Monday, June 13, 2011

Phillipsburg, KS - Places

My brother, who now lives in North Carolina, was driving through the other week and had a brand new camera that he wanted to play with. He went around his old home town and took a bunch of pictures trying out his camera's features.

I enjoyed seeing Phillipsburg, Kansas through his pictures and thought I'd post some of his pictures of a few of the places that make up the town I call home.


A new addition to our town - Wenzl's Drugstore with drive through service.

Downtown auto show during Riverless Festival.

Phillips County Courthouse


Majestic Theater - Our community operated theater that is currently going through a major face lift renovation.


This buidling use to be where my mom owned a florist shop called New Beginnings while I was growing up. 

Community Building

Grain Elevator. Our version of a sky scraper.

Panther Football Stadium

Panther Track Field

Previous building for the Masonic Lodge.


The house where my father was raised.

I hope you enjoyed this short tour of where I was raised and returned to make my home.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Riverless Festival Fun Run

Last weekend, I ran the Riverless Festival Fun Run here in Phillipsburg.

Originally, I had entered my nephew, Austin, into the race. However, he injured his foot during the high school regional track meet and had to pull out. Since I had already paid the registration fee, I decided to compete in his place in the 2 mile run.

The race started as scheduled at 7 a.m.


I went out a little too fast at the beginning but quickly fell into stride. I had my regular coffee that morning and could really feel it in my stomach...yuck! I really worried that I was going to be sick during the first 1/2 mile of the race.

The race course took us one mile out and then we looped around to return.

On my way back, I spotted my cheering section.


My Dad, Mom, Brother, Nephew and Ethan were all near the finish line to cheer me on. My brother took all of these pictures with his new camera that I am green with envy over.
 So happy to see the finish line! 

I ended up placing 2nd in my age group (20-29) and 3rd overall female. Not bad for only recently starting to run.


My time ended up being 16.41 or 8.20 minute mile pace.

Ethan quickly claimed my granola bar from my goodie bag from the event sponsors. 


And then he claimed my medal.


I guess he earned the right to wear the medal since he beat me in our own little race.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Bolder Boulder 10k Race Recap

In December of 2010, I went to Colorado to a Mason cousins Christmas gathering. We enjoyed shopping, eating, exchanging White Elephant gifts, drinking margaritas and catching up with each other.

Sometime during the consumption of those margaritas, we all agreed that it would be a fabulous idea to run a 10k together in the spring. In December, that seemed like plenty of time to train and prepare. No matter that I hadn't ran in years and had no routine or consistency when it came to working out.


Before I knew it, spring was just around the corner and I still hadn't been running with any consistency. Occasionally I would hop on the treadmill for intervals of walking and jogging but nothing too strenuous.

In March, I decided it was finally time to get my butt in gear and to start running regularly and started jogging three times per week following the Couch to 5k program. Come May, I could jog 4 miles without stopping.

Memorial Day weekend came quickly and I headed for Colorado to participate in the Bolder Boulder 10k event. I was very worried about the altitude and hills and how those would affect me but knew that I would have fun running with family and could walk anytime I needed.

There were over 60,000 participants in this race. I started in the "N" waves. The first waves started at about 7 a.m. and my wave didn't start until 10 a.m.

Before taking our place in the gate, we hit up the porta potties.


My cousin Jennifer who was the ring leader for getting all of us together.
And we are off...I am in the blue shirt behind the number "2" of the watermark in the picture.


The first stretch of the race. Perfect running weather - 60 degrees and cloudy with very little wind. A few rain drops fell during the race but the nasty weather waited to hit until later in the afternoon.


The woman in the pink shirt is Ginger, a friend of my cousins that ran with us. She had just completed a marathon earlier that month. She was a pleasure to meet and really fun to run with. We started with a nice, relaxed pace and just had fun taking in the sights and sounds. Lots of bands playing, belly dancers, people handing out beer shots, stilt walker, the works!


My self portrait that I took during mile 3 of the race. Sorry it's so blurry but you try taking a picture while huffing and puffing and bouncing up and down.

This picture was taken by the race photographers. Apparently, I'm a cheese ball even while running.


Another photo from the race photographers. Still cheesy and smiling.


Coming up the hill that leads to the University of Colorado's football stadium. (Another blurry shot courtesy of my running photography skills.)


Finally made it inside the stadium! Final push for a lap around the track to the finish line. See how full the stands are? It made me feel like kind of a big deal. ;)


At the finish line. Why do the other two look so fresh and I'm all red faced and sweaty??


Celebrating our conquering of the Bolder Boulder. 6.2 miles and my finish time was 1.06. A nice, easy run. Proud that we ran the whole thing without walking and taking time for pictures along the way and enjoying each other and the atmosphere.


Following the race, we visited the expo and then went back into the stadium to watch the International, professional runners. Then I enjoyed the Memorial Day service very much. They had parachuters representing each of the armed forces and one for the American flag that landed on the field, lots of patriotic music and honoring of a few veterans.


The Mason cousins that participated in the 10k. Jennifer, myself, Jonathan and Becky. (Jonathan ran in the elite group and placed 2nd for his age division. He represented us well!)


I enjoyed the event more than I ever thought I would and it reminded me of the runner's high that comes from completing a race. Maybe I'll sign up for a few more...

I'm already thinking it would be fun to make this a tradition and do it again next year. I love that we were able to bond over a healthy and physical activity. I think this type of event is a great example for the generation coming up behind us.