Moving for Melanoma 5K - If you ever thought to read one of my posts, please make it this one. (September 20, 2015)

As a general rule, I do not touch on serious topics in my blog, or anywhere outside the realm of my close friends.  Even then, I try to do it sparingly.  Everyone is dealing with different daily challenges and carrying different burdens.  No one needs additional heaviness.  I will not say that this blogpost is heavy, or burdening, but it is serious, and for good reason.  This week, I did the Moving for Melanoma 5K with one of my dearest, and definitely my longest-standing friend, Leigh.

Leigh has been my friend my entire life.  Our parents have been friends forever.  I cannot remember a point in my life when I did not know Leigh, which I think most people can only say about siblings or cousins.

In June 2015, Leigh went to a dermatologist appointment (as I hope everyone does every year).  She wanted her doctor to look at a mole that she thought looked funny.  Her dermatologist did not think the spot looked alarming, but removed the spot for a biopsy.  Leigh's instinct was correct, and shortly after her biopsy, she was informed that she had melanoma.  Not only that, the melanoma had spread to her lymphnodes.  Metastatic melanoma.

Leigh is 33, and at the time of her diagnosis, had a 3-month old baby, Rory.  Yeah, he is the little guy in the pictures.  As usual, cancer did not care about a person's age, or life responsibilities.

Leigh was diligent and received quick and successful surgical treatment. The entire ordeal caused Leigh to become inspired to find funding for melanoma research.

Leigh organized a group of us to participate in the Moving for Melanoma 5K in Wilmington, Delaware.
 

The race was huge!  When I pulled into the parking lot at the Wilmington waterfront, I was shocked at the number of teams!  In 2016, we will need to get some kick ass team shirts to keep up with the T-game around us.  The 5K was a nice loop around the Wilmington waterfront.  The sponsors were giving away loads of sunscreen, which I diligently snagged. 

Of importance...to me, Leigh and I crushed her husband in the race.  Sure, you might say, "hey, he is pushing a baby." One, look at that serious face.  You cannot underestimate a competitor who looks that serious.  Second, I have lost to people running with babies before.  I think they secretly give you momentum.  I am counting this as a win.  Sorry, Ty.

Unfortunately, after a few months in remission, Leigh's cancer returned.  She has undergone surgery again, and she is hoping to get in a trial at Foxchase Cancer Center for immunotherapy treatment that is supposed to be very good.

 Leigh is a redhead with fair skin and probably more diligent about sun care than most people of my generation.  I will say that people my age (we will go with roughly 30) are better than our parents were about sunscreen.  I never witnessed my friends rolling around in baby oil and basking in the sun, which are the tales I hear from people my parents' age.  That said, I also see my friends diligently slathering 50 SPF sunscreen on their children in a way I never saw them put sunscreen on themselves when we were growing up.  That is why I think our generation is at a huge disadvantage in the healthy skin battle.  For our generation, both the ozone and the sunscreen use were weak. 

I encourage anyone to become an advocate for whatever they care about.  I'm not hear to preach, but if you don't have a cause and are looking to help out society in some way, efforts to improve cancer research is a great place to focus your time and energy.   Do the Melanoma 5K in Wilmington if you are in that area.  Consider joining our 2016 team because I have no doubt that Leigh will be putting a team together next year.  I love you, Leigh!  You are strong, and you are a fighter, and I am so proud of you.

And in the words of Baz Luhrman, wear sunscreen.

Revenge of the Penguins 10-miler - Beautiful scenery and one penguin mascot (September 13, 2015)

I ended up registered for the Revenge of the Penguins by chance.  I was registered for a 10-miler scheduled for the previous spring, but I became incredibly sick the week of that race and requested to transfer my bib to another race.  The organization hosting the race was incredibly nice and told me I could transfer my bib to a September race called Revenge of the Penguins.  Who doesn't love penguins?  Black and white animals are adorable in general. One word. Pandas.  I guess Zebras aren't so much adorable as majestic, but I am  getting side tracked.

Anyhow, I am so happy with how this twist of fate worked out because the course was beautiful.  That said... getting there was an adventure.

The race was held at Carderock Park in Maryland.  Basically, on the opposite side of DC (from me...give or take... I'm geographically challenged), near Bethesda.   I could not find an exact address for the Park, but I wasn't worried.  I try not to look at any of the race information until the morning of the race because I like the element of surprise, or apparently, being lost.  I also find reading directions painful, which is why I don't own any IKEA products.

The day of the race, I even slept in a little...because I am an idiot. My logic - no one will be on the road, and Google maps can get me to the park because Google maps can do anything. Well, Google maps dropped me in the back of a neighborhood in Maryland, and apparently wanted me to abandon my car and hike to the middle of the forest.  That didn't seem right.

Race time was quickly approaching.  I left the adorable, but incorrect Maryland neighborhood and got back on the main road.  I drove around about 20 more minutes looking for civilization. Keep in mind, it wasn’t even 8 in the morning, and I was in a wilderness area, so there weren’t a lot of options.  Suddenly, what did I see ahead?  A bakery!  Perfection!  I would stop, get a delicious pre-race treat, get directions to the park and be on my way!  I went into the bakery and asked the store owner about the location of Carderock park. 

Turns out, I had stumbled upon a Korean bakery, which although delicious, presented a slight language barrier.  The man behind the counter had never heard of the park.  Well, that was a bummer.  Oh wait, another customer walked in.  I asked that gentleman about the park.  He could speak very little English and did not recognize the park.  Fuck. I thought to myself, this sucks...and, I should look into Rosetta Stone.  I'm never making the race.

Luckily, the shit in the bakery looked delicious, so as a consolation, I purchased a number of fruit tarts, cookies and danishes and got back in my car #healthy.  I gave up the ghost and started to drive home.  The Nation’s Triathlon (the real badasses) was about to start in downtown DC, so instead of driving back through the city to get home, I decided to take 495.  As I drove towards 495, I saw a sign for the Carderock Park’s picnic area!  It was a race day miracle.  I ended up getting to the race 5 minutes before start.

I can't say enough about the course.  We ran on the C&O Canal Towpath. It was gorgeous. Just look at the pictures.  At one point, the Potomac river was on one-side and the locks of the C&O Canal were on the other.  It was quiet and beautiful.
 

I have noticed that Maryland courses (based on all two Maryland races that I have run in) tend to be narrower, which is a little difficult in the beginning, but I think makes for a more pleasant race overall because it usually means the race is off the beaten path, smaller, and quieter.  The description online says it perfectly, "low-key, low-stress."

At the end of the race was an incredibly grungy looking penguin mascot being inundated with children who wanted to be held.  Watching that spectacle towards the finish line gave me a good giggle.  There is no way that mascot costume could be dry cleaned enough to recover from that day.  More importantly, at the end of the race was tons of peanut butter, and we received a nifty windbreaker with a picture of the penguin emblem, which you see above. 

I definitely recommend signing up for this race.  See http://www.mc-coop.org/revenge_of_the_penguins.aspx

I know I want run it again!