The Race for the Cure Part II

Well, I'm so sorry to keep my fans waiting. I had to have the blog bug bite me before I was able to get everything together. Whew!

Let me start by saying that The Race for the Cure was an awesome experience. Even if you only do it once it is well worth it just to have the experience.

My friends, Kristi, Chanda and Lauren all headed out Friday after work. After a few stops and our newly purchased "pink" gear we make it to the hotel around 9:00 PM. We bought brand new white straw cowboy hats and a can of pink spray paint on the way to Little Rock. When we checked in, we went out in the grass and spray painted our hats! They were great but they really did make our hotel room volatile while they were drying. WOW! After a few more hours of clowning around and exploring the hotel, we finally laid our weary heads down at a astonishing 1:00 AM. What is even worse than that, is that we had to get up at 5:00 AM to get ready and meet the other half of the group in the hotel lobby by 6:30 AM. Oh me, Oh my! It wasn't easy but we did it. We are off to the race!!

We had heard that more than 45,000 people signed up for the race. That is a bunch of people! What I didn't realize is what 45,000 people plus their families and all the supporters looked like up close! It was truly overwhelming to be amongst so many people. It was very surreal and the crowd was intimidating. It was hard not to get separated from your group when you are trying to see what all the vendors have to give away. They had just about everything you can imagine, but you have to remember that thousands of people are trying to see what the vendors are giving away too. That makes for a very tight squeeze! I have a small bag of goodies and now it's time to start walking!

We are in line for about 15-20 minutes before we hit the starting line. So as you can imagine, we are walking pretty slow. The 3 miles of Men, that stand along the route were awesome!! They were some that were dressed up in pink wigs and signs, some that were just cheering you on! There were Harley men in pink shirts revving the pipes as you walked by...oooo la la. There were firemen that danced and men that did Yoga. (There was also some scary and some not so scary Belly Dancers...but they were women) It was great! You got to see so many walks of life, in the race and on the sidelines. Cancer survivors, their friends and loved ones, families and friends of the ones that didn't survive, and people like me that were there to support the cause. There were some walking that were obviously going through treatments which was a very moving experience in itself. All in all it was fantastic, it was the best 3.2 miles that I have ever walked. To make it even more special, one of Kristi's best friends, Debbie, is a breast cancer survivor and we walked proudly beside her.

As you can tell, my experience was great and I can't wait to do it again next year. I'm going to include a few tips that I have learned where some will not make the same mistake though.

1. Go to bed at a reasonable hour.

2. Paint your cowboy hat before you come to avoid the fumes in the room.

3. Take a snack if your hotel doesn't provide a breakfast of some sort.

4. If you want the free stuff, get there very early and park close where you can take it to the car, or you will have to carry it the rest of the morning!

5. Wear pants with pockets.

6. Get ready for very long port-a-potty lines.

7. Take a small bottle of hand sanitizer because of #6, hence the reason for #5.

8. When your walking over the Arkansas River...don't look through the cracks if your afraid of heights!

I'm sure I will think of more to share and I have added a few photos for your viewing pleasure!

Peace!