Cancer + Taking Risks

In 2019 I ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. When I finished, I swore I would never do it again.

This weekend, I watched the TCS New York City Marathon. I stood in the grandstands, right as the runners came up over the final hill and saw the finish line for the first time. I saw a lot of faces full of euphoria, a lot of eyes full of tears, a lot of fists in the air. It made me feel a lot of things.

So I did a stupid thing that night as my girlfriend recounted the race with other finishers: I entered the lottery for the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

Now, this doesn't mean I am running. It means I might be running.

You may be wondering, Molly, if you don't get selected in the lottery, why not fundraise and run for charity? 

You see, by entering the lottery, I'm leaving it up to fate. If I'm selected, EEK! I'm running a marathon. If I'm not, WHEW! I don't have to run a marathon. It's like a fun little game of Running Russian Roulette that nobody forced me to play.

I never thought I would see 26.2 ever again. I remember the day I ran it, I would shout at other runners on the sidewalks of Chicago, "You don't have to do this!! No one is forcing you to do this! You can stop at any time!"

Now, the logistics are going to be tricky - training for a marathon while enduring cancer treatment is not going to be easy. Not that training for a marathon is ever easy. Every other week I will feel like absolute ass, so I have to choose carefully when I want to do my long runs. 

Do you think "I have cancer, what's your excuse?" will fit on a running shirt?

If I get selected to run in 2023, and I train, and I finish this thing? Anything is possible. Literally anything. Dream big. Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you'll land among the stars and be stranded in space with limited oxygen supply, but hey space is pretty cool and dying from asphyxiation in outer space sounds better than dying of cancer so I say go for it.

Anyway, I'll report back on December 8th whether or not I'm selected.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 17, 2022 at 5:22 PM

    Fingers crossed!!! Rooting for you every day

    ReplyDelete

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