First of all, Julie Ratner wants runners and walkers here to know that they can still get there from here, i.e., from East Hampton, to the Southampton Intermediate School on a Sunday morning, the morning of Aug. 18 to be specific, the date for this year's Ellen's Run.
Just about all of the 5K's proceeds go toward the prevention and treatment of breast cancer and the after-care of patients living on the South Fork.
"You can definitely get to Southampton on a Sunday morning, it's a piece of cake," Dr. Ratner said this week. "Everybody's sleeping on weekend mornings unless they're playing tennis, golf, or softball."
More than a race, Ellen's Run, which is in its 29th year, "celebrates life and friendship," she continued. "Every breast cancer survivor — we've had as many as 50 — gets a rose. Last year, it was so moving to see a woman who was undergoing treatment being pushed the whole way in a wheelchair. The support and camaraderie that we have at this race is spectacular. We take a photo at 8:40 of all the survivors, and you see signs like, 'I'm running in honor of or in memory of. . . .' Memory, you know, is everything. I talk about Ellen all the time — she's with me."
"So, yes, we welcome serious runners, and we welcome those who simply want to have a fun day walking. The disease is serious business, but it doesn't mean we can't have some good times and share great energy and get the word out. . . . The survivors have the best energy of everyone. They've come through a lot. There's a tremendous sisterhood among the survivors. There's an instant knowing, connections are formed through shared experience."
The Ellen Hermanson Foundation, which Dr. Ratner set up following her sister's death, as the result of breast cancer, at the age of 42, gave out $363,000 in grants in the past year. The recipients included "the Ellen Hermanson Breast Cancer Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and regional satellites, Ellen's Well, a program that provides psychosocial support to breast and gynecological cancer patients, the Ellen Hermanson Foundation Community Partnership that supports bilingual outreach, social support via micro-grants, and breast care education for women without ready access to health care."
It was "in the interest of all of us," Dr. Ratner said, "to make sure that Southampton Hospital is the best it can be."
She and some 25 volunteers begin setting up at Southampton's Intermediate School at 7 a.m. "The staff at the Intermediate School is fabulous, and there's plenty of parking close by. It's a very good place to have a race. This is our fourth year there. The course is very similar to the one we had when we were at the hospital's Parrish Hall, flat and fast, by the water and pretty homes. . . . At 8:30, we'll have warmups with Claudia Gonzalez and a 50-yard dash for kids, and the race starts at 9 sharp. We'll give out medals to the first 500 finishers, trophies to the first male and females, and to the first breast cancer survivor. And, as I said, a rose to every survivor. . . . We've had great turnouts, as many as 850, but I don't take it for granted. We've got signs out everywhere. I hope we'll do well."
Sergey Avramenko, a 39-year-old native of Belarus, has won Ellen's in the three years it's been based at the intermediate school — in a very swift 15 minutes and 38.79 seconds last year.
Registration costs $50 and can be done online at bit.ly/3AfCjPe.
