Race Day!

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny summer day in Colorado. The perfect day to go for a race. The perfect day to raise money for a good cause. A great day to see some of the families that String of Pearls has helped locally.

We gathered with our family and put our "Team Mason" tags on. I had ironed on patches on my family's shirt sleeves. Before the race started baby Larson's dad gave a testimonial of the wonderful care they had received when friends Josh and Laura Huene (founder of String of Pearls) walked beside them as they went through the loss of Larson. So similar to Mason's story. It was such a beautiful time to experience a gathering of hearts who had walked similar paths. It was like a big family reunion!

The course was on a trail through open space along the Cherry Creek canal. It started in the park, went 1.55 mi. north along the trail where a cone marked the half-way point and we turned around and headed back to the finish line where we started.

Tadd wanted to to run the race, though the rest of us had planned to walk. He took off as the mayor of Parker said, "GO!" and we lost sight of him shortly after. Tim took off at a sprint with his cousin. We saw him many times during our walk. Letha walked with us and we (read: Todd) pulled the little boys in the wagon. Along about the one mile mark we saw Tadd on his way back to the finish, still running! Just after the 1 mile marker Kevin and Letha decided to run too.
We caught up to them when they stopped to rest after the 2 mile marker. Yep, my 4 year old and my precious heart patient (former asthmatic) ran a whole mile! Even Izaak got out a bit and ran!


Tadd had a finish time of 32:46! Tim and his cousin finished in 56:06. And the rest of dragged in a little over an hour. We don't know our exact time because the Children's(7-12) Race had started before we got back, and the clock had been reset. Kevin participated in the Chidren's(2-6) Race.


It was such a great time. We were so glad to have the opportunity to raise awareness and money for String of Pearls to continue helping families nation-wide through the heartbreaking times of prenatal and infant loss. I'm going to leave the button up top for a while longer. I hope that you will feel free to donate to help other families like ours.

Amber and Brian (Mason's parents) getting ready to race.

Our dear String of Pearls nurse, Becky. (I heart Becky!)

Little boys in the wagon.

One pooped heart patient!