Lord, Beer Me Strength

As you know, I’ve been running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Boston for the past five years.  The race was this past weekend, and once again, I was proud to be a member of Team GDT.

Team GDT started in 2004, and has been through a lot of changes.  We grew in number of members, and, most importantly, number of dollars raised to find a cure for breast cancer.  We went from an e-mail chain of details to a full website for members as well as donors.  We had so many people last year that we practically had to rent out a restaurant for lunch, and I believe we may have permanently scarred the staff at the hotel we stayed at near the race start.    We got so large that at times it began to feel impersonal, but we knew purposely reducing our numbers would cause us to raise less for Komen, so we figured it was a good problem to have.

Things changed this year, for a variety of reasons, many of which I can’t even accurately express.  It was a combination of reasons, and it was just one of those things.  Many previous team members ran races elsewhere, continuing to raise money for Komen.  The race location changed, the captains changed, the team change.  I don’t like change.

But one thing didn’t change: Team GDT raised a bunch of money to kick cancer’s ass, and that’s all that mattered.  And I realized that change is not only okay, it can be a blast.

The new race location (the World Trade Center in Boston, which I’m all too familiar with) was great, as was the hotel.  The course was very nice, despite the light smell of dead fish (I was just happy it wasn’t  ninety degrees), and, while I didn’t get a PR, I did shave 1.5 minutes off last week’s disastrous race (PSA: Don’t run after 6 margaritas and a shot of tequila.  It’s not pretty).  There was a great expo with awesome red velvet cupcakes from Talbots, and some fabulous teams.  There were too many people running with “In Memory Of…” signs, but also so many survivors in pink shirts who kick cancer’s ass on a daily basis.

In addition to the typical fun the Komen weekend brings, I got to fulfill a childhood dream by meeting Danny Wood of NKOTB, who is a big Komen supporter.  I even talked to him while my friend took two pictures of us(one with my cell so I could immediately send it off to my jealous friends) and sweated my ass off.  He didn’t say anything spectacular, but he sure smelled better than I did.  And I ate a cheeseburger stuffed with mac and cheese, so I’d say the weekend was a win-win.

Moral of the story: Change is good, Cancer is bad.

PS – Thank you to all of my very generous donors!  If you want to donate,  you still can via Team GDT or the Komen Mass website.

Team GDT is gearing up for Komen!  We have an official fund-raising goal of $50,000, but I secretly think we can hit $100,000.  Our auction site is up and running at www.teamgdt.com, and there are some really great things there already, with new stuff every week.  And, as always, our cookbook is available and makes a great gift!  (You can find the link on our site).

I think most of us are in agreement that cancer sucks.  I lost my grandfather to cancer a few years ago, and it was something I’d prefer my family never have to go through again.  I just watched my friend’s future husband lose his dad in almost the same way, and I wish my friends didn’t have to go through that either.  I’m sure all of us have our own stories about how cancer has affected our lives, and Komen is making some great strides in finding a cure.  As always, any donation will help.

You haven’t heard the last from me on this subject!  But, please, take a second to check out our site and see if anything looks good enough to bid on.  Shop for a cure!