Crop Walk

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley participated in CROP Walk today. See if you can find the minister in this photo.

Compare this photo with the list from Stuff White People Like and see how many you can check off.

Numbers 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 27, 34, 35, 39, 42, 47, 49, 50, 53, 55, 76, 77, 83, 84, 88, 99, 108, and 109 apply to me. Not all of it is based on the photo, of course.

A very exhausted Loki after the walk. That is water on the pavement. The tongue is 3 inches wide at this point. He can fit the whole thing in his mouth occasionally.
A Saint Bernard named Suki. She and Loki played a little but mostly sprawled out on the concrete together.The church raised over $1,700. I managed to raise $70 of that. I did not pursue sponsors as vigorously as I did last year. Walter participated for the first time in many years. I need to get a t-shirt and a hat made that has Walter's picture on it for events like this. That way he can be in the group photo even though he is taking the picture.

More pictures from the Bryan/College Station CROP Walk can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22287142@N02/sets/72157608394510096/

I'm stronger

Crop Walk was very successful. The UU Church of the Brazos Valley raised over $2,000. Don't know if we won the challenge from Friends Congregational. They raised a bit more money but the challenge was a per capita challenge so as a smaller congregation we might have won on that basis. It is still up in the air.

The CROP Walk coordinators welcomed us back and recognized some new organizations.

Loki did well. He got a bit excited upon seeing another dog and nearly knocked down some people with his leash at the beginning. He calmed down after the first mile. About halfway he found a nice puddle and decided to lay in it for a while. He made it through, got some attention, ice cream and water.

As for the Saturday 50K. I did not finish. I ran about 20 miles.

I missed a turning point and ran over 4 miles of trail twice. I was timed at 5 hours and 21 minutes when I made it to the finish line.

I was quite frustrated with my slow pace and by mile 14 decided to cut it short. At a lot of places on the trail I felt I was running faster than my timing indicated. It was 4 hours and I was not halfway done. I did not want to be out there after 3:00 pm. I called my husband to let him know that I would be at the finish in about 45 minutes, assuming I could complete the last mile and a half in that time. Then missing a turn really added to the frustration. He called when I was not at the finish line and I told him that I thought I missed a turn and I was doing a part of the trail again but I knew where that trail would lead eventually. He kept calling to try to help the race people figure out where I was. They did figure it out and I found a point on the trail where I was able to get off and get to a location where I could be picked up. A truck picked me up and I rode about .75 miles. The driver of the truck allowed me to get out and I ran to the finish line. I'm not sure how my results will get recorded.

I wasn't the only who missed the turn. Some of the others doubled back but I didn't. The race director thinks a sign might have been knocked down while doing an extraction the night before.

At least I ran my 20 mile long run for training for the San Antonio Marathon. I can taper with a clear conscience.

I think my less that satisfactory performance was because I was not preparing for this race but just using this race to prepare for another one. I have run these trails faster and in more brutal temperatures.

I realized that I don't enjoy trail running as much as road racing. The tripping, isolation and wrong turn did not enhance my trail running experience. It will be a long time before I attempt a 50K on a trail. I really prefer road racing.

Saturday night enjoyed a nice margarita. My feet hurt but I did not care.

I'm at home resting. My calves are sore.

It did not kill me therefore I must be stronger.

One month...

One month until the San Antonio Marathon of the Americas

Eep, two days until the Power Pedal Ride and Stride 50K Trail Run
I think I will switch back to my old insoles or buy a new pair of the same style. The new style insoles that I bought are causing blisters on the inside of my arches. I hope the gorgeous fall weather and lower temperatures hold out the entire weekend.

Three days until Crop Walk
The UU Church is now number one and the youth member online now is the number one fundraiser with the church. There are other walkers and more donations received offline. Brazos UU is making a big comeback to this event.

Happy National Coming Out Day!
I would love to design some greeting cards for that day. Anyone have any ideas?

Exercise Log

This week I ran, walked and biked 23.2 miles, burned 2711.2 calories and weigh 177.2 pounds.

Tuesday: Bike - 2.13 miles in 15:00
Wednesday: Run - 10.08 miles in 2:03:40
Friday: Walk - 1.80 miles in 28:52
Saturday: Run - 9.19 miles in 1:43:00

Next week's training plan:
Monday - 30 minute run
Tuesday - cycling and strength training
Wednesday - tempo run - 3 miles at 10:39 - 5 miles total
Thursday - cycling and strength training
Friday - walk and pick up race packet
Saturday - Power Pedal Ride and Stride at Lake Bryan. I entered the 50K race.
Sunday - 3 mile Crop Walk - please sponsor me.

Crop Walk

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley now has a Crop Walk Team on-line. Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/2gkpao

The stained glass image is from one of the windows in the church. Please sponsor either an individual team member or the team in general. 25% stays in the Brazos Valley (several counties in central Texas) and the rest goes to the Church World Service. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is part of the Church World Service. If you are of a different faith you can designate your donation to go to that faith's service/ aid society. One of my sponsors did.

The important thing here is helping fight world hunger and poverty.

One of the team members on-line is a young person and she does not have any sponsors yet. Help support Crop Walk and a young person trying to make a difference. Click on the link above and give.

Now a glimpse into the Lockhorns:
I kind of like Leroy's outfit. Even though it's out of style it's great that Leroy can still fit in it. Loretta should appreciate that even though Leroy was not a hunky man back then at least he has not gained a lot of weight.

Random Thoughts

I have reach $175 of my $500 fundraising goal for Crop Walk (If you wish to contribute: Make an online donation for Crop Walk ).

The Jane Long Middle School band has decided to take a direct approach to fundraising. Instead of selling overpriced crap door to door, the kids now go door to door and just ask for money. I think it was some kind of practice-a-thon based on the sheet I filled in after giving the kid $10.00. The kid did not give any details, just said he was raising money for the band. The boy came to the right house, two former band geeks. The boy said he played the clarinet and both of us also played the clarinet. The goal on the fundraising sheet was $50.00. After our house he had $35.

I prefer this direct approach. All the money goes to the activity, the kids don't have to sit through some pitch by the fundraising company salesman, no one has to deliver the crap, and I don't have to choose which crap could have the most possible bit of use to me in order to support an activity.

In a slight fit of insanity, I registered for a 50K race (http://www.powerpedal.com). This occurs on October 13. I had a 20 mile training run scheduled that day anyway so I thought I would do this for may training run since it would be in a non-vehicle traffic area with aid stations. Yes, it is 11 miles more than the planned training run but I'll give this a try. I managed to run 35K on these trails in a previous race. This will be my second trail run and I have a better idea of how to run on these trails.

The Bryan/ College Station Crop Walk is on October 14. I will be running this race on Saturday and walking on Sunday. Yes, I will be walking, perhaps a bit slowly but I will walk. I am insane. I will rest on that Monday.

Crop Walk

Loki says, "Sponsor me as a Crop Walker, please."I will be participating in Crop Walk in College Station, Texas on October 14. I have set up a web page to take donations for sponsorship. Walter, myself and Loki will be raising funds as an individual. You can sponsor 8 legs for the price of 2.

Make an online donation for Crop Walk

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley has been challenged by Friends Congregational Church in College Station to see which congregation can raise the most funds per capita. The respective ministers will have to preach or perform a service at the winning church.

I set a goal of $500. That's $62.50 per leg.

The UU Church has not participated in the past few years so the local Crop Walk organizers were thrilled to see us again at the first meeting. I would like to have my church have a big comeback.

Now I find out just how many readers I have for this blog.

Help the UU Church of the Brazos Valley kick some Friends CC butt (in a kind, gentle, respectful way, of course), help the Church World Service with their programs to provide sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief and refugee assistance in some 80 countries, keep my minister from having to preach an early service at another church, and give because it feels good.