Team Awesome's origins date from January of 2011, when Amanda and I (strangers at that time) ended up throwing a baby shower for mutual friends of ours (Jake, Mike and William, we miss you! Come visit Pittsburgh!).
At some point in the party planning, Amanda and I realized that we were both hoping to run the Pittsburgh Marathon that year, and that our running pace was similar. We planned on getting together to do some of our longer training runs together, because everyone knows that there's nothing to motivate you to to get your bumpkiss out of bed to go running at 8 am on a (VERY) chilly Sunday morning like knowing that someone is also getting their bumpkiss out of bed and will be waiting on you to get there and run too.
I had convinced Diego to run with me and train for the marathon in support of Steel City Greyhounds that year. Since adopting Mugen from SCG, I had become more and more involved with Steel City in their volunteer efforts. I would often take my boys to meet-and-greets at PetCo or on Walnut Street, and volunteered in the Home & Garden Show as well. They are such good diplomats of the breed! So I had that extra motivation to get me out to train for the race as well. My donors were counting on me to finish!!!
During one of our first training runs together, Amanda brought her friend Katelyn. Amanda and Katelyn had actually met each other during the Marathon the previous year while each of them was struggling to finish. They ended up running side by side when they were both struggling through the most difficult part of the race and at the finish, they exchanged contact information and continued to get together for training runs.
The four of us really clicked, and we ended up spending the rest of the winter getting ready for the race together.
During that very snowy winter, Diego and I found ourselves really looking forward to those weekly training runs, when we would get to see Katelyn and Amanda, exchange stories of the week, try new sports nutrition, and feel the burn together! We began to refer to ourselves as a group with the name Team Awesome, because we always felt so awesome when we were hanging out! As we continued to run together, we each took on various roles in team management and leadership, each according to our different personalities. I became the vice president of hydration, because I always came with my water belt strapped on. Katelyn is the VP of sports nutrition (i.e. CANDY CONSUMPTION!), because she would always bring new snacks for us to try. She is personally responsible for my addiction to sports beans (jelly bellies artfully packaged so that healthy people will buy and consume them). Diego is the VP of entertainment, because he spends all week saving up crazy stories, news reports, books he's read and funny things that happened to him, to keep us all engaged even during the toughest parts of our runs. And Amanda is the VP of navigation. She basically tells us where to run and we follow like sheep. She is VERY organized and knows lots of great routes around the city and through the parks. She is the anchor that keeps us all from floating away! Here's a photo of us at the marathon expo - don't we all look so fit???
With team awesome's help, Diego and I managed to finish the marathon. Here's a video we took at mile 18, thanking all our generous donors. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=688705177189&set=vb.4813256&type=2&theater. Thanks also to my sister Kimmy for her awesome videography skills and for being the captain of the world's best cheer team (with Mugen and Winston)!
This is Diego and I "slappin' da bass" at mile 21, courtesy of very good friend Mark Roberts who ran us in to the finish.
Team Awesome remained leader-less until early 2012, when we finally elected our president. We had thrown around various options for the preceding year, but never found someone we could settle on unanimously. Candidates included Barack Obama, Chuck Norris, Angelina Jolie and Jesus, but at the end of the day they were all too unimpressive. Then Diego, as part of his weekly entertainment series, told us about a planet that was essentially one solid chunk of diamond. I mean, literally, one solid 14 bazillion carat diamond, just floating out there in outer space. This diamond planet has the advantage of being gender-neutral, universal and totally, cosmically bad-ass. So in late January 2012, we unanimously voted that the diamond planet would be the President of Team Awesome.
Our (un)official sponsor is PowerThirst, a make-believe sports beverage that will make your sweat glow so you can throw SWEET RAVE PARTIES and make 400 BABIES who will run like KENYANS! You'll be uncomfortably energetic! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs.
If you're especially thirsty, check out PowerThirst 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3qncy5Qfk Unacceptable! You'll win at running, arson, weddings, art, irony!!!!!!!! TOP SCORE!
We continued to train together after the marathon. Here are some fun pics of us running together:
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| February 2012 |
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| Montour Trail Run Half Marathon September 2011 |
We dream of making our very own Team Awesome PowerThirst video, only we are still saving up for the explosives that would require. We can fill miles worth of conversation brainstorming for new flavor names though. This past winter and spring have been very busy for Team Awesome, with traveling, pregnancy and some injuries getting in the way of our running addiction, so we have not been doing a lot of running together lately, but we did have a team reunion dinner recently to catch up. Here's a picture!
Team Awesome truly lives up to their name. They have all signed on to run the Pittsburgh Marathon next year with me in support of Steel City Greyhounds, in honor of Winston. So we have a lot of work to do to get ready for next May!!! They are super-excited for the arrival of the Dragon, who will add more testosterone to the balance (PREPOSTERONE!) And my Aunt Kitty, Uncle Dave and their gang all pitched in to get Diego and I this super-duper running stroller! We are all ready to get back onto the horse once he makes his tiny arrival!
I would also like to thank from the bottom of my heart these other folks who have promised to run for Steel City next year, either the marathon or half marathon: Oriana Hunter, Kimberly Loux, Alex Parilli, Ana Quintana, and Patty Souza. You are all champs! You can do it! Together we will make Winston proud!
Team Awesome always has room for new members! (That is if you feel you're up to the hazing process required for admission). And, if any of you readers out there feels inclined (or a tad crazy), the contact person is Korryn Mozisek; to sign up as a member of the Steel City Greyhound charity marathon team email her at: scgmarathonteam@gmail.com.
Don't do it for me! Don't do it for Team Awesome! Don't even do it for Winston! Do it for YOU! You'll feel like a rocket ship made out of BICEPS!
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| Mugen and Winston in the swimming pool at the end of summer greyhound pool party - August 2010 |
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