10 Out Of 10 People Agree...

Anyone who has read anything that I've written over the past month or so knows that I love to whine. About everything. The physical pain of running is no fun for me. I've never been a strong runner. My legs are short and when running with other people that have average length legs I have to take about 2 strides to their 1. Place me with a running partner any taller than average and there is just no way that I can keep up without falling over from a massive coronary. It's helpful when I'm wallowing in my self-pity to remind myself why I'm doing this.

I have more than one person who inspires me to keep on keepin' on. Of course there's Rose, ever optimistic and uplifting throughout her battle and my original inspiration to run in this event. Then there's Carrie, young and beautiful and overwhelmingly brave. One of my closest friends, Missy, had to put her goal of having a family to get treatment for cancer. She emerged with a wonderful sense of humor and a beautiful baby boy. As I stop to think about the people that have touched my life on one level or another I realize just how many have been attacked by this monstrous disease. I wonder if they ever stopped to feel sorry for themselves? If anyone is entitled to do that, cancer victims are surely one group that has earned that luxury.

There are strangers that I see in public that wear pink ribbons for themselves or a loved one. I've seen women and children that wear a scarf to protect a head that is missing hair. I wonder what their stories are. I hurt for them and their family. I think about all of the people who have had close calls with cancer. I've felt the fear when a friend tells me that they don't know what it is but "the test results will be back next week". I've felt the rush of relief when those results are negative and the grief when they aren't. This disease blows. I'm running so that hopefully my daughter doesn't have to go through the awful anxiety that this causes.

*sigh*

Have no fear, my sarcasm is merely on a union ordered lunch...It will be back in 30 minutes. Hey, don't laugh, those union standards are strict...

Why?

This all started with Rose. No ordinary Rose though. Rose was the mother of my very best childhood friend, Jessica. She battled breast cancer for years and just this past January she finally lost the fight. Jessica is an amazing woman. Instead of burying her head in the sand or being overtaken by grief she organized The Rose Run. A 5K event that is being held on July 18, 2009 in our hometown of Petersburg, Michigan.

Naturally I wanted to help out. "Put me to work, " I said. Something in my heart nagged at me though. Something inside of me wanted me to actually participate in this event. Now, I wanted to believe that this nagging inside of me was indigestion instead of inspiration. Running and Melanie do not mix. I'm not a runner. I've never enjoyed it. It hurts. It makes me sweat...and quite frankly, I'd rather be sitting on my butt watching tv or chewing on glass than running. I mean, running is great to GET AWAY from things that will hurt you or TOWARDS stuff that you want like the ice cream truck or a great sale at Macy's but running for the sake of running? C'mon now.

The urge didn't go away even with mass doses of Tums. I guess it wasn't indigestion afterall. *sigh* This blog is a way to keep myself entertained, motivated and accountable while I train for this event. On a serious note, which is very rare for me, I want to do this for Rose. I want to do this for this incredible courageous woman and for her amazing family. This is for you, Rose.