Together is a great place to be: Chasing the Sun, Heidi Run

After a few months of planning (with some amazing women) the big day of the
Chasing the Sun, Heidi Run arrived!
(This was a race honoring my friend's daughter, Heidi Greenwood
who passed away unexpectedly last March, photos of her funeral are here.)

Really I should back up a few days. Paige (my friend and Heidi's Mom) flew into town (they moved to Texas a few months ago) and we had a meeting at Williams Jessup College (the sponsor and race host). The coordinator from campus couldn't believe all that had happened. This fantastic group of women had pulled together quite an event in only 2 1/2 month of planning! The sponsors and their generosity was staggering and the race participant numbers kept raising! This great community (Rocklin) had again pulled together and was "in it" for a great cause! That was exciting!!

Although, I would have enjoyed running I took photos for Paige to use on the website in the future. It was a fun experience for me to capture many sweet moments

of happiness and tears through my lens. Here's a just a few favorites!!

First, the most important photo that day for me was this one of the Greenwood family.

They are such a stalwart, strong, fun and close family
and I have been blessed by my association with them.

Good friend, Mike Cahoon and his band ROCKED it, they were awesome!

The local news was there doing many interviews of friends and family, including Paige. I could not believe how well Paige held it together and clearly articulated their love for Heidi, sorrow in her passing, and complete motivation to live a life worthy to be with her again.

In addition, a family friend and high school senior did a GREAT job,
putting together this video for the high school.

A few of the race committee members, before the race started.

Final numbers...830 RUNNERS!! It was awesome to watch.

Many people who enjoy running and knew Heidi and yet many others who aren't
"runners" and didn't even know this amazing girl.

I made it through without any tears until the kid's fun run.

Watching these kids push themselves and run their little heart's out was so touching.

Some of them Heidi had babysat, some of them didn't even know her,

but all of them Heidi would have loved.

Her family was emotional too, knowing that Heidi was smiling down from above.

It was my girl's first run (Andrew was so sad to be missing it, but was out of town with a friend and I think Matthew was in the car eating Krispy Kreme while Tyler was a big help with 5K awards).

It was a fun little reunion with our Ragnar team members

(where the Faith Hope Heidi shirts originally came from).

The race committee

and the beautiful (highly coveted, haha!) necklace Paige and Brian got us, I will always treasure.

It was an AMAZING event with perfect weather, positive energy, and a motivating cause

(to honor Heidi and for her scholarship fund for runners for both of Rocklin's high schools)

that I'm happy I was able to be a part of.

Plus as a bonus, I got to hang out with this cute girl who was a big help

and with me from the beginning to the end on race day.

Final note, anyone who know Katelyn and Megan knows that their "ultimate love language" is the making of perler beads. I love what they made for Paige and Brian :)