Start with 2 silly girls up WAY too early for a Saturday morning (this was at 5:40 am on May 5)
Add about 75 people (2nd largest team there, woot woot) who love my Mom and my family (including a friend from my high school days and her husband--almost exactly 10 years after we graduated, lots of ward members from my parents' ward and even a few from my own, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, long-time-friends...)
Me and the ladies from my ward (Cassidy, Shelly, and Ashley)
My family ready to run!
My brother Shad's family (plus cousin Bridger)
Jamie and Julianne (all the way from CT!)
8 of Dad's 12 grandkids plus 2 of my cousins--ready to run!
And POOF! 3.2 miles, check! Dan (and Megan and Brooke) finished around 51 minutes
Candace and I rolled through right at the 1 hour mark (I think I was trying to smile? Mostly I think I look a little nuts). We crossed with my Mom's high school best friend, Randy Jane. She is a really kind person and reminds me so much of Mom in many ways. She made each of the girls (even the babies) in the family beautiful teal bracelets with my Mom's initials and a cancer ribbon that says "hope". I love it.
This was Dan's and my first race. We both enjoyed it (despite some running back and forth on the first half of the race/kids being kids/etc). I was amazed at the number of people united by such a terrible disease. I found myself choked up from time to time as I'd see our own team members wearing their pictures of Mom, look around at the other teams (most were in memory of a loved one and so many were recent losses), and occasionally see the survivors wearing their teal boas and caps to cover their bald heads. And at the same time, there was a happy vibe there. We were pushing back at this cancer that took our Mom. We were helping raise money to study it and hoping that the people there would leave a little more educated about it's signs and symptoms.
As we turned the corner to go get our juice and snacks, we saw this on the walkway. Thanks to the hard work of my siblings and my Dad, and the kind donations of many, our team was a sponsor of the race and was listed on the official race t-shirts as well as this banner. I'll admit I couldn't hold back the tears at that point. Mom may be gone, but thousands of people saw her name this weekend and will walk around with it on their shirts for the next year.
Now, after the boring adult race, it was the kids turn. This is Kaden, Brooke, and Megan putting on their game faces for the kids 1K.
Lined up at the start! (Megan is standing next to Aunt Carrie and Brooke--but I couldn't see Brooke's face-Kaden and his Dad were right there too!)
And suddenly they were off! And Brooke immediately fell and skinned her knees. So Megan took off with cousin Julianne and Aunt Carrie got to really challenge herself by adding a 35 pound weight to this additional 1K)
Megan was in her element. This kid has always been a runner and I was excited to see her run and run and run. Julianne said she only walked about 2 times for a few strides before getting back to running. She even fell and skinned her knees and elbow and kept on going.
Her happy face was awesome. People were cheering and she couldn't have been more thrilled.
A ribbon?!? Why yes, I will wear it proudly.
Megan with my grandmother, Baba.
And in NOT last place (that's right folks, she was second to last--granted, she was a 2 year old running in the 3 to 11 age race), here comes Brookie! She was running on her own at this point (Aunt Carrie ended the carrying when Brooke recovered enough to tell her she was stinky and needed a bath--to which Carrie replied, "probably because it's so stinkin' hot and instead of being home in the shower I'm carrying a sweaty 2 year old after running my own race! You can walk now I think")
I held her other hand for the last few yards. Everyone was cheering and she was pretty excited too.
She was not quite as thrilled with the ribbon at that moment, mostly she wanted her apple juice back.
Look at those champs!
We stopped by Mom's grave on the way home--they weren't quite able to get the headstone in, so instead they set up a tent for us and had a mock-up of the headstone and a keepsake for my Dad)
We spent the rest of Saturday swimming, eating, and gearing up for my Dad's 60th birthday open house. And like always on crazy busy days, our kids were exhausted but didn't nap and didn't fall asleep until nearly 8:30. But it was worth it so we could enjoy Dad's party and time with so many good friends.
Obviously, this would lead to our kids being awake Sunday morning at 5:20 am. We sent them back upstairs but they did NOT go back to sleep. We made it to church and then headed to my Dad's right after. By then they were falling apart a little bit--case in point (see below)
But after another great afternoon being with all the visiting relatives (and saying goodbye one by one as their flight times grew near) we headed home. This was taken as we pulled in at home on May 6...at 7 pm.
I think we've had enough fun for one weekend. I'm hoping to sleep in until at least 6 tomorrow. Please girls?!? Is that asking too much?!?
3 comments:
It was a great weekend! Love ya sis!
I'm glad you were able to enjoy so much time with your family, and I'm honored I was able to take part in a little bit of it! Kaden was happy to have a friend running with him, though he sounded a little too excited when he told me he beat Megan.
That is so cool!! I wish we could have been there. We are not runners, but we would have gone to this! What a sweet way to honor your mom.
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