Reasons to Run

There are so many reasons to train for a half marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Here are few more. One is about Charlotte, a beautiful little girl in Nashville and her family's battle against leukemia; another details an Alabama baseball coach's battle with blood cancer; and the last is a menu of all-out efforts in North Carolina in honor of Samantha, a young girl who has survived her seven-year battle. Hyperlinks are being hyper today so you get the actual links:

http://web.mac.com/cjsigmund/Site/Charlottes_Leukemia_Blog/Charlottes_Leukemia_Blog.html

http://www.bjgreensolf.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50

http://www.hopeformarrow.org/

I ran yesterday with Coach Heather after work. I felt like a slacker for not rolling out of bed all chipper yesterday morning, but the body said, "Not now." My mind said "yes" when I received Heather's e-mail to join her for a late run.

We ran 3.4 miles on Belmont Blvd. Heather went fast from the start to the point where carrying a conversation wasn't easy. That didn't stop our chatter. I finally found a rhythm after 1.5 miles. It was 88 degrees, but I felt better as the run went along and finished well. Pace was 8:30 or so for most of the run, faster at the end.

I'm eying another crack at the Firecracker 5K on July 4. Last year's time was just over 24 minutes. The last five minutes were painful. It will be good to go at it again and see where things stand.

I talked with several fund-raising donors yesterday who said they were happy to help the cause. One told me he lost a relative to blood cancer. It's everywhere you turn, it seems, these days. Two people told me this week they believe our family is an instrument of God ... that this was His plan ... that we are showing what peace and love mean to folks who need it. Quite a few folks shared that prediction when Dori was diagnosed.

The funny thing is ... It's turned out to be true. We receive comments from people - close friends and people we don't know as well - who say things like, "I draw great strength from Dori," "We've really had things put in perspective," or "I re-evaluate often after what you all have been through."

Is this a reason why diseases exist? Life isn't supposed to be easy or fair, contrary to what some people think. The "Why me?" or "It's not fair" argument is the easy fallback position. As I've said before, I wholeheartedly believe this journey (now and always) is a test, God's looking us in the eye, and saying, "What are you going to do?" Carpe diem.