RELAY FOR LIFE

Eric had heard about this running relay across the country from someone at work. We learned more about it and thought it would be neat to participate. It is a pro-life run and it started at each end of the country and then meets in Sioux Falls, SD. Along the way, it stops at most Planned Parenthoods and says a prayer and hands out info. We signed up for some legs on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, Eric did them all himself. It was out on the highway about 30 miles from Rapid City. It was kind of weird just dropping him off on the side of the road and then leaving. The weather was pretty bad, sleet, rain, and then turned to snow. We had a busy day in town with birthday parties, etc., so I told him I would meet him at the end. 18 miles. The whole time I felt so bad that no one was there to cheer him on, and I was a bit nervous about the weather. I decided to hurry up our stuff, and meet him earlier. I drove along and found him at about mile 14. He looked done. And said he was done until he found out he only had 4.5 miles more. So, we would drive up a bit and park and wait for him and we cheered him along to the end.

The next day, I had signed up for 7 miles and he had signed up for another 10. We had Kathy watch the girls and we headed out, but we kind of thought we would get out there and then come back home. The weather had gotten bad the night before and we thought it would be snowy and icy. But, when we got to where we were supposed to start, the roads were clear, and so were the skies. But it was windy. Like 40MPH windy. I started, and we were going to do 3 miles each and then switch, but by mile 2, I could barely breath and couldn't catch my breath from the wind. So, we did mile by mile. Which I liked, because when he would drive away, I got a little nervous running along side of a deserted highway by myself. So, we did that for the next 3.5 hours. I would run 1 mile, then hop in the car and drive a mile and he would run to me. It was a lot of fun and a great bonding experience for us. We ended up doing a total of almost 20 miles that day, but we felt it was for a great cause and we are glad we were apart of something big.

Starting off on his first leg "Remember the Unborn" is what the back of our shirts say.
Can you see the wind in my hair? It was the coldest and windiest I have ever run in, but I am glad I
did it. Now, I feel I have no excuses when it comes to running.
 
This was about halfway. We are still smiling, so that was good.
Our last few miles a rainbow appeared right over where our house would be in town. I called Kathy and she said it was pouring rain over there. Ha, I am glad it was them and not us!