Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K

First off I have to thank all my wonderful friends who donated... thank you from the bottom of my heart, I know that money is tight for all of us and I really appreciate the sacrifice. I hope nothing but wonderful karma on you all! Many kisses and hugs and mud love!

Getting up for this run on Sunday morning was both really hard and really easy. Husband's band had played a show the night before at we didn't get home until 2:30 am. When that alarm went off at 5:30, it would have been so easy to roll over and go back to sleep, but having just seen Abby the night before with her new adorably sassy short hairdo, singing her heart out on stage even though she'd just had a round of chemo.. well how could we just go back to sleep? I roused the husband since we were doing this thing together and we got ourselves out the door. The race started at Union Station which is only a 5 minute drive for us on a normal day, but I figured traffic and parking was going to be a total pain, so we left early. As we headed down Broadway, there was a big ass line of cars in front of us, so we shot down a side street and just parked, it was no big deal for us to walk a mile to the start... best to save the closer parking for others. It was a gorgeously cool morning and the sun was shining.
We started wandering around the expo marveling at all the stuff that was being given away... if it was pink, it was being sold or handed out. I'm not a big "fight for the freebies" type person, so we just watched and laughed. (I did end up with some nice pink lip gloss and pink energizer bunny ears!). The only thing I got excited about was registering to win a free New Balance running outfit complete with shoes. (not that I wear NB stuff, but I'd certainly give a free pair a go!) I started calling my friends to see if anyone was there yet... my friend Sophia is an anchor at a TV station in Topeka and she was bringing a cameraman along to do a story. I was instructed to wear my pink mud babes shirt and find her before the race. We also needed to find Travis and his family/team so we could all at least start out together. Luckily both Sophia and Travis were easily found... thank goodness for cell phones! We did a quick interview with Sophia and then Travis, husband & I went off to find the rest of Travis's team. There was 24,000 people running/walking this thing, so we stood around for many, many, many minutes before we were able to start moving. And as we were crammed together and I was feeling much like a cow, I realized exactly why I don't run big races....this sucked! It got better when we started moving, and it was more fun to be spread out and able to see people. I was enjoying reading every one's shirt and signs that they had, I wish I could have talked to everyone and heard their stories. I chose to do the non-competitive run, so I could do it with my team and husband, so there was all sorts of people around us. We ended up breaking away from our group, there was so many people it was difficult for just Erik & I to stay together! We bobbed and weaved our way around people, enjoyed all the different bands that were playing and the cheerleaders they had on almost every corner. I swear every possible cheerleading squad within a 75 mile radius must have been out there!
The water stops kinda pissed me off... OK more than kinda... they were handing out big bottles of water and people were taking 1 or 2 sips and then throwing them on the ground. It was so freaking ridiculous, I don't even know where to start ranting! Thanks for destroying the environment people! (deep breath.. calm down and focus) OK, Erik and I had a really good time, and my non running "I hate running, you'll never get me to run" husband Erik actually did run a good chunk of the race! I keep telling him NOT to take up running, because I know that he would totally kick my ass and I'd be pissed, but I really enjoyed sharing the thing I love so very much with the person I love so very much. We finished ( I forgot to put on a watch so I have no idea how long it took us) and watched other finishers for awhile.
It was a pretty emotional morning, I kept getting choked up reading survivors shirts stating how long they'd been cancer free. I kept wishing we could just fast forward time to when Abby will be wearing that shirt that says 10 years cancer free. I have to thank Travis for inviting Erik & I to be a part of his team and honoring his mothers memory, it was a huge honor to have her name on the backs of our shirts.

Link to Sophia's report on the race (I admit to feeling myself up on TV!)

Link to Abby's blog... everyone really should read her blog, she just started it and it's a scream, but it's also made me cry a few times. Since she is a fabulous songwriter, writing really is her forte and her personality shines through. (If finding humour in cancer in not your thing you might want to skip it though)