Today marks 10 years since my very first chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. I can still remember the emotions of that day fairly well. I marked my 10 year anniversary - which happens to be National Cancer Survivors' Day - in two ways.
First, I laced up my running shoes at 6:30 AM and went for a run - my first real running since the
Monument Avenue 10K on March 31. The knee pain is a lot better, and it was time to try some running. I did more walking than running. For my five mile workout, I ran about 1.7 miles of it in intervals of three minutes walking and one minute running. That seemed like enough for me, but it felt good. Why five miles? Well, I was thinking of how the holy grail of cancer survivorship is five years, and neither my sister Ann nor my friend Faith made it to five years. So since I dedicated my
TNT Silent Mile yesterday to the two of them, I decided to dedicate five more silent miles to them today. When you run or walk by yourself, being silent comes kind of naturally.
Second, Mary and I joined our friend Bill at an event for cancer survivors put on by a local hospital. Bill found out last fall that he had stage 4 colon cancer. It was a pretty good event - food, music, educational talks on various subjects, and clinics on massage and meditation. It was another chance to reflect on my amazing fortune of surviving cancer, because so many people don't.
1 comment:
May you have many more years, my friend!
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