Great Strides 2012!

Let me start off by saying THANK YOU to everyone who came out yesterday to the second annual Great Strides in DeKalb!

All week the weather looked terrible for Saturday -- the weathermen were saying how we were supposed to get a ton of storms and a month's worth of rain Friday through Monday, but I was determined not to let a little (or a lot) of rain stop me! We didn't get any rain Friday and when I woke up Saturday morning, it was completely dry. I checked the weather and it looked like we were going to luck out with the rain holding off until late afternoon/evening. I was so excited because I knew less people would come out if it was raining, so I was really hoping we'd have a great turn out....and we did!

I'm not sure how many people were there, but my guess would be maybe 125-150ish. There was a sea of purple with my Friends & Family team and a sea of gray for my Cortland Crew team, and there was also another big team from a near by town. It was so great to see so many people out there supporting CF.

Colleen's Cortland Crew

Colleen's Cortland Crew and Colleen's Friends & Family

Colleen's Friends & Family

This year we held a raffle for the first time with several gift certificates to local restaurants and hang outs. Unfortunately I didn't win anything, but Tim's dad did win a "breakfast for two". Amazingly, we raised $500 just from our raffle!!!

Here's my dad selling raffle tickets -- $1 per ticket, $5 for 6, or $10 for a wingspan!

Here's my friend Chris' wingspan...and a few extras

I think people really had a lot of fun with the wingspan part because they could use anyone's wingspan, so several people wandered around to find the tallest person they could!

We also had a demonstration by the DeKalb County K-9 Unit which was very interesting and entertaining.

Just yesterday we brought in about $14,000 in donations! Plus, the $500 from the raffle. Plus the over $6,000 already donated online before the event. Which means we raised at least $21,000 so far!!! Not too bad for a second year location! Our goal is to hit $25,000 and  I'll get the final amount on Monday when they add everything together and count the last minute donations that were given online. 

Oh, and for those who are waiting to hear the results of our school fundraiser...in one week of change collecting at a K-5 school, the students collected: $783.87!!! I am so proud of them! Since they raised over $500, they have earned a lunch served to them by the principals while watching cartoons in the cafeteria! 

I am so thankful to have so much support by everyone: family, friends, co-workers. I felt so much love and support yesterday, it was amazing! I really hope everyone had as much fun as I did and I can't wait to see how much this walk site grows each year! Here are several more pictures of the event: 

Registration table

Raffle

Part of the Cortland Crew

Love all the lungs!

Back of Cortland Crew t-shirts

Love this picture! Tim's uncle and cousin

Chris & Tim

Feelin' Good

I've been feeling great the past few days! Sadly, my spring break is coming to an end and it's back to work tomorrow, but I'm craving that routine again. I've had a nice week off with several days to myself, read a couple books, hung out with some friends, got some more Great Strides stuff figured out - overall, it was a nice, relaxing break.

This is the shirt I wear every time I go running because it
gives me the motivation to keep going and Out Run CF!

I also really pushed my running this past week, but more so the past couple days. The route I've been running around my neighborhood is about 2.4 miles and I've always walked and ran it. Yesterday morning I did part of my treatments - my albuterol to loosen my mucus and open my airways - then I went running. I ran (well, jogged) my entire route around my neighborhood without stopping or walking and I think that last few blocks I had a huge grin on my face because I knew I was going to make it! It was so weird because I was breathing great and my legs weren't killing me - it felt so good! When I got back I finished my treatments with my hypertonic saline (HTS) to make me cough up whatever was way down deep in my airways. This morning, I had to do the same thing! I wanted to know if it was just a fluke, or if I could really do it again. And I did! I did the same thing with my treatments, albuterol first, run, and now HTS. This run was much harder on my legs, but I made myself push through it because I knew that if I could do it once, then I could do it again. My plan is to keep running the entire route for a couple more weeks and gradually add in another block at a time until I'm up to 3.1 miles which is the length of a 5K. I've got 68 more days to be comfortably running a 5K and if you would have asked me a week ago if I'd be ready, I would have thought it would have been a close call, but now I'm sure that I'll be able to do it! I never thought I'd be a good runner and I wouldn't consider myself one now, but I'm just so proud of how far I've come since the fall when I started all of this. Go me!