The Stride

Back in May the whole family participated in an annual 5K race and kids fun run to raise money for the school district. Discovery Dental (Tom's brother's clinic) is the title sponsor for the event so the whole family comes out to support it. We were excited to be a part of it this year and the kids had a blast participating in their different age group races. They were in training for a few weeks leading up to the race and it paid off. Hayden and Danica both enjoyed the runs and finished near the top of their grade levels. Danica said she got a cramp while running but just kept going anyway! That's my girl!! My running buddy Teresa and I ran it together and crossed the finish line as the first two women. Tom and Dave did a little contest with the community saying that anyone that could beat them both at the race would get movie tickets. Tom tried to slow down a bit but still only managed to let a handful of people beat him. All around a fun morning! Each group got to stretch and warm up...Danica's so flexible! She loves her medal! 4th grade cousins! I got to run with Alyssa!

The Epic Relay

On June 14-15 we took the challenge and participated in the Epic Relay. It started in Beaverton OR, and ended in Eugene OR. It was 187 miles, 12 runners, two vans, 3 groupies (that would be Kenn and Barb and baby Brie), and a total blast. It's fun to be part of an extended that can not only tolerate each other enough to spend 30+ hours living together in a van but we actually enjoy it! There is a video contest so Adina put this together with stuff Dave shot using his awesome GoPro camera. It's amazing. It's only 5 minutes long and worth watching!!

Blue Lake Triathlon

My blog is dying and I need to revive it so here is my plan... lots of short blogs whenever I want instead of these long things that take me all night to write... so here's the first one (that actually turned out to take me half the night to write...) Last Saturday Tom and I did a Sprint Triathlon. It was my first one and his second. I watched him do a Sprint Triathlon last September and he was so awesome and did a great job. I felt certain I would drown if I ever tried one because I didn't know how to swim. However, his enthusiasm got the better of me and I decided I needed to learn to swim. Taking lessons wasn't in the budget but we managed a membership to a gym with a pool and I started to teach myself...most days I came home ready to qive up because I could barely manage the 25 meters across the pool. However, Tom wouldn't let me quit and finally it started to click and I was able to swim longer and longer distances. So this event last Saturday was a long time in the making and I really glad to have it behind me!! The swim, 800 meters, looked impossibly long as they pointed out all the buoys, it felt like it took forever and I was getting passed by all the swimmers who started after me, but I survived it and it turns out my time on the swim wasn't actually that bad!! The transition to the bike took a long time and I was still just amazed I survived the swim but being on the bike felt great. It was a nice flat ride, 12 miles. Then I hopped off the bike, switch my shoes and took off running. At this point I still thought I had failed the swim so I just kept telling myself I had to prove to myself that I deserved to be there and needed to ace the run. It was a cold morning and my toes were completely numb after the swim and bike so it felt very weird running for the first mile but eventually they warmed up and I was able to do a solid fast run. Tom can tell his own story but I know just from talking to him that he felt great and performed well every step of the way. He is definitely ready to step it up and gets the chance to in a few weeks when he does a half iron man!! Here are our results: Tracey https://www.athletepath.com/blue-lake-triathlon/2012-06-09/sprint-triathlon/a/traceystinch Tom https://www.athletepath.com/blue-lake-triathlon/2012-06-09/sprint-triathlon/a/650398