I’m up for this! I’m actually going to be running 11 miles that day, training for the OC Half Marathon on May 6, so I can count 5k of that to this fun, global goal. Challenge accepted!
(Besides, I’ve got to work off those pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes…)
Here’s why I started running in the first place, in case anyone’s interested. Mom and Steve Piet: I miss you!
I found a flyer for Team in Training in 2008 when one of my best friends from high school was struggling with cancer for the second time in his young life. He was only 37, and I didn’t know what to do to help him. I had always wanted to try to run an endurance race, and I thought that the support of a group like Team in Training would be a great way to do it, plus help support cancer research and run in Steve’s name. I had also lost my mother to cancer when I was only 22 (six weeks after my marriage to my first husband!), so there was two reasons to join Team in Training.
I loved Team in Training, and the support I received was amazing—not just to help me with the running, but also emotionally—when Steve passed away two weeks before the race, everyone on my team was there for me. With the names of Steve, my mother, and many others who had struggled with or passed from cancer sewn to my shirt, I finished my first half-marathon (San Diego Rock and Roll) in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
I was hooked! I joined Team in Training again, but as a mentor. I ran my second half-marathon, the Santa Barbara half in 2009, in just 2 hours and 6 minutes. The third time I signed up with Team in Training, as a mentor again, was in 2010, and my sister signed up too. Both of her ankles had been badly broken when she was 18, and one is now fused, but it did not deter her (even though her orthopedic surgeon thought she was crazy!) I developed bursitis in my knee and couldn’t run, which was fine in the end because I walked it with my sister at my side through San Francisco at the 2010 Women’s Half Marathon. We both love our Tiffany necklace!
This will be the first time I’m doing a race without Team in Training. I’ve been struggling with a bad hamstring, but I know I’ll finish. I might not beat my 2 hours 6 minute time, but I am doing the race with my step-sister, so it will just leave one sister I’ve not done a race with! I’ll see if I can get her out one of these days. I’ll be wearing my Team in Training jersey, or perhaps a new shirt to honor Steve and my mother, at the OC race, for sure.
I look forward to getting the Beach Cities medal in 2013, and maybe signing back up with Team in Training for the Long Beach or Surf City race. It’s a great organization I’m proud to have been a part of.
It wasn’t just a one-time event! The Automattic Worldwide WP 5k is back again in 2012! Set your timers for April 29th!
At Automattic we work from all over the world, and we use internal blogs for socializing and exchanging non-work ideas in addition to making WordPress.com and our other products more awesome. One of the things we’re really concerned about is staying healthy – we even have an entire internal blog dedicated to fitness.
We had a great idea: Get all Automatticians from 79 cities & 24 countries to run/walk a 5k on the same day! This way we can get some exercise together as a company even though we’re apart (though we won’t rule out a softball or Texas scramble at our next meetup).
A year later, and there are now 105 Automatticians we hope will take part in the 5k all around the world in 2012.
We want…
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tinykitchenstories 
Oooh – I’m doing it, too! Thanks for sharing this!
Fantastic! I’d love to join you–running in SoCal can be quite dangerous, with the traffic and idiot drivers. Your home looks like paradise… 🙂
Well…it is and isn’t. Dogs that want to chase you, wacky drivers in pick-up trucks who deliberately swerve (looky there – it’s a runner – let’s see if we can make her run into the ditch, hehe!), deerflies. I’ll probably crank this baby out on the treadmill ;-)!
Okaaaayyy…I feel better about the ladies who run stop signs because they can’t see over their fake boobs, hog the road with their huge strollers and exhaust from Pacific Coast Highway…maybe I’ll look for a different place to run my 11 miles that day. Have fun on the treadmill! 🙂
Thanks! And kudos to you for 11 miles (and a 1/2 marathon coming up)!!
TKS, thanks for reposting! I can definitely do this 😀 And thank you for sharing the story of why you began to run in the first place. It’s both inspiring and motivating! And I’m sorry, but the comments between you and An Unrefined Vegan are just too funny!!! I’ll be more thankful for super places to run. I guess the pervasive smell of weed in Boulder could be much worse 😉
Yes, your pics of Boulder are awe-inspiring! I’ll soldier ahead with the palm trees and beaches while trying to avoid the plastic people. No one needs to see cleavage, fake or otherwise, before 8 in the morning….
Haha! Completely agree! Here we may have more armpit hair than fake cleavage… but I’ll try to stay away from both. I’d love a beach and palm tree run every now and again ;D
Yeah, I shouldn’t complain! 🙂
Good luck on the race. I miss running in southern California. Here in the middle east, I’m limited to training on a treadmill…oh to run in shorts and a tank again.
Thanks! But your half marathon sounded amazing! I can’t imagine running through such a richly historic place. Thank you for sharing your experiences in Amman–you give a great sense of place. I’ll run one for you here in Cali… 😉