Kelly Gerner, Philadelphia Marathon
On Sunday November 18th I will be running in the Philadelphia Marathon. I will be running 26.2 miles for my 26th birthday on Friday November 16th. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Some of you may be reading that thinking — what is cool about running for 26 miles?! I have never liked running but my mentality on running has changed this past year. I began to commit time during Lent where I ran 200 miles within 40 days which led me to my half marathon in May 2018. I remember telling my family I would be running a half marathon and I would no longer be the “black sheep” of the family in terms of running, I would be part of the cool kids and join the half marathon club with GJ and Colin. The half marathon was incredible as I had the love and support from my family and an amazing runner’s high as I finished my race to see GJ standing there cheering me on. I was astonished by what I was able to accomplish and the whole time I thought of GJ and how he has never given up and continues to push himself each and everyday. The thought hit me, I was halfway to training for a marathon, what better time than now? I began to research possible marathon locations I could participate in when I came across the Philadelphia Marathon website. All signs pointed that this would be my race: -American Association for Cancer Research partnership to preventing and curing all cancers and supporting activities that encourage a healthy lifestyle -StacheStrong representation for Brain Cancer Research
-My 26th birthday weekend to run 26.2 miles
-GJ ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 2015
StacheStrong has been my mentality for all the training for this marathon, for the early morning runs, for those long runs and for those runs where I say what was I thinking?! I am running these 26.2 to raise awareness for glioblastoma and show #stachestrong !!
