The prologue

Anybody that knows me had always heard me say "someday I want to run a marathon". For awhile it was "My life goal is to run a marathon before I turn 25 years old." Then it became "I will run a marathon while I'm 26, because the symmetry seems fitting." And that slowly became....you guessed it...."I would like to run a marathon before I turn 30."

Well, in the fall of 2007, when I was 26 years old, everything changed. I fell off my bike in Boston (yes, much like a 5 year old) while riding to an ultimate frisbee game in Jamaica Plain. I needed stitches in my head, bruised my ribs, and broke my neck and my right arm. Recovering was a long process, and after spending so many weeks out of work and watching my fitness slip away, I knew I had been taking my body for granted. Physical therapy is a harsh critic.

Three months after the accident, in January 2008, I finally went out for my first run. Later that winter, I ran the longest race I had ever run (7.2 miles as part of the Hyannis Marathon Relay). And as I watched my roommate and my then-boyfriend train for the Boston Marathon that spring, I knew I couldn't keep pushing this life goal further and further away!

So, ultimately my youngest brother Tom and I decided that we would take on the 26.2 together, and with good reason: our Aunt Karen had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer, and was about to start chemotherapy. We immediately signed up to run the Chicago Marathon with the American Cancer Society...and in the process of running our respective 26.2 miles, we also raised a collective $2800 for cancer research.