Winning Isn’t Everything to Carter
NEWPORT BEACH — Laguna Beach runner Sandi Carter has won her division in the Orange County Race for the Cure five consecutive years, but that’s a small part of her impressive winning streak.
As a breast cancer survivor, Carter is a reminder of the goal behind the race: the elimination of the leading killer of women ages 35-54 in the United States.
Six years ago this week, Carter was in the hospital awaiting test results that would go a long way toward telling her whether she would be among those grim statistics.
But the news was good after the double mastectomy; the cancer hadn’t spread to her lymph nodes. And a year later, the longtime runner and then-cross-country coach at Laguna Beach High marked her cancer-free anniversary by winning the survivor division of the first Race for the Cure.
Sunday, she’ll again defend her title over the five-kilometer course around Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Carter will start up front with the elite women runners, such as Ruth Wysocki, Valerie Vaughan and Sylvia Mosqueda, but won’t be there for long.
She plans to run hard but enjoy every step. “It’s pretty much a celebration for me,” Carter said. “I was very lucky. I was diagnosed very, very early so my chances for recovery were 99%, which means 100% to me.”
In 15 years, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has raised more than $65 million to help support the fight against breast cancer, establishing, among other things, a series of 77 Race for the Cure events nationwide.
Orange County’s race has been one of the most successful, which is fitting because the county has the highest rate of breast cancer in California. In the five years of the Orange County race, $1.4 million has been raised and 75% of the proceeds fund local education and prevention programs.
Carter discovered the race during a yearlong recovery from mastectomy and reconstructive surgeries, but wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact it would have on her.
“I was just blown away by the first event, just by everything that was going on,” she said. “It’s absolutely awesome, the life, the inspiration, the hope that is displayed. It’s not a mournful occasion.”
Carter embraces her role as a symbol of success in the fight. “You can’t always choose what happens to you in life,” Carter said. “But you can choose your response.”
A couple times a month, she says, acquaintances ask her to share her story with a friend or loved one who has breast cancer. “That wouldn’t have happened seven or eight years ago,” Carter said. “Women kept this to themselves.”
About the only thing Carter hopes to keep for herself is the Race for the Cure title. But she believes the competition is gaining on her. During Sunday’s four run/walks, organizers expect 1,000 of the 17,000 participants to wear the pink visors marking them as survivors.
Last year near the halfway point of the women’s 5K, Peggy Roskens of Boise, Ida., pulled even with Carter. It was Carter’s first significant challenge, but she surged on an incline and beat Roskens by 26 seconds.
The division has no age groups, so it’s unlikely that Carter, 52, will be able to keep winning indefinitely. But she isn’t backing down, adding bicycling--both road and mountain--to her training regimen.
Sunday, she will run with her daughters--Kendra, 23, a former cross-country standout at Laguna Beach High, and Lindsey, 15, a sophomore who joined the Artists’ team this fall.
“This is kind of a marker event for me,” Carter said. “Every year I run the race I’m one year further away from the cancer, and in the big picture we’re hopefully one year closer to a cure.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Race for the Cure at a Glance
* What: Sixth annual road race to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. More than 17,000 runners are expected for the four run/walks: the women’s 5K, the coed 5K, the kids’ one mile and the adult one mile. The elite women runners will compete for a $5,000 purse, which includes a $1,200 first prize.
* Where: Fashion Island, Newport Beach
* When: Sunday. The first race--the women’s 5K--starts at 8:15 a.m.
* Top women’s 5K runners: Defending champion and course record holder Valerie Vaughan; Shelly Steely, seventh in 1992 Olympic 3,000-meter final; Sylvia Mosqueda, 1995 Race for the Cure champion; 1984 Olympian Ruth Wysocki and former Cal State Fullerton standout Heather Killeen-Frisone.
* Registration: Advance registration will be held Friday from 4-8 p.m. at JC Penney in the Laguna Hills Mall and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Health and Fitness Expo at Pacific Mutual building in Fashion Island. Day-of-race registration starts at 6:30 a.m. For more information: (714) 224-0290.
