Got the following email from Bill Steele the dad of Cancer Guy. (I edited out Ken Martin's email address):
This is Will's Dad Bill. I met you at Will's house in Frisco when you Came to visit I'm sure you already know that was a high point and spirit lifting event. We spoke about it time and time again.
Running was an important part of Will's life as you know. He and I were talking in the last month of his life about he hated that he couldn't run. I told him I would like to run Boston or New York for him. He told me that either of those races would kill me. He told me I could maybe do Chicago. For the last 20 weeks I have trained endlessly. Ken (Martin) kept in touch with me. I'm leaving today for Chicago. I hope Will is going to run with me.
A couple of weeks into my training my wife gave me a pair of running shoes, Garmin 305 and heart monitor. He told my wife Cynthia to give them to me when she felt the time was right.
The inspiration was the last workout he did was one mile in one hour and eight minutes. Just the thought of him still trying broke my heart.
I will run Chicago in his running with his Garmin so I guess he will be running with me in some since.
Never ran one before, wish me luck!
****
I wished Bill luck and then told him I'd like to share the email with the LRC audience.
If you're not familiar with Will Steele he was an inspiration to many on LetsRun.com as he battled cancer and tried to run. We celebrated his life in this piece:
http://www.letsrun.com/news-erik/2013/01/rest-in-peace-will-steele/
Definitely worth a read even if I wrote it.
The other news is Steve Soprano, aka Employee 1.1, is making his marathon debut and covering the race for us. All the pre-race stuff has been from him. Great job Steve and good luck.