Marathon badassery, revisited (Things that are awesome)

People who (regularly) run marathons amaze me, and always have. I've run exactly one marathon, and the training for it alone nearly drove me insane. It also took me a very long time to recover. That's why I'm always more than willing to give a shout out to the crazy people who do crazy things at marathons--the Chilean miner, the pregnant lady and the 100-year old man, the Marine who ran with a gas mask on, and the guys who destroy course records on brutal courses.

In that tradition, I introduce you all to Julie Weiss.

A Santa Monica, California woman who lost her dad to cancer says she will stop at nothing to raise money for research -- so other families won't have to endure what she's endured. 

Julie Weiss is on a mission to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks. 

"My body's getting used to this. I'm changing my diet, becoming more healthy and learning to run more efficiently," Weiss said. 

Her father died of pancreatic cancer in 2010, just one week before the biggest moment in Weiss' running career: qualifying for the Boston Marathon. 

Weiss is part of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's TEAMHOPE. 

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and one of the least funded for research, according to TEAMHOPE. 

"My goal is a million dollars," Weiss said. 

Her website, marathongoddess.com, has already raised more than $100,000 towards that goal. 

"When people tell me I'm crazy or nuts, it means I'm on the right track and doing something good."

After watching the video in the link, it seems like she's got an awesome attitude and a really healthy approach to her (completely insane) goal. And given the demands she's putting on her body, she's also pretty much cruising--she's been running anywhere between a 4:40 and a 5:30 marathon, which is impressive by any measure, especially without real recovery time.

Of course, since she's qualified for Boston before, she's obviously a skilled runner, which she would have to be in order to think that something like this is a good idea. So send this woman some good vibes, because she certainly deserves them. And if you're into that sort of thing, throw a little donation her way via her website.

[KSDK]