May 23, 2010 – You’re a CAKE!
06/01/2010
I am proud of all that we accomplished at the Alzheimer’s Association Race For Your Memories event. We had the support of a LOT of friends and family, as always. I know that the teamwork is something that my Daddy-O would REALLY be proud of! 🙂
Here is my brother, Frank Jr.’s, email recapping the event:
Greetings all!
Well the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Race for Your Memories” was Sunday and, if my Dad was still around, he would be calling me a “cake”! “Cake” is a term of endearment in our family that translates into “you’re a wimp”. One of the unstated rules in our family of doing a run is that you actually “run” the whole race. Well, I was not able to do that Sunday. (Here come all the excusesJ) It was hot, the course was hilly and I trained on flat ground, and I started off too fast by running 9 minute miles for the first 2 miles. I had made it about 4.5 miles when we encountered a big uphill climb. My legs already felt like tree stumps as I started the hill. And by the time I was half way up my legs had nothing left, my head was throbbing and I felt like I might pass out. So as much as I did not want to do it, I ended up walking for a short distance to get up the hill and regain some energy. I then ran for about another mile when we came to the biggest, steepest hill on the course (who in their right mind would put this at the 5.5 mile mark of a 6.2 mile race?). I told the person I was running with I couldn’t do it and he said “bull sh*t, you’re going to do it”. So I kept going and I did make it up the hill. However, I then needed another walk to regain myself before we ran the last quarter mile to the finish line.
I had a number of goals for the race:
- To complete the race – Some might say I completed it, but in my mind I did not as walking didn’t count between my Dad and me.
- To finish in under an hour, or 9:41 per mile – I actually finished in 1:02:36, or 10:06 per mile.
- Team Firek finish as #1 in donations received – We finished as the #1 team with $2,375 in donations. The #2 team had $1,483.
- My mom and I finish #1 and #2 in donations raised per individual – At the time of the race start my mom was #1 and I was #3.
- To have 30 members on Team Firek – We ended up with at least 33. Some people registered the morning of the event and I may have missed one or two here.
Thank you all for your support of the Alzheimer’s Association and of Team Firek!
NOTE: I know my Dad would be proud of what we did here. But I still owe him a complete 10K and I will be doing that in the next month or so. I just need to find another 10K run in the area and keep up my training. And I WILL run the entire race and break 1 hour this time!
FYI: Origins of the word “Cake”. The exact details are a little fuzzy, but it goes something like this. My dad was out for a run once when I was a kid and as he was running a large dog came barking and running towards him from the porch of a house. My dad picked up a rock in case he needed it if the dog attacked. But the owner called off the dog before he got to my dad and then started yelling at my dad for picking up the rock and he called my dad a cake. My dad said “You think I’m a cake. Let’s see you run 3 miles and then we’ll see who’s a cake!” And after that, “cake” became part of our family vocabulary.
Frank Firek, Jr.
Frankly Speaking: Alzheimer’s 