Tomorrow is the 20 miler. After a long summer of training alone, I am looking forward to running with a group again. A LARGE group. I am running the Newton Ready to Run 20 miler that runs mostly one way along the lake front, north to south. And thankfully, the weather report is looking great.

I am also thinking this weekend about my father. Yesterday was his birthday. He would have been 65. I am happy to be raising money this year for LUNGevity as part of my marathon goals. I am 61% of the way towards my goal of $1,500.00. I am very grateful to my friends who have supported me in this effort. And I would love to get more help in meeting this goal.

You can learn more here - http://events.lungevity.org/goto/rogeroney

I am just glad I can do something to contribute to better care and treatment options for people with lung cancer, and I welcome you to join me in this effort.

So with that, I’m on my way… tomorrow is the 20 miler, then 3 weeks of taper.

In other happenings, I am fortunate to have a big event this year to help take the edge off of the “taper madness”… I am heading to Anaheim for the SharePoint 2011 Conference. I’ll be learning a lot, meeting new people, and enjoying the sights for a few days that week… getting back just in time for the marathon expo.

Full steam ahead.

Fast forward to early this year. My running schedule had become erratic at best. And with a job change and other life “stuff”, I succumbed to the mindset that running was somehow taking something away from me. Energy, time, etc…

A few months went by of very little running, and not surprisingly… my stress levels climbed along with my weight. All of a sudden, I woke up one day feeling like my health and fitness might be slipping away without me even realizing what was happening.

This was all unfolding around the time of Mother’s Day. Anyone who’s lost a parent can probably relate… Mother’s and Father’s Day can be challenging. Being a parent myself, I am filled with all sorts of emotions and thoughts around this time of year, including missing my parents and wanting to ensure I am around for a long, long time for my own children.

This is the backdrop against which I decided to go ahead and jump back into marathon training.

I am proud to be running this year in honor and memory of my parents – Roger and JoAnne Oney. Both passed away in 2006, and both had lung cancer.

But this journey is about more than honoring the memory and lives of my parents. It’s also about focusing on what I have learned from them. In this way, I am also focusing much of my attention on gratitude and joy:

• I am extremely appreciative of the fact that I CAN run, and that I have my health at this time in my life.
• I am grateful for the support of my children, and friends and family.
• Running can be fun. The human body is absolutely amazing, and for me – there’s nothing like a 20 mile training run that quite brings that home the same way.
• I feel very fortunate to know a lot of great fellow runners. I train when I can with the CARA group in Wheaton, and really appreciate their passion and support.

I chose LUNGevity because I really like their vision and mission. I appreciate that they are focused on treating the disease, regardless of the causes.

It is important to highlight that even though – yes – smoking is a big problem and contributing factor to this devastating illness, it is still a big killer of people who have never smoked.

From wikipedia:

“10–15% of lung cancer patients have never smoked. That means between 20,000 to 30,000 never-smokers are diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States each year. Because of the five-year survival rate, each year in the U.S. more never-smokers die of lung cancer than do patients of leukemia, ovarian cancer, or AIDS.”

So please, if you can, consider helping me raise money to help treat and maybe someday eliminate this illness. This is the direct link to my fund raising page at the LUNGevity site:

• http://events.lungevity.org/goto/rogeroney

And if you think you might be at the race in October, please reach out and let me know!

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E-mail: mail@rogeroney.com