We did a 5K!

On Sunday, the girls and I participated in a 5K sponsored by the school system I work for.  It wasn't for anything special other than promoting exercise and a healthy lifestyle.  Now, I've done a few 5Ks (with a mix of running and walking) but I've never done one while pushing a double stroller!  And the course, while on a road, had some incline to it in places.  I planned on walking the whole thing but we were one of the last ones to start and I was determined not to be last, especially in our group!  I did end up running some of it, pushing the stroller.  But I only ran the downhill or flat parts, haha!


The county encouraged schools to sign up together and run as a group.  The staff at my school turned it into a show of support for one of my co-workers, Laura, who's little boy was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma over the summer.  You may remember me mentioning her a few months ago, asking for prayer requests.  Laura has twins who will be a year old this weekend, so they are 4 months older than the girls.  Over the summer, Laura noticed that one of her boy's eyes looked white when she took a picture with the flash, not red.  She took him to the doctor, not knowing that this is a tell-tale sign of retinoblastoma, cancer of the retinas.  He has it in both eyes and is currently undergoing treatment.  The tumors are shrinking, praise God!  So if you ever take a picture of a baby, who is looking straight at you, and their eyes are white instead of red in the flash, call your doctor immediately!  You may save a life!


To show our support, we got shirts made up for the 5K.  Laura calls him her Superman so we of course went with Superman's logo!  A handful of us walked/ran the 5K with our shirts and many more of us bought the shirts and wore them to school Monday.  It was awesome to see my school come together to show support for this family!  Surprisingly, my students didn't ask why we were wearing the shirts, they just commented on how cool it was that we were wearing Superman's shirt and how it was funny that we all wore the same shirt on the same day accidentally :)

 

Here are the shirts we had made.  Aren't they awesome?

 

Laura and her boys with our team (they're bottom left)

 

And Natalie started crying haha

 

Waiting for the race to start!

 

About 10mins before the start of the race Natalie decided she didn't want to be in the stroller anymore.  Fortunately I had brought one of the carriers just in case.  When she wouldn't stop and we weren't moving, I put her in.  Of course as soon as we started, she passed out, so I pulled over and put her back in the stroller for the rest of the 5K.  I really didn't want to push a stroller and wear a baby!  One of my coworker's husband does photography and he came to take pictures...it was like having our very own paparazzi with us!

 

Our first EES finisher...I think he placed second in his division.

 

Our second EES finisher and first EES female finisher

 

Me running across the finish line with the girls!  As I ran the front wheels kept skidding, reminding me that the stroller isn't really meant for jogging haha!  I kept thinking that the wheels were going to fall off and we were all going to go for a tumble in front of everyone..thank goodness we didn't.

 

Reallllll attractive right there

 

Noelle and her 5K medal.

 

Natalie and her 5K medal.

 

We did it!

Please continue to say prayers and send positive thoughts towards Laura and her family.  They've been through the wringer in the past year with cancer diagnosis' for other members of her family.  I will do my best to keep you updated too.  Go Team Joseph!