Charleston Shrimp n' Grits Half Marathon

So Emily was inspired and after about 6 years we decided to run another half marathon (just about the same time since we last made a post!)  We made the decision around the beginning of December 2019 to run the race on January 11, 2020.  It was a great decision for a number of reasons....first, it kept the holiday calories at bay!  But it also allowed us to focus on hope and forward movement during a difficult time of year.  In addition to the post-holiday malaise, we remember both Tom and Gator who we lost around this time of year.  We were happy to finish the course with a 10:02 pace, though our run apps and the race organizers had some disagreement over the actual length of the course.  We've slowed a bit since the Bluegrass, but for this time of our lives slowing down a bit is not necessarily a bad thing.

We had a great stay in downtown Charleston and are loving the idea of exercise tourism....I'm looking for our next event, though it may require more wheels than heels.

Bluegrass Half Marathon 2014

So Emily and I accepted the relay tag from Lily and CJ and ran the closing leg of Campbell family races for the weekend.  At 7:30 this morning we ran the Bluegrass Half Marathon through Johnson City.  It was a nice course for two reasons....first, we got to run by many of the important landmarks of our time here (the BoT branch where I worked, the med school, the hospital, and pieces of many routes we used to run at Taylor's Ridge).  The second reason is that unlike the Mistletoe Half we ran in Winston-Salem, this course didn't have a 2 mile long, 15% grade hill in the middle of it!

One for the Chip Dawg....

Here are our times (faster than the Mistletoe, particularly for me):

Emily had a total time of 1:56:32 for a pace of 8:54 minutes per mile
Dave had a total time of 1:56:31 for a pace of 8:54 minutes per mile

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-9013?lc=en

906 & 907

Today was CJ's first official race.  Lily actually ran this race last year.  It is part of a Kids Run the Nation program that Lily does after school on Mondays and Wednesdays.  We just can't help trying to get our kids interested in running :)

Both of the girls did GREAT today, and we were proud of both of them!

Prescriptions and Predictions

Last weekend Emily and I ran in an unusual race in Bristol.  It was a first for us....it is a half marathon that you can split up into a relay!  Emily ran the first 6 miles.  Then we did a relay style hand off of a purple bracelet at the 6th mile and I ran the next 7.1 miles.  Apparently we were charged up for this race because we ran like the wind!  Emily did an 8:11 pace on the first leg with me doing a 8:13 pace on the second.  The total time for Prescriptions and Predictions (our team name....get it?) was 1:46:30.  The results page is here:

 

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-8056?lc=en



 

Superhero 5K

Straight Captain America....yeah, those are my real pecs.


I ran the Superhero 5K on Tulane University's campus today while Emily was doing conference sessions.  It was a fun adventure even getting there because I had to take New Orleans streetcars.  Tulane has a beautiful campus and we ran straight through it into an adjacent park.  Here are the results....I posted a 23:13 time, not bad for an old man!

Chasing Snakes 2014

As has become our annual tradition of celebrating the first time we met (St. Patrick's Day), Emily and I ran the Chasing Snakes 10K this morning.  For a number of years we did the shorter 5K fun run because we were pushing a couple of girls who had come along for the ride.  But starting last year we decided to let them be free of the jogging stroller (Lily is too big for it anyway) and we have run the 10K sans stroller.  I checked back, last year we finished with a time of 55:44.  The results haven't been posted for this year yet....but here's to hoping that a year closer to the top of the hill hasn't slowed us down too much!

 

The Pre Selfie

 

The Post Selfie

Bucky's Jingle Bell 5 K

 To celebrate my 37th birthday, this morning we went out to run in a festive 5K for ETSU.  Coincidentally enough, it is even named after me!  (technically, it is named after the ETSU Buccaneers mascot Bucky, but why let reality distort my dreams of grandeur)

We dressed festively and even had the stroller decked out in battery powered Christmas lights!  We had a decent time considering we were pushing the Duallie....somewhere around 28 minutes....way to go us!

PS - Chip Dawg....they had some sweet long sleeve, Dry Fit race shirts for this one....I'm thinking the Chip Dawgians may need to run the 2014 Bucky Jingle Bell 5K!!!

2013 Virginia Run Turkey Trot

Chip, Emily and I braved some freezing temperatures on Thanksgiving morning to run in the Virginia Run Turkey Trot.  We were pleased both by our times, and that nobody arrested us or threw us out of the race as a result of Chip's driving.  Out of 3,223 runners, here are our times and places:

Dave 26:15, 643rd overall
Em 26:15, 647th overall
Chip 26:50, 738th overall

Not too shabby!  I did especially well in my "old guys" group.

Here is a post race pic of the three of us:

Me enjoying some post race refreshments.

Lily's First Race

Lily ran in her first official race today!  It was a kid's 1.1 mile race to support the Children's Hospital in town.  Lily had been training with the run club at St. Mary's for a few weeks.  She ran the race, giving CJ and I a hard time trying to keep up with her!  Its kind of a cool event because the school with the most participants gets a $1,500 grant.  I'm not sure if St. Mary's will get it or not, but it sure seemed like there were a lot of kids there!

Do two halves equal a whole?

Picture this.....I'm sitting in the living room watching the Sunday night football game and simultaneously checking my fantasy football scores. This is an exciting time, I am on the verge of clinching a spot in the playoffs! A question from the next room, "Hey Dave, will you run the Mistletoe Half Marathon with me?"

My response..."Sure." I think to myself why not, we run those 5Ks all the time. Besides, I am on the verge of getting into the fantasy football playoffs!

After a few moments of congitive reconstruction, an alarming thought comes to mind. I send a question to the next room...."Did you say half marathon?"

So that was the genesis of our entry into the Mistletoe Half Marathon.....and it happneed about a month ago....who needs training!?!

Yesterday was the big day, and I'm pleased to say that we both finished the race with respectable times! What is even better is that the YMCA provided childcare for the race so the girls had a really big time with folks from the Children's Museum, animals from the Zoo, face painting and moon bounces to name a few. Here is a picture of the eager "young" racers waiting to get it started.

This is a picture after the race (and our stop at Biscuitville on the way home.) We took the podium to award the Campbell family prizes.....Em took the gold with a time that was about six minutes faster than my own. But lets be honest, I was just happy I didn't pass out!

And the times:  

Emily came in at 02:01:30.381 for a pace of 9:16 minutes per mile

Dave came in at 02:07:06.091 for a pace of 9:42 minutes per mile

http://ultimateracemanagement.com/images/results/2012%20Results/Mistletoe_Half_Overall_OFFICIAL.html

Chasing Snakes 2012

I would like to begin this post with a hearty happy anniversary to my beautiful wife Emily....we met 12 years ago today on River Street in Savannah (I know, sometimes I can make it seem like way longer than that :)

This is the third year that we have participated in the Chasing Snakes road race put on by St. John's Episcopal Church (this is the church Uncle Julian attended). After the race, as usual, we went to replenish all those calories we just burned with a pancake breakfast at Cracker Barrel...yum!

A big thanks to Lee Fierbaugh for taking the family picture this morning...she keeps a blog of excellent pictures, poems and deep thoughts that you can access on the right nav bar called "From These Hills"

Turkey Trot 2011

So the family traveled to the JC this year for Thanksgiving. Donna and Jonathan came up from Knoxville, while the NoVa crew came down for a long weekend. A few of us braved the early morning chill on Thanksgiving day to participate in the Turkey Trot 5K in downtown Johnson City. Here are some pictures from the event (it should be noted that Emily, Lily, Caroline and I were the 6th stroller to finish the race....unfortunately we had to replace the wheels on the stroller after the race because we went so blazin' hot fast that they melted off!)

What's up Kappa?

Caroline was psyched out of her mind!

It may have been a little early for Lily.....

Two beautiful blondies!

Yep, definitely a little early for Lily.

The action shot! I clipped a guys heel with the stroller shortly after this...but come on, if you're letting a double stroller pass you when you were lined up ahead of us as a "6 minute mile"....whose fault is it really!?!?

Getting the hardware for being the 6th stroller across the line!

Lil' playah.

The whole crew that day.

Chip and Ashley (and Number 2)

The Speedway in Lights 5K

This year we heard about a 5K that actually goes through the Bristol Motor Speedway "Speedway in Lights" display. As two people who have always enjoyed running and are always looking for ways to entertain our children while we run, we were very excited about this event! As it turned out, however, CJ slept through most of the race, and Lily ended up running quite a bit of it herself!

Here is Lily and Emily getting psyched up before the start.


Caroline buckled in for the ride.


Lily did a nice job running in this race, there were several long stretches where she held her own!



While Lily was doing all that running, Caroline was doing some QC on the bulbs.


Some action pictures!



Heck yeah we took the turns hard, we're not afraid of the grade! Eat your heart out Intimidator!


This is the first race we've run where they had roasted marshmallows at the end. As you may imagine, Lily was a huge fan....though she got tired of the roasting part and took out her bag of marshmallows cold.


A family picture at the spot where you enter the speedway.

Week 34

We had a great week with Nana and Papa and were so sad to see them leave Saturday morning. The week really flew by and we just can't believe its over.

Saturday morning, as Nana and Papa were leaving, we participated in the "Chasing Snakes Run/Walk" again this year....and again this year, we did more walking than running. (Tried to get Nana and Papa to stay for this one, but got a really strange look back from Papa) The Duallie performed beautifully, and we even got some St. Patty's Day beads for Caroline and Lily to enjoy!



Sleepyheads

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Most of you know that St. Patty's day holds a special place with us, considering Dave and I met on this festive day. What's shocking is that it was 10 years ago this year!!!! I had no idea he was that old!!!

We celebrated a bit early this past weekend by participating in the Chasing Snakes 10krun/4k walk to benefit some of the local churches' community efforts. I think it goes without saying that we chose the walk this year. Lily did great and got a handful of extra beads which are by far one of her favorite things. Lambie, of course, had to come for the ride. We were just so thankful that the rain held off for such a fun morning! May the luck of the Irish be with you! Oh yeah, just as a reminder Lily was born on 07-07-07....