Ann's Fans Run It Out!

This past weekend was Race for the Cure. My team, led by my sister, Ann's Fans raised more than $5,000 for the Komen Foundation! I couldn't be more proud or thankful to all who contributed and supported me and my family along the way. Thank you. Between this year and last year, Ann's Fans has raised more than $17,000 for Komen!

I wasn't sure what to expect going into the race this year. I was nervous about how my emotions would settle out. It is difficult to believe that last year it was difficult to walk the full three miles. I just keep remembering that last year I didn't have much hair and I was pretty exhausted just walking up the hill. This year was very different.

We arrived at 6:30 on race day and there were pink shirts everywhere ... until we toed it up on the start line for the 7:00 a.m. competitive race. There were only 34 competitive survivors and I was proud to be one of them. My dad, brother-in-law and sister all joined Nancy and I for the big "fast" run. My goal was to break 30 minutes and to finish in the top ten -- for survivors.

It was hot from the start and we ran a great first half but after that the heat started to take it's toll. By the 2.5 mile marker, I had to walk a bit to catch my breath after a few of the hills and I ran all over the road to catch every sprinkler that was along the road. In the end, I finished at 31:11 and in 11th place. I didn't quite make my goal but it gives me a good baseline to work toward. I'm most proud of Frances Widmann. I don't know her but she is a 74 year old survivor that beat me by about a minute! She must have a lot of spunk and moxy!

After we cooled off from that race, we went to meet the rest of the team under the trees. We had a total of about 60 members on the team and dozens more donated. I had great support from Gibbs & Soell and I saw several of the young ladies from the office on race morning. We also had a good showing from Asbury United Methodist Church.

At 8:45 it felt like it was 100 degrees out and we were sweating before we started. We walked a lot of the race with our friends, the Jeffries. Andrew, as always, was prepared with water bottles and squirt guns which kept all four of the kids interested and moving forward. The sprinklers on the second half of the course couldn't come fast enough for them. I'm not sure they could have been any wetter if they were in a pool. My brother and his wife joined us as well and pushed my nephews along the way ... they were coated in sweat. My mom met us all at the finish line and we walked it in together! That's always the highlight for me. It's great to have such awesome support.

Suffice to say, we had a great time. The Race for the Cure is such an awesome event when you see all the pink shirts and women in so many stages of life who have been affected by this miserable disease. As we crossed the finish line, there was a man holding a poster of a beautiful woman and the dates of her life were written below her photo. She'd passed sometime earlier this year. Rose asked me why he was carrying her poster and I explained that she had died and couldn't be there to run. Rose asked the obvious question: how she died. I said, "cancer, probably" and Rose's blue eyes got huge and her eyebrows shot up. I quickly dropped to my knee and explained to her that I'm very healthy right now and she doesn't need to worry. I had a tear in my eye though. And, a fellow survivor patted me on the back and congratulated me on a job well done. She had a tear too. I don't think she meant the race.

Peace.