Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Save the Tatas - Race for the Cure!

I wanted to post about this earlier, but I was waiting on some pictures from my friend. Now that I have them, here I go. On Oct. 25th I got to do the coolest thing and participate in the Race for the Cure for breast cancer. It was really an amazing experience. Our group was a bunch of LDS women from the area (seen below). We have all been really touched by our friend Cheri Sharp who has been battling breast cancer this year. She found out she had breast cancer while pregnant with her 4th child. She's only 32. (I hope I got that right Cheri). Anyway, her courage and strength has inspired everyone that surrounds her. Luckily, she did remarkably well and is cancer free and just finishing up with a ton of radiation right now. On top of that, my best friend Elizabeth Cluff that I have been friends with for 20 years was diagnosed with breast cancer in October at age 37. She's at the beginning of her battle. As with Cheri, I am awed at her wonderful attitude and amazing strength. These are women to look up too. I love her so much. So, when Patty Michaelis put this team together, I just HAD to be on it. It is just crazy how many people I know have been affected by this horrible disease. It made me feel an urgency to try to do SOMETHING.
The two women in pink above are our LDS breast cancer survivors. Cindy Forsyth is to the left, and Cheri Sharp is in the center. Do you see her smile? That's what I'm talking about. She's wonderful!Here I am in front of the pink horse with the names of all the women I was running for. Now, another cool thing about this race was the involvement of the community. The race was a 5k that went behind a shopping center and into a neighborhood in Germantown (the city next door). Turns out, the neighborhood got completely into this. We had cheerleaders and a band from the local high school rooting us on. As we went through the neighborhoods, many houses were all decorated in support of the race. There was pink everywhere. It was SO cool. There were pink flags, pink flamingos, even pink Halloween decorations. The house with the Halloween decorations had pink spider webs and pink spiders with pink ghosts and a sign that said, "Save the BOOOBS!" The picture above is a family that dressed up like the rock group KISS that had a sign saying, "KISS breast cancer goodbye!" I thought that was so cool.
This is kind of hard to see, but this guy was dressed up like Elvis and had a huge pink ribbon for breast cancer on his roof top. He was doing his Elvis moves and cheering us on. Other neighbors just sat out on their lawn chairs and clapped for us. One house had the music from the movie "Rocky" playing to motivate us. Another house even had a sign that said, "Save second base!" I thought that was hilarious. I tell ya, it was such a cool experience. Seeing all the women in pink that are survivors gives you hope for a cure and motivates to try to take care of yourself. Here are my friends Vickie Mecham and JoAnn Briscoe who stuck by me through the race and weaving in and out of the other racers because I wanted to go faster. They were troopers! This was actually the end of the race, but we were accidentally standing under the wrong sign. I highly recommend doing the Race for the Cure if you ever get a chance. I know I'm addicted.

8 comments:

The Williamson's said...

I'm so happy you were able to do this. I wanted to do the 3 day this year but then I got prego :) maybe next year. I'm so proud of you!

Anonymous said...

Good for you Kristen! That is an great way to honor your special friends who are fighting and who have fought such a great fight!

Cheri said...

Fun day -- next year I want to RUN it!!

laurakrummenacher said...

Good job Kris! I didn't even know you were doing that! We need to talk more!

Elizabeth said...

Can you believe that 20 years later we are fighting cancer? This is truly a denial moment for me! Love you tons! Elizabeth

Reeses Pieces said...

I love the pics and seeing all of the support. Wish I could have been there to walk with you all!

Kelsey said...

isn't is amazing how it brings people together. i got to volunteer for the 3day a year ago and it was AMAZING i want to do it again. but this time the actual race. thanks for helping save second base!!! lol love it. love u.
p.s. craig is my b.f. (you asked on mary's blog)

Tom and Corinne Bradshaw Family said...

Sounds like you had a great time. My friends and I talked about it last year but never got off our buts and did it. It was nice to finally catch up with your family. I keep finding excuses not to get on and read the updates or post a new blog. I have now caught up on yours and Laura's so on to updating mine. (Hopefully)