Kristen Procida

Originally written June 18, 2007:

When I was contemplating running a marathon I did a Yahoo search for Marathon training teams and the first hit I got was for TNT. It sent chills up my spine because my mother has Leukemia. I figured if that wasn't a sign, I don't know what was! I would have felt guilty if I didn't run! My mom is without a doubt my hero. It was my senior year of college that my mom was diagnosed with leukemia and she went to the doctor by herself because she didn't want to worry my sister and me if it was a false alarm. By far the worst day of my life, and I've seen quite a bit in my day.

I deployed to Iraq in 2005 for a year and saw how much the stress affected my mom and her health, it broke my heart, but as patriotic as she was, she wouldn't have asked me not to deploy, and I couldn't turn my back on my mission with the military. No matter how rough it gets, my mom will always say she is fine in a convincing fashion and do it with a smile and a sparkle in her eye.

I'm running for my mom and for everyone else out there who has a loved one with the disease and for those strong individuals themselves. As a friend of mine told me in a card when my mom was diagnosed, "in the end, everything will be ok, if it's not ok, it's not the end" and "times don't get tough, people do." Thanks again for all you do...... Feel free to share the story, I'm doing it for my mom, to get out what an amazing woman she is, is a great thing for me.

Thanks,

Kristen

Click here to return to Chuck's Official Training Website