Some things we do outside of our scheduled dances: Mercedes Marathon: The Footmad marathon relay team (Kay Hogan, Dori DeCamillis, Diane Tucker, Kristina O'Quinn, Jim Cauthen and substitute Rene Reder) managed to complete the Mercedes Marathon Relay in spite of nearly insurmountable obstacles. Two days before the race Dori came down with a cold, but decided to run anyway, and, on the night before, lead off runner Kay came down with the crud that prevented her from running. The morning of the race a stomach virus started vying for Jim's attention. Rene, already entered in the half marathon, agreed to carry our timing chip for the first leg of the relay in Kay's stead and we carried on in the spirit of Footmad. In the end everyone contributed. Footmad footed a portion of the bill for new Footmad shirts for the original team members (unfortunately Jim did not receive his in time). Kay, her family already sick, picked up and delivered the race packets to Jim to distribute at the dance, then made sure he got the timing chip when she in turn fell sick. Rene ran beautifully and valiantly tried to find the Footmad team at the first two relay points with no success. Dori, her cold and Jim patiently looked for Rene in the chill as they failed to spot her. Dori and Jim waited until they saw the balloon lady walk by (the official end of the marathon) at which point we agreed Dori should go home and nurse her cold while Diane would go ahead and run the third leg. At the end of her leg Diane handed off to Kristina who ran hers and handed off to Jim. Diane then joined Jim for the last two blocks of the run. The two of them crossed the finish line together and celebrated with Kristina, Mark and Joyce (after Jim's stomach virus finally said enough with the running!). Despite having fallen behind all the other teams because of the missed exchanges, the team still finished 72nd out of 97 mixed sex teams. In her first half marathon, Rene finished 148th out of 297 female half marathoners in her age group. Among all women half marathon runners she finished 870th out of 1748. Kudos to the marathon organization for recording the finish time for the team even though the team failed to exchange the timing chip. The recorded time matches the time Jim observed when he finished the race. Several Footmad members cheered the team on as they ran including at least Kristina's family, the family of Brian Dean and Patty Bank, and Philip Foster. Mark Hobson, Diane's husband, took the nice photos shown in the slideshow below. Notice the new Footmad shirts worn by team members Diane and Kristina. Pepper Place Farmers Market: We sometimes gather at the farmers market to promote Footmad. You can also have fun like these folks (photos provided by Bruce McClellan)!   Demonstrations: Sometimes we demonstrate dancing. On February 16, 2010, we kicked off the "Big Read" for the Birmingham Public Library by demonstrating dances that one might have seen in the days of "Tom Sawyer", the chosen book for this year's "Big Read". We had a lot of fun as you can see in these pictures taken by Dick Echols and Bruce McClelland and in this video recorded by the Library staff. Santa’s Workshop: Each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Footmad dancers bring to our Turkey Trot an abundance of gifts for homeless children, infants through teenagers. Then on the second Saturday of December the YWCA invites parents to “shop” for gifts for their children, while the children are in the gym having snacks, playing games and making presents for their kinfolks. The folks at the YW are always amazed at the quality and quantity of the gifts that Footmad contributes to Santa’s Workshop.  David Finley, Our Own Santa! The Table: The Table is a grassroots effort, initiated by Footmad member Chris Retan, to provide food — and hope — to hungry and homeless people in the Birmingham, Alabama area every Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers from the community prepare food and bring it to a homeless shelter, where it's served with love to men and women in need. About once a year Footmad members come make a nutritious homemade meal for all who gather at the Firehouse Shelter. |
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Beyond the Dance |