Omaha Race for the Cure

A couple weeks ago we decided to join the Gallup team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We didn't have much time to prepare, but figured it was only a 5K. Mayah decided she wanted to join in, so we invited her friend Kesiah to spend the night and come do the race with us. It was a great opportunity to take on a challenge that would benefit so many people.

Well today was the big day. It was filled with crowds all clad in pink. There were a few hundred survivors and many thousand supporters. We started at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha (where Gov Sarah Palin will be speaking later today) and ran through some of the industrial parts of downtown Omaha.

Our first leg was a 1 Mile run for the little girls. At the last minute, Clint and I decided to go with them, which we thought would be an easy warm-up for the real race since Mayah and her friend would most likely walk a lot of the way. Boy were we wrong. As soon as they saw all those other people, Mayah couldn't stand being beat by anyone. We crossed the finish line in about 10 minutes and were the 2nd group of runners to come through. We were so proud of Mayah for enduring and running the entire way. Not bad for a scrawney 7 year old with legs the size of our arms. She was extra pumped up for the day since she got her very own running shoes and outfit for the occasion.

After our 1 mile "warm-up" run, we raced back to the starting line after a quick potty break and got in our place. About 1 minute later the starting gun went off and we were on our way. We hadn't prepared a lot, so we set a modest goal of finishing in 30 minutes. We got separated in the beginning because of the mass of runners and the fact that Clint tends to run in bursts rather than consistent throughout... but eventually we reconnected and ran most of it together. If Clint's stopwatch was right, he finished in about 28 minutes and I was just a few steps behind. I think we could have done under 25 minutes if we hadn't already run a mile before hand. Next time we'll train a little harder and see if we can't shave a few more minutes off.

Clint's parents came out to watch Ava while we ran. After the big event they had festivities in the Auditorium where they gave out trophies to the top finishers and all the sponsors had booths. Mayah and Kesiah got their faces painted and each came home with a bag of SWAG (Stuff We All Get), ranging from McDonald's coupons to keychains.

Now we're ready to relax and let our bodies/joints recoup.