Yukon Do It! Pre-Race

I know, I know, I've missed you, too!

The month of December found me scrambling with to-do lists.  I've been so busy living life I haven't had time to write about it!

To do:

• Plan for big family Christmas party
• Execute plan for party - much harder than planning

• Plan a marathon for December 31st.

That's not a big list, right? 

It was early November when it occurred to me that I could get 10 marathons in for the year if there was one more within a short driving distance.  I had planned on doing a marathon on November 13th but I had a scheduling conflict.  I also bailed on a December 18th marathon.  If I had done those, I would have 9 for the year and thus would need one more to make in an even 10 in 2010.  I did 9 in 2009 so I thought it would be a good idea.

I posed the question on Facebook:  Who wants to run a marathon on December 31st in Port Orchard?  I received a few responses and knew if I could get 5 starters and 3 finishers, my "marathon" would count toward Maniac statistics.

Tony Seabolt of the Narrows Bridge Running Club Click here to find out more about the Narrows Bridge Running Club contacted me and offered to help me put the run together.  We started out with ideas of a group run, keep it simple, and we'd be extremely surprised if 50 people signed up on such short notice.

I created a webpage for free on Google. 

Yukon Do It!
I had the priviledge of coming up with a race name!  How cool is that!  My thought process went like this:  it's cold, it's the last day of the year, it's the last chance to run a marathon in 2010, we're in Manchester, Pugest Sound Shipyard, bodies of water names, sea life, etc.  I wanted to have a name representing SOMETHING. 

• Last Chance Marathon Already taken by an amazing runner, Terry Sentinella, for his Bellingham race
• Snowflake Shuffle - cute
• Frozen Assets Marathon - hmmm, not sure if this is "family friendly" enough although it did make me chuckle
• Manchester Marathon - this sounds like a marathon in England or numerous soccer games
• Port Orchard Marathon - BORING!
• And then...
• My  older daughter, Crystal, pumped her fist in the air and shouted, "Yukon Do It!" because I had mentioned Yukon Harbor.  Hey, that could work!

So thank you, Crystal.  You have forever named the marathon Yukon Do It! Someday this will be a trivia question for the thousands of runners flocking to run our little marathon.  We must think positively!

Initially we thought it would be a free event.  As more and more people expressed interest, it was agreed a small fee would help cover some basic necessities for the race.  Tony suggested we add a half marathon to the schedule.  Since we wouldn't want a "profit" from the proceeds, I decided to donate to a local charity if any funds remained.  Backpacks Feed Kids was chosen as the local charity.

We began with an event that had no medals, shirts, timing system, bibs, sponsors, photographer.  One by one, each of these were added as different people offered to help with our event. 

As we grew in volunteers and entries, word spread in the running community about the race.  I am not the only crazy person willing to run a marathon on New Year's Eve!

Christmas with our family came and went and somehow I manage to have the house presentable for guests.  That was quite a feat as we had been accumulating food and other items for the race, adding to my already cluttered home.  Yes, decluttering is a major resolution of mine.  If you homeschool and are NOT one of the seemingly perfect, orderly families, you will understand.  To answer your questions to my daughters if you don't homeschool:

One week!  I forgot to mention that on December 23rd, my husband had shoulder surgery.  I hadn't realized how much I was relying on his physical strength to help me move and pack things for the race. 

My running life had been minimalistic during the last week but I managed at least 1.2 miles the day before the race and did my longest training run since the Seattle Marathon on Tuesday, a 12.3 miler!  What?  You have a problem with this?

December 29th, Tony Seabolt spent most of his 10 year wedding anniversary prepping for the race.  We finally had arrived at December 30th and began packing up two vehicles with food and other supplies.  Tony had finalized and marked the course and we both went over lists to make sure we were ready for race day.

Time to sleep and see what the morning brings!