Race for the Cure 5k

Last weekend, my mother, sister and I participated in the Race for the Cure 5k at Animal Kingdom (Disney theme park). This was my mom's first race ever. She got so motivated after seeing Stacy and I run at the Autumn Rock n' Run the week before that she wanted to join in the fun.

Race started at 7:15am and there were about 4,700 participants. This was an emotional race because of the cause. You can't help but choke up when you see signs of people that are running/walking in honor or in celebration of a cancer survivor...especially when you see kids with signs saying "I'm running for my mom!"...it gets ya.

The weather was perfect. Stacy and I had signed up for the competitive run but we split up, she ran the race with her friend and I walked it with my mom. Since we had to line up behind the runners we didn't get to start all together. As Mom and I were waiting for the start I was telling mom how I was hoping that Stacy would pace herself for the first mile so she wouldn't run out of breath too fast. I was explaining how the first mile should be your slowest and then you build up from there. Well, Mom was so excited at the start line that she forgot all that and went the gun went off she started running! Right after going through the start line we saw my aunt and husband and I stopped for them to get pictures and my mom just kept running. I had to run to get her to come back for a picture.....hence why I'm laughing so hard in the picture.

Stacy improved her time by 3 minutes or so which is great for only having one week to prepare for this race. Mom and I finished earlier than we expected so we are all winners.

After the race, there were tons of free goodies for the participants...of course everything PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness. We got Pink Sun Chips, pink yogurt, pink bandanas, and of course our pink ribbon finisher "medals".

I am so happy to see that Stacy and Mom have both been motivated to start running and walking. It's a lifestyle change that will improve their health and mental state forever. I hope that they both keep it up from now on.

Autumn Rock n' Run 5k

Last Saturday, Sept. 30th, my sister, Stacy, and I participated in her first 5K race ever. This race was held in Casselberry, FL (about 40 minutes north of where we live) and it was called the Autumn Rock n' Run because they had musical performances throughout the course.

We had to wake up at 5am so that we could be there before 7am to pick up our race packets with all the goodies and our race bibs.

I have done 2 5K races since being back from Japan and have improved my time considerably. However, my goal has shifted now. Rather than having a competitive goal time, my goal is to safely get my sister through every finish line. I'll be coaching her in hopes that we'll be able to do the half marathon in December together and maybe a full marathon next year.

Stacy just started running 2 weeks ago. I was very proud of her for coming out to the race. I think it's good to do races while you're training because it keeps you motivated to go back and get better. Plus you get used to running with masses of people around you and lining up properly.

Stacy and I made the 'rookie' mistake of running our first mile too fast. This was mostly my fault. I should've paced her better since she just started but this is part of the learning process. Pacing is the biggest challenge for runners. It's very hard to start out "slow" when that gun goes off at the start. This was the first time we've ever ran together so Stacy will have to figure out what her comfort pace is and I'll adjust to it and make sure we stick with it next time.
We ended up walking most of the race but we still finished at a great time for walking and we had fun which is what counts.

See our happy faces at the end!

Next week, we'll be 'running' the Susan G. Komen RACE FOR THE CURE 5k! I think I may cry during this race because it will bring back so many memories of when I did the marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I cry every time the commercial for the race comes on (" I run for your mother, your sister, your wife, I run for life!") so on race day I might be a wreck. Anyhow, I hope that Stacy can feel the emotion behind that race and get motivated to do charity races.
I'll update you all on the results from that race next week.