Relay for Life 2017

On Friday night, we held our annual Relay for Life in my hometown. This Relay was my 10th year to participate and my 4th year as a committee member! I absolutely love this event and everything it stands for! :) Throughout the evening, we celebrate our survivors, remember those who have lost their battle, and then we fight back against this terrible disease!

This year's theme was based off of a Disney theme - Wish Upon A Cure and I loved all of the details that went into the event! I had no idea of this ahead of time, but the event ended with the goodbye theme from Mickey Mouse Club ("now it's time...to say goodbye...to all our company..."). Adorable.

As an added surprise, I woke up bright and early on Friday morning (3:30 a.m. as a matter of fact) with a pretty rough bout of a stomach virus. Awesome. Brayden had been sick a few days before and passed it on to me. Luckily, I was able to stay home from work that morning to rest and hopefully regain some of my energy. By 4 p.m., I was feeling slightly better....by slightly better I mean I felt about a 3 or 4 out of 10...but I couldn't miss this event. The committee saved the Disney theme for me this year since I was on maternity leave and not super heavily involved with last year's event. I seriously couldn't miss out!

This team ALWAYS wins the campsite award as their site is always above and beyond amazing! 

Our team won second place in the t-shirt contest! Our shirts were based off the Disney castle that played before old-school Disney moves. We used four main colors as our castle blocks and each color represented the cancer sites we treat the most in our center! 

Here's a better look at our shirts and my little relayer! It's hard to believe he was SO tiny last year (just about 5 weeks old)!

Another team contest is the bake-off. Cakes are judged on appearance and taste. This Cinderella carriage won all around! Isn't it beautiful?!

Celebrate 

After opening ceremonies, we kicked things off with our Survivor lap!

Each purple shirt represents a cancer survivor. I LOVE seeing the sea of purple shirts every year! It really validates what we do on a day in and day out basis!

After the survivor lap, caregivers joined in the walk around the track. We love what we do!

In the middle of all the festivities, one of my students from church graduated in the building right behind us. I was able to see her and take a picture with her after graduation! So proud of her!

Brayden was such a trooper and stayed for a good bit of the evening. He even tried his first bite of fried pickles...and he liked it! Relay food is pretty amazing, but I'm sad I couldn't partake in any of it due to the way I felt all day. Ugh. Next year.....I'm coming for you, Relay food!

Remember

At 9 p.m., my favorite part of the evening took place, our luminiaria ceremony. All of the lights in our circle grounds and generators were turned off. This ceremony is an incredibly reverent ceremony as we remember those who have lost the fight against cancer and honor those who are surviving.

In total, the ceremony lasts about 10 minutes but is one of the big take-aways from the entire event. 

Over 700 bags lined the track, each with a face or a name of a cancer patient. Amazing grace was played live from stage and a slide show presentation of pictures was given. This ceremony always brings tears. Always.

Fight Back

The remainder of the evening was spent playing games, fundraising, hanging out, and having a great time with friends and fellow relayers. I'm happy to say that we raised almost $130,000 total and are just a few thousand short of our goal for 2017! I'm excited to see our new theme for 2018 and what the year has in store! 

Oh yes, and my boss also talked me into going on our local news station with him during the week of relay to discuss our event! As most of you know, I'm NOT a fan of live events and they scare the daylights out of me. However, I made the decision a few years ago not to hold back, to come out of my shell a bit more, and go with the opportunities that are presented before me...so I agreed and I'm so happy I did! It was actually a lot of fun! If you'd like to see our interview, you can check that out here! :)

Have you ever participated in a Relay for Life event? Any "theme" ideas for us for next year?

2017 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend Expo

My last time to visit Disneyland and the resort area was in 2013 for the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend. One thing I clearly remember about that expo was the mad dash of craziness in the official merchandise area. I hoped to avoid all of that this time around, since I wasn't arriving until Friday evening (the day before the 10K).

Thankfully, apart from afternoon traffic from the airport I didn't account for, all went well in my travels that day and I arrived at the Expo with time to spare!

As a bonus, we were able to snag a room at the Disneyland Hotel, so we didn't have far to go!

We started out in the convention center area to pick up our bibs. My friend had gone earlier in the day and said the lines were cray cray.  

I'm so glad I didn't have to worry about that as there were zero lines for me and the whole process was super smooth! I was able to pick up my bib and go on about my way!

Also, I was given two wrist bands at this point - one for a pink coast to coast medal and another for a blue coast to coast medal. I'd read earlier that day on social media that people were going to the runner relations booth for the blue wrist band, but mine was handed to me here at bib pickup! 

I did have my eye on the small blue Dooney, but they sold out before I arrived. (Maybe that was a good thing?)

Our next stop was the Expo floor itself. I also needed to pick up my shirts.

The walkway into the Expo had a bunch of Peter Pan murals which we (of course) took a few pictures with!

So excited to run this race! I seriously thought the opportunity would never arise!

The shirts were all located together in one area which was nice. Again, I didn't have to wait in any sort of line! YAY!

With an hour to spare before closing, we decided to take our time and browse a bit of the Expo merchandise.
 

This expo seemed a little less busy to me vs WDW - less people and less vendors.

Most of the vendors we did see were the same as those at other runDisney events...Raw Threads, Sweaty Bands, etc.

We spent a good chunk of our time at the Official Merchandise area. Again, the crowd wasn't terrible and the merchandise was not picked over (at least not to me).

I was able to snag everything I wanted, minus the Tink ornament. Thankfully, my friend picked up a Tink ornament for me earlier in the day as I was worried they would run out.

Of course Pandora was there, and so was this adorable green Tink pace car for race day!

Before leaving the Expo, we spotted a photo opportunity and stopped for a picture!

Upon returning to our room, we discovered turn down service and a star filled sky with the castle! :)

The Tink Expo was such a fun start to our weekend! I really enjoyed it all!

Stay tuned for more updates from our Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend adventures! 

For a recap of all of our race weekend fun, check out the links below:

• Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend Expo & VLOG
• Neverland 10K Recap & VLOG
• Tinker Bell Half Marathon Recap & VLOG
• Captain Hook Costume Tutorial