As you can see here, it was a beautiful morning with the sun coming up in the background
Olivia pointing out all the people ; ) There were tons!!!!
All smiles before the race
I tried taking pictures of the crowd but there were so many thousands of people there, that I couldn't even fit 1/8th of them in the picture. Anyway you can see the yellow banner up by the red ball, that was the start line.
Me and my girl before the race
I must say while standing at the start line waiting for the gun to go off at 7am, I did get a little choked up. It just hit me all the sudden why I was here..........Because my brother isn't. I started to panic thinking about it. I cried and my chest had so much weight on it. I was thinking how the hell am I going to do this??? I can't run this, I just want to go home and curl up and cry. At that point I made eye contact with my Dad. He of course saw me crying and started to cry. I knew in my heart I had trained for this day and damn it I was going to complete this 3.1 mile race not only for Dewayne but for my Dad too. He has always been into running and I know he is so excited and proud that Jim and I have been training for this day. At that point Jim grabbed my hand and just smiled at me. I said "this is for you Dewayne" Jim got choked up too and said yes it is. From that moment on, it in all honesty was fun. It was tough dodging the several thousand 5k runner/walkers but after that first mile it got a little easier. There were live bands along the way and I just let myself have fun. We would sing, cheer, clap and yell along with the bands.
The last mile was a struggle for me. I knew in my heart I was not going to walk, I was way to determined to do that. It was mind over pain at that point. I just felt the last mile was never ending. It is very motivating to see a thousand people in front of you though. Once I had my eye on the finish line, it was back to fun and being super psyched that we made it. Jim bless his heart stayed with me the whole time, even though I run so much slower than him. We got to the finish line and sprinted in and held hands. Once we crossed the line we embraced in a big hug. It was a great feeling to walk across that line with my hubby. I knew I could do this if I just set my mind to it. I know to a lot of people 3.1 miles is nothing but to this out of shape bad runner it was a huge accomplishment. I know Dewayne was looking down on us and was so proud of Jim and I both for doing this.
As soon as you cross that finish line we were handed Gatorade, then we ran through a sprinkler, then we got a medal, then we were handed a sack to load up on all the fruit, cookies and snacks they were handing out to the runners. It was great. Then there was a photo area....
There was a huge park with a post race party. There was live music, tons of people, food, vendors. It was fun. Here is sassy running around having a ball. Olivia stayed with my mom while we ran. Grams said she did great. We all can't believe Olivia actually left the house with running shoes on. She only likes cute girly shoes. Of course she had to wear a skirt though to keep it girly ; ) lol
Look at those crazy nails. Every finger nail and toe nail are a different color. It was very time consuming ; )
She made Jim run around the park like she was in the race. She seriously had a ball
Lol my mom wanted to take a picture of us in running shoes. You pretty much never see Olivia and I in running shoes. My dad's foot didn't make the picture because he was running his race.
So I think Jim and I could fit nicely into the running crowd. They were serving beer at 7:30 am. I mean how freakn' awesome is that???? All runners got one free beer then you could buy more. Jim and I got our free one around 8am. I told Jim we deserve a couple of beers as a reward. I also told him I felt like we were in college again drinking so early ; ) Although in college at 8am we probably hadn't been to bed yet! lol
Here is a picture of the stage. This band was seriously awesome. They played anything and everything!
Sassafrass totally enjoyed the music and was dancing her little booty off. So many people were stopping to watch her. It was hilarious!
A little shot of downtown Indy.
I am so glad we got to do this run together. Every minute of today was in memory of Dewayne. Although we had fun, it was still a rough day. None of this still seems real to us. We all miss him with every ounce of our being. I thought of our soldier when I saw these flags. Dewayne never gave himself enough credit for being a soldier and serving our country. We were always so proud of him!!
My Dad wore this shirt in honor of Dewayne.
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