Quadraman Fun Run Recap

The Quadraman Fun Run was a 2.02 (one loop) asphalt run and walk held on Saturday, February 8, 2014, at Bear Creek Park benefiting David Hartsock. This was the first run that I have organized (with the help of some other ladies). I will have another post later on how to organize your first fun run, but for now, this is about the Quadraman.

As a quick synopsis, David Hartsock was a tandem instructor at Skydive Houston. While on a routine tandem skydive with his passenger, both parachutes malfunctioned on opening. In order to save his passenger's life, he threw his body underneath her body so that he could take the full impact of the ground when they crashed. He is now quadriplegic. Due to recent trips to the hospital, we decided to organize this run to help him out with medical expenses. For more details, read this post. 

We got to the park early to set up and I immediately noticed how full the parking lot looked. I saw all of the boot camp military groups doing their exercises. We set up and one soldier came to talk to us about what we were doing since we were all in the same area. They were doing physical tests and we wouldn't overlap; however, didn't know that more groups would show up later. Oh well. 

There were 21 people there to run, walk, or volunteer. I was so happy to see Kris and his family, because it's been far too long. We also had about 9 virtual runners doing their own 2 miles away from Houston. I'm still waiting on pictures...ehhh hemmm.

We gave everyone their bibs, put on super cool super hero capes that Jenn made, took the mandatory starting photos (oh come on, this is my first organized run), and got ready on the start line. Jenn blew the horn on her phone, but Dave was already off and going. So, we started. Thankfully, the military guys who were crowding around us waited until we took off to start their test. I also want to note that they parted like the red sea for us to run by them.

Our table ready for runners and walkers.

Remington, my superhero...well, I think that's what he tells himself.

Kate showing off her cape.

                         

Becca getting ready to run.

 The group minus Jenn.

Thumbs up for Brokeback. 

Remi and I in a rare photo of us running together. 

This is a sequence of Caroline and Patricia in their hopping fun run.

And now back to normal runners.

Kate's husband, Chris took this picture where he was stationed. He was supposed to go to the mile marker to set up photos and a water station. He didn't make it there even though he drove. Yes, I had to mention this!

This is my favorite photo of the day. 

Look! One leg.

It was so amazing to see Kris out here walking.

Evan, Keith, Tanya, myself, and Remington were leading the pack. Most people were walking, but that's okay. Evan was an immediate front runner. He even stopped at the bathroom and still came in first place. Showoff! I ran with Tanya to keeping her going until the mile marker. After awhile, I left her to finish off the run since she wanted to walk the rest of the way (she ended up not and I was so proud of her). Keith finished second and I finished third (I think that's the first time I ever finished third and I will take it). Maybe it's the start of the winter olympics and that I got third, but I may have a goal to at least get on the podium for one race. 

All in all, it was a nice run (or walk if that was your preference) for a Saturday afternoon. We raised $3,050 total for Dave and we couldn't be happier. We plan to do even more next year. If you missed the cutoff time to donate, you can make a payment to his paypal account at quadraman@comcast.net. Every donation helps him out! Please also visit his journal webpage about his experiences at Caring Bridge.

I now what to thank everyone that came out (or Virtual Runner) to run or walk the Quadraman Fun and everyone that donated and/or signed up (but couldn't make it). Without you, this day wouldn't have been possible. Thank you to Elizabeth Svoboda for providing autographed copies of her book, What Makes a Hero? featuring Dave (see review here).

Congratulations to Evan Pollino for being the first to cross the finish line. 

Congratulations to Patricia Gore for being the top fundraiser. 

Again, I have to thank Griff's Irish Pub for letting us host our raffle night the week before and thanks to all of the people who donated prizes for that night, including Syraya Horton, Kandace Heimer, Kirsten Hardmant, and many more.

From the raffle night...it's no wonder some guy thought we were twins. 

Thanks to Extremetix for helping with the webpage and selling our tickets. And of course, thanks to those three other lovely ladies who helped put this together. Love you girls. 

And because I didn't want to bore you nice readers with countless pictures of the fun run, I decided to make a photo video. I chose Foo Fighters February Stars, because we all felt like stars out there running on a Saturday. Enjoy!

I leave you with a picture of my precious Remington tired after a lot of running that morning.

Poor guy only moved at the end of the night to go to the bathroom.