On Saturday mornings, the world is a blur to Elizabeth Joyner.

Focused on the task at hand, the 51-year-old racewalker puts one foot in front of the other and zips along at top speed.

When the race is over, though, things start to slow down and come into even clearer focus. The sound of pounding feet fades and is replaced by the songs of birds. Crowded packs of walkers give way to quiet moments with her family.

Joyner is a cancer survivor. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007, she has been cancer-free since later that same year. She is once again pursuing many of her hobbies, including racewalking, but the experience has taught her to enjoy the finer things in life.

“It makes you appreciate the little things a lot more. Before, I’d be out walking and I  might not notice the birds or the flowers. Now I notice those things a lot more. And now I spend a lot more time with my son and my husband,” Joyner said.

Joyner, her husband Raymond and their 17-year-old son Travis are among nearly 800 walkers and runners expected to participate in today’s Run Thru History at the Vicksburg Military Park. It’s a course familiar to Elizabeth Joyner, a 28-year employee at the Park and its current museum curator.

Joyner worked at the Park for 21 years before finally attempting her first Run Thru History. She tackled the 5-kilometer racewalk and quickly became hooked on the sport.

“It can be kind of addictive,” Joyner said with a soft laugh. “My husband said he didn’t realize I was competitive until he saw me walking.”

At one race, Joyner was forced into a different kind of competition.

During the 5K racewalk at the Mississippi Half-Marathon in Clinton in January 2007, Joyner felt a sharp pain in her side. Thinking it was just a cramp, she fought through it with some encouragement from her son and finished the race. The pain, though, persisted.

A visit to the doctor revealed the colon cancer. Within a month she started a treatment regimen that included surgery and chemotherapy.

“I was shocked. I thought they made a mistake,” Joyner said. “I had been in a race. I was eating right. I thought I was doing all the things I needed to do.”

Fortunately, the cancer was detected early and the treatment successful. Joyner was cancer-free by the end of 2007 and has not had a relapse. Her ordeal also had an unusual benefit — it encouraged several family members and friends to have colonoscopies. Some of them had treatable polyps detected.

“Colon cancer is treatable and curable if it’s caught early. They normally tell you to wait until you’re 50 and I was 47 when it came,” Joyner said. “That convinced a lot of people I work with to get checked. We gave them a lot of business from the Park.”

It took Joyner a while to get back into racewalking. Her first race back was the Over the River Run in October 2008. Last month she finished first overall at the 5K Bob Coleman Winter Run in Clinton.

Although she still enjoys the competition, just getting out and walking has taken on a new dimension.

“It’s like therapy to get out there and walk and listen to the birds. A lot of it is quiet time for me, too. Just clear your mind and take a deep breath,” she said. “I guess I was taking things for granted. I try to appreciate things more like nature and family and friends. We should try to take advantage of our opportunities to spend time with them.”

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com