Team Stick, est. 2000

"Team Stick" refers to a group of girls I met in college ~ we met because we all shared a passion for running. Our friendship grew and so did our love of running. Here are just a few things to note:

* We met in college (late 90's) and we were members of the UW Running Club.
* We took a Marathon Training PE Class and trained for our first marathons!

* We "borrowed" the name "Team Stick" because our coach used it to refer to the Kenyans.

* We currently live all over the country (both coasts and in the middle).

* We plan trips together as much as we can~usually one or two a year.

* We love weekend visits, stick trips, races, training runs, whatever! If the sticks get together, it's going to be a blast!

* These ladies rock! We've shared some incredible moments together over the years and we are currently celebrating TEN YEARS of Team Stick!!

No one knows the exact date that we took on the name Team Stick, but we know it was in January of 2000. That was the beginning of our Marathon Training PE Class. So this January marks ten years~wow! I'd like to dedicate this post to the awesome ladies of Team Stick. I hope to regale you with tales of some of our adventures and scatter my musings with pictures circa the early 2000s (the pre-digital era, if you will) as well as some of our recent adventures. Here we go!

1. This is perhaps the first pic we have of the five of us. It's from a Shamrock Shuffle (March 2000). My favorite part of this picture is our cotton shirts--techie tees weren't the standard at this time. Our times for the 8K ranged from 35:20 to 41:39 (yours truly holds the record for "slowest stick".. but look at the competition!)

Same race, different angle--you can see some Chicago buildings in the background. From left to right: LO who lives in Callie; CB and LN from the middle of the country; me, the east coaster; and KH, also from the middle.

2. Here we are in the summer of 2000 -- This was some kind of Fleet Feet Women's race in Chicago, IL. It was probably July or August--memory escapes me. But K invited me to participate and I said sure! Here's what I remember: It was a 10K; I ran my PW in the neighborhood of 57 minutes; there was little pomp and circumstance at the finish (ie. very bare bones). The two pictures are K and I tying our shoes pre-race and the two of us shortly after the start.

3. This next one was a fun one! It was October 2000, and Team Stick participated in the Lakefront Marathon Relay. We had done this the year before but were on different teams. This is one I have on the blog as a past race report--so go HERE to see it. If you'd rather the Cliff Notes version: Team Stick won this race with a time of 3:14.43; My contribution was a 38:59 five mile leg, which still stands as my 5 mile PR; it was a blast! Here is the picture of us on this cold day in October (in Wisconsin) with the lake in the background. Of hilarious note: I am wearing a turtleneck--and yes, I probably ran the race in it ;)

4. Ok--now it's late October 2000, and Team Stick wants to do another race together. This time we picked the Nerstrand Big Woods Run in Minnesota. This was the first and only trail race I've done in my life. I ran the half-marathon. Funny thing--my time for this race was slower than both my marathon half splits! I believe I ran it in 2:17! But--the trails were full of precipitous climbs up slippery slopes, dangerous sharp turns, tricky footing, and curse-inducing hills. No matter--we all had fun (right, L??) and enjoyed the finish line celebration! This pic is us in some sort of formation that we thought was artsy.

5. Another Shamrock Shuffle 8K..this time in March 2001. Not sure why there are only three sticks in this picture when I know all five of us participated, but that's what I've got. There is little about this race I remember, though I know my time was 39:47. 6. In October of 2001, some Sticks decided to run the Chicago Marathon. I had run my second marathon in June of that year, so I just spectated. I remember the spectating was hard!! and I jumped in to run the last 10K with C (I don't remember the rules about this type of thing being so strict at the time..). The girl in the middle is not one of the sticks, but she was in our running club and we were not ones to exclude.

7. I threw this one into the mix because we have had so many good times that didn't necessarily involve running. This was at someone's apartment where we dressed up in silly clothes (come to think of it, I believe it was shortly after a run..) Anyway, yeah--a fun one!

8. Then, of course, there is a picture of us running on one of our beloved college campus paths. This one took you out to Picnic Point and was beautiful no matter what season!

9. Next is a race that took place in Madison, Wisconsin in May of 2003. I ran it in 2:02.48, which I believe was close to a PR for me at the time. It was a gorgeous day and my mom and a good friend of mine participated in the 5K run/walk. It's hard to see, but we were all wearing our "26.2" socks in this picture. 10. There may be a time lapse in pictures, but that doesn't mean we weren't hanging--I just have to be selective in this post ;) So now, we jump to May 2005. One of us (ahem) was about to get married. We started a tradition when the first Stick got married in 2001 that we would always do a Stick run the day before the wedding. So, a few hours before my rehearsal, the Sticks joined me for a 4 miler that psyched me up and calmed me down like only a run-the-day-before-your-wedding can.

11. And now for a few wedding picys.. Bride in the middle..I had to have Stick representation in my bridal party--here's my friend C who dressed the part and was a truly outstanding bridesmaid ;)And no, this wasn't a conga line--we just wanted to show some Stick love ;)

12. Jumping ahead again--this was a camping trip in the summer of 2007. I have it HERE in the blog. I had recently "recovered" from some nagging IT Band issues and my mileage was just getting up to decent. We ran some, biked some, and hiked some. Great trip!

13. And now the nyc marathon in 2008 (HERE). We had an absolute blast, celebrating Halloween, running in the five boroughs, and hanging out nyc style. This pic is from the Expo~classic!

And let's not forget the post-marathon photo op..

14. Last, but not least, is a picture from this summer~we celebrated the fourth of July together and managed to squeeze in lots of running and even a race (HERE). We had so much fun we ended up planning a short camping trip a couple weeks later (HERE). This last picture is us in our Team Stick shirts!

It's hard to sum up the post about the Sticks--I could have included hundreds of photos and memories in this post because there have been so many special events in the past ten years. I'm not going to attempt to list them all! But they know how I feel about them (right ladies?) and I cannot wait to plan our next event! I'd like to end by saying that Team Stick recently expanded, which was really exciting for all of us, but for one of us in particular. On December 8, 2009, L from Callie had a baby boy, making him, by default, a baby stick ;) He's absolutely adorable and will most definitely be running as soon as he's able to walk--and he'll probably kick my butt if he's anything like his mama ;)

So Happy Ten Year Anniversary, Team Stick!! ♥ ♥