The Run

Here are a couple of pics from the race. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. The race started out with a Gospel choir belting out Praise and ended with that amazing little boy in his wheel chair near the finish line. I didn't realize that I smiled when I crossed the finish line. I feared my picture would look like I needed to puke. It was neat to see that I had a smile on my face. It was a proud and emotional time! These are words from David Schreiner, a local runner's, blog.... his words were my thoughts.....

A group of us went to Moline, Illinois this morning to run the Quad Cities Half Marathon. The weather was perfect and the race went great. It was an encouraging event.The true story is about a group called Charlie's Angels. A young woman was tragically killed in an auto accident, and her children were in the car with her at the time of the wreck. Charlie was left wheelchair-dependant and in need of speech therapy.His Therapist served as the organizer for a group of women from Dixon that gathered sponsors to benefit Charlie. Many of these women had never ran even a 5K, and today they finished 13.1 miles. The looks on their faces reminded me that it's about a whole lot more than splits and training runs and medals. Sometimes it's about Charlie.This reminds me that people have challenges every day. Running 13.1 miles is not hard. Waking up every morning and fighting depression or anxiety is hard. Running is not that tough. Being restricted to a wheelchair and not having Mom to help is tough.Charlie's Angels raised over $11,000 to benefit Charlie and his family. And about that race... I'm not sure which Kenyan finished first, but Charlie won.

This race was the perfect end to my time in Dixon.