Why Breast Cancer Survivors Make Great Runners
By Marcia Larsen
The first thing that needs to be said is that cancer patients and cancer survivors are amazing people doing amazing things. This is my personal epiphany.
The facts by the numbers. I am 53 years old. On November 2nd I will be 8 years breast cancer free. Because I had become a couch potato, I joined a Walk to Run program 3 years ago to celebrate my 5 year cancer free anniversary. Running to celebrate life became a goal, then a habit that became my version of yoga, and is now ingrained into who I am. What I have also discovered is because of all the things you face and traverse during your battle, cancer survivors, and in my case, breast cancer survivors, make rock’n runners.
I came to this conclusion while I was running the other day. For me, the first few miles of my runs are spent getting into a rhythm, shaking out the cobwebs, and well, just getting through the first couple of miles. I find the first twenty minutes of my runs are brutal. My mind comes up with every excuse to quit. Once I break through the twenty minute barrier my mind and body get into sync and then I begin to think about all kinds of things.
On this particular run I was thinking about how hard I’d worked, and how patient I was in rehabilitating a severe hamstring injury. I realized that I am a very determined person. I was on the phone with my father-in-law a few weeks ago, and he asked if I had given up my plans to run the Chicago Marathon in October. I said no way. He told me I put the capital “D” in Determination. I was thinking about his comment, and I realized that the capital “D” was there because I had tangled with the big “C”. As I continued my run, I thought about the reasons why being a breast cancer survivor led me to becoming a runner, and then gave me the internal fortitude to help me attain my personal running goals.
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