On August 4th, 2018, my 4K teammates and I finished what many thought was an impossible challenge – running across The United States of America.
49 days after dipping our heel in the Pacific Ocean, we found ourselves on the other side of the country dipping our toes into the Atlantic. We had officially crossed the “finish line” in Baltimore! Along the way, we conquered the Sierra Nevada Mountains, came out on the other side to face Death Valley, spent our day off on the strip in Las Vegas (I spent mine in the urgent care – see below), visited Arches National Park, climbed the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, crossed paths with Team San Francisco, toured the Olympic Training center, met some wonderful folks in Nebraska and saw lots of corn in between, stayed at the Kansas City Sporting soccer stadium, dyed my hair blue (unwillingly), had the chance to meet Doug Ulman in Columbus, saw a baseball game in Pittsburgh and finally tackled the Appalachian mountains to end up at the top of Federal Hill greeted by our family and friends.
It’s been ten months since we finished our trip, and I am about to embark on another, but I can assure you I miss my teammates and this entire experience just as much now as I did on August 5th. Having started this blog recently, I wanted to focus on unique running experiences that I’ve been a part of on my travels. That got me thinking, what running experience is more unique than the 4K?
4K for Cancer and the Ulman Foundation
The Ulman Foundation is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The foundation provides support for young adults ages 18-39 who have or are currently facing a cancer diagnosis. The organization provides many different programs for young adults affected by cancer in one way or another – they have everything from support groups to scholarships to the Ulman House and even a Cancer to 5K program (CT5K). The Ulman House is a housing unit for out-of-town patients receiving treatment in Baltimore, while their CT5K program empowers cancer survivors to regain their strength and fitness by training to run a 5K.
As one of their fundraisers, the Ulman Foundation organizes six teams, three run teams and three cycling teams, on cross country journeys. All of the money raised by those teams, goes towards keeping the aforementioned programs free. Each participant must fundraise at least $4500 in order to participate. The run begins in June on the west coast (San Francisco) and ends 49 days later on the east coast in either Baltimore, Boston or New York. The bike is the opposite, beginning on the east coast in Baltimore and ending in three different west coast cities and takes 70 days. Along the journey, each team gets their chance to give back – this includes stopping in hospitals, meeting patients, speaking at community dinners and handing out scholarships in different cities.
My Personal Experience
There’s a saying we live by on the 4K that goes – “west is west.” For us, this means that what’s done is done, if it’s behind us don’t look back just keep moving forward towards the goal. For me it means so much more than just that – it’s the idea of living life with no regrets. Every morning of our trip, as we yelled out our cheer, I would scream “WEST IS…” to which my teammates would respond “WEST” – reminding us to keep moving forward. The irony of the situation is that since crossing that finish line back in August of 2018, all I have wanted is for west to be east so that I can spend another 49 days, if not more, with my amazing teammates. This is not because I want to change my experience or because I have regrets, but because I want another chance to laugh with them, to fist bump to Come on Eileen, to belt out Kelly Got the Stomach Flu or to take part in the random dance parties on the side of the road. I know to the outsider, none of those references make any sense, but in short, I just want the chance to make more unforgettable memories with the 18 people I now consider friends for life.
There’s something about the 4K that brings you and your teammates together in ways you could never imagine. On day one of orientation, we were all strangers. On day forty-nine, we were family. I like to think I’m an outgoing person, but that’s not always immediate – I need a bit of time to warm up to you before the true Anna (or in the case of the 4K – Amber) comes out. For the first few days, I was quiet, closed and wishing I was back with my kiddos in Mexico. I was asleep by 7 or 8pm, I neglected to mention to my teammates it was my birthday on day two of the trip to avoid celebrating and I was hesitant to open up to anyone. Those walls broke down pretty quick thereafter as we realized no one was there to judge each other. We were all there to encourage each other in some of our toughest moments.
Leading up to the run, I was on the fence about doing 4K, for a lot of reasons, but decided to honor my commitment despite a difficult few days ahead of the trip and 18+ hours of tears while traveling in from Mexico. My work in Mexico can be difficult – there’s no doubt about that. I often times find myself feeling upset, home sick, burnt out… you get it. But at the end of the day, those kids are what keep me there. Every time I leave Mexico, I instantly miss the kids, if nothing else. Despite the circumstances at the time, I can very confidently say that I am so pleased with my decision to join Team Baltimore last summer.
When I left Mexico for orientation, I finally admitted to myself I needed a break from the stress and the tough decisions that came along with working where I had been working for the last year. For the first seven days, this felt like the perfect escape. It was everything I loved – using running to make a difference. All I had to worry about each day was running the miles ahead of me and I was having a blast doing it. Then I got injured – the “I” word. It was day eight and we were running from Beatty, NV to the now cursed Las Vegas, NV when I felt a pop in my Achilles about a tenth of a mile into my second leg of the day. We called the van and while waiting on the side of the road, I laughed at how ridiculous the circumstances were. I sat there thinking that if I couldn’t run, my impact wouldn’t be the same. That there was no point in continuing if I couldn’t bust out the miles with my teammates. After some doctor’s visits I was told that running wouldn’t make the injury any better or worse so I decided to keep going, I would do as many miles as I could a day and be proud of whatever that number was. Well let me start by saying that the doctor was very wrong – running 10-16 miles per day makes any injury worse! In the beginning, there weren’t a lot of changes, for the first few legs of each day, the pain was bearable, when it got past that I would call it quits and try again the next. I was (trying) to be as smart as I could without giving up on my goal. I hit my first 12 mile day of the trip and was so excited because I felt great! Then things started to get worse, even despite trying to take care of my foot and listening to my body as best I could. At that point, I decided that I would live with the consequences and run as many miles per day as possible until the end. Things ended up being fine and after a few months of recovery post 4K, I’m back crushing miles and feeling great, ready for round two.
West is west!
Now in terms of the lessons I learned from this experience – there are so many. First and foremost, I learned that attitude has so much to do with the outcome of your experience. Going into the 4K I was scared to leave somewhere where I was so comfortable for something I barely knew anything about. In addition, and as much as I hate to even say this, I felt like staying in Mexico I could make more of an immediate impact on a group I knew personally, than I would running. I continued to question if I was doing the right thing until the moment we took the first steps of our 4000 mile journey. In that very moment, I told myself that everyone was right, not only did I need a break, but I had made a commitment to all of the donors, to my teammates, to those who’s lives have been affected by cancer and to myself! There was no turning back now. As we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, I gave myself a lecture – “be positive Anna, put a smile on your face and make the most of this experience, regardless of the circumstances.” That first night we arrived at a small church in Vacaville, California to a table full of food and several smiling, welcoming faces. These were the moments I was looking forward to: interacting with the community. To hear their stories was inspiring and a great reminder of why I signed up to run in the first place. I came into the 4K with a positive attitude and came out of it with a great experience.
The second thing that became very clear to me during the 4K is that our bodies are capable of so much more than we think. My teammates and I climbed three mountain ranges all while battling injuries, soreness and so much more. But we made it. We RAN across the FREAKING country and no one can take that away from us. One of my biggest inspirations on this journey was my grandmother. For the last few months of her life she was in so much pain. We thought that she was just experiencing the pains of being old and that she was ready to pass. On October 14th, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer that had metastasized to the rest of her body – this was her pain. I’ll never forget the phone call – she would have maybe a week left to live, they said. Over the weekend, in some of her last lucid moments – she asked about me. My brother told her that I’d be coming as soon as I ran what would be my first half marathon, a tough decision, but what everyone had encouraged me to do, including my grandmother. My grandmother’s response – “well I guess I’ll just have to wait then.” I arrived Tuesday afternoon to find my grandmother heavily sedated, lying in bed. I did what I could to let her know I was there and with the energy she could muster up, she told me she loved me. She passed away the next morning – October 19th, 2016. She pushed through every ounce of pain she was feeling to have one last chance to say goodbye to me, she waited for me.
All summer long, I’d write “Nana, I love you” on my arm to get myself through each day. My nana inspires me to be strong and to never give up. My bones would heal, my Achilles would recover – what was more important to me was pushing through a little pain for a greater cause, because in reality the pain of an Achilles strain is nothing compared to the pain of a cancer diagnosis.
Over the course of those 49 days, I learned that there are so many amazing people out there. This trip restored my faith in humanity, as strangers would stop us on the side of the road to hand us a donation, cook us a meal or host us for the night. For over two years now, I’ve seen the other side of people – neglecting or abusing their children, dealing drugs, the list goes on. 4K was a chance to see that not everyone out there is bad. There are some pretty amazing people out there who offered to help us along our journey. One woman saw us running on a hot day in central Utah. She had no idea that it was the end of our sixteenth mile that day and that there was no water left in the vans. As my teammates approached the van, she stopped to give them bottles of water that she had doubled back to pick up from the gas station. The random acts of kindness that we experienced on our trip reminded us why we were doing what we were doing.
One of my favorite moments from the trip happened in Pennsylvania. We had finished our miles for the day and two of our teammates decided they wanted to take part in a Dunkin’ Donuts Big Box Challenge – to see who can eat a dozen donuts faster. We found the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts to be inside a Walmart, so we made our way there. When we arrived we all got out of the vans to head inside – little did we realize that a woman had followed us in from the parking lot after seeing the 4K for Cancer signs on our van. She found us in the Dunkin’ Donuts and asked us what we were doing. We explained a little bit about the 4K and upon finishing our usual spiel, with tears in her eyes, she handed us a large donation and thanked us for what we were doing. Strangers like these were what kept us going. Every day we would hear from strangers we crossed paths with, how cancer has affected so many lives. Knowing that what we were doing may not affect us or our stories directly didn’t matter, it was about the impact we made on those around us and the impact our money raised would make on so many lives that was so much more important.
Don’t get me wrong, there were days on the trip when I sat there crying because I missed my kids in Brazil or Mexico, there were days where I questioned why we were doing this and there were definitely days where I woke up and had no desire to run even one mile. The beauty of 4K is that it’s about pushing past all those moments and remembering your purpose. It’s about destroying your limits and doing it not for yourself, but for all those people you pass on the open roads. Life is short – I’m so lucky to be a happy, healthy, young woman, blessed with so many amazing opportunities. Because of that, it’s important to take life for what it is and to live each day to the fullest – there’s no problem I can’t overcome and nothing can get me down.
Cancer changes lives. SO DO WE!
Some of My Favorites
Along the way, we got to see all that this beautiful country has to offer. There’s a running joke amongst some of my teammates and I that Las Vegas is the worst place on earth – in fairness, I didn’t see much of it as I spent more time in doctors’ offices. While Las Vegas was quite disappointing, the rest of the country was definitely not. Some of my favorite spots, were on the west coast climbing mountains. It was always tough on the legs and the cardiovascular system to conquer the elevation gain, but it sure did provide for some beautiful views!
The views obviously weren’t the reason why we were traveling across the country, but they certainly did help pass the time on the lonely roads. As we made our way across the country, the views on the east coast weren’t as exciting as those on the west coast, but they were still worth it. What made the midwest and east coast so special were the people. Throughout the midwest and east coast, there was no shortage of corn and rolling hills, despite being told that Kansas was flat – a lie. Each night, however, we had the chance to meet some pretty incredible people at our hosts or while looking for food donations.
Day four of our trip was one of my favorites – I was paired with a teammate in host van for the day. Our teammates were running through Death Valley, but we were assigned to get food donations. We plugged the address of our next host into our GPS and our map took us up through Mammoth Lakes rather than the route our teammates were running. I was in awe the entire drive. Every viewpoint we pulled over to take pictures. The views were absolutely stunning.
One of my favorite little towns that we stopped through was Bluff, UT – population: 320. There was nothing in Bluff and it certainly wasn’t a tourist destination, but what I loved about it was that it was a town I would never have seen had it not been for 4K. Along our route, there ended up being a few towns like this – places you would never otherwise hear about.
Another highlight, while not a view, was meeting my dad in Springfield, IL. My dad made the four hour journey down from Wisconsin. Living abroad, I hadn’t seen him in what felt like ages. It was the end of a 14-mile day and I was so excited to be reunited. I dedicated my miles that day to my dad who has always been one of my biggest inspirations for everything I do. Upon arrival, we hadn’t hit our fourteen miles and I wasn’t stopping short so I ran right on past him. I eventually came back for a big hug and a happy reunion.
While in Springfield, I spent one of the nights with my dad in at a bed and breakfast. The next day, while we had a rest day we visited some of the historical sights in the capital of Illinois. I got to learn all about the history of the state I was born in – although definitely questionable how much I actually retained from the museums. Regardless of the lack of enjoyable activities in Springfield, it was great to see my dad.
Another highlight from the trip were the free tickets we got donated for a Pittsburgh Pirates game. I am a baseball fanatic so for me I was in my element. PNC Park is definitely one of my favorite baseball stadiums of the nine I’ve been to, so it was really cool seeing it again. It was a fun night watching the Pirates beat the Cubs and hanging out with my teammates – it would end up being one of the last nights we were together.
Thank You’s and Future Plans
This post wouldn’t be complete without sending you all a big THANK YOU. I would not have had the experience I did without the amazing run coordinators from Ulman, my incredible teammates and all of my very generous donors from both my 2018 and 2019 fundraising efforts. A big thank you goes out to my family and friends as well for supporting all of my crazy dreams.
I am so excited to get to participate in this experience again this summer. I have hit my fundraising minimum as of a few weeks ago and am ready for send off in a few short days. This year I will be running with Team Boston and getting to see a different route. I know that this experience will be very different from my last, but I am excited to face the challenge again and continue to do my part in making a difference. I look forward to meeting and interacting with new communities throughout the country, dedicating my miles to the people who mean the most to me and of course becoming a family with another group of amazing individuals.
Stay tuned for more updates on my experience with the 4K for Cancer, as we take off on June 16th from San Francisco and head for Boston. I look forward to sharing my experience with you all this time around.
If you are interested in supporting me on my run this year, you can follow the link to my donation page.
Running Around The World 