Auburn junior Taylor Kirk just ran her first half marathon for the American Cancer Society in New Orleans.
Q: Has running always been a part of your life?
A: Definitely not. I am by no means a runner. I've never actually enjoyed it, but a group of us from the relay for life committee here at Auburn have been involved with some higher things of the American Cancer Society. It was presented to us and we thought, 'Sure, why not?' So, four of us went down to New Orleans together and ran it. (Luis Rodriguez, Nick Goudreau and Catherine Bonner)
Q: Why are you involved with ACS?
A: My sophomore year in high school my mom was diagnosed with stage 3B Inflammatory Breast Cancer which is a very rare breast cancer. It only counts for 1-5 percent of all breast carcinomas. I was fortunate enough to be in the Houston area so my mom received fast treatment at The Morgan B. Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic in MD Anderson Cancer Center, and she is now coming up on her fifth year as a survivor, which is the big landmark for IBC. I've stayed involved with it because I really believe in what they're doing. In a place like Auburn, there are so many chances to get involved in philanthropies, but sometimes people forget what the point of it is. I think just to remind people there are reasons for all these causes and even if you don't particularly have a reason. I had several friends who got involved with it just because they knew how much it meant to me. It's a pay it forward type of system really makes a difference. ACS does so much not just for cancer patients, but also for their families and caregivers. They are making a huge difference and it's something I really believe in and I know I'll support it until the day I die.
Q: What did you do to train and for how long?
A: We started our training in October and a good friend of ours, Erin Osmak, who works for the American Cancer Society in Nashville, was our head of training. She had run several marathons for the cancer society so she came up with our training program. We started running in October and then got to March 4 and drove down to New Orleans and ran.
It went really well. We all had really fun. The race itself is a part of the Rock and Roll marathon series. It's a really incredible thing. They hire a bunch of local bands so every couple miles there was a band playing on the side of the road. They organized cheerleaders to stand on the side of the race track and cheer you on. It was pretty exciting just to see people come out of their homes at 8 a.m. to watch us at mile 5 and cheer us on.
Q: Did you do anything to reward yourself after the run?
Well, the race on a Sunday and we all had class on Monday so we didn't get to do too much. But finishing for us was just a really big thing. We finished our run and just sat together and looked at each other and it was kind of that moment of 'I can't believe we finished, and we didn't die!' We were all just very proud of ourselves. It was exciting.
Q: Do you have any tips for people thinking about running a marathon?
If you're not a runner, definitely find the right series for you, and find a reason to do it. I would have never in a million years told someone, 'I'll just run a half marathon before I die!" But now we have gotten involved in it. We are planning our next half marathon and then our full marathon in a couple of years. You just have to be motivated and you have to have a real reason to be doing it otherwise you're not going to stay committed to it. It's an incredible thing to be able to say you've completed.
Q: Relay for Life is also organized by the American Cancer Society, and is quickly approaching. Do you plan on being a part of that?
I'm on the Relay for Life committee right now. I'm the Mission Delivery and Advocacy Chair. The event is in one week, so it's certainly fast approaching. All the kids that ran will be there since we're all on the committee, so we're all very excited about that.
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