WHY WE RUN

TGIF! We had a low-mileage recovering week after hitting 15 miles on Monday, and we mixed in some CrossFit workouts. This weekend we are going for 13-15 miles. The weather in Boston and NY looks nice and warm, so we can finally chip through some of these longer runs.

Check out our resident movie star in her YouTube debut…

CLICK HERE for more information on donating to this amazing cause.

And here is a little snapshot of my social media activity this morning, which got me very excited!

“vacation” days?

Thankful Tuesday: MGH Children’s Cancer Center

Pediatric Cancer Center at MGH

As of today, Mer and I have each passed the half-way mark in our fundraising goal. This is due to all of your generous donations!  On this blog we talk a lot about our training, our races, our workouts… and ourselves.  Today I felt it was important to talk about who we are running for.  As we continue to run and raise money in preparation for Marathon Monday, I want to share with you some information about where your donations are going and who they impact directly.
Mer and I are running the 2014 Boston Marathon as a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children Marathon team, raising money for the children’s cancer center.

Our Marathon Team is not just composed of runners, it also includes the most important people of all: the patients, who are running the biggest race of all to recovery. Every day, 36 children are diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to programs like the one at Mass General, there are approximately 350,000 adult survivors of childhood cancer in the United States. As one of the leading pediatric hematology and oncology services in New England, the MGH for Children Cancer Center provides comprehensive, family-centered care for pediatric patients with all type of cancer (including childhood leukemia, lymphomas, bone and soft tissue sarcomas, retinoblastoma, brain tumors and others) as well as adult survivors of childhood cancers. Your donations also benefit programs within the cancer center such as art and music therapy which allow kids just to be kids!

Last night I got a chance to tour the pediatric center and see where the children receive their treatments. The MGH Marathon Team started in 1998, with just 10 runners raising over $45,000 for the Children’s Cancer Center. Now, 16 years later, the team has raised over 9 MILLION DOLLARS, and there is a mural throughout the cancer center representing just how important this cause is to the children who need it most.

The Finish Line at MGH

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far and for all of your kind words of support! Our journey is just a very small taste of what these children go through each day.

BRING ON 26.2!

* Meredith and I are training for the 2014 Boston Marathon as part of the Mass General Hospital Marathon team. We are raising money for the pediatric cancer center. Please consider making a donation to this wonderful cause. THANK YOU! *

World Cancer Day – 8 Years!

I’ve been waiting to share this post, and since today is World Cancer Day, it seems like the right time. This month I have been a cancer survivor for 8 years. When I was 22 years old, just one month after my college graduation, I found a lump on my neck. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and underwent 6 months of chemotherapy at St. Luke’s Hospital in NYC. My world was pretty much rocked. I have always been athletic, so I tried to stay as active as possible through my treatment, which wasn’t always easy. I used to curse the high heavens when we headed to the track to do a conditioning workout in college. However, when I was sick, I would have paid large sums of money to be sprinting around on the turf, rather than sitting in the hospital. An Andover classmate of mine heard about what I was going through, and asked if she could run in my honor as part of Team In Training for a marathon. I was overwhelmed by her generosity, and of course, agreed. I got to know the TNT folks in NYC, and in May 2006, just 3 months after my last chemo treatment, I started training for the Chicago Marathon as a TNT Honored Teammate. It was a long 26.2 miles, and I ran pretty slowly, but I loved every single second of it.

This year, I am immensely proud to be running the Boston Marathon, my hometown marathon, as part of the Mass General Hospital Marathon Team. We are raising money for the pediatric cancer center to help the world’s youngest patients achieve their dreams, and survive. This time I will be running next to my best friend, my sister, and counting down the miles to Boylston Street. I will be running in honor of my late father-in-law, Ken Johnston II, whom I never had the honor of meeting, but whom I know is helping me every step of the way. There are so many people to thank for getting me to where I am this year: my parents, my sister, my husband, my daughters, my extended family, my friends who lived with me through cancer, my friends whom I met after cancer, my running friends, my CrossFit family, my co-workers past and present, my other survivor friends, Dr. Grossbard at St. Lukes and all the doctors at the MGH Cancer Center who took care of me in Boston so I could be home for the holidays.

These 26.2 are for you!

Team #HudsonStrong

* Marissa and I are training for the 2014 Boston Marathon as part of the Mass General Hospital Marathon team. We are raising money for the pediatric cancer center. Please consider making a donation to this wonderful cause. THANK YOU! *