Alas, it is September. School has begun (or resumed); everyone is all the rage for the long-awaited PSLs and decorative gourds; and… and… did you know! It’s also Blood Cancer Awareness Month.

For the entire summer, I’ve been fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Now, just four weeks out from race day, I’m putting out another call to humbly request your support on my final fundraising push on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for the Nike Women’s San Francisco half marathon that I’ll be racing in about a month’s time. Race day is October 19^th!

I know you probably receive many fundraising solicitations, and I hear you. It’s exhausting. There are so many reputable organizations doing incredible work, and I count LLS among them. For more than 60 years, LLS has invested more than $1 billion to advance cancer therapies and save lives; in fact, in ’13 alone, the organization invested nearly $74 million in research.

While it might not be as common for us to know someone who has been affected by a blood-specific cancer, LLS’s work and research is pivotal because nearly 40% of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA between 2000-13 were first approved for blood cancer patients. In other words, LLS research grants have funded many of today’s most promising advances, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies, and some of the therapies first approved for blood cancer patients are now helping patients with other types of cancers and other serious diseases. In other words, the work that LLS has done, and is continuing to do, matters; it’s not exclusively for blood cancer.

When I last wrote, I said that I will be racing the NWSF half marathon—a tough race, especially with the hills of San Francisco—to memorialize Traci’s mother, Carol, and to honor my mother, Sandy. I’m expecting this half marathon to be one of my most challenging road half marathons to date, but this race isn’t about me or my performance. I’m racing and fundraising on behalf of the LLS because I want to continue to honor Carol and my mother and the countless other women and men who continue to fight their cancer diagnoses like hell.

(Traci, with her brother and sister--both whom she convinced to run the Chicago Marathon!--with their mother, Carol, at CM '08)

(with my mom after my first Masters grad, June '10)

Don’t get me wrong: truly racing a half marathon is no walk in the park—even before adding some SF-style hills into the equation. My proverbial “fighting” through a tough half marathon race, though, is absolutely inconsequential compared to what Traci’s mother and my mother endured in their cancer treatments. These two women could fight like they did because organizations like LLS are helping to find cures and ensure access to the best available treatments… and quite frankly, the LLS can’t function without the support of generous donors like you.

Asking for money, even for good causes and reputable charities like the LLS, admittedly is kinda awkward. What’s worse though—what makes me more uneasy—is when I hear of another friend, or another family member, or an acquaintance, or hell, even a stranger, getting a cancer diagnosis. Let’s put an end to this nonsense; it’s 2014. We should be, we need to be, beyond this.

It is absolutely an honor to be fundraising for the LLS again, and I’d love to have your support. Every donation is 100% tax-deductible, and of course, every donation matters. Additionally, you can make your donation stretch even farther by seeing if your employer participates in matching gift opportunities.

Please know that you have my heartfelt thanks for your generosity and your consideration. Every donation helps us get one step closer to a world without cancer, and I appreciate knowing that you will be with me in spirit as I take on what will surely be an incredible and challenging race.

All my love.

Welcome.

This might look familiar to some of you, and to others, it's brand new territory. Let me tell you a little story...

In 2007, together with my friend Traci, we decided to run the Chicago Marathon (yup, the hellaciously hot marathon) and fundraise on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as participants in Team in Training. We wanted to honor our kick-ass moms and all that they endured while Traci and I were away at undergrad in Chicago: Traci's mom, who had been diagnosed with and gone through the rigors of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and my mom, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and three years after the successful chemo and radiation (and double mastectomy) she had to nix the cancer, who had a stroke that left her with paralysis on her dominant side and expressive aphasia. Our moms kick a lot of ass and went through some really tough stuff (to say the least) while Traci and I were away at school, so the least Traci and I could do was to kick our own ass … a lot … by voluntarily doing a crazy-ass thing like running a marathon.

(Traci, Chicago Marathon '10)

(me, Chicago Marathon '08)

But then... something happened. In fact, a lot of things happened.

Since our initial foray into fundraising and marathoning in 2007, Traci and I decided that, hey, fundraising, training for and running marathons actually was kinda enjoyable, and we stuck around and kept going at it. Traci went on to run and fundraise with TNT for five years before beginning medical school in the pacific northwest so she could save the world--seriously, I have no doubt that she will--and I stuck around with TNT for a while longer, too. We continued to support the LLS and TNT, if not by actually raising money, ourselves, then by volunteering at events and supporting our friends' fundraising efforts in and throughout the Chicago area.

(Traci and her parents, post-CM)

(crossing the finish line at Akron '08)

Since our initial years with TNT, our families have changed some, as well. I became a mother in May 2011, giving my own mother, who has continued to kick ass not only as a cancer survivor, but also a stroke survivor, her first (and only) granddaughter.

(baby A being goofy with Gee-ma [my mom])

Unfortunately, that wasn't all that happened. While Traci was in the throes of her second year of medical school, her mother's health worsened. After her mother's NHL diagnosis in 2001, and the subsequent chemotherapy and radiation that were ineffective in fighting the cancer, her mother underwent a stem cell transplant: good for clearing her cancer, but bad for her long-term health. In the years following her SCT, Mrs. Ackron had long-lasting complications from Graft vs Host Disease—complications that she courageously and gracefully fought like hell until she passed on May 23, 2013.

On almost the exact one-year anniversary of Traci's mother's passing, I was asked if I'd be interested in running the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco in October and fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by being a Team in Training participant yet again, my first time running with the Team since 2008.

It was a no-brainer.

Returning to my roots as a TNT runner and fundraiser is extremely meaningful to me because doing so allows me to both continue to honor—and memorialize—my mother and Traci's mother. Sporting that purple singlet on race day means that I'll have made my miles count this autumn and that the dollars I've helped raise--together with your help--will help find cures and ensure access to treatments for cancer patients. Every TNT runner you'll see on the course at Nike Women's SF represents at least $1,800 raised; do the math.

Together, we can make just another footrace worth so much more. 

My soul has ached for Traci's loss over the past year, and my dear friend is unfortunately but one of many who has lost someone special to something so horrific and shitty.

Nothing I can do will bring back my dear friend's mother. The only thing I can do, however, is make my running help fund treatments that save lives every day. 

It's time to make my running matter.

Every single donation helps, and I am honored to be returning to my running roots by fundraising for LLS this autumn. Patients need these cures, and they need your support. Please make a donation in support of my efforts with Team In Training and help get us all closer to a world without cancer.

Questions? drop me a line: erin at runningruminations dot com or on Twitter, @ErinAMG.

And, as always, please feel free to follow along at my blog, runningruminations dot com.

Heartfelt love and thanks for your support and consideration.