A Celebration of Motherhood

Sometimes I think Mother's Day would be so much easier if I were just the "breakfast in bed" type.  But, as anyone who's been following my adventures for any length of time knows - that's not my M.O.  Go big or go home, I say.   Instead of sleeping in and eating whatever my kids figure is a good breakfast for mommy (of which I would only need to later clean the crumbs from my bed)...this Mother's Day, I will be up at the crack of dawn to get everything ready.

But the preparations begin so much sooner for my mother's day.  They usually begin the day registration opens for the Sport Check Mother's Day Run and Walk! That is when I log in and set up our family team and start rallying the troops to come out for some Mother's Day fun!

I remember back to 2010, when I was first learning how to run.  I had already booked my first 5K race for the Calgary Marathon 5k.  THAT was what I was training for.  Then I saw a brochure for the Mother's Day run that changed my world.  It was in support of the Calgary NICUs.  The same Calgary NICUs where my little twins had spent the first 8 days of their lives.   We HAD to do it!  It was OUR cause!  And so a family tradition was born.

I still remember standing alone at the start line while hubby and the stroller lined up back with the walkers. I was nervous as all hell.  This was my first 5k race.  My first ANYTHING race.  It was my first Mother's Day - my babies were still 2 weeks from their first birthday.  As the announcer started to talk about the equipment that the money raised would buy for the NICUs, I was transported back to those early days - watching the beeping monitors and making sure the breathing tube was secure.  I saw the little signs hanging about their heads in the RockyView Hospital NICU - the beautiful little signs made with such love by the nursing staff.  I looked around at all of the people - and tearing up at the pictures so many had pinned to their shirts of their little angels who either graduated and thrived or struggled and perished. 

I suddenly understood the emotion of a race.

I ran my little heart out that day.  I ran for myself - and how strong I had become in a that short time.  I ran for my twins - born 6 weeks early; tiny but strong.  I ran for all of the little babies with much bigger problems than we had needed to endure.  I ran just happy to know that this one race does so much good.

To know that the vein viewer purchased as a result of the race, may avoid the shaving of another little girls head.  To know that the bili bassinets might help keep jaundice at bay in a little 2 pounder.   To know that the equipment would make the work of the wonderful staff of the NICUs that much easier.

So, sure - I could have had breakfast in bed that first mother's day, but I think the way I chose to celebrate was much more important.  And it's why we did it again last year and are doing it again this year.  I'm so happy that we will have this gigantic team this year of people running to support a cause so dear to my heart. I'd rather have that than breakfast in bed any day.

This isn't a call for donations - I don't actively fundraise for this race, but I do have a donation page in case this is a cause that is dear to your heart as well.
http://eventsonline.ca/events/forzani_cal/pledgeprofile.php?id=JME2635374