Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

I had a bit of a mad dash to the start of the race, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure- I didn't count on the stopped traffic on the freeway trying to get off at Virginia St. to head up to UNR that way, so I went all the way around and parked at Rancho San Rafael instead. And ran to the registration booth, making it to the start line with only about 5 minutes to spare. Whew! Got a good warm up this morning! I was packed in like a sardine in a can behind the start line, and when the announcer said "All fast runners up at the front!" I hesitated- first of all because even though I wanted to run fast this morning, I am still not a fast runner. And second, I couldn't have gotten up there even if I wanted to. Then came the shout to start! And we were off! Trotting. Or on my part, walking. I didn't start my watch until I went under the pink balloon arch (about 15-20 sec. later), but even then I was still walking. Maybe another 15-20 seconds after that was I finally able to start jogging. It was a chilly morning, so I left the house with sweats and a sweatshirt, but after about 10 min. in, I was a little warm. The course started at the bottom of the quad, and we ran down to 9th St., and then right again up Virginia. It was a bit of a hill, but I pushed through it, weaving in and out of people. As we wound our way through campus, I noticed SO many people wearing pink signs pinned to their backs with loved ones names on them who have cancer. One man in particular had "My Wife T" and we played leap frog all the way to the end. (I think I passed him though finally.) Another man had sweat just pouring off him and all down his sign- so much dedication by so many people, and it really started to choke me up as I let loose on the down hill. And not only were there a TON of people running, there were even MORE people on the sidelines cheering everyone on, and it gave me chills, despite being warm in my sweatshirt. I signed up for this run with a minute time in mind, and didn't even think about the cause. My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor- she gave us all a big scare. As I was running, my time stopped mattering, and I decided to run for her instead. I love you Grandma!

I stopped my watch at the finish line (after being passed by a sprinting 10-year-old in the last 10 steps- that made me smile!) at 26.48. Not quite my 25 minute goal, but it was a good day, and I had a great run. And with this many people (especially at the start!), maybe it wasn't the best race to try to set a minute goal for. The finshers were just flying down the chute, so I have no idea how they were able to keep track of times (or maybe they weren't?), but I'd be curious to see what they got for me. Whatever it is, I'm sticking with the time off my watch and writing that on my bib to staple up in my garage/workout room. But there is another 5k on November 1st- the Spark-a-Delic run that I can try to drop some time on (does anyone have any info on this one? I can't find my flier.)...

Update: I made it into the RGJ! Here is the article, and you can see me in the picture- bottom center with the blue sweats with the white stripe, white sweatshirt, white hat...