Today I began training for a 10k hike/trail run! I will be using this space to document my training and the adventures I have along the way. But first, my reason for training in the first place…
Over the past several months, state and federal funds for cancer research have been cut. This is unexceptable but Pelotonia is known to raise millions for cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Last year they raised over $26 million. This year, I want to be a part of that.
This is important to me for many reasons, but these are the main three:
1. In September 2020, my grandma was diagnosed with advanced melanoma. In the height of pre-vaccine Covid, driving her an hour each way to Columbus for her treatments, scans, and surgeries at OSU was the only time I got to spend with her in her final 3.5 months of life. Despite how sick she was at the time, she was adamant about donating blood at her appointments to aide in further research of treatments.
2. I learned about Pelotonia years ago from my friend Chris who rode annually with her spouse and later with her daughter, even before she was diagnosed with cancer herself. I’ve never been coordinated enough to ride a bicycle any distance, especially on a road, so I was thrilled to learn about the hike/trail run option this year, especially since Chris was my main trail running buddy when I used to run more regularly. I have never met anyone more inspired and motivated to live than Chris was, and her passion to ride her bicycle, run, and train for a race is certainly what got her through some of the harder times and made her body strong enough to fight cancer as long as she did. I miss Chris a lot and think about her frequently and I’m honored to participate in Pelotonia in honor of her. I know she would be encouraging me and training beside me if she were still here today.
3. My third reason is for my community. Working in Family Medicine at OSU now, it is not uncommon for me to room patients and have them share with me, unrelated to their appointment, that they are x years cancer-free, or the progress they’ve made in their current treatments. I know this would not be possible without FUNDING for the life-saving research being done at OSU.
So, my friends, I’m asking for your support in this journey. Please consider bookmarking my blog to follow along… I promise it’ll be nature-y!
I will also need monetary donations to meet my fundraising goal in order to participate in Pelotonia. 100% of your donation goes directly to OSU cancer research.
You can donate here: https://www.pelotonia.org/profile/AW975358
Thank you! 🥰
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