See, Honey, There's Always Someone Who Has It Worse Than You

Team Terry at the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation's Race for Hope
Standing: Phil Stegal, Terry Harper, Dave Harper, Shelley Spearman, Paula Henry, Roger Lower
Kneeling: Dierdre McCool, Greg McCool, Tammy Hott
Behind and/or Hiding from the Camera: Ed and Joan Harper, Allison Dill

There was a nip in the Oklahoma City air on the morning of Saturday, November 8 as 363 runners and walkers gathered at Lake Overholser for the start of the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation's 5th annual Race for Hope to raise dough for brain tumor research. When I was in high school, we called it Lake Hold-Her-Closer, but that's a story for another time.

Unlike the 5K event that I participated in here in Indianapolis in May, the OKC event was for serious and casual runners alike. One of my high school classmates, Shelley Spearman, organized our group and another of our classmates, Chris Johnson, President and CEO of USA Screen Printing, provided us with custom T-shirts. Shelley was the serious runner in our group and tackled the 12K race while the rest of us walked the 5K course.

While we were out on the course, we passed a couple of women that appeared to be a mother and daughter although I cannot be sure about that. The older of the two inquired about our matching T-shirts and I explained what we were up to. She asked me what kind of brain tumor I was sporting and I told her. I guess she thought having a brain tumor also made me deaf because she turned to her friend/daughter and said, "See, Honey, there's always someone who has it worse than you." I briefly considered making a witty retort to put her in her place, but my better judgment prevailed.

We finished the 5K walk in the not-even-close to record time of just over 57 minutes. Shelley completed the 12K run less than 10 minutes later. She would have finished even sooner, but we held her up at the start taking pictures.

A good time was had by all and the event raised nearly $8,000 for brain tumor research! Thanks, Shelley, for making it happen!