Susan G. Komen's 2008 Race for the Cure Comes to Dallas, Texas

The cool, crisp air was full of laughter, shouts of excitement, and joy intermingling among thousands of strangers. The weather could not have been more perfect for Dallas's 2008 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which was held on Saturday October 18th at a local Dallas mall - Northpark Center. This year's event boasted some 30,000 people who came to support the breast cancer cause.

A co-worker of mine and I decided at the last minute to join the walk, try and earn some money, make t-shirts, and get a few people to walk with us. Breast cancer awareness is near and dear to my heart as my mother is a two time fighter, survivor, and hero. But, as most other adults in a busy world, it becomes habit to find an excuse of being too busy to participate in something like Race for the Cure. We may have waited until the last minute to sign-up, but we ended up doing well with earning donations and even found a great company that screen-printed our shirts in time for the walk.

My mom and dad ended up being the only others that were free to walk with my co-worker and me. We all were coming from different directions and each had to get up around 5:00 AM in order to be there on time. We met near the mall and joined the large crowd in our trek over to the area where all of the event's sponsors had set up tents. The parking lot looked like a town fair full of people handing out goodies and samples of various objects (foods, scarves, water bottles, etc.) - except unlike most small town fairs, everyone at this one was decked out in some shade of pink.

The simple hats to elaborate costumes that the attendees of Race for the Cure wear are a sight in themselves; my favorite team this year played off of the fact that Halloween is right around the corner and decked themselves out in witch's garb. They had on pink and black striped tights, homemade neon pink t-shirts, and witch hats that they had adorned with the symbol of breast cancer (the pink ribbon) and various other objects (feathers, glittery hearts, etc.) During our time walking through the tent-loaded parking lot and picking up our freebies, we spent a lot of time enjoying the effort that people had put in to their Race for the Cure gear. It was uplifting and encouraging just seeing the amount of effort many of the participants put in to making things to wear to show their support for women and men that have had breast cancer.

A 1k walk/race began at 7:30am, but the big event that most people participated in was the 5k walk/race, which began at 8:00am. The beginning of the walk was filled with cheering participants waving around spirit towels (white towels with the breast cancer logo adorned on them that had been handed out for free). Because there were so many thousands of people walking, we moved at a snail's pace for a while until the crowd began to break up. I am going to have to say that I have never seen a more spirited and lively bunch of people; although there were thousands of people there to celebrate a loved one who lost the battle to breast cancer, everyone was still in such amazing moods.

The walk took place on surrounding Dallas streets near the mall, and went through many local neighborhoods. Many of the residents of the houses that we walked by were out in their yards cheering everyone on with shouts of joy and homemade posters. We approached the 5k finish line in just about an hour and were greeted at the end with more cheers of encouragement from sponsors. We made our way over to the parking lot where the tents and stage were set up and listened to some of the music they were playing while waiting for the survivor walk to begin. It was during those thirty minutes of waiting that I really stood there and took everything in.

To be quite honest, I had no idea of this fact going in to the event that day, but Race for the Cure is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year. Another co-worker of mine had been speaking with me earlier in the week about how she used to participate in the event back when only a few hundred people came out; and now, here we are 25 years later with over 30,000 people participating in one city alone. Standing there waiting on my hero - my mom - and thousands of other survivors to make their way down the path left open for them really made me think.

I do not think I had ever felt so many mixed emotions before in my life, and that says a lot considering that I've watched my mom fight to hold on to life twice because of breast cancer. But, there I was, surrounded by thousands of other women (and even some men) that had done the same thing. It broke my heart, brought tears of joy to my eyes, and made me angry all at the same time. I spent a few minutes asking "Why?" Why are there so many people at this event now? Is it because more people are aware of the evil that is breast cancer, or is it because more people find themselves or people they care about fighting the disease? It was a very disturbing thought, but I did my best to quickly push it aside and focus on the positive aspects of the day.

There we were, 30,000-something people united for one cause. Some of those participants are people who would probably never speak to one another outside of Race for the Cure; but there we were anyway - all personal differences, beliefs, lifestyles, etc. put to the side. That Saturday, we were all friends; we were all family there supporting one another. I stood there and did a lot of people watching; I saw tears, but I knew those tears were in celebration of anyone who has suffered through breast cancer. I saw the smiles and knew those smiles were there for the same reason the tears were there - in celebration. In the thousands of people I observed, I did not see one angry or down-turned face. It is a true miracle that can unite that many people for the same cause.

The survivor march began and quickly interrupted my personal thoughts. The moment the first survivor came down the pathway, a smile lit my face. She was an older lady - at least in her 70s - being pushed in a wheelchair by a volunteer. The look of pure joy, pride, and happiness on her face was priceless. The rest of the survivors were separated in to groups depending upon the number of years they had been free of breast cancer with the amount of years being the highest in the front. (So, the longer you had been cancer free, the closer you were to the front of the line.)

I'm a newlywed (this is not random, I promise), and I never thought that moment of anticipation when I walked down the aisle would be matched by anything else in my life. But, standing there waiting on my mom to make it down that pathway was a whole new wonderful feeling that I doubt will ever be replaced. I was teary eyed watching the first part of the walk, but as soon as the sign showing my mom's years (the sign read "10-15 Year Survivors") came around the corner, I could no longer hold back the tears. I was so proud, gracious, and thankful all at once; I could not be any more proud of my mom because she's fought this breast cancer battle two times, and I could not be any more gracious and thankful that she is still here to come marching down that survivor pathway.

And, during this jumbled thought process of mine, there, suddenly in front of me was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen - my mom. I barely came out of my daydream in time to take a picture before she kept marching on with the rest of the survivors. I did not stop crying the entire time the rest of the ladies made their way by me. Two of the most touching women I saw were near the end of the line in the "Under 1 Year" category; they were not much older than me and were clearly undergoing chemotherapy. But, they wore their pink survivor hats proudly over their bald heads and held on tightly to each other while throwing their fists happily in to the air.

Susan G. Komen's Race for the Cure is a wonderful cause; it is chain of support that unites thousands of more people each year. I would urge every individual to participate in this event even if you do not know someone personally that has challenged the evil that is breast cancer. You will never see anything more inspirational than those thousands of survivors marching together; you will see fighters and the amazing people that support them. And, whether it be a name or picture of someone (who is no longer with us) on a t-shirt or a survivor you meet that day, you will walk away with a new found hero.