Easy Scrapbooking: Trail Race

I totally did not mean to only share scrapbook pages from races. Oops! My scrapbook is actually filled with more travel related subjects than running, but I guess these pages just turned out to be more interesting. I will definitely share others in the near future.

This page is from a trail race called Love on the Rocks. It is slightly more complicated since I made my own snow-capped mountain range by hand. I am proud of this page because it's a little more creative than a lot of mine. You could use this type of design for other things as well...skiing, mountain climbing, etc.

Easy Scrapbooking: Color Run Page

The next scrapbook page I would like to share with you is from a Color Run. (I don't run that much, I swear!) Color Runs are, well, colorful. So this page had to be that, as well.

I love the color splotches I found (on Google) and imported into my Silhouette software. I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted them on the page, so I cut out several in a few sizes. I really like how it turned out.

Easy Scrapbooking: Race Day Page

I love scrapbooking! I enjoy looking back through all my scrapbooks and remembering all the fun times and people I have chosen to include. But I think scrapbooking is intimidating to a lot of people. First you have to sort through all your photos, figure out which ones to have printed and then have all the right supplies. Once you get all those things sorted out, scrapbooking can be very easy and relaxing. I have a simple approach when it comes to immortalizing my memories. I do not include a lot of embellishments; I like my pages to focus on the photos.

The first page I would like to share with you is a race day page. It's probably one of my more modest layouts. I love the patterned paper on this page. It's a colorful chevron print. I used the same paper for the running man and title. I do not even remember where I bought it. I love Hobby Lobby and Michael's, but I like local scrapbook stores even better. There was an amazing one in Dayton, but I only discovered it right before we moved. I haven't found one near me in California.

To make both the running man and title, I used my Silhouette. I love, love, love it! Even though I've had it for many years now, I am still figuring it out. I finally learned how to take any image found on Google and make it into a Silhouette shape. This is saving me a lot of money because I am not limited to the shapes in the Silhouette Design Store that cost about $1 each. Thank goodness for Pinterest!

A college town: Chico

A couple weekends ago Charles and I headed up to Chico for a night. It's not too far from us and is a great town. It is home to Chico State and has a great college vibe. Even though Chico is nothing like Rock Hill, home to Winthrop University, it made me miss college.

While in town we saw some of the sites. We visited an old covered bridge that is now part of a little park. It was a gorgeous area. We also visited the Gold Nugget Museum in Paradise, CA which is next to Chico.

The next morning I participated in a 5k while Charles ran a 10k. It was called the Almond Blossom run since it ran through almond tree fields. It was a beautiful day and I did pretty well (for me). Charles came in 1st in his age group!

He requested a picture with his two tickets to Paradise...what a weirdo :)

Love on the Rocks

This weekend Charles and I participated in the 2nd annual Love on the Rocks trail run. There was a 5k option and a 10k option. Guess who did which race? If you guessed that I participated in the 5k and Charles completed the 10k then you would be correct!

The theme is a fun one. They have several team options--couples, groups of friends, family...all focused on love. At the end of the race, they were offering vow renewals. There was even a couple that came up from Los Angelos to get married afterward. We didn't stick around to watch, but what a fun idea!  

My time wasn't that great, but several parts of the trail were very rocky and tough. Plus I'm not a fast runner and ended up walking most of the time.

Charles finished before me and came back to meet up with me as I was coming up to the end of the race. How sweet!

Jamba Juice was one of the sponsors and gave out little cups of juice. Yummy!

Charles on the other hand finished 1st overall! He's so fast.

1st Overall male and female

Another medal to add to the collection

Afterward, we enjoyed brunch at Mom's. Yummy!

Color Run

This past weekend Charles and I participated in the Color Run. I thought it would be a fun thing to do together. We spent the night in Sacramento so we would not have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive down to the race. The night before we saw Wish I Was Here with Zach Braff. It was a good movie! I recommend seeing it.

The next morning we woke up and got dressed in our white shirts. I wore my tutu from my Color Me Rad race in October.

Pre-race

It was a tough 3 miles for me because I haven't run in a while. Poor Charles just wanted to run and I am too slow for him. I don't think I got as colorful in this race as I did in the Color Me Rad, but there were more freebies afterwards. 

Run Rocklin

This past weekend I participated in a 5k while Charles ran a half marathon. It was a gorgeous day and a perfect race day. I ran by myself so I listened to the Imagine Dragons playlist on Pandora. I am not sure of my official time; my chip did not work for some reason. I think I finished in about 45-46 minutes. I was a little disappointed because this run felt better than past runs. But the only thing that matters is that I did it!

Charles set a new personal record in his half marathon. He also came in 1st in his age category and fourth overall. He's so speedy!

Race Bib Display

Now that Charles is an avid runner, he has amassed quite a few race bibs. I knew he needed a way to display them. I first visited Etsy because I was thinking about just buying one. I found several that I kind of liked, but I could not find the perfect one. I often get an idea in my head and cannot find exactly what I am imagining. Then I decided that I could just make one! It was pretty easy.

What you will need:
- piece of wood. Mine was purchased from Hobby Lobby and measures 12x24. I'm not sure how thick it is, but you'll probably want one thicker.
- chalk paint
- wooden letters
- paint for the wooden letters
- wood glue
- hooks
- hanging accessory

Paint your board with several layers of chalkboard paint.

Paint your wooden letters. I chose the word RUN. If you browse the bib displays on Etsy you can get some other word ideas. Instead of wood letters you could use vinyl or hand paint your word(s).

Glue the letters to your dried chalkboard.

Figure out the spacing for the bibs. Most of Charles' bibs matched. The ones that had wider or narrower holes were re-punched so I would not have to use multiple pairs of hooks.

Screw the hooks into the board. My board was a little thin so we could not screw them all the way in. It worked out fine, but if you are particular you will want to purchase a thicker piece of wood.

Attach the hanging accessory to the back. I picked the kind that looks like a saw. I have no idea the official terminology for those.

I used chalkboard paint so Charles can record his fastest times for each kind of race. We have not bought any chalk yet, so mine is simulated in the picture above.

He received the ribbon display as a gift. And the two shadow boxes display items from his first two marathons.

RAD

This past weekend my friend Angela and I participated in a 5k called Color Me Rad. A lot of people have probably heard of the Color Run. From what I understand Color Me Rad is the same thing.

The race was in Columbus so we had to leave super early. I set my alarm for 6:05am. I woke up at some point and turned over to see what time it was. It was 6:30am. I accidentally set my alarm for PM. Oops! Angela and Matt were picking me up at 6:45. Luckily I had everything laid out and ready to go. I quickly got dressed and grabbed some water and a snack for the road.

We arrived around 8am for packet pickup. Our wave started at 9:30am. Before the race, they had a Zumba warmup. I've never done Zumba and I am not very coordinated, but it was fun to try out. They were throwing out color bombs so our white shirts were well colored even before the race.

I am not a runner, so I probably walked more than ran throughout the 5k. Part of the race was through the local town, which was pretty quaint. The rest of the race was through the fairgrounds which included some pretty tall, thick grass. That was not expected and made it a little tough.

We finished in around 43 minutes and were well colored.

I wasn't sure about the whole idea. I had a friend who did a similar run and wasn't pleased. Who wants to run through clouds of colored cornstarch? :) But I had a blast! It helped having a great running partner who was fine going at my pace.

Afterward, we cleaned up as best we could with wet washcloths and towels, changed our shirts and headed to the Mellow Mushroom. Yum! We got some funny looks with our blue arms and colorful hair. 

Pre-race. Love our homemade tu-tus??? Super easy to make!

After Zumba warm-up

Angela's boyfriend Matt made a good groupie and photographer.

Post race!

5k fail

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend it with my husband in Texas! He is still there for training (which feels never-ending). The weekend went too quickly.

While in town, we ran in a race honoring September 11. Charles ran the 10k and I ran the 5k. The challenge was to see who would finish first. My bet was that he would. He's ridiculously fast.

Race morning came. We checked in, got our bibs (my first ever) and picked up our shirts. I somehow ended up with a medium, so that is a little too big for me. But I'm not much of a t-shirt girl; I probably wouldn't have worn it anyway.

After a couple of intro speakers, the race started. Both the 5k and 10k started at the same time. I ran and then walked and ran and then walked... my usual. It was going well until I missed my second lap and came around to the finish line. I obviously was not paying very good attention to the signs or volunteers. I looked at the clock and knew I made a mistake. I had only been going for 20 minutes. As I crossed the finish line, I made sure to let the ladies know there was no way in heck that I did the whole thing.

It was hugely disappointing. I wasn't thrilled to be running. I never am. But I did want to see what my final time would be. Since I finished the 1st half in about 20 minutes, I figure I would have finished the whole thing in about 43 minutes. That was my goal, at least.

Charles ended up winning 1st place overall in the 10k. Like I told you...he's ridiculously fast.

Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving, I achieved a first for me. I completed an official 5k. If you know me, you know that I loath running. It has been a life long feeling. Charles has been hit by the running bug, so I thought we could do this together and make him really happy. We signed up for the Turkey Trot on base.

We got up bright and early Thanksgiving morning and headed over. The race was supposed to start at 8am which would have given us plenty of time to finish the race, get home and watch the whole parade. Come to find out after we arrive that the race didn't start until 8:30am.

We finished in 44 minutes and some odd seconds. We walked most of it (did I mention I hate running?). Charles was very encouraging, but I know he was feeling a little antsy to run. He was a trooper, though.

I don't know if I'll do another 5k, but I'm sure Charles will try to convince me.