Shape up or ship out!

So, at first (second, or even third) glance, you wouldn't think of me as a runner. I'm short, pudgy, riddled with asthma, have short legs and a long torso. Heck, I take a good 3 steps for every one of Randy's strides! But believe it. Ok ok, so I may not be a "runner" per say, but I can jog up a storm like it's nobody's business. Ok ok, it's more of an uncoordinated trot, but whatevs. Point is, I try. Last year my 3 sisters and I trained to run a 5k together. 1 sister has run about a million of them, so you can imagine the pressure for the 3 of us nubes. It's a shame we don't live close since we are best friends, that would have been a blast; but we trained on our own. I ran my first 5k last year on Mother's Day weekend in Idaho Falls. Sure, I threw up 100 yards from the finish line (word to the wise... don't eat a banana and drink a gallon of water while running)... but I made it. It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. My parents knew how hard we had worked for this goal (pshaw, I wasn't even able to run a mile in high school! and 3.1 miles now? nothing short of a miracle) and how physically draining it was on me especially-- thank you kidney stones and wacky thyroid -- so they wanted to make sure they were there at the finish line for us. Randy was there at the finish line as well, holding a sign that said "Nae is #1 runner!" Yeah, he's a sweetheart... but rumor has it that he kind of hid the sign behind his arm after he saw me throw up so close to the finish line. Anyway, I remember my mom wasn't doing too well last May, and was on oxygen. That didn't stop her, she had my dad park their car as close to the finish line as possible so she could watch and cheer us on. I had told her while I was training that she was my motivation to do this. I was running for her. I'll never forget meeting her teary eyes when I crossed the finish line. She was so proud of all of us.

So this year, running for my mom takes on a whole different meaning. My sisters and I are doing another 5k this year. Conflicting schedules and baby deliveries made it so we couldn't run a Race For the Cure, but we are making our own of the race that we are doing. I made these shirts for us to wear. If you can't read the front it says: Why we run... We run for you. We run with you. We run with Angels. The left is a picture of my mom last April, and the right is my sister, Lori, who died 20 years ago from Leukemia. On the back it says Project: Shape up or Ship Out 2008 -- No more cancer!! (The shape up or ship out phrase is a dear one to my sisters and I. My mom would tell us this growing up when we were getting out of line... and has since become the name of our sister blog. We use it to talk every day and to egg each other on with our training.)

So that is our new motivation. We run for them. We run with them. In every sense of the word, we are running with angels.