Run or Limp, Rain or Shine, it Will be Monumental!

Tomorrow will be my fifth Monument Avenue 10K race, sponsored by Ukrops Supermarket. The race always occurs near the date when I first learned I had cancer, so it is a great reminder of my good fortune to live and to be healthy enough to race in a 10K. They were calling for rain earlier, but now it looks like the rain will end in the very early morning hours, and it will be low 50’s (F) and cloudy for the race.

A bigger issue than whatever happens with the weather will be my left foot. My miracle cure is not working. I have tried to rest my foot since Tuesday’s 5 miles caused so much pain, only doing some walking and elliptical. Last night, I ran (with a little walking) for two miles on a treadmill, and the pain started after 1.5 miles. At the end of the two miles it was quite noticeable – although not nearly as bad as after the five miles Tuesday morning. Today at work I am trying to stay off my feet as much as possible, even taking the elevator – which is sacrilege for me! I have iced my foot 4 times this week. I am wondering if my fairly new orthotics are just shot and may try to replace them tonight.

Anyhow, I am going to do the race tomorrow. If the foot pain is too much I will stop running and walk fast. If fast walking still hurts too much I will slow my pace. Unless I feel like I am doing serious damage I will finish the race. I wanted a PR but it is more important to have fun and not get hurt.

I have great memories from the last 4 races, but this one will be really special – I will explain why in a minute. In 2005, I was training with TNT to walk the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, and we walked the 10K to get race experience. I walked with teammates Michal, Janice, and Mary. Michal and I walked 4 miles to the start of the race, did the race, then walked 7 more miles for a total of 17 that day.

In 2006, I was training for the San Diego Marathon with TNT but also mentoring, so I walked with a couple of my mentees to encourage them. The next year, Michal and I walked the race together, doing the 10K in about 1 hour 21 minutes, which is a nice walking pace. I also was a member of “Team Tommy” that year to honor Tommy West, a local man with incurable liver cancer.

Last year, it rained steadily but I ran and walked the race, again as a member of “Team Tommy”. It was poignant because Tommy had died from his year-long fight with cancer just days before the race. I wore my orange “Team Tommy” race shirt, and it was the first time I ran some of the race – about 4 miles of it – so I set a PR.

Tomorrow, I will wear Tommy’s “Hope” bracelet, and also Nicki’s “Decade of Strength” bracelet and my purple TNT “T.E.A.M.” (“Train, Endure, Achieve, Matter) bracelet:


But more importantly, I will be wearing my purple team shirt from the Arizona Marathon, covered with the names of people who have had cancer. And we will have a team out there on the race course! These two things make this year’s race really special.

Sprinkled among the 32,000 or so runners and walkers tomorrow will be Team in Training’s first official Monument Avenue 10K Team of about 35 people. And those of us currently on the spring and summer teams will wear our shirts, plus I hope TNT alumni will wear their purple from the past. We won’t paint the race course purple but we will at least speckle it purple, and there will be a few TNT cheerleaders out there.

So rain or shine, run, walk, limp, hop, or crawl – I am doing this race. I will have 4 weeks to figure out whatever this foot issue is – metatarsalgia, Morton’s Neuroma, whatever – before the Country Music Half Marathon. But I am in this 10K, and I will try for a PR if my foot miraculously holds up. If it doesn’t maybe I will have my worst time in the race while having a great time at the race. But regardless, I will wear my purple with pride, and I will wear a big smile!