved a bit of time off my last 10K, and that was with the 2 mile warm up beforehand!

After the race was probably one of the best spreads I have seen...a pancake breakfast with sausage and coffee!

They also had bagels, bananas, oranges, cookies, juice boxes and yogurt as well. I saw the medals for the half and they were super cute, plus they got really nice technical tees. I may add this one in for next year. I got to see the medal for my upcoming Calgary half (well, last year's medal anyway), and I have to say that the Footstock medal greatly trumped the medal from the Calgary half...sniff.

All in all, a great morning.

Good luck Monica!

 

[SilverE]

Andrew: Congratulations to you and your crew; sounded like a nice race promoting a excellent cause.

Leana: Great effort. And really cool blog!

 

[Big Vic]

Andrew - Congrats, and a great time!

Leana - Congrats! Love the pics!