This weekend was a good one! I finally got the chance to participate in Race for the Cure and I had a great time! In the past I've always had to work weekends, and usually only had one weekend off a month. The pressure to do something with that weekend was high, and it usually did not include a race! ;)
But... I think I may have been bitten by the 5k bug...
Gasp!!? Me? No way.
I have! I like them for several reasons...
1. It's short. 3 miles is totally do-able.
2. It's a great way to spend time with friends. As we're getting older it is harder and harder to find things to do together. Luckily we're all pretty health conscious, so this is something all five of us like to do.
3. You get the chance to donate to great charities or support a great cause, without just giving them money.
4. Another t-shirt! Who doesn't like race t-shirts? My favorite, favorite, favorite shirts are the extremely baggy long sleeved tees. I don't know what it is about them that makes me so happy, but they're comfy. I don't always get them... because it's not cute. But this time, I did. ;) (it all started with an Ohio Buckeyes shirt that I bought in 2006 at the Columbus, OH airport because I was freeeeezing, stuck there for another three hours and had no other option - besides borrowing the jacket from a guy that offered it to me Ummm, no thanks. I still wear that shirt I bought all.the.time. Even thought I have no allegiances towards Ohio - at all).
5. It's something I can take one of the dogs to. I didn't this time, because there were way TOO MANY people. All three of the dogs are pretty weird in crowds.
The race started at 9am and my friend, Angie and I left West Des Moines around 8 to head to downtown Des Moines to pick up our packet and get ready to walk. When we got there, the downtown area was PACKED. We heard several people say that there were 20,000 people walking and you could definitely tell!
From the steps of the capitol. That's a lot of PINK!I have never participated in a race *this* big before and now I finally know how frustrating it is at the beginning of a race before the crowd thins out. It was so packed, we didn't even start walking until about 30 minutes after the gun went off - it was nuts! Next time we're getting there early!
Once the walk *finally* got going!Ang and I walked the race in about an hour. We weren't timing ourselves at all and we talked the entire walk. It was really nice! After the walk was done we decided we deserved breakfast, so we headed to the Panera downtown (my first time checking out this location!) and got some breakfast sandwiches. I always forget how good those are - I must recreate the one I had sometime soon!
Overall it was such way to spend a Saturday morning and I cannot wait to participate in more walks/races with my girlfriends!
Have you done Race for the Cure? What's your favorite way to spend time/keep in touch with old friends?
We really enjoy our regular Friday happy hours to keep in touch. I definitely recommend getting that tradition going if you haven't already!
9 comments:
I'm glad you had so much fun! I absolutely love training for and running races with people, such a great way to be social!
Yay I'm so glad you had fun! And yes total madness; when I was done running people were still crossing the starting line for the walk!
Sounds similar to the Turkey Trot but 30 minutes just to cross the starting line?! Crazy! I love doing big races like that, though. There's such a feeling of community!
That's great that you did that! It's fun and for a great cause. I did the same race in New Orleans and the same thing happened at the start line. I think people were finishing the race before everyone even crossed the start line!
I'm glad you had fun! I have done a race for the cure before! I love walks especially when I can do them with friends, it's nice to do something that will benefit people while also catching up with friends on the walk!
Every year my company participates in a 5k for March of Dimes. I only did it this past year, but it wound up being a lot of fun. And can a comment on the fact you stopped at Panera after? I absolutely love Panera and only wish we had one nearby.
My first 5k was a Race for the Ruce 5k! It was a huge race, I ran it, but didn't run very fast, since it wasn't possible with the huge crowds! It's really cool to be part of a huge event like that!
Race for the Cure was fun! Plus we got to "check in" at new places! Ha!
Wow that's a lot of people. I think the one in SF had about 8,000 or so. I love race shirts. That's one of the incentives in participating. Check out active.com & you can find 5ks in your area.
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