race to end women's cancers

recently jj and i visited our nations capital to participate in an 8k race to end women's cancers.  it ended up being a {mini} africa reunion.  some of the peeps we met while climbing kilimanjaro came to dc to run with team teal diva.  i am humbled and honored.  it was so much fun catching up and re-visiting stories from the trip {the experience}.

we stayed up a little later than we probably should have because we were having so much fun catching up...many glasses of wine later...we were off to sleep.  the next morning after eating a bagel, drinking a gatorade/water and taking my daily allowance of advil to help the hangover, we were off to the race.  here is our fabulous team {not pictured are our very good friends benjy and arinn but they were there in full spirit}.

pictured from left to right is deborah, mickey, lisa, myself, jj and scott

Lisa lost her mom to ovarian cancer and is a chemotherapy nurse in boston...wow! scott and his wife deborah live in nc and were on the climb helping raise funds and awareness for clean water.  we all bonded with each of our reasons for climbing and the fact that we all made it.

leading up to the race, jj had {maybe} run like 3 times all together and none of which was a consistent mile.  i was running 3 miles pretty consistently, but i had not gotten up to 4 or 5.  i kind of just thought...well, i will walk if i need to.  scott is an iron man and his wife deborah is a cross fit instructor.  they lead the team.  mickey and lisa had intended to walk because {like jj} had not trained really.  mickey ran with jj and lisa ran with me.  and as it turned out jj and mickey did awesome and while he did walk some he finished the race {ahead of me}.  i did great too...lisa and i actually ran the entire time.  

i don't know if jj has found his running legs, but he wants to do another run with me...maybe a 5k.  we will see.

the rest of the trip {the rest of the day} could not have been better. spending time together with a group of people you shared such an amazing and intimate experience with is an unbelievable feeling.  And I am so very proud of jj for his unconditional love and support.