A Splash of Baileys: Race for the Cure!

Long overdue, I know, I suck! I wanted to recap when Nate and I flew to MI to spend time with friends and family and run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in honor of my Aunt Cyndi. She's been kicking cancer's butt this past year and I am constantly amazed at her strength.

To kick off some fundraising, Nate and I decided to start a little bet but it actually backfired. Everyone read that whoever raised the money first did NOT have to wear the tutu, so everyone donated to me - trying to get Nate to have to wear the tutu. But really it said whoever raised the money first would HAVE to wear it. Rats! We petitioned and decided that if we raised $500 between the two of us, we would both have to wear the pink tutu. And we did :)

Since I have made zero time for a social life and me time lately, I definitely did not make time to shop for pink tutus before we went to MI. So the first day there we spent the day with Nate's parents and Nate's mom saved the day by offering to make the tutus for us. She's amazing! Nate was not super excited picking out the material...

Brenden and little miss Alaina met us for dinner later that night. We haven't seen Alaina in so long and I was worried she would see me as a stranger, but when Brenden took her out of her carseat she immediately grabbed for me. Now, she's a very friendly baby so there's a small chance that she would do that just about anyone, but we're going to go with she recognized me because it melted my heart!

After dinner we let her run around and scream like a monster. So funny to see her walking like a little drunken sailor. Stumble, stumble, almost fall, full out sprint, sideways step, pause to recollect. She gravitated to Cheryl's gentle nature and would whisper "wats dat" to her.

Saturday morning we got to spend some much needed QT with some of my favorite girls. We stayed at Meg's and Aly and Christina joined us for breakfast. Meg makes the best breakfasts and Nate was super excited!

Saturday afternoon we headed over to Aunt Nancy's and Brenden, Nate, Uncle Steve and Marie all went out the MSU spring football game. Aunt Nancy, Kenny and I hung back with Alaina. She enjoyed opening up her very belated birthday gifts from me and mom...

Taking a moment to pet the heart...

Baby pink crocs!

Digging for more!

Then finally came Sunday - the day of the race. Cheryl met us with the tutus. When I saw the pretty pink tulle I was so excited! Nate was not. I wanted to have them on when we walked up to the fam so we got mine started.

Nate, scratching his head, wanted to delay as long as possible but finally agreed it would be 'special' if we had them on for the whole time. So then we got his started...

I think he was asking Aly what the heck was so funny, hahahaha!!

I'll never forget the looks he was giving me in that moment. I was honestly wondering if he would talk to me within the next week. It was a mix of "you're my least favorite person right now", "I'll get you back for this" and "why?!".

But he did it. And it was big and bright. And he was like an angry, raging bull. Then he realized it was getting him some attention...

Soon ALL the ladies noticed his bright tutu and started complementing him. All of a sudden he held his head higher and walked awfully proud to be in that tutu.

We first met Brenden and Alaina. She was so excited her Auntie and Uncle were in tutus! She was even more excited when she put her tutu on :)

Ready to rock it - thank you again Cheryl for the tutus!!

Meeting up with the family was so much fun. I hadn't seen a lot of them in a while and it was great to have our large group all together. I wasn't taking many pictures - I always seem to forget to take pictures when I'm having a good time. Luckily Denny and Cheryl were there taking some, so was my cousin Nicole and Aly joined us too who naturally takes pictures everywhere she's at :) So here are some they shared...

Too cool for school

Aly and Nate... and tutu

Taylor and Alaina chasing after a cheerio trapped in the stroller

Precious Taylor Marie!

Pretty in pink Lainey Bug!

Aly's rockin socks!

My Aunt Cyndi is so beautiful. She was glowing with strength and a constant smile that day. I'll always remember her huge smile as she walked the survivor's walk.

After being all emotional, it was time to run - no easy task! Brenden, Casey, Aly and I all decided to run. We were also joined by my Aunt Cyndi's friend Laura. Standing at the start I tried to remember my only goal that day was to finish in under 33 minutes. Some may call that slow, but for anyone who knows me and my journey of running that's actually really fast for me and would be a PR.

Aly and Laura to my left, Brenden and Casey to my right. I was so excited. Coach Dantonio came out and gave us our pep talk. Why did I tear up again? I don't know, but I did. Then bam, we were off. Waiving as we passed the fam, I looked to my left and there was Aly but Laura was gone. Looked to my right and the boys were already a half a mile ahead of us.

Then we hit the first mile marker in under 10 minutes. Aly and I looked at each other and started laughing. OH, so that's why we hate our lives right now! We need to slow down!! And we did, but still kept a pretty good pace for us.

The course was flat and zigzagged throughout the capitol's blocks, circling back to the start. It was an easy course and running without music didn't bother me this race either.

Then came the finish. We were pushing it that last mile, determined to make the best time possible. Then we turned the final bend to the finish and it was a slight hill. Rats. Why are there always hills near the end?! But we didn't slow and sprinted up and through the finish.

Oh the tutu. I don't recommend running in one, but it was so worth it :)

I could barely breathe and at the end everyone just stopped and there was a crowd of what felt like 1,000 people about 5 feet past the finish line. Not good. I couldn't breathe, I was trying to figure out our finish time, people were pushing as they do in crowds and the girl that finished in between Aly and I was puking directly behind Aly. Awesome.

I knew if Aly turned around, not only would she see it and probably freak out but she might also step in it or get puked on. So I yelled to her to turn left and fight our way out. Which we did as the girl continued to lose it. Ew.

Open air never felt so good! Casey joined us as we were still trying to catch our breath and told us he finished in 25 minutes. I wanted to hug him I was proud. Then I wanted to punch him because here he was not having run in probably years and all of a sudden just runs an insane time. But I was very happy when I found out Aly and I ran a 31:02! New PR, felt great!

Casey, Aly and I at the finish!

Brenden finished just behind us and later we would learn Laura knocked it out of the park too and finished sometime around 26 minutes. She and Casey were an inspiration to me that day!

We then headed back to meet the rest of Team Nemesis who were walking the 5K. Nate gladly took Alaina duty :)