· Date: Saturday July 20, 2019
· Where: Defiance, Ohio to Lakeside Marblehead, Ohio
· Total Distance Covered: 93 miles
· Running Partner: Lizzie
There isn’t much that stands out from this morning. It was significantly cooler than yesterday but still not your ideal running weather. Suddenly, running in eighty-degree weather felt like a breeze since it was thirty degrees cooler than yesterday. I think the cooler weather was attributed to the fact that our destination for the night, Lakeside Marblehead, Ohio, was a small and narrow peninsula in the southernmost portion of Lake Erie. As we got closer, the route ran along the peninsula along the Sandusky Bay and through Port Clinton. This area of the route was surrounded almost completely by water and if you are looking in on a map, you have to zoom in to see the peninsula. We were grateful for the dramatically different weather in comparison to yesterday.
Today, I ran with Lizzie who in the summer of 2019 was entering her sophomore year in college. Her goal was to be a dietician and she knew a lot about how to eat healthy. We had some good conversations about this and we both found it frustrating how every source always says something different about what it means “to eat healthy.”
At one point in the day, I ran a few extra miles with Rob and Evan who were partners for the day. Rob had just found a game that was like fantasy football, but for professional track instead. Since there was an IAAF London Diamond League meet starting today, the three of us talked about who was running which race, and who we thought would win. We picked some athletes for our teams and then for the next few days as the meet went on, we all enjoyed following along and competing with each other. It was so much fun! For the remainder of the summer, Rob, Evan, Tyler S., and I would play together, and this is something I wish we had kept going after the 4K for Cancer.
As we got further along, we ran through Port Clinton which reminded me of a tourist town with numerous small shops, restaurants, and attractions. At one point, Lizzie, Evan, Rob, and I ran past a beautiful mural where we had to stop and have someone take our picture for us. Overall, the remainder of the route was an area where I would love to come back and explore someday with friends and family. From the Bark Until Dark Dog Park, to the murals throughout the town, I found it all so unique.
This area is also where Emily grew up. Her family would spend a lot of time in Port Clinton and Lakeside Marblehead. Her house, which we would later go to for dinner, was located on a golf course community on Catawba Island. The island was a beautiful area north of the peninsula and I can only imagine Emily and her family loved the time they have been able to spend here. As we were running through, Emily ran past someone she knew and stopped to talk with them for a while. Then within a few blocks, her family was waiting for her on a street corner to surprise her! It was so cool, and it made us all wish the 4K for Cancer route had gone through our hometowns too!
The dinner tonight was held at Emily’s house where they gave everyone more than enough food to enjoy seconds or even thirds. Her house was beautiful, and everyone had a golf cart. Behind her house, was a green for the golf course where her family often went golfing. The team was able to shower in the club’s shower room which seemed like a luxury resort locker room. The whole place was honestly a little preppy and I felt a bit out of my comfort zone. But Emily’s family and her neighbors were extremely warm and welcoming. After a while, Emily’s dad made a speech and thanked us all for what we were doing. He explained in depth his connection to cancer and then asked us all to go around and explain ours. Sometimes, when people asked us to do this, it was awkward. But this time there was something about it that made it extremely relaxed, casual, and fun. Everyone went around the room and said our name, why we were participating in the 4K for Cancer, what our plans were for school, and what the best and worst part of the trip was. We went around for quite a while, but we all had so much fun and I think it brought us all closer as a team as well.
The highs and lows of the trip always brought out laughter and jokes. It was a group consensus that some of our lowest moments were when we had to share five bags of grapes for dinner or when we had trouble finding showers. Yet almost everyone’s high was something different. From a specific area we had visited, to a unique person we had met traveling, or a different lesson we had learned, it was always unique to each person. This is what to me, makes the 4K for Cancer so great. Although I had my frustrations about the organization of the foundation and the 4K for Cancer Program, it had achieved so many amazing things in its participants and those with whom we interacted. For me, my least favorite part of the trip was and always will be the food. But my favorite has evolved over my time since we’ve reached Boston. In Lakeside Marblehead, Ohio, I explained that my favorite aspect was all the people we had met and gotten to know such as the Manahan Family yesterday or Rick McIntyre in Yellowstone. I also explained that I enjoyed the different things we had stumbled upon such as Chicago’s Cancer Survivor’s Plaza, or Jackson Lake in the Grand Tetons. But now, after a year of reflection, I am realizing my favorite part of the 4K for Cancer was the evolution of my perspectives with my cancer experience. At this point in the trip though, I had not realized that this perspective would change so dramatically. Yes, I had been thinking a lot since visiting Chicago’s Cancer Survivor’s Plaza, but I hadn’t made any concrete change in my perspective or mentality on survivorship yet. That was still to come.
That night, I called Annalyse and Aly who were spending the weekend together and I was extremely jealous of. I missed them both! As I laid down to go to sleep, I made an incredible realization with my pillow. For the past thirty-four days, I had been using a small, thin camp pillow. I would fold my sweatshirt and put it under the pillow so that I could prop my head up and be more comfortable. But tonight, I realized that if I folded my sweatshirt into my hood and stuffed the pillow in there, nothing would slide around at night. Suddenly, my pillow was perfect! I was hopeful that I would sleep well tonight.
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