To PR or Not to PR, What Did We Do? [Part1]

March 27, 2012 by · 10 Comments

We ran Kacie’s run this weekend and guess what!?!?! We have a new PR!! We don’t run many 5K’s as you may have noticed so Beth has not had a chance to PR in a 5K in a long time, but this weekend she did! Beth finished Kacie’s Run in a new PR time of 25:28 winning FIRST in her age group. We really have no idea what Teal’s official time was because we broke tradition on accident [tradition being Beth always puts her chip for her] and her chip timer never made it on her shoe. Whoops! We are pretty sure if she had had her chip on she would have come in about 40-50 seconds behind Beth and made third, but who knows. And in case anyone was ever wondering, chips only work if they are on your shoe! It stayed on the bib but never registered the time. Schwoops!

Really we blame the madness of the morning on the chip problem. We ended up getting to the race an hour and a half early because they were doing bib pick up the morning of instead of pre-race. Teal thought that this might be a disaster because about 20 of her students signed up to run this race as their first ever raceand really didn’t know what to do. We got there early to pick up everything for them and meet them in the parking lot.

For Beth this is rather funny to watch. Teal’s kids are cute in that they really didn’t know what to do at all. We helped them pin bibs, get their timer chips on and listened to all the random things they ask about what to do. Most didn’t have the right shoes, wanted to run in spikes, or wondered if we would see cars on the course. They also made a point to let their teachers know they planned on beating them. They are funny and it is cool to be present during someone’s first race!

Haha! Our faces in this pic...and notice the timing chip on Teal's bib

We want to know when your first race was!! For Beth her first 5K was in 2008 at the Mardi Gras Run 5K and for Teal back in 2000 at the Susan G Komen race in Plano which was super small compared to what you see now!  So leave us a comment with when your very first race was!

Also because it is Tuesday! We wanted to again let everyone know about Girl’s Night Out we are going to tonight!  If you are going to be around the Carrollton area and would like to show some support or just see how awesome some local, business ladies are then come on out and join us from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.!  There will be door prizes that include items from the vendors there – Creative Chaos the book, a Glitzbandz, a piece of jewelry, a wine gift card to Dee Lincoln’s Restaurant, a gift card to Matador, etc.  There will be wine and treats! So come join us!  Check out the flyer below for further details!

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November Race No. 2

November 15, 2011 by · 7 Comments

Well, we completed our 4th half of 2011 and 5th half overall this past weekend at Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio!  So many of our running friends were out there too, but we’ll touch on everything we did when not racing in another post!

We were both REALLY excited for this race!  We signed up for this half back in June and began our fundraising efforts for Team Cindy then.  We spent 5 months talking about Cindy Marshall-Death in blog posts and tweets, and so many of  you out there read her story and donated to us!  Because so many people stood with us by donating and because Cindy’s story touches both of our lives this race meant A LOT to us!

We started the race day by waking up at 4:30 a.m. to drive to the shuttle bus pick up, but that ended up being a cluster and we ultimately parked for $18 (ahhh) by the start line. We ended up standing around basically for an hour and a half, but with friends so it was all good!  We both ate peanut butter sandwiches around 6:30 a.m. and were already hungry by the time our corral started the race at 8:00 a.m.

Mary Alice, Teal, Chase, Beth & Bitner

Overall the beginning of the race was great. We seriously felt awesome! For Teal nothing was hurting, well besides her knee that does not like to stay in socket, but other than that all good. We kept a good pace to get across the finish in under 2 hours and that stayed until about mile 9.  It was in those first 9 miles that we ran by a woman wearing a shirt that said “I kicked cancer’s butt twice” and both of us were on the verge of tears. It was shortly after that we began to hear spectators saying “Go Team Cindy,” and the first time we heard that the tears wanted to come again! Neither of us talked about this during the race, but did afterwards and discussed how we both had to get it together to keep going.  Also, Rock ‘n’ Roll – why do you not put names on people’s bibs?? It would make it SO much easier for the spectators to cheer us ALL on!

Us waiting patiently in our corral - notice the straws?? And our ribbons with all of our donators names written on them?

During those first 9 miles we basically moved in and out from people pretty easily but it was annoying and slightly exhausting. We did fairly well for the water stops. Teal had decided to carry a straw this race because she wanted to run sans camelbak and Beth thought she’d try it out with her.  It seriously was awesome.  We both just tucked the straw in our sports bras. Teal just took it out when she needed water – wish we could have somehow gotten a picture of her running and drinking out of her straw at the same time.  People probably thought she was nuts, but it’s better than choking! Beth never actually used the straw and just crunched up the cup to get the water and keep up with the running.

Teal – At about mile 9, I lost my patience and let the annoyance get to me. I ended up stuck behind people at the water stop, the roads had narrowed a bunch, the crowd at points was in the run path and I was like, GET AWAY, I slowed down, I had felt at this point that Beth was running faster than me and I didn’t feel like I could keep up so I slowed down a little.

Beth – It was at a water stop in mile 9 that Teal and I got really separated for the first time.  We were doing some serious dodging at that specific water stop more than any other.  It was around this time that I knew I was teetering a fine line of making it less than 2 hours and just barely missing the goal, so I knew I had to step it up a little bit just to be on the safe side.  I kept thinking about how people would yell for Team Cindy and I’d responded with “Thank you” and send them a smile – did I have more in me and I wasn’t pushing hard enough?

Teal – I ran mile 10 about 30 seconds slower than the previous 10 miles. The last 3 basically sucked in my opinion. I thought I would still make it under 2 hours even with the 30 second slower pace because my Runkeeper kept saying a pace that I knew would make it under 2 and at mile 12.05 (yes I remember it because I was like under a mile) it said I had like 10 minutes and something seconds to make it to the finish under 2 hours and that my current pace would get me there in time. I picked it up a little but was sure I would make it.

Beth – I was keeping my pace pretty consist around 9:00 minute miles and I would say the last 3 miles were hard!  I don’t remember there being much shade and it had gotten HOT and HUMID!  Somewhere in mile 10, I believe, I saw our friend, Heidi, and she asked me if I was on target for finishing sub 2:00.  I told her I thought I was and she told me to go get it!  Appreciated that encouragement right then! Thanks, Heidi!  🙂 When I got to the 11 mile marker I knew I had roughly 20 minutes left before two hours.  I just kept telling myself you are running 9 minute miles, you got this, keep it up!  Don’t give up now when you are so close.  And honestly I never felt like I wanted to stop or give up.  Was it hard? Yes, but I was determined and hungry for the sub 2:00.

The last part of the race before you turn and haul to cross that finish line was freaking uphill!  Pretty sure we both saw that and just thought you have got to be kidding me!  Don’t worry we made sure to take a picture at the end of the race so those of you who weren’t there could see just what this hill looked like.

This one is kind of dark, but hopefully you can get the idea!

Teal – I picked it up a little but was sure I would make it. As I was running up the last hill the stupid 2 hour time sounded in my ear from Runkeeper and I was literally in sight of the finish. Slightly pissed I crossed the line and turned off my timer. 2:01:15. I thought well maybe just maybe my timer was off and I didn’t know the official time. I found out a few minutes later because our dear twitter friend Betsy (@WarriorBetsy), was tracking Beth and I and she tweeted our finish times- 2:00.56.  Initially bummed, but a PR is a PR. I ran that race the fastest I have ever run a half-marathon. It was hot, humid, crowded, and slightly stinky and I still ran it the fastest ever. Oh and I learned something knew about my runkeeper  that I feel dumb for not getting before, but it doesn’t tell the current pace- or at least I am not set on that, so my final 3 miles were actually too slow to make it, but my updates confused me and I still thought I was fin. Live and learn! When I got over it I was super proud of both of us- I am impressed by Beth who was able to get it under 2 hours and super close to her PR, we are definitely stronger than we were when we started all this! Oh and plus, I will have another ½ this year to get in under 2 hours—New Years Double – ekkkk I said it, but first, 3 weeks to the marathon!

Beth – When I crossed the finish line I knew I had to have made it! It might have been barely, but I knew it! I couldn’t get my Runkeeper turned off because 1. I’d needed to go the bathroom (no. 1 only people) since right before the race started and was so focused on getting to a port-a-potty [Sorry mom if you are reading this :)] and 2. I’d turned down the brightness on my iPhone so low to save battery power I couldn’t even see the screen with how bright the sun was.  It was a good 15 minutes later I found out from Betsy what my time was! 1:58:46! But then looking at the official results yesterday they had me clocked at 1:58:47 – oh my, a whole second longer! Haha 🙂

That was a hard race!  We are both VERY proud of what we accomplished out there.  We ran smart races! We drank water, we fueled up a little after the one hour mark of running, and we only pushed ourselves to what our limits where for that day given the temperature and the humidity!  We are proud of our friends who were out there with us!  It was a hard race and no matter what crossing that finish line was a big feat!  So congrats to each and every one of you!

Thank you to Betsy for tracking us and keeping others updated on where we were! It was so cool to see your tweets after the race! Thank you!

White Rock Marathon or BUST!!

Results:

Teal – 2:00:56, a new PR!!  Finished 3,074th overall, 1,055th out of all the females and 209th in age group

Beth – 1:58:47, finished 2,710th overall, 890th out of all the females and 177 in age group

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October’s Race

October 17, 2011 by · 3 Comments


Another race is done for us this year and that makes 13 races for us total! Saturday we participated in the Susan G. Komen 5k here in Dallas.  Before we even got to race day Beth realized she had thrown her race bib away since Susan G. Komen mails you your race packet. Which is very convenient but not the norm amongst races, so that was a bit confusing. Thankfully it had been a couple weeks since the trash had been taken out and barely any digging through the trash had to take place since it was pretty much on top!

20111017-075251.jpg

We made great time getting down to the race and were able to park with no problem whatsoever. We walked over to Northpark Center (mall, for you non Dallasites) to look for the Creekview Cheer Squad and Teal’s friend Cynthia from school and the gym. We found the cheer squad but no Cynthia, so we made our way to the name plate table and fastened pictures of Cindy on our backs.  Since we planned on pinning pictures of Cindy to our back we’d brought extra safety pins with us which are not actually something that come in your race packet with the bib.  Those little safety pins were hot commodities and so many people tried to steal them from us. Ha.

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Can you spy the Go Sport ID in this pic? 🙂

Snapped a picture real quick in between taking a potty break and lining up for the start of the race!

It took us twelve minutes to get from where we lined up to the start line….then a few seconds after that we remembered to start our Runkeeper apps.  We started out walking because there were SO many people out there!  Glad we both had decided our goal was going to be to enjoy the race and take it all in otherwise if we were really trying to race it I think we would have been so frustrated.  All of the walkers out there were all over the place – of course in the street but also up on the sidewalks and in the grass.  We were able to get some running in during that first mile but it was saaaaaa-low and full of dodging around or having to stop and walk or being cut off. 🙂

By the time we got to the first mile marker we’d been out on the course for about 14 minutes and at this point we had resolved to just walking the rest of the way, but walking as fast as we could!

During our 2nd mile we noticed a woman on someone’s front porch with a bunch of people surrounding her.  Not sure what happened there if she fell and got trampled or what, but so nice of the people in that house to take care of her!  One of the best parts of the race was that you could just tell a lot of the people out there do not normally get out and exercise like that.  We talked about how neat it was that t his cause encouraged so many people who aren’t regulars to working out to get out there and walk for a cause!  Hope some of them were inspired to keep up the walking!  We also laughed at the little girl we heard on the course tell another person in her group “if you wanna be skinny you gotta run!”

Somewhere past this sign Teal’s friend Cynthia texted her to say she had finished and wanted to know where we were.  We were so surprised she was finished AND she had gotten to run the whole thing.  Apparently, if we do this race next year we need to sign up as “Elite Runners” to be able to actually run it.  We didn’t do that originally because Elite Runners? – do we really fall into that category?  Beth was annoyed she hadn’t signed up to be chip timed, but who knew it wouldn’t end up not mattering anyways?  As we mentioned in our pre-race post, Teal actually did this run about 10 years ago and back then it had less people and the majority of them were runners. Ohh, how times change! 🙂

As we neared the finish line we found Cynthia and the Creekview Cheer Squad!  They had all finished the race and were motivating and inspiring everyone as they passed by and made their way to the finish line.  They were awesome!  We took the opportunity to get some pictures before crossing the finish line!

our junk in the trunk 🙂

I’m pretty sure I was suppose to crop that last picture, but it kind of makes me laugh so I didn’t. 🙂

Neither of us had expected to be out there as long as we were so we grabbed some free coffee and walked back to our car.  We probably walked faster to the car than we did the whole race, but we don’t care! We got to get out there and walk in honor of Cindy and #TeamCindy and that’s ALL that matters.  When we run Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio I think the emotions of running in honor of Cindy will be multiplied as we have been raising money for a few months now and have invested our own hearts into her story and her family!  And then, of course, we wouldn’t be Teal and Beth if we weren’t race walking to our car because Teal had to get to work and Beth was headed to a make up weights session at Johnny’s!

And because who doesn’t love a picture of a baby? – 

Post workout at Johnny’s, Beth was off to her nephew’s 5th Birthday Party (costume party)! That’s the youngest nephew trying to get in the spirit of the costume party, but not sold on it!

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18 Miles: Check

October 10, 2011 by · 7 Comments

We set out Saturday morning with the goal of 18 miles. The weather was not bad although when we started running it turned out to be extremely windy. We started about 6 o’clock this time with our friend Mary Alice, who was in town this weekend for the baby shower (her sister is Rebekah who we were throwing a shower for Saturday afternoon, more about that later) and also to visit friends. Mary Alice actually ran White Rock half last year with us! Anyways, back to Saturday, we decided to keep with as close to the same route as we ran last week, knowing it was relatively flat and we are comfortable with the area since we trained there for most of White Rock half 2010. We had talked about adding a small portion to our course so we would run all the way up to the Shops at Legacy (where the Heroes for Children 5k was) because last time we were literally running laps around a mall to make sure we got all of the mileage in!

We seemed back to normal running routine, we mentioned last time that we talked a lot, this time I am not sure we said much to each other except for portions where we turned around. Also we didn’t have any restroom breaks this time. Mary Alice ran with us but for most of the time we didn’t see her, we kept turning around to make sure none of us lost each other but despite our best efforts it still seemed to happen anyways. At one point in our route we running down a winding road with no sidewalks, we know—safe right? We both saw Mary Alice (and hoped she saw us) and figured she would run the same way but when we got to the end we didn’t see her so we both decided to run back. If anything was ever going to happen to anyone surely it would happen there. Drivers really don’t see you and sometimes if they do they don’t move over even though there are 3 full lanes and hardly ever traffic…MOVE OVER people… it’s just nice. We would do it for you! Nevertheless we ran up and down that three times, finally deciding to just run up to the Shops at Legacy where we both heard “Teal-Beth!” Luckily we found Mary Alice and talked about where to go from there.

A lot of the turns and runs through the parking lot stuff kind of threw us a little off, and about the 13 mile mark Teal had mentioned to Beth that if she lost her she wasn’t going to make it. Unfortunately an annoying Achilles problem that started last week came back and Teal had to slow down, and Beth thankfully would run ahead and then turn around to stay close. It really is a million times better when your running partner is close! Teal had to stop and walk for about .25 of a mile and managed to start again.

We ran back into each other about 3 miles away from finishing. When we had about 2 miles left Beth said- “I am going to run until I hit 18 and I am going to Starbucks and going to have someone pick us up.” SWEET!! If we had kept running the normal way home we would have had to walk quite a bit. Beth finished up and Teal had to run a few more laps around the Target parking lot. Luckily Beth’s mom, Nancy a.k.a. Fancy Nancy, came to our rescue [Hi, Beth’s mom! Thanks for rescuing us!]! I am pretty sure both of us were in pain. Eighteen miles was rough. I know for me [Teal] this was much harder overall than even the 17. We ran faster last week. Beth said she felt pretty good the entire time so that is a plus.

Of course keeping with our madness- Teal went to work.  Beth got an ice bath, went to yoga before last minute prep for the baby shower.

We met up again around 2:00 p.m. and set up for the baby shower at Teal’s house. The shower went off wonderfully and was a lot of fun. We are super excited and cannot wait to meet baby Elliott!

Teal, Mandy, Rebekah & Beth

Us with MA a.k.a. Mary Alice

We all kind of stayed around after and watched the A&M game [Whoop!] and the Rangers game. Beth even managed to make it all the way out to Dallas for a joint Birthday party for some friends born in September & October!

out celebrating birthdays!

I was able to get some recovery in on Sunday. My knees were throbbing so here is my version of an “ice bath.”

This week brings more training of course. Below is our plan. Luckily our run this week is not as far and we are excited to run in another Susan G. Komen race on Saturday. We will for sure catch you up on that.



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The Month of Pink
 

October 3, 2011  by  · 2 Comments 
A new month! And a month that finds us even closer to our two ultimate goals for 2011 – run a race every month and complete White Rock Marathon.


While October is a month that the majority of people associate with Halloween , I am sure more and more people are remembering that October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  This year I am confident in saying that this month is more near and dear to our hearts than ever before.  If you’ve been reading our blog then you know we are fundraising for Team Cindy through our Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio half we will be running, which means we are raising money for breast cancer.  We have pledged to raise $1,200 – that boils down to $100 per month of our 2011 race year.  We are currently at 56% of our goal –




Donate you can find our fundraising page here


Yes, Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio is NOT officially until November so yes, we will be running the Komen 5k in Dallas on October 15th and proudly wearing Team Cindy on our shirts!


So if you follow us on twitter don’t be surprised if the #TeamCindy hashtag is more a part of our timeline than ever before.


One of the exciting parts of the month of October is that it will bring the arrival of Cindy’s first grandchild!  So get ready for some cute pics of a sweet little Jack!


Cancer in general is a hard thing to deal with and there are so many people affected by it and in so many different ways!  This year we have chosen to mainly raise awareness and money for breast cancer, and also childhood cancer with our volunteering and running for the Heroes for Children 5k.


Are you doing anything this month for Breast Cancer Awareness?


We’ll leave you with a picture of Julie and Mr. Death with their Team Cindy sign waiting for Cynthia to finish the 3-Day walk in 2010




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Celebrating Cindy
 

September 21, 2011  by  · Leave a Comment 
Today would have been Cindy’s 54th Birthday.  If she were alive today she’d be about  3 weeks away from welcoming her first grandbaby, Jack, into the world!  And about 4 months away from the birth of her second grandbaby, Cindy!


Cynthia (l) and Julie (r) at a baby shower for Jack!


I remember having a conversation with Julie awhile back about how her mom probably got to hold her grandbabies up in heaven before they were ever in existence.  And I know that Cindy is looking down upon Julie & Cynthia with a full heart.  Those two are going to be fabulous mothers and even though Cindy is not physically with them on earth I know that she is a part of every moment of their every day.  Baby Jack & Baby Cindy have a wonderful heavenly grandmom, and I know their moms will make sure they know who Cindy was.


Teal and I are raising money for breast cancer in honor of Cindy.  We will be running the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in San Antonio, Texas on November 13, 2011 wearing our Team Cindy shirts.  It is a big honor to us to be able to wear these shirts in memory of such a great woman! Today we are not quite at 50% of our goal and our deadline is rapidly approaching.  We would appreciate any and all support that you can offer us!


Giving up a drink at Starbucks and donate $5.


Giving up a workday lunch out and donate $10.


Thanks for reading a little bit about Cindy today – if you’d like to donate to Team Cindy please go here!  And if you’d like to read a little bit more about her life and family you can find that here! We’ll leave you with a picture of Cynthia and her husband Mike at the Tulsa Komen Race for the Cure for this past weekend sporting their Team Cindy shirts.


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Team Cindy
 

June 17, 2011  by  · 5 Comments 
It is such a honor to me to even be writing this blog – a few weeks ago I got a text from one of my college roommates saying “We are ordering more Team Cindy shirts, do you want one?” I responded immediately with “YES!!”




If we back up a little bit, I met Julie (college roomie) in 2003 and within 9-ish months of our meeting we became roommates.  Right around the time I met Julie her mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.  I know the news had to come as a shock and heart break to Julie, her sister, Cynthia, and their dad.  And in the times I first met Cindy and when she would come down to College Station for a visit, I’d never thought she was anything but a healthy lady with a contagious joy for life and her family.


 

Cindy was one of those moms of your friends that you immediately fell in love with and always enjoyed having the opportunity to be around and in truth she has passed that along to her daughters, as well as marrying a man that contains the same quality.


 

The very last time I was around Cindy was in roughly July of 2009 – I had gotten together with Julie, her husband, Cynthia, her boyfriend (and future husband) and another couple for a low-key dinner at Julie’s house.  After dinner we decided to play cranium so Cindy came over to hangout and give us an even number for teams.  She just fit right in and never seemed like a mom who had 20 years on us.  I could always see how Cindy’s daughters were her passion and so important to her.  She loved and adored Julie & Cynthia and never in an overbearing way – I always viewed her as a close to perfect balance of being a mom and a friend to her daughters.








Julie, Cindy & Cynthia






One of the things I loved hearing about Cindy, prior to my meeting her, was she had been an elementary school teacher for years, and I believe before every school year the kids who would find out Mrs. Death was their teacher would come up with these stories of how scary she must be!  How silly they must have felt upon meeting her that first day of school and realizing there is absolutely nothing scary about Cindy Death.


 

In the early months of 2010, Cindy began to experience organ failure as a result of all the chemo she had received.  Many nights were spent in the hospital with Cindy surrounded by her loving family.  Cynthia was scheduled to be married in early May, but it started to look like Cindy would not be able to be there unless the wedding was moved up.  Everything actually fell into place and Cynthia’s wedding was moved up by a little over a month.  But there was yet another hiccup in the plans for Cynthia & Mike’s wedding and having Cindy be there – she would not be able to leave the hospital.  The last Friday of February the wedding was brought to the hospital so that Cindy could see her baby girl get married. 




Julie, Cindy & CynthiaThe entire Death Family & their spouses - Jimmy, Mike, Cynthia, Julie, Jeff and Cindy


The pictures above were taken by a very talented photograph here in DFW, Love Me Photography,  you can see her blog here as well as a slideshow of all the photographs she took at Cynthia & Mike’s wedding.  Just six days after this wedding, Cindy went on to heaven.  Or as I have heard Julie say “heaven just got another angel!”


 


 


Cindy Death, was a beautiful woman, a daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher and friend to many, as well as being adored by many.  That is why I am so honored to be running a race and running for Team Cindy/Life is a Run.  Teal will be running with me in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in San Antonio in November and we have set a goal to raise $1,200.00 for Susan G. Komen ($100 for each month of this ruinning year).  As of today we have $90 towards our goal!  If you would like to donate to Team Cindy please go here.


 


 


If you plan on running Rock ‘n’ Roll SA look for me in my Team Cindy shirt:


 




 


– Beth


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