2008 Luna Summit

Last weekend I attended the 2008 Third Annual Luna Summit. This was my first time attending the Summit, as I only just joined the Luna Chix DC Tri team earlier this year. Several months before the Luna Summit, Katie - the team leader asked if I would be interested in joining the team. She mentioned that she thought I might be a good role model – a notion that made me chuckle. I love triathlon. I love the way it makes me feel physically and mentally. I love the social time and I love the "me" time. My motives for doing triathlons are selfish and hardly qualify me as a role model. Still, I asked her all the questions you might expect from a working mother of three young children, who also indulges in triathlon, including: "What is the time commitment?" and "What will I be responsible for?" Her answers to my questions seemed reasonable, so I agreed to join the team.
We started making our plans to attend the Luna Summit as a team. I had a twinge of guilt as I made the final flight reservations. Attending the Summit meant I would be leaving my husband to navigate school, soccer practices and baseball games. But he encouraged me to go – so I did. I wasn't sure what to expect, so my expectations for the weekend were not grand – but I was far from disappointed. All weekend, I found people with whom I connected and quietly identified with the causes that were presented.
The Luna Chix mission - to inspire women to "Get out and Play!" was embodied by Linda, an elderly woman in her eighties who I met during a swim at the Summit. Linda slowly shuffled past me in the locker room - she was hunched over and had a sizable swollen mass in her right ankle. My initial reaction was to feel sorry for her. As she walked passed me I wished her a good morning which she took as an opportunity to start a conversation. I learned that she was a former model but was hit by a motor cycle nearly fifty years ago – ending her modeling career. After several surgeries, the doctors informed her that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheel chair. But she was adamant that she would walk, and with great determination she did. She told me she was an avid swimmer before the accident and has continued to swim nearly every day since. She wanted me to know that she was certain that she was walking today, despite what the doctors said, because she was physically fit before and after the accident. Linda was not a Luna Chix, but she may as well have been. I no longer felt pity for this woman – I was inspired by her.
The Luna Chix teams seek out women who may otherwise be intimidated, and encourages them to participate in sport as a means to a healthy, fit lifestyle. Luna Chix also works to raise awareness and money for the Breast Cancer Fund. This partnership with the Breast Cancer Fund has a personal significance for me. In December 2007, I discovered a lump in my breast. It was several excruciating days before I learned that the lump was not cancerous. I often turn my personal experiences into story telling opportunities. Yet, nearly a year after I found the lump in my breast, I still do not talk about this experience. The thought of not seeing my kids grow-up was inconceivable –yet for those very long days over the Christmas holiday, it seemed possible. Even now the emotions, as I reflect back, are real and still very raw. I realize now that this is a story that I should be telling. During those several days of not knowing my fate, I promised myself that I would combine my love for triathlon with charitable fund raising opportunities. Being part of a team that works to raise money for the Breast Cancer Fund so that they may seek out causes of the disease and develop ways to prevent it – makes perfect sense.
I can be a role model for other women and like Linda I can inspire them. I can tell my story to help raise awareness and money for the Breast Cancer Fund. I can reach out to women, particular working mothers, and encourage them to swim, bike, run. And I can fulfill my promise to myself.