Long Run & Making Strides

Another long run in the books! On Saturday morning, I woke up extra early and began the first part of my run at my house. You see, my running group wasn’t starting their run until 5:30 a.m. and I was on a tight time schedule.

I had 8 miles to run and was in a time crunch in order to get those miles complete. Instead of running alone in the dark downtown for 2 miles (quite a scary thing – I’ve done it before), I decided to run a loop around my house, then meet up with my friends for the remaining miles.

As I was running the 2 mile loop at home, I saw a car and I waved – he honked a friendly hello in return. When the car passed back again, it slowed down and a hand came out of the drivers side window (kinda scared me at first)…but it was the paper guy. He was so excited to see someone else awake at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, he handed me a paper and told me to have a great day! Hilarious. I finished off the beginning of my short-long run with a newspaper in hand!

My KT tape job mostly held up during the run – but it was a bit warmer outside so my legs were sweatier than last week (eww gross).

After running two miles at home, I met up with my running group friends for a quick 6 mile run and lots of shenanigans….of course! This buggy was randomly at a street corner, no where near a store! Obviously that meant we had to jump in and act crazy!

Obviously.

After finishing 6 miles with my friends (for a total of 8 miles), I jumped in my car and  drove to a neighboring town for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event. Strides is an ACS event (mainly a walk) where the proceeds benefit breast cancer research. I’ve always run this event (even though it’s mostly a walk) but this year, they needed volunteers and I agreed to help. 

I also recruited my long time friend Amy to sing the National Anthem and she did a great job!

Participants warming up to the cupid shuffle!

My friend Tammy and I got to play the part of route police! We were assigned to a specific and confusing part of the course in order to help direct the flow of runners and walkers. A few years ago, I ran this race and was told that the finish line was in one direction when it clearly wasn’t….so I ended up running in circles and finally found the finish line at 4 miles instead of 3.1. Whoops. We definitely didn’t want anything like that happening again, so we parked ourselves on the corner and made sure everyone went in the correct direction!

We were great cheerleaders, too if I do say so myself!

It was fun cheering on those who had never participated in a 5K event before! They were so excited to complete 3.1 miles and it made me happy because I so remember being in their shoes!

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Remember to get checked – the American Cancer Society guidelines recommend yearly mammograms on women aged 40 and over. Women in their 20’s-30’s should have clinical breast exams by a health professional every 3 years. Monthly breast self-exams are recommended for women aged 20 and up. Early detection and screening has helped save countless lives – I see it on a daily basis! Don’t ignore the signs/symptoms – have them checked, today!
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What’s your favorite part about volunteering for a race or fitness related event?