If you can, please let us know, if you can't and would like to stay in contact, let us know - other wise, it looks like our page is not able to be viewed, and of course, nothing we share will be seen. We have done NOTHING to prevent ANYONE from seeing our page....we're just invisible.

Anyone seen them?  page is missing....gone.  Anyone?

Sorry for those that have tried to get on our space - we do not have anyone blocked -
We are at myspace as jncwildman - I hope MSN gets this taken care of - but as any good computer person knows - it's not a bug, it's a feature!
~Christi

My trainer just told me today that there is medical/scientific evidence that if you eat well, but have any type of heart history and then flood your body with high fat, greasy foods (like a baconator with fries) your possibility of having a heart attack that night jumps very high - because you have just flooded your body with fat.
Ok - so that scared me after a weekend of emotional eating....both Jim and I have heart family history...and of course, our cholesterol is not the greatest....OK JENNIFER - I GIVE UP BACONATORS!!!!!

Just an FYI!!!
~Christi

I've had multiple people ask us if we are still here - and YES WE ARE!!!  But apparently MSN is having problems with some sites.
All of our friends are supposed to be able to view our site - as well as the whole internet - so - I don't know what's going on - but we are still here - I'm still blogging long blogs about my progress - but if MSN continues with these problems, we may move to something more stable.
FYI - we are jncwildman on myspace - our last name is wildman (hence the jncwildman).

In His hands and Under His wings,
~Christi

Ok, I just checked the Flying Pig weather....thundershowers???  High 72-75's, low 53-64's - hmmm, I guess I'm brining my rain jacket!!!  If it's raining - don't expect pretty pictures!!!  I look like a drowned rat when I'm wet!  But we'll have friends to keep us warm - and that sex thing from Courtney and Kenny to Mike and Danielle - that should be hot.....and of course, some of us will have super capes to keep us dry!

You gotta have friends.......from Shrek, the donkey:
cos i'm all alone
theres no one here beside me
my problems have all gone
there's no one to deride me
BUT YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS!

And Bette Midler:
Oh, you got to have friends,
the feeling's oh so strong.
You got to have friends
to make that day last long.
Had some friends, but they're gone,
somethin' came and took them away,
and from the dusk 'til the dawn
here's where I will stay.

'Cause you gotta have,
"you gotta have friends. I'm telling you. I am speaking 'cause I know.
It's going too fast. We're all going too fast!
I'm trying to tell you to slow down!
They're hard to come by! Those friends are hard to come by!
I didn't have many friends, you know.
But, things are getting better now.
And I think it's gonna be okay, 'cause I have a couple now."

Friends,
you gotta, you gotta, you gotta have friends, friends.
You gotta, you gotta, you gotta have friends, friends.
Oh, friends . . .

Flying high today....
~Christi

This is kind of like a second part to the worth post.
Hi, my name is Christi, and I am an emotional eater.  I had been 'dry' for quite a while - but I fell off the wagon last week.  WHY?  Because I let behaviors and events control what I felt and chose to do about it.  Sounds like an alcoholic, huh?  I believe it is the same. Except that NO ONE needs alcohol - and everyone needs to eat.  So - I am starting my own EEA - Emotional Eaters Anonymous.
As a fat person, caused by emotional self medication - I allowed others and things outside myself to determine how I would feel, how I would react to that feeling.
Based on the work I've been doing on self worth (in the 'deep quote' post) - I was able to realize that I am giving others outside of myself power over me that NO ONE should have.  And when I allow it, I am putting myself under their control - I am willingly allowing myself to be enslaved by something outside of myself.

I need to write this again - IF someone has control over my feelings, my actions and my behaviors, as well as my thoughts about myself, I am in slavery to that person, or event.  And if the slavery is my choice - I HAVE CHOSEN TO PUT MYSELF INTO SLAVERY!!!!

Unlike a physical addiction, this is an emotional addiction.  There is no physical need for this, like a person addicted to nicotine or alcohol or cocaine - this is purely emotional. Emotions, and the feelings and physical 'drugs' that flood your body - is addictive - Seretonin, dopamine...and other such 'drugs' that our bodies flood us with at the taste of chocolate or ice cream or warm fresh bread slathered in butter.  I think of Nazi Germany - convincing people that some are more worthy than others - and even as the Jews tried to remember it was not so - they were controlled, and have had years of recovery work since that time. The black slaves in this country were taught to think they were not good enough to rise above poverty and having someone provide for them - and there are those that are still struggling with that.  Emotional abuse is just as devastating as Drug abuse - but, you cannot go cold turkey off of emotions.  There are no medicines strong enough to handle the withdrawal symptoms of choosing to rise above such abuse.  The meds only dull the emotions - or bury them, which is what the food was doing!  And yet - the trigger for emotional eating is food....and the natural need to eat - the stomach growls, and the head gets light, and you know you have to have another food fix....the choice is to eat the slop from the matrix (nutritionally sound) - or to get something to eat - and couple the hunger with an emotional hunger - and you can only see two choices - nutritionally sound, or something that will feed both needs. For me - Wendy's baconator with fries and lots of ketchup.  Sometimes  a frosty is needed to fill in the cracks. 

I have broken the chains of bags of semi sweet chocolate chips, Mike Sell's potato chips with cheddar and bacon dip, or my original drug of choice from the abuse years - 1/2 gallon of cherry vanilla ice cream, a jar of hot fudge, and a 6 pack of dr pepper.  Yes, in one sitting.

So - how do I tackle this? 
First, I have to find my intrinsic worth - remember my worth - and validate my worth - believe in my worth.  I'm working on that.
Second, I have to realize when I allow extrinsic events or people to affect my view of my worth.  It doesn't change the intrinsic worth, I just allow it to change my view of the intrinsic worth - by moving my view to the outside - and believing the extrinsic information.
What is on the outside does not determine the reality of what is on the inside!!!

Third - realize that by choosing to emotionally eat, I have put shackles back on my hands and feet, and allowed something outside of myself to override my internal desire for health and strength and happiness.  I have given someone else, or some event power over me. If someone else, I can guarantee that they do not have my best interest at heart - not if they have done something that hurt me.  If it is an event - then I am denying what I believe that all things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes. 
You see, I have placed myself in slavery to One - and all that I have learned and known about how HE treats me says that what happens is for my good - and if I remain focused on that - I will see how things can make me grow - because I have intrinsic worth that HE ordained in each life.
Or I can forget my loving Master, and choose to be enslaved by other forces - malevolent forces, or choose to be enslaved by my own whiney, angry, hurt view point - and poison any good that I could learn from any situation.  And then, to make myself feel better - I would eat.  I would 'give myself good' to make me feel better.  And if I choose this route - I deny who I am at my core - and at that point, I start thinking thoughts of what a failure I am, how stupid I am, and the next thing I know, I'm comforting myself with food AGAIN!!!

So - I have a choice when things do not go as I would like.  I can choose to complain, cry and cringe....compelled to gorge myself with things that have limited nutritional value to the extreme that they are self damaging - self deprecating, and eventually self denying, to be totally selfish and self centered
OR
I can choose to grow, I can choose to see this as an exercise to strengthen my emotional muscles, to engage in emotional integrity based on my intrinsic worth, and my core belief system.  I can choose to NOT allow myself to be entangled with emotional snares but rather be free to forgive, to jump at joy, to hold on to happiness, to grab grace, and to love myself so that I can love others. 
I do not have to allow myself to be enslaved by emotional eating for any reason.  I do not have to allow outside events to determine what I think about myself.  And while I am embracing my own intrinsic worth, I can stand up, I can speak my position, and I can acknowledge the intrinsic worth of others.  that is truly a good thing that My Master and Lord is working out of all things that happen to me.  For that, I am eternally grateful.

You are worth it - remember that today!  And no one can take away your worth - only you can give it away in your mind.
~Christi

We weighed in yesterday - and both posted a 3 pound gain - from emotional eating while realizing the things that were lost on the computer...and working on figuring out that solution, and preparing for a grand birthday party this weekend for my best friend's mom's 85th.

We will be back on schedule this week - exercise and eating.
Oh - big news - when I drink 5 diet pepsi's in a day, with several cups from fast food places the previous two says and little to no water - my joints hurt BIG TIME!!!  And when Jim drinks that much - he gets dandruff and blotchy skin.  Diet Pepsi and Diet Mountain Dew are POISON!!!!

One good thing - I brought home all the fixings for the salad bar from the party - so we have no excuses not to have salad!!!
~Christi

In the world of email blogs, there are certain understood protocols and ettiquette.  One is that you don't write anything in CAPS BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING.  Another is that if you are an invited moderator on a list owned by another person, you do not go in and erase 449 email messages and all the files and all the links created by the owner.  You do not say that you have asked someone to participate in a planning committee, while behind their back wiping away two weeks of work.  That is bad form, and bad online ettiquette.  Especially if you have multiple ways to contact the person aside from emails - cell phones anyone?

So - as to my previous post where I said that I had emails but would not share them - because one of the cochairs decided to wipe all my work on the cuirse out while I was off line, I do not have all the emails and could not share them if I wanted.
I am sorry for the drama - I am sorry for the emails I have continued to get - but in any situation, there has to be a scapegoat - and this new planning committee, I suppose that is my part to play. The one to blame for the disorder, the drama and the problems, even though I haven't had a computer, and I haven't had phone calls, and I haven't had contact with many at all.  But, hey, I'll lay down my rep for you all to have a cruise.

I'm so sorry that my desire to give my friends a heads up in a timely manner, rather than wait for potential disaster has been attacked in such a manner.
Since no one really knows me from anyone else - other htan what they read on this blog, or knows anyone else except what they have written on their blog - there really is no way to know the 'truth' about someone.  As Brad Paisley sings, we can all be much cooler, much more intelligent, much more competent online than in real life - who knows, I may look like Jason Alexander in real life!!! Or Jennifer Aniston!

Please don't send me copies of the emails and posts and bulletins that attack that 'one' person on the planning committee - the 'only one' not getting back on the bandwagon.  I really don't care.  This isn't real life - my real friends are flesh and blood and heart - and know in their gut who I am.  And I think some of them happen to have live spaces pages - but after this weekend - I'm not sure.  Let me know if you are my friend - other wise, I don't have time to try to stay connected with the rest of the pile of people in my 'friends' list - and will be cleaning it out while I clean out the rest of my life.

The cruise is with Carnival - not the co chairs - just remember that.  Carnival is a good cruise line - and will take good care of you.
~Christi

Several folks know that last week, Christi's computer stopped working.  Jim, being the wonderful systems admin that he is, had an old lap top up for Christi to SLLLLOOOOOWWWWWWLLLLLYYYYYYY connect to some extent - while he tried to recover the computer.
The computer got sick back in February - from some infected graphic Christi played with to put up on people's computers at live spaces for valentines day.  Silly me, I didn't realize I didn't have to download it from the interent then upload it to photobucket - so I exposed my pretty littler 2 year old Dell to the ravages of virtual viruses - even with major virus protection and such.  Anyway - in the major 'medical' intervention in February by Doctor Jim and PC Physician Assistant Rachel (daughter) - somehow, resetting the external back up program was missed.
So - with courageous efforts to revive the harddrive, it was declared officially dead Saturday, April 26, 2008, at 6:30AM.  Ane it took the pohtos collected since February 24th, and the financial data, and all emails with it to the grave.  We can try to resurrect those through some expensive recovery services, similar to a seance - for major money - or we can mourn the loss of 2 months our our grandson's growth, and our race results, and move on.
We have chosen to move on.  It will donate it's parts to other computers in need, while we have gone out and adopted a new computer.   As with any new addtion to a family - there are so many extra costs.  Of course, we needed to purchase some software to replace the software the old computer used - it just doesn't fit the new one well(and lost cds, as well as  VERY old software). We also had to purchase some extra hardware to help the new one fit into it's new family and be able to perform it's family duties more efficiently.  So - we are down $700 buckeroos!!!

So - a 'death' in the family, an 'adoption', and then Jim will be performing surgery on the donated parts to 'birth' another new member of our computer family.  This comes at a great time for Christi's new courses, and there were some great sales on these items - and a very helpful 'counselor' to help us with our decisions....but we were not looking to put this much out right now - and the deposit is due in little over 15 days.

We also have discussed that we had planned a trip for our 29th anniversary - which is in August 2009.  The finances actually work better for moving it out there - especially with this extra outlay.  As several people knew, Jim and I want our cruise to be top of the line - balcony room, the excursions we want - and some travel time before and after the cruise - we cannot financially do that between now and April 2009 with our prior committments.  

So - we are leaving the information up for anyone interested - but we are not going to go.  We wish all of our a wonderful journey - and great success in your weight loss and health gain endeavors.  One of the things we must learn as we tackle the issues  behind our weight problems is doing what is right for us - not what someone says is right, not what someone says we should - but what is right for us, from our hearts.  That is what we are doing.\
If it were for personal differences, my goodness - the ship is a huge ship - if you can't stay away from someone you don't get along with on a ship that size, you probably need to be in counseling!  And you don't have to share your room with anyone...so, really, that's not a good reason to throw away a vacation of a lifetime!  And I'm sure the planners will have spectacular events and loads of fun.  Just stay hooked up with the cruise websites for updates.

And - I hope everyone has had a great weekend!!
Jim and Christi

As you can see in the comments to the previous post, the cruise is on, the committee is not.
Just last Sunday we voted in officers to oversee the planning to be more like an organization for the public appearance to potentially get some neat awards donated.  As of today, there are the Co Chairmen - Carla and Cindy(CnC), and Melissa and Chris(Under Construction). They each have a web site up that contains information about the Cruise - you can look through my previous posts about the cruise to find those links if you would like. The flyers have an email through which you can contact Carla.
I disagree with what was said by one person  in our comments about how it was handled, but I will not post the emails, I will not discuss this with anyone, I will not share my point of view.
If you choose to participate in this cruise - make sure you have obtained all the information you need to make your decision.  It should be a very fun cruise - as I have attested to in my previous posts.
Bon Voyage
~Christi

On the committee web page, it was announced today that the committee has been disbanded.
As one of the officers - I don't know anything about this - and I don't know anything about what this means to the cruise, except that those that were combined in a committee have been disbanded for confidential reasons.

If you have any questions about the cruise - please go the the million pound matchup reunion page  to get any information.

I'm sorry if this messes up anyone's plans.
~Christi

I know I posted about this before - but here's an invite to the event!  Did you know this isn't limited to the MPMU only group?  You can bring your family - anyone who is interested in spending the next year getting healthier - and wanting to join us here at MPM community - or at our myspace community - is welcome!  And family too!  Even my skinny son in law!!!  Since the group rates end for the deposits on May 15th - lets' see if we can get the boat full!  Well - ok, maybe not full - but, like I said earlier - the more the merrier!
~Christi

This is quote is deep - but profound. A quote by Joan Didion

"To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth which constitutes self respect is potentially to have everything.  The ability to discriminate, to love and to remain indifferent.  To lack it is to be locked within oneself, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference."

Definition of intrinsic by Merriam Webster:
1 a: belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing <the intrinsic worth of a gem> <the intrinsic brightness of a star>
Our worth is not based on something we do, or have, or are, it's because we ARE.  Our worth belongs to the essential nature of ourselves.  To have an effect on something or to change something intrinsic is to defy that definition - It cannot be intrinsic, part of the essential nature, and be removed, or challenged.
Oxygen is intrinsic to the water molecule  H2O.  If you remove the Oxygen - it is no longer water! It's only Hydrogen. 
To say a person (or ourselves) are not worth something - is to deny the very essentialness of our worth. 
Saying and believing the water molecule does not have oxygen does not change the fact that for it to be water - it has Hydrogen AND Oxygen - no way around it.
Saying and believing that we have no worth, are worthless, or whatever negative talk goes on in your/our heads does not negate the intrinsic value that our worth is essential.  We have worth, because we ARE. 
One step farther - I have worth, because I believe a creator God created me in His image, as His workmanship - for good works.  As an artist - whether I like the art presented somewhere, I know the art has worth, because it IS, and even more important - it was created by someone - and is part of them.  But that goes back to the intrinsic worth of the artist.

How many of us have allowed ourselves to have EXTRINSIC worth?
b: originating from or on the outside; especially : originating outside a part and acting upon the part as a whole

The people saying mean things to us all our lives - the media saying only the tall, thin, tan, blond, long haired, ripped people have worth - the doctors telling us that if only we'd do better the health issues would go away - blaming us - calling us weak, lazy, and discounting our attempts to change, and the emotions that are underlying and possibly holding us back.  But - there's another twist - they are not seeing the intrinsic worth of who we are, and that who we are makes up what we are - and what we are affects how we behave.  So - in a sense, they are devaluing our worth by not caring about the whole.

Kind of like saying the oxygen doesn't matter for the water - if the hydrogen just worked harder, it could be water by itself.

To know that I have worth - because I am - changes everything.  And because I have worth, my choices have worth - and I have the ability to discriminate, to love and to remain indifferent.  When I didn't think I had worth - I'm not sure I loved, or was indifferent - I was just lost in never never land. 
And if I don't think I have worth - why would anyone else.
And for me, and my faith - if I don't believe I have worth, based on the Bible - then I am calling my Lord and my God a liar - and everything that has worth to me, that makes up my character, my psyche, my ethics and my choices is null and void.

Everyone believes something - do you believe that you have intrinsic worth? Or are you allowing extrinsic experiences to determine your value? Do you believe that you are worth doing something good for? Or are you waiting for someone to prove it to you?  Do you believe that you can do something good?  It's in learning to accept that I have intrinsic worth that I am learning to like, and maybe even love myself - and in doing that, I am learning what love really is - and it's affecting my marriage, my faith, my health and my family.

Do something good for yourself today - you are worth it!
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi

This is supposed to be pink for the Pig! But it looks more like the slop we had to deal with on the hog farm - oh well.

Weather.com has next Thursday, May 1st as sunny and 52-66 degrees .....now, if we can keep that 10 forecast going like that as it slips into the weekend, and the Pig events on May 2nd and 3rd, keep the rain  on this side of the forecast, that will be awesome!!!  It's been 32 degrees for the flying pig before.....and I don't wanna do that!!! I've done 27 degrees - check!

I'm getting excited to meet our new friends!!!! Marcus and Amber, Danielle and Mike, Courtney and Kenny, Amy, Bets and Lauren?, and of course, the Super Teachers, Paula and Michelle.  I'm not sure if Jennifer is coming or not. Some are doing timed races, some are not. Most are RUNNING!!!  I'm so impressed!!!

We're headed to Cinci Friday - gonna take in the National City Health and Fitness conference that's attached to the Flying Pig Races.  Jim will be doing a pump and run - the pump is on Friday night, between 7 and 8 somewhere.  But based on how many times he pumps a specific weight, he will get time taken off his run - he can explain it better. Anyone interested in coming and cheering Jim on, let us know, and we'll get you the info on where we'll be for that pump part!
I'm just walking - I'd really like to NOT be the last person of the 22,000 people that are at this race.  I can't imagine that many people - but I think that's what I read somewhere on the site. 
AMBER!!!!!! What was I thinking??? I don't like large groups of people!!!!!  Bring the Valium!!! LOL
Oh well - I just hope that I can beat some walkers walking in the untimed race - they will start 15 minutes behind me!!!!
Maybe next year we can all do the Flying Pig Marathon!!!
Oink!
~Christi

Jim and Christi are excited about going on a cruise for celebrating our successes with our friends here on MPMU. 

We are giving ourselves this cruise as our finale - as our congratulations - as our LOSING BIG WIN!!! 
Christi's goal is to be down to 120 before next April - so I can have clothes to take with me - SHOPPING!!!
Jim's goal is to be below 200. Jim will be at his goal much sooner, but we'll get new clothes for him, too. 
Our goals are to be fit enough to participate in ACTIVE excursions - not just the sit on the beach or ride in the bus because I can't walk!!
So - this is our carrot that we are holding out to challenge us to continue in this new lifestyle.
Christi needs to lose 95 pounds, and Jim needs to lose the last 25-30 pounds.

Please join us if you can!!! I love a party!!! The more the merrier!!!

Mike and Michelle - of http://mmullins94.spaces.live.com  wrote this on their site today - and it inspired me, Christi so much, I wanted to share it with you: 

Quote

Quote for the day

Proverbs 12:1 To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

What does that mean to me? It means many things. I want to reflect on that today as I continue to get healthy and fit. I am learning to eat better and to exercise. Since the births of my two kids, I used my pregnancies as an excuse as to why I'm overweight. Yes, I did gain weight to begin with because of that, however I have no other excuse as to why I am still 65 pounds over weight since my oldest child is going to be 9 this week and my youngest one is 4. This is the only life I have, and it is the only body I will have. I need to learn to take care of it, because no one else will.

I have to love disciplining my body, because out of discipline comes the rewards of my hard work. If I do something wrong like eating the wrong foods or not exercising, then I have to either correct it and learn from my mistakes or live this way for the rest of my life. I have learned the hard way that I do not want to live like this anymore. I don't want to feel like I am missing out on my life anymore. I want to look in the mirror and like what I see. I am not there yet, but I am learning to love me. The only way we learn from our mistakes is to be corrected. I have learned to love and appreciate the spankings (correction) I get from the Lord. The reason is because ir let's me know that he loves me.

Weight training is discipline. You are correcting your muscles and training them so they grow from your discipline. Dieting is the same way. You are correcting or retraining your palate, your stomach and your mind.

This is your life, are you who you want to be?

This is your life, are you who you ought to be?

This is your life, is it everything you dreamt that it would be?

My answer for my self to these questions is NO. I want to be a better person, not just thinner. I want to do something meaningful with my life. Every day is a choice. I got up this morning and I chose to go to the gym and do my cardio, because it makes me feel better throughout the day, because it strengthens my muscles, because it disciplines my mind as well as my body, because it teaches my children to take care of themselves from a early age, because I am going to be a personal trainer/nutritionist and I will lead by example. Am I where I want to be? NO, but I'm getting there!

This is your life...

In case anyone wonders (we did, til we did it twice).  In our area all the races seem to be coordinated by the same group (Run Wild Racing).  Registering (between $25 and $35 per person), gets a 'technical' (ie wicking) T-shirt and a bag full of advertising goodies and your 'bib' number.  We can pick these up at the local running store (Front Running in Columbus, OH) starting a couple days before the race. 

On the day of the race, we show up and go to the table where they have these ankle bracelets laid out.  Each one is numbered to match the bib numbers.  Just a plastic box with a velcro strap.  Strap that around your leg or arm, and use good old safety pins to hang the bib number somewhere and you're ready to go.  We sort of wondered about the number of people running laps in the parking lot the first time.  Then we found out that the second half mile is REALLY hard if you don't warm up first.  We've pretty much proved that we need to really warm up for 15-20 minutes before the race starts to avoid that problem.

They have the usual assortment of speakers and music going on .  Then they start describing the course (so you don't get lost I guess) and call the different distances.  The Run Happy was both a 10K and a 5K, so the 10K people went first.  Then the 5K about 15 minutes later.  The Dam Fool was just a 4 miler, so they tried to get the runners in front and the walkers in back (didn't work).  Almost 300 people through that arch took a little while.  Just line up in a bunch and go through the arch which picks up your timer. 

Each time the local sheriff/police have lined off the road (though the Dam Fool was poorly done) and are hopefully keeping the cars and people separated.  The Run Wild folks drop a marker at each mile and a line of orange cones to mark the course.  Each time there has been a water/aid station at the halfway mark.  They hand out this stuff called "Hammer Gel" (glorified jelly in a tube) that you can suck on.  The Run Wild truck will come around and pick you up if something happens (it's a Toyota, since that's one of the big sponsors).  

I was on the top of the dam a little over half done when I heard them cheering the first runners in.  When you come back to the arch, there is a big digital sign telling you how many minutes its been since the first person started (I think).  It definitely doesn't tell your exact time.  There has always been someone there cheering (which is nice).  They immediately take your timing chip back, then later that day the results get posted on http://www.runwildracing.com.  They even have a PDF so you can keep a copy easily.  Very nice.

Both times they have had an assortment of carbs to chow on.  Cookies, bread, fruit, granola bars and water.    Each time they've awarded 'place prizes' as well as general raffle type stuff.  The Run Wild folks seem to be well organized and funded (the chips, lots of wireless hubs and computers on UPS's, as well as the Toyota truck, awnings and a big truck to haul it all around).

If you look closely at Christi's left leg as she is coming through the arch, you can see the timing chip on her ankle (it's the black strap).

Both of the races we've done have been very enjoyable, with both the organizers and the other participants being open and friendly. 

Jim

Dam Fool 4 miler - 4 MILER - Lewis Center,Ohio - along the top of a grass covered dam - with wet grass, of course. And of course, we went from below the dam - up onto the dam, then across the dam, then back down to the below dam area. There were 250 participants - and two of them were young ladies that didn't care about the race - they were just out for a stroll - so, I came in third from last!!! ;-)
Jim's time -  was officially 42:28.  And when he was done with his run, he got us some food from the shelter house, and came up the steps of the dam to meet us at the top of the dam, give us some sustenance (which Faith and Steve ate, but I didn't want to puke) - and walked with us for probably half a mile!  Then he went down to take photos.
Christi's time was 1:12:29 - making it an 18:07 mile - on a longer walk, I shaved 2 minutes off my mile!  Now - I know that I went MUCH faster going down hill than I did going up hill - but, hey - it's averaged, right?
So, without further adieu - here are some photos: I'll put more in our photo album when spaces wakes up today.

Christi is going to do a real entry later, but I'm itching to throw something up.  For some reason our official results aren't on the web page yet.  They seem to be having some technical difficulties (results keep appearing and disappearing).  In any event, I finished the 4 miles in about 43 minutes (which was 2 minutes faster than my goal).  Christi (walking with our daughter Faith and her husband Steve), finished in around 1 hour and 15 minutes, which means she improved on her pace from the Run Happy 5K a month ago.  This one was much bigger, with almost 200 participants.  We've been resting up the rest of the day, though I did ride my bike to the grocery store (about 1.5 miles total).

Jim