Bunny Chase Fundraiser

Last Saturday, April 3rd was a a huge day! It was the culmination of 3 months of planning for a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and I couldn't be more pleased with how everything turned out! I was the race coordinator for the 2nd Annual Bunny Chase 5K and Family Fun Festival. For those of you that have been following my blog for awhile now, you know that not only do I love all things sweet but I love running and that is why I am involved in an organization called Team in Training (TNT) which raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) while training for a marathon or triathlon.

The idea for the Bunny Chase was created last spring with a few running friends. At the time I was a mentor for TNT and needed to come up with a fundraising idea to help the current marathon participants raise money for the events they were training for. We decided that since running is becoming so popular these days it would be fun to host a running event for the community to raise awareness about LLS and help raise money for the society. Not only did we want to make this an event for runners but we wanted it to be an event for the entire family. The Bunny chase consisted of a 5K run, a 1 mile Fun Run, and all sorts of Easter activities since it was held on Easter weekend. We had pictures with the Easter Bunny, an Easter Egg Hunt and face painting for the kids! With such a great turnout last year and so much positive feedback from the community we came to realize that the Bunny Chase was going to be an event for many years to come!

So for the last 3 months I have been coordinating every detail of this event with a race committee of about 15 people so we could be sure our event was even better this year than last year! At the end of the event we were all exhausted but super excited with the outcome! This year we had 308 participants and raised over $4,300 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! This was $1,200 more dollars than we raised last year!

Some people think I'm crazy, but really I love obsessing about all the details that go into planning an event like this. So here's a behind the scenes look at the preparations that took place to make this event a success...

Race Packets: this is the "perk" that runners get when they go to most road races. I must admit we had some pretty nice freebies in our packet this year...beverage huggies, chip clips, key chains, ink pens, hand sanitizer and free Goldfish coupons!

Race Bib Numbers: this is what each runner wears during the race so you can record their race statistics such as place and time when they cross the finish line.

T-shirts: Some runner's sole reason for doing a race is to get the t-shirt that goes with it. I just love our shirt logo this year with the Bunny breaking through the Easter egg (see top picture from this post).

Marshmallow Bunnies: We passed these out to all the kids that participated in the 1 Mile Fun Run so that everyone could go home with a prize!

Cupcakes: I made some Peep cupcakes for the food table. (Did you really think I would host an event and not bake some type of sweet treat to go along with it?)

and more cupcakes minus the Peeps!

Food: Here's a look at our food table...we had such generous vendors in the community that volunteered to donate goodies for our event. Starbucks donated coffee, Atlanta Bread company donated cookies, McAlister's Deli donated sweet tea and lemonade, Krispy Kreme donated donuts and the Fresh Market donated strawberries and apples! THANK YOU!



Registration Table: This is where I stood for a good part of race morning. Although the majority of the runners signed up prior to the race, there were about 80 people that signed up race morning...so things were a little hectic getting everyone a bib#, t-shirt and packet before the race started.

Race Course: Our event took place at Medal of Honor Park in Mobile. This was a 5K race (3.1 miles) course that took place on all types of terrain. It started off on a grass football field and then snaked through some trails in the park and finished back on the field where you see the time clock.

Race Times: As the runners crossed the finish line they wrote down their name, gender, age and race time on a note card. These cards were filed in boxes by gender and age and then sorted so we could give out awards for the different age groups. This was our way of organization since we are a "low budget" race. Typically at larger races there would be a computer generated time system keeping track of this data...but we are all about raising money for LLS so we decided we could handle this aspect ourselves rather than hiring someone to do this for us.


Awards: For the top 3 winners overall and the top 3 male and female runners in different age groups we gave out Easter egg shaped awards. The awards are one of my favorite features of this entire event. The eggs are wooden and are hand painted by local students and then strung with ribbon. This is such a great way to teach kids at a young age the importance of volunteering and how much they can do to help in the community no matter their age.

Honored Teammate: This is Isaac, and he is our honored teammate. Just a few years ago he was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 5. He is one of the sweetest boys you will ever meet and always has a smile on his face. He is now 10 years old and in remission. Isaac got the privilege of passing out all of the egg awards.


Face Painting: A local girl scout troop volunteered their time to come and face paint for all of the little kids.


Pictures with the Easter Bunny: All the kids had a blast posing with the bunny! These are my friend Susan's twins Anna and Marie. So cute in their matching pink Nike running skirts!


Candy Filled Eggs: A local elementary school donated almost 700 candy filled eggs for the egg hunt. Thank You Whitley Elementary!


Easter Egg Hunt: We hid the eggs throughout the playground at the park in all the nooks and crannies of the wood jungle gym.

Ready set Go: The playground was pure chaos with the kids in search of all the bright colored eggs!

GO TEAM! All of the current TNT members who helped put on this event are standing at the finish line cheering in all the runners!

Here's a picture of my sister Emily, my mom and me at the event! They came 725 miles from KY to help with this event and to spend Easter weekend with us! Thanks for your help...love you!

If you live in Mobile and have a a family member or friend that has been affected by a blood cancer or simply just want to train to run/walk a marathon, half marathon or triathlon then I encourage you to check out the Team in Training website. Being part of this team will be a life changing experience...you will gain so may new friends, challenge your body to train for and complete an endurance event, fundraise for a wonderful cause and raise awareness about blood cancers! Even if you don't live in Mobile, you can still check out the TNT website and join the cause in your own city as this is a nationwide organization!