Every year more than 1.2 million Americans develop cancer, within this stat is the fact that every 30 seconds a new cancer is diagnosed. Seems like a lot, and pre 2007 would have simply been another number that I would have glanced over and really not given much thought to.
I might have memorized the stats and cataloged it within my brain for an eventual meaningless wager, figuring I could really build up the question and then throw out the stats hoping someone would say "I bet it is not that much". That is the way I roll.
But, then 2007 hit and people that mean a lot to me were affected by the disease. The number now means something to me. The first was my dad, Richard, who passed away after 8 years of living with leukemia. It was his passing that sparked me to do something, albiet something different, but none-the-less something. That something was to run a marathon at the south pole (or as close as I could get to the actual pole) and attempt to raise some money for the Leukemia Society in the process (more of this later).
I know that to most reading this (if anyone reads it at all), the cancer statistics are simply a number that can evoke the feeling of "too bad for them" then go on with their lives ordering cheeseburgers and pondering their deep thoughts of particle acceleration and thermal dynamics. But I figured that I could do my part to at least raise awareness and hopefully raise some money for a worthy cause.
So, why post a blog? I am not the type to sit here providing musings of feelings and personal thoughts (I will hold that to a minimum for your benefit and mine), but I have decided to provide some insight into the reasons, the training and the race itself.
