Cathy Zimmerman's RUN for Waldenstrom's
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
IWMFSupport/educate everyone affected by WM while accelerating a cure. SEPT MILES-88.9; TOTAL 221.8
$600
raised by 7 people
$250 goal
2 months left
I am running the Bilbao (Spain) Half Marathon on October 19th! I am hoping you will support me on the Walk for Waldenstrom’s as I record my training miles during September.
My obsession with running long races began after I was diagnosed with Waldenstrom’s in 2019. After a “routine” physical in which I complained that I was tired (who isn’t?), I found out there was such a thing called Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. Not only did I not know what it was, I could barely pronounce it, and I had it!
Fast forward to six months of chemotherapy plus four months of Rituximab and I was feeling good in 2020. Then I was hit with a life threatening case of COVID in 2021. While toting around an oxygen tank, I vowed that I would do something “big” to prove to myself that I could breathe on my own again. That became the motivation to train and run the Chicago Half Marathon in 2022.
My running journey reads like a Shakespeare tragedy of injuries. Just before the Half Marathon, I broke my 5th metatarsal and was in a boot for a month. Shortly after getting out of the boot, I came down with COVID (again). While not as severe, I could not train. I had just over a week until the race and began running again. Thanks to a big boost from the low altitude in Chicago, (I live and train in Colorado), I was thrilled with my finishing time.
Last summer I trained for the Chicago Marathon, and was not only proud with my time but happy that I finished without walking! I swore I wouldn’t run again but by December I was antsy to get outside and get some Vitamin D. I started up again but injured my Achilles and spent much of this past winter rehabbing with physical therapy and stopped running for six months.
It is an odd twist at this point that both my daughter and my husband signed up to run in Bilbao and they are both injured. They have said that the only one running the race now is the one with cancer. Maybe that is what keeps me going – just knowing that I can and should always continue to push myself and set goals.