Racing for the Cure

I ran in the Race for the Cure this morning. The Milk Run had been my favorite, but this is a pretty powerful race.

The race is held at the Mall of America really early in the morning. I've worked at the mall on race for the cure days so I knew to expect a mad house. I was right. I asked Amanda to be at my house at 6:15am and was amazed when she agreed to the time without objection. We got to the mall about an hour before the race started so we had lots of time to get registered, get shirts, and so on.

When we register, all the racers get a number. Anyone who is a breast cancer survivor or currently diagnosed with breast cancer gets a pink shirt, everyone else gets white. (So I'm really glad I didn't wear my pink running shirt.) Runners pin their tags onto their shirts. Runners have the option of also pinning a "I Race in Celebration of..." or an "I race in loving memory of..." tag below their number tag. Every time I see one of those tags, I tear up. It's even worse when the tag says "aunt, aunt, grandma, mom, sister" all on the same tag. Those just made me want to run faster.

When I was lying in bed this morning, it seemed like it was reasonably warm. I didn't want to wear my cold weather gear because I thought I'd be too hot racing. I also thought I'd do a 10:00 mile but that's a story for a different day. So I wore shorts and pants over top of them. And then I had to take the pants off and get into my racing outfit. It was cold. It was really cold. Amanda gave me her jacket until I had to go line up to run. Then I just tried to get into the center of the pack and wait for the race to start. And ignore my fear of being trampled. Did I mention there were 7,500 runners in this pack. They didn't block the wind as well as I'd hoped, but once I got going, I warmed up quickly.



The race itself was fun. I had a bit of trouble because it took me a few minutes to get to the starting line so when they called out the mile splits (I was like 13:30 at mile 1) I couldn't tell how fast I was actually running. It could have taken me three minutes after the start of the race to actually cross through the starting gate. I'm not sure. Remember, there were 7,500 people and some of them were in front of me when the race started. I looked at the course before I ran, but I forgot what I looked at because I imagined the turns coming at different places so I was disappointed (and slightly worried about my speed) when I came to the turn and found out it was only a mile. During the race there was a loud speaker playing Melissa Etheridge's I run for life, a drum band (my personal favorite), "hug a survivor corner", cheerleaders and other fun things along the way.



The coolest thing happened at the finish line. This wild girl My good friend Amanda was standing there screaming for me. So I starting screaming for myself. And once I crossed the line I just stood there and waited for her to run up and give me a hug. Which she did in short order. And then, in her joy, took this picture.




After the race we met up with some of Amanda's family and walked the course again. This time, we waited in line at one of the *ahem* facilities. And Amanda thought it would be good to capture that bit of my day on film as well.



It's ok, I got some great shots of her too.



They also added "hug your mom" corner to the walk. (Gosh, I can hear Kelly now. *Rolls eyes*)



Ultimately Amanda decided to do her best impression of the chicken that represents me on her wall. You be the judge.




After the race we had coffee (because I fear the caffeine headache) and then lunch which was yummy. After lunch I felt inspired to start framing pictures for my room. It's a work in progress.