Mito What 5K

It was a dark and stormy morning.....



That is NOT the way you want to begin the long awaited day of a huge 5K! And don't even get me started on the fact that is was now 40 degrees with a windchill in the upper 30's! But still, we got everyone up and headed to Millington for the 2nd Annual Jackson Culley Mito What? 5K at 6am!! We drove down the interstate in wind and rain while praying for clear skies for race time!

We got to Millington, picked up our registration packs, unloaded a canopy to keep us dry and waited for the race. During all of this the rain had turned from a full rain to light drizzle and then stopped by race time!!! At 9am, there was NO rain! It didn't pick back up again until the last of the runners were coming into the end zone!!! Praise God!! It wasn't exactly 70 and sunny but it was warmer and dry! Thank you Jesus!

Now, I had been wavering between doing the 1 mile fun run/walk or the 5K. I finally decided on the 5k but then the trip to Houston completely knocked me out of any running and training. Mostly I just sat in a van or in the waiting room the first part of the week. I still kept my goal though and was just gonna walk the 5K. As we started out though the kids were wanting to run so off we went. We all ran and walked for a while. Then the kids kinda dropped off and I really wanted to see how well I could do if I tried. So after the first mile I ditched the kids and took off! I finished the 5K with a time of 41 minutes! I'd really like to think that I could have done better if I'd started out really trying. In reality I probably would have only shaved off a few seconds! Still I'm pretty proud that I finished at all!! And I should add that the track was well marked, lined by volunteers and police escorts and Cade and Gracie were with my 19 and 14 year old nephews. I didn't totally ditch them in the middle of nowhere!

The best part of the day was seeing all the people who turned out for mito. There was over 350 signed up before the race and 50 who signed up this morning in the cold, wind and rain!! And the last total I heard was $17,000!! $17,000 was raised and sent to the UMDF for mito research! Can you believe that!!! I can't imagine how much work it must take to organize such a hugely successful race! All that is because of Cindy Kraft and Angie Hayes! The story of how these awesome ladies found Jackson Culley and mito is amazing. And these ladies work their hineys off to raise money for a cure for a disease that they had never even heard of 2 years ago. It isn't everyday you meet people who give so much and ask for nothing in return! Thank you so much Angie and Cindy.....and their amazing friends and family who help out and make everything run so smoothly!

I love to see my mito friends and today I met a new family. They are from Millington and lost their daughter to mito (specifically Leigh's) in 1987 when she was 6 1/2. In 1987 there were only 50 known cases of Leigh's in the world, according to the dad. Can you imagine?! They didn't even know what was wrong with Jessica or what took her life until a year after she passed away. And we think mito is unheard of now. I can't imagine trying to find answers and doctors when there were so few documented cases. It really makes me feel like I'm making a difference by raising awareness for mito. I hope this family is proud that we are working so hard to help spread the word about mito so maybe no other kids have to be taken by a disease with no name!

Thanks to all those who sponsored me in my quest to be a Mito Hero! And thanks to our family and friends who turned out in such yuck to walk/run with us!! Can you believe I didn't even take a single picture?! Oh, well there's always next year!