A New Kind of Cardio

This weekend I volunteered at Camp Sunshine - an overnight "summer camp" type facility for children and families affected by terminal illnesses such as cancer. Camp Sunshine is located in Casco, Maine. As I was packing Thursday night I looked at the weather report and was disappointed to see a forecast of snow, rain, and a wintry mix for most of the weekend. Being the baby I am about snow and freezing conditions, I expected not to run at all while I was at camp. I brought my workout clothes though in case I had time for weight training or something.

I originally felt extremely guilty that I wasn't going to get my training runs in this weekend. I know I'm just at the very start of my training, but I'm out of shape from taking some time off during this winter's string of snow storms that I didn't feel like I could afford it physically.

However, once I saw the schedule for the weekend I felt much better about leaving my running shoes at home. On Friday night, after the families arrived at camp and we had dinner and the opening ceremony, I spent an hour playing freeze tag with my new 6 year old friends, Lily, Joey, and Maddie. On Saturday, I was assigned to the teen group, and together we spent an hour playing basketball once the rain cleared up, an hour playing nuke 'em volleyball, an hour rock climbing, and over an hour dancing our butts off during the "masquerade ball" after dinner. And on Sunday, we had a half day before the families were to depart after lunch, and played nuke 'em volleyball for another hour, floor hockey for an hour, and even tried out some archery (talk about weight training!).

So, at the end of the weekend, I felt fulfilled. I was exhausted from all the cardio I had done with the teens all weekend, and was so tired when I got home at 6pm that I fell right to sleep. But I also felt like my heart got a workout in another way - I had the opportunity to meet some amazing families that have overcome tremendous obstacles in their lives and that wanted to share their stories and time with a group of rag-tag volunteers, some of which they had just met for the first time. In just 2 short days we built a community of mutual love and support. The families trusted us with their kids who were healthy and/or recovering from cancer treatments, and they trusted us with their stories and their feelings about their experiences.

In many ways, this is how I feel about Team Challenge. We started out as a group of strangers, but every week when we get together for a couple hours we have the opportunity to get to know one another, and to share our stories about how IBD has affected our lives and our loved ones. I am so grateful for this opportunity to build this community of runners and to be raising money for such a worthy cause. Every week when we get together, and every week when we train on our own, we are not just conditioning our bodies for the half marathon that awaits us in July - we are also exercising our hearts and giving them an opportunity to share the experiences we or our loved ones have undergone dealing with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Thank you Team Challenge!

Group photo of all the volunteer counselors at Camp Sunshine this past weekend.