Fire Freaks!

Team "Fire Freaks" after the Pineapple Classic 5K

August is a busy race month, which is great but a little sad because it also means the end of this season is quickly approaching. This month includes two fire department events for me--super fun to combine two separate parts of my life!

Pineapple Classic 5K

August 13 I did the Pineapple Classic 5K with Eric Stevenson, another firefighter from Gresham Fire. This race was a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization near and dear to my heart. This race was an obstacle adventure race, which I love. Tam Driscoll, from the City of Gresham, contacted Eric looking for Gresham Firefighters to form a team for a special Firefighters Challenge this event was going to have. We formed a four-person team, but ended up with only Eric and I racing.

The race was terrific! It was held in Canby, Oregon at Pat's Acres, a go-cart racing complex. Weather was perfect, overcast, cool. The event included 16 obstacles, including high wall, low crawl, creek wade, rope net climb, etc., and, required each team to complete carrying a pineapple! Most teams dressed in Hawaiian garb...Eric suggested we do the race in turnouts, so sure, I'm game! Running in turnouts is a lot of work...even with the liners removed and in running shoes. It did, however, get a lot of attention and really encouraged us to run strong since everyone was watching and cheering for the firefighters doing the course in turnouts (we were the only ones, by the way). We completed the event in 34:44, including all those obstacles, which means we ran fast! I was super impressed with our time. And it was super fun and a great fundraiser.

Eric, Tam, and me

I'm laying down the challenge for all my firefighter friends for 2012...come out and beat my time!

Hood to Coast Relay Race

The last weekend in August I will be doing the Hood to Coast Relay as part of Gresham Fire Team DNR (Do not Resuscitate). This will be my first run of the HTC, having done the Portland to Coast Walk Relay with Mother Superior with Team DNR about ten years ago. I am doing Legs 2, 14, and 26. I'm very excited about it.

Leg 2

 

Leg 14

 

Leg 26

Other Events
August 21 I will be completing the Portland Triathlon sprint, September 4 will be Stumptown sprint Tri. Look for race reports after each of those.

Train safe!