Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Brain Power 5K

My friend Kelly, aka twin Sis, is the founder and the head honcho of Brain Power 5K.  Let me give you a little back story on how I know Kelly and why I'm so passionate about her cause.

Kelly and I met back in the spring of 2010 when I was training for the Danskin bike and run portion.  My knee was acting up so I ended up doing just the bike portion.  She was assigned as my runner and it's been twin sis ever since.  The twin Sis thing came about because I'm 366 days older than her and we were both diagnosed in November but she had brain cancer and I had breast cancer.  One day we had on the exact same shoes so we started celebrating our birthdays together and started calling each other Sis!

That is how we met and she's an all around amazing person but let me share her compelling story.  She just had her daughter when she had a grand mal seizure.  Thankfully her husband was home and heard her seizing in the other room from the baby monitor.  She had to have brain surgery and, as you know, things are never the same after surgery.  I won't begin to explain how things changed for her because I don't understand but it did.  She couldn't find local resources so she started Keep Austin Aware.  That eventually morphed into the Brain Power 5K where she raises funds for the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation for brain cancer research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as well as pediatric initiatives at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.  The race takes place September 9th in Round Rock.  Details can be found via Facebook or the link above.

Kelly raised over $20,000 last year and her goal is to raise $30,000 this year.  Besides being her Sis, I've always been one of her biggest fans.  I'm the Race Chair this year and am very honored to be in this role.  Please consider donating, running or sponsoring this race.

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