the race

Last Saturday (the 20th), I participated in my first Race for the Cure! It only took six years of having a mom with breast cancer to get me there, haha. I walked in Little Rock with Jill, her mom Nancy, and about 45,000 other women. One of my favorite feelings is the feeling of unity, and 45,000 women of all ages, races, and classes working together to reach a common goal certainly provides that. What an experience! The race in Little Rock is HUGE in comparison with other races, so I'd been hearing about it on the news for weeks; it was nice to finally be a part of it. Who knew getting up to walk 3 miles at 8am on a Saturday morning could be so much fun? We had blast and can't wait 'til next year. Nancy is planning a Team Tricia for next October. :-)

Here are some pictures from the day...you wouldn't believe some of the things you see at Race for the Cure! Oh, and 45,000 women don't stop to let you take a picture, so all of these were taken while I was moving. I know there are lots of them - there are so many more where these came from!

And we're off...

We walked over one bridge into North Little Rock, looped around, and came back into Little Rock across another bridge (if I were in Memphis, I'd call them the new bridge and the old bridge, but I don't know what Arkansasans call these bridges, ha).
Oh, we just ran into Jill's boss...Governor Mike Beebe (whom I know is called GMB in the capitol)...no big deal. (Hey Lea, you could've been in this pic if you'd called us back)
just a band (one of many)...there was something happening on the sidelines for the entire 3 miles!

walking back into Little Rock

Walking back into LR, and there were still women crossing the other bridge into NLR!
just some firemen dancing on their fire truck
I think this is the only place he could wear that shirt around thousands of women and not get slapped.
3 miles of men (boys can't walk, so they line the sidelines in support)
I loved this grandmother.

bikers in pink

As I said, we saw some crazy things....belly dancers and men doing yoga (in the background), for instance.
a survivor exiting the razorback porta-potty

idk, my bff jill? Nancy, team organizer of the future Team Tricia, & Jill
survivor parade (Mom, you'll be partcipating in this next year)

One of the news stations here asks people to share"why you race" during October each year. I didn't send anything to the station, but I did decide to write down my thoughts. I won't post the whole thing because it's long and will probably just make people cry, so I'll just share the last bit...

"I think most of all, I race for the testimony of faith and healing that Mom is already able to share. I race so we’ll be able to tell others about how we got to experience God’s power firsthand. I race for the people who will be blessed when Mom shares with them the story of how God healed her of this illness. And I race so that thousands of other women will get to tell the same story."

Come join us on Team Tricia next year!