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Military Sealift Command races for the cure

WASHINGTON (USTCNS) --- The day dawned overcast, threatening rain, but nothing could dampen the spirits of more than 50 Military Sealift Command employees June 2 as they participated in the annual Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation National Race for the Cure.

The five-kilometer race is held every year at the beginning of June in Washington, D.C., and every year the Navy command provides an impressive number of runners, walkers and volunteers.

The MSC volunteers arrived on scene at 6 a.m. to prep drinks and snacks for the race participants. The Race for the Cure has more participants than any other 5K race in the world.

About 70,000 people participated in the race in numerous cities around the nation in 2000. MSC's runners and walkers met at 7 a.m. on the grounds of the Washington Monument to warm-up with the rest of the crowd.

MSC team members participate in the race to honor close family and friends who have fought or are fighting breast cancer, yet this year was special as the MSC team had a pink t-shirt in its midst.

The pink t-shirts are worn by breast cancer survivors participating in the race.

Kaye Murray, who came to MSC in May as part of the Transportation Management Professional Enhancement Program, has been cancer-free for more than ten years following her three-year battle with breast cancer.

"I was amazed to find out that she is a survivor," said Julie Humphries, a transportation management specialist with the Sealift Program and MSC's Race for the Cure team captain for the runners and walkers. "To look at her, you would never think that she was a breast cancer victim. Her husband was with her the Saturday of the race, and I could tell that he is a great supporter."

Murray works for Military Traffic Management Command in Alexandria, Va., but she is working at MSC for three months through the year-long Transportation Management Professional Enhancement Program sponsored by the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Transportation Policy.

Each branch of service nominates GS-12 and GS-13 civilian transportation specialists to participate in the program. The civilians selected then serve six months at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and three months each at two different DOD transportation-related staffs or commands that have participants in the program. Murray is working on special projects for MSC's Sealift Program.

Murray arrived at MSC in May and was immediately recruited by Humphries-who did not realize Murray was a breast cancer survivor-to participate in the Race for the Cure.

"This was the first time I participated in the Race for the Cure," said Murray. "At first, cancer is always in the back of your mind, but ten years later I don't think about it too much. Being at the race reminded me, though, of how far I've come."

Before the race began, all the survivors were asked to line up in bleachers surrounding a main stage for an opening ceremony. In the sea of pink t-shirts Murray found herself next to a woman from Pennsylvania who was walking in her fifth Susan G. Komen walk. The woman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and found great hope in the fact that Murray was there to stand beside her 16 years after first being diagnosed with cancer.

The man Murray credits with "taking the stress out of my life," her husband of 11 years, Chuck Murray, walked as part of the MSC team. The MSC team of walkers finished the 5K in about one hour and thirty minutes.

The Navy's Military Sealift Command is the ocean transportation provider for the Department of Defense, operating about 110 ships daily around the world. MSC ships provide direct support to Navy ships underway, preposition military equipment and supplies around the globe, provide fast sealift of equipment and supplies in peace and in war and perform numerous special missions for DOD. (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)

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