RUNNING ALL OVER TOWN
Ottawa cancer survivor to run her 28th and final marathon this weekend — because she can and also for those who can’t
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In May 2000 as Cheryl kardishlevitan was competing in the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend’s half-marathon, she felt an exhaustion like no other. Not far from her Old Ottawa South home, she decided to drop out of the race and walk the few blocks to her house.
Having 20 marathons and nearly twice as many half-marathons under her belt, the decision to quit was foreign to her. But another marathon was brewing inside her: a cancerous tumour in her right breast.
Fourteen years later, kardishlevitan, now 60, is preparing to run her 28th and final marathon, along with 7,000 other runners.
When she began running recreationally in 1976, she had no idea that the activity would become all-encompassing, spanning almost four decades. When she began running marathons, she was often the lone woman. At the Ottawa Marathon on May 25, the 40th year of the event, 2,606 women will compete and 4,407 men.
“There weren’t really many women running back then. It was a novelty,” she said. “People said ‘ Why are you doing this to your body?’ ”
When she crossed the finish line of her first marathon in 1976 (she was the third woman), there were nobody lining the course to cheer on the exhausted runners. This year’s marathon is expected to draw 100,000 spectators.
As Ottawa’s marathon has grown over four decades, Kardish-Levitan’s life followed the trajectory of many Canadians. She married in her 20s after meeting Brian, her future husband, while running on the Rideau Canal. She established a career as a real estate agent and raised a daughter and two sons: Elana, Tyler and Ian. When she was three months pregnant with Elana, she completed the 1984 marathon — her 20th marathon. It would be her last one for 21 years. Parenthood and a torn anterior cruciate ligament — major connective knee tissue — were reason enough to keep her from running marathons until 2005.
But she remained an active member of Ottawa’s running community for 20 years and continued to run half-marathons at Ottawa Race Weekend, which she has participated in each year since its second year. She also became a fixture of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s Run for the Cure.
There weren’t really many women running back then (in 1976). It was a novelty. People said ‘Why are you doing this to your body?’
Cheryl Kardish-Levitan, marathoner
In 2000, she raised $3,000 for the foundation with her participation in the run. She returned the next year, while being treated for a benign tumour in her left breast, and raised $15,000 for the foundation.
Overall, Kardish-Levitan has raised more than $167,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. While she fundraises on her own, she’s quick to credit her employer, CLV Realty Corp., for its support over the past eight years.
“They kick-start my campaign every year. Since I’ve been with the company, they’ve given me $1,000 every year for the campaign.”
Kardish-Levitan’s involvement with the Run for the Cure is bitter- sweet. As a member of a tight-knit group of breast cancer survivors called Just Doing It, she has helped raise $295,822. But over the years, cancer has taken 14 members.
“Being on that breast cancer team, we’ve lost so many teammates that are younger than me. One year it was particularly bad, as we lost five women.”
In 2005, Kardish-Levitan returned to the marathon, defying doctors’ verdicts that her knee injury would prevent her from ever running that distance again. She went on to run another six marathons between 2005 and 2009. The desire to challenge herself is still very evident as she continues to run three to five times each week, but she swears this really will be her final marathon.
“I do it because it’s helped me deal with everything in my life — the happy situations, the tragic situations. Psychologically, I feel that if I can challenge myself and push myself to run another marathon, it’s going to keep my cancer from coming back.”
Kardish-Levitan, who has more than 80 half-marathons under her belt, says she’ll complete the marathon even if she has to crawl across the finish line. Having seen so many seemingly healthy women like her lose their lives to breast cancer, she relishes this opportunity.
“It really is a roll of the dice. I’m grateful that I am able to still run and to give back. That’s really important for me.”