Saturday's 5K run to honor memory of Cortland jogger
By Denise Dick
CORTLAND
Brittany Szwedko had it all: brains, beauty, a great sense of humor and family and friends who loved her.
“I want to keep her memory alive,” said her mother, Mary Kay Szwedko of Cort-land. “This run is to honor her.”
The Brittany Szwedko Memorial 5K Run and Dog Walk on Saturday at Austintown Township Park will raise funds for a scholarship for a Youngstown State University student. All proceeds from the event will go to the scholarship.
Registration begins at 7 a.m. The run starts at 8 a.m. and the dog walk at 8:30. The family plans to award the first scholarship in spring 2017.
About 200 runners are registered for the run, and more can sign up at the event.
Brittany, 27, died March 1 after she was struck by a car while she was jogging a few feet from the roadway three days earlier. She was preparing for both a marathon and a half-marathon when she was hit.
The case is pending against the driver who is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, leaving the scene of an accident and a driving-lane violation.
Legacy Dog Rescue, which works in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties, approached the family about establishing the scholarship in Brittany’s name and about a memorial run to raise money for it.
Brittany was a dog lover.
She awoke at 4 a.m. every weekday, ran and returned home to walk her two dogs, Ted, a boarder collie mix, and Penny, a sheltie mix, before getting ready for work, her mother said. She was a public-relations officer at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library.
Mary Kay started running shortly before Brittany’s death at Brittany’s encouragement. The two planned to run a 5K together in Pittsburgh last May.
That didn’t happen, but Mary Kay, other family members and friends ran a 5K in Millcreek Park last winter, dedicating it to the young woman.
Mary Kay is still running. She and her fiance, Dan Lanese, run two miles each day with Ted and Penny. It allows Mary Kay to connect with her daughter.
“I feel like she’s pushing me, encouraging me,” she said.
The dogs allow a connection, too. Brittany loved Ted and Penny. She was devoted to them.
The pups conjure up happy memories of Brittany for Mary Kay and the rest of the family, which includes Mary Kay’s other children, Nick, 24, and Jayna, 20.
Mary Kay thinks about Brittany every day. Sometimes those memories make her laugh. Other memories bring tears.
She’s angry, too – about the whole situation.
Lanese said Mary Kay is moving on with her life as much as she can. That’s what Brittany would have wanted.
She still has bad days. Even so, she loves talking about her daughter, loves hearing others’ stories about her. It’s a way to honor Brittany.
Mary Kay, Brittany and Jayna shared the same sense of humor.
Brittany and her siblings and cousins recited lines, sometimes whole scenes from favorite movies including “Christmas Vacation,” “Austin Powers” and “Mean Girls.”
“She was a person who lit up a room when she walked in,” Lanese said.
It hasn’t been a year yet, so the family still faces the series of “first after” occasions.
This year will mark the first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day since the young woman’s death.
“It’s still so fresh, raw. It’s still an open wound,” Mary Kay said.
June 28 would have been Brittany’s 28th birthday.
“That was hard,” her mother’s voice cracked. “I gave birth to her, and then I watched the life come out of her. No mother should have to do that.”
Tears well, too, when she thinks about all of the people who have helped her and her family. From companies and individuals who are sponsoring the run/dog walk, to administrators and co-workers of Mary Kay’s from the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County and those of Brittany in the Trumbull County library system to Legacy to Brittany’s friends, many people have pitched in to help and provide support.
John Brkic, a friend of Brittany’s, helped with the run, securing timers, designing the T-shirts and other tasks.
“He was my right hand,” Mary Kay said.
Others provided support.
“I’ve had complete strangers come up to me and hand me money,” she said.
They didn’t know Brittany personally but saw her regularly walk her dogs.
Mary Kay predicts mixed emotions at Saturday’s run/dog walk – grateful that Brittany touched so many lives and that the event honors her but sad that it’s happening.
And she’s hoping that Mother Nature cooperates.
“This is the closest thing I’ll get to planning a wedding for Brittany,” Szwedko said. “I’ll never get to do that for her. I want everything to be perfect.”