Camera Stormin'

Sunday morning started off kind of bleary. There was so much rain in the past week that I was just hoping that it wouldn't be a crazy storm like in the past few days. If you're one of my out-of-state readers, Wisconsin has had a lot of severe weather this June including a tornado that took out most of the town of Eagle. Regardless of the weather, I jumped in my car and headed to Veteran's Park.

Brainstorm 2010 was super humid and the air was so thick with moisture that it felt like you were swimming. Uh oh. Humid = not fun running/breathing. Fortunately, there was a good breeze going.

The Epilepsy Foundation had excellent signage, so it was easy to find the tents. I checked in with the team check in and then found Melissa and the rest of the Jay-Walkers. (Go back a few blog posts to read about Melissa's brother Jason). So far, the EF also had the coolest t-shirts. See?

How fun are those shirts? This picture is of me and Melissa, who organized our team of her family and friends, before the weather went berserk. I should also tell you that for this race, I decided to test and see if my camera's claim of "waterproof" was true and I ran with it in my hand the whole time.

Here we're headed to the start line. I'd guess about 300 people showed up to run or walk:

These next two photos were about 800-1000 meters into the race (3/4 mile):

This is about 3K into the race when I thought "Hey self, you're taking pictures of other people, why don't you take a photo of yourself?":

These two photos were shortly after the self shot about 3.5K into the race. I've only got a mile to go and it is starting to rain. And was that thunder?

See those clouds out there? Yeah, thunder and lightning happened about a minute or two later! I looked back for a second to take this really blurry photo of (L-R) Discovery World and the Milwaukee Art Museum:

This exceptionally blurry shot is of Melissa, her husband Bill and his friend from college whose name I don't know (I think it was Dan?). I made it around the final turn first (which has never happened before), so I decided to try and capture them with the camera:

Since I finished first for my team (!!!), I stayed at the finish to take their pictures. Here's Bill and Melissa:

At the turnaround, which was about 1-1.2K from the end, it was raining so hard that I had to stare at the ground and could only look up and blink to be able to see. There was lighting and thunder and my shoes were squishing! Brainstorm lived up to it's name!

Thank you to everyone who donated $$ to help our team! We raised $505.00! Thank you!

June Run/Walks - A Double Dose

Remember when I totally goofed on that January event? Well, I'm going to make up for it in June by doing two run/walks.

First: A good friend of mine, Melissa, has a brother who has Epilepsy. This year I am going to join her team Jay-Walkers (named so for her brother Jason), and run in Brainstorm 2010 as part of my 5K challenge. Epilepsy is the medical term used to describe the more than 20 types of seizures. Epilepsy can affect ANYONE, at ANY AGE, at ANY TIME. There are 30,000 individuals affected by epilepsy in our four county Southeast Wisconsin area (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) and 44-50% of those diagnosed with epilepsy are NOT medically controlled at this time.

Please help me help Melissa and her family support the Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Wisconsin to bring help and hope to individuals affected by seizure disorders! I've met Jason and he is an amazing person! Their whole family is amazing! Check out my fund-raising site to pledge some dollars if you can. You can join Melissa's team too if you'd like and run with us!

The other run/walk I'm going to do is called Sarah's Stride. This event is the first 5K I ever ran, and I'm going to be back! It's June 19 at 3 p.m. and it benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Here's the story: Sarah Hegarty, the event’s namesake, and her family were welcomed and comforted at a Ronald McDonald House for many months. In her memory, Sarah’s Stride has become a tribute to all of the Ronald McDonald House families who are fighting courageous battles against diseases and injuries that no one would wish on any child.

The first time I ran this event, the late Sarah's neice, little Sarah, thought that everyone was there for her instead of her aunt because the race had her name on it! Tugs on the heart strings doesn't it? If you want to help me support the Ronald McDonald House, please sign up online here. Otherwise, you can sign up by printing out the sheet at the link before the last one and mailing it in, or you can sign up race day.

See you at the start line!

Race Updates

Hello all!
It's been a while, but May is very hectic at work so my weekends are kind of shot for racing. The only weekend I have really "open" is the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend, but who knows what I'll find to do then (MAM After Dark with Courtney!) I'm thinking of trying to do a 5K up north over Memorial Day weekend, but we'll have to see about that.
Anyway, I wanted to give you some feedback on some runs. First, the Rock N' Run: the race itself was kind of crappy because SOMEONE on the planning side mustn't have checked with the park department because they had to cut a 2.3-ish mile course down to about 1.5 miles due to a soccer tournament and a lacrosse game. While I prefer to NOT get hit in head by a lacrosse ball or run over by a soccer player, I do appreciate thoughtful planning. Also, their pre-registration pick up lines were insane and there were no promised chips for timing. On the plus side, the t-shirts were very cool.
The coolest part of the race was that it was like my very own slice of "The Biggest Loser". As I mentioned in my last blog entry, the girls from boot camp and a few other folks were going to run this together because it is Julie's first race. Julie is Coach Sandi's sister, and I first met her last fall when she attended camp as a guest. Julie, Coach Sandi, their sister Jeannie, Ellie (and her hubby Tom) and I ran together. Julie and Sandi's husbands were at the finish line with cameras, dogs and small children (who had dandelion bouquets for us!). Jeannie and Sandi are really great runners so they ran with Julie and I especially because they know we're a little slower. Julie set the pace and off we went.
At the finish line, Julie powered through and had a great time. Between all of us high-fiving and hugging and whatnot, Julie said thanks and that it's been a hard time/long road. I just wanted to hug her for finishing (although I think she could totally rock a 5K with no problems). I found out later that Julie has lost 170 POUNDS! That's right, Julie, who looks smokin' now, has worked her butt off and basically lost another person.
She's so amazing! I voted for her as the "most inspirational camper", but was OK with the person she lost to because it was me! That's right! I have the certificate hanging in my office to prove it (and posted here for you).
Another person that inspires me is my friend Melissa and her family that I told you all about a few posts ago. Her brother Jason has epilepsy, and they're the ones I'm going to do Brainstorm for in June. Not only does her family work really hard to raise funds and awareness about the Epilepsy Foundation, they have had to overcome some huge hurdles this past year with ups and downs in their health. Melissa's Dad had some MAJOR health issues, Melissa was having stomach issues, her husband got a concussion and now Jason had a status seizure over the weekend and was put in ICU. I wish I could order a vacation for this family!
If you haven't gone and checked Brainstorm or the Epilepsy Foundation out yet, please do. You can find out more here or by jumping back two blog posts.
Thanks to all the inspirational people out there!
And P.S. no volleyball this summer. Just running, horseshoes and softball. And probably some swimming...

Brainstorm in June!

Hello everyone!

A good friend of mine, Melissa, has a brother who has Epilepsy. After she did a presentation on this disease and the Epilepsy Foundation for a class back in college, I've donated to her team every year. This year I am going to join her team Jay-Walkers (named so for her brother Jason), and run in Brainstorm 2010 as part of my 5K challenge. Brainstorm will be my June race on the 27th at Veteran's Park near the lakefront.

Epilepsy is the medical term used to describe the more than 20 types of seizures. Epilepsy can affect ANYONE, at ANY AGE, at ANY TIME. There are 30,000 individuals affected by epilepsy in our four county Southeast Wisconsin area (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) and 44-50% of those diagnosed with epilepsy are NOT medically controlled at this time. From the the Foundation's website:

The Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Wisconsin is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all those affected by seizure disorders/epilepsy through education, direct services, advocacy and the support of research for the prevention and cure of epilepsy. We are the only agency specifically organized to serve the diverse and special needs of the 10,000 children and 20,000 adults with epilepsy in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties. An additional 100,000 family members may also require epilepsy-related services.

Please help me help Melissa and her family support the Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Wisconsin to bring help and hope to individuals affected by seizure disorders! I've met Jason and he is an amazing person! Their whole family is amazing! Check out my fund-raising site to pledge some dollars if you can. You can join Melissa's team too if you'd like and run with us! Thanks for all your support and reading my blog! Oh, by the way, I still don't have a May run picked out. Suggestions? Help!