The next morning I woke up and went for a run, hoping that my body and mind would cooperate with what I had in mind, after posting it on FB so I wouldn't wuss out...though those closest to me had known my plan for a while. That morning I ran a virtual 10k. At the same time that morning, Race for the Cure was going on in Winston-Salem, and I really wanted to go in support of my friend, who was battling Stage IV cancer. But I also really wanted to do Jogging for Jonah in Clemmons. I couldn't be in two places at once, but one day I had a genius idea, rather than make myself sick choosing one over the other, I would do both races...here. Turns out if I run to the end of my friend's neighborhood and back, it is one mailbox longer than a 10k. Perfect! I got into a groove...I wasn't too fast, I wasn't too slow, and despite an encounter with a scary, hyper, overly excited pit bull/boxer puppy (think knock-me-over big, don't think aw-cute), I had an awesome run, even though it wasn't a PR. Mile 5-6 is pretty tough because it is UPHILL the whole way back to my neighborhood, but I prayed the prayer I have said for the past two months. It is a very specific, aggressive prayer...that the chemo would get every single bit of cancer in my friend's body, and that it would all LEAVE and not COME BACK. I focused on each area I knew the cancer had spread. She is on my mind a lot when I run, because I figure most days she would love to exercise, and most days she can't. Runs like that make we wonder why I don't do long runs more often.
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