team hulse

saturday was a special day for me. i got to be with my family and lots of friends to celebrate!
i even got to hug the mayor of buffalo. good ole byron brown.

no more breast cancer for these ladies!

super racers-all decked out.

painted face-check

race bib-check

team hulse headband-check

pink flower in place-check

supportive, wonderful family and friends who i love!

oh dear.

so, saturday we ran the susan g komen race for the cure (5k). we got a little team together and made pink fabric flower pins, and ryan's mom used her amazing powers to produce "team hulse" embroidered headbands. we got a lot of comments about our cute headbands!

we arrived early to have a team photo taken, then wandered around collecting free stuff. the little girls loved that part!

i was able to be part of a breast cancer survivors photo, which was an emotional experience for me. there were probably close to 100 women in that photo. we all wore the pink "survivor" tshirt. it felt good to stand together and know that we had all been through some hard times but we'd made it through. it was a great release for me to finally be able to cry a little about this whole experience.

later there was a survivors parade. we lined up and walked onstage to hug the local women newsanchors. i felt like rolling my eyes a little bit about that. i'm not sure why we needed to hug these people. i guess i would have rather had some doctors up there to hug. then i hugged the mayor of buffalo and received a pink carnation.

then we lined up to run. that was the best part for so many reasons. i had my sweeties with me and my friends with me, except my sweet eliza who opted for a root canal instead!

the brinton family was also there, but did the one mile walk because megan is getting close to having their third baby!

my friends carolyn and crescent, who are true runners took off for the front of the line. they ran the race in just over 20 minutes! tara, rachel, baby oliver, vanessa and cassie all ran ahead and finished in great time as well! the hulse and gruwell families ran together for a little bit, then stacie and i took off to run. we ran a mile or so and then my asthma got crazy and i had to walk most of the rest of the way. i was really frustrated because i wanted to run! but i think the humidity had something to do with it.

so matt, ashlan and afton stayed together with kate in the stroller. they made good time and no one had to be carried or pushed in the stroller!!!!!

ryan, ella and elli stayed together and the girls traded off running and then riding on ryan's shoulders!

i got to finish the race 3 times as we walked back to meet up with matt and the girls, and then ryan and the little girls.

it was a great day and i appreciate my family and friends being so willing to participate in this with me.

tara says next year we need a tent and sponsors for the event. oh, boy!