Family 10 Milers and Marathon Cheering in a Farm Animal Costume

>> Wednesday, October 07, 2009

So after finishing the TC 10 Mile, I grabbed my finisher’s shirt and a banana, and I headed up to Pharmie’s family. I saw Tom R finish, and I talked to uncle John who had just finished too. (Marlo, whom I passed around mile 8, finished about 30 seconds behind me as first place in the 35-39 age group out of nearly 700 women!) I looked for Julia as I was jogging back, but I missed her: she finished under 70:00!!

When I got back to Pharmie’s family, Annie snapped an epic photo of me:



It wasn’t too long before my bro-in-law (the other half of “Team Happy Pants”) Matt came running by:



I grabbed cousin Ben, and we ran back to my car, which was about 3-4 blocks away. We went to go get Matt’s cow costume and my chicken outfit. I grabbed a photo of all the 10 Mile runners as we were heading to my car:



Nearing the car, we saw aunt Lisa go running by. Annie snapped a photo of her as she went by:



Soon, Ben and I emerged ready to cheer. Ben had a chicken outfit too. He carried the cow head over his shoulder, and I carried the “pelt.” It looked like we had just slaughtered a cow:



I like this photo of Bryan and the pig sitting next to each other:



Grant and Grace put on the animal heads. The cow head was so big for Grant that I had to hold it up so it didn’t tip him over:



Grant liked wearing the chicken head more because he could see out the beak. He also liked it when I whipped him in the head with my tail by shakin’ my ass:



Next we saw uncle Stevan come running by:



Steph was just behind him:





And shortly, aunt Nancy came FLYING by! She was really bookin’ it to the finish:



We were playing music, and the Hokey-Pokey came on, so we all had to Hokey-Pokey:


“Ya do the hoooooooekey-pokey...


...the hooooooooekey-pokey!”

Aunt Jean came running by, and we nearly missed her!



Soon after, aunt Jen came running past. Jen had 2 goals for the race: to finish, and to not finish last. So I cropped this image like this to show people BEHIND Jen:


Nice work Jen!!


Just after Jen high-fived a cow.

A ton of kids from a YMCA program got to run the last mile of the 10 Mile. (I think some littler kids ran the last 0.5 mile.) Suddenly, there was this army of kids running towards us, and I rallied the troops to give a BUNCH of high-fives!







Mike switched heads and started dancing:



Then we all had to do the “Chicken Dance:”




Don’t you love Grant’s Woody-Woodpecker hat?!

Grant loved wearing my head (that sounded weird), and here he is cheering on top of Ben’s shoulders:





We were all getting worried, because we never saw Gretchen go running by. We HOPED that we missed her, and that she didn’t have to drop out. Someone ran down to the finish line to see if she had finished. Lucky, she turned up. We missed her because she was SO DAMN FAST! She finished in the top half! So here’s my “I-feel-bad-that-we-didn’t-get-a-photo-of-you-running-by-so-let’s-take-a-photo-now-to-make-up-for-it” photo:


Totally unimpressed. But aren’t all teens?

Oh, Annie also missed getting a photo of John running by shortly after me. So here’s a photo of John and I from a run we did together while camping back in June:



Mike and Brianna got cozy waiting for the Marathon Runners to start coming by. Mike didn’t get the memo to be cute, not gross:



Soon the first place “wheelers” came by. This is the fight for 1st place after 26 miles!!


(The guy in the lead ended up winning)

The first place marathon runner came by. He was pretty tall for an elite runner. Look at his legs:



And here’s the TINY lead female:



I was hoping to see Michelle (who works for my ART Doc) go running by as the first place female. Remember when I had her sign my Runners World cover that she was on?



Unfortunately, she didn’t come by until about 2:42 which was good for 20th female. I got our whole cheering section to yell for her as she went by:



It was time to cheer in all the other runners. As seen a few posts ago, we stopped to make a little video:


Direct link on YouTube.

Before too long, Pharmie came running by on her way to finish her 10th consecutive Twin Cities Marathon!! AND with her 2nd fastest marathon time ever!!






Getting a high-five from Brianna


Running the gauntlet of family members

We knew Borsch was going to be coming through shortly, so we were looking for him. Here’s Steph (his fiancĂ©e) and Matt (the cow) looking for Borsch.



We saw him in the distance and started to cheer. Nice work Borsch!!




Borsch is shouting “Where’s my beer?” in this photo!

We got home and made a meal for 22 people. Yes, 22. And 12 of those people were hungry runners! Everyone brought something, so Pharmie and the aunts got potatoes, homemade salsa, taco salad, fruits, veggies, etc, all ready in the kitchen. In the meantime, I was grilling all kinds of goodies:


15 porkchops with brats on top,
15 chicken breasts with brats on the bottom.

Afterwards, we had birthday cake! We celebrated Pharmie’s birthday a few days early. Her birthday is... wait, today’s Wednesday? The 7th?... Her birthday is TODAY!!! Happy birthday, Pharmie!!





27 comments:

Marie-Claude 6:26 AM, October 07, 2009  

Great pictures!!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Pharmie :-)

Mike 6:33 AM, October 07, 2009  

This is great stuff! Always good for an early morning smile!

Happy Birthday Pharmie!!!

Shannon 6:33 AM, October 07, 2009  

Video is hilarious! Great photos and Happy Birthday to the wifey!

Jennifer 6:53 AM, October 07, 2009  

Happy Birthday Pharmie!
The mylar cape photo is the best! Looks like a European travel brochure. Congrats on having such a kick-ass family!

Anonymous,  7:01 AM, October 07, 2009  

Happy Birthday Pharmie!

duchossois 7:19 AM, October 07, 2009  

You guy sure know how to take a race and make it FUN! I love the way you support and cheer for each other. Great photos (as always) and congrats to all. Special congrats and happy birthday to Pharmie for such an awesome marathon.

Missy 7:23 AM, October 07, 2009  

Yay, happy birthday Pharmie! What a great way to celebrate and look at that cake. Mmmm, caaakkkke. I like cake. Anyway, what a rockin good time. That's how I like to cheer as well. Good times, I'm certain it was appreciated.

Nat 7:31 AM, October 07, 2009  

I love it! You guys have the most fun with your families!

Maria 7:34 AM, October 07, 2009  

wow, what an athletic family pharmie has, you got lucky with your in-laws! loved the pictures! congrats to all the awesome finishers!

Gabriel Losa 7:52 AM, October 07, 2009  

Nice report, as usual!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY Pharmie!!!

Rachel 7:54 AM, October 07, 2009  

Great post! Love the cheering farm animals!

Kim 7:56 AM, October 07, 2009  

wow awesome cheering section steve!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHARMIE, AND CONGRATULATIONS ON ANOTHER FANTASTIC MARATHON!

you guys are a rockstar couple!

jen 8:06 AM, October 07, 2009  

Happy Birthday Pharmie!

Congrats to her and everyone on the races- I can't believe so many family members ran!! That is so cool. Great job to everyone.

I love the costumes as always. :)

Georgia Snail 8:40 AM, October 07, 2009  

What a great day! I love the fact that the entire family got involved!!! Happy birthday Pharmie!!!

X-Country2 8:50 AM, October 07, 2009  

Every day is a party with you, isn't it? :o) Happy birthday Pharmie!

Christi 9:09 AM, October 07, 2009  

Loved all the photos and the cheering that your family provided. You guys really know how to do a race!!!

Happy B'day Pharmie!!!

Regina 9:28 AM, October 07, 2009  

What great fun! So nice you were all able to do this together. Thanks for sharing. Makes me wish I was there.

Jen Rife 12:48 PM, October 07, 2009  

Great photos and play-by-play of your day! It is really cool that so many people in your family are active and that you could all share your race day together.

Coach Liz 2:00 PM, October 07, 2009  

Happy Birthday to Pharmie!!! It is my birthday as well today. I will have an extra piece of cake in her honor this evening.

Congratulations to all the runners!

Melanie 2:11 PM, October 07, 2009  

I always love reading these reports!

Happy birthday to your lovely wife!

Fe-lady 3:08 PM, October 07, 2009  

you guys are NUTS! Way to celebrate a b'day and running! My god that cake looks SO decadent!

And because of you Steve, I entered the Triathlete Swimsuit competition, but unfortunately I sent my photos in too late....next year at 57...next year...just wait! :-)

Melissa 5:10 AM, October 08, 2009  

Hey Steve,

Awesome Post. I lost count on how many people you knew running, but I see at the end it was 12. You're family is awesome. I want to be adopted. When I do IMWI in 2012 I need you guys to come with the animal suits and cheer me on. HAHA

Happy Birtday Pharmie. Congrats on your marathon finish.

Anonymous,  7:04 AM, October 08, 2009  

OMG, the video almost maid me pee my pants! You should go on a marathon tour.

Chic Runner 5:24 PM, October 08, 2009  

Come to one of my races and cheer for me!!!!! :) Great section of cheering and you seriously cheered up so many people that day I know it! :)

sRod 1:23 PM, October 13, 2009  

You amde Pharmie carry her own bday cake after she ran a Marathon? I think you betray your new t-shirt.

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