My 6th race is in the books! That means that after I cross the finish line of my next race, I will have completed over half of my
13 in 2013 races! This race was in honor of
Chad Rutherford, who is currently
in hospice care at the age of 29. He is able to be at home with his
wife, Kelly, and their children, Carter (2 1/2 yo) and Madison (3 1/2
mo). Please keep them in your prayers and remember that I will continue to receive donations for them through the month of June.
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| I can't believe I am almost half way done with that list on my shirt! |
As we headed over to the registration tent to check in, we spotted "Captain America." Ben was so excited and joyfully exclaimed, "'Mer-i-keen flags!" He finished in the top 10!
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| Runners are an interesting group of people. |
While we were lined up there was a nice presentation of the funds raised for the Boys and Girls Club of Troy. I obviously was too busy waving in a creepy excited way to Ben to really be paying attention...that is until the guy mentioned how the start of the race would occur
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| Wow. I had no idea I looked this creepy. No wonder the kids giggle back at me! |
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| And they're off! |
I used to run cross country on my middle school and high school teams so trail running was "the thing" and way better than going around a track 4,309 times. The cross country runner in me came out with excitement thinking about the adventure of hopping mud puddles and tree roots.
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| This is when I realized I was running a 7:15 min/mile pace! What!? |
However, I morphed into a road runner some time after my high school graduation. I had this realization at approximately mile 1.5 when I was no longer enjoying those mud puddles covered in wood chips. Despite my obvious transformation away from trail running, I managed to beat my best high school cross country time! I ran 24:28 (7:50 min/mile pace), which is my second fastest 5K of this race series, my personal record for a trail race, and I took second overall female and first in my age group (25-29 female)!
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| No one ever said running was pretty |
After the race, we played on the playground and enjoyed the beautiful morning. Ben is growing so quickly and is now big enough to sit on the playground animals on his own!
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| Let's ride, Ducky! |
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| This is a baby swing. I am clearly a big boy. |
Another perk of running races is the great excuse to stuff your face after crossing the finish line. A bonus of being the son of a runner is that Mamma will feed you.
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| Chocolate chip cookie at 9:00 am? Thanks! |
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| Why yes! I will chase that cookie with a donut hole! |
Can you believe that the
13 in 2013 donation total is
$1,755!?!?
I cannot! I had hoped to maybe hit $1,000 by my 13th race in November. I
never imagined we would fly right by and be running full steam toward
$2,000 by the middle of June! Thank you!
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| Mamma, quit messing around. This motorcycle riding is serious business. |
Despite my race time and the many happy pictures, this race was very difficult for me emotionally and I felt it physically through my entire race. It was the day before Father's Day and shortly after finding out that
Chad Rutherford, the beneficiary of all 13 in 2013 funds raised for this race, had been placed in to hospice care. Knowing another young family is walking the
same painful path we did only 5 months ago tears my heart out. It brings back a flood of memories and emotions. More so, I want to be able to take all the hurt and pain upon myself so no one else would ever need to walk down that road. I wish I could become the "road closed" sign. However, I am not able but God is. He is able to carry any burden we lay at His feet and He gives us His strength, His perseverance, His peace. Amen! Praise God!
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