Running the distance for Leukemia

Guest Post

by Janet

The summer before my senior year in high school, I didn’t have a care in the world. I worked at my Dad’s Butcher Shop, laid out by the pool, went with my friends to Taco Box for Cherry Dr. Peppers and would drag Main Street on the weekends. I never thought about sickness or chemotherapy or losing my hair. I have been incredibly blessed with health that I have taken for granted and my youthful innocence was not snatched from me by cancer.

The 17-year-old boy who lives across the street from me has not been so fortunate. He has been thrust into adulthood by a Lymphoma diagnosis and taken chemotherapy and has lost his long beautiful hair. He has done it with a grace and maturity that I don’t feel like I would have had at his age. I may not have that grace and maturity even now.

So every Saturday, in the sweltering heat of summer, I lace up my Mizunos and head out the door at 5:30 in the morning to train with Team in Training. I am training for the Nike Women’s half marathon in San Francisco on October 17, 2010. Team in Training provides coaching support to me, all the while; I raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Many of you remember that I participated in an event with Team in Training back in 2009. I also trained on my own, earlier this year, and completed the Oklahoma City Memorial half marathon.

I’m not going to lie, this has been by far the hardest time I have had with training. The heat has made it exceedingly difficult. Saturday before last, when I left the parking lot at 6:00 a.m., it was 78 degrees outside with 75% humidity. When I finished the nine miles of my long run, it was already up to 86. My face was red all day long and even into the evening. Several times during my run (or really walk…it has been too hot to run), I said to myself, “Why am I doing this? This is crazy! This is completely insane and uncomfortable. I hate sweating buckets! My feet hurt!”

After about 50 non-stop, feeling sorry for myself complaints, I crossed a bridge at the lake. The bridge had signs on it that my sweet friend, Ruth Rickey, had posted for all of us to see. Signs that said, “You can do it!” and “Thank you!” and “Leukemia 0, Me 1.” You see, Ruth had Leukemia. She credits Team in Training and their support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with funding the research on the drug that saved her life. I thought about Ruth, and my seventeen year old neighbor and my dear friend Tracy, whose ten year old son passed away from Leukemia. I thought about how easy I have had it in life. A life without cancer. I came around a curve on the golf course and the sprinklers were on. The sun shown brightly on them and the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen was right beside me and confirmed for me why I was training in the relentless heat. I am training for Ruth, and my neighbor and for Tracy.

I am facing 10 miles this coming Saturday, so you could say a little prayer for me. If you would like to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you can do so my going to my website (via LLS).
Keep Fighting!

Jen's Note: I've known Janet for nearly 20 years. This post was originally an email she circulated among her friends. Aside from the great cause for which she is running, I couldn't resist the Generation X memoir highlighting summers in her dad's butcher shop and cherry Dr. Peppers. Thanks, Janet and good luck! And, thank you to everyone who has taken time to read this guest post. Pray for all the runners, and if you feel so led, give to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Janet is 70 percent of the way to her goal of $5,000.