Bike MS 2012

The weekend we all look forward to all year is here!  We arrived on Friday afternoon and had our traditional carboload dinner at Olive Garden.  This year we had two rookie riders (our sister Lisa and our dad's friend Craig).  We gave the rookies a little green cactus with a bright orange (MS Orange!) flower to signify that even though they are "green" they are hearty and will grow a beautiful orange flower if they nourish their fundraising efforts!  We gave the entire team a can of orange Crush soda because we are attempting to "crush" MS.  The next morning after our team picture we took our now empty cans of Crush and yelled "CRUSH MS!" as we crushed our cans and stomped them.  Go team!

After our Go Team! moment we broke off into three groups--the 100 milers, the 75 milers, and the rest of us.  This year it was incredibly hot (much hotter than in years past) and we had one of our rookies and a young rider so we rode until we made it to lunch and then sagged back to the fairgrounds.  We wanted to make sure we hit the fun part, which is on the 75 mile route.  Our young rider (Bethany) confirms that the fun part was worth it!  I was really impressed with our rookie (Lisa) because this was the longest bike ride she's ever been on but she rode up EVERY hill and looked like she could have kept going for another 25 miles at least.  Due to the thoughtfulness of my brother-in-law, Bill, I was able to ride a superlite bike this year rather than Senor Hyabusa (who is fairly heavy and whose gears are less than optimal).  He took the bike they had turned into a stationary bike (Big Red Hyabusa) and made it into a regular bike for my sister to ride so I could ride hers (Mt Fuji Hyabusa).  I had ridden this bike for a few miles last year but riding it from the beginning showed me how much I was missing by riding an older bike with bad gears!  Watching a recumbant bike ride by, though, made me want to get a cool, non-traditional bike so that along with the good gears I could also avoid the shoulder soreness, tush soreness, and numb hands that are par for the course on a long bike ride.  Anyone want to be my bike sponsor???  The only problem with the recumbant is that I couldn't ride it in triathlons.  We aren't sure, though, if the prohibition means that I couldn't ride in the race or that I would be ineligible for the top prizes.  Since I'm never in the running for the top prizes that wouldn't be a problem! :-)

Back to this year's ride, though.  We were at a fairly slow pace due to the heat and the overall experience level of our little group and so, yet again, it was looking like we were going to miss lunch.  We made it to Rest Stop 3 as they were closing up and eating lunch themselves.  The folks at Richards Brandt Miller Nelson were so lovely that they told us they had 4 extra lunches that we could have!  So this year we finally got lunch!!!!  And we ate it at lunch time!!!  This has been our goal for many years.  It was good to finally achieve it :-)  This year we made it back to the fairgrounds at about 2:30 or 3 and came in to a big crowd (usually the only people still hanging at the finish line when we come in are in our family).  We also had more time to hang out the fairgrounds and enjoy all of the events there (I think our kids spent at least 3 hours in the bounce house and bouncey slide).  This year Bethany got to go into the flying money booth and snatched $32 and both Lisa and Michelle won the bingo prize ($50 and $100 respectively).  Unfortunately we did not win a cool new bike this year.  Usually this is due to our general bad luck in raffles but this year it was due to the fact that they made the bikes a silent auction item instead of a raffle item.  That was a little disappointing but I had to remind myself that the outcome was the same--we were filled with desire but ultimately left the fairgrounds without a cool new bike!  Again, does anyone want to be my bike sponsor? 

Well, we also left the fairgrounds with lots of great ideas for next year's ride and fundraising.  I'm excited to start on that and to have just as much fun next year!  Come ride with us!

Gumball/Jawbreaker Machine Earnings

Update (July 2024): Water Gardens theater was recently purchased by Megaplex theaters. We are currently trying to reach someone to learn what will become of Old Yeller. Hopefully we will be able to keep the machine at the theater. Old Yeller has raised over $4,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) over the years. Yay! We are so grateful to Mike Daniels and all of the people at Water Gardens who have so graciously let us keep the machine there for so long. Go enjoy a movie this month and get a jawbreaker! 😀

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Our best fundraiser to date is our gumball/jawbreaker machine, Old Yeller.  Currently it resides at Water Gardens Theater in Pleasant Grove, Utah (across from Macey's).  Here is a picture of it in it's current home and a list of it's earnings.  

This list will be updated at the beginning of each month when we collect the jawbreaker money.  Big THANKS again to WATER GARDENS THEATER in PG!!  A great place to watch movies!  $3 movie ticket and concessions for $1, $2 and $3.  Seriously.  Order tickets online without an online service fee.  Reserve seating.  LOVE IT!  And, as an added bonus, you can buy a yummy jawbreaker for a mere 25 cents and help people afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis :-)  Yahoo!

Money Earned

Placed at the Pleasant Grove Water Gardens Theater just before Thanksgiving 2008

Dec. 3, 2008 $65.31

Jan. 6, 2009 $80.28

Feb. 3, 2009 $43.50

Mar. 6, 2009 $10.25

April 3, 2009 $22.00

May 19, 2009 $29.50

Sep. 4, 2009 $90.00 

Dec. 10, 2009 $27.27

Jan. 9, 2010 $22.56

Mar. 16, 2010 $32.00

Placed at Monkey Island in Lehi second week in Dec. 2010

Dec. 30, 2010  $54.80

Mar. 15, 2011 $84.11

June 2011 $91.76

July 16, 2011   $24.30

Sept. 15, 2011 $58.77

Placed at Water Gardens theater Nov. 23, 2011
November 2011: (-$46.98)

Jan. 12, 2012 $135.21

Jan. 2012: (-$93.96)

Feb. 2012: $69.03

March 2012: $58.97

April 2012: $86.25

June 21, 2012: $161.07

July 20, 2012: $64.55

August 10, 2012: $100.78

Sept. 21, 2012: $93.50

Nov. 20, 2012: $143.87

Nov. 20, 2012: (-$93.96)

Jan. 20, 2013: $171.52
March 2013: $151.33
May 2013: $101.08
July 2013: $126.43
July 2013: (-$176.85)
Sept. 2013: $35.45
Nov. 2013: $90.11
Dec. 2013: $40.81
March 2014: $111.71
July 2014: $121.00
August 2014: $67.59 and $91.76
December 2014: $91
January 2015: $50.69
November 2015: $190
December 2015: $34
January 2016: $46.69
March 2016: $50.00
June 2016: $55.00
October 2016: $151.00
May 2017: $35.00
July 2017: $36.00
June 2018: $65.00
September 2018: $52.41
January 2019: $50
June 2019: $60
January 2020: $80
March 2020: $25

June 2021: $90

June 2023: $306 (it's been a while :-)

Note: In November 2011 Old Yeller became a jawbreaker machine.  When it was a gumball machine the gumballs were donated.  Now we buy our own jawbreakers.  It costs us $93.96 for 1700 jawbreakers.  At 25 cents per jawbreaker we will still be able to raise $331.04 for every 1700 jawbreakers sold.  To keep things completely transparent we will mark, on the list above, the money spent on jawbreakers in red. Update: As you can see we haven't marked anything red for over a decade. We ended up just donating the jawbreakers so every penny the machine earns goes to fighting MS.

Free training plan for the MS150

A friend recently asked me about training for the MS150.  I'm not one to follow a training schedule very strictly.  I didn't know what to tell her.  I decided to google "training for the MS150" and see if anything came up.  Google did not let me down :-)  It never does!  What did we do without Google (and YouTube how-to-videos)?  :-)  I found this site about a free training plan for people registered for the MS150.  Here's the link.  Check it out!

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/events/cycling/ms-society-public.aspx

You can also find other training plans that people have posted.  Most of them seem a lot more intense than anything I've ever done!  The people who follow those plans probably finish faster and are less sore than me too LOL  Either way, it's a lot of fun!  Remember, there are rest stops about every 10 miles and there are support vehicles and cell phones everywhere!  It's all good.  Oh yeah, and did I mention the massage at the end?  Yep.  I love this event :-)

Sold!

Yahoo!  Our latest eBay fundraising auction was a huge success!  Thank you to everyone who spread the word or bid on the ornament. And a big thanks to Uncle Blaine for donating the ornament!!

When all was said and done we had six bidders and twelve bids.  The winning bid was $45.  After shipping, eBay fees and PayPal fees we have $40.30 left to donate to the National MS Society!  Yahoo!!

Selling on eBay is a bit addictive.  It's very fun to see the clock tick down and the final bids come in.  If anyone has anything they want to donate I'd love to do another eBay fundraiser :-)

Here is a picture of the eBay ornament Uncle Blaine donated.  It's a spinning top.  Below the picture is a video of Blaine in his garage making a similar ornament.

Marathon Experience (Article for Rocky Mountain Running Magazine)

Choosing to Fly
By Marianne Hales Harding

I’m used to runners passing me like I’m standing still—it happens on every training run—but it’s an entirely different feeling to have thousands of runners pass you like you’re standing still.

Aerial footage of the start line of the St George Marathon must have looked like salmon swimming upstream around a large rock. A slow runner at my first marathon, all I wanted to do was swim upstream with the rest of the salmon but I knew I could never keep up. Not for 26.2 miles. So I plodded along until the 5 hour pacer approached from behind. I waited for the group to pass, but they kept plodding alongside me. For a few minutes I thought I would actually run a 5 hour marathon, but then they started inching ahead of me. Instinctively I pushed forward to keep up but, again, I knew I couldn’t maintain that. I went back to my pace and watched them creep slowly into the horizon. Farewell, chatty pacer. Farewell, 79 year old woman who ran Boston twice. Farewell, lady wearing a stuffed fox on her head. It was nice knowing you.

I have learned what my body can and can’t do, though, and a 5 hour marathon is the latter. I started learning my limits 10 years ago when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In those days my marathon was getting from the couch to the bathroom. It took all of my energy and determination to cross those few feet of carpet. Inevitably I would pace myself too fast and run out of energy halfway. I was overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of symptoms. The entire left side of my body was numb. I could hardly walk. The stairs were as unconquerable as Mt. Everest. Not understanding the disease, I mistakenly thought I’d never walk normally again. But MS is an unpredictable disease. Crippling symptoms can stay or go, seemingly on a whim. Eventually I learned to take a slower pace but at the time I was always running at full capacity and burning out quickly.

On marathon day my pace was even slower than usual because I decided, at the base of Veyo Hill, to walk all of the inclines. This became less and less indulgent as the temperature in the desert climbed. The heat intensified all of my complaints. I started feeling it in my feet at mile 8. I felt my hips at mile 10, my knees at mile 13 and my Ibuprofen at mile 15. I acknowledged each like children on a long trip. “Are we there yet?” Not yet. Eventually they stopped clamoring for my attention—evidence of the large percentage of a marathon that is purely mental.

When I was diagnosed with MS I had a horrible fear of needles, which was a problem because all of the treatments involve needles. I decided I needed to overcome this fear. For a month, I practiced. I forced myself to look when given shots and I gave practice shots to random inanimate objects. Finally I decided to just do it. I sat down on the bathroom floor and prepared a spot on my thigh. I took a deep breath and slowly lowered the needle, but as soon as it pierced my skin I pulled it back, leaving a little prick of blood as evidence. I tried again with the same results. For 45 minutes I did this, leaving a quarter-sized spot entirely covered with tiny prick marks. When I finally kept the needle in long enough to push the plunger down I wept from sheer emotional exhaustion. Over 3000 shots later, it is no longer a big deal but that isn’t because I have overcome my fear of needles. I simply stopped indulging the fear. I couldn’t spend 45 minutes of every day in terror so I skipped straight to shooting up and going on with my day.

It was that mental fortitude that kept me going mile after mile and I decided the secret to endurance must be simply not indulging in the desire to stop. The reward was the most amazing vistas. At one point a runner said to me, “The best part of a marathon is the finish line!” I said, “Are you kidding? This is the best part of the marathon!” The St George Marathon runs through a breathtaking section of southern Utah’s desert. About halfway through I looked at the red rock towering in the distance, felt the soul-feeding solitude, and considered myself incredibly lucky to be able to be in this moment, to have run the last three hours and to be able to run three hours more.

I am not an athlete. Even before the MS diagnosis I wasn’t one to push myself physically. When I lift heavy objects it is to bring them from the trunk to the pantry. When I swim it is to rescue the beach ball. When I run it is to capture the escaping dog. Serious athleticism was never something that seemed within my realm of possibilities. But I found that you don’t have to be the winner of the race to get something out of it. Emotionally, it felt so good to pound the problems of the day into the pavement. And, physically, I have never felt better. I have fewer MS episodes and recover quicker from the ones I do have. This realization got me excited about athletics. I completed several short triathlons, a half marathon and two 75 mile bike rides.

From those experiences I thought I knew what race day would be like, but I was entirely unprepared for the power of that midpoint in the marathon--for how amazing it would be to feel so in control of my own destiny. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “Why Walk When You Can Fly?” played on my iPod and I wept. “In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble; In this world there’s a whole lot of pain; In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble but a whole lot of ground to gain. Why take when you could be giving, why watch as the world goes by?; It’s a hard enough life to be living, why walk when you can fly?”

The finish line was nowhere near as emotional as that moment. Later my nephew asked facetiously if crossing the finish line made me feel empowered. It didn’t. When you a run a 6 hour marathon, the party at the finish line is over. 96% of the runners have already crossed and gone home. Crossing the finish line seemed anticlimactic, perhaps because I was too tired to think about what it meant. Back in the red rock at the midpoint, though, I remembered every step of the journey from the unconquerable stairs to the conquered desert landscape. I remembered feeling beaten down by life and then feeling powerful. I remembered choosing to fly.

Jawbreakers!

Old Yeller, our gum ball machine, is now officially a Jawbreaker machine!  And it has found a home for the holidays at the Water Gardens theater in Pleasant Grove. Yahoo!  Thank you Water Gardens!!  So go watch a movie and look for Old Yeller near the front door.  The Jawbreakers are really yummy and I love that they are long-lasting.

A new challenge!

It's official! Michelle, Bill & I are going to Adventure Race for Africa! We have formed a team for this unique race which is a triathlon but instead of swim/bike/run it is.....CANOE/bike/run. Along the way we get to complete challenges that help us learn more about the charity we are supporting. Look for us on July 14th out at Utah Lake! Better yet, form a team and race with us!!!

http://adventureraceforafrica.com/