Run for Refugees 5K

Our PT for Boot Camp has been to prepare to run a 5K. Yes, I said 5K. And, yes, I said run.

Everyone getting ready to start!

Some have known me since high school and you can vouch for the fact that I have hated to run...since way back then! But I started to train. And I started to run. Two reasons for this....(1) I want to be healthy and (2) I didn't want to embarass myself or Scott at the 5K
Well, the Run was this past weekend. Before I tell you about the results, let me tell you a little bit about the Run. On our bib (the thing you pin on your shirt with your number) we each had the name of a friend or family member of one of the local refugees. You can see in the picture how there were names clipped around the flags of the world. You chose a name to run for. I ran for Shwe Paw the friend of a refugee from Thailand. Shwe Paw is still in Thailand....facing danger and possible persecution because of his friend who has escaped. Scott ran for a family member of a local Iraqi refugee.



I ran the first ½ of the 5K and then walked and ran the second. I finished in 46 minutes and was so proud!! First of all that I finished! And second, I had a really good time. Now forget the fact that the winner finished in 19 minutes (big grin!). I was so proud of Scott! He finished in 34 minutes! woo hoo!!


Another part of the Run for Refugees was a 1 mile Experience Walk. I'm not gonna lie, I was too tired to do it....but some of my kiddos did. During the walk they carried a 6 lb bag of sand in a backpack (to simulate carrying a baby) and they walked without shoes on. In walking without shoes on, the girls kept stepping on burrs. We talked later about how the refugees would might be walking through thick jungles...barefooted. Then they stopped at different booths to learn more about what it was like for someone from Burma to escape. In one of the booths they got to sample the food the Burmese eat as they are escaping....cold rice and fish paste (Laura did NOT like it!). There was rumor that at one of the booths you were going to be chased by a dog...but that didn't happen. At another booth there was a dollhouse size replica of a Burmese home. This is Laura's description of the house: It was off the ground because it floods, the roof was made of leaves, and it had 2 rooms....one of them a small bedroom. At one booth everyone sat and listened to a talk recorded by 2 of our local Burmese refugees Tu and Thay. They are the sweetest girls!! In this talk, they describe what they went through to escape from Burma.

As a side note, one of the workers at Spero Project who works very closely with the refugees told us that there are 3 reasons refugees are chosen to move from a refugee camp to a safe country (like America): (1) they are single moms, (2) they have children with special needs, or (3) they have been tortured and persecuted.

I am going to include a link that you can click on to go listen to their story. I can't figure out how to put the link directly into this post, but click here and then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Experience Walk Podcast." I encourage you to explore The Spero Project website and learn more about the amazing work they are doing in OKC.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun (yes, I can say it was fun now that it's over!). More later about Melissa's masquerade, visiting the OKC memorial, how we are homeschooling, certain things in class that have stood out to me, and more pics of our apartment complex!

Katelyn running the 5K with Tu!