Today was the Lahey Health 5K Cancer Walk and Run. It was a great day full of sunshine, sweat, smiles and fundraising! Above are the Team NED runners. Left to Right in the photo: One of my fellow dietitians who is working her way back into running with a 6 month old. She raced last year pregnant. My current roommate and high school and currant track teammate. She is working her way back from an injury, but has still made it out the last two years. Two track club teammates decided to come on out and smoke the course. They ran really strong races. And both made sure they had pink tops to wear! #14 bib is me. Then my good friend from the 3rd grade and her sister. Both whom I've known for most of my life and have been amazingly supportive through everything. Very happy they were both there.
My parents, my aunt and my cousin's daughter all walked. My legs were a little to achy to walk after the run, but I was very grateful for their attendance.
Our team raised $2,392! Pretty great. Almost half the money came from our killer bake sale at the hospital for which I learned how to make baked donuts. My colleagues are amazing bakers and homemade granola, congo bars, gluten free cookies, rice krispie treats, cake pops, you name it, they made it and we sold it. The other half came from generous donations from family, friends, friends of friends and even a donation from our department.
At the walk they do an opening ceremonies after the run and before the walk. During it the Lahey Chief Medical Officer and Head of the Oncology department speak and talk about all the exciting things going on at Lahey Cancer Centers. They discussed the new lung cancer screening where they do low dose radiation CT scans for smokers and other high risk patients. They have caught 30 lung cancers at an early stage since starting it in 2012. That is pretty darn awesome. One of the lung cancer survivors, whose cancer was identified this way, spoke about his experience and how grateful he was to be cancer free. The second survivor that spoke was a 29 year old man who had stage IIIb colon cancer, but was back to run the race for his second consecutive year after running last year during treatment. His team name is team ; (semi colon). His team has raised $24,000 in the past two years. Yes, that comma is in the right place. Pretty great.
After running I put my survivor shirt on and as I was hunting for snacks and freebies I ran into the Chief Medical Officer's sister in law whom he had mentioned was being treated for breast cancer. I spoke with her to let her know that I was a survivor and that I was rooting for her. We spoke about being burned from radiation and how much we love Aquaphor. I told her that her hair looked amazing (she had full scalp coverage of silver peach fuzz). She told me she was so excited to not have to wear the wig anymore. We chatted about chemo and related about how much breast cancer survivorship really is a sisterhood. She said this is her second bought of breast cancer and they were 24 years apart. I wished her luck and told her not to put that wig back on, to own her peach fuzz.
I am pleased with my overall 5K today. I ran 20:54. Ten seconds slower than last year, but way faster than I thought I would be able to. I also didn't vomit. Another win. My legs started to tighten and ache 5 minutes in and when I got to half way I knew I had gone out way to hard. But, coming around the corner and heading for home with my oncology NP, parents, and fellow dietitians standing at the finish line and cheering their heads off made it hard not to smile when being done. That and I got to put on my purple survivor t-shirt.And maybe a little laughing at myself because when they announced my name they mentioned I was the 2012 winner and I started "pageant" waving to the crowd. I'm such a nerd, but I'm a happy nerd.
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