1st Anniversary Run

When Erin and I got married last year, we held a 10k/half marathon that morning for our runner friends.  After the run we all came back to the house and ate caramel rolls.  A tradition was born that we wanted to keep going this year.  Last year we decided at the last minute to make some medals so we wrote with sharpie on some washers and attached some ribbon.  It was a nice token but we wanted to do a little better this year. Here's how we made this years medals.

Our driveway packed with cars

Friday night before our event Erin and I borrowed some paint and orange sticks from Rick that he used to mark the courses for the training group.  It took longer then we thought it would to mark the course, but in the end we were happy with the result.  All turns had an orange stick and most of them had arrows painted on the ground. After marking the course, we visited our neighbors to ask if we could park some vehicles over in their driveway since our street was being worked on and had no parking signs displayed on either side of the street.

Everyone hanging out before the run

The morning of the run we got up early and I took 5 pans of caramel rolls out of the refrigerator to start raising. Erik was the first to show up and he brought an egg bake with him. I threw some clothes on and directed him to park as close as he could to the garage so we could fit as many cars as possible in our driveway.  Steph, my sister, was the next to arrive to help with odds and ends.  She hadn't been running much this year and decided not to run the event.  She also needed to work later in the day which made the decision a little easier.  After that was a flurry of activity as I was getting my running stuff ready, directing Steph with some last minute things for the event and the rest of the guests showed up. Cory and Maggie brought praline bacon, Cassy brought orange juice, Kelly brought 3 different kinds of fruit juice, Connie and Ray brought some fresh fruit, Heather brought champagne for mimosas, Rachel brought paper plates and napkins and Rick and Kristy brought coffee cake. We had quite the spread when it was all assembled.

1st Anniversary group picture

After everyone had arrived we headed outside for a group picture.  Rachel was kind enough to bring over her camera for the picture. Last year she wasn't able to run and decided to bike with us and take some pictures. The pre-run group picture she took was one of our favorites from the whole day. Erin had it framed and signed by everyone and surprised me with it for a christmas present. Once the picture was taken we headed out on our run.  It was rather warm and a bit on the humid side but having so many of our friends with made it fun. The group did get a little spread out and a few turns were missed. I guess I didn't mark the course as well as I would have liked.

The group as it heads out

The aid station

The way the course was set up was everyone runs the 10k route which finishes at the house before the half marathoners head out again to finish up their event.  While we were out running, Steph set up our aid station with cold water, Jolly Ranchers, Watermelon, Salted Nut Rolls, Gummy bears, Endurolytes, and Poweraid.

Connie, Heather, Cassy and Ray are the first to make it back from the 10k 

Erin finished shortly after the first 4

Erik and Rick were next to finish

Rachel and I finished just before Cory, Maggie and Kelly

After the 10k was finished, I decided I wasn't ready to go out and finish the half marathon, but I would bike with those who did want to finish it up.  Rachel and Heather were the only ones interested in going further so after a short break we got going again.  As we finished the run, Erin was baking the caramel rolls and the rest of our guests hung out in the front yard and talked.  When Heather, Rachel, and I got back the caramel rolls were done and we were ready to eat. Breakfast was fantastic with all of the various things we had.  After eating, we had lots of leftovers.  Erin and I hung onto some of the caramel rolls for breakfast the next day as well as the leftover bacon that Maggie and Cory didn't want to bring back with them and some of the open juice and champagne.  The rest of the stuff got packed up and sent with people as they left.  Overall the event went rather well and we're looking forward to doing it again next year for our second anniversary.