On October 10th, I ran the Chicago Marathon with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s Team for a Cure. When my husband, Chris, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma last October, I knew right away I wanted to be able to support the important work of finding a cure. I had run the New York City Marathon for Grassroots Soccer and Chris and I had already raised almost $10,000 for the MMRF when we first shared his diagnoses. It seemed natural to combine running with raising money so I signed up to join the MMRF’s charity team as soon as I could.

I followed a strict “no training training plan” through the summer. A low stress way to ensure weekly mileage stayed up and I did whatever long run the rest of my running friends had on their schedules. Thankfully, there were about 5 of us training for either a marathon or an ultra so there were plenty of long runs to jump in on. I went into race day with about 3 weeks of very little running due to a shin injury. I decided to postpone an MRI because nothing was going to stop me from running Chicago. And luckily for me, race day magic meant my shin didn’t hurt. But that is where race day magic stopped!

The race itself was challenging but as I was struggling on the course. It was a humid and windy day in Chicago and by mile 18 I was pretty much tapped. I was nauseous and gusts of wind kept making me feel like I was going to be blown over sideways. Between miles 10 and 25 I did what felt like a ton of walking and sluggish running. I was in the dreaded part of marathon running where you are watching all your time goals run past you, literally watching the pacers for my A goal and B goal run past me. I managed to finish with a new personal best and a BQ. I wish I could say I was satisfied, however I thought I could do better.

But while I was out there struggling, I thought about my charity teammates that were also out there running and the dozens of people that had supported me through their generous donations. I thought about my husband at home, just shy of 100 days post stem cell transplant, cheering me on. It was because of all these people that I was able to cross the finish line with a smile. My time doesn’t matter, I raised almost $5000 for the MMRF and helped get us one step closer to a cure.