From Couch to Cancer RUN

While Kim Lane works in the healthcare field at North Shore Medical Center Salem Hospital, she has found that helping her colleagues set aside time for they themselves to get fit has been more popular than she had expected. “Last March, my co-worker and I were brainstorming ideas about how to bring wellness to the staff here at North Shore Medical Center and we’d heard of the trend of ‘couch to 5K’ programs. We thought that starting a similar training program would be a fun way to motivate people.”

Kim and her boss developed a 10-week program and kicked it off with a 10-person class. Since March, the program has grown, both in terms of the number of beginners wanting to participate, and in terms of participants’ long-term commitment. “We have people who have been doing the 10-week programs since we started last spring,” Lane says. “We’ve even developed a second program, called ‘Stay Fit for a 5K,’ where we focus more on getting faster and more efficient.”

Lane usually tries to have the 10-week program culminate in participants running an actual 5K. In the past, they’ve participated in the “Run the Q” 5K, which is held every week at Wakefield’s Lake Quannapowitt.  This November, however, the goal is to take on the North Shore Cancer RUN, which will be the first official road race the group will do as a team.

“The Cancer RUN will be a culmination of a lot of hard work,” Lane says. Many people on the team feel a tremendous sense of gratification for being able to run 5K after just training for 10 weeks. She says at first, a lot of participants feel a sense of skepticism that they’ll be able to run without stopping for more than 3 miles. “We keep the mentality during training that if you can run, run, but if you need to walk, walk. There is no pressure, and everyone feels a great sense of support from other team members.”

“I’m really proud of all our participants and we’re really excited to participate as Team NSMC Wellness,” Lane adds. “It’s a demonstration of how those of us who work at NSMC are taking time to not only make others healthy, but also ourselves. We also have some participants who were gastric bypass patients in the past and now have committed to a healthy lifestyle, and running is a big part of that.”

Participants in the North Shore Cancer RUN are running to raise money for outstanding cancer care at the oncology unit at North Shore Medical Center at Salem Hospital and Mass General/North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers. The Cancer RUN will take place at Cove Community Center in Beverly on November 10 at 8am. There will be a 5K and 10K course. For more information or to register, please visit www.northshorecancerrun.org.