Boston Marathon: Voices Against Violence

So, things are starting to get real for me now. I just got an email telling me I got my first pick for a charity to raise funds for. Voices Against Violence is an organization that helps those who are suffering from domestic violence, and sexual abuse. I have heard stories from far too many friends that have suffered from this through my life. Now is my chance to help out, and make a difference! I am so excited to be able to help those in need. It makes running the Boston Marathon that much more special to me! I have had many friends offer up help, and I will be reaching out to everybody for ideas and help of any kind. The goal is 2,500, but I would like to see what I can do, and plan to surpass that amount. Alright enough about me. This is about the charity I chose to help as best I can.

About Voices

Voices' mission is to end sexual and domestic violence. Voices staff members work to empower victims and survivors to help themselves and their children. Program Advocates work in partnership with individuals and families to ensure their safety, create stable home environments, gain independence, and to develop personal and economic self-sufficiency. Voices is also a social change organization, working toward the elimination of violence on a societal level through community education, primary prevention and increased public awareness and action. Voices also works in close collaboration with public safety and criminal justice professionals throughout the region.
Voices is a proud core member of Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Services

Voices provides free and confidential services to victims and survivors of sexual and domestic violence in the MetroWest area. Services are provided in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and are available to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Services include a 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention, confidential short term emergency shelter, counseling and support groups, information and referrals, and medical, legal and criminal justice advocacy. Voices also offers Supervised Vistation services on a sliding fee schedule through KidSpace. For more information about KidSpace, please call 508-962-2643.
In addition to direct services for victims and survivors, Voices conducts outreach and education to community groups and professionals, as well as primary prevention activities to address the root causes of violence and prevent the development of perpetration

 (these two paragraphs were pulled from their web site)

Some more info about this organization can be found on their web site here.

So keep me, and more importantly this organization in mind, It would mean the world to me, whatever help you can give!

Here is my fundraising link:

Until next time
Stay active
Stephen

Cupids Undie Run 2016: The bearded edition!

Thank you Heather, you started this whole thing

I am back again, doing Cupids Undie run, this time a few things have changed for me. It is still the same cause, to #endnf, Benefiting the Children's Tumor Foundation. For more info about the charity the money goes to, and it's research check out their web site, I have a link here with some info about NF.

So last time around, I was super shy about everything involved. I was shy about asking for money (figuring ways to get people to donate is not easy, but I got 150, I had to promise burpees, it only sorta worked). I was also shy about telling people what I was doing, I knew I would be with friends, so I was not overly insecure, but telling people at work, and asking for money, it felt too much. I only really got over it around the run. I had noticed that even though I did not know anybody with NF, that I had loved ones that knew people with it! My friend asked to share something about it on facebook, because their friend had it and just did it. So I officially did not feel bad, I knew it was for a good cause, and that I did some good (and had a whole lot of fun wile doing it).

Whitebeard attempt #1

This time around though, I had a better plan! This time around I have a giant beard, I mean massive, the biggest I have ever had in my life, it has been growing for  7.5 months!!! (I grew it to have the forest gump look for an ultra, and it worked!) I had been wanting to get rid of it for a wile now, like 2 months. But I figured, why not try and raise some funds before shaving it, so I put it on facebook, and said if I got 75 then I would cut off the beard. You see I had been getting grief about how long it was for months, and figured it would be incentive to get rid of it, WRONG! I had a few friends instantly ask "How much to save it?" so then I started a bidding war, because why not! I put 10 days on it, and did not expect much, I was hoping for 100 bucks all together. Well this is where things get interesting, One friend, took the picture I posted, and made a flattering status update, and donated money to my page, and asked for her friends to spare some money to save the beard as well. I was touched! it was awesome, and unexpected!! then shortly after, maybe an hour or two, one of my brothers shared it, and again, flattered me with compliments and asked to donate.Then my other brother, then a few friends shared my picture and link post as well. and the best part? IT WORKED, better than I would have ever thought, 200 bucks in about 24 hours! That is 50 bucks more than last year in a day. Man this beard was paying off. Only problem was that now, clean shaven was up by 5 bucks, a few days after the post, I was up to about 240, and I kinda wanted to keep it, you see my friend said she wanted a blackbeard for me, and I kinda liked the picture, and idea, because I will not grow one this long again, why not have fun with it before I shave it.

Before Glitter

So now, I am trying to figure out how to make it work. I make a few posts, try to get people to donate, but not be annoying. One friend said I should be festive for the holidays, and dye it white, again, anything for the cause, so I said if you donate, and the beard wins, you got it. So now I am at Black beard, White beard, and whatever else comes up to keep the beard and have my fun!

Glitter

Good Location

This is all their fault

Then it got interesting, so there is this thing that some people do, and put glitter in their beard, not my level of weird, I had no desire to ever do it. Until one day at a bar, for a fundraiser, a woman asked if she could glitter my beard, after saying no several times mind you. I said something to keep her quiet, sure if you can raise money for my charity, thinking it would not happen, we agreed to 300, and her, and a friend went to work. Oh man I instantly regretted it. I underestimated how much these people, many of them friends, wanted to torture me, and see a glitter beard, in Red, White, and Blue, even better (it was a team RWB event after all). So fun was had, I walked out, happily dreading the day, this happened on a Monday, and I took money for the charity, donated it, and agreed to glitter it on that Sunday, wile at another fundraiser for the same team, they really do good work, I am happy to be a part of the team, even if they make me glitter my beard! One of the women is picking up the glitter, and anything else that is needed, which is also awesome, all I had to do was show up. So now we add on the glitter beard, oh man, this has been one wild and crazy 10 day charity bidding war over a beard, and I am so happy to have raised over 500, even if it was because many of them want to torture me, at least I am doing good, and making people laugh, so all is well that ends well!

I do not usually like to much attention, so this has been weird, but awesome.

Glitter is meant to be shared right?

  Because it is the season

Because why not!

Whitebeard

If you want to donate to help #endnf the link is here

If you want to join me in febuary, and have fun here is a link to sign up:
https://my.cupids.org/register.asp?ref=40110

If you want motivation, there is still plenty of time to fund raise for this charity run, and here are some of the perks to raising funds 


Here is a link to the video of the magic of glitterbeard wile it happened

Also Huge thanks to Henry for most of the pictures, and David for the video! There were many others taking pictures, naturally, I mean how often do things like this happen, but the facetime during, was priceless, thank you all for the laughs, and donations through this. Even if most of you just wanted to humiliate me, I will still happily take it, it is the least I can do for a good cause!



 

So join me in the fun! And as always

Until Next time

Stay active

Stephen

Boston Marathon, part 3, the return, the good post

So I have wanted to do the Boston Marathon for a wile now, I even wrote 2 posts about it, and how I found my info along the way, so that anybody else who may be looking had a better idea of where to look. Those are here and here. But then I realized just how much money it is, and just how much I spent on stuff this year, so I stopped looking. But, you see, I had already filled out an app at town hall, just figured I probably would not get in, since they only get 22 bibs both last year and this year. Also it was different, you did not fill out an app, and pick a charity you wanted, so a different way to go about getting a reg. Aaaaannnndddddd then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, on a Tuesday night, BOOM! My watch buzzes, and flashes through an email, saying congratulations on joining team Framingham!!! I felt myself shaking, and get nauseous all at the same time, I wanted to scream, but I wanted to wait and go over all the details before I celebrated, make sure it was not a wait list, and that they had charities I could get behind. That and I was not around many people that would understand the significance of getting into The Boston Marathon!!!

So flash forward a few days (2 days later) I fill out the app, email it in, find out there are some great causes that I would be very enthusiastic about helping out, and fill out my preferences. With Framingham, you have 6 charities to pick from, they make sure each charity has at least 2 runners raising funds. And they said that almost everybody got their first pick, so, of course I needed to make sure that I get one I really enthusiastically stand behind, so I send it in asap! Now I wait to hear back, and go to town hall in January, to meet people learn stuff, and figure out what charity I get, and what site  should use to get funds raised, and so on. I can barley control my excitement, This is such an awesome thing to happen, It is considerably less for me to pay out of pocket, and much less I am required to raise, which is great, because to hit the 5 grand, I would have not wanted to start this late! I will be open and honest, they require us to raise a minimum of 1,500 bucks, but state that they expect 2,500. It is still a decent chunk of change, luckily I know some awesome people that have been fundraising longer and better than I have, and know a few other people that have other ideas. I also have a few of my own, ones I may have used for cupids, and would still work for that, but This one will be getting my hard work from now on because I need to raise it, or I have to pay it. As much as I do not want to take away from anybody, the money will still be going to great causes, and I am amazed I was able to hit 500 for cupids, and they still have the potential for a few weeks of money to be raised with beard games.

Luckily I can be a good sport about these things, check here for the story I posted about the beard hilariousness that I did for cupids.

But basically, if you have any bit to give, anything at all, It will make a difference, and I will appropriate anything you can do, I know this is a time if year when money is tight, hell, I have that same problem. And I will likely annoy you on facebook with my posts, sorry it is just gonna happen, but I will keep it at a respectable level.

Now I just have to wait for the meeting and figure out wich cause I will represent, and get everything set up, and buy my reg, and start fundraising, and I will post all along the way of my journey!

Anyway thanks for reading, and wish me luck as I train hard this summer to try and get a sub 4 hour Boston marathon, and that I actually run the whole thing with no walking breaks!

So until next time
Stay Active
Stephen

Garmin Fenix 3 Product Review

So I got this watch about a week ago, and it is pretty cool, and super expensive. It has a place on my wrist all the time now, and if you want more info than I could probably ever put in a review, check out DC Rainmaker, he has so much info that I would not know how to get, or how to even know about, but he cheats, he tests for garmin. So anyway, lets start with my thoughts on this watch. There is so much on here, so keep in mind I am just scratching the surface. Now you make see the watch and think why do I need a 500 dollar watch, well you don't, but it is cool. I wanted it because it has a long battery life, plan and simple, I love ultras, I just did the TARC fels winter ultra, and it offers better gps accuracy than my last watch, the fr10. So some f the things you may not know, that I wanted to know, but could not find online:

1. It has programmable timers for each activity (like running, trail running, biking, swimming, etc). You have several options: preset, water, food, (you can set them for any interval based min)Also HR, Run/Walk, Pace, Time, Distance, Cadence, Calories, and Elevation (also under custom, turn around, go home (lol) and a completely custom name you make yourself!)
2.  It has a track back feature, it comes in handy when you are in unfamiliar territory, or a trail you can get lost in easily.
3. you can make a course, and race it, it gets stored on the watch somehow, I guess magic!
4. you can make hotkeys, I chose bluetooth and location storing (you can also use stop watch and timer)
5. you can lock the screen, so when you hit button it will not effect your data 
6. Instant gps lock, even in new places, it barley takes a second the few times I have used it! 
7. there is a setting that lets you use the watch wile charging, not just gps, but also change settings, whatever you want to access wile it is plugged in
8. you can have the watch auto shut off notifications off all kind, or just phone calls.
9. you can set up a live track and post it to facebook, twitter, email, or your connect friends, all  of them (not many people use it regularly, but hey it has facebook)

 This watch is also heavy, not as bad as the sapphire one, (it has a nicer quartz, (watch talk for face plate) it is scratch resistant, and nicer metal bracelet, and rubber strap as well). But this watch could be a problem on super long runs or races just switch wrists, keep in mind if it was not heavy it probably would not do all the cool things it does!

Weather!

As far as the other non running things too! It connect by bluetooth, and tells you when you have notifications like text, call, email, facebook, etc. You can easily change that on your phone and the notifications area and shut off the push, or change the settings as you wish. It is pretty good, I have had my watch buzz before my phone on several occasions, and  Step counter is a nice touch. You can see the temp, altimeter, and barometer for the last 48hrs as well. You get cool controls for you music, it has to be in the background, and you can see your calendar for the day as well, but that has on occasion not worked unless the app was in the backround. It is also supports temperature on the watch face, by converting to some app on your phone I would guess, as it only worked for a day or two. When I updated my IOS to the current one (9.1, about to be 9.2 as I type this) the weather no longer showed, no idea what happened, both the watch and phone have been power cycled, and connections reset. So I am at a loss. The blue tooth connectivity is great, a surprisingly long reach for a watch, and an Iphone 5s. The watch face can be tweaked in the digital face to show battery, day of week, and month, and  bluetooth connection status, also the time of the next sunrise/sunset! All of which can be tweaked based on prefernce, you can have a classic analog look if you prefer, but that seems to offer less options for what you see other than the dial. There is a find phone option on this watch as well, it will make the phone make noise, and it will show an arrow as to where it is, giving you direction when you louse your phone!

Time!

The heart rate monitor is super easy to connect, I do not plan to get any of the other fancy high tech data collectors ( you can get monitors for temp, and a foot  pod that measures cadence and other data based on your run very easily, and one for more accurate data on a bike) It will auto upload by bluetooth to your app on your phone, it is super easy. It took me a few tries to connect the heart rate monitor (that is why I connected it the night before my run), but after a few applies of water from a sponge it connected quickly, and now as soon as the strap is connected, and wet, it connects instantly, no need for me to dig through sub menus to find it! I have heard that the wrist based ones are still not as good as the chest, and they have to be pretty tight to be fully accurate. But I do not know, I mention this because if you want a cheaper alternative, there are some and they have many of the same features, but I wanted the super long battery life, the option to make it even longer in the settings, and the ability to charge on the go so a multi day race can still be recorded! (and yes those are planned in my future, I will learn everything about this watch, probably before the end of the summer in 2016)

I am so not meeting my step goal

So Is this watch the greatest at everything? Hell no, but it is awesome for what I want it to be, long battery life, notifications from my watch, accurate details on more things than I ever thought would be cool on a watch. It comes at off sets, several options are unavailable unless the garmin connect app is running in the back ground, and I still can not get the weather to connect. But I am a fan, you can do most of this stuff on some of the medium level watches from garmin (or sunnto, or tomtom, I just picked garmin a wile ago, and love them, well most of the time)

So there you have it, My first impression on this super fancy ultra watch! I am sure I may have forgotten something, but bear with me I have only had it for like 3 runs, in about a week. Soon I will see how some of the apps work fr it, and how well it works as a srtength training tool, there are a few cool apps that set timers, and show you your heart rate wile you work out. Also cool apps that show your your heart rate and what zone you are in ect. If you have any further questions, or think I missed something, let me know!

Until Next time
Stay active
Stephen

Update! Literally a moment after I hit post for this blog, the watch started to show the weather again, so yay!

TARC Fels Trail Ultra review

So in many of my posts I go over the course and review the event, not this time, this time, this is special! So this was my third attempt at an ultra marathon, and my second attempt at this course. (last years TARC, this years Infinitus) So plain and simple, I failed those, I learned a bunch each step of the way, still way more to learn, but the only way to do it is to keep signing up and pushing yourself as responsible as you can.

So this course is brutal, no other way to describe it! it is about 7.5 miles per loop, including the path to the parking lot. The course is fairly well marked, but you can still get lost, so if you do this course, or even decide to check it out on your own, keep your eyes open! Now from where we started you could either go left or right, I started left, and it worked for me, a more gradual start to the race, and lap, helps wake the legs up. If you go to the left then it is a straight hike up, unless you are just that good, I am not! If it was one lap, probably, but not for all 32 miles of it (or 40 if you are really crazy). The hills are pretty much the same regardless of how you start, it is a CONSTANT
rolling hills on this trail, high roots all over the place, and the rocks, all of the rocks, everywhere! really makes it a challenge to keep going. During the first lap I had landed on my left arch a bunch, and was wearing my Innov8 rock lights, bot a smart move, no rock plate, not much cushioning, wring terrain for them. Luckily I brought along my bran new Altra Lone peak 2.0, that was a life saver right there! Those shoes made it so I finished, and had no other problems at all, It was a gamble because it was only the second time I had run in them, and they are heavier than I am used to, I have been doing a whole bunch of running in minimalist style shoes, not good for ultras and my feet. I had 1, 4 mile run, on the streets around my house in these shoes, they felt fine, but not enough to tell how they would do for me over a long distance. That being said, that gamble paid off big time! I now know why people in the ultra world swear by them, they are my new favorite shoes for distance running! ( I will make a post with more in depth thoughts later). I learned my lesson last year, smaller bladder, my goruck bullet is overkill for an ultra, I have a marathon vest from camelbak, it is great, so light, and has what I need (I have meant to write up a review on this, yet another one I will do later, I am really behind on this stuff right now, sorry!) So now, after a quick shoe change, some snacks from the aid station, and a trip to the portopotty, I was out again! No time to waste, I have an ultra to finish after all, plus waiting too long and you body may tell you it wants to stop, or you may have a million other things go through your head, best to avoid it and just keep going! So the first lap was about 1:40 for me, which is faster than my first lap last year! And I got to high 5 my buddy at the halfway point, fun all around!

Just before the aid station on lap 1

Now on to lap 2, I decided to switch things up and go left at the start, and see how it is to have a slow descending finish, yeah, not a smart idea at all, I got lost like 6 times on that loop! luckily not too far off trail, and also luckily I had a new watch (Garmin Fenix 3, review is also on the list, but I have only had 2 runs with it, and still much to learn, I will post all about it later than I would like to, but soonish), and I used the track back feature to find my way back to the trail. In trying to get back several times, I ran around and wasted energy, ran next to some cool people, and chatted about how many times we had gotten lost, and I had a pleasant conversation with them, which is super important in an ultra, way more than in the shorter races. Things go through your mind, and it messes with you, always look for reasons to laugh and smile, ALWAYS!!! and share it with others, you never know, those kind words may push somebody through where they are, and help them finish, and helping avoid a dnf, that is truly priceless, it is a gift that should be shared with the world as much as possible! Also in this lap, I hit more walls than were at the Killington beast this year (if you did not run it, just know it was a crap load!) but I finished lap 2, and could walk, not run for long, but I could still do it. (I missed my friend, I think we went the same way that time) Also at the main aid station (start/finish) grab salty food, and bathroom break, (nobody wants to do a number 2 on the trail) water fill up and I was out



Then Lap 3, Man, I thought I hit walls in lap 2, it was like 2, but in this lap, it was like 6, but I started out on the right, back to normal, no real issues with navigation anymore, a few miss steps, but it was an ultra, and I was like18 to 20 miles, so it is to be expected. The first lap s the only lap I did not stop at the aid station on course, I felt fine, and did not need the snack that early, I carbo loaded more than I did for Baystate, and I did not need to eat for that, so one lap without aid would be fine. By this time, All I can think about is being done, that was it, nothing else. I was not in a dark place, but I was second guessing life choices, like why on earth do I want to do an ultra, why spend all day here, with nobody else around and just my thoughts for almost a whole day, that is crazy, right? So it was kinda blah feeling, body was fine, just tired, no pains, just hey, you have been running/hiking/walking for a wile now, can we stop? I so was not feeling it anymore. The good news? I knew I could finish, but I just did not have the drive to anymore. So that was it, I was gonna drop and go to sleep, screw it all, forget my plans for the next 2 years (I want to do more 50ks, a 50 miler, and 100k, all building up to a 100 miler in about 2 years, for the record, I still want to do them!). But yeah, I just no longer had the motivation or drive for it all. Which is understandable, everybody has some days where you question things, and when you are alone, that thought can be louder, not drowned out by other things, like fun, good company, a good laugh, why you started it all in the first place. Luckily for me, my buddy, who was going for the 40 miler, I saw him a little before the end, about 2 miles. we stopped, and sat down instantly and chatted, I am pretty sure he could tell something was up. I said I think I am gonna drop, I was bummed, but had kinda made up my mind. I spent the lap thinking of friends doing another race in another state, the gimmick beard I grew out .all year for it, how excited I was, but I just was not feeling it. I thought of several of my ultra running friends, who were not there. I thought about my facebook post all full of energy and excitement for this race (and I mean the weather was perfect for December in Massachusetts, it started just above freezing, then into the 40s, and then 50s, perfect for endurance events, and all in the shade, barley any warm sun through all those dead trees, plenty of light, but no warm factor). Also all the texts, and conversations, everybody knew I had it in me, hell I was a little nervous because my mileage dropped the last month, less than 30, for a month, I am usually above 50, closer to 60 on average for the year I would guess. But luckily I have been doing hard stuff all year, and have built up my legs, even if they were not in opportune performance, I had post marathon recovery, then I was sick for like 2 weeks, then I had 2 races, Fenway spartan and FIT, and I could not get the high mileage I wanted to, then it was taper time! So needless to say, even though I did the Killington UB, 24 hours of shale hell and 30 at infinitus, I was shaky, but hopeful. So naturally I did not want to let people down, I had faith from many people, but I just could not shake the feeling on my own, or from the random good job you get from the runners and volunteers. That is not to put them down, everybody was great, EVERYBODY, so nice, and happy, and smiling. Another thing that had me out of it, I have found that through my journey of fitness, or athleticism, or whatever you want to call all the fun I have, that I inspire others (hell I just feel like some kid going out and having fun being me), and encourage as many people as I can, it is only the right things after all. All I have ever received in this running world has been encouragement, positivity, and plenty of great friends every step of the way! I did not want to just stop because I did not feel like it, I was trying to prove something to myself, but still, it was not enough. That is until my friend Rick came along. I honestly barley remember what he said, but when he sat down, mid race, smiled and knew where I was coming from, and explained his doubts, and how he already had his facebook post ready in his head bout dropping, but that I had the time, plenty in fact, more than enough time! ( when I finished my 3rd lap, I had an hour before the cutoff to start your final lap) So he said the right things and it pushed me, I was beaming I was so happy again! I finished the last 2 miles in okay time, spirits were at an all time high as of that day. I went to my cell, posted that I had just finished my 3rd lap, that I was an idiot for going back out, filled up my water, grabbed snacks, put more snacks in my camelbak, and off I went, I swear lap 4 was faster than 2 and 3. However the stats say they were just close, but I do not know about how much time I spent at the aid stations.

50

Stephen

Rodericks

M

29

630

1:43:35

3:59:33

6:31:50

8:52:10

So I placed 50, of 60, 22 dnf, 20 dns, point being, I finished in 8:52, and ran to the finish, all smiles and happy, I mean come on, the race was finally over for crying out loud! and was not a dfl which is surprising, but I will not complain too much. I almost forgot, as much as I love my Fenix, it is heavy, you do not notice it after you wear it for a few days, but in lap 3 I had to change wrists, my forearm was hurting from it, so about4/5 hours of "running" and it can add up, I also probably did not relax my arms wile running. Don't forget to check on form a bunch when you run! You can avoid so many problems by just checking every now and then, running is not mindless, you gotta check on breathe, form, foot strike, relaxing as much as possible, posture, all the good stuff. And the longer the run, and the harder then run, the more important, or you will feel it soon enough! (technical data from my watch: 16:44 pace, and 5774ft election gain for the entire race)

Just before the finish

Finally Lap 4, Seriously, that chat changed the whole race for me, I was excited again, I ran more, walked less, I think, it was kinda a blur, it was under 9 hours of going through horrible terrain, but it got done! then, about 2 miles into my last lap, I get to see my buddy for the last time that day, as he is finishing up his 4th lap, I stop him, hug him, and explain that it was all because of him, I would have dropped if I had not seen him before then end of the lap, before, there was a chance I may have done it on my own, but it was slim! So he did not take credit, until I explained it really was his kind words, he then accepted it. and then we went our separate ways, basically, I have learned yet again, if you tell yourself you can, and push, then you will, with most things in the running world, and that is transferable (keep that in mind), you just have to learn how to push through, and be comfortable being uncomfortable, that goes for more than just your body, it is also for your mind, and it can be arguably more important to keep you going in things like ultra races. The distance can be fun, therapeutic, meditative, and whatever else you need, it really has become my favorite way to blow off steam, and laugh with friends. There are some many benefits to being active and running, so what not see how long you can make it and still have fun? TARC is a great running club, very friendly, and they put on really cheap races, this cost me just over 20 bucks, for the 4 laps around the skyline trail. The last thing I will leave you with about lap 4 is this, just before the end of the loop there are giant stones, it is about1/2 mile before the end (maybe more, I cannot gauge), I had been looking forward to those for miles, when I got there I started to run fast, well fast for what I had left I had nothing else to do that day, I was so happy, giggling, and laughing, I was finally finished, FINALLY!! I did it, and My friend Sarah was waiting at the finish and snapped a few good picture, it was a nice way to finish the race!

Annnd DONE!

Another fun part, is the days after, I swear I could walk because I was not running hard the whole time, but anyway, hanging with friends right after the race for food, and the next two days hanging out with friends, it really was awesome, I really could not do much more than socialize. It really goes to show what you can do when you push for something, I finished an ultra, my third attempt, (as I jokingly say third time is the charm, ya know being the third born and all), and it was hard, so now to focus on more Marathons, and ultras, gotta keep improving, better times, and longer distances, I want a few belt buckles from these races! I just want to be good at all the running really, hey, you gotta have goals right?

Almost forgot, one dude on course actually called me FOREST! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Until next time
Stay active
Stephen


(Photo Credit 1st was from TARC, the rest from Sarah, Thanks!)