Running for a Cause

Posting slightly out of order this week. Mother’s day trumps all! 🙂

I know we’ve all seen those 5k etc. runs for a cause. This weekend Josh I did our 2nd Annual Foam Fun Run to raise money for LLS. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) puts on a yearly fundraising competition for Man / Women of the year. All the proceeds go to LLS for cancer research. Last year my aunt and God Mother ran to be Woman of the Year and previously a co-worker of mine ran. This is something that is near and dear to my heart as it is many people who have been affected by cancer in some way in their lives.

Last year the run was raining and cold and with a 2 year old and a 2 month old I wasn’t walking it or running it. I drove to each stop along the way and shared in the fun while the strong willed ran in the rain. The foamy run where Foam = beer! Luckily the last two years they were able to obtain sponsors for all the free food, drinks, shirts etc so 100% of your run fee all goes to LLS fundraiser.

This year I was grateful to have my mom and dad walk with the kids in a stroller while Josh, his sister Melissa and I were able to run / walk the 5k! I have been training using the C25k app (Couch to 5k). I’m not 100% ready for a 5k quite yet but I was impressed with my results. As it wasn’t a timed run and there were two stops along the way I don’t know my over all time. However I did shave 35 seconds off my mile from the day before. I typically do a fast pace walk before I start to jog and during the run I just started jogging with everyone else and my anxiety got the best of me so I had to make my first stop earlier than I wanted to. However I was still extremely impressed that I picked it right back up and shaved 35 seconds off my mile. Over all it really was a fun Run and we all had quite a bit of fun!

Our first stop was at Parlor City in downtown Cedar Rapids. There they had snacks and a free drink for us to take a break as the first stretch was just over 2 miles. (The run ended up being a little more than a 5k at 4ish miles). I ended up walking the rest of the race with my sister in law. There were times we could have picked it up and ran but we didn’t want to kill ourselves and wanted to still enjoy the day.

Next stop was at The Rock Bar. This is a fun bar as it has a bull on it. We all pooled together and raised another $300 to get the gentlemen running for Man of the year to ride the bull. While others just rode for fun.

Ali and Jake got on for a photo op. Grandma thought it would be fun to see Ali ride it and they slowly moved the bull around and we had instant tears. She was traumatized for a while but she got over it quickly as she watched others ride the bull and get knocked off.  The whole time Jake was on it he was mooing at the bull 🙂

 

Last stop – Back to Sag Wagon where they had a lunch and drinks for us to end the race! It was a fun day and I can’t wait for next year.  Some cousins, and my aunt and uncle also planned a bike ride after the 5k event. We rode about 8 miles and stopped a few new places down to try some new beers. Over all it was a beautiful day and a great day to raise some money for a good cause!

Hope to see you there with me next year!

God Bless

xoxo – Christy