Foot Traffic Flat pictures

In case you didn't know who the cutest little runner in the world is, here you go:

 Noah is the cutest little runner ever.  He had a great 5k for his very first race ever.  I love the picture of him surrounded by all big people.  And I also love the second picture where he is sprinting for the finish.  He ran the 5k with all of his little heart, and beat lots and lots of big people.

Joel is a pretty cute runner, but he is adult-sized, so not as cute as little Noah mixed in with all the biggies.

Below is the most handsome runner I know.  A tangent: Some of the teenage girls from church were talking about what hair color they find the most attractive.  They laughed when I told them that guys with grey hair were the best.  I happen to love Mark's grey hair.  Anyway, this picture shows how happy Mark was to have reached his goal of a 1:27 in the half-marathon.

This runner below was not having such a great day, did not look cute at all.  My knee was hurting so bad, but I pushed through it the last mile and ran to the finish line.  You can see on my face that I wasn't super happy with my race.  But I did it.  Mark made me buy a photo for historical purposes.

Happy Anniversary! A slideshow

This morning I woke up to a crazy thunder/lighting/rain storm.  In my life, that's a good omen.  And not just because I have always been obsessed with the weather.

20 years ago I woke up to the same thing!  I knew when Mark and I got engaged that we could not count on an outdoor reception because whatever day we picked it would rain.  And it did.

Mark is at scout camp with 2 of our sons until tomorrow.  I'm missing him, so I pulled out the photo albums and made this video for him--hopefully they have 4G or wifi at camp!

20th anniversary look back at 1992 from Jill Dorrough on Vimeo.

It's been an amazing 20 years.  7 kids and lots of happy memories.  I'd do it all again.

When we were 2

Savanna and Aubrey found their 2-year-old pictures in a box this morning.  They were both so adorable!  I never realized how much they looked alike.

So then we had to see what I looked like as a 2-year-old.

A metal medal!

Today we ran the Foot Traffic Flat 1/2 Marathon.  It is a great local race.  Last year was our first year running it, and it ended with a very big disappointment for me.  See this post if you don't remember.  But this year's race had a happy ending as far as medals go.

No race would be complete without the traditional night-before bib pinning and posing for pictures.

 I bought my sweet USA outfit at the Olympic Trials last weekend.

 As far as the actual race went, Mark had a fantastic day.  He gave it his all and finished the 1/2 marathon in 1:27:45!  If you care, that is a 6:42-per-mile average pace.  He is on track for a sub-3-hour marathon this fall.

Joel ran the 5k in 25:28.  Noah's first race ever was amazing.  He never stopped running and ended up finishing in 28:29.  Not bad for a kid who just turned 11 and trained 1.5 miles a day 3 times a week for the past month.

My day was not the best.  I had a really great first 1/2 of the 1/2.  I was on track for a 2:05 PR.  But at mile 6 my left IT band flared up as it did in Seattle 11 days ago.  I ran as much as I could, but had to walk from time to time to give my knee some relief.  It was so sad to have plenty of energy and strength to keep running but to not have a functional knee to allow me to do my best.  I sucked it up as much as I could and finished with a 2:23.  Not my best, not my worst.  Now it is time to let it heal.  If you need me I will be aqua-jogging at the pool for the rest of the summer.

But the good news of the day is that this year the race awarded medals made out of---metal!  No cardboard; no recycled bicycle chains.

I gathered all of my courage to run through the pain for the last mile, and as I sprinted across the finish line and received my medal I decided it had all been worth it.
 
The medal met all of my requirements for a medal:
1-It is made of metal
2-It is shiny
3-It is heavy
4-It is waterproof

No matter what my time was, I finished my 9th half marathon in 3 years, and I have a beautiful strawberry medal to add to my collection.

 That's what I'm talking about.

OLYMPIC TRIALS

Mark and I took a trip to Hayward Field in Eugene on Saturday. Months ago we purchased our tickets to the Usatf Olympic Trials. It was money well spent. I cannot begin to describe how awesome it was.

We were it section T, which just happened to be the best spot in the entire place. The field events were right in front of us, and the finish line for the races was just to our left. Best of all, the awards podium was in the stands exactly 4 feet behind us. When each group of winners left the track from their victory laps, the walked right in front of us and up the steps to the podium!

The womens high jump was so exciting. It was literally right in front of us. We had a close-up of the whole thing!  Seriously, I saw Chante Lowe do this right before my very eyes.
Even more amazing than this feat of jumping 6'7" was her awesome dance moves to celebrate each successful jump.  And then to completely dazzle everyone, after she had won the event she went to the side of the track and picked up her two little kids--one a baby!--and walked them around the track with her on her victory lap.  This lady is incredible!

We will be back in 4 years--for more than one day. It was just so amazing.  And when we go next time we will buy exactly the same seats we had for this occasion.   Who wants to come with us?

My week at camp

I just got back from the best week of Girls Camp ever.  The weather wasn't fantastic, but we still had fun and I loved every minute.  My friend Karlee Jean was the camp photographer and took this shot of Aubrey and me, and also the picture below.

My job at camp was to run rafts down the river every day.  That's it.  It is the best gig of all.  Thank goodness I have rafting skills!  I give the girls a river safety lesson to teach them how to paddle and what to do (and to NOT do) if they get thrown out of the raft.  And then we go for a ride down the beautiful river.  I absolutely love commanding a raft.  My dream job would be to spend each day as a rafting guide.  It is my favorite thing to do.  I love it when I hit a hole perfectly and hear the girls scream.  Rafting at camp couldn't happen without the awesome camp dads who transport our rafts and girls up the river.  I love that they send us off with a splash!  The squealing girls make it just awesome.When I'm not on the river or scaring girls about what could happen if their foot gets stuck between rocks at the bottom of the river, I get to wander around camp and visit girls.  

 Each morning at camp a group of leaders and girls go walking or running.  I usually stay back and walk with the younger girls.  On our first morning walk this year, I spied this very odd yard decoration.

I started freaking out!  It was a tar baby!  Just like in the story my dad told me at bedtime throughout my childhood, and the story my kids always request when we visit my dad.  The girls I was with had never heard of Br'er Rabbit or Br'er Fox or the Tar Baby, so I told them the story.  They loved it, and I told them more Uncle Remus stories every morning for an hour while we took our walk.  When I ran out of Br'er Fox stories I had to move onto other stories, such as The Five Chinese Brothers and The Fisherman and His Wife.  The girls had never heard any of these, which made it very fun for me to be the first one to tell them.  Every morning after we found the Tar Baby I would make the girls say "GOOD MORNING! to it.   I'm not sure if the people who live in this house intended to have a Tar Baby decoration in their yard, but I have no idea what else they might think it is!

One thing I dread every year at camp is the night I am to be involved in a skit.  I don't do skits.  I feel totally stupid acting out anything.  I can't even play charades.  This year someone came up with a brilliant idea for the stake leaders skit.  We came up with six scenarios involving Stake leaders, and then we had girls from the audience come up and choose one of us to imitate in the skit.  We sat back and watched as the girls totally made fun of us in different situations.  When someone was acting like me it involved rafting, singing, sharing baked goods and identifying birds.  It really was the best skit ever to sit back and watch the girls pick out each of our eccentricities.  I hope it is our new tradition!


It was fun to be at camp for the week.  The kids at home survived without me once again.  I look forward to camp every year, and I can't wait to see what next summer brings.