Go For Bo! Sierra Leone Benefit 5K and 1M Fun Run/Tot Dash - October 15

If you're looking for a 5k in the Stafford, VA area, here's a great one to check out.

http://www.active.com/running/stafford-va/go-for-bo-sierra-leone-benefit-5k-and-1m-fun-runtot-dash-2011

Run Scheduled - Saturday, September 17 at 0630

From whymarathon.com...The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. ~Author unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastics 9:11

The weather for Saturday is predicted to be stellar - a great morning for a run!  The plan for Saturday is to meet at TBS to run the 8.25 loop, with an add on of additional mileage for anyone interested.  We'll meet at 0630 at the Charlie Company parking lot.  If you don't know where this is, let me know and I'll email you the details.  Anyone can get on base as long as you have a photo id.

If you have any questions about this run, or any group runs, I'd love to answer those questions as well - email me at karenegyud@gmail.com.

Blessings,
Karen

T-Shirts

Here are the pictures of the shirts we have available (Thanks Bob H.!)  I'll post more details later, but if you are interested in the details, email me at karenegyud@gmail.com.

Men's Color

Women's Color (also available in Pink,small only - and the small is small!)

Run Scheduled this Saturday - July 9 at 7:00 a.m.

After too long of a break, we will have a run this Saturday, July 9th. We'll meet at the church parking lot at 7:00 a.m. for a 5ish mile run. Hope you can join us!

Couple other notes...

- If you no longer want to received these emails, please let me know. I know we've lost a lot of families recently to other parts of the country, so I understand if you like to keep your email box cleared out. Also, if you know of someone else who would like to receive this info, feel free to forward it on to them.

- Bob H. is spearheading getting shirts made that have a message of grace and thankfulness for the gift of running. We'll get you more on pricing very soon - it will be very reasonable though. We are trying to get an idea of what sizes to preorder. If you are interested in a shirt, please shoot me an email with your size. It's not a commitment to order - just helps us plan a little better. I'm excited to already know what I'll be wearing at this year's MCM :)

Blessings,
Karen

Run Scheduled - June 4 @ 7:00 a.m.

Hope your running is going well - hard to believe that we welcome summer tomorrow.

Dave R. has agreed to head up the run for this Saturday so the meetup time will be at 7 a.m. in the church parking lot for a 5ish mile run.

Congrats to everyone who completed races during May - I know there were a bunch of them. But, I have to give a special shout out to Dave R. for his finish of the Cateran Trail 55 Mile in Scotland on May 21. Of course, 55 wasn't enough for Dave and he ran a special extra 3 to complete a 58 Miler...love your nav skills Dave!

Finally, my brother sent me this and I thought some of you would find the humor too. In the category of "A sentence that only a non-runnin​g marketing person would write..."

"The Orlando office participated in the 17th Annual Corporate 5k run on Thursday, April 14. The 87-degree weather was perfect for a 5k through downtown Orlando, with record participation from local companies and organizations."

Maybe 87 degrees feels better in Orlando than here?

Have a great rest of the week!

Blessings,
Karen

Run Scheduled - Saturday, May 7 at 7:00 a.m.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

We will do a run this Saturday, May 7th - we'll meet at Horizons at 7:00 a.m. for a 5ish mile run. Please email me if you have any questions about the run.

Congrats to Ed Atkinson on a PR at the Oklahoma City Half Marathon last weekend - in the cold and rain! There are a bunch of people doing 1/2 marathons (Marine Corps Half in less than 2 weeks), marathons and ultramarathons (Dave R. in Scotland!) in the next few weeks. I pray that God protects us all from injury and that we are mindful that He is the giver of our strengths and abilities and that we honor Him in all that we do. I'm thankful that I can run - may I never take that for granted.

This has nothing to do with running - but if you have young kids, there will be a concert at Horizons on Saturday night at 6 p.m. with Silly Norm and the Fun Bunch. It's just $3/person and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. Check out www.sillynorm.com for more info.

Have a great rest of the week!

Blessings,
Karen

Run Scheduled - Saturday, April 16th at 7:00 a.m.

After what seems like forever, we will do a run this Saturday, April 16 @ 7 a.m. We'll meet in the church parking lot and set off for our 5ish mile run.  Please let me know if you have any questions about the run.

I'm one long training run away from the Pittsburgh Marathon next month.  This is my first time training for a marathon in  the spring.  Even though it was hard to get the miles in early in the training program due to weather, I have to say that it is much nicer doing the long runs in the 40-50 degree temps compared to what we get around here is August & September. 

Hope you're enjoying your runs...I'll leave you with a couple quotes about running that I came across today:

"Finland has produced so many brilliant distance runners because back home it costs $2.50 a gallon for gas."  ~Esa Tikkannen, 1979

"To a runner, a side stitch is like a car alarm.  It signifies something is wrong, but you ignore it until it goes away."  ~Author Unknown

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise."  ~P.Z. Pearce

League of Their Own: National Road Racing League

League of Their Own: National Road Racing League

Trail Run Scheduled - Saturday, March 26th at 7:00 a.m.

Happy Thursday everyone!  Can you believe there is a forecast for a wintry mix this Sunday?  I just got used to running in shorts and a t-shirt again - I'm not ready to go back to layers and hats and mittens, etc.

We won't have our normal run from the church on Saturday, but Dave Robertson has organized a run in PW Forest.  Check out the information below, and let Dave or myself know if you have any questions. 

Please let the Horizons Runners know that I’m hosting a trail run for anyone who’s interested this Saturday starting at 7:00 AM in Prince William Forest Park.  We’ll meet in the Visitors Parking area (If everyone could plan on arriving a little before 7:00 AM that would be great!).  The plan is to do three 6 mile loops, so folks will have the option of doing a 6, 12, 18 mile run.  We’ll even do a shorter 3 mile loop for those who are new to running.   If you could let me know whether you’ll be running with us that would be helpful – I don’t want to leave anyone behind.  Please email me at david.robertson@cbp.dhs.gov or call me at 703-470-1620.

See you on the trail!

Blessings,
Karen

Great 5K & 1 Mile Run

Park Ridge Elementary School once again did a great job on putting on their 5k and 1 Mile Fun Run this morning.  It was a beautiful morning, except for the wind, but the temperature was great.  Spring is officially here!  Well, technically, that happens tomorrow but it feels like spring now. 

There were no first place category finishers from Horizons this time, but we made a good showing!  Congrats to Mike S. who placed 16th overall. 

Now I can look forward to my next race, the Pittsburgh Marathon.  Only 56 days left to train.  I just noticed their tagline, "Run the City of Bridges."  I need to find one with the tagline, "Run the City of Flat."

Blessings,
Karen

Run Scheduled - Saturday, March 12th at 7:00 a.m.

Horizons Runners will meet up in the Horizons Church parking lot for at 5ish mile run, this Saturday, March 12th at 7:00 a.m.  We'll take advantage of the early sunrise...that we'll lose again on Sunday due to Daylight Savings Time.  Also, we'll be done in plenty of time if you're planning on attending the Parenting Workshop that starts at 10:00 a.m.

Also, don't forget to register for the Park Ridge 5k (www.racetimingunlimited.com).

Please let me know if you have any questions - hope to see you there!

Blessings,
Karen

Park Ridge 5k - March 19th

It's that time of year again!  The Park Ridge 5k and 1 Mile Fun Run is coming up on Saturday, March 19 at 8 a.m.  Horizons Church will once again be sponsoring this event that is a fundraiser for the Park Ridge Elementary PTO.  Childcare is available during the 5k.  The 1 mile run follows the 5k at 9 a.m.

We've had several people from Horizons run this race each year and I hope you'll come out for this fun 5k.  Who knows - you may even win a prize! (Several runners from Horizons placed in their age groups last year.)

More information and registration for the event can be found at  http://www.racetimingunlimited.com/. 

This will be my fourth I think...or fifth...so if you have any questions about the event, please let me know. 
Time to start training!

Blessings,
Karen

Article about Children Running

I ran across this NY Times article recently - I think it presents some interesting information about the physical impact of running at an early age.

Enjoy.

Running Video

This is a neat video of the editor-in-chief of Runner's World magazine.  Enjoy!

Run Scheduled - Saturday, Feb. 26th at 7:30 a.m.

Today is the first day of regular registration for the Marine Corps Marathon.  If you've been thinking about running this, you need to make a final decision asap because registrations are expected to sell-out in less than a week.  It opens at Noon today (February 23rd) so mark your calendar!  (www.marinemarathon.com).  BTW, you can't access any info at their site right now due to them gearing up for registration, but if you have any questions about the race, I may be able to answer them.

We will run this Saturday.  Meet up time at the Horizons Church parking lot is 7:30 a.m.  We'll do our usual 5ish mile run.  Hope you can make it out!

Also, if you're in the area on Friday night, don't forget about the Evening of Worship & Prayer at Horizons.  It will be from 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.  Come for any or all of the time.  More information can be found at http://www.horizonschurch.com/prayer.

Hope you have a great rest of the week and hope to see you this weekend!

Blessings,
Karen

Run Scheduled - Saturday, Feb. 12th at 7:30 a.m.

Finally!  The weather for Saturday (Feb. 12th) looks great so we will have a run starting at 7:30 a.m.  We'll meet in the parking lot of Horizons Church and run our normal 5ish mile route.  I hope to see some of the new faces who expressed interest at the Life Group Fair last month.  If you have any questions about the run, please email me.  Also, please note that the start time is 7:30 instead of 7:00 a.m. so that it will be a little lighter (and hopefully a little warmer).

Also, best wishes to Bob H. and Craig P. as they run the Holiday Lake 50K on Saturday.  I hope you guys have an awesome run!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Blessings,
Karen

Not Running...Again

I waited as long as I could to decide what to do tomorrow morning. I was hoping that the rain...or whatever it's supposed to be...would be out of the forecast, but since they're still calling for precip in chilly temps, I'm not going to plan a run. If the weather cooperates, perhaps we can run on the 12th. I'm really ready for spring. I have some new shoes that I want to try out!

Hope you've had a great week.

Blessings,
Karen

Not Running Saturday (Jan. 29)

I had mentioned to a few people that I thought we'd be running this Saturday - Jan. 29th.  That was before I remembered that the Horizons Worship Band is participating in a prayer event at Spotsy Church of God on Friday night - and we take the "stage" at 11:45 p.m.  So...let's plan on a run next Saturday, February 5th.  I'll send out another reminder email next week.

Stay safe & warm out there - there's lots of black ice to try and trip up your run.

Blessings,
Karen

Parallels to Ultra Running

I came across the blog of a woman who is struggling through a serious medical issue.  Her husband added the following post onto her blog, and I loved what he wrote about the parallels between their journey and ultra running.  Please keep this family lifted in prayer:  The Simple Wife

Holiday Lake Information (Feb. 12th)

Here are some more details on Holiday Lake from Bob H.

Anyone interested in Holiday Lake, please shout.  It is a great introduction to ultra trail events – challenging, but very doable with a moderate fitness level and desire to participate.   Moderate fitness level = a recent (past 3 months or so) marathon completion and some running since and/OR current ability to run/walk steadily for 3+ hours.  If you can do this, you can complete HL within the time limit.   Don’t be put off by the ‘extreme’ description in the url – HL is pretty tame and exceptionally well run by a group from Liberty University.   Another plus is relatively moderate cost, $75 if you sign up before 22 Jan, $95 afterward – plus, and this is a great bonus, you can stay in a cabin at the start/finish for only a few $.  Dave R. ran HL last year and he can provide some scoop, too.

Run Scheduled - Saturday, January 15th @ 7:30 a.m.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Are you enjoying winter? I'm thankful for less snow than last year, but I wouldn't mind it being a little warmer and less windy.

We'll have our first official group run of the year this Saturday, January 15th at 7:30 a.m. Please note the 7:30 start time as I don't think it's light enough out at 7 a.m. We'll meet in the Horizons Church parking lot for our normal 5ish mile run. If you're new to the group, please let me know if you have any questions.  A few of us will tack on some extra miles (up to 7-10) at the end of the run, so if you're in the market for a longer distance, plan on that as well (ie bring hydration!).

For those who love trail running, the Holiday Lake 50K that will be held on February 12th. Here's the link to the website for the event: http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/  Bob H. will be participating and I trust him when he says this is an excellent trail run.

Feel free to forward the information to anyone else you know who may be interested in joining us for our runs.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Blessings,
Karen

My Review of Womens Camelbak Annadel Hydration

Originally submitted at Road Runner Sports

Women's CAMELBAK® ANNADEL :: Designed to fit a woman's body perfectly, the women's CamelBak® Annadel hydration pack features a 50-ounce water reservoir and holds all your essentials in the zipper pocket while maintaining a sleek, aerodynamic shape that stays securely out of yo...

Womens Camelbak Annadel Hydration

Love this Camelbak!

By Kedge from Stafford, VA on 1/11/2011

 

5out of 5

Pros: Adjustable, Good Quality, Lightweight, Compact, Improves Function

Best Uses: Running

Describe Yourself: Casual/ Recreational

Was this a gift?: No

I use this for my distance runs - 6 miles +. I tried a camelbak several years ago and wasn't comfortable with the fit. This one is designed for women and fits perfectly. It took the first run to get it adjusted and after that, I don't even notice it's there. I had been running with a fuel belt (the one with the 4 bottles) and my only challenge in making the switch is being able to tell how much water I have left.

(legalese)