Run for Freedom 10K Recap

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Rachel

It had been a year and a half since I ran my last 10K race, and I wanted to sign up for a few things as I’m working my way back up to running the Ludington Lakestride half in June. The Run for Freedom 10k/5k was in my town and the price was right ($35 for the 10K, $25 for the 5K).

I’m not really into super-patriotic things (I just don’t have the emotional connection to the US that most Americans do) but I can still get behind the charity benefiting from this race – it’s a grassroots group that helps soldiers who have been injured in service. Also, the race is in memory of the soldiers from Grant County who died. So, I might not choose to wave a flag or wear red, white and blue, but I can recognize the sacrifice those guys made and the painful, ongoing struggle of those who were injured.

The distance is great. I ran a 5k (3.1 miles) last month, and it was fun – I ran with a friend and it was a color run so they threw colored powder at you – but that’s a short run for me. I’m at the point where running 3.1 miles is no biggie. (It’s taken a while to get there, though!) I like the challenge of the 10k (6.25 miles).

Post-race pic with my puppy

Post-race pic with my puppy

Pre-Race at home:

I ate my usual pre-race breakfast: peanut butter on an English muffin, apple, and small cup of coffee. The weather was chilly. I was going to wear a tank top but opted for a t-shirt since it was about 45 when we left the house. Great running temp!

Pre-Race at Matter Park:

There was a real festival atmosphere at the park. Sousa marches playing, tons of people, lots of color. I picked up my number and goodie bag and Steve and I (and puppy Lucy) hung out as the crowd gathered. At 9:00, there was a short program with patriotic music, prayer, welcome and explanation of race, color guard, and honoring those from Grant County who passed away in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was also a short recognition of the Boston marathon tragedy.

And we’re off!

The  course was a loop south to the dam on Mississinewa River and then north to Avondale neighborhood. At about 1/2 mile in, there was a motorcycle gauntlet type thing where they revved their bikes at us as we passed. It was pretty cool.

Mile 1: 8:56 (Fastest ever mile!)

Mile 2: 9:28

Mile 3: 9:09

I was pretty happy with my pace at this point. My goal was to finish in 55 minutes, which I knew was somewhat lofty. My pace would have had to have been 8:51 to get that. Still, I was feeling good. The air was crisp and cool, I was passing a few people who had gone out too quick, and the spectators and cops were super encouraging. We doubled back towards the park and were running past the 5k-ers and walkers going in the other direction.

Mile 4: 9:32

Mile 5: 9:22

I made the loop through Avondale and it was awesome to see my friend Courtney cheering for me. She was with her hubby, Travis, one of the many police officers there. It definitely gave me a burst of confidence.

Mile 6: 9:21

I passed a few more people as we went up a little hill back to the park. I knew the end was in sight! I tried to pick up a bit more speed as I ran into the park. I saw Steve about 50 feet from the finish line waving at me. I ran over a pad that must have triggered my name to pop up for the announcer because then I heard, “And here comes Rachel Elwood, finishing her 10K!”

iPhone time: 57:34 (Also, it said the overall course was 6:44 miles)

Official race time: 59:09 (That would account for the additional .2 miles)

Super nice medal!

Super nice medal!

Post-Race

A volunteer handed me a medal, someone else removed the chip from my shoe, and I headed to the refreshments tent. I only took two water breaks on the race, so I was a little thirsty. I found Steve and Lucy and took a few pictures. We hung around so I could see my official time and give a few more people some puppy love (Seriously, want to make friends? Get a puppy!) before we headed home.

Overall, a GREAT race. Very, very well organized. Some of the best volunteers I’ve ever seen. There were almost too many water breaks – I felt a little bad for just blitzing through most of them. But everyone was so encouraging. And I’m sure there were some newer runners/walkers who appreciated the frequent breaks. The course was completely closed to traffic so it was really safe – AND it was super nice to cruise through intersections without a care in the world!

I highly recommend this race and hope to do it again next year!

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Running in Hungary

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Rachel

Steve’s parents live on the edge of Budapest near a forest preserve. It had snowed the day we arrived, and my run through the woods was pure magic.

Since I’m planning to race in a few events this spring and summer, I took along my running gear to Hungary for the first time. Last year, my friend Rachel and I had explored the area around our hotel during some free afternoons, and I had wished even then that I’d brought my trainers along. The hotel is on the edge of the Lővér Hills, a stretch of subalpine forested hills with lots of hiking paths and little one-way roads curving past old villages.

So this year, I packed my shoes and one outfit and blocked out time during the SHARE conference to get some fresh air. And it was a good decision! Still, running in Hungary comes with its own challenges, so here are some random thoughts about my experiences.

  • Running in Hungary combined so many of my passions: exploring new places, history, geocaching, solitude, and of course, running! (Is it OK to have a passion for solitude? Because I kinda do.)
  • Hungarians (and Europeans in general) do tons more walking as opposed to driving, and most of the streets and sidewalks were quickly cleared of the 12+ inches of snow that had fallen the day before we got to Sopron. In my part of the US, sidewalks are basically left until spring to clear off.
  • Still, Hungarian roads aren’t super clean, and my shiny new bright orange Sauconys are no longer shiny and new. After the third or fourth filthy puddle that I had to navigate through, I just accepted the dirt and the environment for what it was.
  • I planned my routes to see some interesting local sights: an old ruined synogogue, Holocaust memorial, 500-year-old convent, Roman ruins, etc. Running is a great way to explore a new place, and Google maps were very helpful to me in planning these routes before our trip.

    Holocaust Memorial in Sopron, Hungary

  • Steve and I got SIM cards for our phones before we left Budapest, so I was able to use my MapMyRide app to see where I was going and how far. The maps were super helpful!
  • Things I did to ensure safety: 1) the app allowed Steve to track my progress, 2) I also told him my general plan for my route, and approximately how long I’d be gone, 3) I tucked my driver’s licence in my pocket so I would have some kind of ID on me if something bad happened, 4) no earbuds for a couple reasons: I was so caught up in my awesome surroundings, I didn’t need the distraction of music, and to make my awareness for approaching vehicles sharper. Hungarians seemed to drive very fast, and in the more remote stretches of road, I didn’t want to be caught off guard.
  • My pace wasn’t exactly amazing since I kept stopping to gawk and take photos and geocache (and geocache and geocache), but I’m OK with that. Better to stop and smell the proverbial roses than to rush for that perfect pace.
  • My main priority while at the SHARE conference was to be there for the kids – talking, playing games, whatever. But I realized that in order for me to be available for them, I needed to get some “me” time, some recharging time. And running definitely does that for me. Maybe that’s why I like running alone. So making time for running during the conference was a healthy move for me, because it made me more able to be there for the kids.

    I ran through some brambles in the hills to get to a geocache. Ouch. But worth it because I found the cache.

  • All in all, I was able to run four times, once in Budapest the day we landed, and three times in Sopron. I had hoped to run the 5.5 miles to the Austrian border and back, but on Friday afternoon, the only day that I would have had enough time, I was so exhausted from the conference that I just crashed and took a nap instead. At that moment, rest was more important than bragging rights.

After SHARE, Steve and I backpacked our way through Italy for 10 days. Amazing, awesome, incredible trip – and I was so totally planning on running in each city. I had even gone so far as to check out each place on Google maps and get an idea for possible routes before we left. Here’s the reality I stumbled on: when you are walking, walking, walking for hours and hours each day, your legs have nothing left for a run. Not once did I run, even though I carted my trainers and running clothes all over Italy.

I ran down this. Boo to the yah.

But this also is OK. When you’re in a new place, constantly experiencing new things, you have to accept what each day brings, and allow yourself to take time off from training to experience LIFE. When will I have a chance like that again, to wander around Venice and Rome with Steve?I will most likely not be running the half marathon I had planned to on April 20. But there are so many other races to run later in the season, it’s no biggie. I like this quite from Louis L’Amour:

“Too often…I would hear men boast only of how many miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” 

- Cited from The Quoteable Traveler: Wise Words for Travelers, Explorers, and Wanderers, a miniature book my parents gave me in my Christmas stocking probably 20 years ago. (Oh geez, I’m old.)

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SHARE on my heart

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Rachel

SHARE Family Education Conference finished up three weeks ago, but between some personal-time traveling after the conference and getting readjusting to real life, I’m just now looking at the amazing photos Steve took while we were there. SHARE is such an intense time that I’m constantly reminded of things as I browse through: “Oh yeah, I forgot that happened.”

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but it seemed like a popular group activity.

Steve and I went with the primary goal of hanging out with the teens – talking, playing, throwing snowballs – whatever the moment and the Holy Spirit called for. We did all that, plus taking photos for publicity and the website (which Steve created), speaking with Steve’s mom in a seminar on TCK issues (we haz them), and helping with some IT/technical things. I returned to my usual spot behind the powerpoint projector, running worship slides.

The kids were amazing to hang out with, our fellow leaders are stellar people, and the parents we got to talk to (we didn’t get to interact with many people who weren’t aged 13-18) were incredible missionaries.

In no particular order, 10 Favorite Moments

1. Watching them all skate in Vienna. Steve, myself, the two other leaders, and one kid chose not to don the blades of death, but the rest of them were stoked to get out on the ice. And they were stunning.

Grace on ice

2. Playing Mafia. Steve is seriously talented at being the Narrator, and the kids enjoyed all the various creative forms of death he came up with.

3. Conversation with a couple of the girls one night about missions. “Why does everyone in the States think that Africa is the only place where people need Jesus? Europe really needs Jesus, too!”

4. Worship Night on Thursday night. I got a little teary at one point, as I looked around at these amazing MKs worshiping so freely…and a little 13-year-old who had been sitting on the table near me saw the tears and scooted over and just wrapped her arms around me. I lost it for reals at that point. Such tender hearts.

5. Any moment an instrument was out and being used. It seemed like over half the kids were talented musicians, and they loved to just get together and jam.

Such fun. These are all the kids who lead worship.

6. That moment when I saw the Shy New Kid became Part of the Pack.

7. Sibling love. For many of the kids, their siblings are their primary companions, and it was obvious that they loved and respected each other.

8. Playing the same games we play every year – with the same joy and enthusiasm. No drywall was harmed this year, though!

9. The goodbye mob at the hotel door, bidding an emotional farewell to each departing teen. The genuine love can’t even be described.

There’s just a lot of great stuff going on here…

10. This wasn’t at the conference itself, but the day before we left Hungary, Steve and I met up with a kid who graduated last year and was in Budapest for spring break from college. It was so awesome to catch up and hear how he is processing college in the US. It gave us some new insights on how we need to continue to reach out to our kids after they leave Europe.

Tammy Scofield, the SHARE staffer who coordinates the team program, said to me once about the teens, “They really weasel their way into your heart, don’t they? And then you can’t get away from them, no matter what you do.”

Categories: TCK Things, Travels | 1 Comment

SHARE Over and Out

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Rachel

Moustache Crew

It’s over.

Six intense days of games, discussion, worship, and small amounts of sleep are over, just like that.

I haven’t quite processed everything from the week yet, but I can say that I am so grateful for the chance to be here, at SHARE’s Family Education Conference, in a quirky hotel in Sopron, Hungary, with 26 of the most amazing teenagers on the planet. And their awesome parents and little siblings. And the incredible staff of educators, counselors, testers, and random helpers like us.

I have prayed with parents, cried with grieving teens, laughed with joke-loving junior highers, thrown snowballs, sang with amazingly talented musicians, and played Chicki-Chicki-Cha until I was hoarse.

When can I come back and do it all over again?

 

 

Categories: Missions, Travels | 3 Comments

SHARE 2013: The Beginning

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Rachel

The Fire Tower, one of the iconic buildings in Sopron

It’s about 9:00 at night. The conference staff – teachers, educational testers, seminar leaders, nursery workers, worship leaders, and more! – have arrived at Hotel Szieszta in Sopron, Hungary. Most of them have already hit the sack, having just landed in Europe today. And this is probably our last chance to get a seriously good night’s sleep, so we’ll be turning in soon, too. For the next six days, our days will end around midnight and begin at 7:00. Ish.

I feel so incredibly grateful. Grateful for the chance to be in a place where we feel very comfortable, doing something we are very comfortable doing: hanging out with MKs. Who knew that God likes to give us ministry opportunities that actually FIT us? Seriously, we get to do this for a whole week? Awesome does not even begin to describe it.

This is the calm before the storm. Tomorrow, we have a time of worship and orientation for the staff (which includes Dr Richard Allen Farmer, for my TU friends!) and then we’ll prepare our class spaces. The teen program starts at 7:00, usually with corny get-to-know-you games and whatnot.

Random Thoughts:

  • There’s a foot of snow on the ground. Both times we have been here before, there was nothing, and the trees were starting to bud. It’s a freaking winter wonderland out there! Tomorrow, there will be over 150 kids here; I foresee some serious snowball fights.

    This synagogue was abandoned after WWII and basically left to ruin. A plaque on the wall stated that 1,640 people were taken from here to Auschwitz in 1944.

  • I’ve gone running twice since we arrived in Hungary yesterday. Today, I ran through Sopron’s old town, past Roman ruins, medieval city walls, towering churches, and a ruined synagogue. So glad I brought my running gear!
  • What do you do when you’re waiting at the train station for your ride and there’s great packable snow everywhere? You build a snowman! (Well, it turned into more of a snow lion. We did the Michelangelo thing and made the creature we saw in the snow.)
  • My cold is better! While I would not wish having to fly 11 hours with a cold on ANYONE, at least I’ll be almost back to normal by tomorrow night when things get going for reals.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us! We have felt God’s blessings already (plane delayed, but no missed connections AND we got our bags in Budapest!!) Can’t wait to see what He has planned for this week!

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