Sunday morning in the freezing cold, we gathered the troops and headed into DC for the Scope It Out Colon Cancer 5K sponsored by Chris4Life. My sister organized the entire thing and we all jumped on board, including my Girl and I.
I’m not even sure what to talk about today. There were moments as a mom, where running alongside my first baby, I experienced a pride I’ve never known. She was incredible. She hurt and struggled a bit, but she stood tall and finished strong and I was thrilled to have run her first race with her. But that wasn’t all of it.
I’ve run road races before. I’ve even run them for charity, but I’ve never participated in a race specifically for a charity. I’ve heard stories of The Breast Cancer races and 3 day walks, about how emotional they are, and I’ve contemplated an MS bike ride or road race every single year but I’ve never made myself do them.
It wasn’t conscious. I didn’t realize I was avoiding these types of events, but I think maybe I was.
They’re different than a regular run. There is more to them. Yes, the trappings are mostly the same: water stops, sponsored t-shirts, piles of fruit and silly information tents at the finish line, but what these charity races have that the others runs I’ve done don’t is emotion. Lots and lots of emotion.
There were the survivors in their different colored shirts walking and running right alongside us. There were champions-the people jumping and shouting as loud as they can about prevention and cures and fighting the good fight. There were people in wheel chairs (mid-treatment?) being pushed by their personal champions. There were honor boards to share your loved ones’ names.
There were giant groups with shirts announcing who they loved running, walking, laughing and sometimes crying their way through 3.2 miles.
Then there were my siblings and I, with our Team Toni shirts walking and running for something bigger than ourselves. We were racing for our mom and for all the other moms and dads and brothers and sisters and friends and lovers that have been touched by this damn disease or are fighting it right now. Those people never far from our minds the whole day long. We were doing our very tiny part to call attention to this non-sexy cancer. We even raised a little money for treatment and research and maybe, even a cure.
My girl (The Granddaughter) and I, we took to the streets, each pushing ourselves in a new way-to say to our Grandma and Mom, “See us? We remember you and we’re doing what we can to make sure other people don’t lose their moms too soon.”
I’ve run a lot of races.
I’ve never done anything like I did yesterday.
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