Race for the Cure - Completed!

Saturday morning I got up bright and early and headed downtown for the Susan G Koman Race for the Cure.

I met up with some friends from college and we ran together. Abra and I ended up running the entire race together. I knew if we separated in that mass amount of people my chances at finding her were little to none!

The Race wasn't anything like I thought it would be. There were tons of people there. TONS! I knew it would be crowded, but I had no idea it would be like this.

And we're off. We were pretty close to the front of the pack.

At the beginning of the race.

There were band playing all along the course. I had my headphones in (listening to my Pandora "Hip Hop Hits of the 2000's" of course. :) But I did turn my volume down when I passed a band playing a song I liked or a high school drum line. My favorite band was the one outside Brother's that played "Seven Nation Army." I can't lie - I did a little 'Buckeye Bounce' while running. :)

I did not stop once - unless you could the time when I tried to take a drink of water while running and it went up my nose and all down the front of my shirt and I almost choked, so I had to stop and take the drink, then run to the trash can (I couldn't litter by just throwing it on the ground!). But that was it. I even picked my pace up a little at the end because I thought I had a time to beat.

Almost done!

I ended up running a few minutes slower than I did at the Dogwood a few weeks ago, but that was because there were just so many people I often found myself stuck behind someone and did a lot of weaving in and out of the runners.

Some of the OSU girls (and guys) that ran together.

My running buddy.

I was so proud of myself when I finished. I loved the people that were standing along the side of the road cheering for the runners. That just melted my heart. Especially all of the bikers. I wasn't as emotional as I could have been - and I didn't go to the survivor rally for that reason, but all of the biker men wearing pink and showing support for all of us women just made me tear up.

And after I was done I watched the fun walk come in. There were so many older women walking in with their pink t-shirts one. Some of them were in wheelchairs and some of them had walkers. They walked a mile with a walker! You go girl!

Cute little ladies walking as survivors!

Things I learned during the race:
There are a lot of people there! I mean a lot! Get there early! And parking at Vets is a good idea.
You can do it! You can run 3 miles without stopping. Now I just need to add 10 more to that before February.
Bikers wearing pink and showing support for women will make me cry.
80 year old women that are survivors of breast cancer and are walking in the Race will also make me cry. Given.
Wear bright colors so you can keep track of your running partner.
"Don't steal second base" is the most popular tagline for t-shirts at a breast cancer walk/run.