Go Team Random and Odd!

Go Team Random and Odd!, originally uploaded by Random and Odd.

Team Random and Odd ran their first 5k this weekend in Rocklin for Officer Redding Foundation!!

This was a first for all of us. My boss gave me a guilt trip a few months ago about not even signing up for a race. Out of guilt I found the closest one to me and signed up. I didn’t think anyone would join me, but that was okay with me, no witness to my absolute failure would be fine with me.
The next thing I know, I’ve got Tabitha signed up. I truly didn’t think she would do it, so when I got the IM, “you bitch!” I knew she was registered and we could do this together.
It was soon after I posted it to my facebook that my friend, Tim signed up…followed up by Amanda.
Tim was the smart person that started training for it by running and a couple of weeks before the race he decided to give himself a handicap and run with his parachute on! For those of us that know Tim, we expected nothing less. He’s an amazing person and he’s SO FUN.
The night before the race he came and stayed at the house. Jeremiah was introduced to him as “CapTim America.” Jeremiah looked at Alyx like she was nuts. “No really, Jeremiah…this is CapTim America!”
Tim pulled out the video that Bill made and showed him. The clencher was Tim in a full track looking like he was flying through the sky. He brought in all his gear and Jeremiah got excited when he put on his mask.
“Do you have a shield?” he asked skeptically. If this is the real Captain American, he’ll have a shield.
“Yes, I do.” Tim told him.
You could see Jeremiah’s whole body raise up and take notice. “Where is it?”
“It’s in my truck.” Tim answered.
At this point Jeremiah had lost all composure and you could see the breaking point of this 5 year old, “WELL GO GET IT!” He said it in a way that made it sound like, “You’ve been sitting here for HOURS and that shield has been in your car the whole time!? Who does that? WHO LEAVES A SHIELD IN THE CAR!?”

Tabitha also trained for this race in the beginning until her ankles decided to tell her to knock it off and she had to start hiking with us to get the strength back in them.
I say that she has wheels in her ass, because even when she’s sitting, she’s moving. Being on the hikes with her I knew that she would ditch the pack and run ahead. She did and had she not slowed down to wait for me and Amanda she would have made it in under 30 minutes easily.

Shea and Dan started out together and somehow they got separated. Shea took the lead and said she stopped a few times to wait for her dad, but then just kept going. Had she not stopped and walked back to look for him her time would have been around 25 to 28 minutes. Holy hell little girl! Not bad considering we signed her up on Friday so Dan would have a running buddy.

Amanda spent the last few months training for something more important than the race…HER WEDDING.
She was the most awesome running buddy. She had her music going so we could both hear it and when she ran it was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. She has this sexy bounce and swagger. Poetry in motion.

It was a good time because I was surrounded by my friends and family. Marina, Alyx and Kara set up their chairs by the finish line and cheered us on as we came in.

I’ll do it again because now I have Tabitha all hooked and watching Shea and how proud she was of herself, and Dan…who knew!? He had a great time. I on the other hand was waiting for the fun part to kick in. I mean, 2,000 people doing this…there had to be something to this whole running thing. It never hit me. It wasn’t skydiving and the thrill wasn’t there. No line twists, no back flips, no tracking or docking. I did have to stop and tie my shoe once…that could have gotten hairy, but it didn’t. It was crowded, the crush of people was a little anxiety filled, it was loud, the scenery was houses, I missed my canyons and hiking shoes. I can cross it off my list and move on to my next adventure which will be rock climbing. This is actually Tabitha’s but because I have drug her along into my bucket list, it’s only fair that I support some of hers too.

I’m glad that I motivated others to join and run. That might be the best accomplishment I got from this whole experience, because it wasn’t my time! I made it in under 45 minutes which is 16 minutes faster than I said I would be happy with. I’m SO excited to see this is something that Dan and Shea will have together.

After the run we grabbed a bite to eat and headed up to Auburn to hit the trails where we added another 8 miles in. Once I got out of the car and saw my bridge I instantly let it all go again and took a deep breath. This weekend was finally over and I could finally start doing what I want to do without fear of getting hurt. My feet dug into the ground as we hit the soft earth. This is my playground now.

Results:
1st – Shea
2nd -Tabitha
3rd – Tim
4th – Dan
5th – Amanda
6th – Me