San Antonio Rock'n'Roll

Our latest race was yesterday in San Antonio! This is a great race; very organized and well done! There were 30,000 runners, the pack never thinned out completely, just enough space to pass and not worry about bumping into each other.

We had a great time during the race.

On Saturday I wasn't sure we were going to be able to participate. Ginger got sick right after we got our Race Packets and she was in bed all day Saturday! She was only able to eat a couple of bites of lunch and dinner. She woke up on Sunday and was only able to eat a few bites of breakfast before the race.

Ginger was able to finish the race feeling good. We stopped for lunch and she could only eat a few bites, I on the other hand was starving and eat everything in sight. We stopped dinner and Ginger could only eat 1 taco. When we got home she crashed on the couch and slept all evening.

I feel God did a miracle and allowed us to complete the race. Ginger had a fever the entire time but still enjoyed the race.

Our granddaughter Chloe had told Ginger she needed a TuTu. So our daughter and Chloe made a pink and purple tutu for Ginger to run in. The pink was for Ginger's friends that are survivors and currently fighting Breast Cancer. The purple in the tutu are for friends and relatives surviving and fighting other forms of Cancer and for L.L.S. that helps families fighting blood borne Cancers of all kinds. Keep up the Good Fight!!!

The Race Set Before Us

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

I've read these words countless times.; dozens of times since Ginger and I have started training and participating in races. These verses have brought on new meaning and depth as we have been training for endurance races.

The importance of being surrounded by witnesses that have previously ran the race and those cheering you on. Both of these are important for different reasons.

The verse that really stood out to me today was verse 1. Even though I have read it dozens of times the NIV version spoke something different to me today.

"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".

Two things jumped out at me. Run with "perseverance". I immediately thought of Ginger during our Marathon earlier this year. She was almost doubled over in pain, she wanted to quit sometime after mile 15 but she kept going with persistence! We finished that race it wasn't easy but persistence paid off and we have the "prize", a Marathon Finisher's Medal to prove it!!!

The second part that jumped off the page was "the race marked out for us". Other translations say the race set before or other similar verbiage. The NIV said marked out for us, this brought me back to the same race. One of the hardest parts of the Full Marathon was the split with the Half marathon. At the slit the person manning that station would look at your Race Bib ( the thing you wear that has your race number on it) and tell you to turn (for the half marathon) or go straight if you were running the full 26.2 miles. It was hard because you knew if you went straight there was no turning back it was all or nothing.

The race course is laid out ahead of time and the turns are usually clearly marked. It is up to the runner's or walkers to pay attention and make the correct turns.

Today that spoke more clearly than it ever had before. God has clearly marked out our lives and we are to pay attention to the markers. If we do we will be in His plan but if we don't there could be hazards or we have to go through things God had not intended on us to go through.

Let's run this race of life with perseverance and keep our eyes and ears open for our Father God's directions. There is a prize at the end to keep our eyes on but also a lot of good things around each bend along the race course. Don't forget to enjoy the journey, it's about a lot more than just a destination!!!

Another year to live and give!

By Ginger

December 2011 was an amazing time. Darrel and Ginger participated in their first half marathon (13.1 miles). It wasn’t just to run or get into shape or even to check off another item on their bucket list. It was for a cause. A life changing cause, to raise money for the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society to fight blood cancers. They raised a little over $3000 thanks to many of you. The money goes to finding treatments, cures, and financially helping those families with expenses that are in the battle.

Darrel lost his mom, Pat, to colon cancer 27 years ago, his grandmother to lymphoma in 2000 and Ginger lost her stepdad, Tom, to brain, bone and lung cancer 2 years ago. Ginger’s stepmom, Vivian, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 9 years ago. Darrel is also a survivor of melanoma cancer 15 years out. Cancer is no stranger to their family. I’m sure many of you have similar stories.

 

Once we got involved with Team in Training, the fundraising arm of the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society, we began hearing stories all around us of people touched by the disease, mostly children. Our hearts were broken by young parents sharing their stories of their brave children and the battle they are in. Many children have went on to be with Jesus. Brave is the word we hear many of them say to describe their little ones. This experience has increased our prayer life over our own four grandchildren. This disease often comes quietly, unsuspectedly.

As I, Ginger was running last years event in Dallas something wonderful happened. I felt so close to my stepdad. It was as if he was right there cheering me on. When I got so tired, hurting all over and wanted to quit, I remembered being by his bedside and his fight to never give up fighting cancer. This was a healing after his death that I never expected.

Last year we also ran in honor of June ( a friends mother that was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphcytic Leukemia (CCL) after we joined. She is doing very well now.

A diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma or myelodysplastic syndrome brings daily challenges. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. LLS is committed to providing information and support to people living with these cancers and to the health professionals involved in their care.

Our race this year is in San Antonio, Texas. It is called the Hero-thon. It is the first race of this magnitude that LLS has put on. Helping others is what it’s all about. That is why we run!

If you would like to help by making a donation, the easiest way is on our website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntx/herosa13/BrooksRunTheRace

or you can mail it to us:

3426 Lillie Street Sachse, TX 75048

Checks made out to: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 

Lastly, you can join TNT in your area and run.

Thank you all so much and God Bless you!

Darrel and Ginger Brooks

Please Visit our Fundraising Page...

Runs with the Grandkids

We did 2 runs with Caleb and Chloe this year. It was a blast!!! Here are some photo highlights.

Rock-the-Block: (5/19/12)

Labor of Love (9/3/12)

Dallas Rock'n'Roll-30 yrs.of Adventure!

‎30 years ago today I married the love of my life and started this great adventure. We started our adventure hand in hand and I look forward to the next 30 yrs. hand in hand. I love you Ginger! Happy 30th anniversary!!!

Dallas Rock-n-Roll

I'm not sure if we were caught up in the hype of our first Full Marathon or it was a moment of temporary insanity.

While we were picking up our race packets for our first Full Marathon we also signed up for our second Half Marathon. The issue being it's less than 4 weeks away. We ran the full on 2/26/12 and now we've committed to a half on 3/25/12!

We weren't taking in account for injuries or recovery. We didn't know The Cowtown would take such a toll on our bodies. In fact we had talked about being in the Dallas Rock-n-Roll strictly because of the date it will be held on.

We will be celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary on 3/27/12 and we wanted to do something very special. We didn't have the money to go on our Dream Alaskan Cruise. We didn't have the money to to fly to California and retrace our Honeymoon trip up the coastline towns. We really didn't have the money to travel anywhere BUT we could enter a local race and get a medal that we could always remember as our 30th anniversary race (not everyone can say they did a half marathon on their 30th anniversary!).

Here we go again, half crazy, sentimental, in love and still having FUN!!!

1st Full Marathon

The Cowtown Marathon 2012 was not only our first Full Marathon it was probably the hardest 8 hrs of my life (actually 7:52:11). Ginger compared it to natural child birth...(I'll take her word on that) but I will say she went through the "Transitional Phase" in similar fashion (except this time she made phone calls to tattle on what I was making her do, even though the whole thing was her idea).






The day started off like any other race day, we had set our clothes out the night before.






We arrived early. Did some people watching...all types at these events. We settled into our corral in plenty of time for the gun. (I think Ginger said there were about 25,000 runners.)

The gun sounded and we started to slowly walk to the start line...15 minutes later and "we're off".









We wound through business districts, old neighborhoods, downtown but the coolest place was the Ft. Worth Stock Yards.














At one point there were runners as far as you could see...

After a few hours we came to the "slit" this is where the "half crazies" go one way and the "crazies and ultra crazies" go the other way.

Then it got real lonely...














At mile 13.1 we crossed a timing mat, I heard a "beep" and the guy had the nerve to say "only 13.1 to go" (I'm not sure if those were his exact words but those were the words I heard). Now I'm thinking if I were doing the half I would be drinking some coffee having some real food while putting my aching feet up... But NO now I have to do a second Half Marathon without a rest. Ginger's still going strong at this point.








I'll fast forward to mile 18...the trail pickup and a Police car fall in behind us...this puts the pressure on "we're in last place". Ginger is starting to have a lot of pain and our pace is slowing. We had almost caught up to another runner but when he saw us and all the flashing lights behind us...he took off.





Mile 19 and we got to get off road and ditch the trail vehicles. Just before that though we stopped at a Boy Scout water stop and one of the boys said very excitedly, "I got some good news and some bad news, I get to go home but you don't"...I was very happy for him after the awkward silence since his comment. Back to the trail...


Ginger began to politely ask to quit and that I could finish and get the medal for both of us. I was not as polite when I reminded her this was all her idea and that a marathon was not on my 'Bucket List'.

We caught up to the runner in the red shirt, the one we had chased earlier. He was quite a character and all his stories kept Ginger's mind off her pain for a few miles...










After mile 20 Ginger was in a huge amount of pain and I was having to talk her into each block. She began to call people and "tattle" to them about how I was "making her do this". I tried telling her she would have to walk back to the car anyway and she said she had already made arrangements with the tail vehicle to catch a ride and follow me in. After a short discussion on how that was not an option she made another call to our Team in Training Coach David. As she was speaking to him I could see 2 people walking towards us, as they got closer I could see it was Coach David and Landon (his son). Ginger was so involved in the phone conversation she didn't know he was there until he grabbed her arm.

Coach David and Landon began walking with us and encouraging us. We could not have made it without their encouraging words. For those last 5 miles or so. Team in Training is so much more than an event it becomes like a second family, a support system, and a way of life. TNT is an awesome organization, and Coaches David and Meg are a vital part of making it such a success!!!














Well we finished!!! We even picked up another runner along the way and Landon encourged "Kyle" to finish despite his 2 broken ribs!!!
















Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1 NLT)

Cowtown Marathon 8 days....

Hopefully we will not get detoured during our first Marathon.

This is an interesting story about a 1912 Olympic Marathoner. He did go back and Finish though.

hrtbps:

The marathon runner who went missing for 50 years

Shizo Kanakuri disappeared while running the marathon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He was listed as a missing person in Sweden for 50 years — until a journalist found him living quietly in southern Japan.

Overcome with heat during the race, he had stopped at a garden party to drink orange juice, stayed for an hour, then took a train to a hotel and sailed home the next day, too ashamed to tell anyone he was leaving.

There’s a happy ending: In 1966 Kanakuri accepted an invitation to return to Stockholm and complete his run. His final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds — surely a record that will last forever. (via)

New this week!!!

Several things new this week.

1. We are officially registered for the Cowtown Full Marathon. No backing out now, 26.2 miles here we come!!!

2. New mileage, 20 miles due on Saturday!!! We have to get an early start because we plan on also catching a movie...anyone have recommendations?

3. On Sunday it's Ginger's Birthday!!!I think running/walking gear might be in order, also maybe something else???

This might be a quick weekend. It seems as though the weekends are getting shorter... Don't they still have 48 hrs.?

New Distance Record

In the upcoming weeks we will be breaking our distance records.

Sunday we tried a new course. We explored Breckinridge Park in Richardson. We walked all the paths several times and logged 18.7 miles. We were shooting for 19 but time ran out and so did our feet! We did manage to burn 2400 calories and break our personal record distance of 15 miles.

It's only a few weeks (32 days) til Cowtown and our first Full Marathon.

Thank-You for your Support

It has been one month since our 1/2 Marathon White Rock event in Dallas. It was a cold 42* and rainey. We loved it totally. It was our first event of this kind. We did 2 other 5k's during our training but nothing like this. There were 25,000 runners/walkers. It took us 45 minutes to reach the start line. The excitement was high and those along the course cheering us were fantastic.

The money WE raised (with your help) totaled $3,010.00 for the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society to help those familes in the fight against cancer and to help with the research end in finding a cure and better treatments. You should feel amazing for being a part of this, we do.

Thank you for not only your financial participation, but your prayers as we trained and your encouragment throughout.

The day of the race Ginger got an unexpected bonus as the hours passed. She felt very close to her dad, Tom, and felt like she was doing something for him to thank him for how hard he fought in his battle to live those last 11 days. It was a time of peace and closure.

The times got hard, we began to hurt, and as we got tired, we remembered Vivian's battle she won against Lymphoma. We remembered; June's current battle and chemo treatments, little 5 year old Hikari who found out she had Leukemia only days before our race after having her tonsills out. She has since been cleared of all cancer (praise God) and has just completed her 2nd round of chemo preventative treatment.

Our involvemnt with LLS continues... We continue to go out at 6:30 am each Saturday morning to train for the next event. We won't be fundraising again until the Summer or Fall season. Hopefully you will join us again with your giving and maybe out on the course. : )

Our next event will be February 26 and will be a full marathon. Another 1/2 on March 25 and from there we arn't sure. So many to choose from.

We love and appreciate you all so much. God Bless You!!
Darrel & Ginger Brooks

If you'd like to learn more about joining Team In Training, you can visit http://www.teamintraining.org.

Something New 2012

Well we are ready for 2011 to be finished! We will be spending the last day at a race. The I am Superman 5k (http://www.superman5k.com) benefiting the Rockwall ISD Fine Arts program.

A fitting way to end 2011. The year we started endurance training, our first 5k, first half marathon, and first event with Team in Training. We gave met new friends, set and achieved new goals. We have done more than we had hoped for.

With the New Year comes new commitments, new goals and hopefully new achievements! It will take a new set of 12 months to hold all the adventures God has in store for us and you in this next year. Matthew 9:17 talks about putting new wine in a new wineskin and not in an old. The old wineskin has already achieved it's expansion and has no more room for growth. May we become a new wineskin in this new year ready for the expansion God will give us. That is my new year's resolution!!!

12/31/11 Update...
Ginger and I participated in the I Am Superman 5k in Rockwall Texas. It was a small event and very well organized. There was only one problem...


In the excitement of the start we took off like runners and ran too far. Our legs cramped up and could not walk our usual pace. I ended up finishing a minute longer than my first 5k when I was out of shape and just starting to work-out.


Lesson Learned:

Picture at the Starting Line...

Race my Pace... We are walkers IF we would have walked our pace I would have PR'd (Personal Record).

White Rock

Here it is...

We've been busy and haven't had internet at home so I was late in posting this. We finished the White Rock 1/2 Marathon! We also raised over $3,000 for the LLS and our TNT Chapter raised over $200,000.00 just from this race. As an added bonus our entry fees went to the Dallas Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. The race raised over $1,000,000 for the hospital (double last year's amount).

There were over 25,000 runners from all over the world, this was an Olympic qualifier as well as a qualifier for the Boston Marathon. It took over 34 minutes from the starting gun until we crossed the Starting Line! Our time was 3 hrs. 22 minutes and 13 seconds (3:22:13= an average of almost 4 mph). That is a fast walk and a Personal Record (PR)... actually any time would have been our record since this was our first Half Marathon.

The race was amazing, all the training paid off and we were able to not only finish but finish with a smile on our face! Thanks to Coaches David, Meg and Jessica, they were great at preparing us and keeping us from injury.

The conditions were brutal, nearly Freezing Rain the entire race, some runners reported ice crystals forming on their clothing. We weren't cold as long as we were racing but we did get extremely cold once we headed back to the hotel.

One amazing bit of marathon trivia... they have tens of thousands of bananas at the finish area and every single one of them was perfectly ripe!!!

We are continuing our training and plan to participate in the Ft. Worth, Cowtown Full Marathon on 2/25/11. That's 26.2 miles!!!  

WOW...We are endurance athletes (we even now qualify to put the 13.1 sticker on our car).

Praise God!

I received this post from Hikari's dad (Daniel Powers)... 




"Guess what?!? ALL TESTS ARE NEGATIVE!!! She will still be going through some precautionary chemotherapy, but God continues to show himself faithful. Thank you everyone for your prayers!"




I am Speechless... all I can say is, Praise God! 




She is going through precautionary chemotherapy...here's a picture of her and a friend at the hospital with a few visitors. I think her dad said she beat them at Air Hockey, I guess they're used to playing the game on ice instead of AIR.

(Hikari is in pink)

Less than 6 days til White Rock!

I can't believe it it's only 5 days and 20 hrs. until we start our first half marathon. It's amazing to think that just a few months ago we were couch potatoes and now we will have become endurance athletes! This is quite the transformation.

This week our coaches gave us a new theme "NOTHING NEW", this will be our theme for the rest of this week. This is to keep us from injury, illness, or interruption of our plans. We are hoping this week goes quickly.

We do have a new addition for our cross training but I promised Coach David I wouldn't use it until after White Rock. But that's another story...

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

We participated in our first Thanksgiving 5k. It was a massive event 40,000 people. It took us almost 45 minutes to get to the starting line after the horn sounded and people began running. It was a little disappointing to hear the first runners were crossing the finish line when were so far from the starting line we couldn't even see it.

All in all it was a fun experience and we were joined by; Nate, Jovi and Grandson Colin. I think next year we'll try a smaller local event.

Latter in the day we enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving feast (which Ginger cooked all day long). She did a great job on everything!!!

We have so much to thank God for. He has blessed us with health, provision, and a wonderful family (especially the Grandbabies!!!)

THANK-YOU to all our supporters!!!

We made it! We have reached the $3,000 goal!!! It seemed impossible in the beginning but you made it possible. Just as Pastor Randolph always says "You do the possible and God will do the impossible!"

Together we are making a difference in untold numbers of Cancer patients. This money will be used for research, treatment, assisting family members and finding a cure. With your help we are that much closer to finding that cure.

Now that the fundraising is over, now comes the FUN...13.1 miles December 4th.

We will be having a "warm-up" 3.1 mile race on Thanksgiving Morning, joined by Nate, Jovi and our Grandson Colin. It will be a fun new Tradition that is very Nontraditional for us!!!

God has been so good to us and we have met so many new friends in this new adventure. We look forward to our next events on the planning calendar:

Dallas Turkey Trot (5k-3.1 miles) 11/24/11
White Rock 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) 12/4/11
I am Superman (5k) 12/31/11
Cowtown Marathon (26.2 miles) 2/25/12
Dallas Rock-n-Roll 1/2 Marathon (13.1) 3/25/12

Time to Taper

WOW, our coach told us to let all our friends and fam know what we yesterday morning before most of you woke up and ate your breakfast. We did 12.7 MILES in training for the 1/2 marathon that happens in just 2 weeks. We have 68 hours to collect the remaining $81.59 so we can get our packet for the race which includes our bid, timer, race shirt, etc. What ever you can do to help would be FANTASTIC.


Go to: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntxok/Whiterck11/brooksruntherace to donate securely or mail to us asap. 

Yesterday we logged 12.7 miles!!! This was out highest mileage yet, we will taper next Saturday then the race a week later. This training season has flown by!!!

It's unbelievable; in less than 2 weeks we will be racing for our Honored Heroes, and in Memory of those who's earthly lives were cut short due to cancer. We will also be focused on finishing the 13.1 miles as fast as we possibly can. If we can the distance with in the prescribed time limit we will earn a Finisher's Medal.

Another Injury

Ginger is suffering with shin splints. She was able to finish Thursday's 4 miles but had to take today off to rest and recover.

Darrel was able to put in his 10 miles with an average pace of 16:32 and an average speed of 3.6 mph.

Ginger should be recovered for next weeks high mileage workout. The White Rock half Marathon is only weeks away!!!

Less than a Month til White Rock!!!

Hi Everyone,
We are getting so excited about the race. It's less than a month to go. Only 3 Saturday trainings to go and 7 weekday trainings. Last week we increased our speed. Since Darrel's injury the doctor only wants him walking, so we are learning how to walk really fast. Well, Darrel is doing much better than I am so I have to add running. New level, new pain, new sence of accomplishment. It's all worth it to help those fighting cancer.

Our mileage yesterday was 10.25 miles under 3 hours! This was our personal BEST for a workout over a 10k distance. Our average pace was 17.23 min/mile. This included 2 bathroom stops. We will continue to shave off some time but our main goal in this first half marathon is just to be able to stay below the 18:00 pace; so we won't be kicked off the course and we will be able to FINISH the 13.1 mile White Rock course which includes several hill climbs. Yes, Darrel said FIRST. We have decided to make this our new lifestyle and participate in more races. Ginger's blood pressure has come down to 115/73 this last week. Very exciting!!!

We might come in last but we will finish and get our finisher's medal. We have almost finished raising $3000.00 for the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society. Ginger made her required goal and Darrel has about $100 to go. If you have not already given but planned to, IT'S TIME. Please use the link in this email to donate online quickly and securely plus learn more about our progress. You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and we will be notified as soon as you make your donation.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntxok/Whiterck11/brooksruntherace

We have a whole new perspective on all the Biblical references to running or racing.

Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above. Philippians 3:13-14

Thank you for your continued prayers and your gracious giving.
Love and Blessings, Darrel & Ginger Brooks

P.S. I would appreciate it if you would forward this Blog to as many people as you can to encourage them to donate as well. Thanks again.