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My name is Aaron and I’m a professional ultrarunner with big goals this year: The Triple Crown of 200s –Tahoe 200, Bigfoot 200, and Moab 240, with the goal of winning and setting the course record. I also recently ran from San Francisco to Las Vegas with a relay team as part of the legendary Speed Project, a race where I set the solo record two years ago.

But, in the grand scheme of things, racing is just that: racing.

What matters more is life outside of the run – and the bigger goal for this year is to leverage these efforts and my platform to raise money for cancer research. My mom Mary has been living with breast cancer since 2018, and with metastatic breast cancer since October 2022. She has long been my rock and is my biggest source of strength. As we’ve witnessed the cancer spread, my mom’s optimism and grace have been eternal sources of inspiration.

Running 200 miles is hard. It demands strength, endurance, and resilience. But it is also a privilege and a choice I get to make. Real strength is choosing to live fully and gracefully despite the circumstances. Real strength is showing up day after day with optimism and love, in the face of pain, uncertainty, and finitude. My mom has shown this strength daily for years, and every day I get with her I am motivated to live with that same strength and grace.

METAvivor is my mom’s charity of choosing - it is the only U.S. nonprofit exclusively funding peer-reviewed research for metastatic, stage IV breast cancer. The numbers are staggering: 98% of all breast cancer deaths are caused by metastasis, yet less than 10% of breast cancer research funding targets it. METAvivor exists to close that gap, funding scientists at institutions like Stanford, Dana-Farber, Cornell, and UCSF who are working to transform a terminal diagnosis into a survivable one.

Every mile I run this year is dedicated to that goal — and to her. Follow my journey here.

Thank you for your generosity.