October has always been my favorite month. Cool crisp weather lets me wear my all-time favorite clothes (jeans and hoodies) and means it’s time to break out the fleece. I love the smell of cool, crisp air and falling leaves. I love the way those leaves crunch under my bike tires on a commute to campus, or under my feet on an easy breezy trail run. I love how much easier running gets with the drop in temperature. Getting out my fall and winter clothes is exciting, even though putting away my sandals, shorts, and cute skirts is sad.
Last October was hard for me. Breast Cancer Awareness month, known in survivor circles as Pinktober, wasn’t really something I expected to have trouble with. I mean, what did it matter if there were reminders everywhere when I had one big reminder – an infusion needle – in my chest? But oh, it mattered. The month started out ok but by the end I couldn’t take the pink ribbons everywhere and the (seemingly) false awareness. Pink ribbons aren’t going to cure breast cancer. “What color is your bra?” memes aren’t going to cure breast cancer. I was furious with Shape magazine over the way they portrayed breast cancer risk for women in their 20s. The take home message was, essentially, that it won’t happen. The message should have been that it can happen, does happen, and is often overlooked precisely because people think it doesn’t.
But I’m not going to rant about it anymore tonight and hopefully I’m not going to let it ruin my favorite month. As of 10/23 I’ll be a year out of active treatment. That’s a BIG DEAL. I have a lot of hair – the other night I put it in little teeny tiny pigtails. I’m running again and I’m getting faster – yesterday I ran 12 miles at an 8:55 pace. I’m insanely busy with school but I’m totally rocking it.
One thing I noticed with the cool weather though. Last year I got spoiled by wearing hats! Suddenly my head and the back of my neck are cold and now, if I wear hats, I have to worry about messing up my hair!
