46,000

The DFMC Bulletin Board lately has been flooded with entries related to our big run this weekend. We all are constantly reminding each other of why we are running Boston. One DFMC runner stated quite an inspirational statistic that really hit home.

It will take 46,000 steps to run 26.2 Miles. This corresponds with the number of people diagnosed with cancer in a calendar year in Massachusetts.

As I prepare for my journey from Hopkinton to Boston College on Friday, my longest run to date, I am going to keep this thought in mind.

On another level, I am wearing blue today in honor of Matty Dubuc's Angel-versary. Unfortunately, I never met Matty, but he touched the lives of many of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners. My heart goes out to the Dubuc Family today.

I need to remember that this training process and this run is not just about running Boston and crossing that finish line at Copley. It is not about my time, the weather on race day, how nice the Newton hills will be to me on April 21st, what I wear on a given training run, or about how many Gu's I should eat on Marathon Monday. It is about the patients. It is about the research. And it is about finding a cure for a disease that has struck too many loved ones.