run to the sun 2014

This weekend marks another successful run! I trashed my knee last year, and was worried I would mess it up again. I ran my first leg and it wasn't feeling great, so I decided not to push it and didn't run my second leg. I was disappointed, but I'd rather be disappointed than not be able to run for 6 months like last year. I had fun cheering everyone else on after my leg. This is going to be mostly a picture dump, with this years video at the end! Enjoy!!

My amazing team! (For some reason my phone pictures aren't fitting, so click on them to see the entire image.)

This year Brandon brought his snare drum to cheer people on, and to make sure no one slept on the bus. It worked.

 And we're off!

 The first stop got everyone excited.

 4 is now my lucky number because...

I won! They gave ridiculous prizes (I got a Texas sized shot glass) and a bottle of great vodka. I was quite excited!

Emily, one of my running partners. She, Larry and I have been running together before school all year long and I was so excited to run with them!

During one of the stops someone asked to interview me for a promo they were shooting for the race and foundation. I'm famous!

It was pretty hilarious/awesome that about half of the stops had beer and/or liquor for us to enjoy.

The Benson's family had another great stop this year! Complete with BBQ, moon pies, and beer.

It was really strange not starting my leg until midnight. Even stranger because a few people had already finished their legs before I even started. Coming in from my leg with Larry and Emily!

Done and done!

Amy's birthday was on Saturday so we decided to have a surprise party for her after her second leg. The UT Texas Cowboys were at that leg and were so excited to be a part of it! They made sure the cake was ready, as well as the music so we could all sing happy birthday.

We were eagerly awaiting her arrival.

So were the boys!

Since the first run we have thrown some sort of food at our runners while they are running their legs. Amy's favorite thing to throw is powdered donuts, so we thought what better way to bring her in than throw 3 bags worth of powdered donuts at her?!

Let the pelting begin! You can see a few of the donuts at the top, those were the first to be thrown. She was so confused and then finally understood when EVERYONE was throwing donuts at her, and the boys started singing happy birthday.

Passing out cake to everyone.

Another stop (last years was Western) was Gilligan's Island themed. The people in charge of the station were all dressed up like the characters, they were showing reruns of the show, and had a whole luau theme ready for us. There was even a baby pool if anyone felt like laying out.

One of the best ones were awesome ladies giving head massages! AMAZING! I told them they should have someone rubbing our feet at the same time. One of them actually considered it! If only...

After a long and fun night, we finished! 

Walking to the official finish line together, united as a team.

That's a wrap!

True story.

Thank you to everyone that donated, and supported me emotionally as we got ready for the race! You helped our team raise over $36, 000!!!!!

Click here to watch our video!

foam fest 5k

Last weekend some friends and I ran in the Foam Fest 5k. It was a lot of fun! Larry, Lauren, Emily and I decided to camp the night before in the same park where the run was happening. I haven't been real camping, tent and all since my dad I went when I was a kid. I've been camping since then, but in a cabin. The first problem was the tent which wasn't too bad, even though we had some extra poles we didn't know what to do with. But it never fell down on us so we must have done it right. The next problem was a fire. We all know how to start a fire, but none of us knew how to make it bigger, or one to warm yourself with. It was big enough to cook our food, but it didn't help us stay warm as the temperatures dropped.

See what I mean? Our little fire is sad, but it was good enough. It was really weird waking up to all of the bouncy foam pits and slides being blown up around us. That morning Katie and Derrick met us down there for the run. It was hilly, ugh, and had a lot of obstacles throughout. Some muddy, some where we had to climb different things, including an 8 foot wall I couldn't make it over, and lots of foam pits. There were also several foam slip n slides, and the best was a HUGE blow up slide with a water pit at the end. After getting to the bottom all I wanted was to go back up!

Us at the starting line.

 Jumping down from 1 of the 3, 5 foot walls we had to climb.

One of the obstacles, called the lily pads, were basically a bunch of thick yoga mats on water that you had to sprint across and then jump off into shallow water to get back on the course. I was having a lot of fun running and falling and then running again, until I got to the end. I started falling over and was trying to catch myself and just as I was about to jump off, the mats flew to the left and I fell to the right into a big pile of rocks. My knee was immediately starting to swell and was crazy scratched up. I still did all of the rest of the obstacles, I think mostly on adrenaline, and finished strong by walking then running down a log over a mud pit, and going through the longest slip n slide of the race. 

My leg after I got home and washed it really well. It is crazy bruised all over my leg. My kids at school love looking at it and commenting how it changes every day.

 Finishers!

It was a super fun race! I would totally do it again, except next time I won't fall into rocks.