If you've got kids or been around kids, you've probably seen a red wagon at some point in time. I know we had a wagon that all the grand kids played with at my mom's house. They would pull each other or their toys around. This weekend at the St. Jude Memphis marathon a red wagon took on a whole different meaning for me. I'll share it with you as I write the details down on the weekend in Memphis.
First let me begin by saying my weekend was changed up a little from what I had planned orginally. See last year after I returned home from Memphis my husband pouted saying he didn't get to go to the Peabody, Beale street, etc. So I had booked a room for just me and him this year. Well, about 3 weeks ago he up and told me that he wasn't going to go. I was furious at first because see several of the girls on the run team wanted to room together and I had told them all that I couldn't because I was going with my husband. I asked him why and he said that I would be so busy with the team and stuff that we really wouldn't have time together and he hates waiting around at a race. So I quickly asked my mom and my daughter if they would go with me. I'm very glad it turned out that they got to go. I think both of them were inspired and humbled at all the things they saw. You just don't truly realize what all St. Jude does until you get to go there in person. Plus we toured the Ronald McDonald house as well and boy that was a treat also. More on those places shortly....
Me, mom & Erin took off Thursday after I got off work headed to Memphis. We stopped in Grenada to spend the night since my reservation at the Peabody was only for Friday and Saturday. I had found a cheap hotel in Grenada where we could rest and then ease on into Memphis early Friday morning. I knew it was going to be a busy day Friday so I wanted to get to Memphis as early as possible. Our room in Grenada was a rat hole! I quickly told mom and Erin that we would just think happy thoughts about the Peabody we were going to be at the next night. We actually slept even though it was one of those hotels where the doors open to the outside. I have a fear of those for some reason. I dream of someone getting in.
We arrived in Memphis around 10am on Friday. I was concerned they may not let us check-in early since my confirmation said check-in was at 4pm but they did! I was so HAPPY. We were able to get in our room, unload our luggage and make it downstairs to the lobby to see the famous "Peabody Ducks" make their grand entrance into the fountain. If you've never been to the Peabody, I encourage you to take a trip during December. It's absolutely beautiful with all the Christmas decorations! 
Erin ordered coffee while we were waiting on the ducks and when they brought her coffee it came with the cutest little cube of sugar in the form of a duck! We just had to grab a picture!
After we saw the ducks we quickly headed to the race expo. I had a tour of the hospital scheduled for several of us and we had to be at the bus at the expo building by 12:40pm to ride over to the hospital. I was excited that mom and Erin were going to get to see and hear about the hospital. Christopher was very informative on the tour and a former patient of St. Jude stopped and told us his story. It was very touching.
There was one family we saw several times pulling their child around in the little red wagon. They were making a game out of it and the child was just a smiling. That's what amazes me about St. Jude. The halls are so colorful. You can feel HOPE in the building. Everyone is so very nice. We grabbed a couple of pictures while on tour. The children's art work is displayed on the walls. They are unique. Here is one that I really like.
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| A couple of us waiting to board bus for tour. |
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| I love our team shirts |
I'm glad I had quickly grabbed my race bib and stuff before we left on the tour because when we got done with the tour I was starving! We had not eaten lunch since we had a late breakfast. Celeste had told us about a place right down the street from the expo building where they had eaten before the tour. She said it was real good so we decided to go grab a lite lunch so we could make it until the pasta diner at 6pm. The place is called Westys. It was a cute little place and the food was fabulous (or either we were just all starving.. hee hee).  |
| Yes, that's me acting crazy. I was picking with Frank and him always taking pictures. |
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| Of course we had to grab a picture by this sign |
A hero has to raise a certain amount of money to get an invitation to the Pasta Party. I've been fortune enough to go the past 3 years. You never know what the program will consist of. It's never the same. This year a young mother spoke to us about her daily life as a mother of a St. Jude patient. It was extremely touching. I don't believe there was a dry eye in the room. As I sat there, I was once again reminded of why I love raising money for St. Jude. Oh our team also had reserved tables this year. We didn't have to rush in to try to find us a seat because they had reserved us 5 tables that seated 50 people. It was great. They only give out 2,500 pasta tickets and as I sat there in the room with those 2,500 people I looked around and was honored to be in the room with so many HEROES.
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| They didn't have it "Run4TheKids" but still we had our own reserved tables. :>) |
We had no idea the music would start around 5:30am! It sounded like it was right outside our room. I then remembered that the finish line was right there at the Peabody and the marathon people were out there setting everything up so no sleep for mom and Erin. hee hee Mom grabbed a picture of me before I left heading downstairs to the lobby to meet the team.
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| Ready to run. Boy was I shocked when I got off the elevator doors! The lobby was PACKED! Runners everywhere! My first thought was how in the world was I going to find my team. However I quickly spotted Scott Paxson and went over to talk to him. As I was talking to him others starting arriving. Soon most of us were gathered in one big pile. There was no easy way to get a team picture because of the lobby being so packed. But Dave, Sunshine's hubby, decided the best way was for him to go upstairs and shoot us from up there. I had hoped that all 42 of us would be in the lobby, but several didn't make it. Some had plans of meeting other friends or family before the race. I believe there was like 23 of us in the picture that Dave captured.  It was so nice being at the Peabody. We literally walked out the front door and onto the street where we started. No rushing around trying to figure out where we needed to be. I've already booked my room for next year! My goal was to run with Sunshine. She wanted to do the marathon under 5 hours. She just did miss that time last year and had it in her heart to do it this year. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to help her because my sciatic nerve pain had been acting up badly the past 2 weeks. Once the race started I knew that I would be ok. We talked and ran together as we've done so many times before and she kept saying the miles were clicking by fast. We stopped two times for a bathroom break. We just ran easy and didn't push too hard. When we ran through the St. Jude campus there were tons of folks out cheering. As we rounded one curve there was a family standing there with their St. Jude child sitting in a red wagon. The child was just a waving and smiling. It brought big tears into my eyes. These children are so full of love and life! It amazes me! I kept telling Sunshine we were going to make it! I think she kind of doubted me a few times but I knew the pace we were running and exactly what you had to be under to get in at 5 hours. I was not going to let her down if it killed me. Isn't that what team work is all about? You are only as strong as your weakest link is what they say. I was the weak one on race day but I was going to hold up my end and stay with her. Sometimes it just makes it easier to run with a friend. Yes, many people run alone and make it just fine but I've always enjoyed my longer distances when I do them with a friend that runs the same pace. We finished in 4:50! We had 10 minutes to spare. :>) It wasn't my 4:30 from the previous year, but it was another finish! I never dreamed I'd run 3 marathons this year! I didn't even run one half marathon this year and they are my favorite! I love the picture of us finishing together!  I was so ready for a bath and a nap. Several of us had reservations to eat at Texas De Brazil around 4:30pm and then we were heading out for a Pub Crawl at 7pm. I wanted to go rest up for the night as soon as possible so I didn't hang around the VIP lounge very long after the race. Mom brought me ice and I took an 18 minute ice bath. Oh it was so nice! Yes, it was cold but it sure does make your muscles feel good. And actually when we met up to eat later the others were hobbling around and I was doing pretty good. They even picked at me about not hobbling up the stairs like them. I guess it pays to take a ice bath. :>) Our food was wonderful! I was stuffed! I needed the walk on the Pub crawl to walk off some of that heavy food I had eaten. LOL The Pub Crawl was interesting. I enjoyed donating 2 toys to the kids and seeing all the people dressed in Santa suits! We saw so many varieties. I had no idea they even made santa suits like some of them had on.  
We had so much fun! and I LOVE Kathy's santa hat!!
Our favorite place ended up being B.B. Kings! Just like last year! Serina even sang to me. :>) LOVE HER!
We didn't stay out too late cause we were all TIRED. I guess running 26.2 miles then dancing at B.B. Kings will make ya tired. :<>)
My daughter took this after I finished. LOVE HER!
Ain't she Pretty?
Sunday I had arranged a tour of the Ronald McDonald House. One of my teammates parents live in Memphis and volunteer at the house. They had arranged the tour for me. It is the only RMH that is strictly for St. Jude patients. Several on our team had collected items that we were going to take by to donate and they had told us they would give us a brief tour. Let me just say that the house was NOT what I expected. It was so colorful and full of LOVE! Again, you could feel hope just like at St. Jude Hospital. My daughter captured some very nice pictures. I don't know why I wasn't taking pictures cause we all know I'm a picture taking crazy person but I think I was just in such awe. The guy that did our tour had a huge passion for what he does at RMH. You should check out their website online for things you can donate. Every donation is a blessing to these families. They don't need to be burden with having to find a hotel, food, etc. when all they should be doing is spending time with their child.
 
I love the kids handprints in all the shapes on the walls.
It was there again that I saw a mother pulling a child in a red wagon. The child was laying down under her blanket but still smiling! It was at that moment when the guy was telling us how the wagons are donated (I had read that before but not thought much about it) to the families through donations collected for St. Jude. The wagons come in extremely handy. See these kids are put though hours and hours of treatments, x-rays, scans, etc. during a day. These wagons give these parents an easy way to carry the child. The children can be weak after a long day of treatments or testing, but being a child they still want to play. It makes it fun for the child. The vision of the family pulling the child through St. Jude's halls while we were on tour the day before entered my head again. They were making sounds like a car / plane and wheeling the child around and around. I bet that child had just had a treatment or something and they were trying to take the child's mind off what was going on inside his body. I think every time I see a red wagon from now on I'm going to be reminded how much it means to these families. The typical cost for these wagons are $70 but I bet you can't put a price on the true meaning of these wagons for these families. They are blessings.
So the next time you are wondering where you money might could be helping those families, picture a red wagon. Yes, donations go for so many more things and a family NEVER receives a bill from St. Jude, but I've developed a whole new meaning for red wagons after this trip. They said at the pasta dinner that $8.1 million dollars was raised this year. WOW! However that is still not a lot of money when you look at the cost to operate St. Jude which is $1.2 million a day! Every dime helps! Thank you to everyone that donated to my fund this year! I raised over $4,000 again this year through generous people like you. I have some truly amazing friends. I love you all! And I'll be hitting you all up again in 2016 because I will be returning to Memphis to run for these precious children! Have a blessed day! MUAH D
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