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Like it or lump it

This week’s blog is about someone facing a life-changing challenge and using running to deal with it.

Jennifer

Jennifer Lewandowski is a 32-year-old runner and triathlete from Dartmouth, N.S. A personal trainer and writer, she’s completed two Ironman triathlons and volunteers with a young girls’ run club, Girls Gone Gazelle.

In September, Jennifer returned from a trip to Ireland with chest pains, a sign of early stage breast cancer. She was diagnosed with Lobular carcinoma in situ which, fortunately, is generally not considered life-threatening. Only about in 500 women her age are diagnosed with cancer and only a third of those are breast cancer.

Outrunning cancer

Jennifer is not running from cancer. Instead, she decided to launch a website and fundraiser for young women like herself who have breast cancer. The website, Pacing in Pink, provides information on how to perform and what to look for in self-exams. It’s also a blog that Jennifer uses to update family, friends and followers on her journey.

Jennifer suiting herself up with new pink running shoes with the help of Luke MacDonald at Aerobics First in Halifax. NS.
Jennifer suiting herself up with new pink running shoes with the help of Luke MacDonald at Aerobics First in Halifax. N.S.

And the running has not stopped. Jennifer has decided to run 12 marathons in 12 months to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer. Most of the marathons will be in Atlantic Canada, with the exception of the February’s Winterman Marathon in Ottawa. Proceeds from her efforts will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Do you think running has helped you deal with your cancer?

I think running a marathon is just as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical one – not unlike dealing with breast cancer. Thanks to running, I’m fortunate to have a mind and body that is healthy and strong enough to go the distance, so to speak.

How are you training for your 12 marathons in 2015?

Training for 12 marathons in 12 months is actually not that difficult for someone who already has a solid foundation of running. I’m not being competitive so I’ve had to slow my pace way down in order to recover faster and be able to run again sooner. Some of these marathons are only a week apart. In between marathons, I maintain a base level of fitness, practice yoga and get lots of sleep.

What do you hope to have achieved at the end of 2015?

I got an email from a woman I don’t know the other day who read my blog. She is training for her first marathon while awaiting the results of a suspicious mammogram. She was so happy to learn that a grim diagnosis doesn’t necessarily mean the end of her goal or her lifestyle. Besides accomplishing the sheer distance of running 12 marathons, I hope Pacing in Pink inspires other young women to keep moving, ask questions about their health, share their stories and live well, no matter what the odds are.

 

Jennifer’s story is one of courage and giving in the face of adversity and life changing events. I hope to run with Jennifer for a few miles when she runs in Ottawa.

Do you have a running story to tell?
runningwriter@hotmail.com

You can also catch me on Twitter @NoelPaine or on my personal blog.

 

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