Dash for Diabetes

Juvenile Diabetes is something that's pretty close to my heart.  My beautiful cousin Monica was diagnosed when she was 14 years old in a very scary, close to death type of way.  She is still figuring out each day what is best for her, and how to keep her body in control.  It's amazing what we all take for granted (including me!) when we eat something, and don't even think about how our bodies will break it down and keep us alive.  Each year, she participates in several walks to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF.  This year, I decided to run in our local Dash for Diabetes, which is a 4-mile race, that includes a kids mile run and also a 100 meter run for kids 5 and under.  Claire has been practicing her running, and she said she wanted to run the race, so I signed her up!  Sadly, Jeff was out of town for the weekend, and so was Kristi, who was running a race of her own…a half-marathon!  So our good friends, Jake and Katie agreed to meet me at the race to watch the girls while I ran, and to snap some pictures of Claire when it was her turn!

That's Monica on the right with her siblings, Sara & Drew.  Aren't they a good looking bunch?!

Claire ended up crying during the race!  It made me laugh, but then I didn't want to seem like that parent that was forcing their kid to do something they really didn't want to do, so then I felt a little bad!  Heck, I didn't know what to think!  She ran the first 50 meters or so, and then I think got a bit overwhelmed by all the people and the mascots from the different restaurants that were there.  She was insistent that I carry her, and with some pleading for her to do it on her own, she kind of crossed the finish line on her own.  She seemed pretty happy to get a prize once she finished…guess I should have pulled the prize card out a bit earlier and that may have helped her along!  I'm hoping that she'll get more comfortable with it and want to do another one.

Even though the kids race didn't go as I hoped I'm still really glad we went, as it turned out to be a very fun morning!

 And this is where things started to get ugly….