Happy Holidays!

Well, its 5 days until Christmas - where has the time gone? We've spent most of our year visiting family & friends, planning our (quickly approaching) wedding, and of course running races for Team G Shock! :) We've had a great year, and are looking forward to what 2011 will bring for us, and for Team G Shock!

We don't officially have our next race scheduled yet, but keep an eye out for that info coming soon! In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at our holiday card. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and gets to spend time with the people you love. From me, Nate and everyone else who has been with Team G Shock this year - here's to an amazing 2011!

Event #21 - Lifetime Fitness Turkey Trot

What a way to start of Thanksgiving in Minnesota! We flew in Wednesday night and got in kind of late, but were up bright & early on Thanksgiving to run our 21st race. This one was a first for us, as it was the coldest race we have ever run. The thermometer read 7 degrees at the time of race finish, and boy did it feel like that. I've never been so bundled up for a race, and thank goodness we were!

And with temperatures like that you would think no one would show up. But it is Minnesota...and there were LOTS of people there. We had never run this race so based on our experience last year, we were expecting a few thousand. There were over 14,000 registrants and over 10,000 people finished the race. Wow. The race was run through downtown Minneapolis, which means it was CROWDED. There was never really a chance to break away or run in your own space - there were always people (and kids and dogs) right near you. But we had a great time, and we survived the cold!

It was definitely not our fastest race, but here are our times:

Nate Towne - 36:15

Sara Ross - 36:15

And of course, in the spirit of Team G Shock, we got some pictures (mostly thanks to Nate's parents!). Not sure yet which race we will run next, but keep your eyes out!

Nate's parents & us before the race..its cooooold

Nate, me, our friends Alison & Josh and their family

I borrowed this from the website - the start

And we're off...we are most likely still around the

corner not at the start yet

After the race! You can see "TEAM G SHOCK"

through Nate's fleece!

Our best man Matt and his wife Kim with us after!

I had to. I miss snow :)

Turkey Turkey Turkey!

Its hard to believe, but its already time for Thanksgiving. This year has seriously flown by. We are heading out today to visit Nate's family for the holiday. I'm excited for my first Thanksgiving in Minnesota...even if its going to be veeeeery cold. We will get to spend lots of time with Nate's family (and my soon-to-be family) and are really looking forward to it.

We are also squeezing in a race while we are up there. We will be running the Turkey Day 5k very early tomorrow morning. Be sure to send us lots of (very warm) wishes as it will be a chilly day! And while we're running that race, Dad and my brother Geoff will be running the Virginia Run Turkey Trot. Its the same race we ran last year on Thanksgiving, so it should be fun to hear how they do!

Hope everyone has very safe travels wherever they are going, and also has a wonderful holiday with family & friends!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

What's Next For Team G Shock?

That's a great question. Our original goal was 10 races and $1,500. It didn't take us very long to reach that, so we increased both: 20 races and $3,000. We reached the $3,000 pretty quickly (thanks to My Birthday Wish) and just ran our 20th race (The Army Ten Miler)!

So now what?

We've been asking ourselves that for a couple of weeks now and trying to figure out where to go from here. We could increase the goals again, but that will just go on and on forever. Once we reach 30 races, we'll change it to 40, etc. Same with the fundraising goal. But we're definitely not ready to put Team G Shock to rest. We've truly enjoyed the experience thus far, so why stop now?!

Here's the plan: we're going to continue running races, and we hope you will continue to check back on the blog for updates and results. And we're going to continue fundraising as well. Maybe we'll hold a special fundraising event, or maybe we'll bring back the Birthday Wish - but the point of this whole thing was to raise money to find a cure for Prostate Cancer, so we can't give that up.

We could not have made it this far without the support of both of our families and all of our friends, so we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will continue to run for my Dad and for all of you. And I hope you'll keep cheering us on!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Just wanted to write a quick note to wish a Happy Veteran's Day to all of the current and someday veterans! And a very, very special Veteran's Day to my favorite one of all - my Dad! :) Thank you for serving for all of those years. And thank you for all of the experiences your service allowed me. From living in so many different places (including Germany!) to meeting all kinds of people and seeing all kinds of things that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I am proud to say that I was and will always be an Army Brat!

Event #20 - The Army Ten Miler

Last weekend was amazing. We got to see most of my family, some of my friends, and we accomplished a goal we set almost a year ago. On Sunday, October 24th, along with my Dad, we ran the 26th Army Ten Miler. I had been lucky enough to experience the race before, although I certainly hadn't trained for it like we did the past few months. So this year I was excited to be prepared, and for Nate to experience it all - the expo, walking up to the Pentagon as the sun rose with 30,000 other people, passing by the monuments as crowds of strangers cheered us on, and crossing the finish line.

We trained hard for this race, and it definitely paid off. Our goal was to finish, and we did it! We ran with my Dad for about the first half of the race before he had to make a pit stop, and then Nate and I made our way through D.C. together until the finish line. Dad finished about 10 minutes behind us and then we all got some snacks and walked around all of the tents and people at the finish area.

There are not enough words to describe the feeling of running with that many people while bands, soldiers and complete strangers cheer you on. The Team G Shock shirts were a nice bonus since we heard "GO TEAM G SHOCK" many times along the course.

We got our official results this week, so here are those:

19541st place - Sara Ross - 2:02:32

19543rd place - Nate Towne - 2:02:33

20613rd place - Joe Ross - 2:12:07

We were so excited to run the whole race and have all of us finish strong! We took a few photos before/after and I also grabbed a few from the official photography site.

Bright & early in Arlington!

Making it official! :)

Walking around the finishers area

After the race - WE DID IT!

With my finishers coin!

We can't believe that this race was our 20th race for Team G Shock. The time has flown by and we could not have done without the support of our family & friends. Our goal was 20 races & to raise $3000 for The Prostate Cancer Foundation. We've run the races, and we've exceeded our fundraising goal. But this is certainly not the end of Team G Shock. More things are to come, and we will be updating about that soon! For now, we're going to enjoy the memories from the Army Ten Miler! GOOOOO G SHOCK!

Off we go!

Tonight we are headed off to VA (YAY) for the big race weekend! We have lots of plans: time with family & friends, the race expo, my first bridal shower, some relaxing, and the race! We have put lots of time into our training and can not believe that Team G Shock's 20th race is here! The past 16 months have flown by, and we're so excited to see what comes next for this team.

But first...10 miles to run! :) We got our last training run in today (just 3 miles) and will rest for the next couple of days. I can not wait for the race and can't wait to share with you all how we do! Keep an eye out for results, and if you have a moment, send some good thoughts our way as we run our longest race yet!

Until next week..GOOO G SHOCK!

Sunday

Sunday is the big day. Sunday is the day of the Army Ten Miler. Sunday is in 5 days (AHHHH!).

We head home to VA on Thursday night and then off to the Expo on Friday. I'm almost as excited for the expo as I am for the race. And I'm most excited for Nate to experience it all. 30,000 people running one race. Servicemen & women, families of servicemen & women, wounded soldiers and regular people like us will all gather on Sunday to run through the streets of Washington.

We are really looking forward to the race and to see all of our hard work over the past few months pay off. GOOO GO SHOCK!!

Event #19 - Shelby Bottoms Boogie 5k

What a weekend!! It was officially our 19th race - the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 5k. We have run 2 other races on this same course, and it is a course that we love. Both times before we set a PR and this time was NO DIFFERENT!! I could not be more excited about how we did at this race. All of our hard work and training lately has really paid off. We felt great the whole way through, and as soon as we finished I looked at Nate and said 'Did we do it?' - and we did. We both finished UNDER 30:00!!! :) Nate had been able to accomplish that one time before (also on this course), but I never had. And breaking 30:00 has been a goal of ours from the start. So needless to say we were pretty excited!

Here are our official results:

80th place - Nate Towne - 29:37

81st place - Sara Ross - 29:37

And some photos to commemorate the race!

Before - first "chilly" race morning in a while.

After!

How excited was I to break 30:00? Pretty excited :)

"Unofficial" time on the G-Shock

Official time as the results came in!

It was such a great feeling to accomplish something that we've been working on for so long! And this really gave a boost in our training for the Army Ten Miler. We went back to Shelby Bottoms the next day and ran 8 miles - the longest we have ever run! So all in all, it was a great weekend for Team G Shock and we're looking forward to what is coming up next! Only 2 more weeks until the big race! GOOO G SHOCK!

Race Day Tomorrow!

Tomorrow marks our 19th race! :) I can not believe we have run 18 races already, with #19 & #20 quickly approaching. This will be our 2nd time running the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 5k and we're excited to see how we do!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and if you think about it, send some good thoughts Team G Shock's way for our race tomorrow morning!

Team G Shock All Across the U-S of A

That's right. Not only did my Dad get into the Team G Shock action (yet again!), but now Nate's parents have joined in on the fun! Our 18th race was the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge that is run in multiple cities across the United States. One of those cities happens to be Minneapolis, and Mr & Mrs. Towne were nice enough to go out there and support Team G Shock last weekend!

It looks like it was a much colder morning than we had for our race but, after all, it is Minnesota! We were so honored that they participated in the race - that makes our official Great Prostate Cancer Challenge participation total up to 16 people and 1 dog! :)

Here are their official results:

Paul Towne - 51:36

Lori Towne - 51:36

And, since they know how much we love to put pictures up here, they snapped a few for us! We are so glad they did the race and figure now there's a chance we can convince them to run another one with us over Thanksgiving...maybe? :)

Before the race!

Team G Shock loves getting pictures with race "mascots".

(see Event #11)

After the race!

Mr. Towne with the shirt they got!

Longsleeve t-shirt = its colder in Minnesota!

Racing For Team G Shock...Remotely

Not to be outdone by our 18th race, my Dad took to the streets on the same day as the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge for his own race. He and my Mom were up at the beach house and he was able to run another of the Seven Sisters Racing Series runs. This time it was the Bottle & Cork 5k and he did great!

Here are his official results:

209th place - Joe Ross - 33:21

And he even took the time to snap a few photos for the blog!

Dad, Team G Shock style, ready for the race!

Team G Shock's biggest cheerleader & Dad!

We are so proud of him for running another race and we can't wait to run with him in the Army Ten Miler next month! In the meantime, our next race will be the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 5k on October 2nd. Its another repeat from last year and we both have PR's on that same course, so we will see what happens!

Event #18 - Great Prostate Cancer Challenge 5k

I got a new computer which has resulted in some lag in postings, but its finally time for an update on the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge! As mentioned in previous posts, this is one of our favorite races. Last year we had a bunch of friends come out to join us, and this year was no different! Including me & Nate, 14 people (and 1 dog) participated in the race for Team G Shock! It was so awesome to have our friends (and even a friend of a friend) out with us supporting the cause.

Here are the official results:

David Wright - 22:40

Dominic Parente - 27:34

Lisa Rueckert - 28:25

Travis Gordon - 30:45

David Vaughan - 32:05

Sara Ross - 32:33

Nate Towne - 32:33

Kristen Wiltse - 32:38

Heather Morgan - 32:52

Megan James - 33:20

Jordan Vaughan - 36:30

Jonathan Insogna (accompanied by his pup Walker) - 56:58

Elizabeth Insogna - 56:59

Mary Susan McConnell - 57:00

Whew! :) We had quite the crew out there with us and were so excited that everyone could join us. As always, we snapped a few pictures at the end of the race, so those are below! We want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who came out with us to support Team G Shock...GOOOOOO G SHOCK!!!

before the race

some of the group after

(FRONT: Dave, Travis, Kristen, Lisa.

BACK: Dominic, Heather, Megan, Jordan, Me, Nate, David)

Elizabeth, Mary Susan, Jonny & Walker racing to the finish!

some of the group minus a few and plus a few more

(FRONT: Walker, Travis, me, Megan, Heather

BACK: Elizabeth, Mary Susan, Nate, Jonny, Jordan, Dave)

18 races down. 2 to go.

Tomorrow = RACE DAY!

That's right folks! Tomorrow marks the day of our 18th race, the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge! We've got friends joining us, most of whom will be decked out in some sort of Team G Shock gear!! So if you happen to be up at 7:30am central time, send good thoughts our way!

In the meantime, my Dad is up at the beach house with Mom all this week (lucky!) and is hoping to get in a race himself tomorrow! More updates on that after this weekend!

GOOOO GO SHOCK!!

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

President Obama has declared September to be Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. According to the National Cancer Institute, there will be 217, 730 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the United States alone in 2010. And there is only one way to bring that number down: regular tests. If you are a man, GO GET A CHECK-UP. If you are a woman, TELL THE MEN YOU KNOW & LOVE TO GET CHECK-UPS. That's all there is to it. And with all of the exciting research going on right now, hopefully one day there will be a cure for this terrible disease.

In the meantime, we can support & raise money to help the doctors and researches bring an end to prostate cancer. That's why we started Team G Shock, and that is why we continue to run!

Next Saturday, on September 11th, we will run the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge in Nashville. We have a few friends signed up to join us, and are hoping to get many more. So lace up your shoes, and come on out to help a great cause!

GOOO G SHOCK!

Happy Belated Birthday...

..to my wonderful Mama! She celebrated this weekend at the beach house with my Dad and had a great birthday weekend! :) I am so thankful to have such a great example of a strong woman as my mother and I take it as a compliment when people tell me I look/act/talk/whatever like her.

Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Mom! And here's to many, many, many more!

Love you!

Calling All Runners!

We are only 17 days away from the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge here in Nashville and we are getting excited! So far we know of 6 people running alongside us for Team G Shock! That is already the most ever and we are excited for more to join us!

If you want to run (or walk) with us and help us fight prostate cancer, follow this link and sign up!! We can't wait to cross that finish line!

Event #17 - Blevins East Nashville Tomato 5k

This past Saturday was the East Nashville Tomato Festival. As part of the festival they held a 5k early on Saturday morning that we ran as our 17th race! We were up bright & early and made our way to the race course on the other side of town. There were a lot of runners (over 800 finished the race) and as it has been for most of the Summer here in Tennessee..it was HOT.

The race started after the National Anthem was played and weaved through some of the neighborhoods of East Nashville. We've driven around there some, but you never really notice how hilly a road is until you run on it. There were a lot of hills - once you got done with one, there was another right in front of you. But, we did it and had some fun along the way! There were costumes and lots of people and everyone was in pretty good spirits!

It was by no means our fastest race, but its another race on our way to 20! Here are the official results:

475th place - Sara Ross - 33:45

476th place - Nate Towne - 33:45

We took some photos before & after and a few of the Tomato Festival. The day kept getting hotter but it was fun to hang out and look at some of the goodies the vendors had on hand!

Nate & me before the race

After race #17th!

The crowd at the Tomato Festival!

Thaaat's right..

The band that led the parade to kick-off the festival!

Nate loooove 'maters!

Last One's a Rotten Tomato!

That's right, we're running the Blevins East Nashville Tomato 5k this weekend as part of the Tomato Arts Festival. It will be our 17th race in the short 13 1/2 months that this little project of ours has existed! I've said it before, but that is crazy to me and blows my mind! We are quickly approaching our revised goal of 20 races, and are thinking that our goal may need to be revised yet again. We're having too much fun to stop anytime soon, so stay tuned for that.

And we are very much looking forward to our 18th race coming up in September. As I mentioned in our last post we will be running the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge here in Nashville. The money raised from the race will go to fund research and eduction to help find a cure for Prostate Cancer - the goal of Team G Shock! We're trying to recruit as many friends as we can to run with us to help the cause. So far we have about 5 friends that are in - lets see if we can make it 10! And if you're not in Nashville, there are 13 other cities that participate so check it out and see if you can run a race wherever you may be!

As always...GOOOO G SHOCK!

A Challenge

On our way to 20 races, many friends and family members have joined us in racing towards finding a cure for Prostate Cancer. There was one race in particular last year that really touched home for us. Our 3rd race for Team G Shock was the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge that we ran last September. Some of our closest friends from Nashville took time out of their Saturday morning to help us get closer to our goal, and we were so touched by that.

Well its that time of year again, and we wanted to put a challenge out to our friends & family. The Great Prostate Cancer Challenge is not only a Nashville race, but takes place in 13 other cities throughout the U.S. from the end of August through mid-November. We will be running the Nashville edition on September 11th, and want to see how many Nashville friends we can get to join us. We had 5 people run with us last year, so we need at least that many this year, if not more! :) And for those of you who do not live in Nashville, how about running one of the other races? Check out the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge website for dates & info on all of the different races.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month so let's get running and raise some awareness! 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed in their lifetime, and its time we do something to change that. If you can, join Team G Shock in the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge this Fall! And as always, GOOOOO G SHOCK!

After the 2009 Prostate Cancer Challenge.

Me, Nate, Megan, Heather, Malia, Travis & Ashley

Our Next Race

Keeping the pace of Team G Shock races going, we will be running yet another race next Saturday, August 14th. We will be running the Blevins East Nashville Tomato 5k as part of the Tomato Arts Festival right here in Nashville. This race will be our 17th in this campaign, which brings us even closer to our goal of 20 races!

Event #16 - No Name Deli Express 5k Your Way

Last week, Nate & I headed up to Minneapolis for a long weekend with his family. We got to relax, hang out with some friends, and check out the Twins new stadium on Friday night! On Saturday morning, we ran our 16th race for Team G Shock! We were joined by Nate's sister, Kesha, and her boyfriend Justin. The race was the No Name Deli Express 5k Your Way and the money raised from the race benefited The Courage Center.

Very early on Saturday morning we gathered at the Courage Center. The race included wheelchair racers along with the runners & walkers. We had to walk about a quarter mile or so to the starting line and then the wheelchair racers were off! We followed behind them and made our way along the course which took us through a park and some really pretty neighborhoods. There were a few big hills throughout the course, and the last quarter mile or so we had a great view of the Minneapolis skyline with the finish line right outside of Target Field.

Justin led the way and came in 3rd place overall in the race! Unfortunately, there wasn't any official timing, so we don't know what places the rest of us were in. But we did have Nate's watch to keep track of our times which was a big help!

Here are the unofficial results:

Justin Bigelow - 20:45

Nate Towne - 31:24

Sara Ross - 31:24

Kesha Towne - 36:12

Nate's parents were at the finish line waiting for us and were able to take a lot of photos. And, this was Kesha's very FIRST race which was pretty exciting! She did so well and we were excited to be there with her. Here are some of the photos from the race/weekend:

Justin, Kesha, me & Nate at Target field on Friday night

Before the race - sporting our new Team G Shock shirts!

The first finisher to cross the line!

Justin finishing 3rd!

Here comes Kesha!

Justin & Kesha post-race

Justin, Kesha, Nate & me after the race

Gooooo G SHOCK!

Can't pass up a balloon arch..

Nate looooves ice cream :)

Next stop..Minneapolis!

Nate & I will be making a trip up to Minneapolis this weekend to spend some time with his family. I am extra excited because I have never been up there except when everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) is covered in snow. Aside from lots of fun with his family and friends, we're going to fit in a race for Team G Shock! This will be race #16 and our first one in Minnesota! The race is the No Name Deli Express 5k Your Way. The race benefits the Courage Center and the course finishes up in front of Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins! It should be a fun race, and Nate's sister Kesha and her boyfriend Justin will be joining us for the run.

We're getting closer & closer to the Army 10-miler in October and our goal of 20 races for Team G Shock! Wish us luck this weekend!

Newest Member of Team G Shock...

...we've got a new recruit. She's probably one of the fastest members of the team, but we will have to get her her own shirt, as this one (her Dad's), is a little too big. We're working on that...

"what are YOU lookin' at??"

Event #15 - Jimmy's Grill 5k

This year's 4th of July was extra special - we were at the beach house, my whole family was there, and we got to run our 15th race with my Dad & one of my brothers! We all woke up extra early and headed down to Dewey Beach (the next beach town over) for the race. Pre-registration for the race was around 300 people - on the morning of the race, over 400 more people showed up to register for the race! Almost 700 people finished the race that day - the most ever for one of the Seven Sisters & Two Brothers Road Races. It was a neat course, and bonus for us, as flat as can be.

The race started at 8:00AM with Pirate Pete (that's right) shooting off a cannon. Dad, Nate & myself stayed together for most of the race, while Geoff took off ahead of us. We did see him on his way back before we got to the turnaround and were able to give a "TEAM G SHOCK" cheer. The course ran through one of the neighborhoods and a lot of the neighbors were out to watch and cheer on the runners. A few of them even had sprinklers & hoses pointed right at the runners which gave a nice break from the heat!

Once we crossed the finish line (and Geoff, thankfully, was waiting with water in hand for us), everyone crowded into Jimmy's Grill for some after-race snacks. And since its the beach, and the races are all pretty much sponsored by bars, it wouldn't be a post-race party without a beer.

Here are our results:

217th place - Geoff Ross - 25:12

470th place - Nate Towne - 31:52

471st place - Sara Ross - 31:52

500th place - Joseph Ross - 32:38

Of course we took some pictures (thanks for sending them, Dad!). And as always, GOOOO GO SHOCK!

Geoff, Dad, me & Nate before the race. It was kind of sunny ;)

Nate & me before

Dad was a runner/photog that day..

After the race with our beers, thanks to Jimmy's Grill!

(ps - still verrrry sunny)