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For Judy Petsonk, spirituality and physical fitness cannot be separated from one another.

The 65-year-old Highland Park resident, a breast cancer survivor, is currently training for her seventh triathlon. Petsonk says that both her commitment to Judaism and to exercise, and the connections between them, has helped her overcome adversity.

On Sept. 13, Petsonk will participate in the 2009 Trek Women Triathlon Series on Long Island, where she will swim a quarter of a mile, bike nine miles, and then run 3.1 miles.

In 1996, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, though "fortunately it was a not a very aggressive cancer" and she has since made a full recovery. Breast cancer runs in her family, with her late mother and grandmother both having battled the disease.

Petsonk participates in the women's triathlons with a group of cancer survivors. The team goes by the name Team Survivor.

"I'm so humbled by the women I meet who have fared much worse than I have," Petsonk said of her teammates, "I don't feel like I'm very courageous at all still."

Petsonk, author of "Taking Judaism Personally: Creating a Meaningful Spiritual Life," explained how exercise and Judaism are not as different as some people would think.

"Judaism is a very physical religion, even though most people don't think about it like that. The holidays, for example, revolve around food. In Judaism there's a connection between body and spirit."

Petsonk described how she has united her Jewish practice with her regular exercise regimen. She prays to herself while running and biking and sometimes even davens while doing her yoga routine. When a prayer requires her to bow the head and bend the knee -- she does just that, and incorporates the bow into her routine.

Yet, her battle with cancer was not always easy and she would at times question her faith.

"There was a time when I was very depressed and I asked a rabbi -- I was very angry at God -- and he said to thank God every day," Petsonk remembered.

This message of focusing on the here and now is an important Jewish teaching, Petsonk said. In addition to Judaism's concern for the past and the future, "we also need to think about the present."

Petsonk said that the Modeh Ani, the daily prayer that one says upon waking, exemplifies this teaching. The Hebrew words "Modeh Ani," the first of the prayer, mean literally "I give thanks."

Her struggle with cancer only helped to reinforce this message for her and to recognize the importance of living in the present and giving thanks for all that life has to offer, she said.

"Having cancer makes you realize how true that it is that we don't have our bodies forever," she said. "That we need to cherish and appreciate all they do for us right now, even if imperfectly."

Her participation in these triathlons is the way that she lives this lesson, Petsonk said.

She recalled the text on T-shirt in past triathlons that succinctly captured this message. The T-shirt read "I didn't choose cancer, I choose to be here."

For Petsonk, her experience overcoming cancer to be able to participate in triathlons is a distinctly Jewish lesson.

"Judaism is about these daily miracles, the humble miracles of which life is composed," she said.