Save-A-Sister

This past weekend has been filled with fun & running.  Yes....fun & running in the same sentance.  I drove down with my parents, Michelle, and Madison down to St. George for their annual "Save-A-Sister" Race.  Half the proceeds from the entry fees were donated to the Dixie Regional Cancer Center for mammagram screenings {for those unable to pay for one}.  The newspaper this morning said that they had close to 500 runners {the most ever} and were able to donate close to 6K to the Breast Cancer cause.  Now I went down to the race to run the 5K for fun....Michelle went down there to compete.  All I got to say is, I had fun; I ran; I ran faster than my 5K back in June; I'm thinking about doing another one.  Here are some pictures, and I give some background to my fun weekend:

First off, this is totally random, but the awesome suite Michelle got, had this huge kitchen & this pull-out cutting board.  I was in awe with it...thinking about how to add it to our kitchen when we redo it.

Morning on the Race; Madi eating breakfast.  She was such a cutie!

Mom & Madison before the race.

Michelle showing off the handprints.

The Nelson girls before the race.

Back of our t-shirts

Me & Madi

Wait...What?? You're already tired???  We haven't started yet.

Our Group

My Dad didn't see me starting until after I started running.

Michelle crossing the finish line.  She ended up taking 7th overall & 2nd in her age division.  She was very happy with her time because she was hoping for under 24 minutes & she did it under 23 minutes.

My Mom crossing the finish line in her 1k walk.  She did good.

So.....first let me preference that I am not a runner at all...or maybe I am not a long-distance runner.  My time was at least 4 minutes faster from my last 5k.  I'm glad I had a stopwatch; I would run for about 7-8 minutes & then usually take 30-60 secs of walking to control my breathing.  I did stop twice:One for tying my shoelace {which is so random because they never come untied} and second for taking a rock out of my shoe {also, very random}.  Michelle met me towards the end saying, "You're almost there...let's sprint".  Granted I was glad the finish line was close, but when I started running faster with her, I felt like I was going to puke.  When I came around the bend & saw the finish line {I guess I'm a visual person}I ran as fast as I could, making silly faces at my Dad as I came in.  After I made it through the chute, I found a nice spot of grass & sat/laid down, to control my body from not puking.

Nelson girls after the race.

Us girls that ran/walk.  Michelle started running this race a couple years ago, not only to compete but to also support a lady she'd worked with {Ms. B-lady right next to my Mom}who had had breast cancer.  Michelle wanted to come back down and run the race again this year, and she told us months ago that she wanted all the women in the family to run it with her {that's why Madi got to go & not the boys}.

Michelle and her prizes.  I also won a free 2 night stay at the Comfort Inn-I'm pretty stoked about that.

Madi clapping.

Michelle's Keychain

Awhile ago, I got a friend request from one of James' cousins-Alisha.  James can only remember meeting her once or twice.  Well I met her at the race Saturday.  This was her first 5k and she did great.

Saturday night, we met up with some good ole' friends & had dinner at Chili's.

When I was packing for the trip, I somehow forgot to pack pjs for Madi.  I decided to pick out this pair from Wal-mart.  She looked dang cute!

Remember the large kitchen?? Well, practically all the cabinets were empty.  Madi opened up this one, and crawled right in; had fun playing around as well.

I had a very fun trip.  Thanks to my parents & Michelle, they helped out alot with Madi.  Madi got lucky & got to spend alot of time with her Grandpa Nelson.  Believe it or not, but I'm thinking of signing up for another race in Nov, more so to keep me running as my exercise.  Running seems to keep my weight in check.