 36,000 people will run in this year's Boston Marathon. Certainly some will run for the glory and others for the fitness, but the nearly 1,400 participants running in the Boston Athletic Association's official charity program are running for a cause other than running. My sister, she's the oldest of five. She was like, you know, the type A. She was kind of like the mom of our family. So close relationship pretty much did everything together growing up. She was a role model to me. And she started her first year of college and was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Like so many, Colleen turned to the marathon to honor a loved one. My sister was treated at Dana-Farber at the age of 18. And when I was looking to run a marathon, I was trying to decide who to run for, really kind of why I wanted to run. And Dana-Farber made the most sense. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team is one of 30 organizations recognized by the BAA's official charity program. Now in its 26th year, the program has raised more than $140 million for various causes. She went through about six months to a year of treatment, was cured, is now a school teacher, has kids, married. So positive outcome. The outcome was not as positive for a family friend. He had two kids that are around my age growing up. So we pretty much did everything together. And when he was diagnosed, it was really sad. It was sudden. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He had never smoked a cigarette a day in his life. So and within three months, he passed. Colleen has raised funds to run the last four Boston Marathons in his memory, running on Dana-Farber, running for Peter Rogers. We are a cancer institute. So we do cancer research as well as care for adult and pediatric patients who have cancer. Being part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team provides runners with an opportunity to give back to a cause that many of them find so personal. I started with the idea of doing maybe one and then I got involved with the program. I was running for my dad who had passed away of colon cancer when he was 52. And then I just saw the good work that the people were doing. And this would be number 21 for me. Rich has been part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team community for 21 years. Well, I had a reason to do it because, you know, my father, you know, the history of cancer. But then, you know, after I got to know the people, it just, you know, it turned from, you know, being a one-time goal to being a big part of my life. This year, the team has about 740 runners. It's kind of a sort of an extended family. I remember the first year being a little intimidated and not really wanting to go to the group runs or to the arc on Thursday nights. And now the people on the team are like family. I do everything with them. Team mates even help each other train. In the years, we'll get 60, 50 to 50% to 60% new runners every year. So it's kind of like, give them the wisdom, tell them, you know, what to wear, what not to drink, you know, what to drink. You know, it's usually beer. The team also has the support of Jack Fulps. I ran my first marathon in 1971. I moved in and took the lead and it was a couple of miles to go and won that race. So I was very excited and decided, okay, I'm gonna go run the Boston Marathon. Everyone knew that was the granddaddy marathons even then. Five years later, during a very hot race, Jack became the 1976 Boston Marathon Champion. We train and work hard and prepare to achieve a particular outcome, a particular result. But when push comes to shove, when it's time to actually perform, we have to let go of that and focus much more on the process by which, so that the outcome becomes a byproduct of that process. And my win in the Boston Marathon very much exemplified that entire notion and I've applied that in my coaching. Jack has been coaching the team since the beginning. Jack can work with our really fast runners and he can work with the slower runners like myself. A lot of the runners on the charity team say, you know, we're not elite level runners. Some will sign up and say, I'm not a runner at all. So we are now, you signed up for the marathon. Crossing that finish line isn't the only goal for Dana-Farber runners. We have to each raise about $4,000 is to take part in the DFMC. Funds go to the Claudia Adams Bar Program and Innovative Cancer Research here at Dana-Farber. The funds that we raise go directly to the bar program and the bar program is all on Innovative Basic Cancer Research that otherwise it's somewhat risky, you know, because it's new, that otherwise wouldn't be funded. To date, the Dana-Farber team has raised $61 million for the program. We've had great success fundraising and I attest that to the fact that I run in his memory. I think most people that are donating to my cause are doing it in memory of him and hoping that someday they'll find a cure for diseases like his. Team members are in just donating money towards their cause. During meetings with cancer investigators, they learn the exact impact of their hard work. One of our co-runners raised his hand and said, hey, I just want to comment or thank you. Because my wife has stage four lung cancer and the normal, the prognosis is three to four months to live. It's been three years and she's being treated by immunotherapy, which was founded by the bar program where our funds raise go towards. But this is just one of the contributions the team has made to cancer research. Bar Program funding has led to developments in treatment for neuroblastoma in children, a discovery of links between obesity and the development of cancer, and an explanation of how certain drugs improve breast cancer survival rates, leading to the potential discovery of additional treatments with improved outcomes for breast cancer patients. Gives me hope that someday we no longer will have a team because cancer will be gone. For now, there's still a team and that team is gearing up to run together for the 25th year in a row in a very special Boston marathon. This year is the 25th running for Dana-Farber. And with the events that happened last year, the families that were affected by it, makes it a special time. So this is this year's racing singlet that all the runners will wear. This was designed especially for our 25th running this year and also for an honor of last year what happened at the 2013 Boston Marathon, the tragic events. This singlet was designed to give the runner a symbolic embrace from the city of Boston. On race day with Boston on their backs, the team members will run towards a cure. It's really about Dana-Farber and it's about wanting to win the race against cancer and get to the ultimate finish line of world without cancer. The 118th Boston Marathon is a week away and Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team members are cutting back that training, revving up the funding and getting ready for race day. In Boston, I'm Molly Koic.