Zion National Park Half Marathon

This past weekend, I ran my first post-cancer half marathon.

Running is my happy place, and for the past year the joy of running has been robbed from me. During chemo I was too sick and tired to run (or walk for that matter) so I had to set my beloved running aside. But in August, while still in the hospital recovery from a double mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction, my dear friend Dana asked if I’d want to run a half marathon in April.

Obviously I said yes. Maybe it was the painkillers talking?

At the beginning of November, I started a slow, arduous training. Running no longer came naturally, but I still loved it all the same.

On April 1st, my feet hit the trails in my first post-cancer race. It was hard (altitude of 6500), the trail was muddy (so muddy that at times we had to walk single file), there was snow, and a mind that wasn’t quite sure I could finish. But finish I did.

I couldn’t have done any of this without the encouragement of Dana, without the unending support of Jonathan and my kiddos, and without Christ to remind me to run the good race well.