To celebrate. To remember. To exercise. To have fun. These are all ways to describe an event like Race for the Cure. Race for the Cure is a walking, running, skipping, crawling, basically anyway you want to cross the finish line event to raise money for an unfortunate common disease. It was so amazing to see women of all ages, shapes and sizes come together for one common goal, to help find a cure for breast cancer. Whatever the reasoning is behind the attendance of the participants, there is no better way to celebrate the life of a woman than through an event like this.

One word to sum up Race for the Cure is accomplishment. However, depending on the circumstance, this word means something different for every individual. For some, Race for the Cure means accomplishment because of making it through the fight of breast cancer. They have come to this “party” to celebrate their accomplishment of beating their personal battle. Being surrounded by so many women who have accomplished and beat the same battle is something that can only be felt by those in the situation, but it has to feel like one of the most accomplished feelings in the entire world.

To other women, this event signifies accomplishment for the loved ones they have lost to the battle of breast cancer. They participate in memory of what their loved one had accomplished over the years and to celebrate the life one had lived. Even though this is not the accomplished feeling of a survivor, celebrating the accomplishments of others in their life creates a different, but honorable feeling for many.

Looking at this event in a completely different spectrum, Race for the Cure can also show competitive and athletic accomplishment. Since this is a running race, one may train all year round to prove to themselves that they are capable to finish a race of sorts. Every athlete is aware of the sense of accomplishment that comes once you have crossed the finish line of a race and this is something that many women strive to feel.

Looking at it in terms of being a survivor, my mom, a 12 year survivor was incredibly happy to cross the finish line. For her, it is the just another challenge in life that she was able to overcome and have an internal sense of accomplishment. I would imagine the same feeling would hold true to many of the survivors; crossing that finish line, whether they ran, walked, skipped or crawled, that proves to them that is it one more thing they have been able to accomplish in their life, giving hope to many for the future.

-Katie Osborne