Race for the Cure 2011

This is the 4th year we've participated in Race for the Cure.  It is a fun 5K to run, the course is flat and fast and meanders through an old neighborhood.  However the race is getting really crowded and is hard to maneuver a stroller through, even when doing the untimed start (non-competative), starting at the front of the line, and having Royal run right in front of the stroller to "make a hole" for us through the people who decide that running 5 wide across the road is best for everyone.

The first year, 2008, I was big and pregnant with Willow and I waddled my way across the finish line.  In 2009, Willow was almost a year old, I had lost all of my baby weight and then some, and running felt good, and I remember listening to Royal complain that we were going to fast and could we please slow down some.  To which he got a big fat no, and in turn, he made sure he crossed the finish line before me.  :)  In 2010, we signed up for the race, fought the kids all the way to the start line - Jayden did not want to be there, only to realize that I had a flat tire on the stroller, and we had to pull out at the last minute.  This year the kids and I made sure the stroller tires were fully inflated. With Jayden and Willow's combined weight, plus all the gear we bring along and pick up in freebies at the booths, the stroller weighs a good 100+ pounds, and I need all the air in the tires I can get.  This is, I'm sure, the last year I will be able to get Jayden to ride in the stroller, he is getting a little old and quite big.  Royal had class on Saturday this year so he couldn't come with us, and if I was going to participate I needed to be able to push the munchkins.  I finished this year's race somewhere between 26 and 27 minutes.  It helped to have Jayden in the stroller telling me to "go a little faster", "pass that person up there", "Oh, look, there's our neighbor, catch up to her so I can say hi", "Oh, look, there's another stroller, let's go beat them"

Here we are crossing the finish line.

And here we are with a few of our stroller buddies that we used to go work out with.  (I had made a deal with Jayden that once he started kindergarten I wouldn't make him sit in the stroller in the mornings anymore, however I was secretly hoping he'd get put in morning kindergarten and Willow and I could keep going.  Sadly, he was put in afternoon kindergarten, so no more strollers in motion for me)