Wednesday, December 7, 2011

TEAMJAKE 5k

The morning of the big race. Yep. All that training, and the big day was finally upon us!
Our awesome team members got up at the butt crack of dawn to meet at the Fedex Forum at 6:45 am to get inspired and to pray and to take a team picture!

Kim's daughter looks PUMPED to be up so early!

Travis, his wife (foreground) and his mom, in pruple, were up and at em. His mom did the 1/2 and came in from Ohio to do it. Wow! Thanks!

Jin and I had already had a stop at Starbuck's.

The crowd started gathering! The 5K started at 7:30?! ANd the 1/2 was at 8:00.

Karl was already smiling. And he KNEW he had to run 13.1 miles. I don't get it!

Not to mention, he was FIRED UP about it!

I don't think I have "introduced" Brian. He is a new PT in my clinic in West Monroe. I was more than proud of him for already throwing himself into such a worthy cause as the St. Jude race. And believe me when I say, he was FAST!! He finished that 1/2 marathon in one hour and someodd minutes. I know it was his personal best. He was booking it!! Check out the team behind htem holding hands and praying.

All of these younguns are cousins, I do believe.

And so as we readied ourselves for hte big day,...

I managed to wrangle them all into a cluster for a group photo.




Karl got up and gave the motivating speech and reason we were all running. I use "we" loosely!

And then , Staci, Jin, Veronicia, Jenn, and I went and took our places to watch as the 5Kers started coming down the stretch!



Gary finished fairly quickly. I would n't be surprised if he isn't doing a 1/2 marathon pretty soon. Oh, by the way, he is Karl and LoriAnn's oldest child.

And one by one, they started coming toward us and one step closer to the finish line.


It's always good when we are actually near the finish line, so we can yell, "you're almost there" and really mean it!

As a matter of fact, we were within eyeshot of the finish line, so we could actually point at it and tell them, there it is!! And many of those walking would start a little trot!! It was even a downhill finish.

Britany Ann and her cousin showed up and were pretty perky considering they'd been running almost three miles.

Note they are all in shorts, and we are bundled up like there's an arctic chill coming through!


But, the important thing was that we WERE there, and we WERE cheering them on!!

There were lots of TEAMJAKE 5kers. Some new to us. Some have been there since Jake was actually on the side of the road cheering with us!



Then came my MMPT Shreveport crew. Gooooo....


I am not sure that they even trained!! No really. Did y'all, Cree?! Really?!


Hey, don't get me wrong. I ain't judging!! I sure wasnt' out there running!! But if I were, I think I'd want it to be like this sweet couple!

Me and Todd in about 25 years.

And then, although they got past me without me seeing them, I caught a shot of Cameron and his daddy. Cam's twin, Carson, was a St. Jude kiddo and an MMPT kid for years. We love that family dearly.

Proud of you, Cam.

These are the McClures. They have been diehard supporters of TEAMJAKE for years. I am so happy they choose to come back year after year and wear their gold and purple!

And look at that enthusiasm! Goooo, team!!

Hey, Kim. Yo girl made it around eventually. Thanks for bringing her and teaching her the spirit of giving and volunteerism, and rallying for a cause! Great things for a young girl to be learning!!

Here is a group of walkers, all in tutus. I have no idea what Staci is discussing with them.

And as promised, that is the finish line. See that stadium at the bottom of this hill?! That's it!

So, we said goodbye to our first spot, and the 5 of us, ( plus two kids) headed to meet the 1/2 and full marathoners at mile 2.

Back to the car we went... stay tuned tomorrow to see how the big time runners looked around the course!! Inspired yet?! Then, join us next year. You will NOT be disappointed!



Mo

5 comments:

KimCox said...

Love the pictures of my "bundled-up" daughter, Megan... Bless her heart, in her mind she is a true runner/athlete/marathon competitor... but she does not like discomfort in any format (cold, heavy breathing, aching muscles, thirst)... hence the 14 layers of clothes and 50 minute 5K finish time, lol... But she had a GREAT time and is learning the special feeling of giving your time, your money and part of yourself to this amazing cause. We will be back next year and every year :)

Renee said...

Love the blown up photos of Jake. South Louisiana has had several families who have indured the St. Jude life and make it up to Memphis for the run. A great contribution to a great program.

Becky said...

Mo- you all have an important role as cheer leaders. We who can't be with you there were cheering and praying as they ran the course. And of course Jake's magnet of his smiling face continues to hang in my office along with my giant BELIEVE cross Stacy painted. Thanks for sharing the photos so we could be there too.

Shannon said...

Way to go 5K runners!!

The McCormick Family said...

You have inspired me! My husband and I decided last night that we are going to start training to run next year on Team Jake!