3 Little Bugs Life: Fight. Cure. Win.

This past weekend my wonderful friend April and I took part in the Cherry Blossom Foundation's Breast Cancer 5K.

We came up with a team name (well, actually my husband did) - "Leave It To Cleavage". I made shirts for us, we had matching socks, matching bows - and we looked great! Don't you think?! Those are my beautiful girls with us :-)

Here are the awesome shirts made for us - by yours truly!

While we were thinking this was going to be a "Komen" race but on a much smaller scale, it was actually more of a "fun run". However, April and I decided we were going to time ourselves anyway and do it right!

Here we are before the run started!

And a quick shot with our supporters!

We started out great - and then there was hill #1 right around the corner from the start line. Now - side note for those of you who don't know - I have asthma. But my bestie Jamie (you can read her blog here) told me that running would help with it and just make me feel better. She's OBVIOUSLY a runner :-)

April and I started the "Couch to 5K" program a little while ago and it has definitely helped. However, this day was particularly challenging for some reason. I used my inhaler more than I had hoped I would have to.

But nonetheless, WE FINISHED! And even better than that - faster than we (or our other halves) thought! Funny tidbit for you... We thought and our sweet hubbs thought that since it was our first race and because it was on trails we would be about 40-45 minutes. However, we finished the race with a final time of... Wait for it.... 29:05!!!!! And because we thought it was going to take longer - our hubbs actually missed our finish! They were so upset but had taken my gorgeous girls to get a snack :-) Best of intentions right?

So, here we are "finishing" the race... We decided to run the last little bit again because the girls were upset when they found out we had already finished...

There were so many people there both men and women, who were affected by this disease. Some were survivors, some in the midst of treatment, some family members of people who had been diagnosed and lost their fight and some that were family members of those fighting it every day.

I was there for me. I was there for my Mom. My daughters. My friends. Women everywhere.

Here is an email that I received from my dear friend Annette's sister, Elizabeth.

We were honored to have her name on our shirts as a survivor.

"Kristie –

I am Anet’s sister, Elizabeth Kelly.

I’m sitting here thanking God for all of the people who are praying for me, and praying that they somehow know how much they mean to me. I am honored by your tribute to me on your shirts – wow.

God bless you all – and if you don’t mind I’d just like to bug you for a moment: DO NOT skip your mammograms and self exams! And, please pass this on to all of those that you love.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

Elizabeth"

I can't say enough how much I can encourage my friends and family to do the self checks, see your doctors and by all means - know you have a support system should anything EVER happen.

My sweet girls and husband here with me after our finish...