#59: Finish a 10k Race

Being diagnosed with cancer put a serious wrench in my plan to complete a half-marathon. Fortunately for me, however, training for the-half-marathon-that-would-never-be forced me get my breathlessness checked out. After all, I needed to get back to training!

It was all too easy to let myself fall off the running wagon during treatment. And I'm paying for it now - running, swimming and biking have never been more challenging. Sometimes it feels like treatment has handicapped me, and maybe my body will never perform the way it used to.

Other times, I'm blown away by how responsive my body is to a little discipline. After completing two 5km races in October, I registered for a 10.8km race in December. It was an ambitious goal; the last time I ran a 10km was a year before my diagnosis, and the Egg Nog Jog, I learned, is notoriously hilly.

The race was last Sunday and... I finished it! It was hard, though, hard-as-hell. And the lesson I learned is, my body may be different, but my character hasn't changed a bit. And like most athletes know, it's the latter's strength that gets you across the finish line.