Miracles in Motion 2011

Some of you might remember that last year about this time I was beginning to train to run a half marathon held the weekend before Sadie's first birthday. You might also remember that it was a fundraiser for the children's hospital. Well, this year I won't be running, but Sadie will still be participating in the fundraiser by being an honor patient. Those who are choosing to raise money and run the race all have an honor patient that they are "running for." This basically hooks our family up with 2 runners, who use Sadie's story for fundraising and Sadie's life as inspiration as they train. It's a really neat way to make the fundraiser personal for those who are running and for those who are giving.

So, yesterday we attended the kick-off party where all the runners and honor patients come together and get paired up. It was at the Phoenix Zoo, so we not only got free lunch, but we got free admission to the zoo to enjoy after the event. However, we weren't lucky enough to stay for the entire event, let alone the zoo afterward.

We got there early and for lunch we sat with a dad and his two adorable little blonde girls. He is running the full marathon, and I'm sure the girls will be excellent cheer leaders. The event started around noon, which was a little risky since that is about nap time. Let me remind you that Sadie doesn't just fall asleep wherever she is when she's tired enough, like normal kids do. She has to be PUT to sleep, which requires a pacifier and often some kind of bed...sometimes holding her will work. When the screaming started, we managed to get her to sleep...for 4 minutes. There was a lot of noise in that room and it was hard for her to stay asleep.

At about 1:30 the program started and the woman who heads this fundraiser got up and started speaking and thanking everyone for being involved in this event. Then she called all of the honor patients up front to choose their runners (by picking names out of basket). Sadie was completely melting down at this point, we couldn't be up front for this part, I had to take her back to Brian, and then I did something that a year ago I never would have done. I pushed my way to the front of the line (from the very back) and told the lady in charge that we needed to go first and I am really sorry for butting my way in, but we have to go home NOW! Luckily, everyone understood, and we picked our names and got out of there.

As we were walking toward the exit of the zoo, I felt bad that we barely got to meet our runners. It would have been nice to spend some time with them while we enjoyed the zoo with Sadie. I was so stressed out and frazzled that I barely remember their names because I was so occupied with getting home. I did manage to give them cards for our blog, and I hope they're both reading this. Please email me so we can get together and you can spend some time with Sadie when she's happy!!

Sadie screamed all the way home, and we when got her out of the car, there was so much snot it was dripping off her chin!!! It took probably 20 minutes just to get her to calm down and go to sleep. She was so tired that it hurt, poor girl.

We're still looking forward to teething being over, Sadie being older and more emotionally stable, and being able to enjoy places like the zoo. I hope that day comes eventually. We are also looking forward to cheering on our runners and celebrating with them at the finish line!

If you'd like more information about the Phoenix Children's Hospital Miracles in Motion Marathon training program, please visit this link. PCH Miracles in Motion. And if you'd like to give, please stay tuned and I will post our runners' fundraising websites soon. Thanks