Before the Easter Bunny Hop, there was Debbie’s Easter Bonnet Marathon (or, the DEB Marathon)…
Back in 2003 Bill and I were training for the Frederick Marathon; but weren’t we always training for a marathon? Anyway, the day before Easter we were scheduled to run our final long run of 20-22 miles before our taper. Since I had a day of Easter cooking ahead of me, I wanted to get a head start and met a friend at the trail early before the others showed up. When Bill and our other running friends arrived, I already had 12 miles under my belt. Because peer pressure is an ugly thing, and I can always be convinced to run a few extra miles, I ran 12 more miles with my friends. When we finished, I was at 24 miles. My friends Bob and Terri said that since I was so close, I really needed to run 2.2 more miles and make it a marathon. So, we ran another 2.2 miles…
The following week my doorbell rang. When I answered the door, a courier handed me a large envelope. In it was a marathon finisher’s certificate that my friend Bob had made!
Five years ago I started the annual Easter Bunny Hop. The first year my buddy Jerome made bunny ears out of pipe cleaners and tails out of cotton balls! The Cruisers humored us and tried to wear them on our run, but ears and tails ended up flopping everywhere!
For that first Bunny Hop, Bill designed a surprise course that took us off of the W&OD Trail and through our neighborhood trails. He designed it so we ran right past our back yard so we could have a mid-run Easter Egg and Gatorade hunt. Unfortunately, it started raining really hard during the run, and as we approached our house, Jerome and I ran ahead and quickly scattered Easter goodies and Gatorade for the Cruisers to find in our back yard. The rain had dampened our spirits, so we didn’t hide the goodies as originally planned.
April 11, 2009 – Wet Cruisers
For the next year, I bought bunny ears, but even those wouldn’t stay on so we only wore them when handing out the Easter treats.
For 2010 and 2011 I got fancy and wrote the Cruisers names on their jelly bean filled Easter eggs.
April 23, 2011
April 23, 2011
In 2012 I was still on injured reserve, so it was more of an Easter Bunny Limp for me. I handed out goodies to our Cruisers, and then walked with some friends.
Last year I raised the bar, and the Easter Bunny handed out Sports Beans, Shot Bloks, and chocolate milk.
March 30, 2013
I always hand out the goodies prior to the run since we don’t all run the same distance and we finish at different times. Last year we had a cold start!
March 30, 2013
This year I filled eggs with jelly beans, Dove dark chocolates, and M&M’s.
2014
I found this adorable Hershey’s Speedy Bunny at the drug store and gave him away as the grand prize! I’ve been seeing this adorable little guy all week on Instagram, Twitter, and blogs, so I was thrilled to find him. He advertises the Hershey’s Track & Field Games which my sons participated in when they were little.
April 19, 2014
I had the Cruisers pick a number between 1 and 20, and the closest won the Speedy Bunny! Beth picked 16 and the number was 17!
April 19, 2014
The chocolate milk (or as I like to call it, “Chocky-Poo Milk) is always the biggest hit!
April 19, 2014
It’s time to hop on out of here and make some dishes for tomorrow! Happy Easter!
- Questions:
- Who’s hosting Easter dinner tomorrow?
- What’s your favorite post-run drink?
- Is anyone racing this weekend?
Love this! I drink chocolate milk after any run longer than three miles. I don’t have a race this weekend, but I have a 10-miler next weekend. Happy Easter, and happy running!
Laura King Edwards recently posted…Being the Best You Can Be
Happy Easter to you and your family!
Happy Easter, Deb! Hope y’all had a nice day yesterday. I love all of the Easter traditions you have with the Cruisers. I don’t drink anything specific to recovery after a long run, but I always try to get some protein via eggs for breakfast. Usually I like to have some juice with my breakfast, or another mug of coffee. In the summer I sometimes like to make iced coffee post-run.
Meagan recently posted…Weekly Workout Roundup – April 14 – 20
I don’t usually drink anything specific after a run, but back when we were training for marathons, we always stopped at 7-Eleven for a chocolate milk after our longer runs (back before I found them at Costco). Long runs are a great excuse to justify the calories in chocolate milk, too! 🙂
Haha, I love the unofficial finisher certificate for your “marathon”. That’s awesome.
Courtney @ Don’t Blink. Just Run. recently posted…Face The Music Friday #30
Yes, it’s great! I couldn’t believe that I’d kept it. It was in the folder of old running stuff that I found a few weeks ago.
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[…] would have done well, had we made it to the starting line. That was the year that I had run Debbie’s Easter Bonnet Marathon as my last long run before the taper; perhaps it was fate that made me randomly run an unplanned […]
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