Susan Komen 5K 10/28/17
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| With my survivor tattoo |
Running is a winter sport for me. It lets me enjoy outside activity when the
temperature gets too cold for cycling.
So I have accumulated enough winter gears, I thought, but when I signed
up, I was not expecting freeze warning morning in Dallas. I didn’t know about this event until I got in
regular check up with Dr. Hughes, my breast surgeon during fall break. I was
finally doing some Coach Troy’s Runvervals workouts on treadmill. I was not sure about signing up then Tony
said, “Whatever you do, I will support you!”
As a survivor, I thought I would have to experience it.
Location is at North Park Mall, pretty close to where I
teach. I knew it is a famous event and
of course, in Dallas, traffic and parking would be a problem. These days, Tony is ahead of my “get there
early” comments and we arrived at the basement of Macy’s premium parking spot
with still spots to choose. It was still
dark, but there were plenty of people already there. I checked the bathroom location, did a short
warm-up run and took care of my concerns with #2. I picked up the medal and walked around the
area. Tony and I went to Survivor tent and picked up
a bag of swags. Oh, boy there were so
many! As you know, pink will fit in my
wardrobe theme just fine!
Announcement from the big stage started and soon timed
runners were told to go north side of Park Lane. I noticed timing mat and people who were
there sure looked like they paid $5 extra for official timing. Tony was talking to a survivor who is
cheering for her grandson. We later
found out he won second overall. Fun
warm ups started, we were already staged at the start area and I could not
quite see. We saw numerous helicopters
and drones. I kept moving and handed
over warm hat and jacket to Tony. The
plan was the same from two weeks ago.
Every 0.5 miles, I will take a quick walk break and shoot for 13:00
min/mile pace.
The race started!
Start line rush got me going again.
This time, I was carefully looking at the pace more frequently. I knew runners around me should be a lot
faster and more experienced. This is the
area I am familiar with: my plastic surgeon’s office is across the street and
school is pretty close. Going west on
Park Lane felt more uphill than I knew from driving. Once we turned to north it was going up and
down constantly. On the bike, I probably
would not feel it except changing gears.
About a mile in, I stashed my ear warmer and gloves and opened the
jersey. By now, the sun is out and it is
a chilly fall morning, perfect for running.
Shortly after halfway point, there was water station and SO MANY
volunteers are waiting for us in the cold.
I could hear I was not the only one that desperately needed it. When I turned Hillcrest (my non-highway
commute route), I started to feel settled and looked at the pace to be about
12:00 min/mile again. I was warm by this
time thinking, somehow I should figure out base layer to be taken out next
time. But the good thing is 5K is almost
over. For a cyclist who spends hours on
the bike, this is extremely good news. About
half way through Park Lane, I noticed 1K walkers are joining in, too. They were more relaxed and celebration mode
and that became a problem once we turned off Park towards the finish line. Fellow runners were having hard time to find
a line to reach the finish. I took a
little comfort in my cycling (teaching) voice announcing I am passing those
people and made the last push to the finish line. I made an effort to thank all police officers
and volunteers on course.
Tony tried to catch me at the finish, but saw flood of
walkers coming and missed me video taping at the finish. The music was going on and it was even hard
to hear him on the phone to meet up again.
We finally did and after bathroom and grabbing muffins, we went back to
the parking for me to change. Now I was
getting cold. I got to use Undress, I
ordered in 2014 that didn’t come early enough to serve me in 2015 running
season (cancer diagnosis in September) for the first time. I got rid of everything I had on and changed
to dry and warm pink clothes! With that
chaotic finish, Tony didn’t remember how I placed among timed survivors, so we
went out to look for results. I didn’t
win American Airlines mileage, but I wasn’t last in the category, either. With THAT MUCH people participating,
surprisingly there were only 14 survivors participated with timing chip. I knew it was 35 minutes something and I didn’t
finish my run watch until much later after the finish, so it was good to see I
did just as good, if not better than, Tour de Cure run.
This event is not just a race, but it is a celebration of
life. To me, it is life I was given
again when I beat breast cancer with the support of Tony, family, friends, students and colleagues
thanks to my medical team. It was a
great day to be reminded of this important chapter in my life. I kept on cycling during the treatment, but
being able to run 5K means a lot to me.
Thank you for the opportunity!
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