Women Helping Women....Look Who I Saw at the Reindeer Run!

Every year The Center For Women hosts a Reindeer Run.  It is a blast and a great way to kick off the Christmas season and help the center as they go about helping many women and babies in need.

The weather was perfect this year and the anticipation was high as we sung "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer" before the whistle blew and set the racers to running.

The serious runners usually break out of the box first.  If they weren't so lightning fast you might have seen some of our own ambitious runners like Sue Gray and Veresa Myers.

 
But since they eluded my camera at take off here they are at a pace I can frame.  Sue is on the left, Veresa is on the right and Veresa's daughter who also particpated is in the middle.  What you don't see in this photo is their decorated necks with their first and second place metals that they won in their divisions.  Not only did they run to help the Center for Women...they also ran as "Team Compassion" for Compassion International.  Whew!  Go girls!


Metta was one of those girls that was registered for the 3K walk but then decided to make the rest of us 3K walkers look bad by doing the 5K walk instead (in just about the same amount of time.)  Metta has a tender heart for the cause of the Center for Women so it was not a surprise to find her out there.

I know ya'll know Denise.  She was a volunteer and a walker.  She joined me and my 6 year old son on the 3K walk.  We thought we were going to have to drag him along but something inside him snapped when the announcer said "go" and we had to practically run the whole way just to keep up with him.  He was tickled to get a metal (and we were equally tickled to finally be done chasing him).  The Center is always so generous to give all particpants 12 and under metals which makes it such a proud day for all the kids.

And of course the lovely Mrs. Paula Hennie was there volunteering too.  She is a "major league" volunteer for the Center of Women.  For as long as we have been doing this race we know we can always expect to see Paula there spreading lots of cheer as she helps with all the technicalities.  This year one of her jobs was handing out all the metals to the kids and I suwannee she had a swarm of them around her for a very long time!  But she hung in there and patiently got a metal to each one of them.  If ever you want to find a way to help or volunteer at the Center for Women Paula would be a good one to connect with.

There were more racers that you might know , like Erin Drew, Tysha Owens and her son.  They always look like the fast-flying racers that they are  ~(a little intimidating to the rest of us...not counting Sue and Veresa of course.) I regret that I didn't get their pictures. 

And here is my family.  The Reindeer Run (which was the Jingle Bell Jog when we first started) has been a part of our Christmas tradition since we moved here 6 years ago. We look forward to it every year. 

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention all the decorations they swept up too. Guess my title shouldn't be "women helping women" because plenty guys joined the cause as well.

What a fun day.  Come on out and join us next year.  It's always the same day as the twilight festival.  I'd love to post your smiling face here too....that is...if you are "catchable".   And if you are catchable, trust me, despite my "strict training" and my attempt "to run in such a way to get a prize" almost everyone out there is faster than me so you won't have to worry about being last (or the only one "un-decorated")

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26 (NIV)