8k Redemption

Remember my story about Shamrock Shuffle? You know, the 8k in which I was crying at the start line during the National Anthem? The one that I didn't get to warmup for and got a calf cramp at the first mile in? Yeah, me too.


So, when I saw that the Rockford MELD race was a 2mile or an 8k, I immediately told Ryan we had to sign up. The fact that there was prize money didn't make it too hard to convince him;)


Well, if there's one thing to know about (female) Rockford runners, it's that Shannon Ring and Jessica Langford are AMAZING runners. The few Rockford races that Ryan and I have done (MELD 2mile/8k and On the Waterfront 5k), these two ladies just CRUSH the competition. I have always looked up to them, and this past Monday gave me even more of a reason to.


This 8k, Ryan and I arrived with plenty of time to spare. One of my athletes was also running the 2mile, so it was good to see her there (and it was nice that she rocked her race too:)).


After warming up and doing some drills and strides, my legs felt ready to go. The rest of my body, however, was another story. Crystal Lake's 4th of July fireworks were the night before, and Ryan and I didn't get to sleep until 11/11:30ish. We had a wake-up call at 4:30am so that we could meet his dad and littlest brother before heading over to the 7am start. Normally, one day of waking up early wouldn't really exhaust me as much as it did, but I think getting in the routine of waking up early and working long days really kind of tired me out. I would bet that this happens to most people when they start a new job, so just prepared myself mentally that I might be a little tired going into the race on Monday.



Toeing the start line with Jessica and Shannon by my side was pretty cool. The last time I did this, I had tears streaming down my face, so to be excited and ready to race felt great! Jessica and I talked before the race and said we'd just try to maintain 6:00 pace. It was already mid/high 70s and was not cooling off anytime soon.

5:59 first mile. Perfect. Felt super easy. Probably should have gone out a little harder (which Cari agreed with as well).

6:00 second mile. Still felt pretty good and we had passed all of the other females, so were sitting 2-3 behind Shannon.

At about 2.25miles, my left calf got what felt like a charlie horse. This was the SAME pain that I got in Shamrock. I didn't really understand, considering we went out at a 5:59. At Shamrock, we went out in 5:45. Jessica started to lose me a bit as I couldn't shake the pain.


At the turnaround, I saw that I had enough room so that I would still place 3rd even if I averaged 6:10s for the rest of the way. I told myself that no mile would be over 6:10.


Mile 3 was 6:02. I was surprised because I truly felt like I was going 10minute pace once that charlie horse hit my calf.

Right before mile 4, Ryan picked me up. He started running with me right when I was really dying. What a guy;) We went through in 6:07. Again, not bad, but just frustrating because I couldn't shake my stinkin' calf!

I told myself that Mile 5 would be faster than the 6:07. Then I remembered that .5 of the last mile is a LONG, LONG straightaway. Gross. So, I just started focusing and really looking ahead. Ryan kept reminding me to use my arms. He later told me that I swing my arms across my body (very inefficient) when I get tired, so that is definitely something that I will focus on in my workouts and even my easy runs. 6:02 for that final stretch.

Overall, 30:11, which is 16 seconds faster than my time at Shamrock, which was over a minute PR. Definitely pleased, but had to sit in a chair right away as my calf was on FIRE.


I saw the chiropractor that was there and he used some trigger point therapy thing and it immediately felt better. On my 3 mile cooldown with my athlete, I didn't even notice my calf.


Still wondering what could have caused it--the heat? I guess as long as it only bothers me in 8ks, I'll take it, but would LOVE to solve this mystery!


The day gets better. Ryan ran the 2mile and won. My athlete had a great race. Ryan's littlest brother, Alex, ran a 13:39 for the 2mile and then won the kids 1/4mile race barefoot, and Ryan's dad ran a good time for himself too! Did I mention that we had a Fast Track Sweep? Shannon won, Jessica was 2nd and I was 3rd. Definitely cool to see all of us in our Fast Track gear claiming the top three awards. Check it out:






Before I end this blog, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me and supporting me in my quest to work for Saucony. Unfortunately, I heard back from them last week (right before heading to a team workout unfortunately) and they chose to move forward with other candidates. After some tears and a bad workout, I had a wonderful cooldown with some great teammates who really helped me get back up and realize that it is their loss. I still think highly of the company and will always want to be an employee with Saucony, but right now is just not the right time in life. When the time comes though, I know that I will be the best employee ever as I am so passionate about the sport and truly believe that Saucony is a great company, not just for shoes but for all running attire. In the meantime, I have this SWEET job that allows me to continue to educate others (car salespeople, who sometimes are just as challenging as middle schoolers!) and travel all around the US doing so. My boss is AMAZING (duh, he's a runner) and the product that we sell and educate people on truly speaks for itself. I'm a pretty lucky girl:)

Athlete of the Month?!?!?

If you're a Chicago area runner, you probably tend to thumb through the Chicago Athlete magazine every once in a while (or read every article...some people just can't get enough of the running and biking stuff:)). The very first thing I ALWAYS do when I see a new Chicago Athlete magazine is flip to the CLIF Athletes of the Month page. I love when athletes are recognized for their outstanding performances and really enjoy learning about runners (even if they are competitors!) this way.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from the editor of the magazine asking for an interview. With me. To be the July Chicago Athlete of the Month.

*Jaw drops*

Oh, and should I mention that I received this email during our "15minute break" during my first official day of the new job? All I kept thinking about was telling Ryan because this is something that I have DREAMED of being good enough to receive!! Even Ryan, being the incredible athlete he is, has dreamed of this, so for it to become a reality for me was truly shocking.

The first thing I did was ask my friend, who also works for Chicago Athlete magazine, if he had anything to do with this. His response? All I did was give him your contact info.

Can you believe it?! I couldn't either!

About a week later, one of my Fast Track teammates posted a Congratulatory message on my wall on facebook and the comments started coming. I have such an incredible support system through the Fast Track racing team.

One last note... my dad ALWAYS reads the Chicago Athlete magazine as soon as he picks one up from whatever run/bike store he's at when a new issue comes out. So, I figure that I would just wait for him to see it. It took him THREE days from getting the magazine to notice it!! The rest of my family and I got a pretty good laugh out of that. I guess that's what happens when you get older;)

Lastly, I have to say that I honestly woudln't be where I'm at today without the wonderful people I have in my life. God has really given me everything I could ever ask for and more. Thank you, friends and family, for your continued support in my journey. I will never be able to tell you how much it means to me:)

(a better version can be found at chicagoaa.com and by looking at the July issue)

Finally breaking 18!!!

Ever have a goal that you were just DYING to reach no matter how hard it would be?

That was me with the 5k this year. Let me start by recalling prior years of my 5k goals....

In 2008, I was running 19s. In fact, THREE races in a row I posted a 19:01-19:04. Frustrating to be 5 seconds away from breaking 19? you bet. Motivational? Absolutely. Unfortunately, 2008 never saw that sub 19.

2009 rolls around and I start focusing more on duathlons. Well, luckily for me duathlons generally have shorter distances, so I did more speed work. I didn't do too many 5ks, but when I did, I was cursed with the 19:04. I finally broke it unexpectedly.

My workout, while just using the same plan as my coach, for the marathon was 3miles/2miles/1mile. Well, there was a 5k that night in Geneva (the Viking Sunset 5k), so I figured, "Why not run my first 3 miles as the 5k?" Guess what... I BROKE 19!!!!! 18:40. CRAZY. I was so excited I didn't even care about the rest of the workout! Of course, I finished it, but man, breaking 19 was so unreal that I was just so excited (and may have went a little too quickly for the 2mile and 1 mile, oops).

So, 2010 comes along and I'm again just focusing on duathlon and triathlon. Yeah, the marathon is a goal, but I don't start training for it until July after most of my dus/tris are done. So no real stellar 5ks this year, but I do finish the year off with an 18:39.

2011. The year of PRs (for post-hs/college). I make it my goal to break 18. I mean, if my goal is to run sub-2:50 (hopefully even a 2:45!), I need to be breaking 18.

In the Race That's Good For Life 5k in April, Cari had told me to go out hard that first mile. This is the race that the males and females run separately, so it's super competitive. Well, Columba went out in a 5:30 and Jessica, Suzanne and I were just a tad behind in 5:38. Cari told me just to hang on for as long as I could. I ran a 5:50 and 6:00 to finish in an 18:04. 36 second PR from my previous best, yet so close to breaking 18 that I was wanting to do another 5k!

So, I used that experience to help me run the LaGrange Rocks for Youth 5k last night. It's a fast, flat course, so I knew we'd be going out hard. Fortunately for me, my wonderful boyfriend decided to run it with me as he knew it could be a PR day at the least. Little did he know that my confidence levels were high (rare for me prior to finally getting a job last week!) and I KNEW I'd be breaking 18.

We started off and I was almost leading the race. Yes, you read that correctly. I, a female, was almost leading the race. We went through the first mile in 5:29. Ryan told me after that he was FREAKING out that I was setting myself up for a disaster. He told me to slow it down the second mile and got in front of me to help me do so. I kept telling him to speed up as I knew what my race plan was. We went through the second mile in 5:55. I knew all I had to do was run that same mile time for mile 3 and breaking 18 would be done. However, probably at 2.25 there is a slight incline. I used the "downhill" part of that to just really focus on my leg turnover and catching up to the person in front of me.

I had run mile 3 to mile 2 and back as my warmup, so I knew there were 5 blocks before we turned to go back in to the finish area. I started counting and it really took my mind off things. As we turned, one of the DJs (younger kids, probably 14?) said "Go Party Rock!" as we had requested that LMFAO "Party Rock" song (whatever the name of it is) as it's just such a pump-up type of song. That silly little phrase just motivated me and I kicked it into a higher gear.

We went through mile 3 at 17:25. Crap. I have to run .1 in less than 35 seconds if I want to break 18. How is the finish so far away? Ryan is just SCREAMING at me at this point. He KNOWS I can do this and I'm not one to disappoint. I keep thinking back to Sunday and how I didn't allow myself any ice cream because I didn't break 18. That was NOT happening again.

17:58.3

PR by 6 seconds from April, PR by 49 seconds from last years race. YES! Finally! I collapse at the finish as I truly gave it my all.

Funny thing is, even though he was only running it with me, Ryan still got 2nd place in his age group!!! His 13-year-old brother Jason was 2nd in his age group as well with just over 20minutes. His 10-year-old brother Alex was 2nd in his age group with another sub-22 and his dad, right behind Alex, was 2nd in his age group as well! How often can you say your family went to a race and everyone brought home awards? My family, for one, has not been able to say this for years. Those Giuliano genes, I tell ya...

This week has taught me a lot...

1. Always listen to your coach. Cari and I talked on Monday, and we decided based on my 5k/10k on Sunday's Zoo run that I had reached my plateau. My body was just done with this cycle of training and ready for a break. Now if Ryan had told me that, I probably would have argued. Not because he doesn't know what he's talking about (Cari is a GENIUS when it comes to running and the science and everything that goes into it), but because I'd be mad that he didn't "believe in me." Well, after we had that conversation, I told myself that I'm going to break 18. I just have to now. And I did. My coach definitely knows how to motivate me! :)

2. PowerBar Recover + PowerBar Vanilla Protein Powder = best recovery drink ever. After my first workout with the Saucony Dick Pond Fast Track team (http://www.fasttrackracingteam.com/) in years, Ryan had his mixed drink for us to take. We did 4 progressive 800s (they had done 4 progressive 400s and a previous set of 4 progressive 800s before I hopped in) and 4 200s, so having this drink after definitely helped in recovery.

3. Ice Baths totally work. Ryan and I took an ice bath after the workout and I felt SO good the next day.

4. Dave Davis is the best person to go to for a massage if you are a runner. He worked on both Ryan and I on Tuesday morning. Yes, I was SO SORE the next day. But I still hit my workout splits for the 800s/200s and PRd in my 5k three days later. This guy knows what he's doing:)

5. Saucony AMP PRO2 tights ROCK. (http://www.saucony.com/) I wore these after my workout on Wednesday (after the ice bath) and I felt awesome on Thursday.

Something else worth noting: As a part of being on the Saucony Hurricane Team, Ryan and I (well everyone on the team, we just do things together when we are able to) have to help out at some events. Being that I'm pretty much obsessed with running, this really isn't asking much at all. So, one of these events was to run with the running group at The Runner's Edge in Chicago as part of Saucony month. We did this on Thursday night and kind of split up to run with the runners. I ran with a lady named Angelique (spelling?) and it is just SO inspirational and fun to learn about other runners and their backgrounds and goals.

I haven't really told too many people this, but I applied for the Saucony Tech Rep position awhile ago. It would basically be a dream job for me. I LOVE Saucony products--I have yet to have any sort of injury from the shoes (which is rare for me considering I've had 4 stress fractures throughout my college years while running in three different brands of shoes) and their clothing is top of the line. After we worked the event on Thursday, I left feeling like, "I could do this every day and truly have the best job in the world." So, if you read this, I'm going to selfishly ask that you pray with me that things work out. I'm sure that there are hundreds of applicants, many who have repped with other companies before so have more experience, but I truly believe I'd be an excellent fit for this position. Thanks friends and family:)

Finally, next race: Batavia Triathlon on June 12th. Ryan's racing, I'm encouraging.

Memorial Day Weekend: Ridge Run 5k

Last year, Ryan and I ran both the 5k and the 10k as there was money in both. I won the 10k and was third in the 5k; Ryan won and got second. This year, Ryan had the same goal and I just wanted to run a good tempo.

Yep, I said it. My plan was to use this race as a tempo. Was it tough knowing that money was involved? You betcha. Especially since I was jobless at the time, I was seriously contemplating just racing. However, I know that I have big goals ahead, so racing this one wouldn't really do much for me in the long run.

Unfortunately, the 10k goes first, and it was already 80 degrees when they went off. I knew it'd be a hot one, so only did 1.25mile warmup (and drills). My plan was to run 6:10, 6:00, 5:50 to keep it at a 6:00 tempo pace but also negative split it just so I know that I can actually do that (I rarely negative split)!

Well, Columba Montes (phenomenal runner; had already won the 10k earlier this day) and another female started off at what seemed like a slower pace, so I stayed with them. We went through the mile at 6:01. Well, I figured, I'll just run 6:10 for the next mile and still plan on the 5:50. The pace slowed when we encountered a slight incline and we went through the 2mile at 6:27. I decided I would push the pace just a little, especially after seeing that there was one female in front of us.

Top three make money in this race, and I figured I might as well push a bit now and see if anyone drops. Worst case, I still finish my tempo under goal time. Best case, I get 3rd place and am $50 richer. Well, Columba did come with me when I pushed a bit and I told her that there was another girl ahead and to go get her. To me, again, it was about the tempo and not the money, so I knew I had secured third, but wanted to make Columba aware that she could catch the girls ahead of us (last year's winner as well). She didn't understand or hear me (I'm not sure which), so we finished just with each other--5:51 final mile:)

18:57. Do you have any idea how happy I would have been with that time last year, and here I just ran it as a TEMPO?! It's unreal what a difference having a coach and concentrating on solely running makes.

Hopefully, my next 5k will be under 18. Based on workouts, it should happen, but it's been pretty hot and humid lately. I guess we'll see where my training takes me!

Back at E.I.U

Eastern Illinois University has always stood for one thing in my mind: State track meet.

This year, EIU had an even bigger impact on me than in years past. After going to state Freshman year, I had just assumed that it's what you do to end the season. I never realized how difficult it was to qualify for State until I started coaching.

Last year, my distance stud missed qualifying by 3 seconds. It was the most devastating race I have ever watched in my life: 300m to go, on pace; 200m to go, 45 seconds to finish; 100m to go, 22 seconds to finish. Those 22 seconds turned into 25 and was the most agonizing 25seconds of my life. It was as if my runner had hit a gust of wind that was just holding her back. She had no idea how close she was to qualifying. She literally gave EVERYTHING she had; collapsing at the finish line, she grabbed the watch from my neck and saw the time. She burst into tears and we had to carry her off the track. I promised her that if she worked hard this summer, she would qualify for State in Cross Country and Track (although I was not the XC coach, I did trust that he could keep her in the shape she was in--he did and she qualified for State in XC).

This year, she had many setbacks and obstacles in her way: her knee cap randomly doubled in size over Spring Break, causing her to miss 10 days of running and she got Laryngitus the week of Conference. However, this year there was another distance stud as well.

My Junior used to be a soccer player, but decided to go out for track this year. In her first meet, she actually ran against Ryan's freshman cousin in the pouring rain. They were neck and neck and literally ran the same overall 5:54, but I knew that I had a lot of talent that I was working with. She continually improved her times throughout the season: when I finally put her into a meet completely fresh, she ran a 5:40 (on Monday). The next time she was put into a meet fresh (Thursday of the same week) was Conference, where she ran a 5:32. After Conference, I told her dad how close she was for qualifying for State (time standard is 5:25). This runner has a "whatever" kind of attitude, in a good way. She never puts pressure on herself and just listens to you-- the most coachable athlete I've ever had. I could tell her "get up with the girl in green" and she'd be up there in less than 5 seconds. She is just incredible.

Up next: Sectionals. My Junior tells me she has a game plan: 1:24, 2:37, 4:02, 5:24. Her first lap was a 1:24, second was 2:38 ("you need to get up with the girl in green" and she does), 4:01 ("you have to get around x, x, and x if you want to go to State, GO, GO, GO!!")... 5:23. Incredible. 10 second PR. Who does that in a 1600m race?!

In addition to our 1600m runner that qualified for State, we also qualified a Discus girl. I remember last year when I started coaching track at Woodstock North, her dad called me to tell me that his daughter is state-qualifier material and will be there, if not this year, next for sure. Unfortunately, throwing isn't my specialty, but we did have a throwing coach on the boys side. He worked hard with this girl and she did end up qualifying for State this year. She just continuously improved this year and always had a good attitude; she was fun to watch when I was actually able to!

So, at the State meet.... After driving the 4.5 hours to EIU from Woodstock, we warmed up on the track/disc area. The girls seemed pretty pumped to be there. When we went to check in at the hotel, I ran out to get my license and the female receptionist says to the male, "Make sure it shows she's 21." Why being 21 was relevant, I am still unsure, but the girls got a kick out of the fact that, despite JUST turning 25 the week before, I was being questioned as to if I was old enough to drink?

The hotel that we were staying at was THE SAME ONE I STAYED AT MY FRESHMAN YEAR. Definitely had tears in my eyes when making that realization. I told the girls that there was a Dollar General behind our hotel (there still was) and that we used to decorate our rooms with streamers and such in celebration of being at State. Well, my assistant coach wasn't there yet, so they asked if we could decorate his room....so we went to Dollar General and had a good time putting streamers up in his room.

We then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, the girls' choice. A sign on the table said something about a Buffet, I thought it was "Birthday Buffet" and it actually said "Sunday Buffet".... I apparently can't read. But next thing I know, the freshman that we brought along for experience had told the waitor that it was my 21st birthday and they are bringing me a sombrero, shot of tequila and singing! CRAZY! We poured the tequila into the salsa (I hate looking like I don't appreciate things, but I was NOT going to drink any sort of alcohol on a school related function, despite how much crap my family and friends gave me!).

I really enjoyed spending time with the girls in a different setting than as a coach. We ended our night verifying that my assistant would be taking down our wonderful streamers (he thought it was funny and appreciated the hard work). The only reason I even mention this is because we actually got charged a "repainting the ceiling" fee from the staff taking down the streamers and paint being pulled off. None of us believe this but when it's their word against yours, what can you do.

Back to State. Well, as usual, it was a HOT one. My 1600 girl was not used to the heat, or starting out fast (I told her they'd go out in a 1:14/15 since she was in Heat 1; they went in 1:14) and it really hurt her in the final lap. She was still on pace to make Finals in the third lap, but the fast start (or the 80some degree weather!) really hurt her final lap. The disc girl did qualify for Finals--she hadn't really expected to I don't think, and wasn't prepared for it as she was Valedictorian and graduation was Saturday at 7pm!

That night (Friday night), there was a coach's race (open to any non-competing athlete or coach)that the girls had wanted to wach me do. The meet was supposed to start at 8pm. Order of events: girls 100, boys 100, girls 400, boys 400, girls 800, boys 800, combined 1600, girls 300hurdles, boys 300hurdles. Well, the first (of four) head of the girls 100 didn't start until 8:15, so I was already all warmed up for my 1600. I tried staying loose but it was hard. The 1600 was going to start at 9:15....the FIRST heat started then. Figured that I was NOT one of the 20 in that heat. Oh well. I tried my best to be patient and not get mad. Afterall, this was for fun (but I just kept thinking that the girls needed to get dinner and I was holding them back!). I finally ran close to 9:30. I ran a 5:24, which for all things considered (being outside coaching and watching the meet all day, warming up an hour prior) wasn't bad. hey, at least I still qualified for the 2A state track meet!

Saturday, my disc girl threw placed at her seed place for the finals (11th) and made it back just in time to give her Valedictorian speech. Also on Saturday, Kayla Beattie (one of the best female high school distance runners EVER) dominated in the 3200 (9:56) and 1600 (4:46 or 4:43-- I can't remember now after the crazy weekend).

Overall, what a difference being a coach versus athlete makes. I really enjoyed myself and am so glad that my girls had a good time as well. Hopefully, they'll be making the trip again next year too!

Palos 1/2 marathon

I have never appreciated my teammates as much as I did after the Palos 1/2 marathon.

Ryan's big race (Elite Duatlon Nationals) was the Saturday before my Sunday 1/2. I was so excited/nervous for him but had to control my nerves as we were at Kristi's bridal shower. I can't even explain how sad I was for Ryan when I got his message. He had no power on the bike and was just exhausted. Putting on the race just last weekend really took a toll on him he said.

My running the week after putting on our Egg Shell Shuffle race wasn't the best. I thought I'd be fine though since mine was just running whereas Ryan's was running and biking.

I got to the race 45minutes before. I found my teammate Meg Sullivan right away and she graciously offered me a place to put my bag during the race (parking was somewhat far away). After getting my bib and packet, I went for a mile warmup, did a few drills and strides and found Meg again at the start line.

Looking around, I saw Erin Moffett (incredible), Columba Montes (the nicest person ever, and very fast too) and one other girl that I thought I had seen before. Turns out these three would be the lead pack for a good portion of the race.

I started the race conservatively like Cari had asked and ran two 6:25s. She wanted me to wait until mile 6 to really start cutting down, which was perfect since the wind was coming at us for the first portion of the race. By mile 3, I was up with Meg and her pack. I tucked in and ran with them....it was really fun to run with two teammates!

Right around mile 6, I remembered that I didn't have my gel (I put it in my back pocket..... of my pants, not shorts, ugh) so I better start taking some Powerade. I also started having a real upset stomach. I saw a bathroom and thought about stopping, but didn't want to get out of the pack of four I was in.

Right around mile 8, I really started feeling my stomach hurting. I knew I had to find a bathroom. I was on pace to run a low 1:23, possibly high 1:22, and my stomach was getting me. So frustrating. I saw another bathroom just before mile 9 and just had to stop. To make things worse, a lady was in there...and took five hours to come out. I stopped my watch--it took me :52 seconds to wait for her and then go myself. Great.

The last 3.5 miles were not great. I went 6:21, 6:22, 6:26 after previously going 6:21, 6:26, 6:26, 6:23, 6:17, 6:31, 6:15, 6:12, 6:20, 6:17 and 6:21. Definitely a disappointment to be running the slower pace that I had at the start of the race, but I don't think I would have been able to complete the race if I didn't stop when I did.

To my surprise, I still ran a 1:24:55 official time despite my bathroom break. Even more shocking was the fact that I was the 5th overall female!

The best part of this day was running with Meg, Shannon and the guys. They were SO supportive of me and proud of me, despite not having the best day. It is unreal how supportive teammates can be and how just a simple cooldown with them can totally change your day around. I am very blessed to have the great teammates I do in my life. Thanks, friends!

Egg Shell Shuffle: Race Director Perspective

Why don't we put on an Easter themed race?

Ryan and I had this idea in December, right before we left for the Cruise. We started planning things a little bit during the cruise (during the ship days of course:)) and figured with me not having a full-time teaching job, we could plan things out easily.

Boy were we wrong.

I finished one long-term job the second Friday in January and started planning things right away. We got our Permit, started making postcard ads (thank you vistaprint.com) and started creating a website (jrraces.com). Luckily for us, with my dad being the President of the Hillstriders Running Club, we had quite a few resources at our disposal.

We had the logistics all down on paper and were busy planning....and then I obtained another long-term sub job, 7th grade Science. Let's just say it's a little more difficult to teach than Math, Language Arts or Social Studies, all of which I've taught before. Ryan had to do a lot more work to pick up for my throwing myself into school work.

We also ran into a problem with our egg hunt. Eggs didn't start appearing at stores until the beginning of April, so we really had to work hard in stuffing all of the eggs with candy. Luckily, Ryan's little brother was incredible and filled them every day after school for two weeks prior to the race. We had over 1,000 eggs out there! Next year, we are planning an "egg stuffing party," which we had wanted to do this year but just got too busy to do!

Shorts were our main cost and what caused a lot of people to sign up:) We had a local company (Think Ink) in Crystal Lake create them for us. The design that we used (thank you Tim Schocke!) was screen printed on 500some pairs of dri-fit shorts. We had a lot of people sign up on race day, so a reorder is in the works.

RACE DAY!
After waking up at 4:30am, we proceeded to drive with the big truck (full of water jugs, bottled water, PowerBar products, mile markers, etc) and the PowerBar car to Busse Woods. There was a cop waiting for us... turns out, we could have come at 3am (as we had planned), so we'll plan for that next year!

While Ryan and his dad put out all of the mile markers and water/Perform stations on the course, I prepared our registration table and Ken and John put the finish/start lines together. Right around 6:30, people started arriving in packs... it was crazy! We had a lot of people sign up race day, which I was better prepared for (side note: I put on a "Run for Hope" race for a student of mine with an inoperable brain tumor two years ago and did NOT staff the registration table well enough, so I made sure we were fully staffed this time around!).

I was busy literally until the gun went off for 5k....which started 15 minutes after the 1/2 marathon. While everyone was running, we started putting out PowerBar product for post-race and setting up the awards (PowerBar waterbottles stuffed with product! Easter Baskets with PowerBar product for overall male and female winners).

We got so many comments about how cool and unique the awards were too! Ryan did a GREAT job. The weather even cooperated--for the rainy two weeks we had leading up to it, the ground wasn't nearly as wet as it could have been. The sun came out right before we did the Egg Hunt too....Mother Nature sure was looking out for us!

JDRF will be getting a nice check from us thanks to all of the great participants we had. Our initial goal was to donate $1,000 and we'll easily be close to $5,000 when all is said and done. Incredible!

After emailing all of our participants, we found out that there were only a few major glitches for a first time race.

1. we started the egg hunt too early. In Ryan's defense, people were getting a little antsy (heck, I was getting antsy), as we had started the kids 7&under hunt at 11:30 with the intention of starting the regular hunt at 12. We'll have to better monitor that next year, OR have one egg hunt after the 5k and one after the 1/2 marathon.

the prizes for the egg hunt were outrageous: Cubs tickets for Memorial Day weekend, a signed Kane picture, a signed Cutler helmet, PowerBar product;), Alter-G treadmill passes, sunglasses, Timex package and a Starbucks basket.

2. we need to do a better job clarifying things on our website. We have never created one before, so definitely something we'll better research next year!

We had SO many compliments on our water stop workers (thanks WNHS girls track team, Ricky & Danielle, NHS volunteers, Starbucks volunteers, participants' family members, Grandma Larson/Carolyn and Ryan family) and other volunteers. We couldn't have done it without the incredible volunteers we had!

Thank you for all of the support and especially for coming out for the race! We are SO excited for next year and are already starting to plan!

Please feel free to email us (jrraces@gmail.com) or leave a comment on here about the race. We are planning on making this race much bigger and better next year!