Running 4 A Reason

I’m running The Flying Pig Marathon to raise money for two families.  This is my first marathon and only my second race. I am not a long distance runner so this is going to be quite the challenge! I ran my first half marathon in October 2018 and thought, "how could this ever be the half way point?" Well now here I am training for a full! 

One of the families I'm running for is The Edwards Family. Glenna Edwards is my previous LILYMI boss, my mentor and my friend. Her husband, Paul, was diagnosed July 2017 with ALS-21. He worked as much as he could until advanced weakness in his legs, arms, and hands caused him to no longer be able to work. Mobility is increasingly difficult. Wheelchairs are heavy and hard on Glenna when out for extended periods of time. Paul would like to get out of the home more, but will need a mobility scooter and SUV lift installed in order to increase his independence. They have two sons. The oldest, Jake, is in the military and deployed overseas. The youngest, Ben, is a senior in high school with hopes of going to college this fall. Glenna works, maintains the home, and is packing to move to a more accessible home soon.


The other family is The Bokovitz Family.  On September 25, 2019 Sarah Bokovitz, 31, was diagnosed with stage 3c triple negative breast cancer.  I met Sarah my freshman year at The University of Toledo as we both joined the same sorority, Pi Beta Phi.  We became sorority sisters, roommates, and now lifelong friends.  She is married to Phil and they have a daughter Clare who is  9 months old.  After college, Sarah became an RN at Akron General Hospital in Akron, OH. Recently. she started a new career as a professor at Walsh University to start teaching others about the joys of becoming an RN and helping others. Phil is a school counselor and football coach at Walsh High School.  Sarah still has a long road ahead as she has been having chemo every 2 weeks, will have surgery soon, followed by radiation. 

When I told both of these families about wanting to raise money to help them they both said I should do it for the other family.  I want to help them both by alleviating some medical bills, building back up their savings, start saving for college for their kids, just take some of the stress away from these horrible diseases while knowing they are supported by so many loved ones. I will be splitting the proceeds in half to these two deserving families. 

Thanks so much for your support. It's go tIme! Race day was supposed to be May 3 but now I’ll be running a virtual marathon around my neighborhood on October 11.

I can't promise I'll do it at a "good" time but I do promise I will finish the race... Even if I have to crawl across that finish line.