This morning two of my Cruiser friends and I ran in the TKO Melanoma 5K.  This race was in memory of Theresa Kay O’Conner, a loving wife and mom who lost her battle with melanoma last fall.  This race was very near and dear to me as a melanoma survivor, and also because I lost my sweet uncle to this deadly cancer.

TKOMelanoma5KTable

Last night storms swept through our area and when we went to bed it was still pouring rain.  The weather forecast for this morning was 60% chance of rain ALL morning, but when I got up the rain had stopped, and there was no rain in the forecast through noon!

Here’s a picture of me with two of my Cruiser friends Jessica and Lolly.  Jessica and I currently train together, and Lolly and I used to train together; and I like to think that I had something to do with both of them wanting to run!  And can I just say that I am tickled beyond words that they ran today’s race with me!

TKOMelanoma5KCruisers

Cruiser Chicks Jessica, Deb, and Lolly

Today was Jessica’s third 5K, and she insisted invited her friend Kathy to join her for the race.  It was Kathy’s first 5K, and I hope she loved it!

TKOMelanoma5KJessAndKathy

Cruiser Jessica, and perhaps a new Cruiser?

This was the first year of this race and I read that they had 700 registered runners.  I think that’s very impressive for the first year!  In addition to honoring and remembering their friend, the race was put on to bring awareness to melanoma.  Proceeds went to the Melanoma Research Foundation.  The race started and finished at a middle school so there were a lot of young runners.  It appeared that there were mostly local runners, and I really liked that.

TKOMelanoma5KStartLine

The clouds were crazy with the sun trying really hard to break through so I snapped this picture.  This pace sign cracked me up.  I wish I could run a 1-minute/mile!  I’d even settle for a 2 or 3-minute/mile!     🙂

TKOMelanoma5KMinMileSign

Crazy sky and pace sign

Potomac River Running timed the race.  I have been sending my clients and running friends to them to get fitted for running shoes since they opened their first store ten years ago.  If I didn’t love my job as a trainer so much, I’d probably want to work in one of their stores!

TKOMelanoma5KPRTent

Love this running store!

I love loops in races so I can wave at my friends!  It’s a good thing I had the camera instead of Kathy or Jessica, because I’d just finished running up a nasty hill and I bet I didn’t look so good!  Look at the girl in navy on the right side of the photo.  That’s probably what I looked like!

TKOMelanoma5KJessKathRunning

Here come Kathy and Jessica!

Lolly finished right behind me so I was able to snap this picture of her crossing the finish line.

TKOMelanoma5KLollyFinish

Lolly finishing strong!

Here comes Jessica sprinting across the finish line!  You can see the little girl in the foreground getting ready to hand her a pink carnation.  Young race volunteers (perhaps Girl Scouts) were handing flowers to all of the moms and wishing them a happy Mother’s Day as they crossed the finish line.  It was such a nice touch!  If you look closely, you can see Kathy’s green elbow right behind Jessica.

TKOMelanoma5KJessicaFinish

Jessica sprinted to the finish!

I’ve gotten so used to chips attached to my bib, that I almost forgot to take my timing chip off of my shoe, and someone had to remind me.  BTW, these legs are way too young to be mine!

TKOMelanoma5KTimingChip

Don’t forget to remove the timing chip

I snapped this picture of the first place age-group medals waiting to be awarded.  I finished in 26:51.  My splits were 8:40, 9:06, 8:15, and :50, and I finished fourth in my age group.

TKOMelanoma5KMedal

First place medal, not mine!

And finally, here’s a picture from yesterday of our great swag…  Complete with a little tube of sunscreen!

TKOMelanoma5KSwag

Nice Swag

Because I’m passionate about getting the word out about skin cancer, I previously wrote a post about Running In The Sun With Skin Cancer that I’d love for you to read.

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever run in a race for a cause?
  • What’s the best swag you’ve ever gotten in a race packet?
  • Did you race today or are you racing tomorrow?