Well, we're just three weeks away from the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. My injuries are under control save for the regular (really annoying) knee pain, but I have to admit it hasn't been a stellar training season this time.

I'm about two minutes per mile slower than my best marathon time, and I've resigned myself to adopting a run/walk method to get through the 26.2 miles.

One might call this season disappointing if it weren't for two facts:

• First, this is not MY season. This is Rebecca's season, Rebecca's race. If I were running this for me, I would have dropped to doing the half marathon instead of the full by now. But since I'm running the race in honor of Rebecca and the first race we ran together, I am tackling the whole enchilada, no matter what.

• Second, running a slow, somewhat painful, "just finishing is an honor" race seems absolutely appropriate. When I ran with Rebecca, I was pretty much exactly where I am now, weight-wise, injury-wise, prep-wise. Rebecca and I took 6.5 hours to cross the finish line, and it makes me proud, believe it or not, to face up to this challenge with the exact same abilities I had when she and I ran together.

So, here we go... on with the real challenge... on with the true goal.... to do the miles with the inspiration of you guys and my memories of my run with Rebecca.

My dear friends,

We're truly getting close to Champion status to reach the ultimate honor for Rebecca -- that's where we get $5000 over our goal. I keep saying "our" instead of "my" goal because this has been such an incredible group effort. I'm so very touched by the many people who have supported this effort, and I really, truly couldn't have done it without you.

I have to say I'm still a little daunted by how much is left to raise. That's why I'm doing a webinar for charity next week, and I hope to keep trying to find ways to raise the remaining 20% to reach our goal.

Rebecca's death made me angry -- cancer makes me angry. And raising money for cancer research is the only way I've figured out to channel that anger into something that may help people someday.

Thanks again for all your help.

PS -- If you're new to this website, you should read Rebecca's story here...

Less than half a mile from my new house is a street called Marathon, which intersects with another street named SUCCESS! How could my marathon goal for Rebecca not be achieved with a clear sign like this?

I'm very sad to say Rebecca lost her fight with cancer early this week. I will attend her services tomorrow, the day before our first session for my marathon training season.

I met Rebecca that very first session five years ago, and we ran together all season because we were on the slower end of the spectrum. I am humbled by the fact that I can go back and do this race in her honor.

Thank you for all the support you've offered me and her family. It matters. It really does.

My friends, I have some sad news. The results of Rebecca's scan last week revealed that the cancer is growing too fast. The drugs she had been taking were not helping, and they are stopping the treatments and talking to hospice to make her as comfortable as possible. They don't know when the cancer will take over completely, but they're guessing it'll be a matter of weeks.

Yeah, I know. We went from having dinner 11 months ago to accepting sad, sad news less than a year later. Not fair. Not fair. Not fair. I could go on and on about how angry, how helpless, how very sad I feel about this injustice. But what can one do? Cancer has destroyed her lungs and taken over her body. She has fought the brave fight, and soon she will be at peace. We have no ability to stop this, as much as we would like to.

But something happened recently that gave me new hope for the future -- for people like Rebecca in your life and mine. After a team run the other day, a man and his wife were walking near our home base. They asked what we were doing, and I proudly announced that our little team had raised more than $60,000 and growing in the fight against cancer!

He paused for a minute and then quietly said, "Thank you." Five years ago, this man was given a few months to live, and now he was officially a cancer survivor. At the time, Rebecca was still going on the prognosis of "a few months," so all of a sudden it hit me that I had assumed that the doctors were right without factoring in Rebecca's spirit and the miracle factor!

So, even though it turns out that the doctors were right about Rebecca, there are people out there who survive cancer -- many, many people. And YOU make that possible with your support and donations. When you give money to LLS, you are helping fund valuable research that can help people with grim diagnoses.

So again, despite the sad news, I am full of hope that what we're doing here will make a difference in someone else's life. And I thank you for your help.