This past May, my friend Becca's mom died after years of battling cancer on and off. At her funeral, Becca gave a beautiful eulogy describing Rhonda's verve for life, adventurous nature, and can-do attitude. Even while facing her illness, Rhonda never missed a chance to go to a museum, take a trip, visit with a friend, or really do whatever it was she wanted to do. Becca described a conversation she had with a friend who was debating whether or not to leave her apartment for an event of some sort. Becca said to the friend, ‘What would Rhonda do?” Taking that into consideration, the friend went out and had a fabulous time.

I began my marathon training around the time of Rhonda's death. One morning not long after the funeral, I found myself lying in bed debating whether or not to get up to go running. All of a sudden, I thought "What would Rhonda do?" and without blinking an eye, I got up and had a great run. From that point on “What would Rhonda do” was my mantra to keep me motivated. It pushed me through some hard runs, got me out of bed in the morning to run, and kept me from quitting when I got sick of training.

So it is in Rhonda's honor that I run the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 11. Please join me in honoring Rhonda by making a donation to the American Cancer Society.