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March 23, 2001/Adar 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.25
Running for life
Daughter goes 13 miles for cancer research
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
Star Sacks and daughter, Karen Spiegel, savor the moment at the finish line at the Feb. 4 Las Vegas Half Marathon.
Photo courtesy of Star Sacks
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The face of ovarian cancer for me is my mom, Star Sacks." So Karen Sacks Spiegel began a touching letter to 150 friends and family members last winter, asking them to sponsor her run in the Las Vegas Half Marathon with a contribution to the Arizona Cancer Center's Women's Cancer Prevention Project at the University of Arizona.
On Feb. 4, Spiegel, 39, completed the 13.1-mile run. This week, the cancer center reported that her appeal had netted $13,465, which calculates at just over $1,000 per mile. The checks are still coming in.
"Karen did this all on her own," marvels Joyce Stavro, cancer center events coordinator and one of a 45-member team that ran the Tucson half-marathon in December, raising $25,000.
"It's so gratifying," says Spiegel, who, weeks after going the distance, is still flying high.
Spiegel says she has always wanted to do a marathon, and running the half-distance Las Vegas race for her mom was a compelling incentive. She surprised Sacks on Mother's Day by announcing her plan, then went shopping for "how-to" books.
Although she had been running regularly for two or three years, Spiegel ramped up her training to four or five runs a week on her treadmill at home, and added one long run with a friend every weekend.
Her favorite workout is an hour-and-half run on the canal, she says.
Spiegel's personal goal was to finish the half marathon in two to two-and-a-half hours. She crossed the finish line at 2:15:58, to find her mom, dad Sy and husband Bruce waiting for her.
"It was really special," says Sacks. "Very emotional."
Sacks credits her daughter with having a special knack for finding the most touching ways to express her love and support. A few years ago, as Sacks underwent cancer treatment,Spiegel exchanged her dark brown ringlets for an ultra-short hairstyle to match her mom's post-chemo do.
While moved by Spiegel's spunk and determination to "go the distance," Sacks, in her own way, has been running a long-distance race for several years. Since being diagnosed with ovarian cancer five years ago, she's undergone several surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy to hold the disease at bay. She is under the care of Dr. David S. Alberts of the Tucson center.
The center's Women's Cancer Prevention Project is especially dear to Sacks' heart, she says. She serves on the project's steering committee and is dedicated to its mission of education and early detection. She is committed to spreading the word that there are cures.
"There are ways of dealing with cancer successfully," she says, citing her personal journey as compelling testimony.
Spiegel is planning her next feat - a full marathon of 26.2-miles.
"Now I know I can do it," says the enthusiastic runner, who sells advertising for a national trade publication when she is not putting in the miles and spending time with her family. She and Bruce, an architect, have two sons, David, 7, and Liam, 3. They are members of Beth El Congregation in Phoenix.
She calls the experience of training and running "a labor of love."
"But from the bottom of my heart, I just got so much more out of it (than I put in)," she says, including notes and cards from supporters, many of which included touching messages.
"One woman wrote how she never had a chance to know her mother," she recalls.
It was especially meaningful for Spiegel to complete the race with her mom at the finish line. A photograph revealing the glow on their faces says it all.
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