This past weekend, the Pittsburgh half-marathon occurred, featuring several Mercyhurst students and faculty.

Jacqueline Raymond, Lauren Moss, Samantha Smith and Andrea Amicangelo, and biology faculty member Dr. Sara Turner participated in the half-marathon as part of the Team in Training.

Team in Training is a program run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) that provides training for marathons, half-marathons, triathlons and more.

Teams raise funds to help support LLS in exchange for mentors and coaches. LLS uses every dollar raised funding research to find cures to leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and various blood cancers, as well as aiding families who are fighting these diseases.

The Team in “Team in Training” stands for “Train, Endure, Achieve and Matter” and they have together helped to raise $1.2 billion to support research and patient services.

The Mercyhurst Team in Training began fundraising in December and raised more than $8,500. Mercyhurst joined with a Team in Training in Pittsburgh and together the two raised more than $90,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Mercyhurst team joined the larger Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia chapter of Team in Training.

The Mercyhurst team was coached by Sara Turner, Ph.D., with the assistance of mentor Mentha Benek.

“I joined Team in Training because it would not only help me in training to achieve my long term goal of running a full marathon, but I would also be helping others by raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Raising money for LLS hit close to home because my father is struggling with leukemia.,” Raymond, a freshman public health major, said.

The marathon featured a record number of participants, close to 30,000 runners. The entire team did incredibly well, undoubtedly because of the coaching assistance provided, and the Inspiration Dinner given the evening before.

The Inspiration Dinner is a time to sit down and hear inspirational stories about survivors, and the steps being taken to find a cure.

On Saturday, Raymond shared her story at the dinner.

“I was able to speak in front of all the Team in Training participants about how the program has brought my dad and I closer and, because of Team in Training, he is now much more open with me about his treatments and condition,” she said.

Raymond’s goal was to complete the half-marathon in under two hours and she did with a time of 1:58:35.

“Altogether, the whole Team in Training experience has been amazing. I have not only achieved my running and fundraising goals, but I have also made friendships that will last a lifetime,” Raymond said.