I saw my former running coach Julie and her new runners early in the race. That was enough to give me some motivation to run a little faster.....wouldn't want any newbies running their first race to kick my butt.
After the race I visited the Survivor Tent. To honor the years of survival each survivor receives a necklace of pink beads for each year of survival. I received 13 necklaces. Then I was given 13 raffle tickets. There were gift baskets to be raffled. I quickly scribbled my cell number on all 13 tickets and then started to randomly drop the tickets in the boxes for the individual prizes. There was a lady putting her tickets in the boxes at the same time. She was checking out each prize and choosing very carefully which boxes to put her tickets in....I don't think she had as many tickets as I had. The most thought I put into it was I noticed one basket that had what looked like a mop in it:
And I thought "If I win, I hope I don't win the one with the mop".
Because there are so many participants they have 2 starts. I ran the first race. My sister ran....well....walked the second race. She was walking with a team of women that she went to high school with. They were all participating in honor of a classmate who recently passed away from metastatic breast cancer.
I wanted to watch them pass the start line. There were thousands and thousands of participants for the second race. While waiting for Lorrie's team I received a text message that I had won the raffle:
Turns out the "mop" is really a scarf.
This is the second time I have won a raffle at a race. A few years ago I won a $100 gift card to Snail's Pace at the Brea 8K. Winning!
I need to be sure to enter all race raffles!
I've been thinking about this post for awhile now (ever since I ran the race). There are times when I feel like the Komen foundation has become a fund raising mega star. And maybe they pull a little too hard at people's heart strings. Like before the second race the announcer tells everyone to look to their right and their left and think about the fact that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Maybe I'm a little too sensitive, but the actual fact is:
What is the average American woman’s risk of developing breast cancer?
The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program has published its SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1975–2007 (1). This report estimates that, based on current rates, 12.2 percent of women born in the United States today will develop breast cancer at some time in their lives. This estimate is based on breast cancer statistics for the years 2005 through 2007.
This estimate means that, if the current rate stays the same, women born now have an average risk of 12.2 percent (often expressed as “1 in 8”) of being diagnosed with breast cancer at some time in their lives. On the other hand, the chance that they will never have breast cancer is 87.8 percent (expressed as “7 in 8”).
In the 1970s, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States was just under 10 percent (often expressed as “1 in 10”).
Maybe I'm splitting hairs here. But they seem to neglect saying "at some time in their life", which is usually later in life, like in their 80's.
I do find it offensive that in October, referred by some as "Pinktober", some companies will stick a pink lid, or a pink ribbon on their packaging and sell yogurt, cookies, chicken or any number of things all in the name of breast cancer. This "partnering" had been referred to as "pinkwashing". And when you consider that ingesting some of these products are not the healthiest choices........
In all fairness, I do recognize that Komen has been the force that put breast cancer on the map. They've brought it to the center stage, and people have taken notice, from the medical community to the general public, and there is no doubt in my mind that I have benefited from their efforts, and for that I am grateful.
After picking up my basket I went to the finish line so I could watch Lorrie's team, or actually Alejandra's Team cross the finish line.
Here they are in the midst of all the thousands of walkers, towards the back with the big sign with a picture of Alejandra.
As for race miles......6.44 miles to go to complete my goal of 50.
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