Event #9 - Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K

This past Saturday, Nate & I headed to downtown Nashville for the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K for Team G Shock's 9th race. This was by NO means our best race. In fact, it was our slowest, but I wouldn't say it was our worst. On top of us not having trained as much as we have for some past races, it was the toughest course (lots of hills - thanks Nashville!) we've run so far. And, it was COLD. Not just normal cold, but biting wind in your face cold. Brrrrr. A big shoutout to both of our families for the wonderful cold weather gear they gave us for Christmas - many layers of it were worn for this race! So THANK YOU!

BUT, despite the hills and the cold....we did it! This was also only the second race that we have run just the two of us, which was kind of fun. The race started at the Sommet Center (where the Predators play) and headed down to the river and up the first hill. It then wove through some downtown streets and then up the bigger hill, which was not fun at all. We had to slow it down a few times, but so did pretty much everyone around us so we didn't feel too bad about that. The last mile or so was mostly downhill or at least flat which was a nice change. So without further ado, here are our results:

778th place - Nate Towne - 35:10

779th place - Sara Ross - 35:10

Again, not fast at all, but we finished strong and we finished together and that's what counts! When we signed up for the race we also got tickets for a Predators game that night, so that was a nice bonus! Since it was just the two of us we don't have a ton of photos but here are a couple that we were able to sneak in.

before the race alllll bundled up!

and after! we did it :)

the Preds players heading to the Olympics :)

Nate & I at the Preds game!

And on a sidenote, my Birthday Wish is going better than I could have ever imagined. Today is Day 12 and we have gotten donations from 33 people already! That is crazy and the generosity of friends that I see everyday and friends that I haven't seen in years continues to amaze me. I can't wait to see where we get by the end of the month! GOOOO G SHOCK!

Faaaaaang Fiiiiingers!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Nashville Predators hockey team (which is probably most of you), they do this thing at games called Fang Fingers to pump up the crowd. Its kind of lame, but also kind of hilarious to see. Tomorrow morning at 10:00am, Nate & I will head over to downtown Nashville to run in the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K. Its been raining for two days now and is supposed to sleet/snow tonight into the morning so we'll see how this one goes! :) But keep an eye out for results & photos next week from Team G Shock's 9th race!

And a quick update on My Birthday Wish....its day 5 and we are up to 16 people!! :) Craziness. I can't wait to see how many people we can add to that count by my birthday on the 28th! Happy Weekend, everyone!

My Day

My day started out as any day does. Get up, get ready and leave for work. Well, this morning turned out to be a liiiiittle different. As I was driving to work through, admittedly, not a great neighborhood, something caught my eye. Just a random sign in front of a house, nothing special. But while looking at the sign I saw something else, an older man laying in an odd position on the stoop. My first thought - oh he must be doing work to the house. And as I drove past that thought turned into - well...he kind of looked hurt. That thought made me take a turn around the block for another run past the house. If nothing was wrong, I could keep going with my day. But what if something WAS wrong?

I pulled over and rolled down the window to see if he was ok and immediately he yelled out "I think I broke my ankle." So I pulled over, got my cell phone out and walked over. With a few instructions from the man (who turns out was 80 years-old, bless him) to knock on a few neighbors doors and after much convincing, he let me call an ambulance. And ten minutes or so later, the whole thing was over and he was on his way to the hospital to get help.

I was happy to help, but I'm not telling this story to brag or to get kudos from anyone else. It just made me think a lot about fate and why things happen. What if I hadn't been paying attention or hadn't seen that sign? What if I'd been talking on my phone instead? (sorry, Mom!). But I did see him and thankfully was able to help. Sometimes things just happen that way. My Dad getting diagnosed with prostate cancer was not a good thing at all. But there have been some good things that have come out of it. Team G Shock has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. Nate & I have experience so much since we started this team. I could not have imagined how blessed we would be with amazing friends and family helping us out along the way. Just this week, with the launch of My Birthday Wish, we have been blown away by the support. From people we see every week to people we haven't seen in years - its amazing.

Some of the neighbors that came out while we were waiting for the ambulance this morning kept saying to me that "something good was going to happen to me" because I had helped out a stranger. Little did they know that great things have been happening in my life because of all of you for a long time. :) So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

My Birthday Wish...

Every year, one of the days that I look the most forward to is my birthday. Of course I love Christmas and the Fourth of July and any day that I can sit on a beach with my feet in the sand. But nothing quite tops my birthday and no matter how old I get, I'm convinced I will love it. So what if it means I'm getting older? It also means that I was lucky enough to experience every little thing that I did in the past year.

And this past year was a doozie. I celebrated a year (now almost 2!) with my wonderful boyfriend. I watched in amazement as my darling niece grew and learned new things every day. I spent lots of quality time with family and friends in lots of fun places. And my family got some hard news - my father has prostate cancer. We took it in, took a deep breath, and all faced it head-on with strength that we probably didn't even know we had - especially my Dad. We started Team G Shock as a way to help ourselves and whoever else we could, and it couldn't happen without the support of people we know and love.

On that note, I have a proposal. This year for my birthday, I want to see how many people we can get to donate to Team G Shock from now until my big day. My birthday is on February 28th, and it happens to be my 28th birthday. For those of you that keep track, that makes it my golden birthday! Obviously that doesn't mean much, but I've been looking forward to it since I was 12 and found out what that meant. :) I want to make a good one, but I need YOUR help! Even if its $5, or $10, or more if you can, it counts! Instead of sending a card (unless you're related to me ;) ), or going to my Facebook page to wish me well, or buying me a drink at the bar, check out our fundraising page and see if you would like to help! And if you've already donated (THANK YOU), help get the word out by telling your friends to check out the blog and see if they want to help!

This team has been one of the most important and satisfying things that I have done in my entire life and I want nothing more for my birthday than for it to succeed. Won't you help me with that wish? T-Minus 28 days and counting until my birthday...let's see what we can do!

Want I want for my birthday...

...is a big secret! :) I promise I'll share soon. But that would just be too easy, wouldn't it?

the sheetcake (thats right) that Nate drove allll around town for last

year b/c I HAD to have an ice cream cake with mint chocolate

chip ice cream & chocolate cake and this was the only size they had.

Upcoming Races!

Well, its been a bit of a slow start to 2010 for Team G Shock. Between the holidays, then 2 rounds of being sick (first Nate, then me), and then Nate traveling we've definitely been slacking. But its time to pick it back up! We already have 2 races planned for February so we have got to make sure we are ready to kick butt at those!

The first race is the Predators Fangtastic 5k right here in Nashville. That will take place on February 6th at 10:00am. Nate has run this one before and it goes through downtown Nashville which should be fun! I think that a few of our friends will be joining us for that race, so be sure to check back for pictures.

The second race for that month will be the NROTC Vanderbilt University 5K on February 27th at 9:00am (also in Nashville). That happens to be the day before my birthday (wahoo), which my parents have made the tradition of coming down to Nashville for. Which means that my Dad will be able to join Nate & I in running the race. We are excited to be able to run with him yet again. We're also looking forward to the course which will take us through Vanderbilt's beautiful campus.

We have lots to look forward to in February, and not a lot of time to prepare. Although we've slacked off some, the motivation and reason for this team and these races is never far from our minds. The generosity of our friends & family in both their donations and support has been amazing, and we want you all to know that not only are we doing this for my Dad, but we're doing this for you too! That is what we think of every time we get tired, or when we're having trouble in the middle of a big hill. And since we haven't said it in a while, THANK YOU!

So check back often, and I promise to update more! GOOO TEAM G SHOCK!

Happy New Year!

It's 2010...when the heck did that happen? And weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now? What happened to that whole thing? Oh well, guess we'll just have to work with what we've got, which isn't all that bad.

I hope you all had a great holiday season. We had a good (but busy) one filled with lots of family, lots of friends, LOTS of snow and even more lazy days on the couch. But now its time to kick it back into gear for Team G Shock! Luckily, we are both now stocked with cold-weather running gear (thanks to our families, each other, and Santa). And its a good thing because it is COLD here in Tennessee.

In typical New Year fashion, we wanted to make some resolutions for Team G Shock. So without further ado, here are the resolutions (more like goals) for Team G Shock for 2010:

*reach our fundraising goal of $3000 (we're more than halfway there - yay!)

*(both of us) break 30:00 for a 5k

*up our milage by 1-mile a month

*run at least one 10k

*run the entire Army 10-miler with Dad in October (now that its on the internet, we have to)

So, its up to you all to keep us to these! :) More races on the horizon for 2010 so keep an eye out for that info! GOOOO TEAM G SHOCK!!