The Let It Be Foundation..

On Saturday I did my first 5k. It was actually a 5K plus, it was probably 1/4 mile or so longer than a 5k, but I don't really know...I know that I hit the 5K marker and we still had to keep going! Luckily this was just a fun 5k walk/run so the pressure wasn't on me to run the entire thing. I would have loved to run the entire thing, but even though it's just a 5K I wasn't ready for that. Aside from the fact that I just started running again about a month ago, I had a week off due to knee issues, but all of my running has been on the track. Well, I do run the stairs, but that isn't much compared to the hills that were on this 5K. My parents live in a city called Chino Hills and the hills part is no joke. The route we took was more up than down and yes what goes up must come down, but not this route. It starts out with a slight grade up, it gets steeper and then it levels off, you go a slight grade down and then back up again. You get the point, it was HARD for me! I am going to look into getting a jogging stroller so Mia can join me next time.

I did this run for the Let It Be Foundation. It is a local non-profit organization that raises money for families of terminally ill children. They give the money to these families to try and restore some normalcy back into their lives. Money for the movies, a coffee, a housekeeper, etc. The foundation is in memory of their daughter Karla who died from a brain tumor. She was in high school when she found out she had a brain tumor and within months she passed away.

Before the run began they called up some kids that we were supporting. They help families with children up to 17 years old. There was 1 girl who was up their because she was in remission, 1 boy also had cancer and it was his 14th birthday. One girl who was a friend of Karla's was celebrating her 18th birthday. She told her friends and family that she didn't want a party or presents, but she wanted everyone to celebrate her birthday by doing the 5K. It was a very emotional morning, hearing Karla's parents speak was heart breaking. Then they bring up a little boy 2-3 years old, that was just so hard to see. I looked at his mother and thought about how she must feel dealing with a terminally ill toddler. I told my sister (who was with me at the run) how I couldn't imagine going through what that mother is going through. I told her it makes me feel really bad when I feel sorry for myself that Mia can't walk/talk and is delayed and then another mother is dealing with a terminally ill child. It gave me a new outlook on Mia's life. She is very healthy, in fact she is almost 21 months and beside her month stay in the NICU after she was born she has only been sick 1 time! Yes, I feel sad when I see other kids her age walking/talking etc or when I think about what Mia's future will be like, but I have to be thankful for what I do have and for what Mia can do. She is a very smart, determined, hard working and happy little girl. Ofcourse I think she is just adorable too!

I've learned a lot of things about myself in the past couple of weeks. I have a lot of work to do to improve myself, but acknowledging it is the first step. I have come to realize that I am much more negative than I thought I was. I do focus on the negative stuff too much. I have a lot of patience with Mia and some stuff, but with other things I am quick to 'fly off the handle' well, not off the handle but I can have low tolerance for some people/things. I like to blame it on the 'spanish' that's in me, but that's no excuse!: ) I want to be the best mother for Mia and the best wife for my hubby.