Kansas Trip, Race Day

One of the main reasons for our trip to Kansas was the Get Your Rear In Gear 5K.  They have races all over the United States to raise money and get the word out about colon and rectal cancer awareness.  My family put together a team in memory of my Uncle Doug who lost his battle to cancer on December 31, 2010.  It was a great day spent with family and an emotional one as well.  We had a team of 19 people and won the award for the largest team.  We met at a church before the race for dinner and time to chat.
Just a little about the race.  I have been training for it for a few months and am currently training for a half marathon.  I was excited that I had talked Jessica into running with me.  When I looked at the forecast I knew it would be a warm evening but I had no idea that the wind would be blowing as hard as it was.  It was 25 to 30 mile an hour gusts.  I joked that I could tie a string to Jessica and she could be my kite while I ran.  So we started running and it wasn't too bad but then we turned into the wind and it felt like I was running as fast as a could and not going anywhere.  I was pretty bummed that I ended up walking about 3/4 of a mile.  But good news is I beat my last 5K time and hope to keep improving.

Here are Jessica and Sophia before they headed to the race.

Sophia fell asleep right as we got to the church.

These cousins love each other.

Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids.

Aleshia created these great shirts for our team.  Uncle Doug loved the slot machines so we incorporated that into our team shirts.  The shirts say, don't gamble with your health, get your colon checked.

Our whole team

I am sad I didn't get a picture with my Aunt Sandy.  Here she is with Jessica and Sophia.  Aunt Sandy is a very strong lady and I am sure this day was extra emotional for her.  We hope to make this race a yearly tradition to honor my Uncle Doug.

The little girls ready for race time.  My dad and Mike took turns pushing them.

Hadley and Brylee ready to go.  Hadley ran part of the time and rode part of the time.  She was pretty upset that she could not run with me so we are going to do a 1 mile fun run on the 4th of July.

Time to get this race started.

Cammie and Jordan ready to go. 

At the end of the race we walked back to meet up with the walking group.  We let the little girls out of the stroller to cross the finish line.

Aunt Sandy and her sons, Matt, Nick and Scott. 

While we were at the church the kiddos got some time to play outside.