Danvers 5k

I would like to take a moment on behalf of myself and the D5K to congratulate all of our D5k’rs who took part in the this years Disney Marathon in Florida. For those of you not familiar wit this event it breaks down like this. There is a 13.1 mile half marathon, a 26.2 mile full marathon, and if you can believe it a 39.3 mile “Goofy Challenge” A combination of both the half and full marathon. I am proud to say that the D5K had runners participating in all 3 of these of these run options.

Now…here’s where the hook comes in. When you think of Florida, one might assume your mind conjures up images of sunshine, beaches, warm weather, and of course…old people. This year however other than the old people NONE of those Florida Postcard images were present. Quite the opposite in fact. This years runners were not only competing against the clock and personal goals. They had to compete against mother nature herself. Walt Disney himself could have cast a better evil queen for this event. From the information that I received the temperatures for the event hovered in the mid 20’s! “That’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius” Rain, Wind, and even Sleet were all extra foes to be added to the already formidable event.

Did you know water freezes at 32 degrees? This fact was brutally apparent at any of the water stops along the course. “Ice skating rinks” are how they were described to me. “Water to cold to drink” and “Powerade Slush” were a few other descriptions that created a vivid picture in my mind.

Now for the sunshine. All of the D5K runners who set out on this testing challenge finished, and I believe finished well. For some it was there first marathon, others there first half marathon, mix in a few veterans to both the Marathon and Goofy Challenge and you have a family of runners whose belief and support in each other prove greater than the adverse conditions that were placed in front of them.

So on behalf of myself and the D5K, I would like to congratulate you and all the runners on an accomplishment well earned.

Official Results: Click Here

A little love for the D5K from halfway around the world. Compliments of Mr. Pak

Has it really been 2 years? So if we do some general math (just to get a rough estimate) 52 weeks a year times 2 years = 104 weeks. (YAY, we’re so smart) So we have had 104 D5K’s. Lets say the average for each week was 40 runners. That gives us a total of 124 miles ran each week. So to date, “WE” everyone who has run the D5K, have managed to rack up in the neighborhood of 13,000 miles in 2 years. (Not too shabby) That’s enough miles to run back and forth across the country twice. “RUN Forest RUN” So if we take our little fun math project a little further and say that the average “per mile” pace looked something like 9 minutes, then that equals like 117,000 minutes, or 1,950 hours, or 81 days, or 11 and half weeks, or around 3 months, of straight non-stop running. “How you like them apples?”

Now for the fun math. If each runner averaged 2 beers per week. “Huh…lets be honest shall we?” Ok, so lets say each runner averaged “4″ beers per week, that would give us in the ball park of 16,640 beers consumed since the inception of the D5K. Which basically equates to 2 beers per mile, or 693 cases, or 2,773 six packs. Or…if you feel like getting crazy if you average out 16,640 beers at 12oz.s a beer, that gives you close to 200,000 ounces of beer, or 1,563 gallons of beer. Not too shabby.

Alright enough with the math…on to the mushy stuff. I had know idea that the D5K would grow to become what it has, I find it pretty amazing. I can only attribute its growth and life to YOU…and by you, I mean if you’re reading this, than yah you! You who shows up each week rain or shine, and you run, you show up each week and you laugh, you show up each week and you support. So for that I Thank You. We have an amazing group of people who show up every week, if variety is the spice of life, then the D5K kicks Salts ass. Anticipation, is a word I think fits very well for me in my thoughts about the D5K. I anticipate Wednesday’s, I anticipate the D5K, I anticipate interacting with all of you, I anticipate PR’s and first time runners, I anticipate hearing what races happened over the weekend, and which ones are to come, I anticipate the look on the peoples faces at the food pantry when I lug in 6 huge bags of food, and there like “H…S…!” These are the things I look forward too, these are the things that YOU make happen, and for that I thank you. Thank you for 2 years of “REAL” and “GENUINE” and “THURSDAY HANGOVERS”

That’s all I got…thanks.

I just received a nice thank you card from the volunteers over at the Danvers Food Pantry. They wanted to show there appreciation for all the food items that all of you have donated. Your generosity touches a lot of peoples lives. Thank you all for the help.

What a great Wednesday night run this turned out to be. I never really know what to expect each week, and I guess that’s one of the things I like about the D5K. You just never know who’s going to show up what’s going to happen. For example, I was not expecting 53 runners to be at my doorstep ready to rock and roll. Most people drove here, some ran to the run “which in itself is funny” and I know at least three people rode bikes. Regardless of how you ended up here, I am just glad you did.

Of the 53 runners, 6 were first time runners to the D5K. To you, I say welcome, and I hope you enjoyed the show. Also we had 5 D5k regulars lay down some fast times setting Personal Records for themselves on our course. The top ten was filled with the usual suspects, with Pak coming in first for the dudes, and Crystal coming in first for the Cuties. Although in looking back in the results that I had previously posted, I seem to have put the “First Female” tag in the wrong spot. Sorry Tom, don’t beat me up, but I am too lazy to go change it.

I hope you all saw my previous post about what a great job you all did in donating food to the food bank. Once again I thank you all for your continued generosity.

For those of you that hung out for a while after the run, I am sure you will agree that we were treated to some good laughs and some good edibles from one Mr.Pak. Homemade on the spot bread, and an interesting game of skill that is way better if you win than if you lose. “Trust me…just ask Frank” For those of you who haven’t experienced Pak’s game, or more importantly his bread, I will hold back trying to describe either of them, for they truly need to be experienced for ones self.

See you all next Wednesday.