Long Time No Talk - Time for Updates!

So, we realize it's been a very LONG time since we've posted anything here - but lots and lots has been going on! Hopefully we'll be able to cover everything without boring you...so, read on!

In May we went to visit Ryan's family and friends in Washington State. We flew into Seattle, rented a car & then drove to Spokane to visit the Schroders. It's a long drive, but it's quite interesting - Who knew the middle of WA is a desert?!?! We spent about 4 days in Spokane and got to see a ton of people. On Friday we had dinner with Ryan's brothers Mike and Jason and their families, as well as with mom Teresa shortly after arriving in town. It was great to catch up with everyone & we had lots of laughs! Saturday was visiting and site-seeing, and then a nice dinner with Dad & Jeanie at a GREAT steak-house just over the Idaho border (yes, this was Theresa's first trip to Idaho!) Sunday was Mother's Day and we had a big family get-together at Aunt Mary's place. We had the Sexton family and the Schroder family there, so we got lots of visiting in and Theresa got to hear lots of stories about Ryan's childhood! Monday we had breakfast with Bob & Lu Schroder (grandpa & grandma) and with Ryan's cousin John. After that we spent the day doing some last minute site-seeing and visiting with the family. It was a great trip! Jaylin and Rosko are growing up way too fast! Jaylin even knows all the words to Johnny Cash's "Boy Named Sue"! Awesome! On Tuesday we woke up & drove to Gresham Oregon (yet another state to add to Theresa's tally) to visit Ryan's sister Chelsea. We went to dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant with Chelsea and Will and then had to hit the road again to drive into Seattle. We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday roaming around Seattle & the surrounding area. Jeanine and Josh Wendt were great tour-guides and showed us a lot of local hotspots - one of our favorites was "The Beverage Place"! We stayed at a great hotel in downtown Seattle called the Pan Pacific close to the Space Needle. It was great! Unfortunately, we had to leave on Saturday morning, but it was a good feeling to get back home in the humidity we're used to! While we were gone, Dottie Pottie stayed at ACE Pet Resort in Sarasota. We think she had just as much fu on her "vacation" as we did! She had her own "room" and even had a few "play times" with the staff there. For any of you locals, we highly recommend ACE! (But book early - they fill up quick!)

After several months of studying, Theresa finally passed her last course needed to earn her "AU" designation (Associate in Underwriting). She started the courses before she moved to FL and took the last one course in mid-June after taking a break to take some other insurance courses. Now that the AU done, it's time to start the ARe (Associate in Reinsurance) course work, so there's not too much time for celebration! This new designation will also most likely take over a year to finish due to the length of the courses. (And now that she's making the announcement about starting it, there's no backing out!)

Since the Sarasota Half Marathon, we've sort of backed-off of the running. We were both feeling kind of "burned out" so we figured it was a good time to take it easy. Eventually, we knew we had to start picking it up again. Unfortunately, Theresa started having some back problems & was unable to start running - so she focused on walking. During this time, Ryan started commuting by bike to work! It's just over 10 miles round-trip and only takes about an hour for him to make the trip. Don't worry - he is a very safe & aware biker - his coworkers even have a map of his route & know who to call if they think he's taking too long to get to work. After several weeks of trying to figure out what was going on with her back, Theresa finally had an MRI and learned she has "protruding disks" in L3 and L4, and has arthritis in L4 and L5. The good part of all this is that there's no surgery required! The bad part is that there's no real way to "treat" it - just manage the symptoms. The doctors think the ain will flare up a couple times a year and then subside. With the right training and such, Theresa will be able to run and mountain bike again, but has to be sure to switch up the workouts so she doesn't aggravate things. While all of this back stuff was going on, Ryan ran in an "Adventure Race" with Megan in Tampa. The two of them had to run through an obstacle course made up of a mud-pit, "army crawling" under a rope course, running through tires, and even running through waist deep water in Tampa Bay - never mind the fat that they had to fight off bid-size mosquitoes through it all! Ryan and Megan definitely had a great time and plan to run in the next one on June 26th!

For the Fourth of July Holiday we went to Georgia for a long-weekend. We drove into Atlanta on the 3rd and prepared for the Peachtree Road Race the next morning. We were there with Theresa's parents Ron and Margaret, and also Aunt Jeanine & Uncle Rick and their son Mike. The morning of the 4th we participated in the race. Margaret came in 1st, followed by Ron and Jeanine (due to the number of participants, we're not sure one crossed first). Theresa and Ryan walked the whole thing due to Theresa's back and met the others at the finish line. After a smelly cab ride back to Starbucks, we all headed back to the hotel to meet Rick & Mike in order to make the trip into the mountains for the rest of the weekend. We went to Al's house for a great big cook-out and fireworks that night. Riley and Abbie were very excited to play yard games, ride 4-wheelers and watch the fireworks. On Saturday we took a small hike to Horse-trough Falls and got to wade in some REALLY COLD water! Later that day we went to our favorite place, Paul's Margarita Deck for some cold beer & people watching. Sunday was very relaxing & we spent the day around the cabin and finally ended up at the Fishing Lodge watching Jeanine, Rick, Mike, Al & Riley catch trout. Riley got the biggest fish of the day & it'll actually be mounted as his "biggest catch"! He was very proud! After a big family dinner at the cabin, we all hit the hay. Monday morning was back to FL for Theresa and Ryan. We spent the day in the car while everyone else was hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was hard to leave everyone behind having fun knowing that we had to get back to "real life". It was a whirlwind trip, but it was really nice to see everyone!

Well - that just about covers it! Hopefully we'll be better at keeping up on our posts so we don't have to write another book next time!

Sarasota Half Marathon

We did it…again! We ran in the 2008 Sarasota Half Marathon! The race was held in Sarasota on March 2nd @ 6:00 AM. (Keep in mind we’re usually not even out of bed by 6AM – let alone ready to run a race that early! We had a whole “family affair” this year – Margaret and Ron (Theresa’s parents), Tammy and Megan (Theresa’s sister & her girlfriend) AND Jeanine (Theresa’s Aunt) ran the race too. We all told Jeanine she was crazy as she was running the FULL marathon. The rest of us ran the half marathon, fondly known as “The Halfer”, which is MORE than enough if you ask us! Margaret and Ron are die hard runners and blew the rest of us out of the water with their finishing times - 1 hour 56 minutes for Margaret and 2 hours 6 minutes for Ron. Ryan and Meg ran the entire race shoulder to shoulder, finishing in 2 hours 28 minutes. Theresa and Tammy got separated a couple of times but finished the race together in 2 hours 53 minutes. Jeanine finished the full marathon in only 4 hours 37 minutes.

The weather was a bit cool at the beginning but it made for a nice start. It was also very dark - it’s a miracle no one was trampled! About half way through the race the sun was rising rapidly. A rising sun means rising temperatures. Fortunately, those of us running The Halfer were well on our way to finishing the run before the temperature was too unbearable. Jeanine on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. She was still out on the course around mile 19 when the sun was really blazin! Not to worry though, there were plenty of water stops with cold water, Gatorade and even cool sponges to keep the runners from overheating. At the finish line was more water, snacks, and even beer for all of the participants. Everyone hobbled around the after party looking at all the booths that were on display and hoping for some give-a-ways. Once we discovered that there really weren’t many freebees it was on to Starbucks, an after race tradition.

We followed up the race with a hearty celebration. We kicked off the party at the beach house rental where Theresa’s family was staying with lots of Beer and good conversation. Then it was on to Rotten Ralphs for some all you can eat fish and chips…and of course more beer. Once our stomachs couldn’t handle any more we headed back to the beach house for some celebratory champagne, 8 bottles to be exact. What a day!

The polls are closed!

That's right, The polls are closed. Actually, they closed quite a while ago but I've just been too lazy to write this post till now. I'm talking about our poll on the Sarasota Half Marathon. What polls did you think I was talking about, the primaries? Good grief! Anyways, the results were quite close and are as follows...100% - Run, 0% - No Run. Crap! I was really hoping some of you would come through for us and vote NO. You did vote right?
We thought we were going to die in the Gasparilla 15k, now we have to run 4 miles longer! Great! Thanks a lot! (That was sarcastic if you couldn't tell). Anyways, Wish us luck! We'll need it.

P.S. If you get this post via e-mail you can see the countdown to the race on our website. Just visit www.theschroderfamily.com to see exactly when the pain starts.

Gasparilla 15K

Today we were crazy enough to participate in the Gasparilla 15K. That's 9.3 miles for those non-metric folk. The race started at 7:30 in downtown Tampa. We got up at 4:45 and were out the door by 5:30. Our trusty new GPS took us a dirrerent route than we normally travel but managed to get us there on time. After paying $10 freakin bucks for parking we got our running gear on and got situated and headed out for the starting line. We were all wearing shirts from our favorite running store. The store is called "On a Shoe String" and is located here in Bradenton. It's a ma and pop kind of place and that's why we like it. We've been doing business with them since they opened their doors.  (If you live nearby, you should definitely check them out!)  

Anyways, the weather at the start of the race was perfect "race" weather. It was a little coudy and a little chilly with a temperature in the range of 65 to 70 degrees. The course was really nice taking us along the water for the entire run. We'll spare you most of the details but I will tell you this...Ryan had only done 3 training runs before attempting this one and struggled through the entire thing. Theresa, on the other hand, was a good runner girl and had done a few more training runs than Ryan. Needless to say, Ryan had to stop a few more times than Theresa. We both finished the race in about 2 hours. Not a bad time considering it took us 54 minutes longer to run 3 miles farther in the Sarasota Half Maraton last year.

The Gasparilla festivities afterwards were grand. The main sposors of the race were all present with free gifts for all runners. Just to name a few...Publix, Coca Cola, Flat Out, & Star Bucks were all there. Michelob Light was also there with a free cup of beer for all runners over 21. We opted out of that looonnng line though.

After seeing the discouragingly long beer line we decided to head back to Bradenton and hit up Cracker Barrel. What damn fine choice it was too! Mmmm - pancakes & french toast - what great after-race fare! 

Croom 35/50 Off Road Challange

This past weekend, Theresa and I had the opportunity to participate in the "Croom 35/50 Off Road Challenge". Yes, that's 35 or 50 miles of off road mountain biking. Click here to view the Map (highlighted section is the 35 mile tail). Most people, including me and Theresa, figure that Florida is pretty flat. After all, the parks that we typically ride are built on old sulfur mines with a just a few small hills here and there. Croom, on the other hand, reminded me of riding in Washington with long inclines and crazy descents! It was grueling!
Since we had the choice of either doing 35 or 50 miles, we had decided ahead of time that we were planning on riding the 35 mile trail, but would re-evaluate our decision at the 35-50 mile trail Y.

You could start the race any time between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning. Croom is about 2 hours away from our home so we were up at 4:30 in order to get everything loaded up, get a shower, and get breakfast. When we left the house, it was pleasant & warm - we both had on shorts and sandals! But, when we got to Croom, it was only about 40 degrees! We were freezing! When the race started the temperature had risen to a scorching 46 degrees. Since we knew it was supposed to be in the high 70's later in the day we decided to start the race in shorts and short sleeve jerseys so we didn't get overheated as the day progressed. Needless to say we were quite cold for the first couple miles.


About 6.5 miles into the course we hit a Y in the trail where you could either take the "easy" route or the "hard" section of trail. We decided to go for the "hard" section. Theresa's front tire ended up in a rut and she landed 10 feet in front of her bike (ouch!) - almost like a head-first slide into home plate! Not wanting to take another fall she didn't want to finish the "hard" section. I wanted to finish it, so I told her to go on taking the regular trail with out me. The trail was only split for a few hundred yards, so we didn't plan on being separated for very long. Shortly after finishing the "hard" section of trial I broke my chain. I busted out the chain tool for the repair and a mere 20 minutes later I was back in the saddle. Unfortunately Theresa thought the "hard" section of trial dropped me off in front of her so she was trying to catch me. In the mean time I was haulin ass trying to catch her. Well we finally found each other about 4 miles later. And yes we were absolutely exhausted with about 25 miles to go.


Every 12 miles they place a rest area (nick named a SAG) that had water, Gatoraid, food...etc. We had a nice stop the first SAG and continued on. The second section of trail was by far the most difficult with crazy climbs and exhausting gradual inclines. We thoroughly enjoyed every downhill section we ran into. They were all a nice break from pedaling up hill. There were quite a few technical sections too - with lots of bumpy steep descents & quick turns in and out of trees.


We reached the second SAG and took our sweet time filling up on Gatoraid and granola bars. There was a bail out trail that would have taken us from this SAG to the parking lot but that was not an option (nevermind that the bailout was 8 miles long anyway - and we only had 11 left to go). We were GOING to finish this. Starting the ride from the second SAG was probably the most difficult thing we've have ever done. I felt like I was dying. It was definitely worse than any point in the half marathon last year. Luckily Theresa was up for leading for a while. So I used all my strength to keep up with her as she lead the way. Once the food kicked in we were good both to go. We struggled a little here and there with muscle fatigue (and probably sheer exhaustion) but we managed to make it to the point where the trail splits - to either continue onto the 50 mile section or last 5 miles of the the 35 mile section. Of course we opted for the 35 mile section and finished the ride in about 5 hours! It was quite a relief to see the parking lot as we approached the end of the trail!


When we finally got home, we celebrated with Champagne and tortilla chips for dinner because we were so exhausted we couldn't make a "real" dinner!


Needless to say, this was quite an adventure! And, yes, we are planning on doing it again next year!