Passion for running builds control and strength after MBC

Then her siblings decided they should all train for a marathon. After that, Hilary began running regularly. “I always feel better when I run,” she says. “It’s how I blow off steam. It’s how I relax if I had a bad day at work.”

Hilary lives in Washington, D.C., where she enjoys running on city streets as well as at a nearby park. She works remotely as general counsel for a healthcare data analytics company.

In 2020, fueled by pandemic-created isolation, Hilary became even more dedicated to her favorite physical activity. “I’ve been running almost every day since then,” she says. “Running was really my only social activity for the pandemic because you could see people outside.”

She raced in virtual marathons, where participants run separately from each other. During races that autumn, she felt increasing pain in her body as she ran. “I didn’t know at the time that I had multiple fractures in my spine from tumors,” she says.

It was November 2020 when Hilary learned her cancer had returned, and she had metastatic breast cancer. She had run her last virtual race with a broken back. “I figured out what was wrong with me a little bit sooner,” she says, “because I was running.”

Reclaiming strength

By the time Hilary received her MBC diagnosis, her pain was so strong she couldn’t walk for a month. She started chemotherapy, and by early February 2021 she was back to running regularly.

Whether to run again or not was never a question. “I cut back on my speed and got a lot slower, but I kept running all the way through chemo, even with the little medicine dispenser on my arm,” she says.

Running helped her better tolerate side effects, such as fatigue. “It was the one thing I felt I had control over. I could go out and go for a run.”

She is now on her third line of chemotherapy since the MBC diagnosis. Side effects can disrupt her plans. Sometimes she feels too sick to even walk. Her iron levels can drop so low that she’s too light-headed to run.

Breast cancer progression to her brain affected her balance, so she tripped a lot, but kept running. Both of her femurs broke as a side effect from one drug, and she couldn’t run until she had recovered from surgery to repair the bones.

Hilary’s chemotherapy also causes her to lose her appetite, something that didn’t happen after her original diagnosis 20 years ago. That trouble eating results in weight loss, diminished strength, and fatigue. She tries to push through and eat, to fuel her body so she can return to running.

“Anytime I have a setback, I’m grateful when I can run again,” she says. “My progress [after a setback] is never linear. I'll get stronger, and then I'll get really weak, and then I'll get stronger again.”

Despite those challenges, she gets up early and runs five to eight miles on workdays, with a longer run on weekends. When she’s training for an event, such as the upcoming New York City Marathon in November (training starts in August), she runs more than her average 40 to 50 miles each week.

Running doesn’t seem like a chore to her, she says, because it has become something she wants to do. “I relax when I run and don’t think about the bigger problems in my life. It makes me feel more like everybody else, that I can still do it,” she says.

Goals for motivation

Hilary describes herself as a planner and Type A person, which helps in maintaining a regular activity schedule. She sets goals to frame what she wants to accomplish and to keep herself motivated.

Her overall goal is to have at least one daily workout. That’s often running, but she also has been weightlifting for about five years. She started lifting to learn how to do a pull-up. That exercise takes lots of muscle strength and is difficult for many people, especially women.

She lifts weights twice a week with a trainer in a gym and works out there one other time weekly. Weightlifting gives her physical benefits, she says, and provides structure through a schedule. As with running, Hilary doesn’t think about anything else when she is lifting weights.

Recently, she completed a full year of running every day. There were a few days when she didn’t feel like running but did it anyway, because she was almost at the one-year mark. She went past her goal by several weeks until a day when she felt too sick to run.

Annually, Hilary creates a list of 10 to 15 goals she wants to accomplish. Those include things such as visiting three new places or achieving a specific running time in a marathon.

Energy for others

Over the years, Hilary’s friends and acquaintances have connected her to people recently diagnosed with breast cancer who want to ask her advice. After receiving her metastatic diagnosis, however, those talks dropped off. “I feel like people often don’t want my advice now,” she says, because of her stage IV status.

Yet she continues to provide help. “Being there for other metastatic people is one of my motivators,” Hilary says. As one of LBBC’s Hear My Voice Metastatic Advocates, she uses personal advocacy to speak with people about MBC and share her story. She also works on scientific and research issues, as well as legislative and policy efforts, to improve treatment approaches and care.

Through a project with the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), she lobbied for the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act, to shorten the waiting periods for people with MBC to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicare. Hilary anticipates becoming involved with at least one more lobbying campaign this year.

Combining both her running life and interest in aiding others, Hilary volunteers with Back on My Feet, an organization that helps people who live in shelters or recovery facilities. Volunteers run or walk regularly with program members to support their personal work towards self-sufficiency.

“The guys inspire me to get out of bed and show up for them,” says Hilary. “I’m open about my health struggles so they know if I can show up, they can do it too.”

Editor’s Note: It's important to note that this blog post is a personal account of one individual's experience with metastatic breast cancer and running marathons. Every person's journey with cancer is unique. If you're considering starting an exercise program, please consult with your healthcare provider to determine what's best for you. Our BeACTive Exercise series offers a variety of workouts designed specifically for individuals after a breast cancer diagnosis. Remember, small steps can lead to significant progress.