Take Another Piece

The second charity of the year to contact me was my very own Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I say “my very own” because I ran a half marathon for them last May. I know this organization all too well. To be more precise, I ran, walked, limped, hobbled and probably most importantly, raised funds for them. Some of you might remember the journal I kept. I documented all 60+ runs that brought me to the final moments of the end: 13.1 miles. See, LLs takes ordinary plain janes like myself (and joes) and turns them into athletes, however temporary. The Society doesn’t just ask for a handout, they ask you to give everything you’ve got – blood, sweat and tears – and thensome. In return, they turn one of your greatest challenges into your greatest adventure. They take your energy (or lack thereof) and add to it more pride and accomplishment than you’ve ever seen. With the help of trainers, coaches and 24 hour support they train you to not only to raise the funds, but to finish the endurance challenge of your choice. You start the challenge worrying about how to ask people for money and you end it with the understanding that there are extremely kind and generous people in the world. You start the journey thinking you can’t run a single mile and end it knowing you can run 13.1 or even 26.2 miles.  In short you go from being a doubter to a believer in the one thing that matters – yourself. They may ask you to raise a ridiculous amount, they may ask you to run a ridiculous amount, they may ask you to give a ridiculous amount, but they give you back something far more precious – a huge sense of accomplishment. Believe me, I kick my own ass all the time, but I was never more proud of myself than on 5/13/06.

So, here the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society contacted me again…wanting another piece of me. They are relentless! And why shouldn’t they be? Cancer is just as relentless. The day after my race I lamented that cancer just doesn’t quit.

I didn’t sign up for another challenge. I wrote a check instead. Actually, what I should say is, “I didn’t sign up for another challenge…yet.” See you in the gym.