Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure - 2008
When I went to buy my car at the Ford Dealership - I saw an ad about the Race for the Cure coming up. I decided that since I had some time off, that I would try to do this.
I tried getting a team together, but since we were so last minute - we were 1 short of a full team. But no worries! After getting everyone registered and their websites made, emails sent - we were getting pledges like crazy!!! We raised over $1300.00 for the cause. The day came and it was a very early morning for mom and I - lol! Nana met us at our house and then we picked up Cindy on the way up north to West Palm Beach. We were planning on doing the 1 mile fun walk. We had our t-shirts on, our "I'm walking in memory of" posters on, our numbers placed and off we went - walking towards what was supposed to be in the 20 to 30 thousand person mob of humanity! We must have been at the end of the 5K run because there weren't *that* many people there. We could see the booths set up - they had music playing - and we had come to the area where the kids would do their run and we would do our walk. We had gotten there quite early, so we got a chance to do some people watching and also got to check out the Susan G Komen Mustangs that Maroone Ford had brought up. They were cool!!!
The kids did their runs - they had everything from 2 years to 10 years. All the little kids' numbers were #1 on their bibs. This kid was cute:
We finally got to do our walk and... well... it was no mile. But it was fun and symbolic at least.
Then we headed over to the booths to check out the freebies the sponsors were giving away. Scarves, and water bottle holders, and shoelaces... t-shirts were being sold... all kinds of stuff. They were going to have the Survivor Recognition ceremony and I really wanted to stay and watch. I'm so glad I did! They had all the survivors grouped at the end of the "valley"... all were dressed in pink shirts. All morning long I had this strong urge to just walk up to every one of them and hug them and say thank you for being courageous and thank you for being here. I didn't do it - but boy, I wanted to!!!
On the way, I posted our "I walk in memory of..." poster on the Memory Wall.
They began playing really inspirational songs... Melissa Etheridge's I Run For Life, Shania Twain's I Feel Like A Woman, to name a couple... and then the survivors walked up the stage. They were all waving pink carnations that each had been given and everyone was cheering them. Wow... even now I'm tearing up at how powerful the scene was. I had a lump in my throat the entire morning - wishing that we didn't have to be there, that we didn't have to walk for the reasons we were walking... that Bonnie and Melissa could have been there walking with us. So, when the survivors started their victory walk - I lost it. I had been trying so hard not to - to be strong for Nana who I knew would have a hard time... but it didn't matter. I don't think there was a dry eye in the area. So at least I wasn't alone!! I think we were all thinking the same thing.
They had to play about 5 songs in order to wait for everyone to get up on stage. It was very warm in the valley where the ceremony was being held so we started our way out. We were fried - emotionally, mentally, and physically (fresh air poisoning!) so we headed to Cracker Barrell to regroup and had a great time. Had a "4 star" waitress who was awesome with 9 people to deal with:
It was a great time and I will definitely do it again if given the chance! There's a 60 mile walk over 3 days coming up in different states. It's not near here - but I would love to check it out at some point!!!
Thank you to all who donated! You didn't donate to me or our team - but to the millions of women who are diagnosed and are fighting this disease every day.
I tried getting a team together, but since we were so last minute - we were 1 short of a full team. But no worries! After getting everyone registered and their websites made, emails sent - we were getting pledges like crazy!!! We raised over $1300.00 for the cause. The day came and it was a very early morning for mom and I - lol! Nana met us at our house and then we picked up Cindy on the way up north to West Palm Beach. We were planning on doing the 1 mile fun walk. We had our t-shirts on, our "I'm walking in memory of" posters on, our numbers placed and off we went - walking towards what was supposed to be in the 20 to 30 thousand person mob of humanity! We must have been at the end of the 5K run because there weren't *that* many people there. We could see the booths set up - they had music playing - and we had come to the area where the kids would do their run and we would do our walk. We had gotten there quite early, so we got a chance to do some people watching and also got to check out the Susan G Komen Mustangs that Maroone Ford had brought up. They were cool!!!
The kids did their runs - they had everything from 2 years to 10 years. All the little kids' numbers were #1 on their bibs. This kid was cute:
We finally got to do our walk and... well... it was no mile. But it was fun and symbolic at least.
Then we headed over to the booths to check out the freebies the sponsors were giving away. Scarves, and water bottle holders, and shoelaces... t-shirts were being sold... all kinds of stuff. They were going to have the Survivor Recognition ceremony and I really wanted to stay and watch. I'm so glad I did! They had all the survivors grouped at the end of the "valley"... all were dressed in pink shirts. All morning long I had this strong urge to just walk up to every one of them and hug them and say thank you for being courageous and thank you for being here. I didn't do it - but boy, I wanted to!!!
On the way, I posted our "I walk in memory of..." poster on the Memory Wall.
They began playing really inspirational songs... Melissa Etheridge's I Run For Life, Shania Twain's I Feel Like A Woman, to name a couple... and then the survivors walked up the stage. They were all waving pink carnations that each had been given and everyone was cheering them. Wow... even now I'm tearing up at how powerful the scene was. I had a lump in my throat the entire morning - wishing that we didn't have to be there, that we didn't have to walk for the reasons we were walking... that Bonnie and Melissa could have been there walking with us. So, when the survivors started their victory walk - I lost it. I had been trying so hard not to - to be strong for Nana who I knew would have a hard time... but it didn't matter. I don't think there was a dry eye in the area. So at least I wasn't alone!! I think we were all thinking the same thing.
They had to play about 5 songs in order to wait for everyone to get up on stage. It was very warm in the valley where the ceremony was being held so we started our way out. We were fried - emotionally, mentally, and physically (fresh air poisoning!) so we headed to Cracker Barrell to regroup and had a great time. Had a "4 star" waitress who was awesome with 9 people to deal with:
It was a great time and I will definitely do it again if given the chance! There's a 60 mile walk over 3 days coming up in different states. It's not near here - but I would love to check it out at some point!!!
Thank you to all who donated! You didn't donate to me or our team - but to the millions of women who are diagnosed and are fighting this disease every day.
