Run for Noah

Last week we got a message saying that the Examiner was interested in doing a tribute story about Noah, as they had heard he had passed away and we had been helping  promote the Make a Wish 'Run for a Wish' fun run which was on today.  

Last night a reporter and photographer came to our house to talk to us about Noah, him passing away and our Make a Wish trip and the run. They told us that the article would be in the paper today, but we did not expect that it would be on the front (and second) page! It turned out to be a really nice article and we got phone calls this morning from people we know asking how they could enter the run which was so nice (you can click on the photo  below to be taken to the online story).

We were so happy to wake up this morning to another beautiful day.  I'm sure Noah is putting on the good weather for us at the moment.  We arrived at Aurora early as we had planned to have helium balloons for family and friends who were walking with us, so we could let them go at the end, and needed to give them out.  Chrish, Becky, Nicki and Mum had also surprised us last week with some beautiful t-shirts which they had made with Noah's face on the front and number 10 on the back, so we all had those on.  

Nicki and Alex, Simone and Simon, Kellie and Dave, Alison, Pip, Eleanor, Bec and Mum were all going to be walking with us (I had originally planned to run it, but there was no way I would be able to with everything going on and really wanted to walk with everyone today anyway).   Mum however had other plans and broke three bones in her foot this week! She looked after our bags for us :)

It was so cool seeing everyone with their t-shirts and balloons.

During the week we also got some wrist bands with 'Noah - our cheeky monkey 2001-2011' on them which Alison was also wearing.

Poor Simone had spent the night in hospital with Flynn last night so had hardly any sleep, but was still keen to come and walk for Noah.  Luckily her sister Lisa was able to be on babysitting duties in hospital so Simone could come and still do it.

Andrea and her gorgeous girls also joined us which was lovely.

Overall there were around 500 people who entered, with many of them walking like us.


It was such a beautiful walk and was only 6.4 km so it wasn't too long.

Harri takes Noah's monkey everywhere at the moment, so he had to come on the run with us.  Harri and Jay both actually ran most of the way, so Kobe was left in charge of looking after the monkey 'Nono'.

There were some mishaps along the way with Charlotte's bike losing steering.

So Kobe and Charlotte were both quite happy to walk along together for a little while.

I love Simone. She always makes me laugh.  She hid in the bush and it looked like she had made a pit stop along the way, if you know what I mean!

She also had us laughing as she imitated the professional runners at the drink station, where they just grab the drink and run while they're drinking it and keep running (even though our group was RIGHT at the back coming last).

The swings along the way were just too tempting for Charlotte.  Kobe was begging to go on too, but we promised him we will go back one day.

We finally made it back around and started heading back towards Aurora.  We were about 50 minutes behind the winners, but we didn't mind as it was all about remembering Noah, raising money for Make a Wish and being together with our family and friends.

Aaron and the Khan girls took off for a little sprint as they saw the finish line.

As Aaron and I were coming into the stadium the guy commentating on the microphone kept calling out our names and saying 'this is what it's all about' and mentioned we were in the paper this morning.  I was so embarrassed, but the crowd gave us a big clap as we came through.   Brett and Kayla were also there and Brett caught it on video for us.

After we crossed the finish line we all got together and let go of the balloons at the same time, and the crowd cheered and clapped again.  It was so nice to have great friends and family there with us and I know that these last two weeks would be so much harder without them.

The lady who interviewed us from the Examiner found us and asked us if we minded being interviewed on video for the Examiner website.  We had a quick interview afterwards and she was excited to tell us that she didn't expect the story to be on the front page today, and it was her first front page article and she was so glad that it was the story about Noah.  The sound quality on the video isn't great, but if you click on the picture below you can go to the video on the Examiner website.

Jay and Harri had a great time running and did really well.  We were surprised that they ran so much and they were so excited to get a medal (everyone got a medal which is awesome).  Aaron is showing five fingers as we came pretty close to 500th :)

At the end they gave out prizes and Jay and Jake were lucky enough to win a spot prize and chose a cupcake.

I was wondering how I would feel while we were doing it, and instead of feeling sad I just felt so happy to know that Noah would be proud of us for still doing it without him, and he would be so glad that our family and friends were there with us too.  Thanks Lisa P, Helene, Belinda and Mariah for also going in it.  We were just so glad that we could be a part of the run and $16,000 was raised for Make a Wish which is fantastic.  We are already looking forward to next years run.