Race For The Cure 2008

Today we participated in the 2008 Northwest Ohio Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Toledo.  This year was surprisingly harder than last year, even though the pain of losing Melinda was so raw back then.  MAybe that was what was different.  I was so energized back then, but afterwards, the depression of living without her really set in.  I stopped exercising regularly until late this Spring, too late to have any hope of entering the Metroparks 5K which usually sets the tone for my final 2-3 months of training.  I did put in some raod miles this year which helped, but I was not as ready as I was last year.  This year for the first time, Becky, Alex, and Aaron decided to walk the entire 5K course instead of the shorter 1 mile course they had done with Aaron in a stroller in the past.  The morning was cool, but sunny.  This was a great day for Becky to wear the pink ribbon sun hat her mom had made her.  You can also see one of the pink ribbon pins they made that I blogged about earlier.

I ran the race almost the entire way.  Near the end my feet were getting painfully numb and I had to stop running for 5 minutes and just walk it.  I picked up the pace when I could feel my feet again, and was running when I crossed the finish line at 45:02.75, much slower than last year's pace. This year the race course looped on itself in such a way that I could go quickly from the finish line to the halfway mark and catch up with my Becky and the kids who were walking the entire course. I was able to finish their leg with them (and carry Aaron on my shoulders for part of it) which was a real treat.

Even the police horse got into the spirit with some pink bunny ears.  There were over 18,000 official participants this year.  While I know I could've done better, I was so proud of my family for going the extra mile (or two) this year.