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 :)