Susan G Komen Race for the Cure

Greetings friends!

Welcome to my favorite time of the year… Fall. Now, that’s not saying all that much considering it’s still 90+ degrees here in northwest Louisiana, but at least the prospect of cooler air exists, right?

Until those 2 weeks of fall weather hit (because let’s get real, it’ll be North Pole cold shortly afterward), we’re just going to have to sweat it out like we did a couple weeks ago at our FIRST 5K TOGETHER! That’s right, Seth and I ran our first ever race together last Saturday, and it was tons of fun!

If you’ve never heard the old Southern saying, “You could cut the air with a knife,” you could have experienced it firsthand that day as it was unbelievably humid. Whew! Despite the less than ideal late September weather conditions, we managed to finish in decent time considering I hadn’t seriously attempted running in two months, and Seth hasn’t ran in…let’s say “quite some time.”

I’ve begged him to run with me off and on over the years and never got very far with that request, so I can’t express how exciting it was to have him there with me. I’d like to say he was by my side or that I was slowing down to allow him to keep up, but neither of those are the case for Seth is naturally good at most everything he attempts and running is no exception. I would, at this point, like to announce that I did finish a minute before him, but that’s about the only time I was ever ahead in the race. (That’s what counts though, right? 😉 Haha!) All in all, no matter where we finished, it was a WONDERFUL Saturday morning spent together.

Because Seth and I have been together for almost 11 years now, we’ve gone through many phases in our relationship. Right now, we’re in the “not quite newlyweds, but not sure if we’re ready to have a baby” phase. This is an exciting time for us, though, because we’re getting to experience so much together and grow stronger as individuals and a team.

For instance, this race was fun not only for athletic reasons, but also to give back to the community and be a part of a larger team. Since we work together (at the same place, rather; we rarely see each other unless it’s intended) and encounter the same people on a daily basis, it was fun for us to hang out with co-workers outside the gates of the mill all while supporting a cause. There’s no awkwardness introducing one to the other’s coworkers or lapse of topics over which to converse in these situations. We’re partners throughout most everything we do and our coworkers acknowledge that, which continually proves to be an fun asset/dynamic to our relationship.

We also find it rewarding to give back to the community together. What better way to spend your free time than through a feel good, positive activity like bettering the world around you? Can’t really go wrong with that, huh?

We participated on the “Steeling” Back Our Health team from BENTELER, which I captained. Considering we were late to enter and pull our team together, I would like to think we did very well with 15 employees and family members represented. The week leading up to the race, our team raised over $400 by selling chances on a Yeti cooler which BENTELER so graciously donated. When we returned from our jaunt, I took to Facebook Live to publicly draw for a winner and our very own Hot Roll Mill Manager, Mr. Frank Warner, was the lucky winner to take home his brand new Yeti.

If you’ve never participated in a Susan G Komen event, I highly recommend you do so, especially if you feed off pink and positivity like myself! If you’re in the northwest Louisiana area, check out the upcoming events or plan to run with us next year!

I’m excited to know that in just a couple of weeks and only one week-long fundraiser, we were able to raise over $400 for the fight against breast cancer. That $400 could provide almost 2 years of hormone therapy, 8 co-pays for someone struggling with the cost of their fight, 4 mammogram screenings, or help provide breast prosthesis. Just two weeks worth of effort… Imagine what we can do with an entire year to prepare!

Because the fight against breast cancer is an every. single. day. issue, so is the need for assistance. Click here to help us fight this disease and “steel” back our health!

Until next time… Seth and I will be preparing for our NEXT 5K together- Autumn Breeze on October 15th! This could become a regular occurrence, y’all!

Happy running!

Jubilant Jennifer

P.S – I’m already working on fundraising ideas for next year… I’d love to hear some new ideas and suggestions! Drop me a comment below.