Sunday's Race for the Cure was supposed to be like a three-mile-long grief support group.
So why were so many people laughing?
"Woo-hoo!" shouted Rhonda Zweber, of Prior Lake, the leader of the team carrying signs saying "Rhonda's Rack."
What did that refer to? "My breasts," she said, giving a for-a-reporter-you-sure-are-stupid look. Onlookers chuckled at signs only a breast cancer group could get away with, such as "Save the boobies!" and "Save the ta-tas!"
The laughter, hugs and spontaneous dancing released emotions pent up in thousands of women who will triumph over breast cancer -- and those who will not.
"Look at all this," marveled Zweber, who was scheduled to undergo breast cancer surgery today. "I get great support, celebration, friends, love ..." her voice trailed off, and she wiped a tear from under her sunglasses.
At the annual race, ending at Mall of America, it seemed as though sadness didn't have much of a chance amid the onslaught of love and optimism. About 50,000 people signed up to walk the three-mile event, bringing with them an estimated 20,000 more supporters.
"This is our Super Bowl," said David Egan, spokesman for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
For more than three hours, the walkers streamed across the finish line amid loud rock music, the crinkling sound of plastic water bottles and clanging bells from light-rail train crossings.
About 50 members of "Margie's Squad" marched for Marjorie Reese of
Edina, who died of breast cancer last month.
Reese was the mother of 10 children. Most of them and their offspring marched for her and for their father, who also passed away recently.
"We are walking for a lot," said Sara Oakland, of Maple Grove.
The team "T.C.'s Crew" was in a partying mood, having stayed Saturday night in a hotel near the mall.
Organizer Rita Rangel said the 28-person turnout was a matter of networking. "You reach out and talk to each other," she said, her pink windbreaker flapping in the wind.
They marched in honor of cancer survivor Theresa Rangel, of Stacey, diagnosed in 2006.
About a dozen people marched with Madge Pederson of South St. Paul -- carrying ruffled pink parasols in the strong winds.
"We were getting a little Mary Poppins out there," said Pederson, referring to the famous nanny flying with her magical umbrella.
The group marched under a sign saying "Hearts of Heimel," referring to the South St. Paul street on which many of them live.
Four women who had died were listed on a pink sheet pinned to Pederson's back. But she doesn't plan on joining them -- she was diagnosed in 2000 and is considered a survivor.
"It feels really special to have these friends march with me," Pederson said.
Sue Heaton, a friend of the originator of "Rhonda's Rack," is a cancer survivor with a group named in the same vein: "Bust 2008." About 65 of her friends and family showed up to support Heaton, of Prior Lake.
The team rallied around a 10-foot-tall, 8-inch-wide cardboard column made by Chuck Jorenby, Heaton's husband.
He had painted it gold, mounted it on a baby stroller and decked it with names of 162 woman who survived or died of breast cancer. "This crowd is incredible," Jorenby said.
"Someday we won't have a 'Race for the Cure' T-shirt," Zweber said. "It will be a 'We Found the Cure' T-shirt."
Lea Schumacher, of Minnetonka, was bundled up in a wheelchair and pushed through the course by her son.
Schumacher, 58, laughed like a girl on a roller coaster as her wheelchair bumped down an access ramp.
Then, raising her voice, she yelled out: "Live life, people!" To see more of the Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.twincities.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008 Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.