Dave, Janet, and a huge group of friends participated in the Purple Stride San Diego 2013 5K yesterday...what a fun and inspiring day! Over 1,300 runners and walkers participated, raising nearly $175K for pancreatic cancer research. There was an emotional story from a pancreatic cancer survivor, who was diagnosed at 32 (and with a 2-year old child), but beat the odds and today is a 16-year survivor, still going strong.
The plan was that Dave would wait to start near the back of the pack, wearing a face mask, with all hugs going to Janet, to ensure he didn't get any germs in his immuno-suppressed state. This was the fourth day after months of chemo and radiation ended, after all.
Of course, nothing goes according to plan, especially with Big D. We did wait to start near the back, yes, but Dave started jogging and never stopped, even accelerating on the return leg! He didn't have his face mask on for very long, and he certainly was quite "huggy", leaving Janet with fewer than she was hoping for.
A few of us (myself included) were a bit surprised, as we were expecting to walk! Most ran alongside Dave, some did both, and the rest walked. A couple times on the course Dave turned around and backtracked to check on everyone, jogging the whole time (I think he actually did 7K, the overachiever).
How is it possible that the guy who was supposed to be recovering from chemo/radiation kicked all of our butts? Because that's the kind of guy Dave is! All of us competitive swimmers agreed we wouldn't have it any other way...
The plan was that Dave would wait to start near the back of the pack, wearing a face mask, with all hugs going to Janet, to ensure he didn't get any germs in his immuno-suppressed state. This was the fourth day after months of chemo and radiation ended, after all.
Of course, nothing goes according to plan, especially with Big D. We did wait to start near the back, yes, but Dave started jogging and never stopped, even accelerating on the return leg! He didn't have his face mask on for very long, and he certainly was quite "huggy", leaving Janet with fewer than she was hoping for.
A few of us (myself included) were a bit surprised, as we were expecting to walk! Most ran alongside Dave, some did both, and the rest walked. A couple times on the course Dave turned around and backtracked to check on everyone, jogging the whole time (I think he actually did 7K, the overachiever).
Why am I not surprised, but tearfully joyful at reading this news! Because it's David! I am so proud to know him as a friend and a brother!!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's David. Who cares about the odds. David seems to always overcome the odds no matter what the risk is. Keep kicking butt David. We all love ya.
ReplyDeleteFor a split second, when I viewed these pics it looked like you had Janet's bra in your hand. I thought wowza that was really a FUN RUN! So sorry we were out of town for this.
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