Relay for Life: Relay yes, Life certainly.

This past Friday and Saturday Boulder hosted the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.  I was honored to be one of over 140 participants at this amazing event, held at the University of Colorado's Potts Field (track).  From the cessation of rain just as we arrived to set up our site, to the closing ceremonies where it was announced that over $24,000 was raised this was a truly memorable experience.

Just a few of the highlights:

* hearing about promising research,
* experiencing the survivors' and team lap,
* running to the beat of the band under dancing rainbows,

* sharing the luminaria ceremony with friends,
* strolling around the track with my son Paul as Friday turned to Saturday,
* running the midnight 5k, my first midnight race ever (note to self: never again eat an apple fritter minutes before running a 5k!),
* walking hand-in-hand with husband Kendall under the light of the morning star shining ever so brightly in the night sky,
* running my Saturday morning workout with friends who appeared at Relay just at dawnbreak



All of this happily done with the company of 21 Relay teams joined in the battle to beat cancer, the disease that never sleeps.

Relay by the numbers:

• 21 teams, 142 participants
• $27921.65 raised (updated 7/29/2014)
• Top team fundraiser: Boulder Balvihar, $2,773.36 (updated 7/29/2014)
• Top individual fundraiser: me! $1,440 (updated 7/29/2014)
• Relay hours: 6 p.m. - 6 a.m., but there were breaks from circling the track for opening ceremonies and survivor ceremony (~1 hour), and for the luminaria lighting ceremony and reading of names (another ~1 hour), plus a couple hours that I spent napping after the midnight 5k and 1 a.m. pizza.
• My midnight 5k time: 29:52
• Most laps reported by an individual: 100
• My total number of laps: 84 (21 miles)