Running Outta Our Mine 5K

Running Outta Our Mine 5K February 18, 2012

So the four of us traveledto Wampum PA to do the Runnin' Out of O
ur Mine 5K. The whole race was underground in a mine- which was why we decided to try it. We stayed in a very nice hotel (the Sheraton) in Cranberry PA and then drove the 20 miles to the race. First impression was wow- its much more modern than I expected. For some reason I had pictured narrow tunnel with wood support beams, bare bulb lights, possibly an old ore car rusting outside. The kind of mine where you expect to see an old grizzled miner with a pick ax wa
lking out yelling “there's gold in them hills!”

Instead we had a much more modern mine that was large and filled with RV's. The race began inside in a nice, moist 55 degree tunnel with a paved road. This soon turned to darker, gravely, and was filled with lots of turns and switchbacks past RV's and old carnival trailers mixed in among huge pillar rocks. Much more like a trail race. It was awesome! I ran along some nice man from outside Pittsburgh who was very nice andfinished with a time of 29:54, a personal 5K best for me and it was my first race back since partially tearing my Achilles last summer. Matt came in 27th overall with a time of 19:45 (6:21 per mile). Jared finished with a 31:50 and Cori finished with 37:04. She ran more of this 5K than she has for any other
and only stopped to walk twice.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at the hotel, looking around the area stores, and eating. The sushi bar and hibachi grill was great! We looked around a store that looked cool and advertized a room that had all clothing 50% off. That sounds great but when the jeans are originally $245 half off doesn't mean crap. I wont pay more than like $30 for jeans so I don't know what kind of yuppies shop there. We did get some great new colorful running clothes through! ( Not at the same store).

The hot tub at the hotel was hot, the pool warn, the beds comfortable, and there was a glass elevator. I mention this because Matt and Jared took several trips up and down it Saturday night because there was a naked girl in a bed with the curtains wide open who waved at them. Obviously they think the hotel is great.

Tomorrow we head back to NY but this is definitely a race to do again! The road trip is not over until we get back!

-Jenni

Welcome

Welcome! So this is the blog for Blood, Sweat and Beers. We are a group of regular people who happen to enjoy running and triathlons. This blog will be a place for us to share our experiences and adventures and to hopefully (possibly??) inspire others to begin or continue to participate in triathlons

So who are we? Well while we are sure that you will hear about more people than we will introduce here, the 2012 core group is made up of four of us, Matt Sherman, Jenni Sherman, Jared Hammond and Cori Jones. We all have real, full time jobs and none of us are professional athletes. We are just people who who enjoy the adventure and physical, mental, and emotional challenges of triathlon.

Matt is probably the “best” triathlete out of all of us. By best we mean that he has the fastest times. Weather or not he actually “the best” is up for debate. Matt ran cross country in high school and college. In 2007 he got married to Jenni (formerly Myers now Sherman) and they moved to Virginia Beach. Jenni also ran in high school but was a state champion sprinter. Down in Virginia Matt went back to college (he was the older non-traditional student) while Jenni worked full time as a special education teacher. While Matt was back into competitive running in college Jenni was just getting back into running distance (by distance I mean like 3 miles). Matt got a job at a triathlon store, Final Kick, and they were introduced to the world of triathlon. They moved back to NY almost two years ago determined to delve into the world of triathlon.

Back in New York Jenni and Matt met back up with a good friend, Jared Hammond. Jared was a football captain and one of the best weight lifters in the state in high school. Needless to say he does not have your typical triathlete physique. After living for a year in Vancouver to go to film school Jared moved back to NY also, ready to try something new. The three of us (Jared, Matt, Jenni) began to run and decided to sign up for our first triathlon two days before the race.
We wont go into detail, suffice it to say we had never swum half a mile before and when we tried to run after biking it was not pretty but we were hooked. We began to train harder and this is our second year. The three of us have each completed one half ironman (Matt has completed 2) and Matt and Jared have each done a full marathon. We have all done several half marathons and sprint triathlons..

Cori Jones is our newbie and will be trying her first triathlon this summer. She has already done two half marathons and is ready to take on triathlons. She and Jared began dating more than a year ago and she has fully taken the triathlon leap and become a member of Blood Sweat and Beers.

We all work full time jobs and struggle with trying to fit training time into our schedules. Matt is really the only one who has the chance of possibly placing in his age group. The rest of us try to better our own times and have fun training and going to races. We are serious about competing against ourselves but want to have fun and enjoy what we do. Read on to hear our adventures, mistakes, training and fun!

-Jenni