Wipeout Run

Last month I joined a few friends (and my brother) and did the Wipeout Run (my sister-in-law and baby girl joined to cheer us on).  Much like the TV show (although a lot easier), we faced obstacles, all while running a 5k in the South Bay heat.  Luckily, this day wasn't one of those 100 degree days.  I think it was only in the mid-80's, however, running around without cover in the blazing sun still lead to overheating and a sunburn.

Leading up to the event, my only true concern was not whether I would injure myself, it was whether or not the life jacket would fit over my monster boobs.  My second (minor) concern was whether I would be able to keep up with the rest of my group, who were way more fit than me.  When we arrived and joined the cattle call to wait for our turn to run, there was a guy hyping up the crowd.  We were laughing and dancing (and preparing ourselves for our sunburns).  Once the horn blew, we were off.  Our group ran off toward obstacle one.  I almost ran the entire way.  But after that, I was too tired and too hot to keep up that pace.  My group didn't complain much (although Jessica DID make us walk the entire 5k instead of letting me cheat and take shortcuts in a couple of places).  Boo.  

Most of the obstacles were fun and had very little danger of actually hurting us.  However, the big red balls were a little more daunting.  My experience in watching the show, and others who went ahead of me, is that the danger is bouncing off ball 1, face planting into ball 2 and then backwards taco'ing and kicking yourself in the back of the head, thereby destroying your back.  NCPP was the following weekend, and I just couldn't afford an injury.  So, I bitched out and just kind of jumped around the sides of the balls and made half-assed attempts to actually jump on the balls from the ground (instead of jumping off the platform).  I left lots of face sweat on the balls for the next person though.  I was okay with that.

As I was walking with my crowd toward an obstacle in the middle, I hear: Is that Lori?!  It seems like I can't go anywhere without seeing someone I know!  Danielle, another Twirly Girl, was running the course with her husband and some friends.  We bounced through the next obstacle together and then they were off (because they were actually running).

The next stressor came towards the end, when I had to try on that life jacket.  I had watched videos, which showed zip-up life jackets.  Those would never fit.  I even e-mailed the promoters to explain my plight.  I was assured that their life jackets went up to XL and I would be just fine.  XL.  hahaha!  This chick has never seen my boobs!!!!  As we walked up, I saw a really big dude with a jacket on, completely un-done.  But I noticed, it had buckles!!  No zippers!  I picked up my XL, let out the straps and put my life jacket on.

The whole course took us two hours to walk, but we had the best time.  I would definitely do it again, so I hope it comes around again next year!

THANK YOU!

I could find poems or songs to help me express the gratitude I feel for everyone who participated in the Second Annual Lovely Rita Fundraiser to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, but two words say it best:  THANK YOU.  

Thank you to everyone who participated in the calendar photoshoot, bought a calendar, donated raffle items, bought raffle tickets, attended the dance recital, donated money through Rita's kidney website...  Thank you to all of the girls who danced on Sunday.  Thank you to their friends and families for allowing them to share their time with us.  Thank you to Andrea Becker, who helped choreograph a couple of the dances and donated many items for the raffle.  

THANK YOU TO THE GIRLS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE FUNDRAISER:

Dancers:

Marilyn

Tina

Grace

"Stephanie Nicole"

Yolanda T.

Sam

Jenelle

Paola

Gina

Chelsea "Pink Flamingo"

"Shimmies Galore"

Sharon

And, of course, RITA!  (ADORABLE performance, by the way!)

(Oh yeah, and me too -- Lori.)

Pole Cleaners:

Isabel

Carmen

Jessica

Jenny

Samantha

Sandra

To Edna for selling raffle tickets at the event for us!

(I went through that list three times and if I forgot anyone, I AM SO SORRY, please let me know and I will update this list!)

To our amazing singer, Yolanda B., who rocked it TWICE for us!  You have an amazing voice, lady!!!

I thanked her above for dancing, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Stephanie Nicole le Dream, who came out to perform for Rita even though she had another show that night at Club 1220 in Walnut Creek.  If you ever want to attend a fun drag show, check out Stephanie, along with a host of other amazing girls, on the first and third Sunday of each month, starting at 9:30 p.m., at Club 1220.  

Thank you to Shelly Lamb, who is now teaching at Twirly Girls, and is about to go to New York for competition.  GOOD LUCK!  You have the entire Twirly Girl family rooting you on.  And thank you, Shelly, for coming out to the fundraiser and performing, even though you had been teaching so far away that day.  You are an amazing performer and so fun to watch.

So far, we have raised about $2,000 for the National Kidney Foundation.

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO DONATED TO THE RAFFLE:

Bel Jeremiah of Twirly Girls Pole Fitness
www.twirlygirlspolefitness.com

Doug Korb of DK Designs
Doug's e-mail

Twisted Silver 

http://www.twisted-silver.com/

Sarah Starlight
www.starlighthoops.com

hOney

www.hoopdanceacademy.com

Inspire Fitness Boot Camps 

www.myinspirefitness.com

Mighty Grip

http://www.mightygrip.com/

Sephora items donated through Isabel Sum Contreras

Baskets donated by Shelley Clark

Jenny Gain, Wellness International Network
http://www.synergywellnessgroup.com/

Theresa Taylor Grutzeck at The Rouge

www.therougecosmetics.com

Massimo's

www.massimos.com

Bruce's Tire in Fremont 

(510) 651-4701

Jennifer of PoleSkivvies 

http://www.poleskivvies.com

Gerri Levitas of Bay Healing
www.bayhealing.com

Joe Baptist (retired Air Force firearms instructor)

Just By Touch

www.justbytouch.webs.com

Primal Fit Boot Camp

www.primalfitbootcamp.com

Roxanne Freitas-Souza at Motives

www.motivescosmetics.com/colormeroxanne

Toni Reyes at Christopher's Salon

www.salon07ghq.com

Rocco's Pizzeria

http://www.roccospizzeria.com/

We also want to thank:

The Real Karaoke Joe

www.therealkaraokejoe.com

Cake Queen, Michael Villa 

underwater@sbcglobalnet

And let's not forget the companies that helped fund the printing of our Lovely Rita calendar (we still have a three or four available for sale...only $5):

Physicians' Youthful Resolutions
www.youthfulresolutions.com

Penninsula Women's Health
www.penninsulawomenshealth.com

Tri-Valley Bodyworks
www.trivalleybodyworks.com

The Pole Dancing Shop
www.thepoledancingshop.com

Douglas Korb, Remax
www.dougkorb.com

Thank you to Andrew of Liquidpulp Photography (www.liquidpulp.com) for taking the photos at the calendar shoot AND at the fundraiser; and thanks to Anh Thu Tran for doing make-up the day of the shoot (and supporting the Twirly Girls by coming to the fundraiser).

Rita and I again would like to thank Bel of Twirly Girls Pole Fitness (www.twirlygirlspolefitness.com) for being so generous with her time and studio!  We know she is a busy lady, but she always makes time for her Twirly Girls and we love her for that!  

I personally want to thank Rita for being a good friend and keeping my life interesting and fun.  She is one of the most honest and trustworthy people I have ever met.  I appreciate her sharing her daughter, Kate, with me.  And I even appreciate her sharing her husband, Dave, with me (no, not in THAT way).  He says the funniest $hit sometimes.  

One of the things I love about Twirly Girls is how supportive all the girls are of each other.  We are all at different levels.  We are all different ages, shapes and sizes.  Hell, some of us aren't even actually girls.  But we all get along, love each other and support each other.  It truly is a family.  It is a beautiful thing.  And I am thankful every day to have the Twirly Girls in my life.  

We have one last fundraiser at Rocco's in Walnut Creek next Thursday, April 28th.  If you let them know you are there for Rita's fundraiser, they will donate a portion of the sales to Rita's walk.  This is valid all day, for take-out and dine-in.  Rita and I, along with many others, will be there in the evening for dinner if you would like to join us.  

http://walnutcreek.patch.com/events/the-lovely-rita-fundraiser-at-roccos-pizzeria

If you'd just like to donate to TEAM KIDNEY, please check out this link:  

http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/NorthernCaliforniaNorthernNevadaOregonWashingtonandAlaska?team_id=87291&pg=team&fr_id=3320

You can also join the Lovely Rita fan page on Facebook to be kept up to date on future events:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Lovely-Rita-Fundraiser/184967201517111

Rita and I (along with many others) will be doing the Kidney Walk in San Francisco on Saturday, May 7th.  Please feel free to join us for a beautiful walk along the Embarcadero!  

I know this is really long and I apologize for that, but before I go, I wanted to let you know where you can find photos and videos from the event.

Flickr link (this is my account but I am gathering photos from all over to keep together.  So far, I have photos from Andrew, Rita, Grace and myself.  Keep checking back because I know there are more photos coming): 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lolorashel/sets/72157626540794554/

Videos on my YouTube account (might have to scroll around...look for videos uploaded around April 18, 2011):

http://www.youtube.com/lolorashel

Videos on Rita's YouTube account:

http://www.youtube.com/ritapearson

Videos on Twirly Girls' YouTube account (might not have any videos from the fundraiser but there are other fun videos on there):

http://www.youtube.com/twirlygirlspolefit

See you next year!  Check out my blog from yesterday...where I set a goal for the THIRD annual Lovely Rita Fundraiser!

Brazen Racing

A couple of years ago, I started doing 5k's with Brazen Racing.  Mostly I was walking them.  My motivation behind Couch to 5k was partially to prepare for Bay to Breakers, but also to start actually running the 5k's I do with Brazen.  I did one over the weekend with my injured back.  It sucked.  Freezing cold, wet, muddy.  I jogged the flat parts but there were so many muddy parts on a grade that I had to walk them.  Slowly.  I think my final time was almost an hour so I was doing 20 minute miles. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share some photos since we were so disgusting and muddy at the end.  I definitely recommend Brazen Racing (cool shirts and medals, lots of goodies in our bags and good friends to see), and I look forward to feeling better so I can actually RUN an entire 5k soon!

The Lovely Rita's National Kidney Walk in San Francisco

So the day we have been gearing up for finally arrived!  The 5k walk for the National Kidney Foundation -- which is the reason Twirly Girls hosted the fundraiser -- was on Saturday, May 8th.  It was a beautiful clear day in the city (although fairly windy and cold)! 

I joined Rita, her husband (Dave), her daughter (Kate), her mom (Marge), and our friend (Robert), along with other friends (ran into Jim and Mike...hi guys!!!) to walk along the Embarcadero.  We questioned whether it was a full 5k (when we first saw the 2k sign, we thought out loud...no way). 

I'm sure Rita was proud to hand over her large donation of, what I believe was, close to $3,000.  I am touched that so many people came together to make that possible.  We love the Twirly Girls!  Here are some photos of our fun trip to the city!