Firsts

So I experienced a trio of firsts yesterday: two good, one bad. The first first was participating in Wichita’s annual Easter Sun Run, a 10 K (6.2 miles) race in Sedgwick County Park. The race went pretty well – I finished in an hour and three minutes, meeting my target pace of a 10-minute mile. Though I reached my goal, I realized that I still have a bit (um, a lot) of catching up to do in comparison with my TNT teammates. Those girls are awesome! – they all completed the race in under an hour, but still met me at the finish line to congratulate me on my run. Certainly something Megan ‘The Caboose’ Mills can aspire to.

After the race, we headed over to Central and Hillside for our boot block fundraiser, which was my first official TNT fundraiser of the season. We spread out on each corner of the intersection asking for donations from drivers and made almost $1,000! At best I thought we would collect $800, so I was pleasantly surprised with the final total. It was great to see how willing people were to donate – and of course most of the drivers who gave were those that you’d least expect. Some interesting donations:

The handoff. A young guy making a left turn held out his money for me to catch as I stood on the median. He didn’t slow down, but drove within arms-reach and held his donation out the window for me to snatch. Our successful handoff was legen – wait for it! – dary.

The comeback. A woman, who had a green light, stopped to tell us that she didn’t have any money but would come back with a donation. Thinking ‘yeah right’ I was shocked when she returned less than an hour later with cash to contribute. How awesome!

The grrrr. An older man, who seemed to have locked his door on me earlier, handed me a dollar and said the only reason he was donating was because he and his wife were University of Northern Iowa alums (Tom and I were wearing KU gear). Suppressing the desire to tell him he and his measly buck could hit the road, I thanked him for his donation and told him to have a good day…in hell! Not really, but I thought about it.

Even though the 5-hour fundraiser was tiring, I had a great time. It was a wonderful bonding experience with my teammates and it felt good to raise that much money and encounter so many giving people in such a small amount of time. I kept the good feelings going on the drive home by donating to a man on the side of the road who was trying to collect money to get back to Austin, TX. He was so nice and so grateful for my $5 donation – it made me wish I had given him the rest of my cash as I thought about him the rest of the way home.

The only downside to yesterday’s fundraiser was the severe sunburn I incurred – my first of the year. Sunscreen and I have a very intimate relationship, but I tried to hang with the cool kids yesterday and neglected to put sunscreen on my legs and feet. I am now radiating heat from the knees down and am sporting two VERY swollen feet. Seriously, they look like two honey hams with ten little stubby sausages connected to the ends. I’ve been icing and applying aloe vera throughout the day, but I think it’ll be a few days before I can walk normally and fully extend my legs. Melanoma, here I come!