Pi Day Pivot 2011 Winners

A word from Happy Monkey:

This first annual Pi Day Pivot was so much more successful then we ever imagined or even dared hope for. We had hoped to do this as an actual event in a real location with physical interaction between participants; a dearth of time made this unrealistic. Thus, the birth of a virtual event... a format we will most likely keep for this event. Considering the short notice, this event was extremely successful! Thank you all for being a part of this event!

A total of 44 individuals completed various activities to qualify for our Pi Day Pivot... and every kind of activity imaginable was reported. We had carpets shampooed, dogs walked, a restuarant triathlon, pi-oriented/prayer bike rides, Zumba, teaching(!) a fitness class, ballroom dancing, 3.14-mile walks, trash pickup, a serious pi-athlon, power/intense workouts, Curves, senic walks, yoga, Ttapp, stair climbing, hill walking, fitness trail run/workout, bowling, wagon rides, pi-centric Crossfit workouts, and slices of pizza and pie consumed (though that didn't count for physical activity).

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A few stats... because that's what we love here!

*Pi Day Pivot by Happy Monkey was represented by 5 states: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida

*We had 41 individuals complete this year's Pi Day

*The largest team participating this year had 4 members

*The longest pi-athlon consisted of a 3140-meter swim, 3.14-mile run, and 314 Russian kettlebell swings

*During one night, one participant carried 415 plates

*Over 259.14 minutes were danced away through ballroom, Zumba, Ttapp, and with children

*Donations raised for Home Educators Association of Virginia totalled $161.31; not bad for an overnight event and thank you for your support!

*Upwards of 45.43 miles were walked or run through neighborhoods and university campuses, around lakes, on treadmills, up hills, and around city blocks

*More than 10 flights of stairs were climbed

*Around 9.14 miles (more or less) were biked

*It seems 6 or 7 different types of workouts were executed: power, Crossfit, fitness trail, Curves, yoga, gym, Ttapp

*About 5 dogs were walked

*Approximately 9.42 man-games were bowled

*At least 2 people participated in trash pickup

*Some happy children were given at least 1 wagon ride

*And 1 house had its carpets shampooed

But I digress... Ladies and Gentlemen... the moment we have all been awaiting. A warm slice of congratulation goes to...

Winners of the First Annual Pi Day Pivot by Happy Monkey

::cheering and intro music::

Sara Hemmeke - PI-th Award

For becoming the 14th Pi Day Pivot pi-ticipant

Sara Hemmeke of Virginia easily took the PI-th Award by being the 14th person to complete and report her Pi Day Pivot fitness activity. Congratulations, Sara!

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Jamey Jackson - Ins-PI-re Award

For innovation and the most creative Pi Day Pivot activity

Congratulations to Jamey Jackson of Virginia who swept the Ins-PI-re Award category with her insanely creative Crossfit workout which centered around pi carried out to twelve(!) places:

3 Bergener warmups

and

1 situp

4 pullups

1 situp

5 thrusters; 40 pound

9 good mornings; 20 pound

265-meter sprint

3 cups of water

5 pushups

8 knees-to-elbow

9 rounds of "Happy Pi Day" from the cheering section

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Joy Suits - PI-athlete Award

For completion of three separate activities for the Pi Day Pivot

Upon reviewing the tri-events completed for the Pi Day Pivot, Joy Suits of Virginia clearly carried the field with her Travinia Italian Kitchen Pi-athlon. Joy's goal was to walk 3.14 miles around that kitchen, carry 314 plates, and run up the 3 flights of stairs to her apartment. Not only did she meet this goal, but Joy exceeded it by walking about almost 5 miles and carrying 415 plates that evening! Great job, Joy!

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While we did have $161.31 of Pi Day Pivot donations to HEAV, we did not meet our goal of $314 with this event. So, unfortunately, our 0.14 award - the PI-lanthropist Award - was not qualified for and thus, not awarded. This does not detract from the generousity of those who donated... we cannot thank you enough for your support of homeschooling in the state of Virginia!

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Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook. You can do that by clicking the link below:

"Like" Happy Monkey

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Thank you all SO much for participating in this year's Pi Day Pivot. It will be coming back next year and we will be announcing our next Happy Monkey event shortly. It's looking like a June event and we're thinking to make it an actual, in-person event... we'll keep you posted.

Please take a minute to fill out our survey via SurveyMonkey.com. Your answers will help us in planning even better, even more successful and fun events.

Click here to take survey

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Happy Monkey donated all proceeds from the 2011 Pi Day Pivot to HEAV (Home Educators Association of Virginia). If you would like to contribute to Happy Monkey to help defray the costs of finisher medals and awards, please click on the PayPal link below. Every little bit helps and we appreciate you being a part of our growing organization!

Pi Day Pivot - Information Flow

*** *** *** *DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MIDNIGHT, 15 MARCH* *** *** ***

While Pi Day proper may be over, all the data is not yet in from yesterday's event... which was amazingly successful.

A huge "Thank you!" to all who participated on a physical level and to all who participated on a philanthropic level... and to those who did both! We could not have done this without you and we value you immensely.

Results are still coming in. Final rulings and awards will be listed here and at our Facebook event wall.

REMEMBER: You MUST submit your Pi Day Pivot activity to be eligible for finisher and special awards. The deadline has been extended until midnight tonight (Tuesday, 15 March). If you are reading this for the first time or just found out about the Pi Day Pivot today, you can still participate.

Think about what you did yesterday. Did you do ANY physical activity? Walk a dog, go for a bike ride, work or play outside, have a knock-down-drag-out fight with a peice of pie or pizza? Think hard... you may still be able to participate. Send it in... I'm looking for you!

As always, I'd like to take the time to thank HEAV for all the hard work they do for homeschooling in Virginia. If you haven't made a donation to HEAV yet, please consider doing so. We have a link to the HEAV website at the top right of this page. They are worth it.

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[Sidenote: This event donated 100% of donations to HEAV. All events cost money and if you would like to help us defray our expenses, please click on the "Donate" button below to send us your contribution via PayPal.]

Pi Day Pivot - A Happy Monkey Event

Participants and Soon-To-Be Participants...

It's not too late to take part in the Pi Day Pivot - a Happy Monkey event. Enjoy the weather and get some exercise in. Plus, donations will be helping support HEAV (Home Educators Association of Virginia) and we'll be awarding some great prizes. Win-win scenario here.

STEP 1: Do some physical activity today; anything can count - walking, juggling, water fight (you get the picture)

STEP 2: Tell us what you did and post on our Facebook Event Page or email us.

STEP 3: Consider donating to help support HEAV. You can donate directly HERE.

STEP 4: Take the rest of the day off, knowing you've done good for your health and for the homeschool community. Your award will arrive in the mail soon and you will receive the gratitude of Happy Monkey for making this event possible.

Details of the event and awards can be found at our event site on Facebook (Pi Day Pivot by Happy Monkey) or at our Blogger site.

Thank you for your support! We look forward to hearing of your Pi Day exploits!

From the Happy Monkey team, "Wishing you the best and Carpe Pi-em (Seize the Pie)."


[Events do cost a bit, even virtual ones. Please consider helping us defray our costs by donating to Happy Monkey via PayPal.]

[Pi Day icon courtesy of http: //bp3.blogger. com; Pi Day Pivot logo constructed by Ruth Cooper, Mar2011]

First Annual Pi Day Pivot

Participate in Happy Monkey's first-ever virtual Pi Day Pivot this Monday!! Finisher medals, special awards, and an opportunity to support the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV). Just do it... you won't regret it!

What is a Pi Day?

On March 14th (3.14), many people throughout the world may (or may not) celebrate Pi Day. By celebrate, I mean do something odd/fun/silly with respect to the number 3.1415926535897... or, the irrational, transcendental number we know as Pi

Why a Pi Day Pivot? Really?

Well… to pivot is to move around some central point. While for some, Pi may be the pivotal point of March 14^th, we have been fearfully and wonderfully made as humans. Exercise and health should be fun and not something to dread. Family, fitness, and fun are the tri-fold point around which this Happy Monkey event is based… the first annual Pi Day Pivot... in virtual form.

Everyone is invited to participate and we will be giving out actual participant awards and even a few specialty awards.

HOW CAN YOU BE PART of this Happy Monkey Pi Day Pivot?

STEP 1: Select some physical activity you would like to perform on Monday (3/14). It can be anything that gets your blood pumping: walking, running, biking, swimming, taking the stairs at work, walking the dog or children, WiiFit, DanceDance Revolution (DDR) or something a little more Pi Day themed... running in circles, hula hoop, pie tossing. ANY physical activity counts so ANYONE can do this.

STEP 2: Set a goal. Then send that goal, if the goal was completed, name, gender, age, and mailing address to our email (HappyMonkeys42@gmail.com) or post in the Comments section of this Event page. Deadline for submissions is noon of Tuesday, 15 March 2011. Your Pi Day Pivot activity MUST be completed ON Monday to count.

STEP 3: Please consider making a donation. Many races and events have registration fees. At Happy Monkey, our goal is to have events that are solely donation-driven. You only pay what you can afford or feel the event is worth.

Happy Monkey has pledged to donate a significant portion of donations from each event in support of some non-profit, organization, cause or charity (or grouping thereof). This virtual event (Pi Day Pivot) is being held to benefit the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV).

Not only can you get a fun workout, you can show your support for HEAV and for the amazing amount of work they do to make homeschooling in Virginia a reality. Donations can be made through PayPal to HappyMonkeys42@gmail.com or mailed to Happy Monkey,

5612 Princess Ave, Virginia Beach, VA 23464

. Make checks payable to Jason or Ruth Cooper. You may also click here to donate.

STEP 4: Make sure you complete your physical activity goal on Monday and email or post confirmation of your completion. Let us know how you did and what you gained by this experience.

STEP 5: Sit back and wait for your award to arrive. Each participant fulfilling the requirements of the Happy Monkey Pi Day Pivot (Steps 1-4) will be awarded a frame worthy certificate and a finisher medal. That's right, a MEDAL... which will be mailed to the address you provide us.

In addition to finisher medals, there are 3.14 areas in which you can win an additional award:

PI-TH AWARD: This first surprise award will go to the 14th and 314th submissions (being optimistic here) which we receive via email and/or Facebook. Event registrations will be ordered by time stamp; any submission from a different time zone will first be converted to EST before ranking. You may submit your goal and other information immediately and hold your ranking spot. However, if no confirmation of completion is submitted by the deadline of noon, Tuesday, 15 March 2011, that position will be lost and the next registration will move into that place.

INS-PI-RE AWARD: This second special award will go to the individual who submits and completes the most creative Pi Day Pivot goal. Go all out. Be REALLY creative and shock and awe the judges.

PI-ATHLETE AWARD: This third secret award will go to the individual who submits and completes a minimum of three separate events on Monday, 14 March 2011. In the event of more than one individual completing a PI-athlon, a decision will be based on the total distances covered, total time involved, and overall intensity achieved. Example One: Swim 314 meters, bike 314 meters, run 314 meters. Example Two: Run up three flights of stairs, do DDR for 31 minutes, jump rope for 3 minutes.

PI-LANTHROPIST AWARD: This stellar point-one-four-th award will go to the individual who donates the $314^th dollar in support of the Happy Monkey Pi Day Pivot and the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV).

And just in case you’re curious, Happy Monkey is a racing and events organization founded in 2011 by Jason and Ruth Cooper as a way to raise support for groups and causes we (and others) care about and to provide a fun, quirky, and unusual twist on physical fitness for the entire family.

Thank you for joining us in our second racing event. Without you, we wouldn’t even exist!