Race for the Cure - Des Moines 2011

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!

We got there really early, but it was still not early enough to walk around and see what vendors were there. Once we found a place to park, walked to the capital and picked up our packets it was already 8:45 and we had to figure out where to go to get ready to walk.

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!

We did run into two old friends of ours that we probably haven't seen in about 5-6 years, and that was really exciting! They're married now with two little boys and I got to meet the boys too. They're so precious - I wish I had taken a picture, but with all the excitement I forgot.

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!