Good morning everyone! I just wanted to send out a quick post this morning to tell you about our races in Orange County this past weekend. We are continuing on our good roll to number 50. This past weekend we ran races number 32 and 33.
Before I talk about the races let me tell you about my tooth first. Last week a crown fell out of my mouth on one of my back teeth. I went to the dentist and the put it back in temporarily until I can see a specialist and have a root canal and another crown put on. Yay, won't that be fun? Anyway, the crown fell out again the next day. I kept putting it back in and it would fall out every so often. Without the crown in it was hard to eat or drink because the nerve was sensitive. So, before the race I put it back in.
Ok, now you know about my tooth issue. So, our first race was Saturday and it was a half marathon. Because I have not been training my longer distances much lately I decided I was going to try a structured run/walk for the half marathon. I decided that no matter how good or bad I felt I was going to try to stick with my plan. It seemed like a good plan for both of us because Kristie has been having some knee pain.
We did a 3 minute and 30 second run and a 30 second walk. I don't remember exactly what mile we separated but I think it was somewhere between 7 and 8. Kristie was having some issues with her asthma and needed to stop a little more frequently for a little while. She assured me she was ok so I went on and stuck with the run/walk plan.
I continued the run/walk plan through mile 10 then I just ran what I felt like and walked if I needed to. At mile 10 I needed to use the restroom so I stopped quickly and when I came out of the porta pottie and started running again my crown came literally flying out of my mouth. I forgot about it and had put a Honey Stinger Chew in my mouth. Well that is just asking for something to stick to my crown and pull it right out! So, the crown came flying out and I comically caught it after almost missing it and somewhat juggling it until I luckily grabbed it. I popped it back in and continued but I was so paranoid about it after that I think I clenched my teeth the rest of the race. I kept it out after the race because I began having thoughts of swallowing it my sleep!!
It was hot and super humid for the race. I was drenched in sweat by mile 1 so by the end of the race I was completely soaked. I finished then ran back a little to be able to get some pictures of Kristie coming in to the finish. I had a bad head cold so I was pretty much useless the rest of the day. I pretty much layed in bed most of the day. Poor Kristie was stuck with a boring day!
The next day was the Tunnel to Tower 5k. It had a late start which was good and bad. It was bad because it was already really hot but good because it gave my head cold a little more time to decongest that morning. Kristie ran a great race without any asthma or knee issues. I ran a slower race but I was happy I wasn't walking the whole way because I was really sore after the half. I stopped during the race to let the new fire recruits pass me and take video of them but unfortunately I didn't hit record!!! Dang it!
If you get the opportunity to run a Tunnel to Tower race I highly recommend it. This race donates the money it gets to the Stephen Siller Foundation. For those of you who do not know his story, he was a firefighter in Brooklyn on 9/11. The timing of us running this race is coincidental as we did not know it had to do with 9/11 when we first chose it. Back to the story of Stephen...
Stephen had come off his shift around 6:00 am the morning of 9/11. He was headed to the golf course with his friends when he heard about the first plane hitting the tower. He said he had to go and headed back to his station in Brooklyn. Everyone was already gone so he got his gear and got in his car and headed that way. The tunnel was closed so he ran with his gear from the tunnel to the tower (about 3.1 miles). He was one of the 343 Firefighters who lost their lives on that day.
The foundation now uses money donated and money from these races to build smart homes for service men and women who have returned with all 4 limbs amputated. They build a home that allows them to be independent. They have built 85 smart homes. The money also goes to help the families of first responders who are killed in the line of duty. They go to their home town and they pay off their mortgage. They help support the family for the rest of their lives. You can feel really good about paying the entry fee into the race.
Today I just want to take the time to remember all of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and all of those families affected by the events of that day. I want to thank all first responders and military personnel for being willing to put their lives on the line for me. Freedom is not free, I am grateful for mine.
Here are a few pictures from the race on Sunday. Have a great day and a great rest of the week!