Race for Hope - D.C.

My first 5k has come and gone . . . and I loved it!  I wasn't sure that I had really trained enough for it; indeed, I hadn't done any running the entire week before the race, and I barely slept the night before.  This turned out to be a great strategy.  Once I got going, I didn't want to stop.  I had two goals for this race:  (1) to run/jog the entire way -- no stopping, no walking, and (2) to finish in under 45 minutes (I know that isn't fast at all, but it was a reasonable goal for me).  I was so happy that I met both of those goals!

Now, I'm not saying that there weren't times that I wanted to just walk for a minute or two, because the thought crossed my mind more than once.  But each time I thought about it, I would simply take a look around me and see:  little kids just whizzing right on by me, older people who were probably in their 70s, or seeing people in wheelchairs, people who were survivors or who were themselves battling a brain tumor -- did I really need to stop or walk just because I was tired??  No, I did not!

I also thought of my beloved mother, and the memory of her being my biggest cheerleader.  In my mind, I could hear her saying, "You can do it!  It isn't much further, just keep going!" 

Those are just a few of my memories of May 1, 2011.  I didn't have my camera with me (I don't think I can run and take pictures at the same time!).  But when I got home, I did take one picture of the memory of my first 5K that I will treasure the most and take great care of:



Penny, our team captain -- and Tyler's mom -- handed out these paper seed bibs to everyone on Team Tyler.  I will be planting this soon . . . pictures to follow . . .