I run because he can't.

I think everyone should do a 5k.

Don't like running? Who cares?! Do it anyway. Walk it, run it, crawl across the finish line. Just do it.

I know, I'm coming off a 5k high. For the record, I couldn't see us doing a 10k, but I'm quite content with just going around from 5k to 5k and enjoying our little accomplishments.

Crossing that finish line with family, with friends, with Christian, it leaves a high feeling. The I can do anything feeling. Or a - I'm going to eat Chocolate Brownie cookies all day because I just completed a 5k, world! - kind of feeling.

Really and truly, I fell in love with running these 5k's a year ago when we first committed to joining MyTeam Triumph for their first run. Even better...Christian would be our "Captain!"

Running these 5k's is very much like our life, or any life for that matter. And because I love an analogy, well, let me dive right into one.

While running, I had so many thoughts of the way our lives were, how the past three years have been, and how life is now. The beginning of this last race was so easy. We were doing so great! But we didn't realize the wind was helping us until we turned in the opposite direction and we were head on with that very same wind.

There were parts that were smooth and parts that were bumpy and parts where we had to slow down and rest. We pushed through it, we helped each other out, we cheered for ourselves and for other red shirts we saw along the way, and we laughed, too. Like life, right?

The whole thing inspires me. Every single run with those red shirts inspires me. I'm inspired by the friends, therapists, parents, and other loved ones who run because our kids can't. They push these kids over that finish line. They give up their own sweat, endurance, and strength so these kids can have a piece of being able to participate.

I'm inspired by our kids who give us reason to keep pushing against the wind. In the race and on the living room floor with their favorite PT.

I'm inspired by the two "Angels" on our team who chose to pick this 5k, with Christian and his buddies, to be their first 5k ever. It was inspiring to see them cross the finish line for the first time.

I'm inspired by us, as a family. We don't stop. We keep moving. We keep loving and helping each other out, and cheering, and laughing, continuing over the bumpy parts and pushing against the wind. Life isn't always easy with the wind at our backs helping us along. It's ever-changing, always evolving. But for that moment at the end of the race when we cross the finish line, we have reached a happy ending. It's something to celebrate.

If you get down to the meat of why I love running with MyTeam Triumph...

I run because Christian can't. For the span of the race, he has legs. And he gets to fly.

Besides, my baby may not be able to run, walk, or even crawl. But he has completed THREE 5k's with MyTeam Triumph. THREE of them! I mean, how many four year olds can say that?