Run & Too Much Sun

This past Saturday morning was a really big deal for us.

My mom & stepdad came in to take part in it. My husband spent months training for it. I spent months preparing behind the scenes for it.

It was our church's first annual 5K event {for those not in the know on such things, like I wasn't... ahem... 5K is 3.1 miles}!

Tim ran in it as his first race, and he did a GREAT job...I'm so proud of him!! Mom & Jerry walked and also did a great job! I think everyone did so well, and it was great to be able to be there to cheer them on.

I helped a lot leading up to the race with some organizational stuff. I was one of the volunteer team directors, and I oversaw water bottles at the finish line {there were water stations elsewhere that someone else oversaw}, t-shirts, and goodie bags. Each 5K participant got a t-shirt and goodie bag afterward. I had such a great group of volunteers, and I'm really thankful for all their help! We couldn't have done such a big event without all of them. Here are just a few highlights....

Pastor Brit gathering all the volunteers at 6:30 a.m, giving everyone pointers, all the info they need, and introduced all of the team directors. Then we all gathered into small groups to pray over the day, and we were off to get set up! 

My team helped stuff the remaining 3 items into each goodie bag that weren't available in time for when the church's Christian school's sophomores stuffed them the previous week.

Tim, smiley and ready to go!

In the middle there are our 3 campus pastors for our particular campus {1 of 6 - about 13,000 people overall}, in the red t-shirt: Pastor Jeff, and the other 2 to the right of him in white t-shirts are Pastors Marc & Trei. We love all 3 of them & their families dearly!

Pastor James {senior pastor} giving a quick welcome and then opened us up in prayer

Opening up with a time of worship {some people using it to stretch}

The first race was the tweens 1 mile race

And the 5K begins! The guy at the front in the yellow is the one who won it all, with the guy in white right behind him winning 2nd place!

Tim planted himself toward the back of the runners so he could be a little spread out

Mom & Jerry are in the middle of the screen

Wow. About 350 overall 5K runners & walkers.

Pastor James & his delightful wife Kathy making lap 1 around the outer edge of our parking lot {after traipsing through our crazy course through trails in our campus's woods, through the first level of the parking garage, and on the blacktop around our buildings. It was crazy but amazing}!

Mom & Jerry rounding lap 1

Tim making his way to the finish line!

Unfortunately the one picture that I wanted to turn out so well of Tim crossing the finish line was out of focus, doh!! What a bummer!

Gahhhh!!!! I was so mad! :( Stupid auto-focus. 

Pastor Marc excitedly crossing the finish line!

Given the heat and the crazy trail, we're glad there was only one injury. It was a great athlete female who pushed herself too hard, didn't stay hydrated enough, and ended up collapsing at the finish line & was taken to the hospital. We are soooo thankful she was okay! Our team did such an incredible job taking care of her. I'm so glad we have such a great medical staff at our disposal in our services each week & at special events like this!!

Jerry ran across the finish line!

Mom was okay with walking through the finish line :) - otherwise leading up to this point, they held hands the whole way. They are SO cute! 3 years married and still going strong. :) {Mom told me later people were commenting on the race course how cute they were with the hand-holding!}

My team rocking the t-shirt table!

The last lady to cross the finish line did so with a cane. Everyone cheered her on as she came across and it was really neat! How encouraging. She was an inspiration to everyone!

The little kids 200 yard dash was held immediately after the awards ceremony. Here they go!

Aren't they just so ridiculously cute?!?!

Me with some of my team - Christina, Denise, Joyce, & Carolynn

Me with one of my favorite ladies, Dee, who serves behind the scenes regularly, and especially at women's ministry events - love her!

Dear ol' friends Errol & Nancy - we were so delighted to see them there! 

Pastor Jeff & Pastor Brit - these are some amazing young pastors! We are so blessed to have them at our church!

It was really fun to be a part of it, but I must admit, it was also really exhausting!! It was a near 90 degree day by 9 a.m., Chicago had already shut down it's half-marathon because of too much heat exhaustion and runners collapsing. By the time we were tearing down around 10/10:30, I'd clearly been in the sun too long. I felt really sick despite all the water I'd been drinking. I was so thankful my mom was with me for the drive back home given my dizziness, and that once we got home in the delightful a/c, we planned to just relax to watching some good preaching on DVD! My body was in full shakes and aches for about two hours. My numbness & tingling was intensely radiating from head to toe. The recliner was my best friend for that timeframe. I'm so glad mom & Jerry were also tired and didn't mind just chilling out!

Despite the drawbacks, I am still so glad I was able to do all of that, and that my body recovered quickly!

And now as it's taken me the course of several days to wrap this up, and as I'm finally back off the couch and enjoying life in the 60 degree weather, I will finally post this already! :) The rest of my last weekend post coming soon!