The Race!

I did one of my favorite races again this year. I love the Race for the Cure. This year my sister in-law Alysha joined us. We have a sleepover the night before at Laurann's house and make a weekend out of it. This year we bought matching hoodies which made it easier to keep track of each other in the crowds of thousands. 

We met up with my sister-in-law Kim who does the race with her family.

Every year I pick my favorite t-shirt. This year I chose the young mother of toddlers who wore the symbolic cancer survivor shirt. 

I don't know who she is but she inspires me. That is what this race is all about.

Dirty Girl

Back in the dead of winter, a friend sent out an email asking if anyone was interested in doing a dirty girl run. The race consisted of a 4 mile run with obstacles throughout the course and lots of mud. It sounded fun!

(Anything sounds fun in the dead of winter!)

There were several women from the neighborhood who joined the team. We were the Dirty Divas.

The race was lots of fun. It was at a farm down in Salt Lake. We ran through muddy fields jumping over hay bales, along the path of a creek, and army crawled through freezing water.

It was a lot of fun. I don't have any photos of us on the course but here are a couple from our "photo shoot" at the end of the race.

It wasn't as muddy as I thought it would be, (Is that weird that I'm disappointed in the fact there wasn't more mud?) but I did have a whole lot of fun with my friends and that is why I really did it after all.

Border Run

I woke up early on the morning of July 4th to run for the border. After years of living on the Mexican International border, it was ironic that this border run was to Idaho. I signed up to run the 10K while my cute nieces signed up for the mile run and the 5K with their parents. At the last minute we had to make a couple change of plans and we decided that Hannah would start the 5K by herself and John would catch up to her in a few minutes. When the gun when off at the start of the race, Hannah looked up at me with tear filled eyes and said, "I don't want to run by myself." I realized that Hannah's feelings were far more important than my race so I ran the 5K with her.

Hannah was my first running partner ever. I usually choose to run on my own. She was a great companion. She felt bad that I was missing my race but I told her it was my decision and I didn't feel bad at all. John caught up to us and Hannah kept us at a pace that I was pushing to keep up with. She's a fast little girl!

She beat me across the finish line by a few seconds. I tried keep the race officials from scanning my race number but they did anyway. The problem is the fact that I signed up for the 10K and ran the 5K. According to the computer I ran the 10k in 31 minutes. That is like Olympic trial speed. I was the overall winner of the 10K. When I explained my dilemma, one guy was mad, while the other guy looked me on the eye and said, "You did the right thing."

That day I learned that it's not about how fast you run the race, it is all about how you run it.

Happy Birthday?

In our area, they have a race at the end of the each school year. Fourth and fifth graders from five different schools compete in a one mile race. They train for months. This year's race was scheduled for a Tuesday, which turned out to be cold and rainy so they rescheduled it for a Thursday which happened to be AJ's birthday. He was happy at first that the race was going to be on his birthday. Well, Thursday turned out to be colder and rainier then Tuesday. This time the race went on.

By the time I found AJ in the crowd, he was drenched and his lips were blue. It wasn't raining when they left the school that morning so he didn't take his jacket. I wrapped him up in a blanket and we waited in the car with the heater on until it was time for his heat.

His finishing time for this race was quite a bit slower than his usual time. I told him it takes a lot of heart to run in this kind of weather. I thought he did great and I was so proud of him.

After he finished the race, I took him out on a lunch date. We went to a place that offered steaming hot soup. Then we went to pick up his birthday present and spent the afternoon playing with it in our warm, dry house. When asked how his birthday was, he replied, "The first half was miserable. The second half was great!" I thought so too. I will cherish the memories of this day forever.

This One's For the Girl

My sister invited me to be part of her team for the Race for the Cure. Laurann has done this race for several years. I was glad it finally worked out for me to join her. My sister-in-law Kim and I went to Laurann's house the night before. We had dinner, went to a Body Combat class, did a little shopping, and spent some time in her hot tub.

Saturday morning we went to the Gateway in Salt Lake City with 17,000 other participants.

Here is a photo of us before the race started.

We were all there to celebrate womanhood and to help find a way to fight breast cancer. On one hand, this race isn't too serious. It's hard to not laugh when you see a man wearing a pink tutu with a shirt that reads, "Tutus for the Tatas" or the man with a shimmery pink pink bra on that reads, "Support breast cancer." I think I heard every single slang term for female anatomy and then some. The Honorary Chair for the race also chooses to fight cancer with humor. Her website is http://www.somuchmoreonline.com/.

On the other hand, this race is very serious as you see fathers & sons running in memory of their wife & mother, children running in memory of their grandma, and the sign at the end of the race with a name that read, "For two years we walked with her. Now we walk for her," Throughout the day I found myself laughing one minute and crying the very next.

Breast cancer survivors are given special shirts and hats with pink ribbons on the brim to mark the number of years they have been a survivor. They are placed on pedastals, as they should be. Many of the participants run in memory of or in celebration of a loved one. Kim ran in memory of her aunt. I ran in celebration of Brooke, a co-worker of mine who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Brooke held her head high and taught me about courage and endurance. Brooke's mother died of breast cancer a few months ago.

I went to the race not knowing what to expect. I came home inspired by women everywhere. I have decided to make it an  annual tradition. Thanks to all the women who choose to fight like a girl.