Amazing! Race for the Cure!

In June, I received an email from a local running group that listed races across the state. When I saw that the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure would be in Birmingham I immediately knew I wanted to participate. Then, I decided instead of running myself, it would be a great opportunity to get my family involved in an awesome cause in honor of my Aunt Rosie that is currently battling breast cancer. 

Me and Aunt Rosie before the walk.


I didn't know how many family members would want to participate, so I sent out an email to a few cousins with the idea. The response was AMAZING! Everyone seemed game and excited! We named our team, "Rosie...Our Favorite Shade of Pink." I called my Aunt Rosie to make sure she was okay with us participating in this event in her honor. I told her who all had agreed to participate, and she said "Well...that's so sweet, but I just hate that y'all will have to walk that far." I told her, that I was used to it and that we had plenty of time to get everyone ready. During the next few months, I tried to organize our trip and plan a fundraiser for our team. A friend of mine owns the cafe inside the library and he agreed to sell "Cupcakes for a Cure" the week prior to the event, and that a dollar of each cupcake would be donated. We sold over 60 cupcakes in 2 days! It was amazing, but they ran out of cupcakes! It total we made $76 for the team from cupcakes, and then we each collected money as well totaling over $500 turned in from our team. My mom hasn't exercised much for years, and didn't think she would be able to complete the walk, but I helped her train a bit and she was able to make the 3 mile walk along with my Aunt Cathy that has had both knees replaced in the last couple of years (she was also the one that fell a few weeks back.) During the event, my Mom wanted to quit after mile one...but I stuck with them, and they were so excited when they crossed the finish line. It took them an hour and twenty minutes, but they did it!

Mom and Aunt Cathy! I was so proud of them!

The day of the event was awesome. Birmingham is a little over 2 hours from home, and our team packets had to be picked up on Friday afternoon. When we picked up the packets, a volunteer encouraged us to be at the park no later than 7:30. The walk was to begin at 10:00. We spent the rest of the day shopping a bit, checking into our hotel, and just having fun. That night, we had a late dinner and met up with the rest of the family to hand out the race packets. That night everyone was so excited, but we had no idea of how amazing the next day would be.
 
The morning of the event was AWESOME! There were people everywhere! Over 17,000 people would be participating in the event, and over 20,000 people were at the park. The fountain in the middle of the park, was full of pink water and it was gorgeous. There were vendors everywhere with all types of "pink" items. Our group was able to get a picture taken before the walk started.

I can't even begin to describe to you all how uplifting the event was for everyone. Most teams had on matching shirts, and the survivors were given pink survivor shirts to wear. Seeing so many survivors and the people that loved them and were there to show support was inspiring. My cousin commented that she didn't realize how many young woman would be wearing survivor shirts. Before the race, there was a survivor parade. There were signs for how long each group had been a survivor from one year to 30+ years. After the survivor parade, it was time to get started...the runners went first of course, and one of my Aunts asked if I wished I were running the event, and I said no. I was so proud to be there experiencing this with my family. It took over 30 minutes before we ever reaching the starting line...with so many people, we quickly lost each other, but were able to stay in smaller groups of 2 and 3.

Molly and Amber

 This race is one I will never forget. We all agreed that we want to go back next year and do it again. I could not have imagined how much fun we would have together. If there is a "Race for the Cure" event near you I encourage you to go! And to participate!

Aunt Connie

One of my favorite pictures. Mom "running"!