My 5K Run towards Survivorship
March 2, 2024
Tomorrow, I plan to wake up early, around 5:30am to run a 5K race with hundreds of other people. My time will be officially recorded. The Maui 5K (3.1 miles) race starts at 7am sharp and proceeds support the local schools.
unds normal. Normal enough for most people.
But I don’t feel normal. In many ways, I shouldn’t be running at all. And I don’t run just for myself anymore.
You see, fifty-four weeks ago, I had surgery to remove a grade-3 tumor from my leg. Since it was Sarcoma, they cut wide margins with the surgeon successfully cutting it out with a R0 of 6mm margin. However, I lost my IT-band and part of my hamstrings and quads. It took some time to walk without a limp. More time to build leg strength and re-train my brain to balance correctly on uneven surfaces.
Even more time to build up to walk, then more time to run. Then even more time to run the required distance.
In the weeks before my surgery, I needed a defiant goal. One that would worry my wife, annoy the doctors, and provide me with a tangible, specific, (somewhat) achievable, and (maybe) not too stupid. I didn’t know it at the time that it was my step towards living survivorship.
To me, it was a faint picture of life beyond the “end-of-treatment”.
And so, I set my mind that I was going to run a 5K race for time and that was the end of any discussions about the wisdom of it. I told my surgeon what I was going to do and that he needed to adjust his “method” of surgery to allow me to run. The doctor honored my request (or more likely it was already his standard “method”). Later, a nurse made a comment about me being the athlete. I didn’t see it at the time, but my defiant goal was a small inspiration to medical folks that their work would do some good, help at least one of their patients to have a better life.
Tomorrow is the race I’ve been training for over a year. I plan to reach my defiant goal to overcome the odds. But now it’s no longer “my race” or “my achievement”. My daughter and nephew are running the race too.
I also run for other people. My family, friends, and you.
It feels weird to be an inspiration to others, especially the younger generation. I don’t fully understand all of it, but the defiant act of running some random 5K road race after cancer surgery gives others an example of what’s possible. It shows the hope that they indeed have the resilience to overcome today’s struggles, and the ones coming in the future.
It’s amazing how just one race can give hope to others. What’s your race, your Arise2Live defiant goal?
I’ll write more after the race.
#Arise2Live #survivorship #Sarcoma
