This is Alayna... she is awesome. She is one of the bravest people you will see today.

On May 25, 2010, Alayna was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. During the past year, she's been in and out of the hospital, receiving chemotherapy. Now 11 years old, she is in remission and is in the maintenance phase of chemo treatment until September 22, 2012. Alayna is a very sweet young woman and has handled the past 16 months way better than most adults would. Her diagnosis inspired us to run the 2011 Disney Marathon last January to raise money for LLS.

Also, Alayna loves the color purple and so I did this last year for the marathon...

If you are having a bad day right now, watch this - your bad day is over. You want to be inspired? Done. You having a tough time with getting up and making a positive change in your life? Done. Now, thank Alayna and Do something good today.

This is a message from Alayna. Alayna tagged Abbe and I in the video on Facebook and I fell apart in happy tears two days ago when I watched it for the first time.

We ran the Disney Marathon in her honor last year for Team in Training and this year will be running the Goofy Challenge again for Alayna and all of those in the fights of their lives against blood cancers. One day, our hope is run Disney with Alayna.

Please make a donation in support of my efforts with Team In Training and help advance the research for cures.... oh, and this year, I'm running with a purple mohawk. No foolin'.