Sunday, July 19, 2009

Wild Thing Summer Fling Marathon

In short - it was a blast! Jenny, Margaret and I spent the night at the condo in Seattle, drove up early this morning (leaving at 5:00 am), and getting home around 8:30 tonight. The race was at my favorite place to run in Bellingham - 2.62 miles on a wide gravel path around Lake Padden. Gorgeous lake, most of it wooded and cool. The weather was perfect - brilliantly sunny, low 70s, constant cool breeze off the lake. Everyone (men included) wore dresses for the first lap, and lovely headbands, and we had to accomplish a specific task after each lap as follows:

Lap 1: three cartwheels (or reasonable facsimiles)
Lap 2: 15 mountain climbers per leg
Lap 3: Give a piggyback ride the length of the covered area or jump rope for a count of 25 (I piggybacked a little girl)
Lap 4: 25 squats
Lap 5: 15 Frog leaps
Lap 6: Lay in the grass for 60 seconds (my personal favorite)
Lap 7: 10 push-ups (had to be on your toes)
Lap 8: Hula Hoop for 30 seconds (I did it twice)
Lap 9: 10 Lunges
Lap 10: 25 Jumping Jacks

They accepted a reasonable attempt at anything, and they loved a goofy attempt - like me singing "I'm a little teapot" while doing squats. There are hills on the back side of the lake that aren't too bad when you are doing two laps, but become progressively more difficult when you do ten. We decided this day was all about fun and not about time. We finished in 6:30 and best of all, we had a great day! Here are pictures of the day from Jenny: (first ones are from the night before at the condo)


Over the top of the cheaters, with double chins...


Jenny ran a 27 mile trail marathon Saturday, making this a double marathon weekend. Soaking sore feet at the condo.


A princess pose.




















(photo by Matt Hagen)

18 comments:

Thomas said...

Now that's a novel way of running a marathon. I can clearly see the attraction of lying still for 60 seconds, but sadly I'll never ever be able to do 30 seconds of Hula Hoops, no matter how hard I try.

Darrell said...

What a hoot. It sure looks like you all had a good time. Super glad there were no heat related health issues.

TooeleTwins said...

delurking to say WHAT A FUN TIME!!!!! I've just got to try this crazy thing someday! Maybe you'll see me there next year!

Mama said...

I'm so glad you guys had a good time. Sounds like a blast.

bagelsong said...

That looked like a total blast! Gonna have to try it next year.

Jenny, Maniac #401 said...

What a fun time indeed! Let's do it again, if you will!
Jenny

Wes said...

LOL... The princess has returned :-) That's an interesting way to soak one's feet too!!

Donald said...

Um ... wow. You people are crazy.

Anne said...

I ran there about 10 years ago. You look like you had a lot more fun than I did. Love the tiara and the hoola hoops in the last shot.

lizzie lee said...

Really fun dear. How else to do something so hard if not with all this fun???

Irene said...

Hysterical! We need to have something like that here.

Great pictures, especially the one with you in the tiara.

Scott McMurtrey said...

Looks like so much fun! I love runners.

Sarah said...

What a great time!

Sunshine said...

Did you ever have fun!
Especially appreciated the dainty footwear in the princess pose shot.
Thanks for writing the joy.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love that idea! What fun! Hmmmm. . . gives me an idea for my boot camp. :)

Annie Crow said...

Oh that just looks like fun!

I'm new to your blog, got to it from Lisa Bliss's, and I'm very happy to "meet" you! Look forward to reading more.

Joe said...

I truly envy the varied and creative running opportunities you have in the PNW. What a hoot!! And what a fun way to run a marathon. Great scenery too!

You guys had a riot...cool!!

runliarun said...

Were the dresses for men mandatory or optional? I just saw a man wearing a tutu in a 5K. What I liked most was the acceptance of "reasonable facsimiles." Sometimes we need that.