Rolling Along...: "Mama, I race"!

IN HONOR OF GRANDMA AND AUNTIE TRISH-
WE LOVE YOU BOTH!

We began our day bright and early this morning, out of bed before the sun came up in an effort to ready ourselves for "the race". Hopping into the van at 7:30 am, we headed out for Portland to participate in the Race 4 The Cure for Oregon and SW Washington. Once we arrived in Portland we transferred to the MAX for a quick train ride down to the Waterfront where we made our way through massive crowds to the starting line. Pushing Emmy's (appropriately colored) pink wheel chair we stopped heads and received numerous comments from fellow racers. She looked so cute wearing her "race" shirt and "bib". She was so excited to "race". There were so many people for this year's event, they had to have a double starting line. Along with the announcer, we counted down the seconds and waited for the signal to start. The signal sounded, and alas, we were off! Well... sort of. There were soooo many people ahead of us that it was several minutes before we even took a step. Once we did get going, it was slow moving. Emmy kept saying "Mama, I race". To which I kept responding "We will honey, in just a few minutes." Well, we never did get to "race". We got to walk (very slowly) for 3.1 miles. Not that I was in any shape to run this event, but it would have been fun to at l east walk it at a normal pace. It turned out to be quite fun and the people all around us provided entertainment for us as we made our way along the course. Turns out there were some 46, 000 people participating this year and the majority of them were in the un-timed family walk (along with us). Next year, we are vowing to be in better shape so that we can participate in a bit faster category so that Emmy can really "race".

"Mama, I race!"