Anastasia Sowinski ran her first marathon when her mother was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2002. Sowinski, a Brookfield, Illinois resident joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Sowinski raised five thousand dollars and on the first anniversary of her mother’s death, ran her second marathon.

Sowinski has also ran three other marathons since her Team in Training days. So she has five marathons completed out of her goal of fifty, one for each U.S.A. state. She has run marathons in Alaska, Chicago (Illinois), Miami (Florida), Cincinnati (Ohio and Bloomington (Indiana).

She is preparing to run the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 28th in Arlington, Virginia. On December 1st she will run the Memphis Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee. Sowinski’s goal is to run three to four marathons each year.

For the Marine Corps Marathon Sowinski is raising funds for A Running Start, a charity that helps African children obtain a U.S.A. university education and to use their athletic abilities.

Source: WBBM Newsradio 780