This post has nothing to do with Santa yet everything to do with love, giving, and believing.

A couple weeks ago my husband went for a morning walk with Biggie our bulldog and our baby Celeste. I had the house to myself for a little while and as I made a visit to the restroom with cell phone in hand I started to browse through my emails when I ran across one from Santa Hustle Run with the subject Do The Santa Hustle for Lung Cancer. That piqued my interest.

As I read through the email a funny thing happened…I started to hear this little voice inside me, the one that tells me “you can do this” and before I knew it I was clicking on the link, reading the event information, completing my personal information, and as I was getting ready to hit pay this other little voice unexpectedly peeked it’s little head, the one that tells me “wait, think about this for a moment…” and I thought, shoot…I don’t have my wallet on me, but I hit “check out” anyway, and wouldn’t you know it one of the payment options it gave me was Pay Pal (God works in wonderful ways) and my other inner voice said “oh yes, you have Pay Pal!”

And just like that, click, click, I found myself signed up for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation: Your Next Step is the Cure, Orange County, CA 5K walk/run!!

As I sat there and looked at the confirmation on my phone I thought…I signed up for a 5K. I signed up for a 5K! I SIGNED UP FOR A 5K!!! I was so excited and scared and couldn’t wait for my husband to come home so I could tell him the exciting news. You see, if you don’t remember, I have always said I’m not a runner, and it was just a couple months ago that I decided I would give running a shot because it seemed to be the one thing I could do to exercise my body, soul, and brain, especially while trying to adapt to this new parenting lifestyle. I just needed to believe in myself, give it a try, and know in my heart that it’s possible, and so far my running journey has been pretty darn great. And that day that I signed up for the 5K my confidence, love, and belief in God and myself was great enough that I had the courage to step past my fears (of failure) and sign up for the race. I have never completed 3 miles in my life (up until last Saturday when I reached that goal and posted about it) and much less registered for a race, and yet here I am now just 5 days away from race day and I’m feeling excited and confident that I can go out there and give it my best, and no matter what happens I’ll have succeeded because just having the courage to do something new and challenging for me is a victory.

My decision and experience to sign up for this race is a small thing in the larger scope of things because this is after all a race to help find a cure for lung cancer and I have read so many touching stories of people that have lost loved ones to this disease and what it means to them to be racing and raising funds for a cure. And while I may not be racing in memory to someone who has died due to lung cancer my heart is in this one hundred percent and in the end we are all here for the same reasons…because we love, we want to give, and we believe.

If you want more information on the event or would like to support, you can find the link here