Honored Teammates

Throughout the training process, each team is given an honored teammate. Then, if you want, you can have personal honored teammates. I am lucky enough to have two great people in my life to have as honored teammates.

The first is Emily Lawrimore, she is a great friend who has been cancer free for 11 years. It just so happens that she participated in Team In Training a few years ago, running in Vancouver. She has already run the race for others, and I am honored to now run it for her.

The second is Greg Dugan, someone I have been friends with for 12 years, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma last fall. Thanks to early detection he successfully finished chemotheraphy last month.

I'm well aware that I am lucky to have them in my life because of the advances in cancer research. Again, this is such an important cause, and I'm very proud to be a part of it.

Also, we had an honored teammate picnic on June 16. We started out the morning at 7:30 am with a 6 mile run. It was a nice one, we were on the Georgetown Waterfront. My right calve sure was achey, but I ran through it.

This was a special day in a few ways. First off, since it was the honored teammate picnic, we had all the teams from the surrounding chapters (National Capitol, Northern Virginia, and Maryland). These included marathoners, cyclists, and the triathalon teams. We heard speeches from each teams' honored teammate.

Let me tell you, that was really emotional. The cute teenage boy who joked about how his friends all shaved their heads in a sign of solidarity, and how he didn't lose all of his through chemo-- the joke was on them! The man who was diagnosed long before the newer treatments came about, and how hard on his body they were. The ones who were diagnosed after the better treatments came about, and how thankful they were for the newer treatments. And the two women who have been in remission, but both recently found out their cancer is back...

That is why cancer research is so important. There is no absolute cure. It can always come back, and we need to try as hard as we can to help in whatever way we can to find a CURE.

Thanks,
Mandi

P.S. Thanks to Barbie and Melanie, my running partners that day, who helped me stayed motivated. The speeches I heard at the picnic will DEFINITELY serve as future motivation.