Pepto and Bismol

We have two new team members!  Their names are Pepto and Bismol and they are bright pink gumball machines that live in the Springville Walmart entrances.  The reason for their names is because "oh what a relief it is" to have a steady revenue stream for our team!  (well, also, because they are Pepto Bismol pink)  We already have two gumball machines placed in American Fork and Logan and we are finding that gumballs are a wonderful way to raise funds (so long as you can get them placed well!).  Gumball machines are all about volume.  If a certain percentage of the people who see a gumball machine want to buy one then the more people you have passing your machine, the more gumballs you will sell.  A lot of people walk through the doors at Walmart so we are hoping this will translate to lots of $$.  Fingers crossed!

MS150 2014

Hello!  First of all we'd like to thank all of our wonderful sponsors who made the MS150 ride possible including everyone who donated and especially our jawbreaker machine hosts -- Center Street Grille in Logan and Water Gardens Cinema in Pleasant Grove.

Here are a few pictures from our ride this year.  We had 9 riders on the team including 2 rookies.

Left to right:  Bethany, Marianne, Me, Sarah (rookie #1), Bill, Reid, Isaac (rookie #2 in front of Reid), Jacob, Lisa.

Most of us did the 45 mile route.  Reid and Isaac did 50 miles so Isaac could get a boy scout merit badge.  Jacob and Bill did the century route.  Can you believe how grown up Jacob is?!  Look back a few years ago on this blog and you'll see a little boy in a t-shirt that says "I stink at fundraising."  Same boy.  Now he's in a professional jersey and looks like he could ride with Lance Armstrong!

The Before pictures

Rookie #1.  Excited and a bit nervous :-)

Rookie #2.  Ready to rock and roll! 

The Hales boys.  Dr. Reid, Lance Jr. and Mr. Energy

Very important to put on sunscreen.  If you don't you may end up with .......

a really cool looking sunburn mask! :-)

Tires pumped?  Check!  Sunscreen?  Check!  Water bottles?  Check!

Ready to ride!

On the road.  I was riding in the back and I looked up to see this.  Our team sure has grown!  Sarah says, "Where?"  Ok.  So the riders seem a bit small in this picture.  It was a neat sight though.  You just had to be there -- join us next year! :-)

Isaac and Sarah had a grand time riding together.  Isaac kept Sarah entertained with World War I and II history lessons and funny jokes.  Sarah said she was going steady -- meaning she felt steady on her bike.  Isaac inquired who she was going steady with.  Was it Thomas?  Was the relationship steamy? (Thomas the train :-) or was it George?  Did he go bananas for her? (Curious George :-).  Love that 12 year old boy humor!

At this rest stop the rookies found this really fun merry-go-round.  Aunt Marianne discovered that it is not wise to try and jump on a moving merry-go-round after riding 36 miles on a bike!  Ouch!

Almost-Post Ride Pictures

Ok.  So this isn't exactly post ride.  Here we are three blocks from the finish.  The route was changed this year so that we rode past Gossner Foods on the way back to the finish.  That's how it was 10 years ago when I first rode.  For my first few rides it was a tradition to stop at Gossners and get an ice cream cone on the way back.  We did that this year too.  When we were at Gossners we realized that we were about an hour ahead of the 100 milers.  So we called the kids back at home and told them to wait and come in an hour to cheer on the 100 milers when they came through the finish.  That would give us an hour of kid-free relaxation at the finish :-)  About three blocks from the finish Sarah, who hadn't been in on the conversation about when the kids would come cheer at the finish, said to me that she was so excited to see everyone at the finish line!  Oops.  This was her first year riding.  She had gone 46 miles.  Here we were at the end and the moment she was most looking forward to almost didn't happen!  We pulled over and called the kids.  Change in plans.  Come now.  As we waited for them we did yoga and applied some of Aunt Marianne's miracle cream.  She has this great cream that really helps sore muscles.  I wish I remembered the name!  "And we also swatted spiders," says Sarah.  I have to admit I'm glad the kids were there to cheer us in at the finish.  It was a really neat feeling to ride in to cheers from the family.  It was also really neat to see Sarah finishing and being mobbed by her younger siblings and cousins.  I am so proud of her!! :-)

Post Ride Pictures

Is this the same girl that started the bike ride 6 hours ago?  Rookie #1 has found a little bit of confidence and a little bit of attitude LOL

Our cheerleaders making silly faces :-)

The 100 milers at the finish line

Post ride massages while waiting in line for dinner.

Bingo!!  Aunt Lisa championed the Bingo cause again this year

and again it paid off!  We won some Apple Beer and a 

$50 gift certificate to Harmon's :-)

The real reason for cold drinks at dinner :-)

On our way home!

Of course we had to stop by Center Street Grille!

And, of course, the real reason we ride!  To help find a Cure for MS!

THANK YOU for your love and support!

BikeMS 2013

It's already August and we haven't posted about this year's BikeMS!  Two things that we are always trying to do: make it to lunch before they clean it up and avoid the SAG wagon.  This year, we made our goals!  It was incredibly hot so we decided to stick with the shorter route (45 miles).  I have to admit to being a little disappointed.  It's a point of pride to be able to say all year long that I did a 75 mile bike ride.  But we decided that it might be nice to NOT close out every rest stop along the way.  Unfortunately, we still closed out the rest stops.  We're just slow.  Well, I'm just slow.  Michelle rides the route twice by doing circles around the rest of us, trying to stay with us even though we are considerably slower than she is.  So, we still closed out the rest stops but....we had lunch!  We had lunch when other people were having lunch!  That was very exciting.  It was also exciting to not have to wait around for a ride back to the fairgrounds.  Hooray for accurately assessing how many miles we had in us!  This year was also the first year they did the "I Ride with MS" program.  Those of us riding with MS could wear special jerseys and there was a fun group picture at the start of the ride.  One thing I did miss by going on the 45 mile route is the really fun hilly section just before the lunch stop.  We all decided to do more training rides this year and to be sure to go to bed early the night before so we can make the first wave of riders (and ride in the cooler hours).  We want to do 75 next year!  75 and lunch.  That's all I ask for. :)

What is MS?

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has a lot of great information about MS.   Click Here to view their What is MS page. I especially love the video towards the top of the page. It explains MS in a very simple easy to understand way.

The Tortoise and the Hare

The Tortoise and the Hare

A couple of months ago my son came home from kindergarten with a picture of a tortoise and a hare.  They had obviously discussed the famous fable in school that day.  He said he couldn't draw either a tortoise or a hare so he had some friends draw those for him.  He draws owls :-)  This is his picture.  He drew the road.

Matthew has been obsessed with the story of the tortoise and the hare ever since.  I thought a lot about the Tortoise and the Hare right after I ran my first marathon.  Slow and steady.  How appropriate.  Of course in the case of the marathon slow and steady doesn't necessarily win the race (unless of course you are over 65 and you are running with me :) but -- wait a second! -- I'm getting ahead of the story.  Slow and steady doesn't necessarily win the race but slow and steady can finish the race!  And in the marathon of life, amidst chronic illness etc., that can be just as important as winning, eh?  That's what I discovered once I started marathon running.

How does a person go from extremely loathing running to running a marathon?  Pride.  Inspiration and pride.  My sister Marianne ran a marathon last year.  Those of you who follow this blog have probably read her blog post about her training and the actual event.  She ran the St. George marathon and she did it in just over 6 hours.  I was so impressed.  Here was my sister, my younger sister, my sister with multiple sclerosis, running in the heat of St. George.  Running a marathon of all things.  I remember the day of the marathon as we waited to cheer her on.  I remember getting really worried around noon.  It was a hot day.  A really really hot day.  People with MS don't do well with heat.  I know it affects my sister.  Where was she?  The route is closed to spectators up until about mile 23.  We all waited anxiously and then we saw her.  She was running.  Seriously.  Now that I've run/walked a marathon I appreciate that so much more.  She was running, in the heat of the day, in St. George, after having gone 23 miles.  Wow.  And she didn't stop!  She kept going and ran every step of the last 3 miles.  Amazing.  I was inspired.  Slowly and steadily she got the job done.  And because she did it I had to try.  And because I tried I came to meet some of the coolest and most inspirational tortoises I've ever known.

In September Marianne and I ran the Top of Utah marathon.  My first marathon.  I wasn't thinking about time.  I was only thinking about finishing.  I figured that I could run at least a 4mph average over the 26.2 miles.  I was able to average a little over 4mph on my long training runs so I figured it wouldn't be a problem.  I guessed I could be done no later than 6 hours 30 minutes.  Marianne, the seasoned marathoner was aiming a little higher.  She figured we could do it under 6 hours.  An average of 4.4mph or better.  It was downhill.  It was marathon day.  I decided maybe we could beat the 6 hour mark.  When we got to the half-way point of the marathon though we had our first jolt of reality.  3 hrs. 5min. is what the clock read.  Uh oh!  Wait a minute!  That clock must be wrong!  Reminds me of the denial I had when I first saw pictures after the marathon (Those pictures can't be right!  My hips aren't that wide!  My form isn't that bad! LOL :-)  Were we going to make it under six hours?  

Now we needed to run a faster second half in order to make our 6 hour goal.  The ominous negative split.  Ugh!  Just then a lady spoke up.  Grandma.  Sixty-nine year old woman in a bright pink running shirt.  She told us not to worry.  We would make the next half in 3 hours.  Marianne felt confident that we would.  Neither of us thought Grandma would.  She was going awfully slow.  Slower than even us and we are really really slow! LOL

Well, as you have probably already guessed, Grandma ran with us for about five miles and then we lost her.  Gone.  She left us in her dust at mile 18!  We didn't see her again until the finish line.  I can still see her bright pink running shirt way off in the distance ahead of us.  I wanted to catch her but I couldn't.  It just wasn't happening.  Of course it's not about the time, right?  It's not about beating elderly ladies in pink running shirts.  It's about running your own race and finishing strong.  Still it would have been nice to have finished around the time that grandma did :-)

We finally did finish.  One foot in front of the other.  Slowly and steadily.  6 hours 55 minutes give or take a minute.  

What was grandma's time you ask?

Afterwards I became obsessed.  I wished I had asked grandma what her time was.  Why didn't I take note of her bib number or ask her name?  Then I realized that we did know a couple of key facts.  She was 69 and she probably finished between 6 hours and 7 hours.  With those few facts I was able to find someone I believed to be her in the results.  Zazoosh photography confirmed it.  I found grandma!  6 hours 33 minutes.  Almost a perfect average of 4mph.  Slow and steady.  

I've run a couple of long races and in both of them I've been passed up by elderly runners who slowly and steadily run their race.  One foot in front of the other.  And they win.  They finish.  They get the job done.  I'm grateful for their examples.  

I love the story of the Tortoise and the Hare -- not only for marathons but also for life.  Now when things start to get hard I will think of grandma in her bright pink running shirt.  And I'll think of the Tortoise and the Hare.  Slow and Steady.  Winning the race one step at a time!  Go Grandma!

False Flats

A few days ago I went for a bike ride.  I've only been on a few, literally maybe three, bike rides this year (one being the MS150 :-).  I've been concentrating on the marathon coming up in September.  I need to get out and bike more.  I miss biking.  Especially the downhills :-)

As I was biking I was thinking and thought I'd put my thoughts on "paper" for all the world to read because of course you all love to hear the ramblings (or is that rattlings? :-) that come out of my head when I ride :-)

As I mentioned above, I haven't done a lot biking this year.  As I was riding I felt like I was a little bit out of shape.  That didn't surprise me :-)  At one point I was riding on a nice flat road (or what I thought was a nice flat road!) and on the other side a group of three older gentlemen going the opposite direction whizzed past me.  At that point I was feeling really out of shape!  Were they on the same road I was struggling with?  Soon the road I was on got close to a fairly busy road so I turned around and went back the way I came (the same direction I saw the older guys whiz by)  I was amazed!  The road I had been on was actually a false flat!  Now that I was going a different direction I hardly had to pedal!  No wonder those guys were going so fast!  Of course, I don't doubt they were actually in really good shape too but that's beside the point :-)

False Flats/Invisible Struggles

I thought about false flats in life.  We think we are on a nice flat road and we wonder why we are struggling.  Why do the guys on the other side seem to being going so fast, so effortlessly, on apparently the same road?  Or maybe I see someone struggling with something that seems like it's not that difficult.  Why are they struggling?  Doesn't always make sense.

Recently a friend of mine told me about her daughter who is dyslexic.  I had no idea.  She struggles every day and you would never know it.  I called another friend.  As we talked she broke down in tears and told me that her husband had just moved out.  I had no idea.  False Flats.  Invisible struggles.  At the finish line in Logan we met a guy and asked him his connection to MS, why he was riding.  After telling us he asked us the same question and we told him we ride for Marianne.  She was sitting there in her biking gear and he asked her about her MS.  What were her symptoms?  How did she handle it?  As she was explaining her symptoms to him she said something interesting.  She said that if someone didn't know she had MS they would probably just think she was lazy because she has to rest a lot to deal with her MS symptoms.

All of this thinking was a good reminder to me.  First of all, I need to be easier on myself.  No comparisons.  Even if two roads look very similar chances are they aren't.  And second, I need to be easier on those around me (my kids, family etc.).  I may never know what false flats someone is struggling with.

So there you have it.  Some of the thoughts that rattle around in my head when I bike :-)

Gratitude 2012

Just finished the 2012 Harmon's Best Dam bike ride MS150 in Logan.  So much fun!!  I love that ride. So many wonderful people gathered together in a common cause.

As I was sitting at the award presentation thingy the evening after the ride I had this overwhelming desire to get up and just say THANK YOU! to everybody there.  So I thought I'd just "take the microphone" here on the blog and say some THANK YOUs :-)

These aren't in any particular order.

Mother of boy with MS/Volunteers

THANK YOU volunteers!  One of the people that spoke at the event Saturday night was a mother of a boy who was just diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) last year.  The boy is 16 years old.  His mom got up and told about how they had found the National MS Society and decided to become involved as volunteers at the MS150 event.  Their whole family was there volunteering at the MS150 that day.  How cool is that!?

I LOVE volunteers!  I feel like a celebrity when I ride in the MS150.  The rest stops are particularly fun.  I've had my bike valet parked, been misted with cold water, served cold drinks, had my sunglasses cleaned, gotten tattooed and massaged.  Volunteers are the best!

Thank you volunteers!  Riding is fun.  Volunteering seems like work LOL  I'm so grateful for people who want to volunteer!  You make the ride so much fun!  THANK YOU!

UHP tattoos at Rest Stop #2

Speaking of volunteers...

Rest stop #3

We got off to a late start Saturday morning.  And we were not the fastest bikers on the course.  At rest stop one I found out that Bethany, my sister Lisa's daughter, wasn't feeling very well.  As the morning progressed she felt worse and worse.  By rest stop number three she was ready to call a Support vehicle (SAG).

I thought about how we had missed lunch last year.  Our goal this year was to make it to lunch!  We were a little over half-way to the lunch stop.  At our pace we'd get there at 1pm and probably miss lunch.  I have to admit, I was a little sad.  It wasn't even noon yet and our ride was ending right before the ride starts to get really interesting!  Rest Stop 3 was closed down.  That's how late we were!  The volunteers were all eating their box lunches.  As we were waiting for the SAG vehicle a volunteer approached us.  Dixie.  She brought four extra lunches that they had.  I thought it was making it to the lunch stop that I wanted.  No.  It was LUNCH!  And here it was.  THANK YOU Dixie.  And THANK YOU Richards Brandt Miller Nelson, the sponsors of Rest Stop 3.

Mmmmmmm.  Lunch!! :-)

LtoR: Bethany, Lisa, Dixie, Marianne, Me

Mountain America Credit Union

THANK YOU Mountain America Credit Union (MACU)!  This year we got back to the Village earlier than we normally do.  Lucky for us!  We got back just in time for the MACU afternoon drawing.  Bethany's name was drawn out as a participant in the money grab game.  This is where you step into a thing.... what's the right word? .... a tent/tube thingy (it's like a plastic phone booth) and they turn on a fan which blows money all around you.  Seriously.  You grab what you can and you actually get to keep the money!  Bethany was able to grab $32!  Now she only needs to raise $218 for next year's ride :-)  


MACU also sponsors a BINGO game.  You take a bingo card on the ride and get signatures for things like "person with yellow socks," "person in the top 75 of the 150 club," "someone from team Harmon's."  Things like that.  We've done the bingo in the past but we've never won.  This year two of us on the team won!  Yep.  We stayed to the bitter end Saturday night and finally our name was called :-)  Lisa won $50 and I won $100.  With that $100 we can purchase 1700 jawbreakers for our jawbreaker machine at the Water Gardens theater in Pleasant Grove and raise $425!  How cool is that!?  THANK YOU Mountain America!

Bethany in the money booth grabbing money :-)

Bethany

THANK YOU Bethany!  As I mentioned above, Bethany wasn't feeling too well.  After lunch at Rest Stop 3 though and a little yoga with Aunt Marianne, she decided she would try and go one more rest stop. We told her about the really fun rolling hills between Rest Stop 3 and Rest Stop 4.  One of the funnest parts of the route in my opinion.  We are so proud of Bethany!  She made it to Rest Stop 4 and can now officially say she has biked from Logan to Idaho!  Thank You Bethany for riding to Franklin with us!  Bethany is also one of our top fundraisers.  She raised the money for her mom, Lisa, to ride with us this year!  Thank you Bethany! :-)

Lisa and Bethany in Idaho :-)

The Rookies

THANK YOU Lisa!  THANK YOU Craig!  As we were riding, both Marianne and I discussed how this year seemed different.  We just didn't seem as pumped and excited to be there.  Something was missing.  Luckily we had Lisa with us!  This was Lisa's first year.  She was one of two Rookies on our team.  As we plodded along, Lisa sailed on ahead of us.  I can still see her smiling face.  She was loving it!  She didn't complain at the hills.  In fact she tackled each one deftly without even getting off her bike once!  Quite often we'd look around -- Where's Lisa? we'd ask.  Inevitably she was way ahead of us, oblivious to the fact that we were trailing behind.  Thank you Lisa for bringing some energy to a group of not so energetic riders!  


And Thank you Craig!  He pulled the 100 mile team along.  We met Craig the day before the MS150.  Apparently Craig bikes A LOT!  He was in really good shape and was able to help the 100 milers tackle the windy conditions.

Hills?  Ha!  I eat hills for breakfast!  Bring it on!!

Bill

THANK YOU Bill!  Bill is my husband.  He's our bike mechanic and team support.  He was also team captain this year.  Thank you Bill for remembering that Marianne's bike last year had lots of problems and that she ended up finishing the ride last year on my bike!  Because Bill remembered this we were able to fix up my bike for Marianne to ride and get another bike ready for me.  This made for a much more pleasant ride!  So nice to have a decent bike to ride on, eh?  Bill switched bike seats and adjusted bikes the morning before the ride so that we could each have a good bike to ride.

Superman!!  Cyclist, Team Captain, Master Mechanic and so much more!

Jacob and Reid

THANK YOU Jacob and Reid.  Jacob was a good sport.  We all painted our fingernails orange for the ride.  Jacob was the only manly man among the men :-)  He painted one hand's nails :-)  Thanks for playing with us Jacob and Thanks for riding even after having two flat tires!  Thanks to Reid for helping with the flat tires!  Reid and Jacob rode 75 miles!!  Way to go!

Friends and Family

THANK YOU Friends and Family!  For the past couple of years Bill and I have relied on money from the gum ball machine and CureMS, the iPhone/iPad app, to have enough to ride.  This year I was hoping to get into the 150 club (top 150 fundraisers).  I was quite a bit short though but thought I still might be able to pull off $600 to get a jersey.  As the race approached I was still about $70 short of my goal.  I decided to call Bill's mom.  Bill's mom always donates $50 to the ride each year.  This year however she was on her honeymoon.  It was Friday.  I was desperate.  I called.  I know.  I got a lot of flack from the family for that one.  But it was Grandma!  She loves to donate, right?  Anyhow.  I got the answering machine.  Dang.  The first year I rode I sent out an email and raised money that way.  In recent years however email pleas had gone unanswered.  So I decided to try a less-than-subtle Facebook status.  "Yahoo!  On my way to the MS150!  So excited and only $50 short of my goal!"  I added a link to our fundraising website :-)  THANK YOU to my cousin Staci for seeing that status update and donating the much needed/wanted $50 :-)  And THANK YOU to Aunt Charlotte for donating the other $20!  And THANK YOU to all the friends and family that support us in so many different ways (including reading this blog :-)!  It means a lot to us.  We love you!

Marianne

THANK YOU Marianne!  Thank you for suggesting years ago that we fundraise as a family.  Thank you for having such fun ideas and making everything so fun!  Marianne suggested we paint our fingernails orange this year.  Great idea!  That was a ton of fun.  She also encouraged us and led us onto BINGO victory! :-)  Also it was with Marianne that we brainstormed the "Crush MS" campaign on one of our runs.  Being with Marianne turns on the creative juices!  THANK YOU!

Crush MS!

Yoga at Rest Stop 3

THANK YOU to Water Gardens theater in PG for hosting our jawbreaker machine and to Apple for creating the App Store and the iPhone/iPad so we could make CureMS (and to Bill for the idea :-).  THANK YOU to Scott, Jenni and Jeff for watching the kids while we rode.  THANK YOU to you for reading this :-)  

THANK YOU!