Relay for Life 2020 (Virtual)

Relay for Life 2020.

None of us ever thought we would have to make the decision to turn our family friendly, festival type event into an at-home, virtual one, but we did! When the idea was first pitched to our committee, a few of us were skeptical, but we jumped on the bandwagon and the outcome could not have been any better!

Not long after the idea to turn our event into a virtual one was pitched, I began to formulate a plan on how to fundraise on my own, and that's when the idea to run the Relay for Life "Virtual" Half Marathon was born!

For starters, I'd never run a half marathon in the middle of the day before (apart from the night time Wine & Dine half marathons at Disney), so I had no idea what to expect. Since I had to work on Friday morning, I set off on this half marathon endeavor after I clocked out a little after 1 p.m. 

It was hot, humid, and on the verge of raining the entire time, but I prayed long and hard that I would at least get a good half of the run behind me without any rain. My prayers were answered!

At first, I was going to drive home after work and begin my run from there (like the Star Wars route), but I decided to stick with the area around my work and have a little change of scenery!

I also thought it would be fun to share a few ACS/cancer facts along the way!

I'm not going to lie, this one was tough. My hamstring was bothering me from about mile 6 until the end and it was difficult to breathe through the humidity. It was the thought of cancer patients and all they endure while going through their journey that kept me pressing on.

There really are some beautiful views around my work. This was one of my favorite places to run when our running group was together!

Like the Star Wars half I ran at home, I also adopted a 4:1 run/walk ratio for this half. Although this run wasn't entire pain free, I made it!

Another 13.1 in the books! 

 
I also wanted to share my reason for relaying...

Our virtual event was held live on facebook that evening, and although it wasn't "true" relay food, we make sure to do it justice!

The links you see to the left are boudin. This is a traditional cajun treat and it's seriously delicious! (Casing stuffed with rice and meat)

In fact, the whole family participated in the virtual relay event! What fun!!

By the end of the weekend, I'd not only reached my fundraising goal but I'd exceeded it thanks to so many generous friends and family!

Despite the fact that Relay for Life 2020 looked COMPLETELY different from anything I'd experienced, it was definitely one to remember!

Relay for Life 2019

Our annual Relay for Life took place last weekend and I'm 100% serious when I say that I'm still riding that high from our event! Apart from a Relay several years back (when McAlister's was there with the tea), this was seriously one of my top favorite Relay events for me!

A little back story in case you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about - I'm an oncology nurse, I work with patient's who are receiving radiation. I absolutely love what I do and love working with cancer patients. When I transitioned in this department about 12 years ago, my boss introduced me to the idea of Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society and asked me to join their team. After attending one relay event, I cried like a baby and was hooked!! I now sit on the event leadership team and at this year's relay, I was in charge of making sure the activities and games took place in a timely manner!

I also twisted my friend Kim's arm and encouraged her to join the committee with us to be my activities co-lead! We had SO much fun this year!

The Louisiana Ghostbuster's team picks one relay in the state of Louisiana each year to attend and fund raise for. They literally had the gear, the sirens, and the whole 9 yards! It was so cool to see and a huge hit with the kids!

My hospital team! :)

Our band this year was phenomenal. I visited another relay last year where I heard them play and loved them! I'm so glad we were able to snag Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs this year!

About half an hour before this aired, I was told that I was going on the news. (Basically it was a game of "not it"! Thanks, guys!) Thankfully, it all went ok. Although I don't mind public speaking, live things still make me a bit nervous!

Right at 7 p.m., our event kicked off with opening ceremonies and the survivor lap!

A new addition this year was the confetti poppers for the survivor lap. This was yet another idea we saw while visiting a local relay this year and loved it!

As official "activities chair", that meant we also had the opportunity to taste test all of the yummy goodies for the sweet off!

Our theme this year was the "Colors of Cancer" where we encouraged each team to pick a diagnosis/cancer they've been affected by and go with that cancer's color. A lot of teams (our hospital team included) decided to go with a multi-color approach to support all of the different cancer diagnoses out there.

The above dessert was the winner! That sugar cookie was seriously the bomb.com. I don't even know if that's a phrase anymore, but I'm using it anyway. 

The cake/icing was delicious, too...and the spoons/forks they provided were also painted to match their theme! 

This team's theme was around the color teal because their mom passed away from cervical cancer. 

We had probably 15 desserts to taste. Poor things, right?

We also had a photo booth there with a personalized backdrop (from a green screen). We also each received a 4x6 printed photo and a digital version as well. Pretty snazzy!

I'm glad we stopped for a picture when we did because we were so busy, we never saw the photo booth again! 

At 9 p.m., all of the generators and lights were turned off and we took a few moments during the luminaria ceremony to honor our survivors and those who've lost their battle with cancer. My grandfather (pictured on the bags above) lost his battle with lung cancer my senior year in high school.

This is truly a reverent and personal time and one of my favorites of the night.

Another addition this year was the inclusion of fireworks after the luminaria ceremony. They were SO neat to see and the show was pretty great, too!

Brayden loved the fireworks!!

At the end of the night, we not only reached our goal, we actually exceeded our goal by $10,000!! As I mentioned,  this event was one of my favorites ever and I loved how everything/everyone came together to fight this terrible disease we call cancer!

Until next year... :)

Have you ever participated in a Relay for Life event? If so, what was your favorite part of the evening?

Favorite Non-Running Hobbies

Today's Tuesday Topics Linkup is all about our favorite non-running hobbies! If you've been a blog reader here for a while, I'm sure you can guess mine! :)

#1 Disney and Traveling 

We LOVE going to Disney, but we also love seeing new places! One of the reasons we joined the Disney Vacation Club last fall is because it gives us the opportunity to do just that. Already, we've discussed the idea of visiting Hawaii in the future (I traveled there for my senior trip, but Jason's never been)! We are also taking a cruise this summer (non-Disney) with Jason's family to Alaska! This time, we will be sailing on Royal Caribbean. I am excited to return to Alaska and take in the wondrous beauty of it all. For this trip, we are planning on excursions we've never done before which include whale watching and visiting a musher's camp. I know Brayden is going to LOVE seeing the dogs! It should be an all around fun time!

#2 Family & Friends

Family and friend time is absolutely the best. I love being with my family and friends and spending time with them! Life is seriously so fragile - I see it every day. One thing about working in oncology is it has given me a better appreciation for LIFE and enjoying loved ones in the here and now. In the end, I want to be able to look back over my life and say that I truly took the time to appreciate my family and friends. Our loved ones bring such a richness and fullness to our lives and it's important to truly value that.

#3 Baseball

During baseball season, you can either find me at home watching a ball game or at Minute Maid Park cheering on my beloved Astros! I've been a fan since birth and love carrying the tradition over to Brayden! We also love visiting Minute Maid Park! It's almost opening day, y'all!! I'm SO excited!

#4 Volunteering

When I look back over my life, I can't remember a time that I didn't volunteer (because I truly love it that much)! At my church, I've been a volunteer with our Girls Ministries program since 2000 and once I started working in oncology in 2007, I also became a volunteer with the American Cancer Society. Over the years, I've also helped in various other areas, but these two have stuck the longest and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Giving of yourself and your time, especially with how busy life can be is truly rewarding, especially when you know you're helping to make a difference.

So, there you have it - when I'm not working or running or going to Orangetheory, those are the areas you'll find me! 

Join Kookyrunnerand Zenaida every Tuesday for the Tuesday Topics Linkup!

Gleaux Run 2018

Well, another Gleaux Run 5K benefiting the American Cancer Society is in the books!

This was our 4th Gleaux Run and although turnout was a bit less than previous years, we still had an amazing race and a great time! I love volunteering with the American Cancer Society and events like this make all the extra time and energy worth it! Check out previous year's recaps here, here and here.

For starters, it rained almost all day long on event day. We kept praying it would pass through by evening time and although it seriously looked ominous with lighting off in the distance, we had a local meteorologist out there on our team and he reassured us that all would be ok (and it was)!


Setup began around 3 p.m. and having plenty of hands out there to help made the process a breeze!

One major change we made this year was the registration table - we moved it closer to our stage to keep everything and everyone centrally located. This helped a ton with the crowd at the stage for opening ceremonies. In previous years, we've had registration a bit further off from the stage and runners missed a lot of the announcements and parts of opening ceremonies.

Another major change we made this year had to do with the mile marker signs. In the past, runners told me that the signs were not visible at all. With this being a night time race, this route can be dark and although I've used glow in the dark paint for the mile marker numbers, they still weren't seen once the sun completely set.

We've also used glow sticks inside of balloons in the past which didn't work at all either.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw a pack of balloons at Walgreens (of all places) that were MEANT to glow. Each balloon had a tab inside and once pulled, the light was activated. These balloons glowed for hours (as a matter of fact, they were still glowing the next day) and runners said the balloons were highly visible on the route! It felt great to finally have a victory with these signs after the third year of trying! I also used white lettering on top of a black background which also made a world of difference.

Our group of volunteers were amazing this year, including our local university softball team. When I say they are some of the best volunteers I've ever worked with, I mean it!!

So grateful for them!

Our children's pastor led the prayer before the race and he prayed for no rain and no potholes! Both prayers were answered! :)

When I saw these dedicated Mickey glow ears at Target this summer, I knew I had to snag a pack for the race! So fun!

We were advised that starting the race 10 minutes early would be wise because of the weather and the Marshal ok'd it. Most people had already picked up their race packets, so we made a last minute decision to be safe and kick the race off early.

Runners lined up beneath our arch with luminaria bags lining the way. Each bag was created in honor of a loved one battling cancer or in memory of a loved one who has lost their battle with cancer. It was a really neat visual to see them all lit up at the start and finish line.

My friends all completed the race together and said they had a great time out there!

Although we didn't have medals for every runner this year, we did have medals for our first, second, and third place male and female!

Cleanup this year was a breeze, thanks to all of our amazing help!

By the end, my legs were tired and even though I didn't officially "run" the race, I still had plenty of miles under my belt for the day!

Our major hiccup this year had to do with the arch. This is only the second time I've used it and wasn't responsible for it last year, so I wasn't even thinking about extension cords. This was a total face palm moment for me because...hello, Karen..duh. Thankfully, our local running store owner was out there and came to my rescue. He was so kind and let me borrow two of his extension cords which seriously saved the day!  I was so thankful for him.

...and that's a wrap for the 2018 Gleaux Run! I am ready and excited for next year's event! Bring on 2019!!

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty.