You can read about my reasons for running here and here, but long story short, I ran because my life literally depends on the funds raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Race day was amazing in SO many ways and you couldn't have asked for a better day to run 13.1 miles! Race weekend started on Thursday with our Team in Training "carb-o-load" and send-off dinner, and it was a fun way to spend a little time with the people we've run so many miles with over the past five months. After dinner the Moms on a Mission enjoyed a little (or a lot of ) wine and decorated our race jerseys together. What a great start to the end of an amazing journey!
On Friday I picked-up race packets and perused the goodies and gear at the Expo before heading home to deliver to my neighbors and welcome my good friend and race buddy, Whitney, to Cincinnati. Of course we had to make a Target run for last minute necessities and it brought back memories of fun, random outings in college (and beyond).
The thing with races is that they start EARLY and there's some waiting in your corrals before you actually start working up a sweat. Serious runners have arm warmers for these occasions, but at around $50 a pop, and something you have to keep up with after they're shed, we weren't willing to lay down that kind of dough. Also, regular stores don't carry them and it was 8pm the night before the race. We had a moment of genius and purchased children's fleece-lined leggings and cut to fit our arms. BRILLIANT! We both went with multi-colored metallic hearts and received MANY compliments on them from fellow runners. They worked wonderfully and it was literally no sweat to pull them off and leave them behind at mile six.
If you've never run a competitive race, you MUST put that on your bucket list; even a 5K is an experience! There's just nothing like the excitement in the air, seeing the crowds and hearing them cheer you on, not to mention the sense of accomplishment. Cincinnati is known for it's hills and we were prepared for the course, and the monster hill at mile seven ... which ran by my old house, coincidentally! The last few miles were the hardest, mentally, as they were pretty flat and crowd support was more limited. But, there was something every mile as supported by the race organizers and those cheers and water stops and cheerleaders (that took many different forms) kept us going. I'd kept pace during training with a neighbor and we had a vague goal in mind, but nothing concrete. As we checked our watches each mile, we noticed we were going a bit ahead of our usual pace and were surprised, but kept on truckin' ... we motivated each other, pushed each other and wound up both setting huge personal records when we crossed the finish line!
We felt like a million bucks!
Outside of the physical accomplishment, I raised over $7,000 (thanks to a $500 grant from my employer received in January) and my Moms on a Mission team raised over $12,000! Thank you to everyone that supported me on this crazy journey. Almost everyone has a personal connection to cancer and my connection is obviously the most personal type. It doesn't matter how or where you give or support, something is better than nothing, and we're making a difference in the way we treat cancer and the life of patients today!
"When your legs get tired, run with your heart."
Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving my heart so much power!
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| The Team in Training Queen Bee TEAM |
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| The Moms on a Mission FINALLY got a group shot! |
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| Huddling down pre-race |
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| GO TEAM!! |
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| Post race pride! I crossed the finish line! |
2 comments:
Yay! Congrats! I love yours and Whitney's arm candy. So creative!
Way to go Jen. I'm so proud of you and you never cease to amaze and inspire me. Also, those arm warmers are perfection.
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