About Me

My Goal: Run the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2019 with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. Raise $17,000 (or more!) where 100% of funds raised benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. I run in honor of my friend Chris Davie who is battling brain cancer. I also run in honor for my friend RJ and his continued cancer-free life, in memory of Heather Thomson, and for other family and friends who are or have battled cancer. Together we can help Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer

Barr Program Impact Statements

Barr Program Impact Statements

Immunotherapies: New Ways to Activate the Immune System—An important area of cancer research asks why the human body's defense systems do not always attack and destroy tumors as they form. Funded by the Claudia Adams Barr Program, Glenn Dranoff, MD, discovered complex regulatory pathways in the human immune system that cancers exploit in order to escape destruction. Reversal of these effects can lead to the development of vaccines against cancer, like Provenge for prostate cancer. This research has also enabled the development of immune-activating drugs such as ipilimumab, which showed striking effects in melanoma in a trial led by Dana-Farber scientists and is now approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Hills are Hard!

This past Saturday was the first DFMC group run of 2018 as the previous weekend's run was canceled due to the 15" of snow dumped on us on Jan 4.  It was great to see numerous teammates that I've run with over the years and great to feel the camaraderie that exists between team members.  We're all motivated by similar circumstances, running in honor of or in memory of family and friends and hoping to help DFMC make a difference.

This first run as an interesting one.  Having run the Boston Marathon with DFMC from 2012-2016, I have run the hills of Newton many many times.  Taking 2017 off though, apparently I forgot exactly what to expect on the hills.  Luckily I had good company along the 12 miles and the company and conversation helped me forget about those pesky hills. Weather-wise, the day was also an odd one.  We started the run with temps in the upper 50Fs and a warm SW wind.  As we turned around at the 1/2 way point, we noticed the weather changes - a temp drop to ~40F and a now bitter wind from the NW, brrrrr.  Overall though, I was happy with the run and felt good throughout.  It was my first double-digit run of the season, though as a friend pointed out, 10 miles would have been sufficient to be double digits :)  I was a bit tired the rest of the day, but it just made it easier to stay home, have a beer & watch the Pats game.

This week will begin speed workouts and I'll aim for ~14 miles this coming weekend.
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