Skirt On The Run

Volunteering

Posted on August 27, 2013 by jenilesley

Even with running so so many races, I still find time to give back to the running community and volunteer at races and race expos, plus I love all the free stuff you can earn as a volunteer. Helps make up for all the money I shell out to participate in races.

The very first race I volunteered at was the Dirty Girl Wisconsin in 2011, it was their very first event and still one of my favorites to volunteer at. I’ve now volunteered at 5 Dirty Girl events, 3 in Wisconsin and 2 in Illinois, since then I have volunteered at several events.

Volunteering at Dirty Girl

Here are a few:

Chicago Marathon 2012 (2 days at the expo and race day)

Cheer station at the Chicago Marathon 2012, I was just before mile 13

Team Ortho – booths at Chicago Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle

Zooma Women’s half 2012 (Expo and race day)

Lots of swag

Met one of my favorite bloggers skinnyrunner

Hot Chocolate Expo 2012

Rock n Roll Chicago Expo 2013

Lots of swag from the Rock n Roll Chicago expo

Ironman Racine 2013 (at finish line)

Volunteering at the finishline, got to see the first athletes finish the race.

Madison Mini Expo 2013

I’ve gotten to know so so many great people by volunteering at different events and I’ve been able to get involved in events that I am not sure I want to run, but want to check out. I’ve also gotten a few free race entries by volunteering, so that is one of my favorite perks of volunteering!

I have a few more events that I will be volunteering at this year so I really have kept my schedule pretty full and busy, but I LOVE it!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Running, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Electric Run Milwaukee(Racine)

Posted on August 25, 2013 by jenilesley

Yesterday I ran the Electric Run Milwaukee, when I signed up back in April, I thought this would be a fun race for the year, from what I’ve heard the same company that puts on the Color Run also does the Electric Run and I had a blast at Color Run (I’ll post about that sometime this fall) Electric Run is not a timed race and is meant to be fun, it’s also a race that gets a lot of non runners out to do a 5k event, for a lot it is their very first 5k and for others like me that race a lot, it is a chance to have fun, be silly and enjoy the sights and sounds. I paid $35, which is a bit high(ended up being $44 after all the fees), I signed up back in April for the cheaper rate, I don’t think I’d pay more than that for this sort of run.

The run was held at the Racine County Fairgrounds in Union Grove. I knew parking would be a pain, so I went early and wandered around, walked a bunch of the course before they closed it off(lots of heavy equipment moving stuff around, but I stayed way out-of-the-way.)

Walking around way before the race, I wasn’t supposed to be back here, but I got a good look around!

Pre-run, it’s still light out!

The run started at 8:20pm, had to wait for it to get dark, I knew several people who were going to be there, but I couldn’t find any of them pre-run, so at 7:30 when they started filling the start line, I hopped in. I was in the first group, which I thought would be perfect, I could run, stop and take pictures and be on a clear course. I met some really nice people while waiting for the run to start, and took lots of pictures.

Pre-race! Ready to GLOW!

Sun is going down, almost time to run!

Getting us ready to start!

The first glow area were these big arches, it was pretty and fun to run through, they changed colors and flashed. It was really dark after this and the ground was uneven, I really had to look at the ground. Should have brought my headlamp for the dark areas or even a flashlight, they could have used some low lighting in this area.

Up next were some tall glow things (I don’t know how to explain what they were) they were bright and lined the path. We ran back behind the grandstand area, it was pretty cool.

My favorite part was the forest, it glowed and was so pretty, I took a few pictures, they didn’t come out great, but they give the general idea.

Finish line!

The course was mostly grass and a little bit of pavement, we ran through a bunch of the barns on the fairgrounds, they were all decorated and glowed, music was also pumping which made it super fun. This was defiantly a sensory overload run, but also super fun.

Post run, I had a blast!

All the pretty cups!

Course map and what my Garmin mapped. Should have been a 5K, but we were 0.67 miles short!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Electric Run, Racine County Fairgrounds, Running | Leave a comment

Fall Races

Posted on August 23, 2013 by jenilesley

This is one of the last calm weekends I’ll have for a while, yet it is packed with Football, Racing, Food and Yoga! I really hope I survive all of the activities I have planned.

Labor Day weekend is my first trip to California for FUN! I’ve been for work and for a PanCAN Conference, but never for FUN! My friend Frank and I are traveling from Milwaukee and Chicago, meeting at LAX and beginning our magical Disney adventure. I have been dying to do a Disney race and when the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge came up, I was determined to do it.

Disneyland Medals – I’ll be earning the first 3

Run Disney

Now the problem with Disney races is that they sell out in minutes, so when the day came to register, I logged in and it was sold out before I could commit to it. I was bummed, not sure what I was going to do so I looked into running for a charity, with that I was in… I was super excited, had to raise a little money but I got into a race that I really wanted to do. So I will be running for A-T Children’s Project, it is a charity that I knew little about, but they do a lot of races around the nation, so I figured why not.

A-T Children’s Project is a non-profit organization that raises funds to support and coordinate first-rate biomedical research projects, scientific conferences and a clinical center aimed at finding a cure or life-improving therapies for ataxia-telangiectasia, a lethal genetic disease that attacks children, causing progressive loss of muscle control, immune system problems, and a strikingly high rate of cancer, especially leukemia and lymphoma.

So now I’m all signed up for the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, which is a 10K and half marathon on the same weekend! I’ll be running the 10K Saturday morning and the Half Sunday morning.

Coast to Coast

Disney gets you hooked by having a coast to coast medal too, so if you do a race in California and Florida in the same calendar year, you earn some extra bling, and since I was planning 13 half marathons this year, I figured I better do 2 Disney races. So this November I am doing the Disney Wine and Dine in Orlando. So I’ll earn a total of 5 medals for all of my Disney races and challenges! 3 from Disneyland and 2 while at Disney World.

I’m planning on doing the Disney Princess Race in 2015 or 2016 it’s on my bucket list of races I want to do.

I still have several races to complete this fall and I’m excited and nervous all at the same time, I can’t wait to cross the finish line at each and everyone.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Disney, Disneyland, Dumbo Double Dare, Running | Leave a comment

Dirty Girl Mud Run

Posted on August 20, 2013 by jenilesley

This year marks the 3rd year that I have volunteered at the Dirty Girl Mud Run Wisconsin. It is the very first event that I ever volunteered at. I only volunteered the first year because I was injured earlier in the year and by the time I thought I was healthy enough to run the race, it was sold out. So I thought, what better way to be involved than to volunteer at it. I had a blast that first year, even with the t-shirt mess and the crazy parking situation, it was still a lot of fun. Then they added more events to the second year so I volunteered in Illinois and in Wisconsin.

Dirty Girl 2012

Volunteering the second year in Wisconsin was great, I was stationed at an obstacle all day and met some wonderful people. A few I had met in Illinois, like Jake, who when I first saw him I was like, hey you threw mud at me by the finish line in Illinois, from there the weekend only got better, he placed me at the barn burner, a large inflatable obstacle, that was my spot for the entire weekend. I worked on my tan, hung out and had a blast. There was even a Danny Gokey concert that night, which I stayed for. I was only going to volunteer the first day but I had so much fun, met so many truly nice people (Jake, Tom and Casey) that I came back Sunday for more. I have lots of pictures from 2012, but maybe I’ll post them another time.

Dirty Girl 2013

This year I could only volunteer on Sunday since I ran the Madison Mini Saturday morning, but I did show up on Saturday afternoon to see a bunch of friends from UW Whitewater and catch up with them. I also wanted to see all the changes in Dirty Girl, with a different marketing and production company. Still a great event and well run, also bittersweet since none of the people I had met the year before were still with Dirty Girl.

Welcome to the Dirty Girl Mud Run!

By the Barn Burner, my favorite obstacle from 2012.

Barn Burner

Water stop #1, where I started my day Sunday.

Water stop #2, my second spot for the day!

View from Water Stop #2

Fish tacos, my treat after working the water stops for the morning.

My last spot for the day, spent a few hours on top of this one.

View from the top!

Having a great time volunteering!

All in all a great day! Watched one girl get carried out of the mud at the bottom of the slide with a broken ankle, the guys told me it looked pretty bad, I didn’t want to get to close. Hope she is ok!

Can’t wait to volunteer at Dirty Girl 2014!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dirty Girl, Running, Volunteering | Leave a comment

1/2 Marathon and a Mud Run!

Posted on August 19, 2013 by jenilesley

This was one crazy busy weekend for me, but it was also super fun. I logged lots of volunteer hours, completed half marathon #6 for the year, got some snuggle time with 2 of my nephews, attended and volunteered at The Dirty Girl Mud Run.

The Madison Mini

On Friday I volunteered at the expo, it was held at Union South which is a great, pretty building, but at 9:30am the ramp next to it was already full, I had to go about a half mile away and park at a different ramp, it wasn’t bad but a little bit of a walk, luckily it was a beautiful day in Madison. I worked at the Expo for a few hours handing out packets and shirts for the Half marathon. They treat the volunteers really well at this expo, we were treated to pizza lunch, most volunteer gigs don’t feed you, so this was a nice perk.

Outside of the union, Bucky Badger.

Post expo ice cream, best part of volunteering was knowing I would be having this after.

At Union South

The Race

I got up super early Saturday morning and headed to campus for the race, it was a 7am start and the weather was perfect.

Pre race, I think I’m ready for this!

The race went pretty good, the course was very hilly, but I took it one mile at a time. I was pretty worried about my quad strain, but it didn’t bother me the entire race. I walked each of the water stations and up a couple of hills, I was pretty happy with my race.

Ready to start!

Can’t remember what mile these were at, but they made me laugh.

Post race

I also got an additional medal at the race for completing the M2 challenge, the first race was back in June, the Summerfest Rock n sole 1/2, so it was nice to have the challenge completed, there was a huge line for the second medal, but it went fast and I was on my way to the beer line(all about priorities!)

M2 Challenge

I’ll post about the Dirty Girl Mud Run later!

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Skirt On The Run

Volunteering

Electric Run Milwaukee(Racine)

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