So What's Up?

Wow, where has summer gone?!!! The kiddos are starting school next Monday. That means that this is Chris's last week of work at DTI. Cheryl will be cutting back her hours at work too. Oh, speaking of Cheryl... look! She made the Rausch page!

http://rauschpt.millsys.org/about/#staff

Let's see, what else is happening... A big kitty moved into Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. That is where I do my runs during the week. BUMMER!



We are still getting up insanely early to get in a long run on the weekend with the running group. Wake-up time was 3:30am last Saturday to get out there in time to beat the heat.





And these two are still SO CUTE!



I went to a training class with a triathlon group... YEP, SWIMMING, ME! I actually learned something. By the end of class, I could actually swim across the pool and halfway back freestyle. That's me with the blue towel. I wasn't staying in any longer than I had to, haha!



Jim just got back from a week long camping trip. He's been busy this week working of the items on my "Honey Do List." So far he: repotted the plumeria, changed the toilet seats, picked up paint for the bedroom, and is in process of replacing the smoke alarm (which he says is more complicated than it seems).

Oh, and I had a bit of excitement at work today! I can't even find a souvenir key chain with my name on it, and look what a coworker gave me today.



I hope that you all are having a great week!

Malibu Creek State Park

I haven't posted anything for a while, so how about some running pictures... Here we are at Malibu Creek State Park last weekend, also known as BullDog.



It was supposed to get up in the 90F's that day, so we wanted to get an early start. A 6:30am start at BullDog means that we get up at 3:30am. It was really nice there in the early morning:



They filmed MASH there, and there are still some movie props left in the park:



So on this run there's Steve... a veteran ultra marathoner. He's run several 50 mile and 100 mile races; and he's giving Cheryl pointers for her first 50 mile race.





And Cheryl has a new friend, named Armand. Aren't they cute as can be :oD





And why do they call this BullDog? Well, supposedly this rock is supposed to look like a bulldog. I don't see it, do you?





Cheryl and Armand, as they say, are eating hills for breakfast!



Have a GREAT 4th of July, everyone!

Running "The Ave"

The marathon weather was perfect! 55F at the start and high 60's at the finish. The course was an "V" shape with the start/finish line at the bend. Cheryl lead out and back on the first leg of the "V" (13.1 miles), and I lead out and back on the second leg (13.1 miles). Our goal was to finish under 5 hours, and we finished in 4hrs 53 minutes... that's not even close to a good marathon time, but it's good for us, YAY!

Here are some pictures from our day!







Where did everybody go?





And look! We made the local paper! Can you find us in this picture from "The Lost Colony"?



And after running 26.7 miles... yes, that's .7 not .2 according to my GPS... We jumped in the car for an 11 hour drive home. We rolled in just after midnight. Today was back to work {{{ Y A W N }}}

Here's the numbers:

Joni 4:53:46
Age group: 13 / 24
Overall: 351 / 508
women: 148 / 246

Cheryl 4:53:47
Age group: 38 / 49
Overall: 352 / 508
Women: 149 / 246

Everyone was right. The first marathon is the worst. We aren't feeling to bad today. Cheryl is starving and eating everything is sight. My stomach isn't feeling right, so I haven't eaten too much today. But I think overall, I'm less sore than Cheryl is today.

Our next marathon... Kauai Marathon 2016 :oD

Never Again????

This month, two years ago, I ran my first marathon....
This month, two years ago, I said I would NEVER run another marathon....
Today, I'm running another marathon...

Wish me luck... I'm going to need it...

Hooray for Hollywood!!!

We interrupt the Kauai recap with an 11 mile run up to the Hollywood sign with the Run With Soul running group.



The cave in this one is the cave they used in the old Batman series. It's the original batcave! :wink: It's not really a cave; just a few intersecting tunnels.



After that it was a long drive home in bumper to bumper traffic. Then I had to jump in the shower to get ready for a retirement party. Busy busy Saturday!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Where's Chris?

I've been posting a lot about running and racing with Cheryl, but not so much about Chris. Since I was so sore today from boot camp last week, I skipped out on our long Saturday run. Cheryl went running with her friend and I went running with Chris... Jena-girl tagged along too =oD



There was 60% chance of rain today, but it turned out to be a beautiful day!



BIG NEWS! Next Fall Chris is going to be a Toro! He accepted admission to Cal State Dominugez Hills in the school of Computer Science. We are so proud of him!



Congrats to Chris!!!

Brea 8k

I organized another Panasonic team for the Brea 8K. The team did AMAZING this year!



There are four people from the team missing from this picture... trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time is like herding cats!

Anyway the team finished in 9th place out of 37 teams! Our best finish yet!!!... AND we were the first non-running club to finish! The scoring woman this year was... CHERYL!!!



Cheryl ran a GREAT race, even with her foot injury. AND she managed to beat a PT from work who was also racing. There was a cup of Starbuck's at stake... and Cheryl won! She beat him by 2 minutes!

On to my score... My time was a minute slower than last year, but since I moved up an age group, I came in THIRD PLACE!



Cheryl, me and our friend Jeanne celebrating a well run race!

Happy Running

Whoo's in El Moro 50K

I just realized that I didn't share any pictures from Cheryl's first ULTRA race!

We arrived at Crystal Cove State Park so early in the morning that we couldn't see how to get into the parking lot.



This is Cheryl and her pacer, Steve. It's Steve's responsibility to make sure that Cheryl has a successful race. In this picture, he's helping her through some pre-race jitters.



And they're off! Ultra races are not very big... this one had about 120 people in it.



So Cheryl and Steve are gone with the 50K... it's time for me to start with the 25K group.



I met a guy during the race who was expecting to finish in 3:30. That's 30 minutes before the 4 hour cut-off, so I thought that would be good. He let me pace off of him for the race.



I finished in 3:21, 5th in my age group... which was dead LAST!

Then I waited for Cheryl and Steve...



And waited...



Here they come to the finish line!





Cheryl and Steve finished in 7:37! That's 7 hours and 37 minute of running... 23 minutes before the 8 hour cut off... 31 miles!!! Which makes this more amazing is that Cheryl hasn't run more than 18 miles in her training.



She made it! And 6th in her age group!... which is also dead LAST! Well, we have lots of room for improvement for next time! Thanks for joining me on our race recap.

Nike Women's Half-Marathon weekend

Nike Women's Half-Marathon entry is by lottery, and we got in on our first try! I took Friday off and we drove up to San Francisco.



We ground to a dead stop on the Bay Bridge:



It took us 10 hours to get to our hotel. The next morning, we walked to packet pickup:



Which was right across the street from the hotel:



Messing around in the Expo photo booth after make-overs:



After the expo we headed to the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf:



Here's a nice view from the cable car with the Bay Bridge off in the distance:



We must stop at Ghiradelli Square for chocolate!



We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Now it's back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep (and for Cheryl to finish her homework for Monday). The next morning, we had a short walk to our corral. The early morning streets of SF are rocking!



Here are some pics from the race. We ran right up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our plan was to stop there to take pictures, but it was such a foggy morning that we don't even know when we passed the Bridge.





And the results... Cheryl got plantar fasciitis in her foot last Wednesday. It was hurting her a lot, so we took it nice and easy in the race. We finished our SLOWEST half-marathon ever.



We saw Shawn Johnson (the gold medal gymnast) in Union Plaza on Saturday, and we also ran the last mile with her in the race on Sunday... we beat her. Cheryl LOVED that, since they were both in the same age group!

The results were not that great, but we had a FUN weekend! And best of all, I got to share it with my girlie!