Thursday, January 1, 2015

26 reasons to run - reason #2

First things first... thanks so much to those of you who have helped me to get past the mid-way point in my fundraising for my 8th event with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society... I am enormously grateful!!

As I write, I currently have another $1200 to go... and essentially 3 weeks to get there! and, I can do it. I have good reasons to keep at it.

Here is reason #2 that I run, and that I am trying to help find a cure for cancer.

Mile #2, I run for my friend Bonnie

A few decades ago now, I was living with my friend Kris and her son attending university. My family had moved clear across the country for my dad to go to law school, and air travel in Canada is prohibitively expensive (particularly on a student's budget)... So Kris' mom Bonnie generously invited me to come north to spend the Christmas holidays with them. Their family is large and noisy like mine, and I was made so welcome that I forgot to feel homesick for my family at Christmas that year.

Bonnie was diagnosed with lymphoma just months after her husband had died suddenly of a heart attack. She made her way through treatment with several young children at home, as well as kids in university... Bonnie has been cancer-free for more than 20 years.



So on mile #2 of my 20 mile training run on Saturday (and on race day), I will think of Bonnie and her family, and the challenges they overcame during her illness... puts the challenges of training for and running a marathon into perspective, if you know what I mean.

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