This weekend, on Sunday, June 3 at 8 a.m. you can catch our Team SCCA at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. If you’re not busy, join us! It’s for a great cause. In fact, 75 percent of net funds raised at the Race for the Cure provides breast health screenings, education, outreach & treatment support for women in our own Puget Sound community. The rest of the proceeds fund global breast cancer research to find the cures.
Exercising for a cause is a great way to do something good for your body and your soul by giving back to the community. Events like these become the reason many people decide to get motivated & get active!
If big group activities like this aren’t your thing, but you like the idea of something in a smaller setting, there’s another group that you may have heard about. It’s called Team Survivor Northwest. Their mission is to support women in their cancer recovery through empowering programs of physical activity and health education. The “team” in Team Survivor Northwest comes from the support and camaraderie the women receive from the instructors and each other.
Team Survivor Northwest (TSNW) started in 1995 after SCCA’s Dr. Julie Gralow saw firsthand the physical, emotional, and mental benefits of exercise in cancer recovery. Some of her patients were doing a local triathlon that year and she was their medical advisor. Today, TSNW serves over 2,000 women annually. Since 1995, research has supported the idea that exercise aids cancer recovery. The American College of Sports Medicine issued official guidelines in June this year specifically for exercise and cancer recovery.
TSNW recognizes that women recovering from or living with cancer are in different stages of treatment, overall health, and levels of fitness. TSNW classes range from gentle exercise, like yoga and stretching classes, to more vigorous activities like hiking and dragon boat paddling. TSNW is also sensitive to the fact that cancer can be financially debilitating and the majority of their programs are free to members.
If you know anyone who might be interested in thier program, let them know they have stretch and strengthening classes citywide (one is even at SCCA), walking groups, half-marathon training, swimming, Latin dance-based exercise class, and seasonal programs like bicycling, hiking, and snowshoeing. Learn more at teamsurvivornw.org.
