Fundraising Friday: Meet Brittney Castine

Brittney Castine started running about 7 years ago. She graduated college and was feeling the weight of her first job on her shoulders and needed to find an outlet. She loved her career, but she knew she needed to not burn out before her first promotion!

Her first marathon was in 2012. She was training for the New York Marathon which is in early November, raising money for a group called Tuesday's Children. That was the year that they had to cancel the NYC Marathon because of Hurricane Sandy. Since she had trained so hard for her first marathon, she signed up for the Harrisburg, PA Marathon in late November.

As Brittney recalls,
"I ran that in 4:59 with about 1,000 of my closest running friends. It was very different than what I was planning! The course was through neighborhoods, a bland industrial park, and a scenic wooded trail. The problem was that the trail also had many short, steep hills- which my IT band was not prepared for, so I was in a lot of pain and really struggled through the last 10 miles. But I finished!

I finally got my first chance in New York in 2013. It was such a beautiful day, a fun, loud race and I finished 4:47 with about 50,000 of my closest running friends.

I ran my 3rd marathon- New York, for a 2nd time in November 2014. It was so windy which made running on the bridges a lot more difficult. I pushed passed all my limits and cut my time to my current PR of 4:28. I was aiming for 4:30 and I couldn't have been happier with cutting that by 2 minutes."

"So you've run 3 marathons and you PR'ed in NYC last year under very challenging conditions. Why Boston for you and why now?"

"Being from Wakefield, just outside of Boston, I have always known that I wanted to run Boston as my last marathon. While I was tapering for New York in October 2014, I was past the hard part of the training, and my crazy brain wanted to sign up for Boston (which is just 6 months later.) And… well, here I am! I decided immediately that I wanted to run with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. I'm a member of the Dana-Farber Leadership Council, and knew all my fundraising money should go back to this amazing hospital.

My grandfather was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer in late 2009. I was working in Sweden at the time and came home for Thanksgiving and all the ladies in the family told him he needed to see his doctor immediately because he didn't look good. He was so pale, almost a light yellow. He made it to the doctor, walked to the front door, and was so winded he needed a wheelchair. He was diagnosed with stage 2 esophageal and stomach cancer, which has a 17% survival rate. The Dana-Farber doctors and surgeons immediately came up with an aggressive action plan. After 1 major surgery and rounds of chemo and radiation, the cancer was removed. He is going to celebrate his 4 years cancer free at the end of this year. My family couldn't be more thankful to the doctors and research teams at Dana-Farber."

When Brittney is not training for Boston, fundraising or at work at Genuine Interactive, a digital ad agency in the South End traveling back and forth for monthly visits to her clients in Parsippany, New Jersey, and when she's not launching a website, filming a Facebook video or working with the UK for new online ads, you can find her working part time for RaceMenu and RACE Cancer Foundation helping with races that kick cancer's ass.

"Tell me a little about your connection to Alain and RaceMenu and RACE Cancer Foundation."

"I joined RaceMenu late summer of 2014, when I was looking for a fun weekend job that I could enjoy while also training for the New York Marathon. I happened upon an ad looking for an assistant timer and crew member for RaceMenu. I realized that I had run 2 races for RaceMenu- the Miss Santa 5K in December 2013 and the SuperSunday run on Superbowl Sunday in 2014. I emailed Alain (the founder and Chief Energy Officer of RaceMenu) and and he told me to join him and help the team set up and manage the Island Run in September 2014. It was so much fun, I was immediately drawn to the fun challenge of organizing races with RaceMenu. Since then, I've worked with the team timing three races, and helping registration and day-of set up/pull down two more. I'm looking forward to more races with RaceMenu in 2015!"

I met Brittney while volunteering for the SuperSunday 5K this year. Her energy is infectious and she exudes her passion to run her fourth and what she is planning to be her final marathon, the 2015 Boston Marathon, for Dana Farber.

Here she is with her beloved Grampy:


Brittney is hosting a fundraiser in Wakefield on March 28th at 7:00pm at the Wakefield Elks Lodge #1276 62 Bay State Rd, Wakefield, Massachusetts 01880. For $25, you will be able to eat to your heart's content, enter for drawings of a wine basket, The Pampered Chef basket, movie-night basket, and more! She will have a cash bar for your bevvie options and is aiming to sign on a DJ, so bring your dancing shoes!

You can make your donation to Brittney's run for Dana Farber via her fundraising page.

One hundred percent of every dollar raised by the DFMC team supports the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Based on a rigorous and highly selective process, the Barr Program funds the brightest, most creative scientists making basic research discoveries that are transforming cancer treatment. Here are brief descriptions of selected projects supported by the Barr Program, illustrating some of the program's most significant impacts to date.

Hundreds of Dana-Farber runners will take to the streets to participate in the 119th Boston Marathon® on April 20. The DFMC team runs and raises funds with thousands of special people in mind. From Hopkinton to Boston, we carry thoughts of those people every step of the way.

Thank you for your support! Together, we’re headed toward the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer.

Let's make this a fabulous fundraising Friday for Brittney! Please donate to Brittney Castine's personal fundraising page as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge 2015.

Journey well!

Spectating on a Spectacular Super Sunday

It was 14 degrees with a windchill of -3 degrees as we made our way to the start of the Super Sunday 5 Mile/5K to kick cancer's ass.



As we drove down Beacon Street which is a part of the Boston Marathon course, we saw runners out getting their training miles in for Boston and other Spring marathons. We drove slowly much to the chagrin of the cars behind us, rolled down the window and cheered the runners on. Runners from our Club, L Street, were running by and I posted on Facebook:

L Street Strong and Boston Strong ... Driving down Beacon Street to Super Sunday 5 Miler runners abound gettin it done! Had to roll down the window to cheer them on!
— feeling proud.

When we arrived home there were posts from members of L Street saying how much our cheers and my smile gave them a boost during their training run!

Back to our story ...

We used Google Maps to drive to the race start. It was congested and there was a parking garage. I'm usually pretty good at manifesting a parking space but with the snow and not being familiar with the area we debated about whether or not to go to the garage. We decided to take a spin around the neighborhood and see what we could find. We got disoriented with directions and coincidentally google maps lost its connection. Oh well - we decided to rely on our inner GPS. We found a Handicapped Parking Space and decided to take it.

Because of my knee injury, I haven't walked around that much this winter. How amazing to walk from the car to the starting line and bump into one of the beloved members of our running family, Barbara.

From "Journey Well,"
I realized in my last treatment that there was nothing to fix and I was perfect just as I am. There was/is nothing wrong with me. Running around the Reservoir reminded me of when I didn't believe that to be true. Tom was amazing. He said let's get out of here and then he began figuring out a new route for us. As we came out onto Beacon Street, we bumped into my friend Barbara who was at last week's Bill Rodgers 5K and Prostate Cancer Walk. She won in her age group and was at the finish line cheering me onto my PR. We hugged. I thanked her for all of her support on Facebook and in real life. She told me it was an honor for her to be there at the finish line. Tom had run with Barbara when they happened to meet up during one of his training runs along the marathon route last summer. What a joy to share in that moment of reconnection. ... It was as if the Universe was sending me a reminder about all that is good and beautiful and right and true with my life now."

She went on her way to warm up for the race and Tom and I were planning out my spectating strategy. He was concerned about me being out in the cold for too long so we decided that I would watch the start and then go back to the car to wait for him to finish. We walked around at a fairly good pace. Being among the running community, the first time back since my injury, I could feel in every fiber of my being that with time and training, I WILL be back.

The energy, as it always is with a RACE Cancer Foundation/Race Menu Race was electric.

Alain got the thousands gathered pumped at the start asking who was a cancer survivor and thanking everyone for coming out to kick cancer's ass!




He counted down to the start of the race. As Tom crossed the starting line he gave me a high five and said, "Let's kick cancer's ass!" Tom is a survivor and we have friends who are living with cancer.

I went back to the car and saw a volunteer for the race come out with an arrow sign for the turn to the finish line. As good fortune would have it, not only was the parking spot it in the sun, it was at the corner where runners take their final turn to the finish line. The lead car and the lead runners came into view on my side view mirror. I had a front row seat to watch the race while keeping warm. The rhythm of feet pounding the pavement, frosty heaving breaths, the eyes of the tiger, the thrill of competition and runners supporting each other made me smile for the next 40 minutes or so. I was looking for Tom and figured that he would see me since he knew where the car was and the next thing I knew he called out to me from the sidewalk. He was in the zone and ran right by me! He crushed his race with an 8:34 minute/mile pace and even though we didn't get to see Barbara finish, she placed 2nd in her Age Group.

Alain puts together an amazing event complete with sweet trophies for the winners (although as he likes to say, everyone is a winner for kicking cancer's ass):


There was an after party with live music, hot wings and cold beer:


The sun was shining as Alain and his crew made this $14,000 check presentation to TargetCancer:


More proceeds will be donated to the Joe Andruzzi Foundation and Cancer Resource Foundation.

It was indeed a spectacular Super Sunday!

Journey well!


"Journey Well" and all of my inspirational books are available on Amazon.

"Journey Well" is a book about resilience, strength, courage and how we are able to journey well no matter what conditions life hands to us. I profile the people who are Boston Stronger and share how 4/15/13 was a wake up call to me to return to my healing path from contracting paralytic polio at age 5 and 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent.



50% of all book proceeds are donated to AccesSportAmerica where people of all ages and abilities achieve higher function and fitness through high challenge sports and training.

Hot Food - Cold Beer - and a Cash Purse to Kick Cancer's Ass - What are you doing on Super Sunday?

Hey Boston! What are you doing to kick off your Super Sunday on February 1st? RACE Cancer Foundation is putting on a kickass race to kick cancer's ass.

Gronk has other plans


but he would love for all of you to warm up on Super Sunday with the 8th Annual Super Sunday 5K/5M race with live band, beer & food at a super post-race party!

J. Alain Ferry is the founder & chief energy officer at RaceMenu and Founder & President at RACE Cancer Foundation.

We run for beer & kicking cancer’s ass.

RACE Cancer Foundation produces kick-ass events to raise funds and awareness for charitable projects and organizations dedicated to kicking cancer’s ass. We also manage Team RaceMenu, a grassroots racing program comprised of endurance athletes competing at all levels, from recreational to professional. Based in Boston, RACE (dba RACE Cancer Foundation) is a Massachusetts non-profit organization and federally recognized as 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity.

His passion, his sense of purpose and great taste in beer, food and music rival none and are a winning combination when it comes to putting on events.

"100% of Super Sunday proceeds go to charity. For 2015, our beneficiaries are TargetCancer Foundation, Joe Andruzzi Foundation, and Cancer Resource Foundation."

Here's Alain presenting a check for $10,000 to TargetCancer Foundation after last year's Super Sunday race:

Cancer survivors race free.

Not running? Not a problem! You can volunteer (like me) and get all the benefits of running complete with a special edition t-shirt and entry into the post race party. Plus you get to hang with Alain and his crew working together at this premier event.

You can register at RaceMenu.

Oh and speaking of the Joe Andruzzi Foundation, Alain is running the 2015 Boston Marathon to raise money for the Joe Andruzzi Foundation...but that's a blog post for another day!

Journey well and kick off Super Sunday to kick cancer's ass!