Running for cancer research...

I love running.  It is an extension of who I am and what keeps me calm (I can't say stress free...but perhaps less stressed?).  Several weeks ago, I made a commitment to use my love for running to help raise funds to fight cancer by entering races to benefit cancer research.  This past weekend I was able to enter the Friends of Melana 5K in my hometown.

I was in Garrettsville for a family event, and to see my niece, and learned about the 5K in conjunction with an annual festival downtown.  I thought "sure why not" and then learned the cause and knew "absolutely" I was going to be on that start line on race day.  Friends of Melana was named in memory of Melana Matson, a nine year old girl from Garrettsville, who in 2009, was diagnosed with brain cancer.  She lost her battle just nine months after her diagnosis.  Friends of Melana was formed to honor her memory and help to fund the fight against this cancer.

So on a beautiful Sunday morning, I trotted on downtown, surprisingly fast, (its only a mile from my mom's house so I decided to use it as a warm-up and to add up a couple more miles) and signed in for the race.  It's been about 14 years since I last lived in town, so I do not really recognize the new faces (or at least those who came out to sweat for cancer research) and just waited on my own for the starting gun (although I did chat a bit with Mrs. Z who was my gifted teacher through school and agreed to hold onto my race shirt for me).

When the race started, it started fast....one of the habits I've tried to break for years.  But it felt decent so I just went with it.  It was about 1/2 a mile in that I looked down at my pace and just thought "whoa...I'm going to die if I keep this up."  It was pretty fast for me.  A 1/4 mile later I looked down again and I was going even faster.  My first thought was, "I'm not a fast runner, this must be Kaitlyn and Joey carrying me."  (You may recall a post a few weeks ago about Kaitlyn and Joey...they have inspired this commitment this year).  It was then I decided that if they wanted me to go that fast, I wouldn't let them down.  And I don't think I did.

It was a hilly course, that's for sure.  The course started on Center Street up to Maple Avenue, down to Water Street, up Liberty, turned onto Pierce, then Brosius Road and back down Center Street to the finish.  Driven there lately?  Its rolling...and Center Street throws in a whopper uphill right before the finish line.  But rolling is good, rolling is fun.  I even got to see my old eighth grade English teacher and middle/high school track coach bike riding along the course.  It was great encouragement.  But mostly, I wanted to keep running for Kaitlyn and Joey.  And so I did.

So on this Sunday of small town parades, political booths along the street and Catholic church chicken dinner fundraisers, as a community we also accomplished a little something in honor of the children who did not have a cure available to them in hopes that those who come after will not have to know what childhood cancer can do.  Happy trails!!!

Oh, in the end, I turned in a 23:49 time...did not quite beat my standing PR from 19 years ago (23:10), but slipped in as my second best 5K ever.  Overall, I finished first among women 30-39 and fourth among all women.  I also got the opportunity to share some old stories with Jason Adkins about when he and his mom used to sit a couple rows behind his brother, Nathan, and I when we went on dates in middle school :)

Stats -
Miles:  5.21 (1.11 miles to the race, 5K during the race, and 1 mile trottomh back with my niece before picked up by my mom)
Time:   1st mile 9:07 (average pace of 8:12 per mile), 5K 23:49 (average pace of 7:41 per mile), last mile?  I have no idea...I was trotting with a three-year old who was convinced she could run like her aunt...it was slow, but I think she has a future :)
Location:  good old G-ville, Ohio
Feeling:  So great I can't even find the words

Divine intervention...

After a crazy weekend of strawberry picking, Blue Angel watching and War of 1812 commemorating that gave Adventures in Babysitting a run for its money (by the way, everyone survived), I got back to the pavement and my personal meditation today.  As has been the case with most of my plans lately, I did not end up completing the workout I planned.  This morning I woke up to rain, a long day of forecasted rain.  With that in the crystal ball I planned on hitting power yoga and the treadmill after work.  However, I got  a pleasant post-work surprise...no rain.  How could I not take advantage of that?  After all, it was clear that mother nature was listening to my complaints about the treadmill. Not one to look a gifthorse in the mouth, I laced up my running shoes and headed outdoors.

I decided to shake it up a little bit and hit my go to course in reverse...sort of.  I started out heading across the East front of the Capitol, then up Pennsylvania Avenue.  Instead of cutting up 7th Street and cruising past Eastern Market, I went on down to 13th Street before turning toward Lincoln Park.  I've never been down this section of the road before and was pleasantly surprised by the extensive Watkins Recreation Center (and pleased to see so many kids out being active in the various sports teams practicing on the fields).  It got me thinking about some of the great programs fighting childhood obesity like the White House Let's Move and Junior League's Kids in the Kitchen.  I love those programs.  The run was tough, my left achilles is a bit tight, but necessary.  I finished off the evening in the weight room at the gym.

My divine moment, however, did not come until I arrived home tonight.  You may recall my post last week about honoring the victims and survivors of cancer by running to raise funds.  Well, being the Christian gal that I am, I do believe in intervention and tonight was a fine case.  I guess I'm being called to put my money...or legs...where my mouth is.  Tonight's mail delivered a flyer to join the American Cancer Society DetermiNation running program to help raise funds for cancer research.  I love the back of the flyer that says "Nearly 12 million cancer survivors will celebrate another birthday this year, thanks in part to the lifesaving work of the American Cancer Society and people just like you: people with a spark of determination and the will to conquer this deadly disease.  Every mile you conquer could help someone else celebrate another birthday."  I've signed up to receive information on the Washington, DC area program.  After all, how can you say no to a great cause and divine intervention?  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  5.25
Time:   45:07 (average pace of 8:35 per mile)
Location:  Capitol Hill, Lincoln Park, Stanton Park
Feeling:  Need to figure out the tight achilles but otherwise pretty good

A higher calling...

Lime green for Kaitlyn

Tonight I nearly wrote about the pleasant surprise of being able to run outside when the forecast called for thunder and lightning after work.  Or I could write about how therapeutic runs can be when your mind is weighed down as mine was tonight.  But instead, because let's be honest there was really nothing spectacular about my run and there are more important things I could blog about for 15 minutes, I'm going to focus on a couple of recent angels taken from the earth - called to heaven - too soon.  The unexplainable scourge?  Cancer. 

Gold for Joey

No child, nor family should have to endure the agony of facing a disease that afflicts the innocent.  This holds doubly true for Kaitlyn Dzurney and Joey Sudo, a neighbor and a friend's child whose lives ended as they were beginning.  Kaitlyn was 20 with the world at her fingertips and Joey was but 12 and captured the hearts of Annapolis and beyond.  Within a month this spring, both lost their lives to cancer...too young, too soon.  Aside from being neighbors in the hospital, congregants at the same church and sharing a zip code, these two intrepid warriors share another trait - they never gave up for a second.


What can we do to honor the brief lives of heroes like Kaitlyn and Joey?  Raise awareness, support research institutes and advocate for appropriate levels of research funding.  It's easier than one might imagine and its very local. More in connection with this blog, there are 5k races all across Maryland, and many in our own community, that raise funds to contribute to cancer research.  This year I'm looking out for every way I can use my passion for running to help raise funds to beat cancer.


In the words of the great Steve Prefontaine (another case of a life ended too quickly):

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest,

I run a race to see who has the most guts."

Won't you show the guts to walk or run 5K to beat cancer too?

Stats -

Miles:  5.62

Time:   47:32 (average pace of 8:27 per mile)

Location:  Capitol Hill, Lincoln Park, Stanton Park

Feeling:  My mind was jumbled but my body was responsive