Nothing stops pink; nothing stops the women

Sometimes you tell one person’s story but very soon you understand there are others who share the same experience and who are instrumental for the realisation of this story.

 

A coach from Turin (Italy), Nicola G, trains a large number of runners among which are a group of women who have experienced a typically female cancer. They are many and you can meet them at running events. What moves these women is to realise the best of the goals of the AIMS Women’s Commission: to promote the health of the women through running.

Since 2018 Enza C has been one of the Pink Ambassadors in Turin. She joined the Pink is Good Running Team in her home town which was set up by the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi. It aims to demonstrate that after female cancers women can come back to life stronger than before their illness.

 

Enza approached the project when she was 40 years old. In the previous two years she had struggled with cancer and overcome it. In 2018 she began thinking that sport could be good both for physical and for psychological health.

 

At the beginning it was not easy. “Until that time I had never moved a step” she said “and thinking to run a half marathon scared me. Then I understood that I wouldn’t be alone.” Strengthened by a year’s experience in Milan, Fondazione Umberto Veronesi was now challenging women in other Italian cities to test themselves. To help them they offered the organisational framework of the project and contact with running professionals through the Italian Athletics Federation project Runcard with experts in nutrition and psychology.

 

Women who start sport after having beaten cancer need special attention. To begin with focused periods of training have to take into consideration long-term maintenance and therapies to avoid injury. Any interruptions to the completion of the running sessions can stop the personal running project for a long time. The same goes for nutrition. A healthy diet is good both for training and for well-being.

What gives emotional strength in speaking with Enza C are the words that she uses to describe the power of the running group. “When you get close to this project there are many questions preying on your mind. From the simplest: can I do it? to more complex ones that make you ask yourself if others will understand your troubles. I found answers to all those questions after taking part in the first training sessions. A group of women who have lived your same experiences and who can share the present struggle is a motivation that allows you to overcome every doubt and worry. Running a local half marathon becomes achievable and the only slogan that moves our group is nothing stops pink; nothing stops the women”.

 

The Pink Ambassadors are committed to fundraising through the platform Rete del Dono in support of the Fondazione Umberto Veronesi’s scientific research against female cancer.

 

The AIMS Women’s Commission encourages these initiatives so that women who run can feel themselves part of a movement that promotes their empowerment and their health in every corner of the world.