Race for the Cure

Before the race...

Race day finally came! I was so excited! We all met at our friends house to drive to Buffalo together. Good thing, because had we gone separately there may have been a few less runners.
Interestingly enough, the race took place near where the infamous 'Bike Path Rapist' used to roam..anyone catch that Dateline last Sunday? (luckily for us there were 5,000 plus empowered women and runners, he wouldn't have stood a chance..and also they caught him last year!)
We woke up to a cooler, but VERY muggy day! Ugh, my lovely straight hair curled right up very quickly. I also woke up with a yucky cough and cold that has slowly been coming on all week. This morning however, my voice was hoarser and the cough more painful in the chest-al regions!
So the horn sounded and we were off! We had to fight our way through the 'walkers' but we made it out..then the run began! It was pretty nice, other than being humid! We made it to mile one without any problems and kept running! Right around mile 2 I was really struggling to breath through the humidity and my cough..so I had to fall behind my group. I walked for a minute or two to catch my breath and then picked up the pace again. My group wasn't far ahead but I decided to run alone. As I came upon the finish line..waaay in the distance I had to fight to keep running again..I walked about 20 steps or so and then ran again..seeing the finish line kept me going! I was even able to pick up the pace a little and cross quicker than I might have considering I had to stop and walk a bit. I had a timing chip in my shoe and my official time was...dadadada...32:42! Yeah, I kept my goal..under 35:00!! I was very excited and very sweaty and tired!! The humidity really takes its toll!
It was really fun to see my family waiting at the finish line! The kids were so excited, they kept asking if I won the race...no, I didn't win (the first runner to cross did it in 16 minutes, the second in 18!) but over all I took 740th place( out of 5,500)...and I think like 460 in my age group (out of 1,098 or something like that) and I pulled a 10:33 mile! Not too shabby
You could attach a pink paper to your back if you wanted to run in memory or celebratioin of someone..I ran in memory of my friend, Jill Ringle. She lost her battle with Breast Cancer in April of this year. She was a beautiful person and an amazing ice skater!
I ran in celebration of JeanAnne Lybert..she was my Young Women's advisor growing up and a friend! She is now in remission and just graduated from BYU in Education. She is such a strong, beautiful woman! It was such a strength to me to have their names on my back as I ran!


Now that our first one is out of the way..here's looking to another one!

I look like I'm walking, but really I AM running!


After the race!