The race

Well, here I am. Alive and I dare say well.

This particular 5k was Walk MS at Gateway Mall. And what an incredible experience.

Yesterday my free stuff (which I won here) showed up in the mail, so here I am sporting "real people's running gear" as I like to call it.  I brought my iPod because I was pretty sure my mom would get sick of running as slow as I do and leave me in the dust.

It was overwhelming how many people were there. So many people whose lives have been touched by MS. The crowd was huge, but we somehow managed to get our numbers without losing each other.

After we "started" it took about 3 blocks to get out around the crowd so we could actually run. But once we did there was no stopping us. Not even when the lady at the end took one look at us and blurted out "if you can run it, I can certainly run it!"

I could just see my Dad holding Thomas, but couldn't find Josh. I was so sad that he wasn't there because I wanted him to give me a hug and tell me I did great. Little did I know he was just in front of me taking this picture. And he did give me a hug and told me I did great. Whew!

We crossed the finish line and they gave us medals - cuz you know...we finished.

Turns out I didn't need my iPod because my mom stayed back with me the whole time. She's nice like that. It was really fun to run with her, we talked the whole way and I didn't feel completely stupid for being so slow because she's my mom....and she knows. I'm so glad she ran with me today!

Once we finished we all (mom, dad, Josh, Thomas and I) walked back to meet up with our team members who were walking.

On the way back we hit this ENORMOUS solid group of people. As we kept walking back looking for our group of people (and the reason we were there) I kept thinking it would lighten up, but I swear for a whole mile the street was completely filled with people who were doing this walk.

I saw little girls in shirts that said "I walk for my dad" and teenage boys in shirts that said "I walk for my mom". I saw women walking for their husbands, men walking for their wives, people walking for themselves and it was an amazing thing.

When we saw our team I couldn't help but cry.

Kristina couldn't feel her legs, but there she was, walking to the finish. She was held up by her family members who were there because they love and support her.

And she made it!

My mom explained it best while we were having lunch. "Now we'll go home and live our normal lives, and tomorrow she'll wake up and still have MS." 


I am overwhelmed by the blessing it is to have a body that I can force to run (even if I don't want to). I am overwhelmed by the blessing it is to know people who are so inspiring. I am overwhelmed by the blessing it is to feel so much love and compassion for so many people all at once.

So, yes. I completed my first 5K today. I ran the whole thing and I (surprisingly) loved it. But really, the best part of this day was being a teeny tiny part of something so amazing.