Marathon benefits staff member's body and soul

For her book, Home Away From Home, Jeronima Echeverria spent more than 10 years documenting the history of Basque settlement and attending Basque gatherings in the 11 western states.

by Kay Conner

"It isn't very often that we get the opportunity to do something that will enrich us personally and make an amazing difference in the lives of others too. I have just decided to do something totally outrageous!" With that statement to potential supporters, Denise Biggert began a new adventure in her life.

Biggert, department administrative assistant in Information Systems and Decision Sciences, had decided to participate in the third largest marathon in the world - the Honolulu Marathon -- to raise money for Leukemia patients.

Some months earlier Biggert had seen a flyer about the Leukemia Society of America's Team in Training (TNT) and thought it was something that would be well worth the challenge. She said that team members are matched with a person being treated for leukemia and they work to raise funds for the society in their honoree's name. A minimum of $3,000 had to be collected to participate in the Honolulu Marathon.

Participants could walk, run or cycle the 26 miles. Biggert chose to walk. Not really thinking of herself as an athlete, Biggert said she had never dreamed of being in a marathon. She would soon meet with others who felt the same as she did. "I trained with a 70-year-old lady who was running her fourth marathon. People of all sizes and ages came for many different reasons to take part in the event. Some have friends or relatives who are stricken with leukemia, while others go to an information meeting and get involved," Biggert said.

Biggert said that she joined the group because she saw a way of donating to a deserving cause. She found that she also had benefited in a number of ways. The physical activity was a great benefit to her health, she had fun and she made a lot of new friends.

The 60 participants in the Honolulu Marathon were divided into teams. Each team was provided a mentor, someone who had been through the experience before, and an intensive training program began. Walkers, runners and cyclists trained together meeting weekly in Woodward Park for four months before the marathon.

On the day of the race last December, heavy rain blanketed Honolulu. The TNT members, each wearing a green armband with their honoree's name, ran, walked or cycled the course - all made it to the finish. "We never trained for rain, but with the adrenaline pumping us up - it didn't matter," said Biggert. "As you walked along the way and heard those on the sidelines shouting 'go TNT,' you forgot the discomfort, and with a lump in your throat, you kept on going."

An unforgettable experience is how Biggert describes the race, the object of which was not to win, but to complete the course and to be a part of something that helped someone in need.

Team in Training participates in a number of marathons each year. Biggert is preparing for a San Diego marathon in June, this time as a mentor. She will give advice on the proper shoes and clothes to wear, how to walk, and the most important of all - strategies for raising funds. Biggert will go through the training with the nine people she is mentoring. The name on her armband for this marathon is Wabern Barnes. In a letter to the team he wrote, "I am so fortunate to have people like all of you trying to make a difference on my behalf. Maybe your training is like my treat-ments ­ some great days, some days when it is hard to push through the hurt. However, in the end, we will all be there at the finish line."