September 2009 Letter from Donna
Hello Everyone!
It’s that time again. Our training has begun for the next 26.2 With Donna and we are getting geared up once again to finish breast cancer!
You may notice a slight change in the title of our race. Well, I say slight. It’s a small change, but the meaning is significant. “Fight Breast Cancer” has been our slogan since we started on this journey three years ago, and now we’ve replaced the word “Fight” in our title with “Finish”. We are now officially “The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer.” Let me try to explain the change.
After my third diagnosis with breast cancer back in 2007, just months before our inaugural race, I promised myself I’d start looking for ways to make myself as healthy as possible. In addition to the wonderful care I received at the Mayo Clinic, I began to looking past just the physical. I wanted to learn how the mind, body, spirit connection played a role in both disease, and recovery. As a reporter, I like research so I started to dig. What I learned is something I’ve known in my gut for years. Stress is the trigger to so much disease. When we are in constant ‘fight’ mode, we are stressing our bodies. A body that is in a perpetual state of fight or flight can’t heal. I share my journey to this conclusion in a new book, Through Rose Colored Glasses: A Marathon From Fear to Love. In the book I describe the path that brought our inspiring marathon into being and my own personal marathon through cancer and recovery. If you have ever run our marathon or half marathon before, you know it’s not the same as other races. There is an energy here unlike any race I’ve ever seen. So much focus on hope and resolve to find answers. From the runners on our course, to the thousands who line the streets, there is a synergy of purpose and support and joy that is difficult to duplicate. It’s a joy that, with balance, I have learned to bring to my everyday life. My hope is that by sharing my experience, I can help others do the same. A portion of the proceeds from the book go to find a cure for breast cancer and to help the underserved with the disease.
The book is available at www.throughrosecoloredglasses.com There is a special promotion in the October Runner’s World Magazine, so look for that. And if you haven’t already registered to run with us do it today!
See you in February!
Donna Deegan
