RAD Journal: What has changed in your life since your running journey began?
This month, we asked our RADrabbit Team what has changed in their lives since they began their running journeys. We were moved by the team's responses. Read James, Troy, and LiAnn's writing below.
James Ahn
Since my running journey began, I have been able to better understand what it means to live life with purpose and a cause. Running has changed my life in that it has allowed my values and principles to take shape into a tangible cause. I always wanted to make a difference in my community. I just never really knew how. At least, in a meaningful way.
The first race I ever ran was the Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital Star Kids 5k to raise support, awareness, and funding after seeing the difficulties these courageous kids and their families faced on a daily basis. Real talk, it was going to be a one-time thing after my guilty conscience was strong-armed into it😊; however, amidst burning lungs and gelatinous legs, I was deeply inspired by all the kiddos and the running community. Since then, I started running for my pediatric cancer patients.
The care of a patient is multi-pillared. While medicine is the core pillar it also cannot reach its full potential without another vital pillar built on community. The running community is no exception. It is both a local and global network that provides support, hope, and avenues to raise awareness for many different types of causes, including pediatric cancer. The most compelling aspect is that it provides opportunities for kids to engage with others who share the same passion for their cause, participate in healthy forms of activities, and be proactive in battling their illnesses. It brings people together under one banner to raise awareness, further research – and most importantly – simply be there for our pediatric cancer patients.
The running community is comprised of the fiercest competitors I know who strive to be the best, win, and support each other through and beyond the finish line. I have seen their feats directly inspire my patients to be courageous as they face their own challenges head-on. Day to day, I work closely with a dedicated team taking care of pediatric patients with leukemia and lymphoma. We see these kiddos at their best. We also see them at their worst. We cherish in their victories over cancer but also stand by them and their families in their last moments. Medicine has come a long way in treating leukemia and lymphoma, but we aspire to do even more. This aspiration is the cause I run for.
Finding a cure for cancer is very much like running. It is a long journey requiring hard work, dedication, sacrifice, intestinal fortitude, and passion. It also takes curiosity and humility. Curiosity to keep asking questions and challenging the status quo. Humility to constantly learn and grow. We experience setbacks, frustration, loss, and failures. But – also, victory. We never stay down. Every step I run is to be a source of inspiration and bring my pediatric cancer patients closer to victory. Each of us is motivated by robust experiences, harrowing tragedies, and defining victories that leave an indelible mark on our souls. The human condition uniquely shapes and leads us to stand for certain principles, values, and ideals. Running transcends the physical. It is an expression that allows what we stand for to take shape into a tangible cause.
Never in my wildest dreams did I even fathom running a marathon. Let alone a mile. On October 13, 2024, I will be racing in the Chicago Marathon as a team member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In addition to just surviving and making it through the 26.2 miles, I hope to do right by my pediatric cancer patients in both honoring and remembering them with every step.
Troy Coleman
Since I started running, my notions of what is possible have expanded. This may sound like a platitude, but I mean it in a very pragmatic way. I jumped into marathons right away, having only run an 8K before signing up for the Chicago Marathon (when that was still an option). It was my home town and I just had this notion that somehow, despite no evidence to support it, I could run a marathon. I quickly discovered running a marathon is too much for my mind to consider all at once. I also quickly discovered not Googling "What can go wrong in a marathon?" Looking at a training plan is even more overwhelming. Seeing all those weeks of miles and the numbers getting steadily larger. I remember thinking "I do not know if I can run twelve miles, let alone twenty a few weeks later!" Yet, like many before me, I began whittling away at the miles. Completing that first marathon showed me clearly that an overwhelming goal is possible when I break it down into manageable (yet still tough) bites.
What this has allowed me to do that I did not think I could do before is to chart bigger goals. I am an actor by trade with an exuberant joy in helping others. I am the cheer station at races you can hear a block away. When an unexpected layoff happened, I had an idea that I would like to position myself to become a theatre teacher. On top of that, I wanted to be a university professor. This idea felt as distant as that first marathon starting line. I had graduated with a bachelor's almost twenty years earlier. The logistics of returning to school to get the necessary advanced degree seemed as impossible as that first twelve-mile run. Running, though, has shown me that no matter the distance of the race, it always breaks down into smaller pieces. The training. The race. Sometimes, just the day. I looked at this daunting list of requirements to get an advanced degree and started the process, just as I did with that first training plan. I will not lie, writing an application essay for the first time in twenty years made me year for a solid twenty miler to do instead.
I am happy to say that I finished that degree, all while holding a full-time job. It sparked an interest in a bigger goal, just like racing has for me. I began a Ph.D program last fall in theatre and performance. My goals have gotten bigger, and I am undertaking the biggest training plan I have ever imagined. Instead of my fourteen-week marathon training, I am looking at my next five years. Running showed me how to do this. If I had not discovered that big goals are possible racing, I would not have seriously considered something this ambitious. Now I see twenty-mile runs and twenty-page papers in the same light and apply all the lessons learned, lacing up and heading out the door, one day at a time. I am now pursuing a degree I never imagined possible and researching wellness for performers playing villainous roles. Running has brought me community and joy, and now it has paved the way to dream bigger dreams.
LiAnn Anderson
Hello! My name is LiAnn Anderson and I'm a 42 yr old mom of 4 kids and 2 bonus kids.
So much has changed since I first began running at the end of 2015.
I ran my 1st race on June 5th 2016 in Corona Del Mar. The very next day, my daughter (7 yrs old) decided that she wanted to start running with me after my rave race review.
I went through a contentious divorce in 2017. Running helped me cope with the stress and being alone when my kids were at their dad’s home (we share custody). I started running more and joined a running club and Strava. I started talking to my future husband Mike (also a RAD) on Strava and our first date was at the OC Marathon and running the half together.
At the end of 2019, we found out that I was expecting. I ran the Surf City half marathon at 16 weeks pregnant with Mike by my side for the last 4 miles. The next month, COVID shut everything down. We were both considered essential workers and we both caught it in mid-June.
At 36 weeks pregnant, I landed in the ICU barely breathing and extremely sick. I had an emergency c-section and our little guy was in NICU for a week. I have approximately 75% of normal lung function because of the scarring and permanent damage left behind. My doctors said that if I didn’t have such strong, healthy lungs, I may not have pulled through.
Mike and I tied the knot in Las Vegas in August of 2020. And we celebrated the next day by enjoying our first run together as husband and wife.
After months of trying to rebuild my former strength and endurance, I had another medical setback. We were in a car accident in 2021 that gave me a severe concussion, reversed neck vertebrae and damage to my lower back and left knee. I am still dealing with neck and lower back pain. Even though my times are slower and I hurt more than I used to, I still love to run and be supportive of my fellow runners.
Without running, I wouldn’t have been able to coach my daughter as a runner as well. She ran her first race with me in October 2016 at only 7 years old. It was a hard, hilly trail race but she was hooked because she took 1st place in her age group. She is now a cross country and track athlete in high school and has her sights set on conquering her first marathon just after she turns 15.
I am also currently the team captain for the OC Marathon Corporate Challenge run/walk team at the company I work for. By talking to people and sharing my stories, good and bad, I have been able to sign up my coworkers for their first 5ks and half marathons. I will be helping lead training runs, walks and creating an inclusive community at work.
