Cheryl Bednosky: My "Go-To-Girl"

Photo taken Christmas of our senior year in college at Mom and Dad's house.
Cheryl is on right, Annette on left.

Today is the anniversary of Cheryl's death. Cheryl was my twin: we shared looks, a room, teachers, school bus, family and last name. We did not share interests.

Cheryl ran. I did theatre. We did not mix. Like the masking tape line across our bedroom, we had an unspoken rule to hold to in order to find our seperateness. I thought she was a freak for running in rain and snow and sometimes 2-3x per day.

We moved away from one another in 1984 to go to college. She kept running and setting records. She ran NYC marathon in just over 3 hours. I got fat and started running.

Cheryl died in 1998. There is sooo very much more to say about Cheryl and her running, life,influence and even death, yet now is not the time...for now I will share a new discovery:

Last night I found this contest by Montrail/Mountain Hardwear called Go To Girl. Please check it out. Though I am not eligible for consideration to win because I am sponsored by both, I entered anyway. I had to share about Cher.
You only get 1 photo and 300 characters including spaces. This is what I submitted. (And the photo above).

"My twin sister Cheryl started running at 13: in sun, rain, snow, sometimes 2x or more a day. She ran cross country, 10ks and marathons for years. I thought she was nuts. I only ran from the house to the car in the rain. She died 1998. Now I run ultras and understand. Thank you for being you, Cher!"

The prizes for this contest are outraeously cool-yet more than anything a chance to use a meager few words to try and describe the value of the influence of an important inspirational female is awesome.

Thank you Cher!
I miss you.