Running T-Shirt Quilt

Photo by OHventures

As an avid runner, my dresser drawers slowly began to overflow with race t-shirts I have collected over the many years of hitting the pavement. 

At first, it's really cool to get a new t-shirt every time you run - it can serve as a memento of a great accomplishment and fantastic experience had with friends. But, if you do 10, 15, even 20 races a year like I do, then it begins to take over your wardrobe, and your storage! A friend once asked if I had anything other than suits and running t-shirts, because he'd see me wearing them so often. Unacceptable.

So I decided it was time to do something about it. As part of my 30 Things To Do Before (While) I'm 30, I set out to have a quilt made using some old running t-shirts! It was a genius idea that I had seen before on Groupon. But rather than sending shirts off to a random company, I put the call out to my friends on Facebook to see if anyone had any ideas of where or who I could go to for a t-shirt quilt.

Many people stepped up and offered ideas, but one friend of mine, Rick, stepped up in a big way. He said that he had always wanted to try to make a quilt, but never had a reason to. If I trusted him, he said he would be willing to make a quilt for me. Instead of monetary payment, he said he would like to have a sampling of wines I gathered from all of my various wineries I visited across the state. It was a perfect match! 

I had to figure out which shirts I could use. He said he could take 20. There were some that I didn't want to give up because I really enjoy wearing them and they are too cool to give up. And there are some that - let's face it - are so ugly that I didn't even want them on a quilt. I wanted ones that looked good and were from races that had special meaning to me. So, after meticulous planning, I came up with a good mix of shirts. 

The shirts are, as displayed on the quilt:

Row 1 (l-r)

Capital City Quarter Marathon - May 2013, Columbus

Boardman Memorial Mile - May 2013, Boardman

Capital City Half Marathon - May 2012, Columbus (my first half marathon)

Run With The Pack 5K - June 2012, Columbus (first run I did with my dog)

Row 2 (l-r)

World Fit 5K - May 2014, Warren (my brother helped organize this race)

Selfless Elf 5K - December 2013, Akron

Glo Run Columbus - April 2013, Columbus

Arnold Pump & Run 5K 2014 - March 2014, Columbus

Row 3 (l-r)

Hubbard Public Library Zombie Run - October 2012, Hubbard

Oktoberfest Brat Trot 4 Miler - September 2012, Columbus

Warrior Dash Ohio 2014 - August 2014, North Lawrence

Out Of The Darkness Walk - October 2014, North Canton (in honor of my cousin)

Row 4 (l-r)

Team OHventures T-Shirts (a shirt I designed for the blog)

Warren Kiwanis Turkey Trot - November 2012, Warren (started our family tradition)

Funny Bunny 4 Miler - April 2014, Canton (took place on my birthday)

Foam Fest 5K - June 2013, Logan

Row 5 (l-r)

Akron Marathon Relay 2014 - September 2014 Akron

Bike Columbus Festival – July 2012, Columbus (first biking event)

Dirty Dog 5K Run & Wash - July 2013, Avon Lake

Akron Gen. Birthday Bash Dash 5K - August 2014, Stow (I was Race Director)

These shirts were the perfect shirts to have made into a quilt. And, Rick certainly delivered with a high quality and great looking quilt (not too shabby for his first quilt making experience). Having this quilt has transformed a pile of t-shirts shoved in a dresser into a unique, meaningful and timeless piece of art (that also doubles as a comfy blanket). 

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Rick for making this happen. This is an item I will always value. One look at it brings back a flood of memories of friends and stories I have made in my running career that has truly changed my life in a number of ways. It's something you can't put a price tag on. No amount of wine can show my appreciation for this great creation!

ZombiePark Paintball

The zombie apocalypse is coming to Central Ohio this Halloween season as the walking dead infest SplatterPark’s newest paintball attraction, ZombiePark.

ZombiePark takes zombie hunters on an interactive, thrilling hayride through walking-dead infested woods where riders shoot live zombies and other strategic targets with paintball guns to eradicate the zombie infestation of 2013. Open now through November 2, the attraction runs every Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

“Zombies are more popular now than ever, and people want to feel like they can be part of the walking dead phenomenon,” said Mike Miller, SplatterPark president. “We created ZombiePark to fulfill that interest and to allow paintball to be more accessible to non-traditional players as well as our high school and college-aged core player.”

The ride is available to anyone ages 5 years and up. Riders may first take practice shots at the Zombie Target Range Test Facility. While riders wait to board the Zombie Hunting Vehicle, a video entertains participants with a zombie infestation backstory. The backstory also is available on YouTube with ZombiePark Breaking News coverage or at zombiepark.com.

“Paintball has evolved over the years from a sport to activity and now to an attraction,” Miller explains. “We have customers who have always wanted to participate in a paintball activity but were afraid of trying it. The hayride allows riders to have all the fun of paintball but without getting shot or dirty. It’s well suited for families, dates, school-aged groups, and sorority and fraternities.”

The Zombie Hunting Vehicles, which are equipped with blue lights to light the targets, weave through a dark path covering 30-acres of woods filled with live, roaming zombie actors. Admission is $19 and includes 100 UV-reactive paintballs and unlimited access to the target test range. Located in Mt. Gilead, Ohio at 5560 County Road 109, ZombiePark also offers a VIP Package for $29 to skip the line.

“In the dark, it is a completely different experience, and that is when it starts to get really fun,” Miller adds. “We also offer some daylight hours for younger children or the more squeamish.”

At ZombiePark, safety is the first priority. Zombie actors are fully protected with facemasks and padded coveralls beneath their zombie costumes. The paintball guns also are mounted to the Zombie Hunting Vehicle for rider safety.

To purchase tickets, visit zombiepark.com or call 1-800-815-2204. Reservations are recommended. Follow SplatterPark on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for updates and discounts as the Zombie Resistance battles the dead.

About SplatterPark: SplatterPark is rated as the premier paintball facility in the Midwest and is featured in the Activision hit paintball video game Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball. It is the largest paintball park between New York and Chicago with 40 acres of park and 12 playing fields. Catering to all levels of play, the park is open every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for open play and private groups. The park also is available by appointment for private groups during the week. ZombiePark is open Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. during the Halloween season. The park is closed during the last half of December until the beginning of March. Visit www.splatterpark.com to learn more.

Read OHventures Post on Paintball at SplatterPark!

Hubbard Library Zombie Run Recap

 

 

It's always more fun to run a 5K with a twist. The hot new trend for 5Ks nowadays is the "zombie run," which geniously capitalizes on the growing popularity of the undead (Resident Evil, The Walking Dead, Lindsay Lohan...) and combines it with the growing popularity of competitive running. The basic premise is that people dress up as "zombies," who, along the course, "attack" runners by ripping a flag off of them (much like flag football). It's an all-out war between zombies and runners, as each tries to conquer the other. What will they think of next?

 

 

This particular zombie run took place in my hometown of Hubbard, Ohio, located in Trumbull County in the northeast region of the state. It was enouraging to me that my little city was finally jumping on the active lifestyle bandwagon, as this was one of the first 5K races that has ever taken place there, at least to my immediate knowledge (mind you I have not lived there in 9 years, so I could be wrong). I decided to head home to have yet another bonding experience with my older brother Curt (pictured above, before the race), who has also caught the running bug as of late and recently ran the Warrior Dash with me.

 

 

Curt and I traveled to Battlefront Paintball, located in the outskirts of Hubbard (which is also known as one of the best paintball spots in the whole state) on Sunday, October 14 to begin the race at 11 AM. The rules of the race were really not so clear, as we were left wondering what was supposed to happen to us if we were to lose both of our flags (do we quit running? do we become zombies? do we lose? do we keep going?). The rules were probably not so strict, as this was an event for all ages, and it was meant to be fun for the kids (you know, one of those "everybody wins" kind of things).

 

 



 

It was a beautiful October day, which was soon ruined by the ugliness of the zombies all along the run. Makeup artists worked their magic to transform the citizens of Hubbard into monsters (although I can vouch that I know some citizens that wouldn't need any makeup...joking...). The race route was a double loop through the paintball fields, which were peppered with junk cars, fortresses, and other obstacles along the way. The terrain was rough and tough. There were hills, holes, uneven ground, and a few creeks we had to splash our way through (or jump across, which Curt and I managed to do successfully).

 

 

My first flag was taken from me almost immediately when a "zombie" child no taller than four feet came out of nowhere and ripped it from my belt. I continued on the run, climbing over walls made of wooden palates (pictured above), crawling underneath another obstacle made out of 2x4s and thrashing through the brush, collecting countless burrs on my socks along the way. My calves were burning pretty badly because of the tough terrain, and I had a minor cramp in my stomach as well. Additionally, I could feel a blister on the bottom of my right foot, which was caused by my wearing a pair of my dad's old ill-fitting tennis shoes (the problem with mud runs such as this is that you don't want to wear a good pair of shoes in fear that you will ruin them).

 

 

 

As the race went on, I lost my second flag to a zombie gal who cornered me at an obstacle (not fair), and my brother somehow had his flags snatched up as well. This didn't bother us much, as there seemed not to be any repercussions for having lost the flags. In fact, it was pretty fun to see all of the scary looking kids (and adults) who were acting as zombies and jumping out of the weeds. It added a fun factor attempting to dodge the enemy and save your flags. I even got legitimately scared a couple of times from surprise zombie attacks. Despite losing our flags and experiencing some minor aches and pains, my brother and I conquered the second loop and crossed the finish line side by side with a time of 27:57, which was great considering all of the obstacles and the difficult course.

 

All in all, I feel it was a successful event for the Hubbard Public Library, and I hope that it is the start of many more years of zombie runs (or any other kind of run) in my home sweet home of Hubbard, Ohio.