Musings of a First Time Participant

I participated in the Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure in Little Rock for the first time ever on October 11, 2008. I had heard of the race before, but I didn’t know the specifics of the event or the extent of its reach. When a coworker here at National Park Community College in Hot Springs sent out an email inviting those who were interested in participating in the 5k walk/run to register, I thought it sounded like a good cause and a unique, special way to spend a Saturday morning.

I was in no way prepared for what would take place
that Saturday morning. Thousands of women lined the streets wearing various team t-shirts, outfits, and accessories. There was everything from pink feather boas to pink reindeer hats. Spirits were high as women drifted in and out of various sponsor booths collecting sunscreen, bottled water, and an assortment of giveaways from vendors. Music was playing from a loudspeaker and celebrity MCs were giving away prizes and making motivating pep talks. You would think with so many people there would be chaos, yet everything was organized. At the starting time, the runners lined up in the front and walkers floated toward the back. Suddenly, we took off. I didn’t hear a starting gun, but I’m sure there was one. It was a beautiful day and a spectacular sight to see all of those women as far as the eye could see. The sidewalks were lined with men cheering us on by doing everything from whooping and hollering to throwing us beads. The crowd favorite was the fire truck full of firemen dancing.

As we crossed the finish line, I felt blessed that I was able to be a small part of something so inspiring, humbled that I was one of the lucky ones that had not been touched by breast cancer so far, and acutely aware that someday I, or someone I love, might be.


Suzanne Hendrix
National Park Community College

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Thank you to Suzanne for sharing thoughts on her very first Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure^®. Please remember that the logo used in this post was for the 2008 Race. We will share information regarding the 2009 Race as soon as it is available. -- Jill

Valentines, Photos, Blogs & FeedBurner

Papa John’s, one of our Race sponsors, made our Arkansas Komen for the Cure staff’s day by bringing them Valentine pizzas today. Did you know that they have special heart shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day? They are SO cute, and the ladies said that they were delicious. Wouldn’t they make a cute Valentine dinner (if you didn’t want to fight the restaurant crowds) or a special treat for the kids? Check it out at http://www.papajohns.com/.

Keep sending those pictures! If you’re wondering what I’m up to, check out the very bottom of the blog.

Also, check out Our Teams Have Blogs at the bottom of the right column. If your team has a blog, let me know so that I can check it out.

And don’t forget to subscribe through FeedBurner so that you will know when posts are added. Enter your email address, confirm the email that you receive and FeedBurner will send you an email once a day that a post is made. If ten (not gonna happen) posts are made in one day, you will receive one email; if no posts are made, you will not receive anything.

And Happy Valentine’s Day (Weekend--stretch it as long as you can) to you and your loved ones!

Jill

Welcome!

Welcome to your blog! Please make yourself at home and come visit often. This site has been created primarily as a resource for our Team Captains, but everyone is welcome.

Our hope is that you will find most of your answers in regards to the Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure® on these pages. Who knows, you may not even know you had a question until you read it here.

Many times, we see the same questions over and over again. Although we sometimes feel that we should just send out a mass email to all, we realize that you do not want your email inbox filled with our messages. We think this blog will be a way for us to communicate with you in a more unobtrusive manner. You can check in daily or just when you have a question or you can subscribe through FeedBurner (in the right column) and receive an email each day we make a post. Just provide your email address and FeedBurner will do the rest.

Comments are allowed (and welcome), but they will be moderated. Questions will either be answered as a post to the blog if we feel it impacts enough people or directly if you provide your email address within the comment. Please be patient as there are hundreds of you and currently one of me. Also, please search the site (and your Team Captain Kit when it comes out) to make sure we haven’t already covered that subject before posting any questions.

Suggestions for subjects are also welcome. You can make suggestions through a comment or an email to ar.rftc.teams3@gmail.com. I may also be calling on some of you to write articles.

I would also like to thank Melody Williams for suggesting that we set up a blog in the first place. Thanks, Melody!

I hope that we can all have fun with this as we prepare for another fun-filled Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure® on October 17, 2009.

Jill