Heart Walk

This morning the kids and I were able to participate in an American Heart Association Heart Walk. My cousin, Nicole, is a nurse and they were trying to form a team at the hospital she works at. She was going to join their team but decided to put her own team together.
13 years ago my cousin, Stacie, (Nicole's sister) had a baby boy who was born with a heart defect. At only 10 weeks old, he passed away following a surgery to repair it. Stacie was super excited to put a team together in his honor and we were more than happy to be there for support. I've been registered since June, and never expected the weather to go from 90 to 55 degrees overnight. Waking up this morning, I had a moments hesitation when I looked at the wind and the thermometer outside. BUT we made a commitment and were ready to brave the cold!
Here is a before shot of our team. Stacie's friend made up some adorable T-shirts for our team to wear for the occasion.
We were off to a bit of a slow start with potty breaks and such, but we made it through the entire 3 miles with no complaining from anyone!
(seriously!) ( Well, I was thinking about complaining when I couldn't feel my ears and we were walking uphill with a head on 40mph wind)(ok, maybe it was only 20mph) Parker and Wyatt were setting their own pace because they were too busy chatting instead of keeping up with the group. Mom and Miranda stayed back a bit to keep an eye on them. The rest of the group was scattered throughout the walkers. Each setting their own pace.Dad and I were walking a pretty quick pace and was able to get ahead of everyone on our team. When we approached the finish we thought it would be fun if we all crossed it together...as a team. So, we walked back towards the rest of the team we had passed and told them our plan. (By the time we reached Parker and Wyatt we had nearly added another mile to our walk) We walked back toward the finish with Mom, Miranda, Parker and Wyatt and joined the rest of the team near the finish.
It was super fun to finish together as a team. With the finish sign in view, everyone quickened their pace and cheered as we crossed the finish line!


Following the race, Subway had provided sandwiched for all the participants and Parker and Wyatt still managed to have energy left for the jumpers.



It was so fun to get together for such a great cause. We had a blast despite the cold weather. Everyone's spirits were high and ready to do it again next year!!! Just hope it's a little warmer next year so I don't spend the rest of the day thawing out!