Running For Someone Other Than Myself
I started running 23 years ago as a 7th grader in cross country. It wasn’t my first introduction to running, though, because both of my parents were runners who both completed numerous Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathons. My grandma babysat me during the races, and we watched my parents finish from the bleachers at the finish line. Growing up in Speedway, Indiana, I rode my bike with my mom while she trained, and I knew I would participate in the 500 Mini Marathon someday.
My first 500 Mini Marathon was when I was in college at Indiana University in 1996 and decided to run the race with a friend who was also from Indianapolis. We didn’t really know how to train and had never run more than three miles when race day arrived. We walked and ran it, but it wasn’t ideal with so little training. We both hurt so badly the next day we couldn’t walk down the stairs!
Since then I’ve run many more half marathons (some of the most memorable were with my dad), two marathons (Disney and Chicago in 2010), and three triathlons (my new passion!). In 2011, I had knee surgery and ran two half marathons only 10 weeks post-surgery. I’ve always run to stay healthy and make myself sign up for races to keep me motivated. A fear of failure makes me get up at 5 a.m. multiple days a week to train.
Until now, I’ve never run a race to raise money for a charity. This year I was motivated to run for the American Cancer Society because several people I know have been diagnosed with cancer in the past year. Two 40-something women friends were diagnosed ;for one it was a re-occurrence of breast cancer, and for the other it was a total shock as she is a mother of triplets who always considered herself “healthy.” The one that hit closest to home was when my 62-year-old step-father, Rick, was diagnosed with kidney cancer on May 5, 2011, the day before my 17th half marathon. This was my third friend/family member to be diagnosed within six weeks.
Cancer just seems to be everywhere these days. It seems that no matter what you do, young or old, active or inactive, no family history of cancer or a family tree riddled with it, you just might get cancer.
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