I almost wasn’t going to get to do this race this year… Almost! My Team Challenge co-coach is competing in the St. George Ironman today so I thought I would need to take care of the team.  But my wonderful friend Jimmy stepped in and covered for me, so I got to do the annual Race for the Cure with my mom.  This was our 5th Race for the Cure in Las Vegas and our 6th one overall.

We got to the expo area and wandered around a bit. We stopped in the Pretty in Pink Cafe (for survivors and a guest) to grab a little last minute food… a pink glazed donut we split! Not traditional pre-race food for me.  We got the annual Ford Warriors in Pink scarf, some free bags, brochures, etc. while wandering around too. After we dropped our freebies off at the car, we headed out to the start line. We stood together for a bit, but then my mom moved over to the walkers corral. She entered as an untimed walker this year due to the surgery she had recently. (She was only authorized to return to exercise a few weeks ago!) I stayed in the runners corral, but there were a lot of walkers in there. In fact, I would guess most of the people around me were untimed participants!

I didn’t take my Garmin, I didn’t worry about pacing, I just wanted to have fun. So I trotted along the course, weaving in and out of people and took in the scenes. I read people’s shirts and “In Memory of” and “In Celebration of” signs. I saw a couple of contrasts in encouragement on the course… both times were a father and a daughter around the age of 5. One duo the father was dragging the girl by her hand, she was crying and he was telling her to “Dig Deep!” and “Keep Pushing!” The other duo had the father trotting alongside the girl saying, “Look at you go!” and “You’re doing awesome!” and the girl was smiling broadly. Just kind of interesting… I know some people respond to different types of encouragement, but it would seem that a little kid probably wouldn’t react to “Dig deep!” as well! 🙂

After I finished I got some water then headed to the food area. The worst part of this event is the greed that people show as they gather for FREE FOOD!!! (Scream that like some starved college student…) There are always people grabbing multiples of everything. There would be plenty of food if everyone took one thing. I went through the line and collected the reusable Trader Joe’s shopping bag then added one orange, one apple, one banana, one snack mix and one yogurt to my bag. I also picked up one fruit cup (which I promptly ate; strawberries, pineapple and grapes. Yum! Why do so many fruit cups have a bunch of cantaloupe and honey dew melon, I hate those!) I also collected a bag and food for my mom, because I wanted to make sure she got her share. The women in front of me were prowling the lines like they were grocery shopping, “Hey Madge, how many bananas did you want, 5 or 6?”

After I had the food, I walked back on the course to see my mom finish. When she approached I pulled out my iPhone to snap some photos of her. Granted, the iPhone basically sucks when it is in sunlight so I couldn’t see the screen at all. I just lifted it up, pointed it in the general direction and tapped on where I thought the shutter button was. I got a pretty good shot of her though… she ran it into the finish line and looked strong!

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On another note, after we got cleaned up we went out to lunch. The restaurant happened to be right by the only ElliptiGo retailer here in Vegas so I went in to check them out. And they let me take it on a test ride. So I handed my husband my camera and told him to take a picture of me on it. Which he didn’t do… but I’m glad because I WIPED OUT on it.

Seriously, I went to turn in the parking lot and just tipped over. I felt so stupid. I had on new khaki-colored shorts and they were all black up the side of them and the entire side of my right leg was black. I have two small wounds (on my toe and on my ankle) where it scratched off the skin, but really my ego was bruised more than anything physical.

I told my husband when we were home, “I must admit, my ego was kind of bruised by that!”

His response, “Mine too… I was embarrassed to be seen with the girl who crashed in the lot.”

Sheesh… thanks for the support honey! 😉

I did get back on and take it for another loop around the lot, which went a lot smoother. I think if I ever got the opportunity to ride one again, I wouldn’t wear flip flops! DOH! But it was weird for me to get a feel for… it was heavier and higher off the ground than I anticipated. Plus I haven’t rode a bike (or a scooter, or a skateboard, or roller skates, or anything) in years. At first I said, “I guess the lesson is that I shouldn’t ride a bike or anything else that moves and just stick with stationary things.”

My mom told me, “No, the lesson is to get back on and try again. Which you did.”

True dat…. True dat…