My Fundraising Page

I am training for the Chicago FULL freaking marathon!

More importantly, I’ve committed to raising $4,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Yes, this is the organization I work for. It’s also a program that’s inspired me to celebrate my health and help those who are in a less fortunate situation.

Since working for Team In Training, I have seen hundreds of people cross the finish line and reach new levels of fitness in honor/memory of loved ones. I’ve seen cancer survivors celebrate their remission, and I’ve even seen a cancer patient finish a full marathon! It’s been more than inspiring, it’s been life changing.

After hitting a health low last spring, I trained and completed the Virginia Beach and Savannah half marathons and officially caught the “bug”. I want to continue to improve on my own health and become part of the 1% of the population who will complete a marathon. I also want to contribute to the improvements in cancer research. Recently, the strides we’ve made have been beyond belief. Some cancers, fatal only a decade ago, are now reaching remission rates of 95%. It’s truly incredible and it requires donations.

I hope that you’ll support me in this fundraising and training campaign. If you donate, I promise I’ll get up at 7am on Saturdays and run 16, then 18, then 20 miles…in the summer…with the Atlanta hills and heat. It will make a difference knowing that I have people backing my hard work.

I have many personal heroes (see photo below), and I hope to raise these funds on behalf of those who might still be here today if research had been as advanced back then (my loving grandmother, Mary Bleach), and those who are alive today because of the research (Miss Mitzi Jiles and so many others). If there’s someone who you’d like to donate in honor of, I’d be happy to wear their name on my shirt during the race.

Thank you for your consideration and generosity. This will be an incredible journey and I look forward to sharing it with all of you. Training starts April/May (although I’m keeping up my half training until then) and the race is October 7th. Feel free to check back, as I’ll be updating the site with photos, training and fundraising updates.

Love and gratitude,

Aileen