"I thought you were going to take it easy?"

Yeah, I thought so too. But, that didn't last long and I'm back at it...running another Marathon this December 11 and raising money to help find cures for cancer and help cancer patients. You know why? Cancer doesn't stop. This stuff is brutal and we have to do everything we can to kill it.

I was at the kickoff event for the winter season of Team in Training [The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's main fundraiser] last Saturday. Our teammate Virginia shared the story of her battle with Leukemia. It was a special day for her, the 14th anniversary of the day that she was given a death sentence. Miraculously, because of a "magic bullet" drug called Gleevek, Virginia has been in remission for 12 years. Gleevek was created through the research funded by Team In Training.

I run for a lot of reasons. I've put around 2,000 miles in since I became a runner. I'm not going to lie, at first it was just to meet the challenge that my friend Mike made to me to run the Half Marathon in Lake Havasu City. But, I'm incredibly thankful that my friend Kristen Larson introduced me to Team In Training.

My father Dan is a cancer survivor. He had Lymphoma in 2007. Every time I'm having an off day where I'm not feeling my best on a run, I just think of my dad and all that he's been through. Running a marathon is NOTHING in comparison to the beating that cancer patients take.

I run in honor of my dad, Dan Labriola, my friend Peter Kelley, also a Lymphoma survivor, and in memory of those that haven't recovered from these blood cancers.

I hope that you'll support me as I train for my next Marathon on December 11. I'm flying out to Honolulu Hawaii (don't worry - you're not paying for my airfare, I'm covering that myself) and I'm fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This season, I'm the web captain for our team and created the blog for our team.

Please donate today. Your money will be used to fund research and assist with patient services. We're a long way from a cure, but we need more magic bullets like Gleevek. We can't do it without you.

Please check back as I'll be updating this page throughout the season.

-Dominic