On September 9th, 2014 I got the best e-mail ever — I made the 2015 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Boston Marathon team. I cried with tears of happiness. The “family” I made while on this team gave me the strength I needed to persevere during my training runs last year while training with the DFMC team for the Boston Marathon and this summer while training for the Hartford Marathon which is in two weeks.

Today I ran 20 miles with one of my great DFMC teammates, Marc who is training for the NYC marathon in November.  We started a tradition before the 2014 Boston Marathon that we would run every 20 mile training marathon whether it be Boston or future marathons together. Today this happened. I got up at 4:30 AM and met him in Auburndale, MA and ran from Auburndale to Kenmore Square to Cleveland Circle and back. During this run, it made me realize how much the DFMC team means to me and how I cannot wait to train with them in the near future.

When I came home, I saw an article posted by the Jimmy Fund. The top 10 reasons why to run the 2015 Boston Marathon with DFMC. I wanted to add one more to the list: 11. Friends who are family. To this day, I do not know what I would do without my DFMC family. They have made my life better in so many ways and are there for me when I need them the most. I am privileged to be a part of this team and I look forward to the 2015 training season.