Holiday Heroes 5K

It was a cold, snowy Saturday morning.  The coldest and the snowiest that we've seen so far this year.  I thought we were probably crazy for going out to run a 5K, especially when we got lost and couldn't find the place.  We finally did find the place right as the race was starting.  Jessica, Tyler, and I were maybe 3-5 minutes late starting and my mom, dad and Daniel were probably more like 5-10 minutes late starting.  Despite the weather and the late start we all did amazingly!  My dad came in first in his age bracket, Daniel came in second in his, Tyler and my mom were third in theirs, and Jessica and I were fourth in ours.  After seeing all of the final times I think Jessica could have come in third in hers but she was pushing Nathan's stroller and waited for me to catch up near the end, she's a really great sister.  I love running with her.  I also think Daniel could have come in first for the whole race.  Either way though it was a great experience and it benefited the local food banks.

My family is awesome.  I love that we all participated in this 5K.  I am definitely the slowest runner of the group.  I started ahead of them all just because our car got their before theirs and I watched them all catch up and pass me.  Jessica was running with me until my mom caught up.  Then Jessica ran ahead and I ran with my mom for a little bit.  I started struggling to keep up with her about half way through and realized that I was running a bit faster then I'm used to.  I told her to just go on ahead of me.  As I watched her run ahead of me I started thinking about everything that she has gone through in the last couple of years.  She has always been a runner.  For as long as I can remember she would get up before everyone and go running.  Well she also has arthritis in her knees.  It got to the point where she had to have several surgeries on it and was told that she would never be able to run again.  She was heart broken.  She also has fibromyalgia which is a muscular-skeletal disorder that leaves her incredibly fatigued and in pain all the time, among a slew of other things.  Basically she has had every excuse to just lay in bed every day and never get out.  But that is not her, it never has been.  She had a knee replacement two years ago, I think it was two years, but even after that she didn't have her full range of motion back.  She has had to work hard every day to get to where she is now.  It has been a long, slow, painful process for her but she does it.  She gets up despite all the odds, works hard at her job, works hard to take care of herself and her family.  She always has.  As I watched her running ahead of me strong and fast as ever I thought about the name of the race, Holiday Heroes, and thought about how she is my hero and about how if she can do all of those hard things then I definitely have no excuses.  I'm so glad we didn't all just go back to bed that cold, snowy morning.   

Michael wasn't able to make it because he had to work so Nathan wore his bib.