Before I was ever officially an Ellwood, a tradition was established of running the Susan G. Komen. This tradition has carried on so long that this year was actually the 20th year of participation! So amazing and such an incredible even to be a part of. Sadly, D and I have not been able to join in on it for the past two years. Thankfully, this year, our schedule and life events finally didn't prevent us from joining in and we were able to surprise everyone by showing up almost at the very last minute and completely unannounced.
We came in the evening before the race and were able to spend a little time relaxing...
D came across the finish line a little behind Grammy and even though I missed the photo op of that, I can confirm that he was smiling ear-to-ear when he crossed the finish line.
Miss A was a real trooper all day as she weathered the blustery cold day but it sure did help her to be a little happier when we were able to figure out a way to bundle her up against me papoose-style. She fell asleep quickly after we managed this set-up and all the while holding her, I couldn't help but think, "This is the stuff that mother's day is about. I'm such a lucky mom!"
... as well as having an amazing dinner of pure CARBS (Yum!) for the sake of all those running in the race the next morning. Everyone headed to bed extra early and then we were up even before the sun the next day so that we could get down to the race and avoid any issues that might result in starting mishaps. I heard tons of story about all of the things that have happened in the past on race morning but (thankfully) everything went off without a hitch and we were done to the starting line with no issues. Check out all of the other people who were running the race that morning. I took this picture of the starting line a good while before they even started the race and then I tweaked it a little in photoshop so that you could see it tilt-shift style in order to enhance and emphasize the crowds there...
It was a really really cold morning to race but we all bundled up as best as we could and amused (and distracted) ourselves to stay in the spirit of the race and ignore the blustery winds.
Check out the "race warrior" car that led the runners from the starting line! Grammy was able to sneak in for a picture quickly before she took her place at the starting line.
Minutes before the race was officially kicked off, Grandpap, Miss A, and I retreated to the top of the hill over the race start and watched as all of the runners took off.
After the gunshot started the race, we hurried over to the other side of the hill (and across from the Phipps) to line up and look for Grammy to cross the finish line. She came around pretty quickly and it was so exciting to see her cross the line as the second survivor. I can't help but be impressed and amazed at the fact that she does this year after year and is actually legendary in the local area for her race wins.
D came across the finish line a little behind Grammy and even though I missed the photo op of that, I can confirm that he was smiling ear-to-ear when he crossed the finish line.
Per tradition, Grammy and D looped back to pick up Great-Granddad and they all came around the bend toward the finish line together. I very rarely do hand-coloring of pictures but this one of them just called for it...
Miss A was a real trooper all day as she weathered the blustery cold day but it sure did help her to be a little happier when we were able to figure out a way to bundle her up against me papoose-style. She fell asleep quickly after we managed this set-up and all the while holding her, I couldn't help but think, "This is the stuff that mother's day is about. I'm such a lucky mom!"
What a great mother's day we all had together celebrating all of the mom's of the family!
Stay tuned for the continuation of our adventures of mother's day weekend. There's probably two more posts to come of all of the fun.
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