There are certain community causes I will unabashedly throw my support behind publicly.
For example the Tahoma School District construction bond measure or the efforts of Tina McDonough and her team the Valley Girls & Guys! that participates in the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s 3 Day Walk for the Cure. In 2012 the team was more than 150 strong and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight breast cancer, a cause important to me because it affected a good friend.
Sticking with the pink ribbon theme is Kristi Blair, founder of Maple Valley-based Wings of Karen, who is wrapping up plans for the foundation’s second Bra Dash 5K walk and run. I am quite excited about this event.
After interviewing Kristi Aug. 14, I am even more amped for the race. A year ago I was astonished that some 800 people showed up for a brand new event. That, my friends, is the power of the vision Kristi has for fighting breast cancer and searching for answers.
Her vision is big. She wants to raise $100,000 this year after the Bra Dash brought in $30,000 — all of which went to a researcher at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance who is looking for new ways to detect breast cancer, especially in younger women — but perhaps a more realistic number would be $50,000 to $60,000. I would not be the least bit surprised if 2,000 people showed up at the event and came close to raising six figures.
Kristi lost her mother, Karen, to breast cancer. She fought it, too. Not only is the event a chance to raise money, but it’s a chance to let survivors know how much support they have and how our community will come together to collectively battle the disease.
My friend Ilyse will run with me this year. She is a survivor. She has always inspired and challenged since I first walked into her math class at Interlake High in the fall of 1994 after I was bumped out of a pre-calculus class because I was failing. I passed first semester thanks to her. I earned a B second semester. She believed in me. Today she encourages me when we do training runs together or go race.
A year ago we walked the event. It was my first 5K. Ever. I huffed and puffed my way through it.
Today, as I write this, I am less than two weeks away from my first 10K run. Since the Bra Dash a year ago I walked two more 5Ks and ran six. My 10th race was the Torchlight 8K in late July.
This is because of two breast cancer survivors. One who had a vision for an event to raise money to pour into research and find answers while the other just wanted to see me get healthy, I suspect because she just fought one of the toughest health battles of her life. It must be frustrating to watch someone not take care of her health after that. But, that is conjecture on my part.
In any case, Kristi told me when I interviewed her that was another purpose for the Bra Dash, to encourage people to get healthy. I didn’t know it at the time, not until after I wrote a column about my experience at the event. She helped me change my life and it had a ripple effect on others around me. I am sure there are hundreds of other stories like mine. And there will be hundreds more.
This year will be awesome. Next year will be amazing because Kristi hopes the Bra Dash will spread to other like-minded communities, though we agree no one has as wonderful a setting for an event as Maple Valley does in Lake Wilderness.
I look forward to seeing the families decked out in costumes, decorated bras, dads, brothers, sons, sisters, moms, embracing the pink warrior spirit to support the cause. I look forward to running with my friend, my inspiration, who won’t have to coach me through the two little hills — Kristi said those are at the start then it will be nice and flat — like last year because now I can run five miles or more. I look forward to watching other people do Zumba to warm up. I look forward to chatting with all the people I know from the community and maybe meeting some ones.
Most of all I look forward to being part of Kristi’s grand vision to raise enough money to find answers to the puzzle that is breast cancer. It is a powerful thing to be part of.
