Early last Saturday, Celina, Ashley, Tiffany and I donned ourselves in pink shirts, running pants and tennis shoes and headed downtown to join the crowd of runners for the Race for the Cure.
Let me start by saying that I haven't run a mile, much less 3.2 miles, in over a year. An ankle injury has kept me on the low-impact elliptical trainer instead of the treadmill. So I had every intention of walking to support the cause.
When we arrived downtown, we had to park more than half of a mile away, just our first glimpse of how many people were there. Once we got to the starting line, we found ourselves in the midst of wall-to-wall people. There were mothers with babies, husbands and wives, grandmothers and grandfathers, and teenagers with braided ponytails.
I was struck by just how many dark pink shirts and hats there were -- the sign of a survivor or someone suffering from breast cancer. As we began running with the crowd, I read the signs people were wearing on their backs. "In Memory" signs honoring a wife or a grandmother. I saw one sign remembering "Mom and Aunt Evelyn." Two sisters lost to the same disease.
I saw men wearing signs celebrating "my beautiful wife" who is still battling breast cancer. We all ran together and kept up with one another, inspired by the strength and courage around us. The sun beat down on us, but we continued to run through the aching muscles, the tight ankle, and one really steep hill on Allen Parkway.
At the end of the race, there was a woman standing alone near the side of the crowd holding a large sign which contained a simple picture of an older woman, sitting and smiling in a field of sunflowers. A few words on the bottom stated a name and two dates -- a beginning and an end. I smiled my sympathy at the woman and she nodded her appreciation in return.
The fight against breast cancer has always been near and dear to my heart. I have run this race before and I will run it again until we no longer need to run it at all.
Trivia!!
Okay, time to lighten the mood a bit. The question I asked in my last blog was: Which cheerleader is the proud mommy of a beautiful baby boy? The answer is........ Erica! Erica is the only mom on the squad this year, and we all love to hear stories about her son and see his adorable pictures!
*This week's trivia: *
During college, which one of the girls volunteered her time to work with SafePlace, a non-profit organization helping families affected by domestic violence?
**GO TEXANS!! BEAT DALLAS!!
