Nearly a year ago, on Oct. 18, 2009, I walked a 5K around my neighborhood in Laurel. I mentioned in the blog entry for that day that I hoped to do a walk like that for charity in the future. My ventral and umbilical hernia surgeries were on November 2 of '09, and on December 12 I walked a 5K for the first time after that surgery. Back then, I expected the walking to continue on a regular basis, but weather, the Cabaret, Mark's cardiomyopathy, our vacation, our move, and now my illness interrupted that plan.
Although I cannot find a blog about it, at some point last year I googled local 5K walks. I found the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure already listed for today, October 3, 2010, so I put it on my calendar. Today's walk was on my calendar a long time before I became a breast cancer patient. As events unfolded with my diagnosis of invasive breast cancer, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do the walk. Instead, I found out that some of my co-workers from CHS were walking. I made a donation to the Komen Race for the Cure for one of the special education teachers, Michelle, and her husband. Unfortunately she couldn't walk today either because they were in a car accident yesterday when some fool ran a red light. That's so scary! They are going to be OK, but they are not walking today.
I got up this morning in time to watch the entire race on the TV. I figured if I couldn't walk, at least I could support it by watching. It was inspiring to see thousands and thousands of people out there walking to raise money for breast cancer research which, hopefully, will lead to a cure. I also learned that another co-worker of mine from CHS, Lauren, did go walk today. Soon I'll be making a donation to her team. Way to go, Lauren!
Now I'm making a commitment to walk this 5K Komen Race for the Cure here in Baltimore next year. I'd love to have a team of CHSers like Lauren, Michelle, Marianna, and others to walk with me. I'd love to drive up from Florida to do this. It would be so worth it to walk up here in Baltimore with some co-workers and friends as a SURVIVOR of breast cancer, instead of a scared patient facing her first chemotherapy session in just a few days from now.
Who's walking with me? Let's DO IT!! Let's raise some money for a cure for breast cancer.
Many years ago, Chaz and I did the Baltimore Race for the Cure as a change of pace from the D.C. one. It's in the Fall (better time to do it than June) and I remember getting a long sleeve T-shirt. Don't know why we didn't continue doing it--probably because it's usually around the holidays and couldn't squeeze it in. I checked--Sunday, October 2, 2011 is the Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Next year Kol Nidre is Friday, October 7 (my anniversary). Hmmm. Easy to say now that I'll do the race with you in October next year. But I'll put it on my calendar and that's a start. My problem is I don't like getting up early to race, but with the proper motivation, I can do anything.
ReplyDeleteOh, that would be great if you joined us! Between Mishkan Torah and Catonsville High School, I could get a big team! Yeah, I'm not crazy about the early hour either, and I had not thought to check the calendar! Still, I want to do it no matter WHAT! We have not decided about where to go for the High Holidays next year, but this could sway us to Mishkan Torah again. We'll be in Boston for Labor Day Weekend, then we could just stay up in this area through the Komen Walk. Last year the race was later in October, but they had bad weather so they moved it up. I wonder if they have already posted the date of next year's walk. Did you check and it is October 2?
ReplyDelete