Running used to be a chore. I was a college athlete but never enjoyed running. I only did it out of obligation. After completing BWH residency, I moved to Alaska, and my first run in the Alaskan wilderness made it a passion of mine. I’ve run over 15,000 miles since then. Today, running on the trail is still one of my favorite activities: time and self are lost and you just exist in the moment. Some of my best thoughts happen during running. Occasionally, I struggle to remember them and scribble them down after I get home.

My longest run was a 50K and I’ve run a few marathons and trail races over the years. But I don’t run in preparation for races, I just enjoy the process of endurance training. Running a 10K is routine, maybe boring for me, but this year it has more meaning. I am lucky to be able to participate in fundraising for a meaningful and impactful cause.

Health is essential for enjoying life and too often we take it for granted. American culture is rooted in preparing for the future, the next big promotion; we celebrate the biggest and the best and strive to become it. I urge you to consider another point of view. Enjoy the moment. The Lakota language has one tense - the present. Try to be present. Running allows me to be. It asks nothing more. I need to be present more often.

Many of you are aware of my wife’s recent diagnosis with stage IV pancreatic cancer. It was devastating to learn that something so transformative could be the cause of her mundane mid-back pain that settled in for a few weeks. It rattled us to the core, and we will never be the same - as individuals and as a family - again. My boys have been amazingly strong. My wife, Irina, has a glowing positivity that can’t help but radiate to those around her to elevate them. She has focused her time and energy on the moment - practicing meditation and undergoing Reiki and acupuncture. She has sat with shaman and energy healers and been part of Native and Western prayer circles. She has completed 6 months of chemotherapy with an experimental regimen and has had an amazing response. We just returned from a trip that started in Sedona, Arizona, and its healing vortex. The local Native tribes wouldn’t live there because the energy was too strong. It was only for ceremonies. After Sedona, we went to Cleveland Clinic where she underwent histotripsy of a few of her persistent liver mets. This is a cutting-edge therapy being pioneered in the US by a few cowboys in hepatobiliary surgery.

Irina is choosing to take the most aggressive path toward a cure and healing herself physically, mentally and spiritually. We truly believe that she will live beyond her cancer, as outrageous as that sounds to those of us who know how deadly this disease is. She wouldn’t have this opportunity if it weren’t for the medical miracles that happen daily at places like Dana Farber, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. This year, I hope to raise money for pancreatic cancer research at the Brigham. The money goes to the scientists that are developing new treatments for this disease. It might just save Irina’s life, or someone else just like her.

I hope you are willing to donate a modest amount to help me and the rest of us runners to reach our fundraising goals. Better yet, join us in running the Boston 10K sponsored by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and raise money for medical research of your choosing. Enjoy the moment. Run. Get outside and just be.

We sincerely thank you for your consideration.