Race for the Cure

The last two years the cheerleaders I work with have been asked to help with the Race for the Cure as "Cureleaders" (cute name, eh). I love when they get the opportunity to do something in the community that is service oriented. Some other things they have been involved with is the American Heart Association Walk and the MS Walk.

The Race for the cure is such a great cause for them to be involved with. I hope that they all have become a little more educated about breast cancer as they helped with the race. The week before the race they hold a survivors luncheon at Little America and our squad along with another school performed the cheers/chants and showed off a couple cool stunts for the survivors. I always get emotional as I watch all of the survivors and am amazed at the struggles they have gone through as they fight breast cancer. Several of them are at the luncheon with scarves covering their bald heads which is a sure sign of the battle they are facing. I don't think these cheerleaders will ever forget the experience as well as the chants that they shouted during the race to support and educate the survivors, runners, and crowd.

Of course since we were at Little America we decided to have lunch together at the coffee shop after they finished cheering for the survivors.

The race took place on Saturday May 9th. We had to arrive so early to help get things set up. It's kind of a challenge to get 26 teenagers (as well as myself) motivated to be somewhere at 6 am on a Saturday morning. But once they arrived they really got into the spirit of things and I know they all had a fun and rewarding day.

Don't they look so excited to be there so early, good thing they had some food for the volunteers.

Here they are cheering on the runners/walkers.

Some of the chants they shouted:

"Raise your voices for healthy choices, I am the Cure"

"Best Detection is Early Protection, I am the Cure"

"Every person, everywhere, I am the Cure"

and my all time favorite

"With Mammograms and Breast Exams, I am the Cure"

These chants were made up by the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the "Cureleaders" to shout at the races across the country.

Several groups come up with t-shirts with really cool sayings. Humor is always a great way to deal with difficult things and breast's are an easy target. This was a good one, in case you can't read it, it says "squeeze a lemon save a life". One of my friends family wore tutu's and shirts that said Tutu's for Tata's. I especially love seeing the men wear these things.

My cousin Elizabeth ran in the race in honor of her mom, my Aunt Mona, who has been fighting Breast Cancer. Elizabeth lives in Idaho and my Aunt Mona lives in Washington so I rarely see them, maybe once a year. I knew she was doing the race but we really didn't think we would see each other because there are thousands of people there. I was so excited that she noticed me as she ran by and they came and found me after they were done. It made the whole experience even more special! The race is always the Saturday before Mothers Day, which I think is quite appropriate since so many women are affected by Breast Cancer. Next year I want to actually participate in the race. I think it would be awesome to do it with my mom and sisters.

Audrey was having tons of fun with the cool super hero cape they were giving out at the promo booths. She even created a stunt with it. She's such a fun girl.

Ok so I really got into the super hero cape and all the fun promo stuff at the booths as well (occasionally I might be a tiny bit guilty of acting like a teenager when I'm around them for awhile). It was a fun day.

It was so rewarding for me to see my cheerleaders really getting into the race. As they led the breast cancer survivors in during the survivor parade and cheered them on as the survivors made there way to the Gateway steps I loved that as I looked around several of my cheerleaders had tears in their eyes as did I. It really was a touching experience.