Think Pink

My mother always said her girls were "blessed." Trust me, she wasn't talking about money or any material riches. She just meant we had plenty to fill our hope chests, er shirts! And thankfully, we still do today. And double thankfully, none of us girls have had to deal with the pain, sorrow and related struggles of breast cancer.

Today I had a chance to help those who are.

Some friends and I dubbed ourselves Team Hakuna Ma Tatas, donned our matching pink shirts and ran the Race for the Cure in Wausau.

It was an incredible experience. Everything that could be pink, was pink -- including the many sponsor signs!

Here a crowd starts to gather in the square. The Parade of Survivors was a very moving event. They walked through the square with their heads held high -- sometimes wrapped in a pink scarf, sometimes peeking through a pink boa. But always smiling. While the thousands of us onlookers clapped, cheered and felt lumps in our throats. What a bunch of incredible women!

Here are the Hakuna Ma Tatas at the starting line with our games faces on! Pink anti-glare stickers courtesy of New Balance. We look tough, don't we? (You may recognize a few of the Desperate Housewives of Blue Jay Drive.)

Everything was pink -- even the pretty flowers around the square!

An arch of pink balloons marked the finish line. Here I am with my friend Chris who I have been training with for the half-marathon. We ran the 5K together, keeping the same pace and finishing together. We felt pretty good about the run today and saw that as sign of good things to come!

The Hot Hakuna Ma Tatas after the race! That water fountain looks so inviting!

The neat finish line arch.

The team gathers one more time at the finish line. We raised an average of $100 each for breast cancer research. We hope to expand our team in 2012 so feel free to join us -- you can walk it, too!

And maybe by next year we'll have advances toward a cure that we can cheer about. Either way, we'll be thinking pink and wearing it!