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St. George Marathon 2009
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | News | 1 Comment
What an amazing race this was! From the time the starting gun went off, Brian kept pushing me faster than I felt I could go. I tried to monitor my speed and just run comfortably, but he kept asking me to go just a little faster for a little longer. So for him, I did. I would push it just a little more each time he asked. It turned out to be much faster for much longer than I ever thought possible.
Last year we were fighting rain the entire race, temperatures in the low 50′s, a flat tire for 23 miles, and had to stop about 25 times to help Brian because he was so uncomfortable. This year we had no rain, no flat tires (Yeah!), no injuries, and we only had to stop once for Brian, and that was to tighten a strap on his legs. Though sitting in that racing chair isn’t super comfortable for Brian, he made it through just fine with no major pains. Then why is it then theat HE is the one that always gets the massage at the end of the race? Hmmm…
As we were coming into town with about 2 1/2 miles left, I glanced at my watch to see how we were doing. I was extremely shocked to see that we were already in town at only 3 1/2 hours. No way! Our goal was to run the race in 3:42:00. “It might actually be possible”, I thought. Brian kept yelling for me to go fast and faster. I tried, but finally had to explain to him that my teeth were tingling. I felt that if I were to push much harder I would probably pass out. I was already doing the best I could. What could he say?
The crowds were great. Even through the pain I had to smile. We were not just finishing another race, but we were doing it in a pretty decent time. I was very much looking forward to the finish line, though. I was about out of gas. As we came up on the 25.2 mile marker there was a high school band was playing to encourage us runners. As we got near them I heard the opening notes of “Eye of the Tiger” come rolling across the road to me. I smiled. It was just what I needed to draw a little extra fight from somewhere down in the depths of my soul. “One more mile”, I said. “We can do one more mile.”
In every race we have ever done, Brian and I always kick on the gas for the last one or two hundred yards. Last year we blew past about a hundred people in the last block. This time there was nothing extra to give. I had left every little bit of it out on the race course. One picture of us at the finish line shows quite nicely how ready I was to be done. One of my favorite questions to ask Brian during a marathon is “Why can’t we choose something fun to do for fun?!!” He usually responds with something like, “I don’t know. I think we might be crazy, too”.
As we entered the last quarter mile or so of the race, a huge roar errupted. Bleachers covered in mountains of people lined both sides of the street cheering us on to the finish line. People love Brian. They always go nuts for him. I tried to stay focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not falling over. I was vaguely aware that people thought we were kind of cool. : ) As an example of my audiology nerdiness, as we were running down that last stretch with people screaming for our success, I wondered to myself, “This cheering is rather loud. I wonder how many decibels it is. Too bad I don’t have a sound level meter on me”.
We finally crossed the finish line amid the cheers of friends, and fans, and family. It was awesome. I looked at my watch and couldn’t believe our time. I was a little discouraged that we didn’t quite make our goal of 3:42:00. We missed it by roughly 2 1/2 minutes. We came in at 3:45:39. But as I thought about it I realized that we had cut off almost 17 minutes from last year, and that isn’t too shabby for a couple of warm weather runners dealing with schedules, internships, travel, and grad school on top of the racing life. I was proud of what we had accomplished. It was wonderful to have family and friends there to support us.
In addition to slamming our old PR into the dirt, we were also deeply honored to recieve an award at the 2009 St. George Marathon. Team Brenchley was awarded the Clark Morris Memorial Special Achievement Award for our efforts and accomplishments at this year’s marathon. Several people nominated us. It was a great honor that meant a lot to both Brian and I.
We wish to thank our family and friends who backed us up 100% this year. We especially want to thank our parents and our dear friend Kami Ellsworth, the amazing race director who makes the St. George Marathon look so easy to stage. What a great race and year this has been Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Team Brenchley 5K Fundraiser
Saturday, September 19th, 2009 | News | No Comments
The cool girls of the Weber High School Warriorettes drill team in Ogden,Utah put on a fabulous race for us this morning. These talented high school students planned, organized, and ran the entire event. It was fun, fast, and very well done. Thank you, Warriorettes!
As For Brian and I, we ran a very fast race. There was some nice hills during the first half that made me huff and puff a bit, but we were able to pick up the pace on the back half. In fact, we were able to beat our 5K record for the second time this year. We came in at 22:39, besting our previous record by a mere two seconds. Good thing I ran faster when Brian told me to! Thanks so much to all our wonderful family and friends who came to support us. We love you all (especially our cool moms!).
Warriorettes Drill Team to Host Team Brenchley 5K
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | News | No Comments
The Weber High School Warriorettes drill team is hosting a 5K fundraiser for Team Brenchley this Saturday, September 19th, in Ogden Utah. We are way excited! These girls have been great to us. You can sign up at http://www.weberhighwarriorettes.blogspot.com/ . Hope to see you at 7:30 AM this Saturday!
Latest Newspaper Article
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | News | 1 Comment
The Ogden Standard Examiner did a great article on us Saturday, September 12, 2009. Here is the link. It was great to meet Trent and Michael, the reporter and photographer from this paper. They were way cool. http://www.standard.net/topics/news/2009/09/12/friends-finish-line-these-two-push-each-other-compete-triathalons-marathons
Camp Yuba Olympic Triathlon
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | News | No Comments
This last weekend Brian and I competed in our first ever Olympic size triathlon. It was awesome! We swam the one mile course in 39 minutes. I have never swam that far or that fast ever, with or without Brian. Our chariot has not yet been completed, so I had to do the bike portion by myself. I was surprised how well I felt over the length of the twenty-five mile course. I was also very impressed with the great athletes that we competed against. They were very hard to catch! I only passed two people in the first 11 miles of the bike. When I was coming in for the transition to the run, there was Brian, waiting excitiedly in his racing chair. The whole time we ran he was calling for me to go “Faster! Faster!” By the end of the race we were both sweaty and tired, but happy to have raced a good race. According to my watch we finished in 3:00:50. I’m not sure if that is a good time for an Olympic tri, but it seemed good to us!
The race organizers surprised us by forming a new “Assisted” category this year. Since we were the only entrants, we took first place. We got some nice medals to add to our growing pile and Brian got a cool new racing hat. We sure do love what we do. Thanks to everyone who has help us get where we are. Thanks for letting us race.
Top of Utah Half Marathon
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | News | No Comments
On Saturday, August 29th Brian and I competed in our first ever half marathon. It was awesome! Even after completely forgetting little details like picking up our race packet (Oops!), we had a wonderful time. The new custom seating system donated by Otto Bock Healthcare worked wonderfully for Brian. His only complaint was that his leg was leaning too hard against a bar on the race chair. We stopped for about one minute at mile 9 and fixed the problem with a little Velcro strap.
Our goal was to complete the race in 2:05:00 or better. We did better. Team Brenchley crossed the finish line in 1:44:14. Not bad at all! 21 minutes faster than our goal. At each mile marker I looked at my watch and try to figure out what was wrong with it. We were running 8 minute miles and less. That couldn’t be right. We don’t run that fast. But we did this time. Our average was 7:57 per mile. Our goal for the St. George Marathon is 3:42:00. After running a half in 1:44:14, I can see that this goal, though challenging still, is totally attainable. Cool. : )
Winskins Joins Team Brenchley as Newest Sponsor
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | News | No Comments
We are proud to have Winskins join the wonderful sponsors of Team Brenchley. This custom printing shop serves high end Olympic and professional athletes as well as ametuers like us. They have produced our great new racing jerseys. We proudly wear the Winskins logo. They are a great company. If you need custom race gear printing done, Winskins is the place to go!
P.S. to the Rush Triathlon
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | News | No Comments
I was extremely surprised when the final race results were posted. Team Brenchley came in at 43rd out of 272 racers! That means we were in the top 16% of the athletes in that triathlon. How that happened, I don’t know, but I am not complaining! Brian did awesome that day.
Rexburg Rush Triathlon
Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | News | No Comments
Today Brian and I competed in the Rexburg Rush Triathlon, our second triathlon in 8 days, and our second tri ever. It was awesome! All of the staff were great, the spectators were always screaming and cheering for us, and I don’t think I saw one volunteer along the course that wasn’t dancing as they pointed which way we should go.
This was also our first time swimming in open water together. Both of us were a little nervous for this new experience, uncertain what it would be like or what would happen. We were given a 15 minute headstart so we wouldn’t run anyone over with the boat, and no one ever caught up to us. That felt good. We swam half a mile around the parimeter of Rainbow lake. That was really cool. We were first out of the water and no one caught up to me on the bike until about mile two. Throughout the bike and the run I only had a maximum of six people ahead of me. It made me feel good that I could hold my own with these very competitive and very competent athletes.
I met Brian after a mean dirt path on the run and ran the last half of it with him. I couldn’t go fast enough to make him happy. He loves racing. We crossed the finish line after a great final sprint with the crowd cheering us on. It was only after more people started coming in that I realized how well we really did. We came in at approximately 1:44:30 for a half mile swim, 14 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. If we had registered in the Clydesdale division we sould have taken second place. That is cool! Overall, we had a great weekend and are very glad we went. I would suggest the Rexburg Rush Triathlon to anyone.
First Triathlon
Monday, August 10th, 2009 | News | No Comments
Yesterday Brian and I competed in our first ever triathlon! Thanks to everyone who has made this dream possible so far. Because of a crazy set of events that happened to the good company that is designing and building our biking chariot, we had to race without it yesterday. Also, because of the lane lines in the pool, we were not able to swim together. (It is not very easy to pull 165 lbs of boat and Brian over or under 13 lane lines!). Instead, we did the run together and Brian cheered me on as I competed in the other two events.
We finished with an overall time of 1:04:55. We were only 15 minutes behind the fastest athlete in this race. That made me feel good. We had a good hard run, a super fast, super fun bike, and I survived the swim. It was a good day. Brian can’t wait for more! This Saturday we will compete in the Rexburg Rush Triathlon in Idaho where we will at least get to run and swim together. It’s going to be fun!